Here’s a farm “moo-ment” captured this past week. Ashley, my DIL, and Ace hard at work shooting food photos for my upcoming Milk Cow Kitchen book, coming out next year.

Your name suggestions have been fabulous. For some reason, he’s looking like an “Otis” to me. He always looks so surprised. OH!tis. What do you think? Will Otis work for this guy?

Projects with my newly released glamping fabric are in full bloom on blogs across the internet. This one in particular caught my eye. Beautiful! This was made by Mary Ann of RocknQuilts.

What does a girl do with gorgeous “Glamping” fabric designed by Mary Jane Butters? Why, create a gorgeous wall hanging/table topper for her camper/glamper, of course!

Can’t wait to show you more, but here’s what’s done sew far…

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Guess what I assisted with last Monday? We didn’t think Maizy was due for another month, but about 6 a.m., while it was still dark outside, I heard her particular brand of moaning, so I went down to the pasture to see what was going on. There on the ground was a dripping wet, just-from-the-womb, SHIVERING baby boy. I laid down a fresh bed of straw in the barn and moved them both inside, Maizy still moaning and licking. I do love my “Jersey Nanny” title.

Names. We need boy names! Any ideas?

Do you have a favorite pair of socks?

Striped or spotted?

Cotton or wool?

Knee-high or nipped at the ankle?

Mine are … all of the above, depending on the season and the pair of boots or shoes I’m wearing.

Let’s face it, a good sock is not only a foot’s best friend, it’s a bit of flair that we can hide under pants …

or flaunt and share.

In my mom’s day and long before that, people were loyal to their socks. It wasn’t so much about fashion as practicality, and it didn’t make sense to throw away a perfectly good pair simply because their heels showed wear.

Alas, mending is becoming a thing of the past, and lots of socks end up in the trash.

But sock startup Nice Laundry is making it their mission to save fuzzy footwear from this sad and eco-unfriendly fate.

Phase One: Nice Laundry’s pedi-preneurs are selling socks. Great socks.

“We started by taking what we loved from one of our favorite $38 pair of socks and then obsessed over every detail: the patterns, material composition, cuff height, and more,” explain co-founders Ricky Choi and Phil Moldavski.

But instead of paying premium prices, you can get six pairs of Nice Laundry socks for $39, or replace your whole sock drawer for under $90.

Photo courtesy of NiceLaundry.com

Phase Two: Ricky and Phil are bent on recycling.

Prepaid return shipping labels come with every order. Send back your old socks and Nice Laundry will recycle them. “A significant percentage will be reused and repurposed,” they say, “while the balance will be converted into recycled fibers.”

Fact: the U.S. wastes some 21 billion pounds of textiles annually.

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Ostracized for decades by Britain’s renowned Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), the lowly order of ceramic garden gnomes will at last have its day in the sun.

It seems that gnomes are no longer deemed ignominious by the haughty horticulturalists of London, who once described the little figurines as “distracting” and barred them from participating in the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show.

(Call it a case of caste discrimination against those that were, well, cast.)

At any rate, a gaggle of good-natured gardeners like Jekka McVicar found the prohibition preposterous.

McVicar, a medal-winning horticulturist and unabashed gnome activist, roused a bit of a row when she displayed a dapper little desperado dubbed “Borage” in her 2009 display.

Photo by EddyDD via Wikimedia Commons

Imagine McVicar’s delight when she learned that the statuettes she has long supported will be welcomed as guests of honor at the 2013 Chelsea Flower Show in May.

Oh, yes—it’s true!

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How many times have you come home from the farmers’ market or grocery store with a fresh bundle of fragrant herbs only to watch it wilt before you’ve even had a chance to use it?

I know—me too.

Even greens grabbed from my garden will go limp if I don’t snip and season right away.

But I’ve found a little gem that may just flabbergast fresh produce fanatics from here to Farfoodle.

It’s called FreshPaper by Fenugreen.

Cute, right?

And oh so simple.

It’s just an unassuming piece of paper, not unlike a dryer sheet, that keeps fruits and veggies fresh for two to four times longer, organically.

Photo courtesy of fenugreen.com

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I have a huge amount of respect for a little girl who is building her own tiny house.

Dollhouse?

Nope …

tiny habitable, functional house.

Meet Sicily Kolbeck.

Photo courtesy of Sicily’s blog, La Petite Maison

At 12 years of age, Sicily is nothing short of a pint-sized … well … powerhouse. As we speak, this darling dynamo is building a 128-square-foot solar-powered mini-home.

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I always knew my bovine team of Jerseys was destined for greatness. But I didn’t know they’d be the solution to Planet Earth’s demise. (I see a blockbuster movie in the making—Planet of the Cows.)

How many essays have I written where I’ve made my case for the use of protein harvested from local deer, elk, and moose rather than soybean and oats grown in the midwest where the land was tilled, sprayed, and eroded in order for a trucker to deliver granola and soymilk to our doorsteps? I’ve reasoned further, Aren’t bucolic, perennial pastures growing high-end protein better than the constant turning of soil?

But first a little background. For the most part, I’ve grown up following Allan Savory—he was a hero of mine when I was a young environmentalist. However, now that I’m an older, “well-seasoned” environmentalist with things like a dairy to manage, I haven’t caught even a glimpse of him in the last 10 years.

Now I know why.

He’s been busy figuring out a way to reverse climate change.

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