This is not a metaphorical question. Or, maybe it is, but it’s mostly a literal question. I’ve mentioned before, repeatedly, that I garden. Given that I can’t judge my skills, maybe I should say that I mess around in the dirt and nice vegetables are often the result.  Much to my ... shall we say bemusement, I find that I’m not alone – and, in fact, I even be, say it softly, trendy.  At least the New York Times tells me so, and as a child of the east coast, there is always something to that.

Kitchen gardens are as old as the first hunter-gatherers who decided to settle down and watch the seeds grow. Walled medieval gardens protected carefully tended herbs, greens and fruit trees from marauders, both human and animal. The American colonists planted gardens as soon as they could, sowing seeds brought from Europe.

Call them survivor gardens.

Now, they are being discovered by a new generation of people who worry about just what is in that bag of spinach and how much fuel was consumed to grow it and to fly it a thousand miles.

Gardening is something I’ve almost always done; my mother maintained what we called the  “victory garden” – a large rectangle picked out of a jungle-y overgrowth in the  second half of our backyard. We grew a regular selection of summer veg over the years, a project that only died out when I hit, say, 8 or so and my mom’s work hours stepped up. With that experience in my background, it was inevitable that I’d start a garden whenever I ended up with a house with some kind of backyard. Plus, having an active child like Jess means that anything I can do that gets us outside and working is probably going to work very well. The challenge for me here in Melbourne is a.) we live in a townhouse with a 5x7 square metre (16x22 square foot) backyard, most of it paved with garden beds around the edge, giving me probably around 16 square feet of total arable land; b.)we’re in the midst of a multi-year drought with tough water restrictions.

In another symbolic boost for women in leadership positions, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has appointed a woman, fellow Queenslander Quentin Bryce. Bryce will be the first woman in 107 years to take the position. The governor general is the last vestigial reminder that Australia is nominally ruled by the British monarchy – under the 1091 Australian constitution, the governor general is the queen’s representative in the country. From this article in The Age:

QUENTIN BRYCE, who will be Australia's first female governor-general, declared yesterday: "It's a great day for Australian women."

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said Ms Bryce would capture "the spirit of modern Australia" in the vice-regal position.

Mr Rudd said he expected Ms Bryce would use her role to give a voice to women, people from the bush and indigenous Australians. Asked about the significance of appointing a woman to the position for the first time, he said: "It's taken us 107 years. It's been a while but it's good that it's happened."

This is an open thread for those who are training for a race of any shape or kind. Post your training regime for this week and come back to report on your progress. Got a question on training, walking, running, biking, swimming or anything to do with race preparation? Post it here - someone will know the answer!

Ladies, in addition to the weekly round-up of intended activity, I need your help. My iPod playlist is feeling a tad tired and I need inspiration! What are your top three favs on your list - new music especially appreciated. I've got tons of Madonna, Scissor Sisters, Amy Winehouse, Springsteen, Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam etc., etc. Thanks!

It's the weekend. I'm feeling giddy. And Nerve.com have put out an article called The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time. Complete with clips from various sources. Hooray!

Consider the list - SNL, Monty Python, French & Saunders, Kids in the Hall and treasure the best that Anglo-American comedy can produce. My favorite five on the list, in no particular order of preference:

The Monty Python stuff - Spanish Inquisition, Ministry of Silly Walks, Dead Parrot... can't go wrong; Celebrity Jeopardy, SNL. Darryl Hammond's Sean Connery imitation? Priceless! "Then I'm cock of the walk!"

I'm a bit miffed that there's not more stuff from Gilda Radner's SNL period - the lady was a comic genius. But all in all, not bad. So ladies, what are your top five favorite comedy sketches? Any that this article missed? Enjoy a good belly laugh and happy weekend!

This is one of those perennial issues in parenting life, and not the first time we’ve addressed it on MT – Erika wrote about a similar incident with little Maya in 2006. So forgive the redundancy, but here goes.

I originally wanted to title this "My Daughter Got Bitten!" because really, that’s what this is all about. Briefly, when I went to pick Jess up from crèche on Thursday afternoon, she was teary-eyed and had an ice pack on her left arm. She ran up to me and announced, "[boy’s name – redacted] bit me, Mummy!" The teacher came up very upset and said that she and Jessica had been sitting on a soft cushion calmly, the teacher got up to check a child, and the instant her back was turned, this kid came up and took a chomp out of Jessica’s upper arm. The skin isn’t broken, but there is a perfect impression of this kid’s upper and lower teeth on her skin, and 12 hours later, it’s become a nasty bruise.  

I was shocked but not surprised at the culprit; Jessica, as verbal as she is, has mentioned two or three times that this particular boy has either pushed or slapped her in the past. I’ve also witnessed this boy’s aggression in the classroom; he has pushed kids around for no apparent reason (ie, the victim wasn’t taking things, or shoving, or whatever) when I’ve picked up or dropped Jessica off.  Each time Jessica has mentioned an incident, I’ve pulled the classroom teacher aside and expressed my concern about this boy’s actions and that I don’t want Jess becoming afraid of this child or learning that aggressive behaviour is acceptable in a group situation.

This is an open thread for those who are training for a race of any shape or kind. Post your training regime for this week and come back to report on your progress. Got a question on training, walking, running, biking, swimming or anything to do with race preparation? Post it here - someone will know the answer!

A number of our dear MTs are expecting babies in April - Littlepear, SwissClogs, Minnmom and Rocky, to name those I'm aware of. How about a baby pool to guess who's having what, when? I know from previous posts that SwissClogs is at 38 weeks with #2, but gave birth to DD at 36 weeks. Littlepear is 37 weeks, but at her last OB appointment, the little fella hadn't gone head down yet. Soooo... based on that, I'll say based on order of who's going to give birth first:

SwissClogs
Littlepear
Rocky
Minnmom

Any takers?! And who else is out there with babies due this month?

This is an open thread for those who are training for a race of any shape or kind. Post your training regime for this week and come back to report on your progress. Got a question on training, walking, running, biking, swimming or anything to do with race preparation? Post it here - someone will know the answer!

Sorry about skipping last week, ladies. I just got lost in the holiday timing! Hope you all had a good week.

In my news, I've decided to gear up for another half marathon. I'm really hoping that I'll have good news in the Baby 2.0 department, but until then, I'm going to train for the Run Melbourne half marathon, Sunday June 22. My target is modest: another 5 minute improvement over my last race, so a 2h20 minute marathon. That would be a personal record (PR), but it's also a modest goal. I'm also hoping to use the training as a chance to vamoose 10lbs. I'm still carrying this weight and I'm hoping that working it off will also put me in a healther physical state for conception.

What's going on with you-all? Hillary, when is your half marathon?

I come today to praise the penny-pinchers. I proudly wear the tightwad badge. I save, scrimp, bulk buy, cook at home, sew clothes for Jessica (for fun, but also because I can assemble a week’s worth of clothes, absent undies and socks, for about $150 worth of fabric, thread and notions!), grow veg for fun and savings (nothing cheaper than buying a packet of seeds for $2! Okay, it takes longer, but I damn well know that my stuff is for sure organic) haunt thrift shops, warehouses and sales. Recycle? Yes! Freecycle among family and trusted friends? Love it! If it safely saves a buck, I’m on it or I want to hear of it. It’s a bit of “stick it to the man”, and a lot of instilled frugality.

That’s why I had a lot of fun reading this NYT article, How to Survive in New York on Ninety-Nine Cents. A strange departure from the usual Style section offerings (featuring the uppah-crust, the well-to-do, or the wanna-bes), it was paean to the Cheap Life – namely, how to assemble tasty treats from a series of 99-cent stores. For once, the reporter won my heart with the lead:

I LOVE shopping at my local Gourmet Garage as much as the next guy. But sometimes I plop a can of chicken broth down on the checkout counter and think, “$2.19? For someone to boil chicken bones? I want that job.”

So when I heard that the food you can buy at 99-cent stores is more diverse than you might imagine, I decided to conduct an experiment. I’d make dinner every night for a week using mostly ingredients bought at these stores and then, on the eighth night — once I’d gotten my game down — I’d prepare a meal for friends made only from ingredients bought at 99-cent stores.

Muttering about the price of food and how you could do it cheaper? Yes, baby, yes! Speak it! Legions whose wallets are creased like accordions from being clutched in moist palms say “Huzzah!”

It’s a pretty funny read, and even though the assembled menu was light on fresh fruit and veg (yeah, hard to get in a discount store, which is another post for another time), it doesn’t sound half bad. And he gives a recipe for a pea soup that I’m definitely going to use:

Slice and sauté an onion. Add 3 cups chicken stock, a 1-pound bag of frozen peas, 1/3 cup oats, 1/8 teaspoon cardamom, some salt and pepper. Bring to boil. Purée in blender.)

So MTs, let’s dish. What are your favourite money-savers? Any tips, any freaky-good websites/stores? Recipes happily shared! And question for all you artistic people out there: what would a tightwad badge look like?

Recent investigation by a consumer advocacy group and a newspaper have found that organic labelling of food products in Australia is potentially misleading. Because there are multiple bodies – none governmental - that can provide certification for organic products, confusion abounds about what “organic” means in the Australian context. Forgive me for dabbling in areas that others, like Expat Chef, so expertly skewer; I can only look upon this as a concerned layperson.  I know that for myself, if I see a can of something like tomatoes or beans or what-have-you labelled “organic”, I automatically assume that somebody behind that label has assessed the contents and manufacture to certify that result. Sometimes yes, and sometimes no, this article shows:

[S]ome own-brand organic products bought by The Sun-Herald in Coles and Woolworths [NB: Coles and Woolworth’s are the two biggest chain supermarkets in Australia. Rachel]last week had none of the official logos. Woolworths' organic tinned tomatoes had no official certification, and the small print on Coles organic carrots stated "product in conversion to national standard" with no other explanation.

Five different products bought in Coles used five different organic logos.

The Sun-Herald also looked at the cost of organic goods compared with conventional products.

Organic carrots from Coles cost $3.48 for one kilogram compared with $1.68 for the conventionally produced equivalent.

In Woolworths, organic carrots were $3.98 compared with 94 cents for the mainstream equivalent.

Organic tinned tomatoes in Woolworths cost $1.15, compared with 58 cents for a "normal" tin.

And 500 grams of regular minced beef from Coles cost $5.55 compared with $7.33 for its organic rival.

Guess what, MTs? The US isn’t the only place where frivolous lawsuits happen. A Melbourne father who sent his kids to the uber-posh, richy, richy, rich Brighton Grammar private school is suing them, well, I’ll let this article explain:

A FATHER whose twin sons flunked their final exams is demanding an elite private school repay up to $400,000 in fees.

Victorian Steven Weybury,  unhappy with his sons' VCE results, has challenged Brighton Grammar to refund the money spent educating his twins from kindergarten to year 12.

He has alleged his boys were humiliated by their VCE results.

Mr Weybury - a partner in a city law firm - claims he warned the school that his boys were headed for academic disaster in their final year and attempted to remove them at the end of year 11.

But school bosses persuaded him to let the boys stay on and assured him that they could cope emotionally and academically, he claims.

"The boys did not successfully complete year 12 in any respect," court documents allege.

"The boys obtained placements in courses of a type which did not require year 12 attendance."

Mr Weybury has sought a refund of fees paid for the boys between 1994 and 2007, as well as damages and legal costs.

"The plaintiff paid fees to (the school) for a total of 28 years in an amount of the region of $400,000," court documents allege.

"The lack of achievement of the boys in all areas considered important . . . confirms that the payment of fees were (sic) excessive and unnecessary."

This is an open thread for those who are training for a race of any shape or kind. Post your training regime for this week and come back to report on your progress. Got a question on training, walking, running, biking, swimming or anything to do with race preparation? Post it here - someone will know the answer!

So, who's starting to see spring weather? I love those first few weeks of spring because it totally re-energizes me for running outdoors. Here in Melbourne, we're in a freak heatwave. It's supposed to be autumn and it's friggin' above 100 degrees. Where are we, Perth? Not that I'd mind hanging out with Aussieyank, but one of the reasons I always liked Melbourne is because it's supposed to have cooler weather than the rest of Australia. Now I'm looking at Tasmania and going, hey, that's nice.

</angry, grumpy, heat-induced whine>