OK, So I’m a sporadic blogger.

March 11, 2010

I just checked the date of my last entry, listed for January 31 of this year. Obviously, I have neglected the #1 rule of blogging — “Don’t neglect your blog.”

I’ve had trouble defining the purpose of this blog. Technically, according to “online marketing guidelines” it should lead readers somehow over to our business, Two-Lane Livin’ Magazine.

It should be a perfected presentation, written by a polished publisher, putting our best foot forward and emphasizing the value of our publication for advertisers. (White papers on local print publications, circulation, distribution, etc.)

In other words, this blog should technically be — work.

Well, it’s when I get that frame of mind that my blog entries simply become non-existent.

Forgive me if I don’t try to somehow sneak in a sales pitch. If I’m blogging to express myself, then work should not be included. I work all the time on other, well — more important things.

I have eight trays of seeds started indoors, and have the hot bed construction underway outside and more seeds to arrive in the mail within a few days. I’ve cleared the flower beds of debris and have started my spring mulching routine. Frank has promised a second raised bed inside the “big” garden fence for the herb garden. The small one near the house without fence did not deal well with the deer of winter.

This, of course, requires research on seed types, germination times, planting dates, soil requirements, etc. We’re not “winging it” with our garden any more, and it has become a science.

I’ve been gathering eggs again, and this year, have my official WV Egg Permit, which allows me to now legally trade a a dozen for a couple of dollars. Of course, now that I’m doing it legal, I am supposed to wash the eggs (which you really shouldn’t do) and had to design and print my own labels that cover all previous carton labeling with a big notice that says, “UNGRADED EGGS.” I also have to include the date I put the eggs in the carton.

Right now, we get about four dozen eggs a month. (Yup, that’s about $10) But, I’m getting two batches of hens later on in the season, so I might actually pay for their feed (and now, the labels).

Also, I’m planning to be “active” in the local farmer’s markets this year. I have some bulk herbs, and have planted several heirloom varieties of organic vegetable and herb seeds. I’ve always enjoyed my visits to the Calhoun Farmer’s Market, and the Gilmer Farmer’s Market is also being well received. I’ve been examining farmer’s markets for seven years now, so perhaps it’s time to get off the sidelines.

If you don’t follow me on facebook, then you aren’t aware that I totally rearranged the home office here, and that was a five day project that nearly exhausted me. (It is not uncommon, in the dark throes of February, for me to go manic with cabin fever and tackle some large task out of the blue. I typically get in over my head in such cases.)

But, I needed to do it because I’m also trying to get a local food co-op going for my community — a hyper-local, home delivery type thing that offers natural, certified organic and free trade items in bulk. These items can also be offered at the farmer’s markets in the summer, but through the winter will continue to serve the community.

Oh, and I also publish a magazine by the way. So, I’ve been working on ad design, page layout, editing, sales, online updating, and invoicing.And if I were a professional blogger, I’d somehow lead you to buy and ad right about

here.

No. This blog will be work no more.

This is me.

I wear mud boots, work in my pajamas, and have dirt under my fingernails.

I work late, sleep late, and spend way too much time on facebook.

Today, I shoveled horse manure for a couple of hours before typesetting three articles and preparing to place our first food co-op order.

I’ve spent too many years of my life trying to pretend that I am a professional.

I’m not.

I am driven to learn, teach and create — and that’s something totally different.

It’s like professional… but, without the polish.

So be it.

Hey, this is Two-Lane Livin’. Thus shall be Two-Lane Bloggin’.

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Bask in the Sunlight

January 31, 2010

Waiting on the Sun

Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it’s all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it’s all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes…

George Harrison, The Beatles

Today the sun shines brightly upon the two inches of snow that blanketed the yard yesterday. It hasn’t been a full week since I was complaining about the mud that seemed to surround us in the soggy gray of winter. Last night we watched the thermometer drop from 11 to 7 to 5, then zero degrees, but today, the shining sun makes 32 degrees feel almost… warm.

Despite the cold, I grabbed Daisy’s leash and outdoors we went, braving winter’s bitter bite just to be out in the sunshine. It seems so long since we’ve had a bright and sunny day, I could not help but to life my face to the sun, letting the winter wind chap my skin as I basked in the light.

Leaving what could have been a career as a newspaper reporter and breaking off on our own felt very much like stepping out of the gray of winter into the sunlight. Although news is typically printed in black and white, the truth is, the world of news reporting is a million shades of gray. Political powers, anonymous sources, advertising income, community opinion, the “truth” you read in black and white is anything but black and white.

Dark truths may be lightened by the style, humor or sympathies of the writer; the bright truths can be shaded by smear campaigns, misunderstandings, propaganda and hidden agendas. It can’t be helped, reporters are human after all and it is difficult, when surrounded by such a world of grays, to maintain a focus on the sunlight, much less bask in it.

Frank and I are quite proud, when we get the chance, to point out that Two-Lane Livin’ Magazine is “not the news.” We not writing to expose, report, or keep our readers up-to-date on the developments of the world. We’re working to educate and entertain, and that’s a world of broad-spectrum color, where light shines brightly on a regular basis. In fact, the more news we read, the more important our mission becomes.

With a copy of Two-Lane Livin’, readers step out of the gray, and into the sun. Join us in the sunlight. Pick up your print copy today, or visit us online at www.twolanelivin.com/issues.

To help us spread the sunshine, consider supporting our mission with your advertising dollars. Details are available online at: www.twolanelivin.com/advertise/

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Two Readers Who Truly Touch My Heart

December 5, 2009

Two-Lane Livin’ sponsors two monthly contests, the most well-recognized is The Cover Contest for which the readers submit their own photos to be featured on the magazine’s cover and win a Two-Lane Livin’ T-shirt. The other contest, the Find the Hidden Graphic Contest, challenges readers to find the hidden signpost graphic in the pages and send it in to be entered in a drawing for a Two-Lane Livin’ bumper sticker.

Neither of these are exotic prizes, I know. But most interesting are the entries we get.

Gina (not her real name) discovered Two-Lane Livin’ Magazine about a year-and-a-half ago. She has entered the Find the Graphic Contest every single month since. She has won… Twice. Her tiny clipped-out entry form is always accompanied by a hand-written letter with a copied poem of some sort, and some version of “I love Two-Lane Livin’ it’s the greatest!”

Now, about four months ago, Gina must have introduced Two-Lane Livin’ to her neighbor, Nicole (not her real name). That’s when we started receiving Find the Graphic entries from her with, “My neighbor introduced me to Two-Lane Livin’. I really like it,” letters included. Gina and Nicole live on the same road, their house numbers in their return addresses are less than five numbers apart.

Over the months, these two ladies have sent in their entries with notes and submissions for our Reader’s Page. Gina sends poems likely copied from the internet, and until this month, Nicole simply sent variations of, “I really like Two-Lane Livin’. I read it when I can.”

But this month, Nicole wrote an essay:

“When I was a Lettle Grial, this old man put me to sleep. He told this story about Running Bears and cats and his father Saw me playing whith the cats can Hurt you Bad. A Bad A Bear can hurt you too as Bad. then the man ask me what did I whant for Christmas and I Saide I what a puppie. Im not so good writeing this too Two-Lane Livin I Really Like it and I Love it I hope you Like this Lettle. I can’t write Like I whant to.”

What is especially interesting is that the essay has nine places where Nicole covered mistakes with white-out and made corrections. She, knowing she could not write well, put forth every effort she had to send something that was to her very best ability. This was not a quick note. Not an easy task for her. The white out shows that this was a project that she spent time on. Imagine the time alone in letting the white out dry.

She worked at it, and I appreciate her efforts.

Nicole, I know, will write us every month – just as her friend Gina does.  Gina’s writing is a little more legible but includes more scribbled out places, but Nicole dots her i’s with little circles, and troubles herself with white out, no scribbles. For as long as our magazine exists, for as long as they are able, both of these ladies will take the time and effort each month to find the graphic… cut it out… tape it to the form… write the accompanying letter, poem or essay… address the envelope (each came this month with decorative Christmas stickers added)… and place it all in the mail.

Nicole and Gina are reading. They are writing. They are Two-Lane Livin’ Magazine’s most responsive and dedicated fans.

I picture them, Gina bringing Nicole her copy, and the two of them sitting down together to search the pages for the hidden graphic. I see them passing the scissors to each other to cut out the graphic and the entry form. I see them sitting at the kitchen table, addressing their envelopes, choosing which Christmas sticker they want to use from a pile that’s been gathered from junk mail “gifts for you” over the years.

And then Gina drops them in the mailbox along the side of the road on her way home when they are finished.

It touches my heart. The picture in my mind may not be accurate. It matters not.

Our mail would not be the same without them.

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Resolutions or Goals?

January 5, 2010

Appearing today on The Hur Herald (www.hurherald.com)

Resolutions or Goals?

It’s been years since I’ve made any New Year resolutions. I don’t much care for the idea of starting over. Some like to look at the New Year as a fresh start. Well, I’ve made plans, I don’t want to go back to scratch. For me the turnover to a new year is a time to reassess the goals I have already established.

In early 2006, Frank and I set a long-term goal to simplify our way of living and become more self-reliant. For us, this is the path we have chosen to pursue our happiness. Two-Lane Livin’ Magazine; our “super sized” garden; farming; my experiments with canning, freezing, raising chickens, baking bread; our studies into earth and body friendly resources; practices of budgeting and saving and recycling – all of these are attempts to “simplify” our lifestyles.

Unless you were raised that way, simple living is anything but simple. In order to be “self-reliant,” your life schedule comes under the control of daylight and dark, the whims of seasons, the influences of the clouds and the sun. Meeting times are set by chickens and projects are planned around planting, weeding, watering, and harvest.

In college, I studied writing and literature, not herbs and livestock. I may be able to quote Shakespeare, but I cannot tell you the germination period for a tomato seed. You have to study, learn, practice and polish simple living skills to reach the goal of self-sufficiency, and I feel, in many ways, I’m just getting started.

1. Learn About and Launch Hot Beds: Frank and I learned last year in our first “serious” garden that vegetables like carrots, beets, etc. really need to be planted early. Also, we don’t want to wait until spring to have fresh leaf lettuce. We know that hot beds can help us get an early start and more fruitful harvest, but I know very little about how hot beds work or how to manage them.

2. Study Compost, Fertilizer and Earthworms: In an attempt to increase the quality of our soil, we began a compost pile last year. In addition, this year, we have what we need to “farm earthworms.” While these things may not seem related, the soil the worms will be living in will be excellent for our garden, and we might sell some worms for fisherman. Worms can double their population in less than three months. Of course, I know very little about raising worms, and I haven’t quite gotten full control over the compost pile, but I can continue my studies and practice.

3. Expand the Herb Garden: I started an herb garden last year, mostly from plants given to me by friends. It did fairly well until the rabbits, chickens and deer found it. Even so, I have herbs dried and frozen and I use them in my breads, teas and other dishes. But, I need to fill out the selection I have, and I need to get a fence around it. I will master what I’ve learned about drying and freezing them, and maybe next year I’ll learn to make salves, vinegars, oils and tinctures. But right now, I just want to master keeping them alive.

4. Get More Hens: I’ve been the parent of four hens for eight months now. We call them “The Ladies.” DeeDee, Ellemby, Pepper and Red provided eggs for Frank and I, my mother, my aunt and uncle all summer and fall. If I get four more, I can supply more friends and family, and maybe work through the process to sell some at the farmer’s market with excess herbs and vegetables from our gardens.

These four goals are some early 2010 goals for the land around us. We also have goals for the house, goals for the business, goals for our health, goals for our minds and our mentality. So much can be done in a year, the possibilities are overwhelming.

It helps me focus, organize and plan if I reassess my goals instead of making resolutions. For me, it’s the difference between promises made from scratch, and simply maintaining our set path.

It helps me remember that I’m already part-way there.

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Experimental Eating: The Delivery Runs

December 30, 2009

In “Super Size Me,”when Morgan Spurlock gets physically sick in his first day of only McD’s, I thought, “One meal? Two meals? And he’s sick already?”

Well, when you clean up your diet and spend months eating healthy, wholesome, non-mutated, non-processed foods — one meal from those pharmaceutical dinner menus will do it.

Frank and I each spend a whole week on the road driving every day to deliver the magazine. Since we’re out and about like that so rarely, we consider it a treat to have easy access to restaurants and shops, etc.

For example, I always do the South Calhoun/Clay/Kanawha/Roane delivery run. One reason is because I know I can get Krispy Kreme doughnuts at The Big Otter Exxon.

We used to eat dinner, lunch, breakfast out all the time. But now, we’re homebodies, and eating out has become…

An Eating Experiment.

See, when we launched the magazine, we also launched our gardens in full force. Vegetables, herbs, winter gardens. We also got chickens, our own eggs – and I began baking bread. Frank and I have eaten healthier in the last two years of our lives than we have in a decade.

But our bodies have developed a low tolerance for processed foods.

If I have caffeine after 11 am, I’ll be up all night. And those Krispy Kreme doughnuts? Man, what a sugar high (and following crash).

But it’s the queasy stomach part that really gets you when you are out on the road.

After two years of this experiment where “diner diarrhea” is the common effect of failure, I have picked up a habit from Hawkeye Pierce on MASH – I smell my food before I eat it.

I have identified a scent that tells me, “Don’t eat that.”

I consider it a survival skill.

We deliver to sixteen counties in Central West Virginia, and I know every restaurant and diner along the way. (I also know all the cleanest bathrooms on every route.) In some, I pick up the scent the minute I walk in the door. In others, it wafts up from the cottage cheese, or the soup.

The sight of an all-the-processed-food-you-can-eat buffet is enough to make my nose and  stomach both turn in self-defense.

I don’t want to be this way. Believe me, I come from a long line of buffet grazers. I LIKE crab salad, fried shrimp and instant mashed potatoes smothered in margarine that is only one molecule off from being plastic. I LIKE pre-made pies of pudding on graham cracker crust and nachos smothered in processed cheese.

I just… can’t…. eat it any more.

I also can’t eat much microwaved food.

We haven’t used a microwave in our home for three years. A friend of mine gave me an article on microwaved foods and after that I just couldn’t eat anything I cooked in the thing. We eventually just gave it away. I heat everything on the stove or in the oven now. We dirty a lot more dishes without a microwave, but other than that? We don’t really need it.

I can tell if my bun and burger have been nuked. I can tell by the look if food has been zapped.

I ordered a corn dog once, and they microwaved it. A corn dog. Isn’t there some chef’s rule that says a corn dog is a FRIED food? I mean really, if I’m risking stomach cramps later today with my choice of junk food, shouldn’t it automatically include GREASE?

Some things, like corn dogs and doughnuts, I love so much I don’t care if I’m going to get sick. I’ll risk it all for a bite of Bavarian creme or a taco pizza or salad.

But I can’t if it has that smell. Even still, there are times when I don’t catch it. But after two years on these delivery runs (no pun intended), I pretty much know what/where I can eat.

I also can name the cleanest bathrooms in sixteen counties.

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