Yesterday marked my first share of this summers CSA crop and man-o-man was it most excellent. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. CSA farms use sustainable farming methods (though not necessarily organic) and deliver their produce fresh from the field to the communities within which it was grown. The “supported” part of that comes from the part where people like you or I pay for a share of the crop.

What’s the point, you ask?

All politics are local. Supporting people in your community supports your community and you. Not only that, but it doesn’t cost much more (and in some cases less) than standard mega-mart prices. My bi-weekly CSA share was a few hundred dollars, of which 125 will come back to me in the form of a rebate from my health insurance provider.

If that’s not enough incentive for you, how about the fact that sustainably-grown produce that travels 10 miles to you just plain tastes better than anything in any store you have ever or will ever buy. Pretty bold statement, if you’ll forgive the pun, right? You won’t think so after your first share. Trust me.

Ok, soapbox disengaged. On with the show.

The spring/early-summer in Wisconsin has been superior weather for greens. Spinach and lettuce of all varieties grew like proverbial weeds. My first share this year came through with a huge head of some odd red leaf  lettuce I’d never heard of (but tastes great!) and a giant bag of mixed leafy greens. Oh, and the bag of giant spinach which I put to immediate and tasty use.

Garlic scapes. Holy crap on a crap-boat do I love these things. They’re like garlic-flavored asparagus and just as versatile. In fact, I’ve cooked them with garlic and asparagus together for a trifecta of awesome you would not believe. I’d never even HEARD of them until joining a CSA farm. Put another check-mark in “reasons to CSA” column.

My share was rounded out by some fresh scallions, turnips, chives (that flowered already) and an itty-bitty basil plant. All-in-all, a wonderful start.

I picked up a nice ribeye on the way home from work, so while that was resting I used my trusty (and still blazing) cast-iron skillet to wilt about half of the spinach greens. I mixed that with the remaining uncooked leaves and some sliced turnip and scallions and tossed with some fresh-ground pepper. If you’ve ever had a spinach salad at a good steak place with the sweet bacon vinagrette you’ll almost get the taste right, save this salad was more savory than sweet/tangy. I wish I had snapped a pic of the finished product so I could show off a little, but honestly the stuff was just gone.

Anywho, take some time and seek out your local CSA group if there is one. Your efforts will not go unrewarded.

So I’m sitting here waiting for this server to finish converting into a new handy-dandy VM and figured it’d be a good time to purge out the ol’ DVR. I haven’t moved to uVerse quite yet so I’m stuck with the anemic HD in Charter’s Moxi. Where was I again? Oh yes, Mythbusters was on from this week – it’s the “Alaska Special 2″ for reference. The kids were testing some myth about a car being clove in twain by one of those big plows. Blah blah blah, we’re going to Wisconsin. Well then, I should look at the screen for 30 seconds or something. More blah blah and some scenes of snow and crap and all of the suddon I see this small white plow with the words “Burke” scrawled across it… “That looks familiar,” I say to no one in particular.

So yeah, I was apparently in a coma while my beloved Kari was 2 miles down the road testing a snowplow myth. I’m assuming they filmed that this winter, which was incredibly mild by all accounts, yet all three of them were bundled up like they were adrift off the coast of the Antarctica.

Anywho, it is to lols.

A scant 20 minutes after the polls opened here my ballot was cast with a satisfying whirr and beep of the tried and “true” non-Diebold counting machine. I confess to being a bit giddy as I moved through the queue. I couldn’t stop myself from flipping open the blue privacy folder to look at my vote a 2nd, 3rd and 5th time. I couldn’t help but smile.

This is the first time in a long, long while where I was really and truly happy to cast my ballot.

My mood is only dampened by the reports of rampant voter fraud/tampering by the local GOP. Not the least of which by our own Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. Our “top cop” is the chair of the WIsconsin Republican party. Hell, he’s hosting the McCain/Palin “victory party” tonight in Waukesha. I ask you, how can the person who’s charged with enforcing a fair and accurate election possibly do so while jerking off the home office? Where is his zeal for justice when it comes to prosecuting paid temp workers who were TOLD TO LIE to people about their affiliations? Yeah, thought so. You are a blight, sir, and I look forward to your opponents victory party next time ’round.

I sent an angry letter to my congresswoman a while back and this afternoon received the reply. I don’t recall why exactly I sent the letter but at the time it had me pissed off I’m sure. I gathered from “her” response that it was regarding intellectual property laws of some kind but who the hell knows.

I enjoy the email back, for laughs if nothing else, but the typical political side-step hardly fills me with confidence. Oh well, not as if I could do any better, read on if you dare!

Thank you for emailing me regarding intellectual property licenses in federal government contracting. It is good to hear from you, and I apologize for the delay in my reply. As you know, government funded research and development (R&D) ranges from basic research in the sciences, mathematics, and biology to computer technology to military applications. Most funding is through grants, cooperative agreements and contracts. Under most circumstances, when the government funds R&D, it receives non-exclusive licenses to use the intellectual property while the contractor retains title and can use the intellectual property for commercial purposes.Some have proposed altering this R&D structure to allow companies to retain greater intellectual property rights. The House Government Reform Committee’s Technology and Procurement Policy Subcommittee held a hearing in May 2002 on the topic of Intellectual Property and Government R&D for Homeland Security. Information about that hearing can be found at: http://reform.house.gov/tapps/hearings.htm. I am skeptical about proposals to fundamentally change the current structure of federal R&D. I am a member of the House Judiciary Committee’s Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee, which has primary jurisdiction over intellectual property law. Rest assured, I will keep your views in mind should any legislation come before the House of Representatives or the Judiciary Committee.

Again, thank you for sharing your views. Your opinion matters to me. If I can be of service to you in any other way, please do not hesitate to let me know. Sincerely,

Tammy Baldwin

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin’s 2nd District

Wisconsin Office:
10 East Doty St., Suite 405
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: 608-258-9800
Fax: 608-258-9808

Washington, DC Office:
1022 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-2906
Fax: 202-225-6942

http://tammybaldwin.house.gov