There’s a certain small person in my house who has recently become obsessed with writing thank you cards. Especially now that she knows where the notecards, envelopes, pens, and stamps are – and she can reach them, even better – we have been sending out cards on a regular basis. If you haven’t yet received one and I know your address, just wait. I’m sure one will come your way soon.
She’s obviously not letting standard stamp placement or a lack of alphabet-writing skills stop her. Also, I really need a new mailbox.
Now that the crazed sewing of overstuffed annoyed avians has passed, I’m naturally thinking about the next holiday coming up on the calendar. Yes, even though the red cups are out at the big coffee retailer, Thanksgiving shows up first. Believe it or not. It seems like such a maligned holiday, shoved in between the candy-fest of Halloween and the overwhelming sugary comas of cookies and candy canes and gingerbread houses for Christmas. Pumpkin pie doesn’t have the same panache for the general populace (though I willingly took about two dozen pie pumpkins from a friend wrapping up a pumpkin patch, and would do so again in a heartbeat. But I’m well aware that my food choices do not really represent the general public).
And as I’m trying to slow down and enjoy the present a little more, I figured I’d add my chorus to the X number of days of thankfulness lists peppering the internet today. So here goes. I am thankful for:
1) Peanut butter, and the ability to buy it in bulk before the price shoots through the roof (this is a good product to donate to a local food pantry or food bank right now).
I’m obviously not the only person worried about this issue. At least the almond butter is keeping the grocery shelves warm.
2) Freedom to be subversive in my own backyard. I keep looking for Monsanto hacks out my kitchen window as I attempt to save tomato seeds for the first time this fall.
3) Knowledge passed down (in my family and on the internet) so that I can feed my family year-round with less Big Ag/Big Processed Food influence.
4) The willingness of others to share so that less food is wasted.
5) Sunny days even after the first (freakishly early) snowfall so I could get my procrastinating butt to plant some onions and garlic.
Better late than never, I guess. Not sure why that tomato interloper is hanging out with the onions – guess I’ll see what happens in the spring.
6) The good fortune of being born in a place that a) sinks its claws into its natives and doesn’t let go, so you can’t imagine living anywhere else, and b) has a fantastic natural landscape, good for both leaf peeping and supporting local agriculture.
7) A liberal arts education that didn’t turn me into a mindless automaton, so I know enough about my rights as a citizen to be dangerous and am unwilling to be complacent. As an Occupy Wall Street sign so eloquently stated, poor people are much easier to control. That looming farm bill in the supercommittee is worrying me.
That’s a week’s worth of (mostly) food-related thanks – what are you thankful for?
