I've finally finished reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" a Barbara Kingsolver book about a year of food life, existing almost totally on what she and her family of four could raise on their small Virginia farm. At the end of that year Kingsolver reflects on the meaning of their efforts, "These efforts might just get us past the train-wreck of the daily news, or the anguish of standing behind a child, looking with her at the road ahead, searching out redemption where we can find it: recycling or carpooling or growing a garden or saving a species or something. Small, stepwise changes in personal habits aren't trivial. Ultimately they will, or won't, add up to having been the thing that mattered."

 

I have a small backyard flock of 8 laying hens that, in their zen-like manner, have persuaded me that it's time to follow my heart and my conscience and travel the path to a more sustainable way of life...this Blog will serve as my diary, my blue print and...oh, my thesis!