Hobbies and Obsessions

Since I was about 12, I've been fascinated with photography, but didn't have the necessary equipment, or give myself the license to pursue it, citing my lack of training and the cost of development as insurmountable obstacles. Thanks to digital photography, I got over all that around 2006, and have taken more than 10,000 pictures over the last couple years. Yikes. So it's somewhat natural that I've been a bit burned out with the photography of late. I need a breather. Some other hapless hobby needs to suffer my ministrations.

So I'm bouncing back to my old standby: food. Believe it or not, this does relate to this blog's namesake, as Meredith Jubilee is a willing participant in most of my food related activities. With the onset of spring came my desire to plant a decent front yard garden (that's where the sunshine is at our house). My main motivation was that of most hobby gardeners: tomatoes. But even aside from the tomatoes, it's just so rewarding to put a seed in the ground and get something entirely different a few weeks later. So Meredith and I started some seeds in the windowsill, and then planted the garden. Now we've staked the tomatoes, and we're watching it all grow. And Mer agrees that a sun-warmed strawberry (even if the harvest is 1 per week) is a delicious reward. I can't wait to see her face when the zinnias start blooming.


But that's just the beginning. My book club is reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and it's getting under my skin. Already a farmers market devotee and a whole foods cook, I now find myself trying to find practical ways to take it to the next level and get more local with our eating. I've spent the last month trying to wean Mer off her standard breakfast of Nutri-Grain knockoffs in favor of homemade, whole wheat muffins. The good news? She loves to make them with me. The bad news? She still choses her "canola bars" most of the time. Oh well, more for me...


At the very least, Meredith is learning that good food comes from the ground, that farmers markets are wonderful places (even if her focus while there is entirely on dancing to the Harmony Brothers), that muffins can be mixed by hand and baked in the oven, and that garlic is stinky but delicious. These are good things; things that make life good. And that's what hobbies are for -- and how obsessions can be healthy.

So for those of you kind readers who enjoy a weekly post, that's what's going on at Mer's house right now, at least from my perspective. I do wish I'd taken pictures of my parents' visit this week, 'cause Meredith had a great time with them. Just keep in mind that the jalapenos and the Golden Jubilee tomato plants came from my brother, and the strawberry plants came from Papa and Keddi. Oh, and there is the fact that they taught me how to put stuff in the ground and watch it grow when I was a kid. So see, it's all related--photography and food--my two favorite hobbies, both inseperable from my other favorite thing: family.