Ack!

There aren't any posts for August, yet. I must remedy this situation. Trouble is, I have no photos, either. I must remember to keep charged batteries in my camera at all moments.
Thus, this picture comes from Wikimedia Commons and is by André Karwath. Copyright information and details here.

I've been up to quite a bit in August. I froze a quantity of blackberries to match the strawberries. I also froze 12 ears of corn and 4 quarts of tomatoes. Despite my valiant efforts on the local front to prepare for winter, the lack of lemons and the perfect cheeses is going to put an end to this experiment soon. I'll still make the effort, but as with my experiment with vegetarianism, it will be incomplete. The important thing for me is the spirit of the endeavor and not keeping precisely to the letter. For instance, a friend pointed out an article in the New York Times that claims that apples produced and sold in Britain have the same carbon footprint as apples imported from New Zealand (there is efficiency in mass production). However, for me there is more to it than just carbon footprint. There is the selfish reason: fresh apples that haven't been abused by shipping are tastier. And my other reason: I think it makes more sense to support farmers who grow a diverse range of crops rather than ones who produce large quantities of one thing. I have no evidence for this statement, but I believe that growing a diverse range of crops protects our food supply (and our farmers) from the effects of pests and disease. So, I will continue to buy my produce at the farmer's market (as long as I can afford it), but maybe I will feel less bad about buying that lemon.