I did a little trenching yesterday. It looks like a long haul in the photo but it's really only about 50 - 60 feet. It was easy digging until I got to the tree roots. I chopped and dug until I had a good sweat built up and then called it a day. I'll do a little more today and see how it goes. I've got the pick out already for digging through the gravel drive. I'll get most of the digging done and then I'll tackle breaking out some of the old foundation. I got the conduit run from the panel inside the barn and through the wall already (if you look closely, you can see the pulling ell on the barn sidewall). Depending on the weather and a few other things that are going on, I'm hoping to have power in the barn this week. That'll be a big one to check off the list.
On a totally different subject, I read the Scott Jurek book Eat and Run. The guy's an amazing ultramarathon runner. He's also a vegan. The book relates his life as a runner and includes vegan recipes at the end of every chapter. Since the heart attack, I've been following a vegan diet myself. I make no political statement with this. I still wear leather shoes and I have no problem with other people eating meat/dairy. What I do have a problem with is trying to get a decent meal while on the road.
I took the toll road across Indiana and Ohio when I went to Belfast a week ago. We stopped both coming and going to grab something to eat and stretch a little bit at the plazas. On the way out the best I could come up with was a small garden salad at Hardees that I scraped most of the cheese off of. On the way back, we stopped and this time I tried the Manchurian Wok, seeing that they listed a vegetarian carton on the take out menu. Turns out however, that the only vegetables they had also had beef mixed in with them. I ended up getting a carton of fried rice, even though that had a little egg in it.
While at Belfast, the street festival had some food vendors but once again it was slim pickin's. The guy with the sausage, grilled peppers and onions fixed me up with some peppers and onions on a roll. Actually pretty tasty but didn't stick with me for long. After Pollywogg Holler, we all went out for a beer and a sandwich and the best I could do there was an order of sweet potato fries. Seems like there's no problem at a regular sit down restaurant, but fast food or a bar is going to present an issue. I had made some trail mix and packed a couple of Clif bars along but I need to figure out something better when I'm on the road.
However, the book I'm reading now, Real Food by Nina Planck, says that veganism is uncalled for and the thing to eat is non-industrialized food. I've always maintained that there was a reason the people in the old days could eat plenty of red meat, eggs and dairy products without getting a heart attack or cancer. According to her, the answer is pretty simple. Just eat food that hasn't been screwed with by industrial agriculture. Of course, finding that along the toll road or at a street festival is going to be pretty damn hard to do. I'm a little more than half way through the book and what she's saying makes sense. Hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup have no business entering our bodies. Raw milk and raw milk cheese, grass fed livestock, fruits and veggies without all the drugs and chemicals are the way to go. Where's a guy going to find all that stuff at home, let alone on the road, however? If what she's saying is the truth, it would be worth pursuing.
I've got some photos taken here on my place almost 100 years ago. One of them is of a guy milking a cow out back. One shows the house with a field of cabbage as the front yard and another one has a little kid holding up the biggest Canada goose I've ever seen. That was the lifestyle here way back when, farm and hunt. Between the the hard work and all the walking associated with that hard work and the wholesome food they consumed, people lived a good life, had a decent life span and when it was time to go, they went quickly and at home. I just wish I knew for sure who to believe and what path to follow. In the meantime I'll continue to stay away from the cheap sandwich cookies and anything with high fructose corn syrup in it.
Have a good week!
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