I attended my first meeting today of Sustainable Mountain Living, a community organization that has made community gardens a reality in Rabun County. I believe they have 14 plots that have already been spoken for and are beginning to get planted and a sizable waiting list of folks wanting a place to garden. I attended the meeting because they are trying to put together a community kitchen/canning center, which I think, would be a tremendous boon to the area. Hopefully, not only will it allow folks to learn to can, the space to can, but will be a commercial kitchen for retail food production. It looks like they are giving the go-ahead for the kitchen, now all they need is money, space, volunteers, donations and well…everything. 
If you are interested in this organization, leave me a comment and I’ll send you the information. I’m not sure what all else they do, but I think they do a food bank, seed distribution, gardening classes and who knows what else. You can also call the Rabun County Cooperative Extension Service for information.
We woke up at 5:30 this morning and finished up hiding the eggs. Katie woke up about 6 and the first thing she saw was an Easter Egg. Needless to say, the next 45 minutes were filled with her squealing “I FOUND ANOTHER ONE!.” She declared the Easter Bunny loves her. I am convinced that every one needs to rush out and get a 4 year old, so they can have the coolest Easter ever.
I heard of this cool thing to do. Have the kid help you bury jellybeans in the ground, tell them you are growing lollipops. Make sure you do it a few days before Easter, then Easter morning, stick lollipops in the ground. Katie checked her “seeds” about 10 times a day and when she discovered they turned into lollipops, she was completely over the moon. Pro-tip: Let them know it only happens on Easter, otherwise, you’ll be burying jelly beans for ever.
She and Tom went to an Easter Egg Hunt yesterday and she was a great little egg finder. Of course, being in a cow pasture with the eggs just laying on the grass made it easy, but still. Tom took lots of video of it and during one part, I was particularly proud of the parents we are. There was a table filled with cookies and I could hear kids screaming, crying, throwing fits for cookies in the background, the camera was on Katie. Tom asks her if she wants a cookie, she says “No, Thank you.” I was so proud of her.
Here are a couple of pics:
In other news, I have the new Daring Bakers challenge and may be doing it Tuesday.
Happy Easter everyone!
Clear