This year, with my son in preschool, mornings are spent shooing two kids along and getting everyone out the door on time. The AM has to be far more regimented, and fast breakfasts and easy, (often make-ahead) lunches are essential. We are also doing a lot more freezer-meal cooking to streamline dinner these days and…
Split Pea Soup with Bacon (or, How To Eat Well For Almost No Money)
“It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and…
How To Grow Your Own Garlic
Since garlic at the market is usually pretty cheap and available year-round, it doesn’t occur to many people to grow their own. But garlic is a seasonal crop that tastes much better when it’s truly fresh – just harvested garlic is amazing. The big plump cloves have a strong garlic pungency but are also almost…
Infuse Your Booze! A Complete Guide To DIY Flavored Liquors
This is one of those posts where I will come off as a lush, and an opinionated one at that. But these cocktails? They are simply research, baby – this is all for you. Infuse Your Booze If you like the creativity of cooking and combining flavors and you drink hard alcohol then booze infusions…
Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips and Bourbon
Let’s talk about how pumpkin flavors are forced into everything at this time of year. I know this isn’t a universal feeling, but I kinda run screaming from pumpkin spiced lattes, pumpkin ale, pumpkin yogurt, pumpkin pie flavored vodka (blech) and many of the “pumpkin spice” type commercial products that hit the shelves in October…
Giveaway: 6 Of My Favorite Homesteading Books
Earlier this week the Facebook page for this blog hit 20,000 followers. I remember when my Facebook page hit 1,000 followers and I was blown away. We had a giveaway to celebrate! Now, at 20,000, I have to admit the feeling is a bit different. I’m thrilled and humbled and flattered by the milestone, but…
Figs in the Pacific Northwest: Will My Unripe Figs Ripen?
Note: This post has been updated to reflect additional and more accurate information. I don’t think I’ve ever hosed up gardening advice quite so completely as in the first version of this post, but thankfully my readers are amazing and set me straight. Thank goodness for community! I’m getting lots of questions about figs right…
How To Organize Your Spice Drawer With Mason Jars
Like most pretty serious cooks, I have a pretty serious spice collection. I’ve been a fan of buying my spices in bulk at my local Yuppie-Hippie Co-op for years now. The spices you get in bulk, if you are in a place that rolls through their stock, tend to be fresher and of higher quality…
Dry Brushing: The Most Amazing Natural Skin Care Technique You Aren't Using
I recently joined the Church of Dry Skin Brushers and would like to convert you. So let’s talk about the best natural skin care technique you probably aren’t using. It’s called dry brushing and it’s…heavenly. You want reasons to dry brush? Mr. Google will give you plenty: Benefits to Dry Skin Brushing Removes dead skin…
Thoughts At The Turn Of The Season
Life flows. The garden and managing it’s bounty takes hours of my time. Whole weekends get dedicated to putting in spring starts, preserving tomatoes, catching up on weeding when I fall behind, which is often. And then, in the turn of a season, the garden coasts. Weeds slow, crops round into maturity of their own…
Can-o-Rama 2013
This past weekend was pretty much dedicated to canning. Homebrew Husband and I did this last year (see: Can-o-Rama 2012). Dedicating a solid weekend to putting up staple foods like pickles and tomatoes can be a bit of a whirlwind, but it feels fantastic to take the pantry from nearly-bare to nearly-full in 48 hours….
Plum Jamtini Cocktail – Pass The Ice, Pass The Shaker!
My friend Theresa is the Co-Executive Producer of Growing A Greener World, a fantastic TV show about all things gardening. She’s also a wicked good urban homesteader, master canner, great writer (check out her personal blog), and a super nice person. Theresa knows I have a soft spot for combining jam with booze (strawberry jam margarita, anyone?), so…