A Trip to Mountain Feed & Farm Supply

Occasionally you come across a commercial establishment that clearly is head and shoulders above all the competition and puts the commonplace in the worst possible light. Mountain Feed & Farm Supply of Ben Lomond, California is in this category. It's the kind of store where you should go even if you don't need to buy anything there. It's a mini-vacation from the average franchise strip mall disillusionment we usually experience when we go shopping for needed items to multiply & replenish the earth.

We had been seeking an orchard ladder. We prune and trim so many trees on so many uneven surfaces. There is no better ladder from which to do this kind of work than the orchard ladder.

Mountain Farm & Feed Supply is oriented towards you producing your own food supply. Of course, we're not all in a position to do this, but for those who can and see the value in it, this is just the kind of store you want in your community, just like the fire department.

It reminded me of City Farmers Nursery in San Diego which we got to visit earlier this year. Clearly, a labor of love for the owners who run the place, and an oasis garden day-trip destination for aficianados of organic gardening and healthful living.



"Older is often better" an old friend recently said.










It made me smile. New things can be made of old things, and often that's the best of both! New things built in homage to old things also leverage timeless value.

For example: A portable chicken coop for 4:
Fresh fertile eggs and free range chicken, natural bug and snail control, organic fertilizer and an old-fashioned self-winding cock-a-doodle-doo 'alarm clock'. How many ways do the old things recommend themselves to post-modern times?

This corn-gluten product, called corn weed blocker, has a triple (at least) benefit.
It blocks the germination of broad leaf weed seeds, fertilizes by adding nitrogen to soil, and displaces the use of poison products that pollute both in their manufacture and final use. I use it in our meadow to fertilize and inhibit weed germination. 

These plastic water tanks bespeak a conservationist ethic despite their hydrocarbon source. Made of recycled, reclaimed plastic, versatile in use and durable, they remind us to 'demand the best' and our responsibility to deliver our best.

Thanks to Mountain Feed & Farm Supply in Ben Lomond, California for a positively uplifting experience.