570. Never buy a car at night.

(via Mr. Rick Tucker)

GAINING GROUND

Thanks for all the great responses to our GAINING GROUND GIVEAWAY! We’ll be sending out a few signed copies of Forrest’s great book to some very lucky winners.  Rakdad provided the best, albeit unprintable, caption. Suffice to say it had something to do with cigs not stunting the growth of a part of the anatomy, represented by a certain domesticated fowl. 

And if you are interested in a great summer read, consider heading over to  that big bookstore in the sky and purchase your own copy of Forrest Pritchard’s memoir Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmers Markets, Local Food, and Saving the Family Farm.  You can also follow Forrest on Twitter or on his blog at Smithmeadows.com. 

569. If you find yourself just scratching out a living, at least be the best hen in the pen.

568. You can spare us the photograph of your meal.

567. Eat fewer ingredients.

566. It’s not a yard sale. You don’t bargain at the farmer’s market.

FARMERS WANTED!

When I was growing up in the burbs, my family grew exactly two things. Onion grass, which I was instructed to pull by hand on sweltering Saturday mornings and pile high into a rusty wheelbarrow, and mint, which grew in a huge bush beside the garage. And on warm summer nights, my dad would send me out to pick a few fresh mint leaves that he would promptly dunk into his gin and tonic(s).

My gardening skills never progressed beyond a patio tomato plant on a New York rooftop. But I think famers are swell, and no food taste quite as good as food you grow yourself. 

Does anyone have any good rules, tips, or advice about farming, gardening, or growing food? Send them my way, I’d love to share. We could all use a green thumb.

565. Real men have green thumbs.