Inspiration

Here are some things that are inspiring me lately:

• Permaculture Voices. This podcast shares stories from people around the world who are producing food differently. My favorite episode so far was with Jean-Martin Fortier, who produces $140,000 worth of vegetables on 1.5 acres in Quebec. I love the idea of having a small, intensively productive piece of land with a focus on efficiency and a resistance to growing in scale. I have his book, The Market Gardener, on request at the library and look forward to learning more. 

• Urban farming. I just watched the above poorly filmed but info-rich video of a talk Curtis Stone gave about his methods in Kelowna, BC. I could really see this working in the Twin Cities, and I know there are already some folks making it happen (like Growing Lots). I'm leaning towards doing something like this next year, but I know that long-term I want to have a 5- to 10-acre homestead that includes animals.

• My own crazy garden. It has problems.

I planted the tomatoes in beds that weren't really ready, so they've been competing with some pretty hardy weeds. I tied them up late and poorly, and the system fell apart, so now the tomatoes are sprawling on the ground. But I have tomatoes, and they're delicious.

I have wonderful, productive cucumbers, trellised by Aaron with branches that fell off our maple tree during a storm.

I have a monster zucchini.

(And hopefully some normal-sized zucchini on the way.)

I have watermelon!!!

The Mexican sunflowers attract bees, butterflies (including monarchs), and even hummingbirds.

I have dill for pickling things.

I have beets!

And carrots!

And lima beans that may or may not mature before frost.

And lovely Swiss chard.

And raspberries that are taller than Aaron.

Hot peppers (some cayenne, some unknown variety) drying in the pantry.

My garden has taught me a lot about the benefits of thinking less and doing more. It's a constant inspiration to pursue a life that has a lot to do with good food. And a constant reminder that not-perfect can still be really awesome.

• Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. Aaron, Karly, and I went on a week-long road trip to Yellowstone and Glacier, and we had a great time. I'm so grateful to have these wonderful people in my life. And I feel even more inspired to continue making the outdoors a huge part of my life and to ensure lots of time for travel. I'm working on getting photos organized, but here are a couple highlights:

Sheep in the Badlands.

Buffalo in the mist at Yellowstone.

Crazy bacterial mats at Yellowstone.

Artist's Paint Pots at Yellowstone.

At Ptarmigan Falls, a quarter of the way through our epic hike to Iceberg Lake at Glacier.

Finally made it to Iceberg Lake at Glacier. Felt like a fairy tale.

Aaron broke the rules and ran off the path to get some pretty amazing photos of the mountain goats at Logan Pass - including this very vocal baby.

I hope other folks are feeling inspired, too. It's nice.