The readers take over

I’ve been a terrible blogger, making no updates for the longest time. Fortunately, some of our readers have provided me with some good material.

Long-time reader Gregg sent a reminder that although the farmers markets are officially closed, the farmers carry on. Peter of The Gracious Gardener and Van of Flora at Bluebird Farm can be found every Saturday at Square Foods in Cooper-Young. They may be in the parking lot behind the store, so if you don’t see them right away, check there.

Michael from Neola Farms can be found at the Agricenter every Saturday. Just look for the red truck and the crowd of hungry people. Michael and Charline have a new website and mailing list for updates. To be added to the mailing list, send an email to michael at neolafarms.com with “subscribe” as the subject. Soon you’ll be able to subscribe at the website, but that’s not available just yet.

Kimberlie and Ralph of West Wind Farm will be delivering their products to several locations in Memphis over the winter. Email them to join their mailing list to stay up-to-date on where and when they’ll be here.

Our great friend Benito, leader of men, drinker of wine, lover of chickens, sent us this excellent video that explores the current debate raging in Missoula, Montana, about whether people should be allowed to keep chickens within the city limits. Benito assures us that he is pro-chicken. I suppose I should be comforted, but that really just reminds me of that W. C. Fields line, “I like children if they are properly cooked.”

Jonathan Bloom of Wasted Food has a Q&A with our friend Ted Lee of boiled peanuts and The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook fame. We are just one of a bizmillion food blogs talking about cooking food, eating food, and travelling to find food. Bloom’s site is a fascinating (and disturbing) look at the problem of wasted food in America.

A new friend from the Center for Rural Strategies sent us a Daily Yonder article about livermush, that pork treat that is unique to parts of North Carolina. We spent some time at the recent Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium discussing livermush, scrapple, and other pork delights. Actually, I’m interested to try it. My recent experience with a pork terrine at Primo has me ready to go.

I haven’t done much writing lately, but I have at least tried to do more reading. The Daily Yonder is one of the most interesting sites I have seen in a long time. Recent topics include the disproportionate number of soldiers from rural areas dying in Iraq, the reemergence of the medfly in California, and a train engineer who uses hot spots on the engine to cook his meals. I suppose it marks me as an ignorant country boy, but when I think of California, rural is not one of the first things that comes to mind even though I have seen the beautiful rural, agricultural areas of the state for myself. Although we live in the city, it is very exciting to have a reminder of how close “rural” is to us, how close it is to all of America.

Thanks to all of our readers, new friends and old. We appreciate you sticking around even when we aren’t producing tons of delightful material.

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4 thoughts on “The readers take over

  • November 20, 2007 at 10:20 am
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    I love California rural. We’ve got some beautiful rural areas right out our door here too. I love farm country and we are in the thick of it. And dairy no less. MMMmmmmmmm cheese.

  • November 20, 2007 at 12:03 pm
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    i was hoping you took pics at chefs and chiefs…no?

  • November 26, 2007 at 11:29 am
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    seriously, no thanksgiving news?

  • December 4, 2007 at 12:50 pm
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    We didn’t take any pics at Chefs and Chiefs. We are looking at a lens upgrade for nice dining room situations.

    Mama is working on a Thanksgiving piece that I hope to have up by Easter. The real world has been difficult for us lately.

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