Time to Learn

 Spring is here!  This picture represents our spring pretty well.  We had a bear visit the snow cave in the backyard for an evening...luckily it wasn't interested in the compost!  Just a place to sleep.  Tulips are blooming, birds are chirping, seeds are sprouting, and spring corn is on the slopes ready to be ridden. 

Don and I have been busy at work building the hoop house.  The skeleton is just about finished and we are just waiting for some parts in the mail.  

hoop house-stage 1

It is truly a time for learning.  From building this structure, to learning about the seeds and cosmic activity, to learning about food systems.  Yesterday Polly invited me to attend a meeting with her at the NV Dept. of Agriculture in Sparks,  regarding Food Systems Development in Northern Nevada.  I was honored to attend and be able to just sit, listen, and take it all in. It was held by the USDA, which offers quite a lot of assistance to farmers nation-wide, but change starts at home and at the local level.  There is much improvement to be done to get the efficiency up to speed, so as to be able to maximize efforts taken to grow, distribute, educate, and maintain a more local customer base.  One startling fact we learned yesterday is that there is only one meat processing plant in Northern NV, which is slated to be moved because it sits on flood land.  Anyway, most of the meat raised in this area is exported out of state for processing and distribution, while meat from other places is imported back into the state and the local economy.   Not efficient or profitable anyway you look at it.

I guess it is a time for learning for everyone...