Mother Earth News Fair in their own backyard

The past couple weeks have been crazy. Early last week I was getting ready for the Mother Earth News Fair, and then I headed out on Friday. This year the Mother Earth News Fair folks decided to stage an event in their own community -- Lawrence, KS -- and it was great. It was smaller than the events held in Pennsylvania and Washington State, and it was held in a park. It felt smaller than it was because the park was smaller than the other two venues, but the attendance wasn't that much smaller 10,000 versus the 12-14,000 that the other events draw.

One nice thing about having the event in the MEN backyard is that Mother Earth News Publisher Bryan Welch invited the speakers to his ranch for a party on Friday night. And of course, several of us asked for a tour of Rancho Cappuccino. Forget the fancy party tent and the band! We want to see livestock! And Bryan was happy to oblige.

Unfortunately most of his goats and sheep were not so cooperative, as they were way far off in the pasture, so we didn't get a great view of them. However, these are some ram lambs (above) that will soon become lamb chops.

And his breeding rams were more than happy to pose for pictures. It was almost dark, and I was using my phone's camera, so these pictures came out looking really artsy -- more like a painting than a photograph.

And I was also excited to see solar panels on Bryan's barn roof. He said that the panels produce enough electricity to pretty much meet their needs, although their system is tied into the local grid so that they have electricity even when the sun hasn't been shining for a few days. We've talked about putting solar panels on our barn roof, so it's good to see someone else has already tried it, and it's working fine. My husband was worried that the panels might be too heavy for our barn roof, so he'll probably want to talk to Bryan when he sees this post.

The Fair was great! I spoke about Ecothrifty Bread, Ecothrifty Living, and Raising Goats Naturally. It sure is interesting trying to condense a whole book into a one-hour talk of the most important points. My goat talk was at the same time that Temple Grandin was presenting, so I was worried that no one would show up -- but I figured that I would know that everyone at my talk really loved goats. To my surprise, the seats in the tent quickly filled up until there was standing room only.

Ecothrifty and Raising Goats Naturally both sold out in the bookstore, and the local public library had a copy of Ecothrifty sitting on their table. They asked if they could take a picture of me holding the book. It hasn't shown up on their Facebook page yet, so maybe they'll be using it for something else. Too bad I didn't get contact info for the woman there because I forgot to get any pictures of myself doing anything all weekend.

Overall, it was a great event. I arrived home late Monday night and was back in the barn Tuesday morning milking the goats.

My television debut

by Agnes the goat

Those of you who follow me on Twitter already know that on Friday we taped my first television appearance. The show will air tomorrow afternoon on Paula Sands Live in Davenport, Iowa and the Quad Cities area.  My daughter Marie and I went with my milk maid Deborah, who wrote a book about goats recently. The other goats and I taught her everything she knows, so of course, she had to bring us along to publicly thank me and the other does back home for all of our assistance.

First of all, I have to say that I was really disappointed in the travel accommodations. I was shocked and horrified to discover that we were expected to travel to the TV studio in dog crates! Oh, yes, we each got our own private crate, and they were big enough for us to stand up and turn around, and they were filled with fluffy straw, and we were even given some hay for snacking, but really -- dog crates! We are caprines not canines!

When we arrived at the studio, the farm apprentice Jane escorted us into the building. We were taken in the back entrance -- the one that only the most famous people use! First they took us into the studio, and Marie started to poop on the floor. They asked us to go into a room called the "garage," which I assume is their term for the green room. Being my first time on television, I've never seen a green room before, but I sure expected it to look a lot nicer than it did. It reminded me of the front of the barn at home where the goatherd stores his tools and stuff.

A couple of people walked through the green room and asked what we were doing in there. I suppose this is the most special green room that only gets used for the biggest celebrities, and they wanted to be sure that we were important enough to be in there. Then more people came through and asked if they could pet me and Marie. Before we knew it, there were people having their pictures taken with us, including Greg the weatherman. I overheard my milk maid say that she never received that kind of attention when she's been at TV stations in the past. Obviously, the people in Iowa know true greatness when they see it.

When we went into the studio for the promo shot -- that's when they videotape us as Paula is doing a voice-over saying that goats will be in the next segment -- they asked us to stand on a rug in front of some beautiful plants that didn't smell good enough to eat. In fact, I've never smelled plants like those before. They didn't make me the least bit hungry. How strange! Marie and I both squatted to pee on the pretty rug, and people started gasping. You would think they'd never seen a goat pee before! Come to think of it, I've never seen a human pee, so maybe it isn't something they're capable of doing, which is why there were so impressed. Then we stood up and started to poop, and I heard more gasps and cries of, "Oh, no!" I really did not see the big deal. No one ever cared when we peed or pooped before!

Then they started talking about having us stay on the pretty rug. Earlier they said we would be with Deborah on the main set during the interview. There was a lot of talk about cleaning carpets. What does that have to do with our interview? We're here to talk about the greatness of goats and our wonderful milk, which we share with the barn servants so they can make cheese and soap.

So, Paula sat down with my milk maid, and the cameras were rolling. They talked about the book and our awesome milk. Paula tasted the chévre and showed off the soap that the barn servants made with our milk. Then Paula asked my milk maid about us, and Deborah introduced us but completely forgot to tell everyone how we helped her write the book! I was disappointed, but I suppose I should not have been surprised. After all, humans think they are so smart. Silly people even think they are smarter than us caprines. The simple truth is that my milk maid could not have written that book without us!

As we were getting ready to leave, Paula said she wanted to get her picture taken with us, so of course we obliged.

When my milk maid and the apprentice put us back into the dog crates (ugh!) for the ride home, they told us we were good goats (well, duh!) and gave us something called corn "chips," which didn't look like any corn that I'd ever seen before, although it smelled similar. I tried to resist eating them, thinking they might have been poisonous, but the humans left a few in the crate with me, and after a little while, I finally nibbled on one, and it tasted okay, so I ate all of them. I heard the humans talking about another television appearance in a few weeks. I do hope I get a luxurious travel trailer next time.

Marie and I were exhausted by the time we got home, and we spent the rest of the day lounging under a hickory tree while the rest of the herd was browsing around the pond.

Where in the world is Deborah?

Today I'm home working on the farm and catching up on email and blog posts, but last weekend I was at the Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, and yesterday, I spoke at the National Goat Expo in Bloomington, Illinois. On October 12-13, I'll be speaking at the Mother Earth News Fair in Lawrence, Kansas. (If you're there, be sure to introduce yourself!)

I also have some television appearances coming up to promote my new book, Raising Goats Naturally. I really didn't think that anyone would want me on a talk show promoting a goat book because few people actually have goats. However, last year after an interview on the Paula Sands Show in Iowa, the producer asked if I was working on another book, and as soon as I said it was about goats, he and Paula both said I had to come back to talk about it when it was released -- and one of them immediately asked, "Can you bring a goat?"

So, I am bringing a goat. It will be interesting. I've decided to take Agnes because she is the "resident goat expert" and has her own Twitter page. So far, she only has two engagements booked, but the first one is next Friday, October 4. I'm trying not to think about it too much. I have a really active imagination and tend to think that Mr. Murphy runs my life. (You know Murphy's Rule, right?)At least this segment will be taped, so I know I won't be the new star of a viral video about a goat gone wild in a television studio. If it goes okay, we might consider contacting a few more television stations.

Want to be a blog tour host?

My publisher wants me to do a blog tour to help promote Raising Goats Naturally: A Complete Guide to Milk, Meat, and More, so I'm in the process of finding blogs that are goat-related and willing to be a host.

Wait! What's a blog tour? What does a host do?

Great questions! A blog tour just means that I'll "visit" your blog one day in October. You can write up a bunch of questions for me to answer, or I can do a guest post, or you can do a review of the book. Yep, that means the publisher will send you a free copy of the book. If you want, I can plan to be available to answer questions that your readers might ask on the blog. My publisher is even willing to provide a limited number of books for giveaways on those blogs whose readers would be interested. If you're still wondering what I'm talking about, check out this post from 2009 when author Margaret Hathaway visited the Antiquity Oaks blog.

If you would like to participate, just send me a message on the contact form at this link.

The book has landed!

Monday I had a phone meeting with my publicist from my publisher, and she told me that my latest book, Raising Goats Naturally, had just come off the press on Friday. Copies were being drop-shipped to me so that I will have them available when I speak at the National Goat Expo in a couple of weeks. However, she said that it could take up to ten days for the books to reach me.

Imagine my surprise when we got a phone call Tuesday morning from a trucking company asking if we would be home to accept delivery that afternoon!

It was a semi truck, so he had to park on the road. My son had the excellent idea to drive our truck out there and back it up to the semi so we could get the books closer to the house before we had to actually carry them. We are into working hard out here, but no one wants to do any extra labor when it's 97 degrees out!

I immediately ripped open one of the boxes and pulled out a book!

It is truly amazing when you actually get to hold your book in your hand for the very first time. I flipped through the pages, looking at pictures, reading passages, and even getting all choked up and teary eyed when reading the "Final Thoughts" again.

The book sat on my desk just to the right of my computer for the rest of Tuesday, and I did a double-take every time I saw it. After so many months of planning and writing and sweating, it's hard to believe it's finally here!

It will take two or three weeks to get to stores, but for those of you who really want a copy now, I have a special price with free shipping until the end of this month. Click here for details! For those of you who prefer ebooks, it will be available on Nook, Kindle, etc within a few weeks.

Book review: Raising Goats for Dummies

Although it is not possible for one book to contain everything you need to know to raise goats, Cheryl K. Smith comes close in Raising Goats for Dummies.

In 19 chapters, she covers everything from buying goats to milking, using goats for meat, and spinning with mohair. There is even a chapter on misconceptions (goats don’t eat cans) and an appendix with goat milk recipes. Each chapter is meant to stand alone, so if you are expecting kids any day now, you can skip right to chapter 13. I would, however, recommend reading the whole book from beginning to end at some point.

One section I really liked was “Protecting Your Herd,” where she covers dangers that most people probably would not consider, such as lead paint on old barns. Her reasons to avoid tethering are more extensive than I have seen in other books or articles. In addition to strangulation, which is the usual objections most authors voice, Smith also says that tethered goats are sitting ducks for predators. They might also get the lead line wrapped up so that they cannot reach their water, and if they are stuck in hot sun, they could dehydrate and die. She also tells the story of someone who found their tethered goat hanging from a tree branch. I’m glad she covers the risk of domestic dogs attacking goats, because most new goat owners have no idea that this is a potential problem.

Smith includes more information on goat health than any other book I’ve seen on the subject, and it is includes up-to-date information on copper requirements, dewormer resistance, and FAMACHA. I was surprised she did not mention that loose minerals are better for goats than mineral blocks, because some goats may not be able to get enough minerals from a hard block.

I was a little confused about why she said, “Llamas and alpacas are good guardian animals,” but then goes on to only discuss llamas. I was curious to read about alpacas as guard animals, because it is my understanding that they are too small and too shy to be guardians. In fact, I know people who have llamas to guard their alpacas.

Although she covers fencing in a fairly extensive section, she does not mention the use of portable electric netting, which is becoming more popular with goat breeders, especially those on small acreage. She does talk about using temporary electric fencing with three strands of electric wire, mentioning that a friend of hers has used this successfully. Unfortunately, that type of fencing does not work with all goats, and you only need one goat to teach the rest of them that going through the electric fence is not such a big deal.

Overall, this book gives goat owners as much useful information as an author can squeeze into 300-plus pages. This book makes a positive contribution to the literature available on goats, and I’ll recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about raising goats.


This review will appear in the winter issue of Ruminations: Celebrating the Small Farm Goat.

Homegrown and Handmade coming fall 2011

In fall 2011, my first book will be published -- Homegrown and Handmade. It's a how-to book on growing your own produce, meat, eggs, dairy, and even fiber. And then once you've grown it, the book will explain what to do with it -- how to make your own goat cheese or wool scarf. There will be recipes for what to do when your kitchen is overflowing with eggs during the spring, and I'll have instructions and recipes for cooking stew hens and other traditional foods. Of course, homesteaders will find a lot of valuable info in the book, but it's also for urbanites who shop at the farmer's market or have their own garden or backyard hens.

So, how did all of this come about? Well, back in September when I was at the Mother Earth News Fair, a representative of New Society Publishing approached me and suggested that I might have a book in me. She had read my bio on the Mother Earth News site and visited the blog. She attended my soapmaking session, and we had a meeting where we started talking about ideas. Over the past month, I've written a book proposal, which we've tweaked for content, and today, I signed the contract.

It's a little surreal and overwhelming at times to think that I am writing a book! But I've already started, and I've knocked off 3,000 words, so I only have another 77,000 to go by February 15. The book will add up to about 288 pages. As usual, the family is being super supportive. Awesome daughter Katherine has volunteered to do most of the milking for the next few months, so I'll have more time for writing.

I promise all of you right now that I won't be one of those bloggers who gets a book deal and totally forgets about blogging. I love sharing all of my adventures with you and hearing what you think of all of it. No doubt I'll be asking you all for advice on various topics as I work through the chapters. And the best part of all this is the book tour, which means I'll get to meet some of you!

Book review: The Field Guide to Goats

The following review will be printed in the fall issue of Ruminations, my favorite goat magazine. If you've been thinking of subscribing to a goat magazine, I highly recommend it, because I learn something new from every issue!

There are plenty of beautiful photographs in "The Field Guide to Goats" by Cheryl Kimball. Beyond that, this book is sadly a waste of paper. As a writer myself, it is not easy to write a bad review, but given the choice between no book and this book, I'd recommend you buy nothing, because this one is filled with misinformation.

While I certainly do not expect all goat breeders to agree on the finer points of feeding, housing, and veterinary care, there are many things we do agree upon. Kimball, unfortunately gets a lot of basic information incorrect, such as the breed standard for Nigerian dwarves, which she says are supposed to be 17 to 19 inches in height for does. She also says, "Oberhasli goats are typically raised for meat," although she has them listed in the dairy section.

It was especially frustrating that she said, "A benefit to breeding dwarf goats for milk production is that they breed year-round, allowing a breeder to get three kiddings in two years." If a breeder really wants milk, why would they waste 15 months of 24 on pregnancy? Any serious dairy goat person would want goats that milk 10 months or longer. She goes on to say, "This gives the doe about a six-month break between pregnancies, while providing almost year-round milk production." A six-month break from what? How can you have year-round milk production when a goat is pregnant so much? How would anyone ever have a 305-day milk test? It always bothers me when I see it written that a Nigerian can be bred three times in two years, because all she is doing is feeding kids when she is bred that often.

There is also a wealth of contradictory information. In the section on Nigerian dwarf goats, it says they can be registered with AGS, CGS, and IDGR, but in a photo caption 55 pages later, it says that they are one of eight dairy breeds recognized by ADGA. Does she not realize that means that they are registered by ADGA?

Although she says, "Some goat breeds are naturally polled, which means that members of that breed will never have horns," she never tells you which breeds are polled. Fact: Although there are polled goats in a variety of breeds, there are no breeds with exclusively polled goats, because most people believe that breeding polled to polled has a high rate of hermaphrodites. She goes on to say, "Other breeds are hit or miss: Some will grow horns, and some will not." It is very hard to believe that Kimball is a certified veterinary technician, because there is very clear science behind whether or not a goat will be polled. If you breed two horned goats, the kid will grow horns. One parent must be polled to have a polled kid, which will then happen 50 percent of the time.

Some of the advice in the book could lead to a world of headaches, such as, "Goats will respect electric fencing." Other advice could lead to needless worry, such as the "Black Walnut" section, which says, "This plant has been known to kill animals even when it accidentally ends up in bedding." Perhaps she is thinking of horses? My goats live in a black walnut grove, and most herbal dewormers for goats include black walnut hulls.

And yet other advice could cause confusion, frustration, and the death of an animal. She says, "Grain is beneficial to male goats for several reasons," but only lists two (breeding season for bucks and weight gain for meat wethers). She says that they should have grain with ammonium chloride in it to avoid urinary calculi. It does not appear that she is aware that too much grain is what actually causes urinary calculi, or that ammonium chloride is available as a supplement.

This is only a small sample of the misinformation in this book. Do not assume that the author's veterinary background means that the veterinary info in the book is correct, because much of it is also inaccurate.

It was especially frustrating to me when I learned that the author owns a single Oberhasli wether as a pet. This might be why she never mentions the importance of having more than one goat. As herd animals, they need another goat friend for mental and physical health. I will not sell a single goat to anyone unless they already have goats, because I want my goats to be happy and healthy.

The author's lack of real-world goat experience would also explain why she does not understand so many things that seem simple to those of us who have goats, such as goat shows. She mentions the USDA as a place to learn goat showmanship, and refers to the "USDA scorecard to get an idea of what the judge looks for in a show animal." The sample scorecard says it is used at ADGA-sanctioned shows but credits the American Dairy Association.

Ultimately, the publisher is the one to blame for bringing this book to print. They chose an author who has no more authority to write a goat book than I do to write a book on horses. I have a retired old horse who lives here as a pasture ornament. With so many knowledgeable goat people in the world who know how to write, it is sad that the publisher chose a person with a single pet goat to write a book on the subject.

Online auction, author interview, and trip to Antiquity

I don't remember how I heard about Brenda Novak's Online Auction for Diabetes Research, but I knew immediately that I wanted to help. Last year, I donated a scarf made from our llama and sheep wool. I wrote the biography of the two animals that donated their fiber for the scarf, which I sent to the winner, along with photos of the animals.

This year, I'm donating a five-day, four-night stay at Antiquity Oaks, including all meals. Click here to learn more about what else is included. If you have no interest in bidding on a homesteading vacation, I would still encourage you to head over to the auction and check out all the incredibly cool things that have been donated, like lunches with best-selling authors, a trip to Mexico, books, and jewelry.


I asked Brenda Novak to join us today, because I'm sure she can answer your questions better than I can. To get started, I've asked her a few questions. And in case you didn't click on Brenda's link yet, she's a romance novelist, so there are lots of books in the auction, as well as manuscript critiques by agents and editors, which are very hard to come by. Usually agents just send you a form rejection letter, and you have no idea why they didn't want to represent your work. If you're a writer, you should check those out.

Deborah: Lots of people have children with diabetes, but most of them are not out there raising hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. What made you decide to do something like this?

Brenda: From the moment my son was diagnosed I wanted to do something to fight back. It's that old instinct of wanting to protect the child who's threatened, I guess. But as I've gotten more and more involved in fundraising I've realized that Thad isn't the only reason I do it. There are SO many out there in the same situation. Too many. I believe this is a disease we can beat, and I'm making it my life's mission to push for a cure.

Deborah: What are your favorite items in this year's auction?

Brenda: Oh boy! There are so many! LOL I would love to come to Antiquity Oaks. I've never even heard of another place like it so I think that opportunity is a special one. Beyond that, the Marilyn Sears Bourbon painting is one of my very favorites. She is an amazing artist. I own three of her paintings already and would love to have this one, too. The trip to Hawaii from Jane Porter sounds like a dream come true. I think it would be a blast to head over and relax on the beach. Then there are the Coach purses from Anna DeStefano, a ton of autographed books from Booklovers Bookstore, the Treasure Trove from Lauren Hawkeye and the antique jewelry from Dianne Despain. I often pour through those categories. Oh, and I salivate over the opportunities, thinking about how much I would've enjoyed buying agent and editor reads when I was unpublished. I'm very happy with my publisher (love, love, love my editor) and my agent and yet I'm tempted to bid on these reads just because I see them as golden. And they are golden! We've had writers find an agent through the auction. One writer even sold her book to Harlequin because of the auction.

The author critiques are some of the best bargains. These people do such a good job in helping those who win their feedback. We even have New York Times Bestselling Authors doing some of these critiques (as well as authors who will one day hit the big lists ).

The promotion items for published authors always get me excited, too. MJ Rose has donated a fabulous AuthorBuzz package I'd love to have. Heather Graham has donated a trip to New Orleans for the Writer's for New Orleans Conference over Labor Day. It would be wonderful to win either of those things. And I'd dearly love to have lunch with Catherine Coulter, Barry Eisler or Diana Gabaldon, all of which have been generous to donate their time.

I could go on all day, as you can tell. LOL There are 2000 items--including an iPad from Nancy Berland Public Relations (something I have my eye on). But I do want to mention what's new this year. I'm sponsoring a writing contest via the auction. All entry fees go to research, of course, but the benefit to the writer is this: a panel of New York Times Bestselling Authors will judge the entries, I'll pick the winner from the finalists, and that winner will receive a six-month mentorship from me as well as guaranteed reads from my agent and my editor.

Deborah: Tell us about your son. What does Thad like to do? Does his diabetes slow him down at all?

Brenda: My son doesn't let diabetes slow him down at all. He's larger than life and, as the baby of the family, loved well and probably a bit too indulged. He plays a lot of sports and loves to buy tools and fix things. He's an entrepreneur in the making--always planning how he's going to make money by starting this business or that. I don't know that I've ever met a more capable or loving child. He has a great sense of humor and loves people of all kinds. I do wish he'd be more careful with his diabetes, however. He doesn't want to have the disease so he often tries to ignore it, which is very dangerous.

Deborah: What does the future look like for Thad and other children with diabetes?

Brenda: I think it looks very bright! I believe we'll find a cure that will enable my son and all the other children (and adults) with diabetes to live longer, healthier and more comfortable lives.

And it's not too late to make a donation. I heard about the auction last year when there was only a week or two left, but I contacted Brenda and asked if I could make a donation. If you'd like to donate an item to the auction, just click here and let Brenda know about it!

If you have any questions, post it in the comment section, and Brenda will be checking in today to respond.

And the winner is . . .

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the discussion with author Chris McLaughlin on Monday as we discussed composting and her new book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting. The winner of the book is SpinnersEnd! Contact me with your address, and I'll forward it to Chris. The book comes out May 8, so she'll mail it as soon as she has a copy. For the rest of us who didn't win, the book is already listed for pre-order with most of the on-line book sellers. And if you haven't checked out her blog yet, head over to A Suburban Farmer to see what else Chris is doing.

Visit with author of "Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting"

If your attempts at gardening have not been all that successful, don't give up. I grew great plots of weeds for years before I finally got it figured out. And I'm still learning more every year. My biggest mistake was that I thought I could just plant seeds and they'd grow. Ha! Then I heard that compost was a good organic fertilizer, so I figured you just pile things up, and they rot, right? Well, yeah, sort of.

Today we have a visit from Chris McLaughlin, author of The Complete Idiots Guide to Composting. If you want to grow organically, this is one of those skills that you simply must acquire. And it's a great way to make a lot of your garbage magically disappear. I had a few questions for Chris, so here goes --

Deborah: How did you get interested in gardening?

Chris: I started gardening when I was 14 years old...so, several years ago for sure *grin*. I had a couple of tomato plants, and marigolds the first time around. I was surprised how much I enjoyed watching plants mature.

Deborah: How or when did you start writing?

Chris: I started writing in the 4th grade - seriously. I remember my 4th grade teacher telling me that I should be a writer. Of course, like all young writers, I dreamed of fiction and played with it on and off for years. Later, I realized how nice it was to share what I had been learning with other people and it dawned on me that non-fiction wasn't as boring as I had once thought, LOL. Because my love for growing things stayed with me and I delved more and more into the subject - it was natural for me to write about that.

Deborah: Why did you write a book on composting? It doesn't seem like a topic that would need a whole book to address it.

Chris: I was actually pedaling around another non-fiction book that I was writing about suburban farming (homesteading, or however you look at it). I had some great responses but I began to realize that the market was about to become saturated with this very topic. Instead of trying to push something that already had many voices, I decided to think ahead of the curve. What was it that all of the new gardeners (per the Victory Garden movement) out there were going to need? Ahhh...soil! New gardeners were about to be amazed at just how crappy their soil was - and I had the remedy: compost. By dumb luck, I had an agent interested in representing me at the very same time that a pub house was looking for someone who could write a composting book...it all just lined up right.

By the way, I'd been an avid composter for years and was thrilled at the success I had with rabbit manure. I can create compost REALLY fast with my rabbits.

Deborah: What are you doing in your garden right now?

Chris: Oh, my. Well, I always have perennials and shrubs going on...my husband loves Japanese maples and I love propagating, LOL. In my veggie garden I'm growing all heirlooms this year and trying varieties I've never tried before. I have 13 varieties of tomatoes but 42 of them..hehehe. Lettuce, broccoli, all kinds of mild peppers, carrots, cucumbers, beans, squash, radishes, watermelons - oh I'm growing Moon & Stars watermelon and a couple other delicious-looking ones that I have no idea where I'm going to fit them... I also end up tucking lots of annuals in everywhere to bring in the beneficial insects. This is also the first time that I'll be growing some gourmet beans for a local chef's restaurant and I'm super excited about that.

If any of you have questions about gardening or composting, click on "Comment" and start typing. Chris has agreed to hang around today and answer your questions. And she is also giving away a copy of her composting book! So, if you'd like to win a copy, just leave a comment, and you'll be automatically entered to win. Deadline to enter is Wednesday at midnight, central time, and Chris will mail the book to the winner as soon as it is available May 4.

And the winner is ...

The winner of Sheri Ann Richerson's book is Wardhouse! Send me an email, deborah (at) antiquityoaks (dot) com with your address. I'll pass it on to Sheri, and she'll get your book in the mail!

Thanks to everyone who commented and asked questions, and thanks to Sheri for joining us!

Visit with gardening author (and a give-away)

We have a visit today from Sheri Ann Richerson, one of the authors of The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Year-Round Gardening, as well as 101 Organic Gardening Tips, 101 Gardening For Beginners Tips, 101 Ways To Self-Sufficiency Through Your Garden Tips and 101 Tips For The Secret Life Of A Gardener.

Deborah: How did you get interested in gardening? Did you have a green thumb, or did you have to really work at it?

Sheri: My grandmother grew roses and various flowers. Both grandfathers raised vegetables. My parents also had a garden. I hated gardening because I hated the spiders that lived in the strawberry patch my mother made me weed!

When I got my own place, my mother kept bringing me flats of impatiens. I planted them simply to make her feel better. Then, about a year before she died, I discovered herbs. Not only were they useful, but they were so fragrant. I fell in love with candy mint!

From there I looked for fragrant, unusual plants to grow. I have grown cloves, nutmeg, chocolate (Theobroma cacao) and everything in between including impatiens which I have grown to enjoy in the shade garden!

I must have a green thumb because most of what I grow thrives.

Deborah: What are you doing right now in your garden or greenhouse?

Sheri: I'm planting early season crops outside, under cover - sugar snap peas, spinach, cabbage, potatoes, radish, etc. We are re-doing the greenhouse and considering adding ponds under the benches to grow catfish. I am working really hard this year to grow enough food to live on as well as add more crops to the winter garden so there is more fresh produce year-round.

Deborah: What inspired you to start writing about gardening?

Sheri: I was given a greenhouse as a gift. I was sent all kinds of seeds from all over the world through people I met online. I was writing about Harley-Davidson motorcycles when I saw a post for freelance writers on Suite101. I applied to be a writer for a topic called Tropicals and Exotics. I figured I might as well write about a topic I was researching anyway. I was accepted. The topic has been retired, but I am still a writer with them.

Deborah: What do you say to people who don't have a green thumb?

Sheri: Anyone can garden! Most people make one of two mistakes - they either over-water or under-water. Once they learn how to properly water, properly fertilize and give the plant the right amount of light, they will be amazed at what they can do!

Thanks for joining us today, Sheri!

If anyone has any questions for Sheri, just holler. She's agreed to check in a few times today to respond. And if you'd like a copy of Sheri's newest book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Year-Round Gardening, just make a comment, and you'll be automatically entered. The deadline is midnight central time Sunday.

Join us for a visit with Margaret Hathaway

When most of us fell in love with goats or goat cheese or mohair or whatever, we just moved to the country and bought a few goats. Yeah, we had a few surprises along the way, but in the end, it all sort of worked out. However, Margaret Hathaway and Karl Schatz decided to do things a little differently. They fell in love with goats when they lived in New York City, and although they did like goat cheese, they wanted to fully explore the goat world -- meat, fiber, packing, even the Chicago Cub's Curse of the Billy Goat -- before deciding exactly what kind of goats they wanted. So, they quit their jobs in 2003, put all their worldly possessions in storage and started a year-long exploration of goats across the United States. Their first book, The Year of the Goat (which I reviewed on the blog last year) was published two years ago, and it chronicled their journey from NYC professionals to nomads to goat farmers.

Their second book, Living with Goats, was published last month. Margaret describes it as "the book I wish I'd had when I first became captivated by these animals." (Margaret is the writer, and Karl is the photographer.) It covers all the basics of goatherding: housing, fencing, feeding, breeding, raising kids, health, goat milk, goat meat, and a final chapter on other uses for goats, like fiber, packing, and showing. Lists of resources round out the book, including supplies and equipment you will need, breed registries, equipment suppliers, and other books about goats.

We first met Karl and Margaret when they visited our farm in the spring of 2004, which she wrote about in Chapter 14 of The Year of the Goat, and there are a couple pictures of us in their new book. I asked Margaret if she'd join us on the blog today, and she agreed. She'll be checking in today to answer your questions, and she has also generously agreed to give away an autographed copy of each book to two lucky readers. So, if you're interested in winning either a copy of Year of the Goat or Living with Goats, just leave a comment and let us know which book you would like to have. It's okay to say both, but you can only win one, and you have to leave your comment by midnight central time Friday. Winners will be chosen randomly and posted Saturday.

There are a few questions I've been wanting to ask Margaret myself, so I thought I'd take this opportunity ...

Deborah: After visiting goat farms all over the country and discovering all the different uses, why did you ultimately decide on dairy goats and why Alpines?

Margaret: When Karl and I were traveling, our favorite breed changed with every visit. We'd meet someone who raised Boers or Cashmeres or Saanens, and we'd get caught up in their enthusiasm for their animals. Especially when goats are well cared for and in great condition, it's easy to fall in love with any breed! We ultimately decided to raise dairy goats because I wanted to experiment with cheese making. We also wanted our farm to be a small, integrated homestead, and to do that, it was essential to have at least one milk-producing animal. (Lately, I've been lobbying for a dairy cow, too, but that's a whole other story....) We chose Alpines because their coloring and markings vary so much--I love that each goat has its own look. That said, we did add a Saanen doeling to the herd this spring, and one of our does is half Boer--we fell in love with her before we noticed her ears!

Deborah: What has been your most memorable moment so far in your life with goats -- good or bad?

Margaret: I think the most memorable moment with goats, for me, has been delivering our first kid. Our younger daughter, Beatrice, was only two weeks old, and Karl had just gone back to work from his paternity leave, when we heard the commotion in the barn. The doe was still pretty slight, so we weren't even sure that she was bred, and suddenly I was in the barn with an infant strapped to me in the baby wrap, my 22-month-old daughter, Charlotte, propped on a bale of hay, and a kidding kit, a couple of goat handbooks, and a big stack of towels! During the whole birth, I completely identified with the doe because my own labor was so fresh in my mind. I kept involuntarily pushing when she had contractions! The scene was total chaos--Charlotte cheering on the mama goat one minute and crying hysterically the next, Beatrice needing to nurse part way through, me wondering what on earth I was doing trying to juggle so many babies. Thank goodness it was a smooth delivery! Karl made it home a few minutes after the kid was born, so we were able to clean him up (of course it was a buckling) as a team. But it was a wild morning!

Deborah: Can you ever see yourself going back to life in the city?

Margaret: No, I really can't. I love the energy of cities, and I like to visit big cities at least a couple of times a year, but the farm is our home. The whole rhythm of our life is agricultural now--from the goats to the poultry to the gardens and orchard. We enjoy the work, and the feeling of satisfaction that we get from eating food we've grown or raised ourselves. This Thanksgiving we roasted our own turkey, mashed our own potatoes, served our own fresh and aged cheeses and some chicken confit and turnip pickles for appetizers--it was truly something to be grateful for, and it was wonderful to share the fruits of the homestead with our guests. I love that our daughters understand where their food comes from and are so comfortable with animals. Managing the whole menagerie can be tricky sometimes, but we wouldn't trade it.

Deborah: It doesn't sound like you live out in the middle of nowhere like we do. Can you tell us a little about where your farm is located?

Margaret: Our homestead is in southern Maine, about half an hour's drive from Portland. By day, Karl is the director of Aurora Photos, an international stock photography agency that's based in Portland, so when we were looking for property, we had to be within reasonable commuting distance. Because we're in such a densely populated part of the state, our ten-acre farm is ringed by subdivisions--we're a little island of agriculture in a sea of McMansions. We live in a farmhouse with an attached barn that was built in 1901, and we've been gradually rehabilitating the barn and the property for agricultural use, adding pens, stringing fence, tilling the garden and pruning the orchard. It's amazing to be able to bring life back to what once must have been a bustling farm! And despite the crowing roosters and the occasional turkey slaughter, our neighbors seem to get a kick out of our farming adventures.

Deborah: Did you always see yourself as a writer, or did you start thinking about it after you became interested in goats?

Margaret: My parents are both writers and they teach in an MFA program, so writing is kind of the family business! I did work on a lot of writing projects before--including a couple of ghost-writing projects and a (terrible) novel that I was working on when we lived in New York--but I think the goats helped me to find my writing voice.

Deborah: Will you continue writing? Do you have plans for additional books?

Margaret: Yes, I will continue writing and I do have plans for more projects. Right now, I'm working on some essays about life on the homestead and I'm blogging on our web site, www.tenapplefarm.com/. I'm also planning a book project about life on the suburban homestead and how we're trying to find a balance between our agricultural life and being good, relatively normal neighbors. I'm not sure what shape the book will take, but it feels like a natural next project.

Okay, now don't be shy. If you have a question about goats, traveling, memoirs, or writing, post it in the comment section. And if you'd like to win one of her books, be sure to let us know before midnight Friday.

Kreativ Blogger Award

I'm not terribly good at passing on these awards, so I decided to get this one written up and posted before I forget where to find it. Thanks to J. M. Strother for nominating me! Jon is a fellow writer that I met online at the Editor Unleashed forum, which is the Parisian cafe of the 21st century for us creative types.

As usual, there are some conditions on accepting this award. I need to list seven of my favorite bloggers and seven of my favorite mystery authors. This is where I always get hung up on these awards! It is hard to whittle down my favorite bloggers to only seven, and in this case, I only read one mystery author. So, what's a modern writer to do but look to Google for an answer to that second question. Apparently, the Kreativ Blogger Award has gone through some creative changes over the course of being passed along, so I'm just going to have to be one of those creative folks who changes it up a bit more. Since I don't have seven favorite mystery authors, I'll list my seven favorite authors, both fiction and non-fiction.

In no particular order, here are seven blogs that I love:

1. There Are No Rules -- First of all, I love the name of this blog. It's about writing, by the way, and when it comes to writing and publishing, there are so many exceptions that you wonder if there are any rules. If you're a writer who wants to get published, this is a great blog to read. Jane Friedman is publisher over at Writer's Digest, and no one has her finger on the pulse, blood pressure, and vital signs of the publishing world like Jane. Ask her anything, and she knows about it!

2. Miss Effie's Diary -- If you like home-grown food and flowers, you'll love this one. Clink is also a great cook and wine lover. I've had the honor of meeting her and wish she lived closer. I'd be at her flower farm every week!

3. A Shepherd's Voice -- One of my Shetland blogpals and the breeder of one of my favorite sheep, Majik, although I have never actually met Nancy in person. You see, someone originally bought Majik as a lamb and didn't know what a gem she owned, so she sold her to me! One of these days, Nancy and I have to meet!

4. Boulderneigh -- Another Shetland blogpal out on the west coast.

5. Creative Canning -- A blog I discovered recently, which has a lot of really excellent recipes for canning.

6. Wandering Gecko -- A Shetland shepherdess across the big pond.

7. Little Country Acres -- And yet another Shetland shepherdess, this one only a few miles up the interstate from me. We bought our one and only babydoll sheep from her back when she also raised them.

Okay, now I have to remember to visit their blogs and let them know that they've been nominated. Whew, this award stuff is work!

As for seven favorite authors, it's a little easier, because if I forget someone, I don't have to worry about offending them. Stephen King is not reading my blog, and wouldn't be offended if little ol' me didn't list him anyway.

1. Michael Pollan -- big surprise! I've read his last three books and quote them all the time on here.

2. Tamar Myers -- the only mystery writer I read. She writes the Penn Dutch Inn mysteries about a Mennonite innkeeper who has to solve all the crimes in Hernia, Penn. since the sheriff is a bumbling idiot. All the titles are puns on food, like Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth and The Hand That Rocks the Ladle. Each book also has five or six recipes in it.

3. Barbara Kingsolver -- I admit, I've only read one book of hers, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but she actually became one of my favorite people as a result. It's just cool to find someone who lives a life similar to mine. I felt a little less weird after reading her book.

4. Lorraine Heath -- a romance novelist. She used to write Texas after the Civil War, but now she writes Regencies (English historicals).

5. Jennifer Crusie -- she was working on a dissertation about sexism in romance novels and wound up writing them. Her books break all the rules of romance, so they're shelved in general fiction. I've laughed until I was in serious physical pain when reading her books. Now that she's teamed up with a former green beret to write cross-genre books, I suppose she might qualify as a mystery author.

6. and 7. John and Martha Storey -- Yes, they're publishers, but they're also authors. I probably own a dozen of their books. Every modern homesteader has at least a few of their books on the shelf. I could give some sort of Oscar-award-style testimonial like, "I couldn't have done it without them," but they would know that's not true. We would eventually get everything done around here, although we would have made a lot more mistakes along the way. The first time we butchered a chicken, I was reading aloud from the Country Skills book as my husband was attempting to do everything I read. If you're an aspiring homesteader, head on over to their website for a visit.

Well, that wasn't as painful as I expected. Thanks again to Jon for the honor, and for those of you who have been nominated by me, I hope you'll have fun passing along the award.

In Defense of Food

The title of Michael Pollan's latest book, In Defense of Food, might make a lot of people scratch their heads and ask why food needs to be defended. Pollan quickly makes the case that food does need to be defended, and he makes a great champion. Basically, since corporations have taken over food production, they've been selling us more and more edible food-like substances and less real food. (Don't believe me? Check out McDonald's website and see how many ingredients you recognize as food.) We need to eat real food. Actually, Pollan sums it up in seven words:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

In multiple interviews, Pollan has said that usually when you start researching something, it gets complicated. In the case of food, however, it got really simple. We don't need to be following a diet that's low fat or low carb or one that has lots of oat bran or the proper omega fats. We don't need to talk to dietitians and nutritionists. We just need to "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

We don't need to read the nutrition labels on packages. If it has a label with lots of nutrition claims, it's probably not real food. When reading this book, I couldn't help but think of how much an average supermarket has grown since I was a child. As a little girl in the 1970s, I remember going to the two grocery stores in our small Texas town. They were only six or seven aisles, and the produce section made up about a fifth of each one. After you add the meat and dairy sections, only about half the store was left for processed foods. About 40 miles down the road in a small city, the Safeway was more than twice as big. And as I grew up, grocery stores turned into supermarkets and got bigger and bigger.

The sad thing is that they did not get bigger by offering us a dozen varieties of heirloom tomatoes or pork from several different breeds of pig. They grew because they had to keep up with the growing number of processed foods that were being developed. And as Pollan points out, our bodies don't know what to do with things that are hydrogenated and ethoxylated, because humans have never eaten such things -- not until the last 30 to 60 years, which is a tiny blip on the radar of human existence. And now we have rising numbers of diet-related diseases like heart disease, stroke, and cancer.

It was kind of fun as I neared the end of Pollan's book and discovered I was a subversive. Huh? Yeah! Who'd have thought that cooking would be subversive? He makes a very good point --

To reclaim this much control over one's food, to take it back from industry and science, is no small thing; indeed, in our time cooking from scratch and growing any of your own food qualify as subversive acts.

And what these acts subvert is nutritionism: the belief that food is foremost about nutrition and nutrition is so complex that only experts and industry can possibly supply it.

After reading a good chunk of diet books over the past two decades, I had already come to the same conclusion as Pollan. Our great grandmothers probably knew more about healthy eating than today's most learned scientists. Eat a variety of fresh foods while sitting around the dinner table with your family and friends. Take time to chew while listening to your loved ones. They're more important that whatever is on television right now. And since you're not supposed to talk with your mouth full, you'll be a better listener.

Stop worrying about nutrition and start enjoying food.

"The Omnivore's Dilemma"

Finally, I'm getting around to reviewing a book that I read two years ago, although if you're a regular reader, you've heard me quote Michael Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma" more than once. In a nutshell, the omnivore's dilemma is answering one simple question: what to eat? The answer for cows and coyotes is pretty simple. They're hard-wired to eat very specific foods. If you're a coyote, you eat whatever is smaller and tries to run away. If you're a cow, you eat whatever you're standing on.

For centuries, culture provided the answer to this question for humans, but Americans have no food culture, and corporations have muddied the field even more. When you think of food in France, Italy, India or China, the choices seem obvious, but when you think of food in America, you think of what? We gave the world McDonald's, KFC, and a host of other fast food corporations that dish out food-like substances with 40 ingredients, lots of fat, and no fiber.

The book is divided into three sections -- or possible answers -- to the question of what's for dinner. First choice is the fast food meal, provided by conventional agriculture. Second choice is organic, which Pollan quickly learns is not as simple as it used to be. Third choice is foraging and hunting.

The conventional agriculture answer to the question is a fast food meal, and it all goes back to corn. The burger comes from corn-fed beef. The fries are fried in corn and/or soybean oil. McNuggets contain corn starch, are breaded with a mixture including corn flour, and may be fried in corn oil. The soft drink and dessert are sweetened with corn syrup. And the list goes on. Although we grow lots of corn in this country, it is not edible by humans. It is either broken down into food additives, fed to livestock, or increasingly used for ethanol production.

The organic answer to dinner got pretty messy when Pollan realized that there was a difference between industrial organic and sustainable organic. Industrial organic would be the frozen dinner at Whole Foods. The sustainable organic comes from the local farmer. Pollan visited both types of places, and after reading about Rosie the organic chicken, I'm glad I've never given in and eaten an organic grocery store chicken. The industrial organic chickens are raised in a manner that is very similar to conventional chickens, but they are given organic feeds and provided "access" to the outdoors during the last couple weeks of their very short lives (less than two months). I'd love to meet the brilliantly unethical genius who came up with the phrase "access to the outdoors" when crafting the US organic legislation. What this means for organic chicken factories is that they open a tiny door in the big building, and since the little chickens have never been outside the building in their entire lives, they don't think about going out now.

For sustainable organic, Pollan spends a week on the farm of Joel Salatin in Virginia. Those of us who are into sustainable practices have known about and duplicated Salatin's practices for many years, and it's great that Pollan brought Polyface Farm into the limelight. Salatin's chickens are put on pasture, and his farm has an open-door policy, so his customers can see exactly what they are buying. They can even watch butchering.

The section on hunting and foraging for food was very informative since I've never foraged for mushrooms or hunted a wild boar. It is, of course, the least feasible meal for most Americans, but it was interesting to me from a historical perspective.

Ever since reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" two years ago, I've been saying that everyone who eats should read this book, and I still say that. Unlike most Americans who think that the government is taking care of everything, I think we are responsible for something as simple as what we eat. And while government might approve of a food additive that was just invented five years ago, who knows what it will do to the human body in 20 or 30 years? It might scare a lot of people even more to know that most food substances don't need government approval.

While this book didn't change a lot about the way we do things, it did reinforce some of my beliefs -- like not buying industrial organic meat. After church on Sunday, a librarian friend (thanks, Renee!) gave me an advance reading copy of the young reader's edition of The Omnivore's Dilemma, which is due to come out in October. It is considerably shorter, although still almost 300 pages, and it has pictures. I especially liked the picture from the Salatin farm, as I always enjoy learning more about how they do things. I also got to see a picture of the inside of a chicken factory. So, if you're not up to reading the full-length Omnivore's Dilemma, I'd urge you to buy a copy of the young reader's edition for your kids or grandkids -- and if you just happen to read it before you give it to them, that's okay.

Let's celebrate food!

Since the dawn of time, food nourished our bodies and kept us healthy. It made us happy with its beautiful colors, heavenly scents, and delicious flavors. It provided an opportunity for us to connect with our loved ones at mealtime. It filled us with awe as we saw miracles of life unfolding in our gardens, our pastures, and our kitchens. As The New Laurel's Kitchen (1986) says,

[T]here was an unquestioned recognition that what goes on in the kitchen is holy. . . So many mysterious transformations are involved -- small miracles like the churning of butter from cream, or the fermentation of bread dough. In times past there was no question but that higher powers were at work in such goings-on, and a feeling of reverence sprang up in response.

I can't remember a time when I thought of cooking as anything other than fun. I've always looked at it as a creative outlet, just like some people look at knitting or rebuilding an antique car. I only lived in a dorm for one semester in college, and the thing I hated was being unable to cook. That's when I realized that cooking was important to me -- and not simply to feed myself. Not only do I enjoy cooking the food, I enjoy making it look pretty on the plates. It's like creating a work of art. I love trying new recipes and growing fresh herbs. There are so many things in this world that we can't have, but when it comes to food, our options seem infinite. I have a couple dozen cookbooks, which I'll never work through, and now there are millions of recipes on the Web. I'm like a kid in a candy store. But before I get too excited, I'll admit that I know my attitude towards food is unusual.

Today, food is more likely to fill people with anxiety rather than happiness or awe. People feel guilty when they eat too much -- or when they eat something that tastes "too good." If it's good for you, then it probably tastes like cardboard, right? Our food comes frozen in bags or dried in boxes, and it has traveled an average of 1,500 miles to get to our plates. It is quite dead so that bacteria and fungi have nothing to feed upon, and since the nutrition and taste have been processed out of it, food scientists have enriched it with vitamins and artificial flavors. We're too busy to sit down with friends and family, so we grab a quick bite in the car or in front of the television. Should it surprise us that our eating habits are leading to rising rates of obesity, heart disease, and cancer?

We have a national eating disorder, according to Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006). Every year, we have a new food demon (trans fats, carbs, red meat). We spend millions on diet books. Studies come out telling us to drink red wine, eat more tomatoes, or eat oat bran -- and for a short time, we do it. We are obsessed with eating healthy, yet we are increasingly becoming the most unhealthy industrialized country on the planet. We eat 20 percent of our meals in cars, and every day 1/3 of our children eat at fast food outlets.

They say enthusiasm is contagious, and I hope they're right. My goal for the next couple weeks is to get people excited about food. If you've been reading my blog for long, you know I love food. I love everything about food -- planning, growing, preparing, sharing, and eating. And I'm busy. But food is important to me, so I've figured out how to make time for food, even though I only have 24 hours in a day, just like everyone else. Since time is one of the objections I hear most often when people talk about eating better, I've decided to address it early in our two-week celebration of food. Tomorrow, I'll talk about the time issue, and next week, you'll see how I actually plan and execute the whole food thing.

Cup of coffee, anyone?

As I sat here this morning, sipping my coffee, I remembered the old days. Back when I was a young adult, I would often drink one or two liters of soft drinks per day. I went through diet and regular stages, sometimes deciding the sugar had too many calories or that the artificial sweeteners might not be good for me. But I always drank a lot of whichever variety. I even went through stages when I drank [gasp] Kool-Aid, because I'd decide that soda was too expensive.

Now, I basically drink lots of water and a little coffee, tea, and wine. Typically, I have hot coffee (sometimes tea) for breakfast, iced tea or water for lunch, and wine or water for dinner. As an afternoon treat in the summer, sometimes I have an iced coffee, or in the winter, I'll have a cup of hot tea. When I saw this article recently, it occurred to me that it is not that unusual to hear about research showing that people who drink water, coffee, tea, and wine realize some health benefits. But I've never heard of any research that showed people who drink soda or Kool-Aid or any artificial drinks realize any outcomes other than being more likely to be obese or overweight -- and that's true even if they're drinking diet sodas. How can you become overweight drinking diet soda with is calorie free? Theories include the concept that people think they can eat more since they're drinking diet soda, as well as the possibility that artificial sweeteners make you crave more sweets.

It's just more confirmation of what Michael Pollan says in his book, In Defense of Food, "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." I sort of figured that out about 10 years ago, although I wasn't able to articulate it as nicely as Pollan. One of these days I still need to review that book on here, but as I've heard him say in countless interviews over the past year -- the more you study the topic of nutrition, the more you realize that it is not nearly as complicated as scientists make it. The whole thing really can be summarized in those seven words.

French Women: Part deux

The first couple hundred pages of this book are devoted to food and our relationship with it; however, the last part is equally important. Her chapter on exercise is short but significant. In fact, I wanted to devote a whole post to it, because I echo her sentiments exactly. Exercise should be a natural part of life, not just something that happens in a gym. In fact, exercise was one reason I wanted to move to the country. I was the absolute opposite of a gym rat when we lived in the burbs. I loathed working out, although being "into" healthy habits, I thought I was obligated to work out daily. After all, getting enough exercise is just as important as eating right, isn't it?

I fell off the wagon -- or treadmill, or exercise bike -- so many times in my suburban life, it was a joke when I merely started to think about trying again. There were times in my life when I'd get out of bed early to do my half hour on the treadmill in my basement or bike half an hour to nowhere. I even belonged to a bona fide health club once. After reading Guiliano's book, I see that it was not the only club in the country to sell those enormous sweet muffins in the snack bar. Health club, indeed! Yes, I know my chocolate chip muffin recipe is decadent, but those muffins are not staring me in the face daily after I've just spent an hour torturing myself on exercise machines.

So, what's up with French women and exercise? They have the same attitude as I do. Life should provide exercise. That means taking the stairs instead of the elevator and walking or biking instead of driving. One reason I moved to the country was to get "honest" exercise -- real exercise. Seven years ago, I couldn't carry a full 5-gallon water bucket or a 50-pound bag of goat grain. (Okay, I can't do that today because I injured my back, but that's another post.) There is no doubt I am more physically fit now than I was when we moved out here.

I also agree with Guiliano's idea that Americans are so caught up in the idea of saving time that they lose a lot of opportunities for natural exercise. Driving is quicker; elevators are faster. One of the books I read about farming talked about the importance of having your barns close to your house. The author talked about how much time you'd save -- or waste -- depending upon the distance between your house and your barn. Why do we view a few extra steps as wasted time instead of an opportunity? When you see how many modern farmers are overweight versus how many Amish are not overweight -- in spite of their rich diets -- it becomes pretty obvious who has the right idea.