Hi there. I’m Erica. Been a while, hasn’t it? Sorry about that. I have been elbows deep in my real life, for good and for bad. This blog is real enough. It’s as true as it needs to be. The stuff I write about doing, I actually do. The rants about food politics, I actually…
Friends
Reader-Blogger Meetup in Seattle with NW Edible and MMM!
Regular readers know that my absolute favorite financial and frugality blogger is Mr. Money Mustache, he of the “early retirement through badassity” slogan. In fact, a few NW Edible readers have even told me that, once they started reading MMM, their outlook on finances, hope, freedom and even their future totally changed for the better. So when…
Dear Busy Person: An Open Letter To You
Dear Busy Person, I love you and I’m worried about you. I have noticed that you are spending a lot of time trying to keep up with things. It looks like you are working very hard all the time just to keep everything afloat. I can tell from all the way over here that you…
I'm Like A Pirate, Sorta (What I've Learned From Surgery)
As regular readers know, on Monday I had eye surgery. I had hoped to be back up and ready to talk applesauce and last minute fall crop options but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for a while. Here’s what’s up: I was put under general anesthesia and my surgeon cut some of…
Zombies vs. The Joy of Canning: Motivation in the Productive Home
“Hey, we were planning on getting together later today, right?” I asked my friend. “Yeah, but after dinner.” “Can we push that back to later in the week?” I was exhausted from Can-o-Rama and the idea of a social commitment after dinner was more than I could handle. “Sure. What’s up?” “I’m pretty tired. I…
Canning Swirly Fruit: An Easy Way To Prep Pears and Apples
Here’s a lovely way to save some time when you prepare apples or Asian pears for canning. Use an apple peeler-corer (see mine at work here) to make beautiful coils of automatically-cored firm fruit. The swirly fruit looks fantastic in the jar, and packs in well for a nice, well-filled raw pack. Don’t get too…
Giveaway: Mother Earth News Fair Weekend Passes
Are you tired of amazing giveaways yet? Nah, me neither. The second annual Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup (“pyew-AL-up,” for non-Washingtonians) is happening soon, on the weekend of June 2-3, and I’ve got a pair of tickets to give away. We went last year and it was fantastic. I saw Joel Salatin, who is…
The Homesteading Hypocrite
The moment I launched this website I started down a path towards raw hypocrisy. I had no idea at the time that this was what I was doing, and it certainly wasn’t my intention. Nonetheless, looking back over the past year+ of posting, it is clear that hypocrisy was inevitable. I have these ideals, you…
While I'm Away, Check These Out
Hi Friends, I’ll be posting sporadically this week, if at all. It’s Spring Break: time to spend some time with the kiddos and get some solid work in on a few garden projects I’ve been needing to wrap up. While I’m quiet, here’s some stuff I’ve been loving: Back To Eden – an amazing film,…
Are You One Of Those "Organic" People?
Some couple friends of ours came over last week and the wife of the couple mentioned that a friend-of-a-friend was, “one of those organic people.” At this point I had to say, “Well, I roll pretty crunchy-granola, too, ya know.” “Yes,” my friend responded, “but you’re not – you know – one of those ‘organic’…
Sharing The Good Stuff
I’ve been tending to two sick kids all day, and now that they are in bed, I’ll be honest, an original blog post just ain’t happening tonight. What is happening is a nice bourbon on the rocks and some reading. So instead of trying to pull a blog post out of my ass, I will direct…
A Very Homestead Holiday
I hate to be the bearer of exhausting news but the holiday season is right around the corner. Personally, I think it’s obscene to see Christmas wrapping paper and Halloween candy on display at the same time, but there it is. This is the world we live in. Image from Premier Packaging, shared via Creative…