Communities organize against food deserts. And of course, creating the market is a good way to promote community.

Of course, just providing health food isn't enough- the time and effort spent cooking it is also a problem as this post illustrates. And knowing how to make things from your new healthy food stash, and not putting hamhocks in your purplehull peas is also an effort, which will probably be a burden on women especially.

Waste not, want not. Maybe using our yards for gardens, native plants, etc, will become more popular than unsustainable lawns. Or then again maybe not. The tomatoes are still delicious.

Pop Tunes, a Memphis business icon, is remembered fondly by its fans.

Today we came to the end of our pear preserves. My mother washed out the jar, and said she was going to return it, because she doesn't want her friend's mother to go to the expense of buying another jar, and also, because we might get some new pear preserves.

I really respect people who are keeping the remnants of the old barter agricultural economy going. I hope it doesn't fade in our generation, even though I have no useful domestic skills, and work days are getting longer, leaving less time for canning, gardening, and chicken raising

fresh eggs
Originally uploaded by cassowaryjewelry

This is a picture of some eggs my mom got from a hen in South Memphis[an urban area considered to be 'the ghetto']. Small scale agriculture can pop up anywhere. It's the growing season now, so shop local and shop often.

Some groups want to protect endangered chicken breeds. Here is a place to get started raising endangered breeds of chicken

Memphis farmers markets prepare to open. In the paper version, there was a fun bit about how when you do community supported agriculture, you sometimes end up with a whole bunch of zucchini in summer, and of course, the joy of tomatoes.

Odd things seen in Memphis today:

What appeared to be a school field trip to the public library. Poor kids.

A buttload of toddlers in a University of Memphis parking lot, escorted by police in a car and some older women, one of which who was wearing a cloth necklace made of geometric shapes.

Memphis area woman is in a battle to keep her goats. The chickens she owns were not an issue. This blog notes that Memphis allows laying hens. My aunt's neighbor used to have chickens, and code enforcement did not care. In our nicer area, down the street, a neighbor has horses and cows, but I think they may have been grandfathered in, as they hadn't sold their land for a long time, and no one has probably ever complained about their horses, cows,etc.

We nearly had a frost yesterday so I guess it was too early to plant after all.