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Earth day is here, and rather than talk about how spectacularly earthy we are, I'm going to talk about money and agriculture.

Most of you know that webmeadow is very into agriculture.  Back in city life, we noticed how little contact we had with our food sources, not having any real sense of where our food came from or how it was produced.  In moving to rural New Hampshire, we have become much more involved with our food sources:  raising small flocks of animals, having some wee veggie gardens, and participating in the Old Shaw Farm CSA.

We've learned massive amounts about raising animals and, more recently, plants (as we get further in the growing season, we'll hopefully have some great pictures of the blueberries, gooseberries, kiwis, and pear trees), and the biggest thing I've learned is how much everything we do is connected with the earth.  Realizing how important that connection is to us, we set out to help other people.

There are some fantastic charities in the world, like Heifer International, that donate agriculture basics (animals, seeds, etc.), enhance the donation by teaching sustainable techniques for growing the farm, and then require those farmers to help other farmers in the same ways in the future.  One of the things that struck us about charities like Heifer, however, is that while your donation is framed as "1 goat and 12 chickens" to a farm in the world, really your donation goes into the big pool that Heifer uses to do all of its works.  There's nothing wrong with that, but we wanted more hands-on impact.

Then we heard about Kiva, an organization that uses micro-loans to improve lives all around the world.  While micro-loans can seem, well, small, they have a huge impact (in fact, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize went to a micro-loan pioneer).  With Kiva, we realized that we could improve the lives of specific people, and that because those people would be repaying the loan over time (with interest), we could lend even more money to others in the future -- quite a sustainable model.

We jumped on board in November 2009 by creating the agriculturally-focused Friends of Spruce lending team (named after one of our geese).  The Pixels & Pulp team immediately joined the group, and thus far we've been able to help more than 19 people!  Helping a specific number number of people, like 19, and being able to read updates from them makes us feel like our impact is very real.  In fact, if you'd like to increase the impact, feel free to join our lending team by clicking the "Join Now" button on the Summary page.

Earth Day is about focusing on our impact on the earth.  Today, at least 19 people around the world are able to connect with the earth more sustainably because of the micro-loan lending model.

Since we're still on the concept of fonts here at webmeadow HQ, let's talk about Typekit, one of the most exciting things to happen to web design in many years.  We've been talking amongst ourselves about Typekit going on a year, so we thought it was time to share.

As most of you know, websites have been limited to a core set of fonts that are shared across various computer operating systems.  So, when designers create sites that use non-web-safe fonts, the question always becomes where to keep the font (and use a graphic) and where to make it web-safe (and use plain text).  As programmers, we like plain text because it can be used by everyone on all platforms (the hearing impaired, the visual impaired, the Internet Explorer 6 impaired, etc.).  Graphics look nice, but they're not particularly versatile.

To be fair, there have been some solutions to this problem in the past, like sIFR, but they've always felt like too much of a hack for our tastes.  We tend to like graphically stunning websites with elegant behind-the-scenes code.

Enter Typekit.  All of a sudden, there is a gigantor font library that everyone can view (yes, even Internet Explorer 6).  And even better for my sanity, Typekit is web standards compliant -- no more hacking to make a non-web-safe font appear!

The only potential drawback is that Typekit is a subscription-based service that has costs associated on a per-website basis.  As professional website developers, we actually view that as a bonus, because that means the Typekit folks are always improving their service.

Thanks Typekit -- we welcome the next stage of the web!

We recently came upon a great article by Hoeffler & Frere-Jones about combining multiple fonts in a single work.  We work with fabulous designers who know how to combine fonts in their sleep, but in our own lives and personal projects, we are always on the lookout for nice rules-of-thumb for graphic layout.

Hoeffler & Frere-Jones present four palette concepts, each complete with short, compelling descriptions and shorthand for roles that the fonts play.  My favorite concept is 'wit', mostly because each of the font roles is broken into 'tough', 'cheeky', and 'sweet'.  There are already some Christmas gift applications coming to mind!

Perhaps with the concepts from H & FJ, you can make your own newsletters, birthday cards, and other projects have a bit more impact, too.

Meet the newest members of our farmily! (Sorry. I had to say it.) You are not supposed to name food animals. But we couldn't help it, so at least we gave them both the same name: Nom, and Nom.

As in: nomnomnomnomNOM! That is what they do all day. They are amazing digging machines. I had no idea. Fortunately we are just starting a new journey in landscaping, so having portable self-powered tillers is great. They are digging up all the crappy dirt in our yard and aerating and enriching it so that next year it will be super-nutritious for all the plants.

They are very rambunctious little ladies and spend a fair amount of time galloping around the yard. The ducks are, frankly, not amused, but the chickens love all the new dirt being dug up.

They're also VERY curious about everything and run over to see us when we come out of the house, and try to nibble on our boots and the hose, and, well, everything.

How many babies can fit on top of The Mothership? I saw at least seven while I was taking these pictures.

It's time for baby chicks!  This year we had a broody chicken starting in mid-April.  A broody chicken is one who refuses to come outside and scratch and eat and drink and do all those things that chickens should do; instead she sits inside on a nest full of eggs and waits for them to hatch.

Never you mind that all her eggs were infertile (we don't have any roosters), or that Spruce Goose regularly kicked her off the nest to lay GIANT goose eggs in it.  She was determined.  So when it was time for us to get chicks, we decided that instead of raising them ourselves, we'd give them to the broody one.  We called her Broody McBrooderson.

She is the best mom ever.  When the chicks came, I went into the bird house and, while Aaron distracted Broody, I snuck out an egg and put two chicks in its place.  And then I did it again, until there were 21 (you read that right, TWENTY ONE) tiny babies underneath her.  They all fell asleep immediately.  We lifted up a wing to check that they weren't being smothered or anything, and they were all lined up like tiny fuzzy sardines. The next day we added 12 more (they came late), so she's got 33 little ones to take care of.

Notice the tiny foot sticking out under her wing. Now we call her The Mothership. She moves around like a tank and all the little babies follow her and sometimes they hop onto her head and when they get chilly they all disappear under her belly and she lies on top of them.

This chick is clearly giving me the stinkeye. She's a Buff Orpington (just like mom!). This year we also got 3 turkeys, some Barred Rocks, and some Araucanas, who have cheeks like chipmunks and apparently lay blue and green eggs.

It has been busy around here! So busy I have been neglecting the blog! But we have not been neglecting the snow. I'll give you a rundown:

First we hiked up middle Sugarloaf. From the top, you can see the front of Mount Washington. On the way down, I lost my (brand new!) gloves, which is sad. But I lost them because they were in my pocket because it was so warm outside that I didn't need to wear them. So that was happy.

The top of middle Sugarloaf is flat and broad, which is nice because it is also a granite cliff which might otherwise be a dangerous place to be in the snow. While we were up there the sun had warmed the snow so that it took perfect impressions of anything pressed into it. It did not take long before that led to sillyness. This is what it looks like when you do a forward-roll (AKA somersault) in the snow.

Later we hiked down near the Dartmouth Skiway, which is crazy cute. We didn't realize that our trail took us directly to the top of one of the ski hills until we reached the top and found hordes of little kids in tiny skis pouring off the lift just to the left of our trail.

This week we went up the Starr King trail. It was a pretty walk, and when we got to the top we could see the other side of Mt Washington! Technically this is a picture of some of the other Presidentials (Jefferson, the 5 Adams, Madison), but Washington is just behind that tree on the right. It kept coming in and out of cloud the whole time we were on the peak.

At the top of Mount Starr King, miles from any sort of road, we found the remains of a cabin. Someone had thoughtfully left a duraflame log in the hearth, which made us feel oh-so-welcome!

We've been back from Panama for two weeks, but do you know what happens when you take time off? Apparently the work just piles up waiting for you to return. What is up with that, work? I thought you'd finish yourself while I was gone.

The weather was about 95F warmer there than it is here, and we spent much of our time hanging out on the beach. Around sunset each night, there was a specific tree (el arbol de los monos, we called it) where a herd (group? family? pack?) of white-faced capuchin monkeys would gather and hop around and make little squeaky noises and generally be adorable. There were also howler monkeys in the forest (hoo hoo hoooooo hoo) but we only heard them and never saw even one. And there were hermit crabs, oh so many hermit crabs.

We went to this great animal rehab center in Boquete called Paradise Gardens. They take in orphaned, injured, or otherwise sad little animals and nurse them back to health, then set them free again. They also are part of a world-wide bird breeding program (for nifty rain forest birds like macaws and toucans) to help endandered species with low numbers.

One thing that was totally awesome was that many of these animals are very social and because the whole point was to help them get healthy and happy again, interaction was encouraged! So the monkeys run over when you come near them and they untie your shoes and reach in your pockets and are totally great and awesome. There were also super-tiny Geoffrey's Tamarins, which are about the size of an orange. They zip around and will only stop if you have fruit for them, or if you pet their bellies. Otherwise they have no need for you.

We even got to pet a Margay, which is a big cat like an Ocelot, but they have extra-special ankle joints that allow them to climb down trees face-first! She purred and rolled over and kneaded just like a giant housecat. A giant killer housecat. (The Margay had a sad story which was that a farmer caught the kitten and thought it was cute until it got to be a giant cat. Then instead of just setting it free, they locked it in a tiny cage in the dark back of a chicken coop! So when she was brought to the center she couldn't even walk. Now she runs around and catches fish and any unfortunate birds who wander into her cage, and loves to say hi to the visitors.)

The best animal was the baby sloth. Her name was Temba. She wanted to be held, all the time, and she is soft and wooly like a lamb. If you tried to put her down, she would made the saddest little keen, like "ehn ehn ehhhhn" and then she'd crawl up the side of her cage and out the door and back into your arms. Oh man. Baby sloths can be fast if they are moving towards snuggles. Once she got settled on her little blankie then she just sat there and smiled. You may notice a very strong resemblance to a Muppet.

Sloth trivia: they only go to the bathroom once a week. In the wild, they climb down from their trees, do their business (and bury it so predators don't find them), then climb up another tree to spend the next week in. Temba's bathroom day is Sunday.

Last week we had cause to be in Vermont, so we went cross-country skiing at Osmore Pond.  According to trails.com, Osmore Pond is a "great" snowshoe and cross-country trail.  It is located in Groton Forest State Park, so we parked in a plowed campground and wandered through the campground roads until we hit the pond.

It was a beautiful day and the snow was awesome.  The trail, however, was quite possibly the worst cross-country trail we have ever been on.  It is a brilliant snowshoe trail, but it was incredibly twisty-turvey and also had a zillion little hillocks, both of which are hard to deal with when you've strapped 6-foot-long boards to your feet.  By the time we realized that it was a terrible trail, we were about halfway round the loop and so we were doomed to finish it.  I think we'll go back on snowshoes at some point, or on skis to wander around all the camp roads. 

In the meantime, webmeadow is closing for the next two weeks as we go to PANAMA!  We are super excited to see some sun and warmth and birds and fishes.  And if a baby monkey somehow manages to find its way home with us... well, I won't be complaining.

(And just to prove that travelling is always an adventure, the airline just called us and moved our flight so early tomorrow morning that we have to leave tonight, instead of mid-day tomorrow.  Sweet.)

Our first hike of 2009 was up to Lonesome Lake. If you have been reading this blog as long as I have, then you may recall that last year's Lonesome Lake hike was absolutely exhausting, on account of having 18" of fresh snow to slog through. This year, however, we actually ditched the snowshoes about 1/4 of the way up because the trail was so well packed. It is a much easier hike without snowshoes (though I still contend that it is not the easy-peasy beginner hike that all the books make it out to be).

It was a beautiful day, cold and clear, so at the top we had a lovely view across the lake. You can't really tell from this photo, but by the time you get to the lake, you're on top of a mountain. So the cloud-covered peak in the background (Mt. Lafayette) is extra-tall. And being at a lake on top of a mountain is pretty cool.

Once again, the AT hut was open with a caretaker (who was in the process of making some sort of baked good while we munched on our snacks). It's pretty fun to have a mid-walk rest inside a nice warm-ish building, listening to NPR. From the radio, we learned that we were going to have a dismal winter storm later that day, so it was a good thing we chose to hike in the morning.

Meanwhile, back at the homestead, the ducks have come to terms with winter. If it is really cold, they stay indoors, otherwise they spend time hanging out on the snow. If it is actively snowing but not too windy/cold, then they camp out under the chicken tree (so named because, though you can't see it in this picture, those branches are all full of chickens). The geese, however, have not come to terms with winter. They don't understand, they don't like it, and they'll thank you not to mention it.