feeding the community

I finally filled our bird feeders a couple of weeks ago. I remember last summer when I was so sick, looking out the window and watching the birds peck at the empty feeders, but there was no way I could go out and fill them. Not this year, though. So there's one hanging off the porch, that's easy for squirrels to get into. They were the first to find it. Then the next was a raccoon!! It was extremely tame, would jump off the porch and watch me as I charged it banging pan lids together. (I had to learn to wait until I was outside to do that, because it really freaked out the cats!) I saw it about three afternoons in a row. Then the feeder was completely empty (a squirrel looked desperate), and I haven't seen the raccoon since. But I have a feeling it would come right back if I put food out. So I was reflecting on why it bothers me so much that a raccoon was there, but I'm not so bothered by the squirrels, even though technically the food is for the birds. They still haven't found the other feeders out by the trees.

In another kind of feeding, I went to our local community supported agriculture farm, the Root Connection, for the first time this afternoon. I really enjoyed it. There were big tubs of different vegetables, and for my share, I could pick one red lettuce, one green lettuce, one bunch of turnips, 2 bok choy, 1 lettuce cabbage -- I don't even know what that is. Then on the back part of the farm, you could go pick more greens. I got 2 kinds of mustard greens that I cooked with beans tonight, some chard for the African peanut and pineapple dish from one of the Moosewood cookbooks, and some mizuna, which is a salad green. I'm going to learn a lot! In the front area is an herb garden, where I picked some mint (from their selection of 4 kinds) for a Greek rice dish later in the week. When the weather's warm, I can imagine making mojitos with chocolate mint. Basil comes later too. There was a section of the garden specifically for kids, where later in the summer they can pull up radishes and pick beans. What a great way to get kids involved! Next time I won't wear sandals, though.