And now to interrupt our regularly scheduled blog...

A Real World Friend, who blogs under the name of Whozat tagged me on the Thinking Blogger Award. She says this:

"I know Willa in the real world, but I feel like I've gotten to know her a lot better since I've been reading her blogs. Yumminess Ensues features recipes and more, while Plants and Animals... is mostly the "more" but both blogs have some really interesting insights into her strong convictions about eating primarily locally produced foods. This is something that I admit I've not thought much about before. I also admit I'm not ready to actually undertake it at this point, but I'm learning a lot and have been thinking more about these issues lately, thanks to her."

I'm really moved by this, because I find that I examine what I am writing more carefully because there are people out there reading this stuff who know me, and who can call me out if I say something outrageously wrong, supremely self-serving or utterly stupid. I've written for public consumption before, but this feels so diffferent than writing for the newspaper. So I am honored that Whozat reads and returns, but also I am honored that I make her think. That's what I wanted when I started this, to make people think about food and where it comes from, about how we treat this place where we all live, and about the animals who share our space with us.

So, now I have to name 5 blogs that make me think- and I guess I can't point back at hers (Although she does make me think, both in the blogsphere and when we meet in person AND about more than whether or not she will catch me in an exaggeration!) It's tough- there are so many that I enjoy, that make me laugh, or tear up.

OK- here goes-

Cookie Crumb, at I'm Mad and I Eat makes me think- The first thing I think is "Wow, I wish I wrote like her!". The second thing I think is that I would like to have her and Cranky over for dinner- especially if they cook! I dunno, I just think we have a lot in common.

Robbyn, at The Back Forty makes me think- I love how willing she is to experiment with her gardening. I also love that she has a goal- Chuck and I like to dream about homesteading, but never quite get it off the ground. Again, we seem to share something. I love that she "closes" her blog for shabbat.

Sher, at What Did You Eat, makes me long to take pictures like hers. She inspires me to do better with my photography. She has squirrels, and she taught me something about squirrels that I didn't know, and that REALLY made me think!

I wish I had access to Agnostic Mom when my kids were still at home. Especially after we moved here to PA. We homeschooled our kids for various reasons, none of them religious. In St. Louis we had a terrific support group, made up of people with a wide variety of religious beliefs or non-beliefs. When we moved here, we didn't fit the homeschool picture. I could have used Agnostic Mom MANY times on the PA homeschool list-serve! I mean, if you want to think- how's this from her March 25 post: "While most religious people think morality comes from their god and some non-believers think it is purely a social construct, others of us (including myself) believe that humans have an innate moral sense which is a compilation of states that evolved in humans"

Carla at Local Forage always provides me with something to think about. She's so far ahead of me in the ethical eating department that I can't even taste her dust.

A couple of group blogs also always provide me with food for thought, but since they are groups blogs, I don't know the protocol for tagging them. So I'll just mention them- The Ethicurean and the Eat Local Challenge.



Thanks for thinking of me, Whozat. This has been, well, thought provoking. (And wait until I start talking about the local party dinner being REALLY local....)