Outside, pots of ruffled kale, hibiscus and rhubarb are waiting to be harvested and stored. Mini-arbors thick with blossoming squash and cucumber vines fill the drive in front of the potting shed (otherwise known as the double garage). And 29 tomato plants - heirloom Brandywines and Big Boys - climb to the sun from bags of soil-free planting mix. Clearly, the soon-to-be-70 Oswalds have been busy.
"We think of ourselves as 'Ma and Pa Kettle meet Martha Stewart,' " Jim Oswald says.
Married for 49 years, they were both raised on farms in the Texas Panhandle during the Depression, and learned early on how to live frugally.
They met when Dorothy was a senior in high school and Jim was a freshman at West Texas State College. Both received degrees there, married soon after, and became educators - he writing social studies texts and developing college curricula, she teaching elementary school and, eventually, raising their three children.
Over the years they've lived in several big cities, including Washington and San Francisco, yet they've always remained close to the land - self-sufficient by nature, vegans by choice. When they retired eight years ago, the couple founded the nonprofit Institute for Plant Based Nutrition, which they operate out of their home, and dedicated their remaining years to helping people develop more healthy lifestyles.
"Eating plants is the healthiest, happiest, most fun nutritional strategy a human can adopt . . . for the environment, the economy, and the future success of all beings," Jim says.
