Time for the weekly-ish round-up of randomness! This is my way of shoe-horning in and discussing things that don’t necessarily belong on an urban homesteading blog, just because I’ve been thinking about them the past week. This week: my new favorite TV show tackles baking like a Victorian, I probably love my napkins way too…
5 Must-See Permaculture and Agroforestry Videos
I shared a video called Life in Syntropy on my Facebook page a few days ago, but it’s so good I wanted to share it with folks who don’t do The Facebook, and also “tuck it away” for me to watch again later. You know how easy it is to lose something on the internet. If…
Why Your Spring Greens Bolt And How To Stop It
Gardeners all over the Northern Hemisphere are rubbing their hands together, just waiting for the moment the soil has warmed enough to get going. And when it comes to early spring plantings, most of us turn to hardy greens – those plants that will germinate in cooler soils, grow happily in partial sun, and reward…
Maple and Spice Old Fashioned Cocktail for Winter
Like people, cocktails can be organized into families. There are the sours, the champagne cocktails, the duos, the trios….many families. And the great, great, great granddaddy of them all is the Old Fashioned. The first known definition of the word cocktail was in 1806. Back then a cocktail was spirits, bitters, water, and sugar. Nothing more, nothing less….
Reader Questions: Expanding The Garden, Best Gardening Tools, Sand In The Chicken Coop & More
I’ve been sitting on a pile of Reader Questions for awhile. I love your questions – they’re the best source of inspiration and really help shape what I write about! It’s my experience that if one person has a question, 20,000 people have that question. And if I don’t have an answer – one of…
The Flexible To Do List: Getting It All Done Without Going Crazy
Getting it all done as a productive homekeeper is a balancing act between adhering to strict routines and complete, total, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants improvisation. Let me clarify. On the one hand, certain things absolutely require regular, seasonal attention. If the seeds are not planted in Spring, there will be no harvest in Summer. If the dinner dishes…
5 Things Friday: 1/8/16
A friend of mine recently reminded me that, back in October, I announced a new type of post – an end-of-the-week roundup of random stuff I’ve been thinking about. He gently pointed out that one post does not a series make. Fair point. This week: seed catalogs, minding your own business, Alan Watts, the pleasure of…
White Bean, Sausage and Cavolo Nero Kale Soup
Yesterday afternoon my son was doing his best impression of a barnacle, stuck to me in an emotional rebound reaction to going back to school from Winter Break. Getting anything done was challenging. My husband walked in, back from his daily round of corporate servitude, our pre-teen daughter trailing in behind him. “How was school?” I asked her. “Is…
Embracing Less In 2016
My son came bounding into my room this morning and gave me his customary giant good morning hug. He’s typically extra adorable right after he wakes me up by jumping on my bed 4 inches from my face. “Happy New Years!” I said, “It’s a brand new year!” After sufficient snuggling, my son resumed his…
Lacto Fermented Curtido Cabbage Salsa
As regular readers know, I love a good taco. In fact, I even have a formula for delicious homemade tacos. One of the essential components of a great taco is something crispy and crunchy. The Central American, lightly fermented cabbage slaw called curtido fits the bill perfectly, and has all the benefits of other fermented cabbage condiments like sauerkraut…
On Standing Together
I’ve called three countries home in my lifetime: the United States, France and the United Kingdom. All three have had struggles with terrorism. In different ways, and for different reasons, but we have struggled nonetheless. France’s friends and allies in Britain and the US stand with her now, as she and the US stood with…
DIY Whipped Peppermint Foot Cream
At the risk of oversharing someone else’s podiatry problems, by husband has some janked up heels. They’re super dry and they get these deep cracks in them, especially in winter. (Sorry, sweetie.) This Whipped Peppermint Foot Cream was developed for super dry feet like my husband’s. The addition of peppermint essential oil gives the cream a…