Is this on?

Anyone there?

Not sure just what I'm doing--I know enough about computers to be dangerous. We'll see how this goes for a while.

If you've just stumbled across my little slice of heaven here, I'm Patt. Nice to meet you, too. If you are here for drama or a trainwreck, well, you might want to keep looking.

So, who am I? I live in Bloomington IL with my husband, Bill and three of our four kids: Carson, Emily & Allie and the dog, Skipper. Our oldest son, Kyle, is serving in the Marines in Iraq, otherwise he lives in NC with his lovely wife, Ash and daughter, Kaylee.

Why are the weeds winning? Because there aren't enough hours in the day to pull them. We have a produce business, Mitchell Farms Produce, located in Green Valley/Manito, IL. We started this venture about 7 years ago and it took on a life of its own and now consumes our lives from mid-March to the end of September. Bill & I both work full-time, year round and commute almost daily to our farm. Bill's dad, Larry, lives on the farm and is part of our business, too. If you want to know more about what we grow and why we farm, go here: www.mitchellproduce.com. I don't know if the link will work--I know just enough to make a mess of this.

Mostly, this blog is a forum for me to voice my opinions on food, eating, our society's view toward fresh food and why everyone who has access to fresh produce should take advantage of that opportunity. During the season, I send out an e-mail update before each of our markets to customers on our lists. A few times, I would rant a bit and the e-mails would get a little long and a touch off topic.

What pushes my buttons? Glad you asked!

• The lack of awareness of where most of our food comes from
• People's confusion of what fruit and vegetables grown in their region
• Cheap people
• Wonderful food and wine--shared with good friends, of course!
  

That's a short list, but I'm sure it will grow. I can't think of much more to really say. I'm exhausted--in the last 48 hours I've harvest for the market, worked our last farmer's market (starting at 5:15 am), drained & cleaned our swimming pool, went to a wedding & reception, went to Mass WAY too early and spent 6 hours at soccer. This is why I work: I go to my office to rest!

Thanks for stopping by (and reading to the end!). I'm sure that I'll put up something worth reading soon.