Birke Baehr on the problems with our food industry

You might have noticed from my last post that I've been thinking a lot about food lately. I've been struggling with the cost of maintaining a healthy, ethical, nutrient-rich diet, especially with student loans looming.

This 11 year old finally said what I needed to hear. "We can pay the farmers, or we can pay the hospitals." Well darn. I guess that 'bout settles it!

Seriously, this guy has so many good points it's pretty hard not to agree with him.




P.s. I like Kale chips too. In fact, I'm about to make a batch!

I came across this video while reading Crystal Nelson's Blog.

I think I pissed blogger off...

It's been so long since I wrote a proper post that I think Blogger is mad at me. I wrote up a nice one for your guys, but then everything possible went wrong with formating and stuff just broke.

Here's the gist of it. I took a break, and then I had too much news to share, but none of it seemed worthy of a big "I'm back!" kind of post. So I didn't blog for about 8 months.

So here's a little photo representation of my life since January:

I graduated! (With highest honors. I am a nerd. Thanks for listening. I'm done bragging now.)

I started spinning again. Sort of.

I grew my first solo garden!

I processed a total of 7.5lbs of basil into pesto for my freezer.

I had a blast at Mountain Jam, Oldsongs, and GrassRoots music festivals!

I got a "new" van! A '93 Dodge Caravan! I pimped it out so that I can sleep in it when I have far away events. It is totally dope. That's a Buzz Lightyear air mattress, by the way.

Most of all, I've cooked and eaten lots of delicious food in my HUGE kitchen in my new apartment.

I also went to Cape Cod a couple times, I've been traveling all over the place selling jewelry, I'm working on a new website, I build an awesome hookah for a final project, I did some nice ceramics work, I've been hula hooping again, and I have some beautiful new designs up on Etsy!

Hi! If you made it to the end, thanks for looking! I promise that my upcoming posts won't be this nutty.

Thinking of you...

Thinking of you..., originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

Hi Dad!

I had my friend take this photo for me in Mendoza, Argentina while we were touring the vineyards. I couldn't believe it when I saw the John Deere! I had to give it a hug. It made me think of home and of you. I love you! Happy Father's Day!

Nobody, not even Henry Higgins...

could make a lady out of me.

About an hour ago I got home from the fields and jumped in the shower. I washed my hair, bundled it all up in a towel, threw on a comfortable (read: horribly unflattering) house dress and sat down to write a thank you letter to my great uncle (to that extent I am a lady). Upon sealing and stamping this letter I headed out across the street to retrieve the day's mail, and put my letter in the box. As I stood at the side of our busy road chatting on the phone with my mother I spied the vet, my dad, and his employee standing at the barn door talking. I laughed to my mother that I could not possibly look more absurd with my towel, flip flops (now am I talking about shoes or my unharnessed chest, because I swear I'm too young for this?!) and comfortable house dress.

Little did I know...


I crossed the street with no mishap, and as I grabbed the mail and reached up to insert my letter two giant trailer trucks blew by just feet from where I stood. It was the end, I tell you. I dropped the phone, and nearly dropped the mail as the wind from the trucks blew my towel tower over, my skirt flew up, and tried to rip my letter from my hand. My mother called to me from the phone in the grass, asking what happened. I tried to pretend it was nothing and no one had just seen my bare bottom, but as I turned around to cross the street again, towel hanging limply from my shoulders (along with my pride. Oh and speaking of hanging...can we talk about the girls again?), the employee was waving from the barn with a ridiculous grin on his face.


'enry 'iggins, do your worst.

In Which I Attempt to Catch Up - Ep. 3 - Work

Yes indeed...work. I do a lot of it!

This summer is pretty good, as summers go. I'm working at Taft Farms and Off the Beaded Path, both places I love, doing work I enjoy. At Taft Farms I pick asparagus and plant or pick or really any field work they need from me. Once strawberry season starts I'll be picking those (any day now!) I get to spend every morning outside with plants, and I'm getting into a really good sleeping pattern. Sleep by 10:30, up by 7. I dig it. I'm working on getting up at 6.

Of course, on top of that I'm doing a LOT with my jewelry this summer! I'll post the finalized summer schedule soon.

New Beginning

It's been some time since I've actively participated in the blogging world. At one time the popularity of LiveJournal was thrilling, and keeping track of my high school buddies was a great excuse. LiveJournal was always a load of crap though, we all knew it, and now we've got MySpace and Facebook to do that for us, and they don't need constant attention! My little working knowledge of this system is owed entirely to the genius of the one and only J. Farber and his Intro to Web Design course that I took...a million years ago.

I'm running a small business called Soul of a Starving Artist. I make jewelry, and for the most part it pays for itself, though not much more. I am a Metals major, at SUNY New Paltz, but I'm stuck in the foundation requirement BS that apparently everyone has to go through. It hurts, let me tell you, to know that I'm paying good money for professors who haven't graduated, and don't want to be there. This is not the standard of education my prep school pampered brain is used to. My farmer's daughter work ethic isn't happy either. What am I supposed to do with my time if I don't have anything to study? This is currently my biggest gripe.

I have a great passion for art, and I am utterly impatient when something is holding me back from accomplishing my goals. I am stubborn as a mule, or my father (we are two of a kind in many ways.)

I am generally a happy person.

Cheers!

Robin Marie