"For Inquiring Minds"

My Microeconomics textbook has little boxes every so often called "For Inquiring Minds". Generally my mind is not too inquiring when it comes to Microeconomics, so I tend to skip over them and onto things I really need to know. But yesterday this one caught my attention: "Where Have All The Farmers Gone?".

"What percentage of Americans live on farms? Sad to say, the U.S. government no longer publishes that number. In 1991 the official percentage was 1.9, but in that year the government decided it was no longer a meaningful indicator of the sixe of the agricultural sector because a large proportion of those who live on farms actually make their living doing something else. But in the days of the Founding Fathers, the great majority of Americans lived on farms. As recently as the 1940's, one American in six-or approximately 17%- still did."

It then goes on to talk about elasticities, and about how "the share of total U.S. income earned by farmers has fallen". The second reason it gives is that technology causes food prices to fall- "progress in farming is good for consumers but bad for farmers."

"In short, the U.S. farm sector has been a victim of success- the U.S. economy's success as a whole (which reduces the importance of spending on food) and its own success in increasing yields."

(Microeconomics, 2nd Edition, Krugman and Wells, page 157)

So basically farming is a crap profession if you want to get rich. Good thing I'm not in it for the money.

Ben and Jerry's, at it again!

I love me some Ben and Jerry's Ice cream. Even if they sold out a little. Last week they held a protest of genetically engineered salmon currently being examined by the FDA in front of the white house, using their flavor "Something's Fishy" (really just Phish Food) to try to get the word out. You can read about it here at Grist. I wish every protest used tasty ice cream as bait!

Grist also has this article, outlining what President Obama has (and perhaps more importantly, hasn't) done for the environment. Very interesting. Not sure exactly how I feel about it, considering the fact that the author brings in other aspects of the Obama Administration somewhat unnecessarily. But it's true, we've heard very little from our President on environmental issues. You'd think in this economic climate it's about time to take chances on some new industries to revitalize. If we continue to be passive about the green sector, we will (and already ARE!) be surpassed by other countries.

This year's view!

This year's view is a huge improvement from last year!

This tree is so pretty, and I love to hear its leaves in the prairie breeze!

I'm excited to see it through all the seasons, because as I recall, it is going to have beautiful flowers in the spring.

Early in the term, and I'm already a little overwhelmed.

But at least I'm doing new (and old) things that I love to do,

and a little refocusing can only make them better.

Remembering to breathe, smile, and just have fun!

Love Book

Remember all those little books I made over the summer?

Well, I used one to make this little book of love.

I can open it on rough days and remember that no matter how I'm feeling, there are people who love me and things in my life that I love to do!

I put in some written appreciations from over the summer. We have a box that staff put little notes of appreciation in during the week, and then we read them out loud at staff meetings. They always keep me going!

I also added some pictures of things I love like plants, giraffes (yay tall creatures of the world!), and cows. Make your own love book, it's easy and you'll be surprised how much it can brighten your day!

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

I may or may not have an obsession with Wendell Berry...

But it is completely justified!!!

Today I was skimming through my copy of American Earth, and re-discovered "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front". Excellent piece of writing! One part that stood out to me was this:

So, friends, every day do something

that won't compute. Love the Lord.

Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

That last bit is especially important. Love someone who does not deserve it. Perhaps through loving that person, they can learn to deserve it. One very important thing I have learned in college is that not everyone was loved as much as me. I have family and friends who have always loved and supported me, and I always took that for granted. So many young people have not been given the love they deserve and are worse off for it. So my goal for this year is to love people who don't deserve it. Instead of writing them off as obnoxious or lazy, give them a little love! And perhaps they will realize a little more of their self-worth and pass it on to someone else.

Food Matters!

Last night I went to a meeting at The Center to plan a "protest" of a Tea Party Rally being held in Galesburg on Thursday. We, a group of community members and Knox students, are going to go and have thoughtful dialogue with the people at the rally. And some people might dress as members of the "Mad" Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland....

It made me feel empowered to be involved in the community outside the "Knox Bubble". But the evening only got better! It turns out they show movies at The Center most Sunday nights, and since I already had my homework done, I decided to stay. Good choice!!! The movie was Food Matters, and awesome documentary about nutrition and the "sickness" industry. Good things that often get pushed aside. The trailer makes it seem more sinister than necessary, but the movie is definitely worth a watch. I often think of "alternative healing" as a bunch of hippie kooks, but the people in this movie are just talking about eating well and eating what our bodies really want and need to stay healthy and heal themselves. It all makes a lot of sense, but as they say, health isn't as profitable as sickness.

Afterwards I was talking with a few people, including the president of our eco-club on campus. We met a Galesburg resident who has some training in bike repair and would love to teach some Knox students! So now we're working on coming up with a meeting time to start a bike repair group! Good stuff.

Enough activism, food politics, and bike talk to get me through the week!

Beginnings and Middles and Ends

Beginnings:

-New classes! Microeconomics, Latin American History, and Soil Science!

-New school year! Lots of new faces on campus. Lots of new opportunities to get involved in activities!

-New job! I'm starting my campus job as a spanish tutor next week.
Middles:

-Worked in the community garden one of my professors started last spring. I started helping out when we were seeding and planting. Now things are going crazy! Muddy shoes= good day!

-I'm about halfway through my college volleyball career (considering I won't be playing next year since I'll hopefully be abroad!), and we are doing great!

-Still developing the friendships I started last year. I appreciate my friends so much. When I'm completely exhausted after practice or a game, they are there for me when I get home!

Ends:

-Yesterday on the bus I finished Goat Song by Brad Kessler. So fantastic. I recommend it most highly! Here are a few little tidbits:

"Our fresh cheese was simply made from clean raw milk. As such, it couldn't be bought or sold anywhere in the United States. If we sold it we'd be put in jail. It was as if we were making not cheese, but moonshine."

"But the forest was a book too. I entered with the goats on page one and lost myself leaf by leaf. Out path climbed through a text of birch and beech. I learned my landscape twig by twig."

-And alas, I suppose, the end of summer. It was good while it lasted!!!

Econ minor?!

Today I introduce to you: Gretta the Economics minor!!!

How did this happen, you might ask... how did a Latin American Studies minor make such a decision. Well, it turns out I will only have to take one more class than I was intending to in order to complete the minor. Plus, econ is very useful, especially since I intend to run my own business. Perhaps I will have the time and energy to do a double minor later, but for now at least, I intend to declare myself and Environmental Studies major and an Economics minor.

Wowza!

First root veggies of the year!!!

Last year, in an effort to make my new college friends understand my life goals (to become an organic farmer, locavore, etc) I made roast root veggies. And of course, everyone loved them! So making root veggies has become a tradition in my group of friends. Tonight we all came together after a summer apart to cook in the creepy basement "kitchen" of our freshman dorm. Beets from Emelye's garden in Naperville, potatoes from the community garden we volunteer at, supplemented by lesser veggies from the chain grocery store. Good friends, good food, good to be back.

Goats goats goats!

Right now I am reading Goat Song by Brad Kessler, which I am borrowing from one of my awesome summer coworkers. It is a fantastic book about raising dairy goats. The writing is great! Here's a little excerpt:

"Today again this lovely wind; the meadows plunge like waves. Trees toss their heads, the pasture turns to swells. This wind that comes midsummer. I don't know where it rises from or where it goes. We don't have enough words in English for out winds. Boreas, zephyr, Santa Ana, Squamish, Chinook. We need one here in New England. A local wind god. He comes in this time of year, an ocean-faring breeze that brings hammered blue skies, clear mornings, fringed gentians, yellow hollyhocks, a constant seething in the dark. He makes these days seem so impermanent. A rock we cling to for a little while before we've scraped into the deep."

Good stuff!!!