Rain, rain go away. Don’t come back until the gardens dry out. Not too dry, of course. Neither extreme—too dry or too rainy—is desirable. But enough already with the rain. For the first time in the nearly 30 years we’ve lived at the little house in the big woods, our front steps were covered with green mold, and my husband had to scrub them. Here’s hoping that the weekend is warm, but not too hot, and sunny.

From the New York Times: Gary Paul Nabhan writes about drought, climate change, and food shortages. He also lists some commonsense solutions.

From the Kennebec Journal: A piece about the Kneading Conference in Skowhegan, Maine. There’s a real renaissance in grain growing and bread making in Maine, and the conference is a reflection of this.

From the blog treehugger: A description of Ben Greene’s Farmery, an “innovative sustainable agriculture project” where food is grown and sold at the same place. A vision of the future or just another one of those good ideas but…?

From NPR’s the salt: In New York City, doctors in a new program are now proscribing fruits and veggies to overweight patients. Could be the beginning of a promising trend.

From the Portland Press Herald: Anne Mahle’s take on pancakes, with some wonderful suggestions for a berry topping and a syrup. (Ah, pancakes! How I love them!)

From the Guardian: Two excellent pieces that are related. One is about a young mother in England who lived in poverty, had a tiny budget for groceries, and blogged about it. The other is about the rising cost of food. While both feature the United Kingdom, both are relevant to the United States.