Sometimes I get pretty depressed when I sit at the computer and read the news. Most of the really important news I find on-line. The regional papers are pathetic. We don't have any T.V. Public radio is pretty good sometimes. I am most freaked out by climate change. The more I know the worse the situation appears. My own sense is that there's an emergency going on right now. Quick, drop what you are doing and intelligently access the situation and act responsibly!

Meanwhile, folks are just carrying on with their lives as if all is normal. And in most ways, for a lot of people it still is. Live in the present and a lot of what we are used to still works. Don't think about the mathematics behind peak oil, global grain stores, remaining topsoil, aquifer depths, and climatic tipping points, and just hope "those smart people" will make sure it all holds together. I like Kunstler's term for this: The Consensus Trance. Roll on, roll on...Blah, blah, blah...So much useless chatter. Pretend to be interested.

The best antidote to these feelings is getting outside and working. This fall weather is perfect for that and we are currently redesigning an area of our lot called the concrete jungle. I have been thinking about how to transform this into something beautiful and productive and we got going today. I'll share some before and after photos at some point.

Breakfast

Didn't eat a whole lot this morning.

Oct 23 Breakfast

The grape juice is really amazing now. Fizzing delightfully. I drank it all day. Bread is from Bruce's in Calpella. Apples from the neighborhood. That's some black tea (a minor infarction) with Clover milk and Templeton honey.

Lunch

I came inside famished and quickly found that I had two partial servings of leftover soup. So I put them together.

Oct 23 Lunch

The same great grape juice from Frey's Merlot harvest. Soups were made last night (the butternut squash) and Oct 20 dinner (chicken and wild rice). They went fine together. On the side are tomatoes from the garden and a feta cheese from Sebastapol.

The vine-rippened tomatoes are almost gone. I will miss them but the joy of having them again next year will be supreme.

Dinner

Kristin made dinner again! First, she cooked spaghetti squash in the solar oven.

Oct 23 Dinner

I must have drank a couple of quarts of that grape juice today. The squash was combined with a pesto sauce that used our own basil but non-local olive oil. The last of the roasted Willits chicken was mixed in, and the serving was topped with a dry jack cheese from Sonoma. Cucumbers and tomatoes from our garden. That's more of the Bruce bread with Clover butter.

I probably ate twice the amount pictured here.

Worked hard today.

Will probably have some warm milk and honey before bed.