May 15 - Saturday Downtown Spokane Farmers' Market (New Location) Saturdays (8 am to 1 pm) May 15 - Liberty Lake Farmers' Market (Like them on Facebook, Follow on Twitter) Saturdays (9 am to 1pm)May 19 - Millwood Farmers' Market (Like them on Facebook, Follow…
I found myself at a local Dollar Tree Store a couple of weeks ago. (In a moment of parental weakness I offered the kids a toy at the dollar store if they would quit whining and cooperate in a particularly tricky moment.) While the kids…
In a previous post I mentioned an effort to oust Ronald McDonald from the McDonald's marketing scheme;The same folks that brought an end to Joe Camel are taking a run at ending the reign of Ronald McDonald, a "deep fried Joe Camel for the 21st…
In conversations about the Pumpkin Patch Community Garden I'm hearing a lot of people say they don't have a green thumb or, based on their experience, they fear they would just kill any plants under their care. Christopher Walken has a novel idea for overcoming…
I realized today that our little blog just passed the 100,000 lifetime page views milestone. That's pretty small potatoes as the internet goes but it does remind me of the joy of our family's journey over the last 2+ years and makes me grateful for…
Walked the kids to school today. On the way home I ventured off the beaten path, onto some mountain bike paths and to the top of the hill where I was greeted by a beautiful meadow of Arrowleaf Balsamroot and an abandoned shed.
I was pleased to see a new Inland Northwest Blog titled Spokane Books Blog. I think the about page info is worth quoting in full for the way it reflects back perceptions about Spokane from someone new in town, and also offers up a vision…
Pictured above is a new Millwood area chicken tractor made from a discarded shipping crate. You can barely see it because of the shadows, but the crate is on wheels so it can be moved around, along with the PVC framed run. The birds can…
I posted awhile back about Landshare, an effort in England to connect farmers and gardeners with unused plots of land. It appears to be off and running there, but I wanted to pass along the word that a similar effort is underway here in the…
Awhile back I sat in as a guest in a class taught by Michael Woods at Gonzaga. In our conversation I learned that he was on the board of the Main Market Co-Op and had written his dissertation on the intersection of Catholic liturgy and…
I had a great time chatting today with Guy Hand, a Boise based writer and reported, who does an NPR radio show called "Edible Idaho." He's prepping for a show on churches involved with community gardens, with the primary focus on Boise Vineyard's Garden O'…
Gardening season is really kicking into high gear in the Spokane area but don't be fooled by 70 degree daytime weather. The key temp to keep an eye on in the forecast is the nighttime temp. The usual last freeze date in the area is…
Here's a bit of creative cultural commentary. If you're familiar with the Twilight series of books and movies you know about the self restrained, blood sucking vampires who choose to suck the blood of animals instead of humans. Emily Colette Wilkinson offers up some commentary…
Morningstar Farm in Newman Lake sent along these pics as part of our View From Your Garden series. If you're looking for fresh healthy poultry that is grown and processed on the farm this is a great option. They describe their approach;Our emphasis is pasture-based,…
The rise of the local food movement has been one of the main topics of this blog. It might be more accurate to say the popularization of the local food movement, in that folks like Alice Waters have been preaching the gospel of local food…
Jill Smith from the Cowgirl Co-op in Greenbluff sent over this picture showing a few of their 500 plantings of garlic emerging from winter slumber. (It's best to plant your garlic in the Fall but you can put the cloves in the ground now and…
A study by psychologists at Cornell offers great wisdom for those of us caught up in hopes of the new and next "thing" to buy. Stephen Messenger at Treehugger describes the study;It turns out, in this age of consumerism and gadgetry, that all this stuff…
I wrote yesterday about the very current and deep resonance of community gardens and other such phenomenon across the country. Whether it's in urban Detroit or semi-rural East Valley Spokane, these kinds of projects are popping up like a contagious virus.We had our work day…
Someone over at the sister site at Down to Earth NW asked recently if the "View From Your Garden" Series is still on. Here's the proposal I made last Spring: Andrew Sullivan the uber-blogger has a series on his site called “The View From Your…
We've got a big work day for the Pumpkin Patch Community Garden today and as we've made preparations it's become apparent that community gardens are very of the moment in American culture. I was startled into this recognition yesterday when we went to pick up…
There is a local farmer putting on a class to help people get up to speed on raising chickens and it comes highly recommended by a reader of the blog. This beginner class is designed for those considering raising their own chickens or for those…
I'm usually not too compelled by undercover videos at factory farms, but the one embedded below from the Human Society really got to me. It shows the mistreatment of chickens at Rose Acre Farms and Rembrandt Enterprises. (Notice how in the case of Rembrandt, farm…
I have been enjoying Jamie Oliver's kinetic whirlwind act on his Food Revolution show. The first two episodes have chronicled his efforts to transform the lunch foods on offer at an elementary school in Huntington, West Virginia, the supposed unhealthiest city in America. It is...
I've never been to Glacier National Park and I've heard it's just beautiful. My urgency in wanting to some day soon make a visit was increased yesterday when I saw a report that the park had just lost 2 more glaciers to warming temps and…
If you've been following along here in prepping for this year's garden you have some seeds starting to pop up. If you were a little overeager you probably have some plants that are getting quite large and the roots are overgrowing their little cubicle. If…
The Year of Plenty blog was created by Craig Goodwin in the winter of 2008 to chronicle the experiences of his family as they sought to consume everything local, used, homegrown or homemade. That journey was a wonderful introduction to people and movements in the Spokane area who are seeking the welfare of the community through local foods, farmers markets, community gardens, sustainable transportation, and more fulfilling and just patterns of consumption. In 2009 and beyond the blog will continue to report on these relationships and practices, all through the eyes of a family with young children. Craig manages the Millwood Farmers' Market, is a Master Food Preserver and Pastor at Millwood Presbyterian Church. Craig can be reached at goody2230@gmail.com
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