Heirloom Foods

Happy Friday, everyone! My "Small Measures with Ashley" post is up over on Design Sponge. Today's topic discusses the preservation of heirloom foods and animal breeds. It's a topic very near and dear to my heart.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. We're off for a quick day trip to Atlanta tomorrow. Some beloved friends not only just bought their first home, but are having their first child in a mere 6 weeks! While I've had other friends have children, this will be the first time that I'll get to witness a very close friend fully big and round and undeniably pregnant. I'm looking forward to seeing what Asheville eco store Nest has available gift-wise (we buy all of our expecting friends gifts from there; everything from Kate Quinn is fabulous, and organic to boot!).

It will be a quick jaunt, up and back in the same day (a total of 7 hours in the car-good thing we like each other so much, and have the likes of Portishead, M.I.A., and Penguin Cafe Orchestra to lose ourselves in!), but it will be just the mini vacation we need. The weather promises to cooperate, too, so things should go off without a hitch.

Oh, Asheville friends, two upcoming gardening classes you might be interested in: The Buncombe County government is sponsoring a "Grow Your Own-Eat Local" gardening basics class on March 20th at AB-Tech from 9-3:30. A mere $10, this class is a total winner.

Also, my friends Beth and Christopher are teaching a four-part organic gardening basics class at their Swannanoa farm. You can find class descriptions here. Each class meets from 1-5 one Saturday a month, beginning March 27th and ending June 19th. It's possible to simply take individual classes, at $40 each, or the entire series for $140 (take all four and you also get an entire flat of veggie starts!). My friend Alisa and I are already signed up. I'd love to see you there, too!

*Image from here.