Farming in the shade

Nah, guess not.

It takes just 40 days for most Americans to earn enough money to pay for their food supply for the entire year. In comparison, it takes 129 days it takes the average American to earn enough money to pay federal, state and local taxes for the year.

It's amazing how creative kids can be sometimes... The natives are restless. Good thing spring has sprung!

Now Washington wants the power to seize any financial firms (not just banks) that look to be on the verge of failure.  "Besides seizing a company outright, the document states, the Treasury Secretary could use a range of tools to prevent its collapse, such as guaranteeing losses, buying assets or taking a partial ownership stake. Such authority also would allow the government to break contracts, such as the agreements to pay $165 million in bonuses to employees of AIG's most troubled unit." Read more here .  I'd better go read the Constitution again. Don't remember anything in there about this...

Last week when the weather was pretending it was spring, a couple of the kids and I headed out to a nearby park for some fresh air. We are fortunate enough to live within 3 miles of two great nature parks.  We went with the excuse that we needed to check on our letterbox. We also attempted (with mixed luck) to find some other letterboxes. What's that? Don't know about letterboxing? Check this link here. You'll find information about what letterboxing is, and clues for letterboxes hidden (hopefully) in your area. We did find some letterboxes, and took ours in for maintenance (it was missing a pen and some other strategic parts).  While we were out, we enjoyed seeing some wildlife.  I suspect that much of our area looked like our walk in the woods before the farmers came and cleared the land.

Thirty to 40 gallons of sugar maple sap must be boiled down to make just one gallon of maple syrup. This year we haven't tapped our maples at Shady Side Farm, despite the fact that it seems like it's perfect sap running weather here in Michigan. We made the decision in part because of our busyness, and in part because we haven't used up all the syrup from last year. In my dreams, we would get a real evaporator system so that we wouldn't have to boil sap in the house. I have a lot of dreams. LOL!

This week is National Agriculture Week. Go hug a farmer. (Just kidding.) Here are some Michigan farm facts: • Agriculture contributes $71.3 billion to Michigan's economy annually. • Agriculture employs more than 1 million people. That's a quarter of Michigan's work force. • The state's agricultural economy has been expanding at a rate five times faster than the growth rate of the general economy. • Ninety-five percent of Michigan's farms are single-family operated and/or family partnerships. • Of the few Michigan farms structured as corporations, 99 percent of those are family-owned and involve multiple generations and family members. Agriculture is currently the #2 "industry" in Michigan, and despite the rosy statistics, it faces some serious challenges both here in our state and across the nation. At a time when more people are starting to think about where their food comes from, farmers are facing increased pressure from environmentalists and regulatory...