I talk a lot about my garden, and if you are kind enough to read this blog, you know a lot about my garden. A reader asked me to put up a garden map or layout to make it more clear how all the parts of “my office” come together. It is still a great…
Archives for 2011
The Chicken Coop Is Done…Enough.
The builder of our chicken coop turned it over to us with just a few final details left to handle: painting, notably, and any sort of facade-bling we wanted to add. We painted Coop 2.0 gray because that was the only color exterior paint we had on hand (you may recall me saying that exact…
Garlic Rust and Gardener Waterworks
Last year, Nick really got on board with the gardening thing. His support and assistance and enthusiasm is what has allowed my backyard garden to become our urban homestead. The gateway plant, the crop that drew him into the entire gardening ethos, was garlic. Nick was so enamored of the way hardneck garlic scapes curl and twist,…
Back To The Roots Oyster Mushroom Kit Giveaway!
UPDATE: Nikhil has offered to give away a Back To The Roots Oyster Mushroom Growing Kit free to one lucky reader! There are three ways to enter – use all of them for triple entries! First way to enter: go to the Back To The Roots Facebook Page and like the page. Leave a comment…
Let's Call It A Vacation: The Mother Earth News Fair Getaway
Homebrew Husband and I made a very last minute decision to attend the Mother Earth News Fair this past weekend. We weren’t going to brave the ride to the fair with our son, Young Mr. Screams-In-Car, but a combination of things came together late Friday that convinced us it would be worth attempting the hour-long drive. Chief among these was…
Just What The Internet Doesn't Knead (Updated)
There’s about a 95% chance that you’ve heard of the famous No Knead Bread recipe, put out by the New York Times and re-posted by…well…everyone. For the 5% of you that have yet to become master No Knead Bakers, I offer up my personal lionization of the technique. It’s simple, it’s fool-proof, it’s delicious, it…
Of Watts and Watt-Hours
This post has nothing to do with gardening – but it does have a great deal to do with sustainability and environmental awareness. It follows up to Erica’s experimentation with the Kill-A-Watt with a (brief) engineering lesson. Please, don’t be scared. I studied engineering for three years before realizing I hated it switching to English…
Creamy Spinach Puree
The garden has had a spinach ka-boom moment. I was waiting patiently for my spinach to size up, and now, oh boy, has it. But that’s not something to complain about, really. Spinach is tasty, quick to wash up, and always on those magazine lists of “Foods You Must Eat To Be Healthy.” When faced…
A Public Defense Of The Enthusiastic Beginner
It has come to my attention that some of the best voices on the internet – writers I admire and read and am dedicated to – would rather chew their own arms off than see another damned blog post about homemade yogurt. Okay, I get it. It’s yogurt. Homemade yogurt is so done. Jams and…
Hope In A Bottle
For the first 30ish years of my life, I enjoyed stuff as much as the average American. I bought a lot of it, and used it, and got pissed off when I had to dust it. When my stuff got a little long in the tooth, I tossed it out and bought more stuff. Several…
Moving To The Big-Girl Coop
On Saturday the chickens were moved from their indoor Pack & Play brooder to their permanent home – the outdoor coop. The chickens are five weeks old and seem fully feathered to my new-chicken-keeper eyes so we decided it was time for them and their constant, unending pooping to move outside. We put down a…
A Tour Of The Trellises
When we hit up the Seattle Tilth Plant Sale a few weeks ago, we arrived early and had some time to kill before we could start plant shopping. This gave us some time to walk around the Good Shepherd P-Patch. I was struck by how many methods p-patchers were using to trellis their peas and…