This morning's bounty.....and food for thought.....

This morning's bounty off the two fig trees out in the front yard. Yum, figs for lunch with yogurt and honey. I looked at them the other day and they didn't look ripe, today they are perfect, some over-ripe.....but still yummy. Now I need to decide how many I can eat fresh and dry the rest. I couldn't reach them all so will get help later on that, there are still more ripening and a second set of them that probably won't ripen before frost in the fall....oh well.....

I'm trying to spend a bit more time reading, much of the time it's light reading....takes me a while to get through a book because by the time night comes my eyes are tired. Current reading - The Face on Your Plate - The Truth about Food by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, definitely not light reading. Much of what he writes is based on truth, much of it on his own biased opinions but either way it makes a person think about where their food is coming from. Didn't think I'd make it through the book based on the first chapter, but I struggled through it, now I'm in to the part of the book talking about big business and the meat/fish we eat. Very disturbing but I knew most of this, but the part about dairy cows that I picture living the nice life grazing and getting milked twice a day kept me awake at night. We are not huge meat eaters, but love seafood and fish (and farmed fish is another whole subject). I already buy my lamb locally grown from a friend, will be looking for other local sources for any other meats we want to eat. We may not become total vegans but we will try to be responsible about where our food is coming from, what its life is like before ending up on the plate and what it has consumed in its own life....as in drugs, hormones, etc. I could give up meat and have at times in the past but I'd have a tough time with my milk, yogurt & cheese......

On a scary note, thunderstorms are forecast for these next 3 afternoons. I lived most of my life in the DC/MD region of the country, thunderstorms there meant torrential rains, thunder, lightening.......here in the west thunderstorms are rarely accompanied by rain, they are full of dry lightening in an area with 8-15% humidity all summer long and no rain for months......fires happen. They say afternoon thunderstorms but the dark clouds started moving in an hour ago.....looking very ominous out there.

Been busy 'nesting' these last two days working on birthday gifts (which I can't show) and other things around the house......a little knitting and crocheting in the evenings.