Dinner, and Conservation Restrictions

1. Tonight for dinner, we made potato leek soup. It is incredibly easy: saute chopped leeks in butter, add about two cups broth or water and bouillon cubes, add about six diced potatoes, cook until the potatoes are soft, then remove from heat and add one and a half cups of milk or cream. We had a bunch of carrots, so I added those with the potatoes. Our dairy product of choice was half and half, since I'd bought some for a recipe last week and wanted to use it up. I love dinner.

2. Chris e-mailed me and mentioned that potentially the last weekend at the hunting shack is coming up, because the other owners are ready to sell, and it would be very expensive to buy them out, and people were going to be talking through all the options soon. I wondered whether anyone had looked into setting up a conservation restriction/easement (different names in different states). These can be structured differently, to allow for different kinds of use in different areas, and they very often come with tax benefits for the landowners, and a lower purchase price for the land when it's sold, because it doesn't have an unlimited potential for development. Local land trusts, conservation organizations, and even the state are all bodies that can "hold" the conservation restriction. Just thought I'd throw this out there - perhaps it's something worth pursuing, if protecting the land from development is the most important thing.