100 Mile Monday

We haven't been to the market in two weeks due to parade season starting and the weather being insane. It is worrisome in the sense that it is easy to NOT go. What will we do in less than 4 weeks when the 100 mile actually starts? I've also been thinking about vacations and keeping up with the demand of putting up for winter. One of the things that Kingslover (Animal Vegetable, Miracle) laments over is when to take a vacation, in terms of her own planting and harvesting. She was growing the majority of her own food for the family though....I am mostly worried about being away from home for a stint in the summer and thus away from the market to buy things. I can't see my mom taking to kindly to my taking over her kitchen to can a ton of tomatoes...heck she barely tolerates our extended stays in the summer to begin with!

I have also been wondering about how the insane winter weather is going to affect (effect? I can never remember) the produce. Did the storm we had over the weekend damage farmers fields and orchards? Were our cows and sheep and pigs harmed by the high winds, knee-deep snow and frigid temperatures? Did the early warmth send signals to the veggies to start growing only to kill them off with another frost?

I am not even the growing the food and already I am a nervous wreck of anticipation....

We are going to invest in a small planting box this year. I have been doing some research into planting in raised beds, and now just have to talk to the landlady about building one in the backyard. Have to do some more research into what we could plant now (or in the near future) that we could harvest in the late summer and the fall.