Overview of the Current "Food" Movement

One may not agree with all of Michael Pollan's positions re: "food," but few people have a grasp like his of the players and issues involved when it comes to the increasingly prominent subject of "food" in our culture. And as a long-time journalist and author, his pen is as skilled as his grasp is current and encyclopedic. His most recent summary is coming in the June 10 issue of The New York Times Review of Books, titled "The Food Movement, Rising." It can be read now here.

This is a helpful paragraph from his review, describing the dizzying array of permutations within the "food" movement:

Where many social movements tend to splinter as time goes on, breaking into various factions representing divergent concerns or tactics, the food movement starts out splintered. Among the many threads of advocacy that can be lumped together under that rubric we can include school lunch reform; the campaign for animal rights and welfare; the campaign against genetically modified crops; the rise of organic and locally produced food; efforts to combat obesity and type 2 diabetes; “food sovereignty” (the principle that nations should be allowed to decide their agricultural policies rather than submit to free trade regimes); farm bill reform; food safety regulation; farmland preservation; student organizing around food issues on campus; efforts to promote urban agriculture and ensure that communities have access to healthy food; initiatives to create gardens and cooking classes in schools; farm worker rights; nutrition labeling; feedlot pollution; and the various efforts to regulate food ingredients and marketing, especially to kids.

I am personally interested in "all the above," some more than others, but am most interested in a part of the movement that, shamefully, has no national presence—a biblical/Christian perspective on food and nutrition and their relationship to broader issues of creation-care and stewardship; a distinctly Christian perspective. Granted, at best "the church" gets short shrift from the culture whenever she speaks. Part of that dismissal is for spiritual reasons—nobody likes to be told they are accountable to God. But part of it is because the church doesn't speak practically or winsomely enough (if she speaks at all) to gain a hearing, which is the case regarding food, nutrition, etc.

I hope the day will come when Pollan's paragraph, re-summarized by future writers, will include recognition that the Christian church has a dog in this (food) fight (bad metaphor, admittedly). Whether that happens, of course, depends on whether followers of Jesus develop a kingdom perspective on these issues.

America's Economic Future (Collapse)

The National Inflation Association has produced a very current, 55-minute video on America's economic present and future. It features well-known economic conservatives like Marc Faber, Jim Rogers, and Ron Paul. It shows why the current spin coming out of Washington, that the Obama administration's stimulus plans have created a recovery, is an illusion. It clearly shows that America is bankrupt; that America will NEVER be able to pay off her debts (massively increased in the last two years by the administration's printing and borrowing of money, as well as the ongoing two wars); and how the only hope for reducing unpayable debt is the one governments have always used: inflation. That means the government will inflate the debt away by printing more paper dollars to pay the debt. The result for consumers will be massive inflation or hyper-inflation which will result in increased prices for everything, high interest rates, and a radical decline in American standards of living and well-being. In other words, things are bad now and are only going to get worse.

The average American will not take 55 minutes to watch this video (or seek out other sources of information) but will choose to believe sound bites coming out of Washington and from the main-stream media. But I strongly encourage you to invest an hour in your, and your children's, future. The jettisoning of at least four incumbent politicians in yesterday's primaries is a good sign, but I fear that the point made in the video is true: today, there is NO difference between Republicans and Democrats. It was a Republican administration (and the Federal Reserve), prior to the current one, that set in motion the sub-prime crisis, two wars we cannot afford, etc. So even if Democrats are ousted by Republicans in November, that is no guarantee of a solution. The Tea Party Movement shows that lots of people are waking up to the nightmare of the last two years—the sea change in government policies that are counter to historic American values. So perhaps there is some hope that things WON'T GET WORSE than they will be in the immediate future. Even Republicans can do nothing about America's debt, so regardless of who is in Washington, citizens have to take responsibility for their own futures.

This video is a good primer. You may not agree with every opinion stated, but I found 98 percent of it to be sober and calm—just the facts:

ANDI Scores

Dr. Joel Fuhrman's ANDI list is becoming well-known, ANDI standing for "Aggregate Nutrient Density Index"—a way of measuring the nutrients-per-calorie of foods. Wholefoods Markets are publishing the ANDI list throughout their stores in an attempt to help shoppers become "Nutritarians" (Dr. Fuhrman's term)—people who choose and eat foods with the highest nutrient density possible. Of course, plants dominate the ANDI scores, resulting in a nutritarian diet being a plant-based diet. The opposite ends of the scale are bracketed by kale and collards at 1000 and cola at 1.

You can read more about the ANDI scores at Dr. Fuhrman's web site here, about Wholefoods' use of the ANDI scores in their stores here (scroll down for an additional link), and view the basic ANDI chart below:

Beware the North Carolina Strawberry Glut

I have read several times in the last couple weeks about an anomaly in the North Carolina (and other areas as well) summer strawberry harvest. Unusual weather patterns have caused strawberry production to be sudden, large, and not anticipated to be ongoing. That is, all the summer berries are going to come in at once resulting in abundance and lower prices, especially at U-Pick-Um farms.

While I like strawberries as much as the next person, I never by conventional strawberries because they are so heavily sprayed with toxic pesticides. Strawberries, along with other soft-skin fruits like peaches, are consistently ranked at the top of the "Do Not Eat These Conventional Fruits" lists because of their high pesticide residues. Instead, eat organically-grown versions. None of our bodies suffer from chemical poison deficiencies that need to be remedied by eating petroleum-based chemical poisons. :-)

So while the summer strawberry glut is tempting, and baskets of berries are showing up at farmer's markets, I would definitely avoid those that are not organic. Last summer, whenever I found organic strawberries on sale at Earthfare or other local stores, I would buy extra and dump them into gallon Zip-Lock type bags and put them in the freezer to use in smoothies during the winter. I still have a couple gallons left. They can be a little mushy when defrosted, but since I use them only in smoothies (while frozen) that's not a problem.

The Environmental Working Group's list of the conventional foods to avoid because of heavy pesticide residues, along with the least contaminated (along with an iPhone App with the same information) can be found here.

A Better Use for Your Microwave Oven

Dr. Mercola has one of the best summaries of studies done on the negative impacts of residential microwave ovens I've seen. Who could think for a minute that applying microwave radiation to food could result in anything positive? I realize most people will ignore his warnings because microwaves are standard in the American lifestyle. I encourage you to read the report here.

My house came with a built in microwave, of course, but it never gets used—ever. Instead, I've found it makes a great bulk food storage area for nuts, seeds, grains, dried fruits, etc. You'll be safer and healthier (read the report) by using your microwave for the same (or other useful) purpose:

Garden Shots

Anybody who raises vegetables luxuriates in the variety of sights the garden offers. Just a few quick pics from this weekend:

The first tomatoes are appearing on the vines:

A bouquet of squash flowers blooms in the cool of every morning:

The ants love something sweet they find in the middle of the squash flowers:

A forest of Bourdeaux spinach -- I love the contrast of the green leaves with the red stems and veins:

After a couple waterings with compost tea, this avocado tree is putting out some HUGE dark green leaves:

From Jennifer's Kitchen

Yesterday, my daughter-in-law Jennifer posted a recipe for a delicious dish I have eaten with her family at their house. So I had to try it tonight:

She didn't name it, so I'll just call it "Jen's Spicy Rice, Beans, and Greens." It is REALLY good and full of whole, plant foods. Here's her recipe:

1 onion

1 can crushed/diced tomatoes

3 tsp. coriander

1.5 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp. Garam Masala (Google this -- you'll find places to buy it -- a GREAT Indian/South Asian spice mix)

1/4 tsp. turmeric

1 can chickpeas/garbanzos, rinsed

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

1 bunch of greeens (spinach, kale, charc) rinsed and chopped, or 1 pack frozen spinach

Saute onion in oil or water until soft. Stir in tomatoes, coriander, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, and salt. Cook for 3 mins. Stir in chickpeas and greens and simmer 10 minutes or until the greens are as soft as you like.

Serve over a plate of rice (brown/basmati/jasmine -- not white!). Also good over quinoa. (Of course, double the recipe if you want to make more.)

I doubled the recipe (and have plenty left for another meal), added some cubed extra firm tofu, and chopped mushrooms. But frankly, this recipe I had from Jennifer's kitchen was better than mine, so I might should have stuck with the recipe. Plus, I didn't have any coriander, so that might have weakened mine. I think I more than doubled some things, and probably didn't double the spices "enough." These spices are NOT hot in temperature, but very flavorful -- think India -- especially the garam masala.

Thanks, Jennifer!

CSA Harvest #3

Picked up another great box of veggies fresh from the ground today—2010's third CSA delivery from New Town Farms in Waxhaw, NC (about 15 minutes from my house). This week there are three large heads of different lettuces, a head of escarole or endive (not sure which), a bag of baby arugula, a bundle of chard leaves, a huge bok choy plant, a bundle of "candy" carrots (Eliot Coleman's term for sweet baby carrots, usually sweeter in the winter), three baby Waxahalia onions (these are the same onions grown in Vidalia, GA, but which cannot legally be called "Vidalias" unless they're grown there, so Sammy combined Waxhaw and Vidalia and calls them Waxahalia onions), a bundle of red kale, and a small broccoli head from the first cutting of the spring broccoli. (New this week as they come on line: broccoli, carrots, and onions—new flavors for the palate as the weeks progress.)

I post these pictures weekly as a chronicle of the seasons. Because food is shipped all over the world today, our grocery store produce sections have "everything" all the time, regardless of season. But everything doesn't grow all the time. Plants have seasons, and I have to think there is great wisdom in learning to eat with the seasons; that our bodies, unbeknownst to us, process different foods better in different seasons. That's a foreign thought given the conditioning we are used to—for example, having tomatoes in winter. But a modern grocery store is a wholly unnatural thing (said the naturalist whose last name means "grocer" in Dutch). If I can ever have a parcel of ground large enough to grow my own food year 'round, I'll pursue eating with the seasons more faithfully. But being part of a great CSA like New Town Farms is a step in that direction.

(Wilbur update: Wilbur was right where I left him last week—snoozing in the cool, green grass; still underwhelmed with my presence, but I'm undeterred in my efforts to be his pal.)

How to Get the Oil out of the Gulf

I love people who spend their days solving problems—like the two guys in this video. They demonstrate an unbelievably simple way to mop up the oil that's already escaped from the damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico, keeping it from fouling the beaches. Are there problems with their idea? Perhaps—but it sounds better than anything else I've heard. Guys like this are often laughed at by "scientists" because they wear overalls and "talk funny." But I love these guys and others like them—solving problems simply. (They don't say in this video, but it's important to remember that oil is lighter than water and floats on the surface of the ocean, making their system workable.) (Thanks to Daniel for the heads-up on this video, apparently first published on the Huffington Post this week.)

Bike Ballet

One of the three major pro bike races of the year, the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy), began yesterday. It features a TTT—a team time trial. That's when all nine members of a pro team ride together over a prescribed course, one team at a time, racing against the clock. The team that rides the prescribed course fastest wins the TTT segment of the three-week race. The TTT is one of the most popular stages in a pro bike race for the fans who watch on TV. The TTT is a carefully choreographed ballet—nine riders flying in a straight line at upwards of 30 mph, tire to tire. They can lose up to three members (crashes, mechanical problems) and still win if they cross the line with six of the starting nine. The time of the fifth rider to cross the line (I think) is the time given to the entire team.

Michael Barry, who rides for the British Sky Team (and writes about pro bike riding), published this video of the Sky Team practicing near Amsterdam for the Giro d'Italia TTT. There is a camera attached to his handlebars, and another attached to a trailing motorcycle (I think) that Barry turns on as they set out. In the video, watch how fast they move and how closely they ride to one another—and how the lead rider in the train, who does the hard work of breaking the air barrier at the front of the line, peals off after about 20-30 seconds of hard pulling at the front, and fades back to last place in line to catch his breath. The line cycles that way for the entire length of the course. And watch for the HUGE two bladed wind-powered electrical generator (near the beginning of the video)—Europe is way ahead of the U.S. in alternative energy.

Watch for a yellow car that passes the team on the road and throws something at the riders, and the reaction of the Team Sky rider in white. I might expect that in the U.S.—surprising to see it in Holland where biking is ingrained in the culture. Idiocy knows no nationality, I guess.

And check out the Team Sky bus that ferries the riders from race to race. Nice.

In the words of the lyrics to the techno rhythm accompanying the video, "If you got a pair of headphones—you better get 'em on and get 'em cranked up!" (See more of Michael Barry's writing and videos about life as a pro bike rider at his blog, Michael Barry: Le Métier.)

Oh, and I have to say: Team Sky rides the Pinarello Dogma 60.1 (the Pinarello Graal is the brand new time trial version of the Dogma), a fold-out picture of which is taped to my bathroom mirror. It's an Italian dream machine. I have never ridden a time trial bike and would be scared to. They're like regular race bikes except, instead of regular handlebars, they have tiny hand grips jutting off the front of the handlebars that the riders grasp, with their elbows resting on the handlebars, to create more of an aerodynamic position for speed. Thus, in the video, you see the camera on Barry's bike shooting between his two hands. The closer your hands are together, the less control one has over the bike. And at 30 mph . . . ? I would love to do this—bike ballet!

Cold Spring, Mt. Pleasant, NC

I came across a great web site—findaspring.com—that identifies fresh-water springs all over the world. Turns out there is one, Cold Spring, in Mt. Pleasant, North Carolina, about 30 miles from where I live. (Note: This obviously isn't the only spring near Charlotte, it's just the only one that a user has uploaded to findaspring.com. The site is user-generated, so reflects only the springs that individuals have visited and uploaded to the site.) The web site provides directions and how to locate the spring, and finding it was a snap. If you want to look for a spring near you, just drill down through the world map on the web site until you get to your locale—it's pretty self-explanatory.

Cold Spring is located behind Cold Springs United Methodist Church and the water is free for the taking. The church has a traditional Southern "supper on the grounds" pavilion right by the spring, and all the grounds are neat and well maintained. The spring runs 24 x 7 x 365—one long-time resident of the area I talked with said he'd never known it not to run, even in periods of severe drought. The spring is down in a low place behind the church with hills rising up behind it. I can only assume that the high water table in the hills keeps pushing the water out at the low place. It is a beautiful, quiet place. The church has constructed a sort of grotto with a reservoir out of which the spring runs from two outlets.

Armed with all the jars and containers I had on hand, I set out after church this morning to get some real live spring water and had a pleasant afternoon in Mt. Pleasant. I've included more pics and movies than you want to see—but hope you enjoy your virtual tour.

Here's where Mt. Pleasant is located in relation to Matthews, near where I live:

This is Cold Springs United Methodist Church, a modern facility that stands on the grounds of the original church. I was surprised at how big the church is for the rural area in which it is located.

The church cemetery across the street—not sure of the purpose of this interesting structure in the cemetery:

This sign behind the church points the way to the spring. The church's web site indicates that people stopped for water at this spring as far back as the 1830's—and probably before. I assume "the 1830's" is as far back as written records exist:

Behind the church, looking down toward the spring. The hand rail is alongside steps that lead down to the spring and the supper pavilion:

Isn't this nice? Shady, cool, and not a sound except for the gurgling of pure water coming out of, and going back into, the ground. The stone work around the spring looks to be at least 50 years old:

This concrete cistern, I assume, goes down into the ground a ways and captures the water from the spring and channels it into the outlet pipe. The two outlets empty into a drain that runs somewhere—perhaps into a small creek that runs behind the spring? This reminds me of a cabin in the mountains outside West Jefferson, NC, where my son and his wife lived for a while (and where their first child was born). Water for the cabin flowed downhill through a pipe from a spring on the side of the mountain behind the cabin, into a pressurized bladder (holding tank) in the house, which then fed the kitchen and bathroom with water. That water also filled the large birthing tank set up in the cabin in which their first child was birthed. Being born in that mountain spring water probably accounts for Ellen's sweet disposition! :-)

The sounds of running water:

I filled up all the containers I brought with me—probably three gallons total:

I was so impressed that I decided, "I need more containers." So I set off looking for Mt. Pleasant to find a grocery store and saw more than one abandoned homestead:

While I was wandering around looking for Mt. Pleasant, I came across this repository of memories standing like a sentinel, a reminder of times past, on an abandoned farm. Who sat on this porch, and what did they talk about?

I'm speculating here, but I'm sure this house started as most old farm houses of this era did, as a two-story rectangle with chimneys on both ends. Sometime later, as resources allowed, the two sections in the rear were added—either at two different times (my guess) or at the same time. I'm thinking the smaller one was a bathroom (there would have been an original outhouse, separate from the main house), the larger a kitchen—most of the windows had blinds and I couldn't see in; where I could see revealed that most of the interior had been gutted, hopefully in anticipation of refurbishing. But there was no sign of recent activity, sadly.

A small "house" standing in a pasture about a hundred yards from the main house:

A beautiful black walnut tree in the side yard:

It wouldn't be a Southern farm house without a magnolia in the front yard—there were two of them:

In time, prosperity brought black and white images sent through the air and viewed on an electric screen, around which a farm family gathered to be influenced in ways they couldn't have foreseen (and might have avoided if they'd known who and what they were inviting into their home):

Another icon of abandoned farm houses: a hornets nest. While this one has been mostly removed, you can see the size of it by the stains, like tree rings, on the siding under the eave of the house:

I finally found Mt. Pleasant—a few shots of "downtown." The office of the local barrister:

Not sure what happened in 1929—perhaps Mr. Moose passed on and left the store to another:

The main business district:

I found a Food Lion, bought six gallon jugs of some kind of filtered water, poured out the water and took the jugs back to capture more spring water. (I know, I know—it's just the way I'm wired. I didn't drive all the way to Cold Spring to bring back tacky Food Lion water. I wanted the natural minerals from the spring water which are absent from distilled and reverse osmosis bottled water.)

On my way back to the spring, I passed a lovely house with bird feeders and bird houses for sale in the front yard. (Note the large "box" hanging underneath the table—it's the payment box.)

If the owner/builder, Troy Miller, hadn't been home, I would have obeyed the sign on his table and put my money in the slot (vertical slot beneath the word "cleaning"). Nice to know the honor system lives on in rural America:

Fortunately, Troy was home and we had a nice chat, and I bought this great bird feeder from him. He said he didn't think anyone had ever taken a bird house without paying. He found an I.O.U. in the box one time—it was from his daughter, who lives next door. :-)

I returned to the spring and filled up my six gallon jugs and made it home with about 10 gallons of wonderful water. On the way out of Mt. Pleasant, I saw these four monuments. The second from the left is a 1949-1950 era Ford. My family had one of these—a "ragtop" (convertible) when I was around 5-6 years old (around 1953) in Decatur, Alabama. My dad grew up in a car-business family and loved cars. Our beige '49-'50 Ford convertible was pretty snazzy for its day. These looked a little worse for wear. But they're available. Let me know if you want directions. :-)

A pleasant afternoon at Cold Spring in Mt. Pleasant, North Carolina. If I can rustle up some of those BIG blue-colored water jugs that you see in offices, etc., I'll probably go back for another load. I don't know who is behind the findaspring.com site, but I'm thankful for their efforts.

Wilbur

I look forward to picking up my CSA box at New Town Farms on Thursdays this year because I get to see Wilbur, the Koenigsberg's French Mastiff (Dogue de Bordeaux, Bordeaux Mastiff, or French Mastiff). He is such a sweetheart. He has jaws that could probably separate your foot from your calf, but is Mr. Laid Back. I woke him up from a sound sleep in the hot sun this afternoon:

He seemed underwhelmed with my efforts to be friends:

Another wonderful harvest in today's box: kale, BIG bag of spinach, BIG bag of salad greens, and BIG bag of braising greens, plus beets, turnips, and full size bok choi:

What Warren Buffet Did, and Didn't, Give His Children

An interesting interview on today's "Morning Edition" program on NPR with Peter Buffett, son of Warren Buffett, the world's third richest person (according to the March, 2010, Forbes ranking). Warren Buffett plans to leave his children with a good bit of training, but very few dollars. Peter Buffett, a musician, inherited $90,000 from his grandfather when he was 19. It would have grown to $73 million if he'd invested it in his father's holding company, but instead he bought music equipment to begin his successful career in music, and happily so. The money that the elder Buffett will leave his three children is $1 billion each with which to do charitable work, but none for themselves personally. An interesting perspective on how one of the world's richest people taught his children about money. (Like not being willing to give Peter a small loan when he was in his twenties. It made the younger Buffett angry then, but now he is glad for his father's decision.)

You can read or listen to the interview on the NPR web site here.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

If you, or anyone you know, suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, please read the testimony of a 40-year-old (female) competitive marathon runner who was struck with R.A. and cured of it (and other illnesses) within a few weeks after switching to a vegan diet under the care of Dr. John McDougall. This is a powerful testimony to the healing power of foods (and the elimination of animal products, which this person ate heavily prior to switching to a vegan diet). Read it here.

One wonders how much evidence it takes to convince people who live with sickness to adjust their diets. I have a post coming about a recent conference where TONS of information was presented about diet and health. Stay tuned.

This Can't Be Good, But It's Funny

Lance Armstrong is expecting his second child with gal-pal Anna Hansen, his second with her and fifth overall (the first three with his ex-wife).

The four-month-old, in-utero Armstrong already has a Twitter account ("cincoarmstrong") with 2,433 followers. This can't be good, but it is funny.

Creativity

Two illustrations of pure creativity:

First, a palindrome (read the same way in either direction, in this case with opposite meanings) written by a 20-year-old. You have to watch it all the way through to see how it works:

Next, for the younger generation who have never seen it, the most famous commercial in history: Apple's famous "1984" ad introducing the Macintosh computer. It ran only once, during the 1984 Super Bowl. It was produced by Ridley Scott and was based on George Orwell's 1984 with IBM pictured in the role of "Big Brother." This video is of Steve Jobs presenting the "1984" commercial at an Apple conference in the fall of 1983. Nobody can accuse Jobs of a lack of creativity and charisma, even 27 years ago. (Ironically, some wonder if Jobs has become "Big Brother," with Apple now being the third largest company in America [market cap] behind Exxon and Microsoft.) The commercial itself is powerful, but to see it in the context of Jobs' remarks is a part of cultural history (let it play past the opening sound track):

The Three Sisters

Southwestern Mexican/Indian populations historically grew a combination of vegetables known as "the Three Sisters": corn (maize), squash, and beans. The corn stalks grew tall, the squash grew low and provided shade and cooling for the soil while blocking weed growth, and the beans trailed up the corn stalks using them as a natural trellis as well as fixing nitrogen in the soil to feed the corn, a heavy nitrogen user. The U.S. Mint even produced a $1 gold coin commemorating the Three Sisters" on the reverse side:

Joel Gruver, professor of agriculture at Western Illinois University, uses backyard wading pools to create raised garden beds. I noticed in a series of pictures he posted on his beds project (here and here) that he is growing the Three Sisters in one: beans in the outermost circle, corn in the middle circle, and squash growing in the middle. Very creative! Something anyone could do to create a YardFarm in their own urban or suburban setting:

(Thanks to Joel Gruver for the use of the pic of his growing pool.)

Update: I heard from Joel -- his variation on the "Three Sisters" was that the beans were bush beans instead of climbing (pole) beans, and the center planting is cukes instead of squash (the starter leaves on both plants are similar, so I had assumed squash). He said the corn was a tropical variety that got over 12 feet tall (!) planted in the pool. The cukes didn't fare as well because of the shallow soil and need for continual watering. But, as the pics I linked to above testify, the pools are perfect for growing mesclun mix and other salad greens that require less depth.)

Imitating Intergenerational, Indigenous Eaters

Another fine passage from The Jungle Effect by Daphne Miller, M.D., this time on how our modern culture has disrupted the age-old, powerful process of youngsters learning how to eat by imitating their elders:

At the same time that the mass media are pushing us to imitate celebrities, we have lost our opportunity to imitate our elders. It is now customary for people to leave home oat a young age and live apart from their parents or grandparents, often being separated from one another by hundreds of miles. With this distance, we have lost our opportunity to learn how to grow, collect, and prepare our indigenous foods. In addition, the family meal during which a group sits down together on a daily basis is slowly becoming extinct. Most of us find ourselves eating alone and often in front of the television. [WK—Guilty as charged.) This is a practice that invariably leads to overeating, since television prevents us from noticing our body's natural cues that tell us we are full. In addition, eating in isolation offers people little chance to learn table manners, share food lore, or appreciate the recipes of the previous generation. For many, celebrations involving feasting of fasting have also lost their importance. As a result, modest everyday meals punctuated by monthly or bimonthly feasts have given way to daily feasts where every meal becomes an overindulgence in calorie rich foods. (P. 42)

Yet another reason to preserve and protect the near-extinct practice of intergenerational living arrangements.

YardFarm

Taken this morning in my tiny front yard garden spaces.

A beautiful, HUGE (8-9" across) zucchini female flower:

The backside of the same flower with the new zucchini at the base:

Russian kale coming up:

Yellow squash:

Several varieties of tomato:

Peppers in a pot:

America and Bordeaux spinach in a planter:

Basil coming up:

Intensive gardening:

Mint, flowering dill, and oregano (growing in kitty litter buckets):

Aloe in a row (begging to be separated and re-potted). When cooking pasta recently, pouring off the boiling water, I managed to pour a stream of near boiling water over my index finger while holding the pot. It turned red, and within a couple minutes I could see a large blister forming. I immediately cut a large stem of aloe, split it open lengthwise, and taped it around my finger and kept it there the rest of the day until bedtime. I then removed it and coated the finger with wheatgrass cream and bandaged it, then another piece of aloe the next morning. After 24 hours, my finger was fine. No pain, no redness, no blister—from what I'm guessing amounted to a second-degree burn. Everybody should keep aloe handy: