I’m sure none of us ever intended to feed our pets melamine or tainted wheat gluten.



Just so you know - a prescription dry pet food has been recalled in addition to all the wet stuff that’s been recalled over the last few weeks. Here are some links:


CNN Report

Recalled food list

Thread on Kos with some good info



We’re transitioning to Pet Promise for the cats. After OJ’s illness a few months ago, the last thing I want to do is have something happen to them because pet food companies were too busy putting shitty filler into their overpriced junk food.


I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, the regular reader, that I suspect it’s only a matter of time before we find out that, oops, it’s somehow gotten into the human food supply.

It’s worth mentioning, as always, that Stella Marrs makes wonderful postcards.



If she did a book, I’d buy it. For now, postcards.

Here’s something of interest to me:


In what animal welfare advocates are describing as a “historic advance,” Burger King, the world’s second-largest hamburger chain, said yesterday that it would begin buying eggs and pork from suppliers that did not confine their animals in cages and crates. The company said that it would also favor suppliers of chickens that use gas, or “controlled-atmospheric stunning,” rather than electric shocks to knock birds unconscious before slaughter. It is considered a more humane method, though only a handful of slaughterhouses use it. The goal for the next few months, Burger King said is for 2 percent of its eggs to be “cage free,” and for 10 percent of its pork to come from farms that allow sows to move around inside pens, rather than being confined to crates. The company said those percentages would rise as more farmers shift to these methods and more competitively priced supplies become available. The cage-free eggs and crate-free pork will cost more, although it is not clear how much because Burger King is still negotiating prices, Steven Grover, vice president for food safety, quality assurance and regulatory compliance, said. Prices of food at the chain’s restaurants will not be increased as a result. While Burger King’s initial goals may be modest, food marketing experts and animal welfare advocates said yesterday that the shift would put pressure on other restaurant and food companies to adopt similar practices. [emphases mine]


Will it change the world? No, but if you’d told me five years ago that a fast-food chain would be changing its practices in the above ways, I would have thought you were completely insane.


Progress.

It’s tax time chez B-K.


It wouldn’t be so bad if we could decide where our money was going. You know, like universal health care or high-speed rail or subsidies for small regional farmers using sustainable agricultural practices. Or universal higher education or renewing infrastructure in public schools or water conservation efforts. Or regional emergency food programs or alternative energy subsidies or national park preservation.


Actually, we’re really tax-stupid. We don’t have many complications, but it’s hard for us anyway. Anyone have any really excellent web resources for tax questions/issues/fears?


Needless to say, the illustration above is Lucy van Pelt, one of Charles Schulz’s most beloved Peanuts characters.

Not much time for rumination, but here’s a sampling of the random thoughts jumping into my mind over the last hour: - Would it be bad to e-stalk Joan Dye Gussow? I kid! Sort of. She wrote This Organic Life a few years ago but has a vast amount of scholarly work under her belt. Most of it was written in the 70s and 80s, but it’s shockingly relevant for today and also for the work I do. I’ve been ordering her out-of-print books. I’m rending clothing over not being able to get scholarly articles. I rue the fact she doesn’t have a blog. But… I really dug this. And I do have her email address somewhere…


- While Google-stalking Ms. Gussow, I ran across this reality teevee show. I’d watch it - JDG, Nell Newman, and some other foodies? I’d be really impressed if they tackled hunger/poverty in there too.


- I love trains, especially workaday freight trains and tired-but-dependable Amtraks. I stood on the platform in Springfield yesterday afternoon to pick up The Teenager ™. It was about 80 degrees, the sun was shining, and the train huffed into the station like trains have done for 150 years. No trains, no nothing, you know? I’d love to see nationwide high-speed rail.


- I wonder what’s for dinner. I’m not even that hungry, but I wonder nevertheless.


- My low back felt ULTRAMEGA OK until about two hours ago. This, after weeks of unremitting aggravating naggy back bullshit. I’m grateful.


- Lilly’s soccer team has named itself the Dragonriders. Awesome.


- Go, Tracy! Anyone whose platform centers around improving school food is going to not only get my vote, but my assistance and my constant nattering (and Cody’s, too!).

As in, Spring has arrived with a…”. The neighborhood is filled with birdsong and green bits poking up out of the ground. It’s a big relief, both mentally and physically - Spring came again! Awesome! - and it’s like every bit of possibility I was unable to see during the winter, especially the coming of winter, is right here, in my face, bright and shiny and… green. Yes! ****** Every once in awhile I get back in touch with someone I went to high school with. Recently, due to a bizarre dream involving early 90s bands, I’ve been exchanging emails with E, a former classmate now residing in the UK. We exchanged photos of ourselves and our kids and were suitably amazed (well, I was). He also sent some photos of himself and some other dudes we went to school with from a recent ski trip. I couldn’t believe it - why is it that guys basically look the same?? Damn. I haven’t seen anyone from high school in years, so I publicly counter his recent photos with this ancient one: I should probably write J if I’m going to be posting photos of her on the internets. (Did I really just post that picture?)

Tonight I put my 14 year-old baby (he’ll be 15 in July) on the train to Chicago for a visit to his father. It’s not the first time we’ve put him on the Amtrak - far from it - but every time we do I always wait until I see him sitting in his seat, earbuds firmly inserted into his ears; then I wait until I can’t see the train anymore before leaving the station. Today I had a conference for work in Charleston, Illinois, at Eastern Illinois University. It’s Jim’s alma mater and I’d never been there. On the way down (at 6:30 the heck AM), I idly wondered if the buildings would be all late 50s/early 60s serviceable/collegey/publicky. I was not disappointed in the exteriors, which I did not photograph. I also enjoyed the interiors: The conference was a success and I was home by 4:30 to enjoy the remainder of the Vernal Equinox. The weather obliged by being totally stellar. Thank heavens there’s basketball on the teevee tomorrow night. Go, Salukis! A couple other links of possible interest: Deserted Farms in Iceland Edible Flowers Over & out.

In an attempt to jumpstart this blogging thing - I used to be so good at this! - I’m just posting a quick five things before I exit my pajamas and put on my work costume: 1. This thing is a kite. 2. Realestalker blogs about famous people, but not about their personal lives per se - this is about their real estate doings. Links and great photos, many of them envy-producing (particularly those of Red Hot Chili Pepper Anthony Kiedis’ villa). Also? Quite funny. 3. I like seeing what other people do with their Moleskines. I assure you I am nowhere near that creative. 4. Ethicurean is a group blog with lots and lots of food news. They’re into SOLE food - Sustainable, Organic, Local, and Ethical. Sounds good to me. 5. I can trace my current lower back issues to when we got DSL (sad but true!). Now that I’m a desk jockey, I really wish I’d known this stuff sooner. I know - common sense. Not here, apparently. OK! Off I go! Still having trouble creating blank space between paragraphs! I can’t change my view in Wordpress! Anyone?

It’s what happens when you look at the calendar and go, Holy Gods, it’s past the Ides of March and I haven’t started my seeds yet! Last year’s seed starting was far more ambitious. This year I’m starting the same number of seedlings but am keeping the number of varieties way down due to last year’s confusion (I lost track of which variety of tomato or pepper was stationed where in the tray) and to the fact that I’m growing fewer vegetables (but more flowers) this year. Many of my plants will be used for trade (hello, Tumbling Blocks!) or donated to the co-op’s annual plant sale. This year’s tomatoes will be Moonglow, Mexican Midget, and Federle.The peppers are Jimmy Nardello’s, Wenk’s Yellow Hots, and Orange Bell. I’m growing a shitload of Sweet Genovese basil and started some bok choi and broccoli raab for kicks, since I’ve never grown them before. Kelly sent those seeds along. Everything else will go straight into the ground when it gets warm enough. So, yeah. I guess I’m on my way! I’m trying hard to get excited, but I’m a bit flummoxed regarding the passage of time. How did it get to be the third week of March already? I have to get some compost trucked in, for God’s sake; getting it trucked in and onto the garden before any rain comes (incurring Jim’s faux-wrath) is going to be quite a trick. Here’s a question for Gezellig Girl: you know that roast chicken recipe you love? We love it too. But I have to know - does it smoke to the point of setting off alarms in yr place? It’s going at such a high temperature, and it’s moisture-avoidant to avoid steaming… and though it turns out delectably every single time, my eyes are burning.

I have tired of the autumnal color scheme, the banner, all of it.