I have been remiss in posting lately - it was spring break and I do not have a reliable internet connection at home. Perhaps the Maximum Leader could put up a paypal button so people could donate towards a new farmstead Pentium machine…

I am mentally and emotionally refreshed from nine twelve-hour days of hard, physical focus on the farm and am ready to drive hard in the classroom until the SOLs are over. My father and I put in a trellis system for the grapevines, rewired the orchard protection fence, and started on the pasture divisions necessary for rotational grazing. I am going to go from three paddocks to eighteen.

The only other big news from the week is that my daugher has broken her first bone. She was dancing with her grandmother, spinning spastically, arms pumping, and giggling maniacally. She got dizzy, fell over, and caught her toe on the carpet, bending back the big toe. We took her to the Kluge pediatric rehabilitation center and had a nice pediatric orthopedist (what a specialty!) fix her up with a tiny little cast. It doesn’t seem to slow her down much - she is still motoring around like the precious little tyke she is.

Note to the other ministers: there will be no speculation about which side of the family was the source of the spastic dance gene.

I have several blog entries percolating, so look for the following topics over the next couple of weeks:

The MOP was Right and I was Wrong: Invading Iraq Was a Mistake.

How I Risked My Marriage by Flirting With Voting For Bush.

The Benefits of Rotational Grazing.

A Grass-Fed Beef Update.

Reconsidering Fishing as a Recreational Sport.

Guinea Hens as an Organic Tick Control Measure.

An Essay Attempting to Explain the Cosmic Injustice of the Minister of Propaganda Hooking Up With The Captain of the Cheerleading Squad.

Have an idea for a Smallholder Post? E-mail me at Smallholder@Nakedvillainy.com. There is a button to contact me on the linkbar. So far only the Minister of Propaganda has written. << And, my friend, the answer is still no - that would be illegal in Virginia, and, besides, where would we get all that pudding?>>

UPDATE FROM THE MAXIMUM LEADER: Gone squishy on Iraq have we my friend? Joining the ranks of the cutters and runners? Spent your spring break boozing it up with Teddy Kennedy and gone all Patty Hearst on your Maximum Leader? Your Maximum Leader will say that he is curious about how you risked your marriage… But that curiosity will be sated in time… And as a final note, your Maximum Leader, for one, has no doubts about the spastic dancing gene. - Max. Ldr.