Field Report: A Michigan Teen Farms Her Backyard

[lsanderson]

Alexandra Reau, of Petersburg, Mich., tended to her rainbow chard. More Photos »
By CHRISTINE MUHLKE
Published: July 12, 2010

Lawn mowing and baby-sitting are standard summer jobs for the enterprising teenager. Alexandra Reau, who is 14, combines a little bit of each: last year, she asked her dad to dig up a half acre of their lawn in rural Petersburg, Mich., so she could farm. Now in its second season, her Garden to Go C.S.A. (community-supported agriculture) grows for 14 members, who pay $100 to $175 for two months of just-picked vegetables and herbs. While her peers are hanging out at Molly’s Mystic Freeze and working out the moves to that Miley Cyrus video, she’s flicking potato-beetle larvae off of leaves in her V-neck T-shirt and denim capris, a barrette keeping her hair out of her demurely made-up eyes. Who says the face of American farming is a 57-year-old man with a John Deere cap? More

Cold Pink Borscht in a Glass (July 18, 2010)
Recipe: Spinach Cake With Herb Salad (July 18, 2010)
Recipe: Herb Salad (July 18, 2010)

Comments

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the cite for "Cold Pink Borscht in a Glass" (though I question "one tablespoon of salt" as a possible typo for "...teaspoon...") -- some months ago I had all those beet seeds, and....

Not that I'm all that fond of pink, or of borscht/beets for that matter, but childhood during the (previous) Great Depression has engendered a deeply-ingrained attitude that wasting food is a Cardinal Sin -- and right now "Cold" and "in a Glass" sound great. (I'm also wondering if "with Several Glugs of Vodka" would be a suitable addition.)

I also note that the young lady is probably kneeling, to work (the secondary Gardeners' Position, with the primary one being the unflattering "bending over, with your /a/s/s/ behind in the air"), and that her entire garden appears to have been in Absolutely Prime condition at the moment the photo was taken.

I thought...

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

The borscht looked really good too.

I've got an old borscht recipe that I like a lot, but it has almost every type of root vegetable in it, and then I like to strain them all out and serve it as a broth. By then, not only is the larder out o' roots, the kitchen stained all red, but there's not a lotta broth left either.