2018 Update: Weather here in the Pacific Northwest isn’t nearly as strange as what our friends in Ireland or on the East Coast are dealing with. What I’m seeing is actually pretty typical for early March in the Pacific Northwest: a back and forth between blustery, cold, wintery weather and drizzly, mild spring weather. In my…
5 Things Friday 3/2/18
Five Things Friday: where I assemble assorted favorites, oddities, announcements, discoveries, random thoughts, life tidbits and whatever else wasn’t quite long enough for a real post. This week: the sky split apart! Plus, organizing the larder to eat it down, reading with kids and more. Have a great weekend, friends! Do One Little Thing This…
Curried Sugar Hubbard Squash Soup
Jump to the Recipe When you’ve got a Sugar Hubbard Squash that needs to get used, you’ve got a lot of squash. Sugar Hubbard is a cross of Blue Hubbard and Sweet Meat, and it’s just fantastic. It roasts well and has a smooth, creamy texture when pureed. Last time I grew Sugar Hubbard I…
Johnny’s Seeds, Territorial Seeds and Monsanto: a 2018 Update
Way back in 2012, I wrote what became a fairly popular and referenced article on the Monsanto buyout of a seed company called Seminis. To briefly recap: Seminis was a provider of lots of garden seed to lots of different seedhouses. Then, overnight, they were a Monsanto subsidiary and seed companies like Johnny’s Selected Seeds…
5 Things Friday 2/23/18
Five Things Friday: where I assemble assorted favorites, oddities, announcements, discoveries, random thoughts, life tidbits and whatever else wasn’t quite long enough for a real post. This week: thinking about garden clean-up, snow in the garden, rethinking school and more. Have a great weekend, friends! Do One Little Thing This Week If you are in…
All the Seed Terminology You Need To Know
Gardening has lingo. Some of the terminology surrounding seeds, seed starting, and growing is pretty intuitive and some is more obscure or weird. But it helps to understand these seed-related terms if you want to navigate a seed catalog, ask accurate questions, look things up, or just sound like you know what you’re talking about….
Harissa Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Jump to the Recipe I’m pretty late to the harissa game. What can I say, I’ve lived in suburbia for 14 years and don’t get out much. Oh sure, I’d heard of this North African spice blend. I’d even eaten a decent amount of grilled squid with harissa, made by the the one restaurant within…
Major Site Upgrade and Some New Website Features You Should Know About
Why hello beautiful people. This is Erica’s website speaking. Can you tell I’ve….had a little work done? So the past three weeks or so here at the NWEdible headquarters has been website migration fun. When I say fun I mean fun like sticking your face inside a preheated waffle iron is fun. Actually it wasn’t…
My Seed Order for 2018
I think we need to add a new term to the general lexicon. Stress-induced Seed Acquisition Syndrome. SSAS. We can pronounce it like sass. SSAS is closely related to other Homestead acquisition and purchasing disorders, such as: Chicken Math Delusion Syndrome (CMDS) – the belief that your 4 x 8 foot chicken coop can totally…
8 Things I Do Before Every Meditation Session
I’ve been meditating regularly now for about six weeks. That means I’m an expert, and I’m here to tell you exactly how to change everything that’s wrong in your life with meditation. Just kidding, I still have no idea what I’m doing. As with many things in life, if you have no idea what you’re…
5 Things Friday 2/2/18
Five Things Friday: where I assemble assorted favorites, oddities, announcements, discoveries, random thoughts, life tidbits and whatever else wasn’t quite long enough for a real post. This week, beginning seed starting, a great daily-use insulated coffee mug, and why the one crazy hack they don’t want you to know is…doing the work. Hope your weekend is…
February Gardening Chores For The Pacific Northwest
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s February. You know what that means? It’s time to get going. I can feel it, and I’ll bet you can too – that little twitch in your hand that says, “alright, baby, let’s start some tomatoes!” February typically marks the beginning of the big seed starting effort around here. Not just…