By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

My childhood was like a country song by Barbara Mandrell.

Her saying “I was country when country wasn’t cool” completely describes my life.

My first five years of life were spent in a large city in Kentucky.

But social turmoil was going on and my dad did not want me involved in it when I started school so we moved to the country in Indiana.

At first it seemed I was the odd girl out. I started first grade at 5 years old and was just overly different then my classmates. I am part Native American and my appearance did not match the German ancestors that were in my classes. As time went on, I became more and more a tomboy, naturalist, environmentalist and when agriculture classes opened up for girls an agriculturist.

My dad always depended on me to take care of the farm. As a matter of fact, I was Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

As long as I can remember, blackberry pie, brambles and my birthday have always been tied together.

This relationship started as soon as I was old enough to eat blackberries.

My first experience with homemade blackberry pie was at cousin’s house that lived and breathed farming.

She married a young dairy farmer back in the 1930s and it seemed never left that time period. Her kitchen was filled not with processed foods but homemade goodness of potted meats, homemade cheeses and home canned fruits and vegetables. Her cooking centered on using Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day I was on the computer and found a term that raised by brow.

This term was micro farming.

As my eyes moved across the letters and my mind processed these symbols, I began to imagine little farms in test tubes or on microscopic slides.

How wrong I was.

Micro farming by a loose definition is any farm operation that is run on 1 to 5 acres.

These acres can be front yards, backyards, neighboring yards, and even apartments. The definition of micro farming is really up to the farmer.

This farming movement is not limited to plants but includes the whole permaculture movement. Some individuals are finding ways of even raising Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day, I was searching on the Internet and came upon an article that described a situation that surprised me and at the same time did not surprise me.

While I do not live in this community and have no clear-cut understanding of this city’s laws, I feel everyone needs to take note of this situation.

Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan decided to grow her own organic vegetables this year.

The soaring prices for organic produce were getting too high for her budget so she decided to take matters into her own gardening hands.

While her house does sit on property Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day I was walking through the gardening center and saw a plant that brought back a found memory of children, plants and Mother’s Day.

When my daughter was about 3 years old she was asked what here favorite color was.

She replied, with her little 3-year-old voice, purple, pink and blue.

Every piece of clothing, shoes, and toys needed to be one of those colors. My son was a little easier and only liked black but he could tolerate other colors.

So during the 3rd year of being a mother, my husband took the twins to the gardening center to pick out mom’s gift. Our daughter wanted everything purple, pink or blue while our son was disappointed that flowers were not black. So Read the rest of this entry »