earthiness

Last night, Gretta and I went with our friend, Liz, to hear Elaine F. Weiss speak about her book, Fruits of Victory, The Women's Land Army of America in the Great War. Elaine's fascinating slide show, filled with images from archives all over the country, showed the story of the amazing women, or "farmerettes" who worked on the rural homefront during WW1. The question and answer period afterward had folks wondering aloud about how this history might inform the current enthusiasm for the local food movement. I would be intrigued to consider its possibilities in peace time. This book is in my stack of spring reads!

Liz gifted me with this book earlier in the week, The Town That Food Saved, How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food, by Ben Hewitt. The story of Hardwick, VT is inspiring. Batman and I have heard a bunch of the folks who envisioned this collaboration, speak at NOFA-VT conferences and the Vermont Land Trust Annual Celebration last fall. Their vision, passion and dedication is amazing. I am delighted that their story has been told in a book! A bookmark is already holding my place in this one.

This morning, Gretta and I are baking up a batch of muffins and we'll head over to our local CSA, so that Gretta can catch up with all her old buddies. The sun is shining, the temperature may flirt with 70 degrees and Mother Nature is calling us outside. This is my kind of Friday.

Hope you can get outside for a bit!

P.S. If you are a Henry fan, or a fan of the ginger cats in Wales, check this out and this, too.