First Family Farm

I love to be pleasantly surprised. I know Alice Waters and Michael Pollan and by now, everyone else under tarnation has implored the new White House to take on food access issues and plant a White House kitchen garden, as existed during the depression. But who knew the Obama's would come through on this one? Not me, that's for sure. I'm feeling so impressed with our first family today:



And I've been having a bit of writer's block lately so bear with me, in the sometimes lengthy interim between posts. I usually don't like to repost other things from around the internet, but I'm making a temporary exception for this.

Happiness Is

Arriving in town amidst drizzle, being swept off your feet and whisked away to homestyle brunch and then lingering over coffee and watermelon mimosas, until you are escorted out back to see that the garden you left behind last summer is now exploding with tomatoes, cucumbers and perennials. Even the raining part was a welcome sight to those of us from drought country.





Our trip to Philly was a grand success. This is the tip of the iceberg.

Soundtrack: Philadelphia by Atom and his Package

Snapshots from a Saturday Barbeque

Our friend Anthony's special lady, Ruth just finished her master's thesis (!) and there was a grilling event on Saturday to celebrate. Anthony's house has a particularly memorable backyard and Garden, owing to his particularly crafty housemates who are not currently in graduate school. And anyway I just took some pictures of the things happening in their backyard while lingering over my beer, and there were plenty to note.

The epic woodpile really set a tone.

The light in this tree was so summer.

I couldn't stop myself.

Empty plate, empty shoe.

Coldframe sort of box built from old windows.

Dinos.

Great outdoor table under all those grillettes.

A keg of homebrew.

The last of the light.

The garden was full of stranger children and I felt funny taking pictures of stranger children so you'll have to wait til next time I visit for pictures of that. But I'm telling you, artichokes like hydrangeas. Patience, I'm always reminding myself, is a virtue.