The grounds and gardens at Sage Hill are busy preparing for the celebration!
As much as I love the summer gardens, the sun, the fresh foods, and the easy day-to-day journey of barefeet, shorts, and tacky tee shirts! I have no trouble letting go. (well, maybe the tomatoes and cucumbers!!)
I planted and was looking forward to watching my pumpkins grow, however, those pumpkin seeds turned out to be squash, all of them??
Another infiltration into disrupting and discouraging small farmers? The manipulation of our seed industry has been heavy and mighty over the last few years!
(that’s for another post!)
As for now, the little things demand the spotlight.
If you think I’m out kicking up my heels and having fun…you’d be wrong!
I was in the kitchen until 9 PM processing apples!
Unusual for me and not a pending habit I assure you!
I think all the garden tenants got together and collaborated to finalize at the same time….just to watch me hustle!!
I took two days off this week, so…when you play you get behind! This too shall pass! (it was worth it!!)
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Yesterday and today brought a good, refreshing rain…thank you, Jesus!
Gardens are a flutter with beautiful Swallowtails.
I’m a wee bit tired, but the stash of winter food is safely in place/we will be dining well!
Parts of the week in pictures.
Summer dining gets 5 stars for “Eating In Season.”
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Roasted Anaheim peppers.
Watermelon from my little patch!
When I take a day off? Sometimes I go to the Farmers Market! Haha
The number of women who were named as the principal operator of an American farm or ranch increased by nearly 30 percent between 2002 and 2007, according to the U.S. Census of Agriculture. Women composed about 14 percent of principal farm operators in 2007, and that percentage has held steady since then, according to the preliminary 2012 census released in February.
Women over 65 own nearly a third of Iowa’s farmland.
Census data from 2007 showed that women were more likely than men to operate farms with a diversity of crops, and to own a greater percentage of the land they farmed. Women farmers also tended to sell food directly to the consumer rather than to large food-processing corporations—an approach that the United Nations report has found to be important for improving food systems.
Leigh Adcock, executive director of the Women, Food and Agriculture Network, said she believes the U.S. food system will be healthier when more women farm.
In my research I was somewhat surprised to learn many women don’t own the land they farm….instead they lease long term…much of the reason is: women in many cases do not have credit options and are considered poor risk when dealing with banks and other financial institutions.
However, this does not seem to have been a major drawback in the success of the case studies in my findings.
I grew up on a farm, it wasn’t new to me when I made the decision 15 years ago to spearhead this farm project. The methods I chose to embrace were new to me, the learning curve was tricky for a short while…..the pay-off is and has been more than I ever imagined in many ways.
We are not yesterdays farmers or yesterdays farmers wives~
