Last week I ordered 100 pounds of peaches from this new fruit CSA from Eastern Washington that serves the greater Seattle area (by the way, for local people, I’ve had great service and fruit from them for an excellent price and will be ordering again soon). After jamming and canning and drying until my floors were…
I've Become The Weirdo Wasp Lady
I have a wasp nest. I had a wasp nest. A wasp nest hangs in a tree in my yard. If may or may not contain wasps. I’ve been keeping my eye on this nest for several weeks. It’s the aerial home of a colony of bald-faced hornets (despite the name, a type of wasp)….
1,000 Strong, And Growing – A Wild Fermentation Giveaway!
You know that jingle for kid’s vitamins: We are Flintstones kids – ten million strong, and growing…. Please tell me you remember that ad or I’m going to feel really, really old. Anyway, that tune has been running through my head about the Northwest Edible Life Facebook page, except instead of ten million, it’s a thousand strong…
No Place Like Home – Appreciating the Urban in Urban Homesteading
I had a commitment in Eastern Washington this weekend which necessitated a little family road trip to the hot, sunny, dry part of the state. When we returned Sunday night, we followed I-90 west, eventually climbing up the Cascade Mountains to the summit at Snoqualmie Pass and returning back down to the cooler, greener side of…
Not Your Grandma's Plastic Bag Dryer
My grandma used to wash and reuse plastic bags. This Depression-era action epitomized, to my parent’s generation, cheapness and time wasting. I distinctly remember my own minimalist-minded mother laughing about the hoard of used plastic sandwich bags her mother-in-law never threw away. Well everything old is new again, and now I’m a bag washer and re-user. Say…
Dawn In The Garden: Mid-August In Pictures
Mid-August and everything is growing well but my little squirrel heart tells me fall is in the air and just around the corner. I’ve got ripe tomatoes and lots of beans and cukes and zucchini. The fall stuff is mostly in and growing well and the late summer flowers are adding some pretty to the place. …
Easy No-Stick Canning Jar Labels
Last week, just in time for a massive can-o-thon over the weekend, I followed a Facebook recommendation to some fantastic, customizable canning jar labels on Etsy. I’d link to them, but my aging memory and the fast pace of digital life don’t always play nice, so I’ve completely forgotten where I saw them. The neat thing…
Householder Haikus – My Weekend In Poetry
Juice of two lemons To ensure a proper set I feel every cut. “Can’t finish the peach. The juice runs sticky, too far down my elbow, mom.” My apricots float They will do it every time Maybe more syrup? (big thanks to Harriet Fasenfest for this one) Met the orchard man Blushing fruit, picked by…
Get Off The Rack: A DIY Alternative To The Canning Rack
Most beginner food preservers (and I count myself as an advanced beginner) start with the standard issue water bath canner. It’s usually blue or green with funny speckles on it and can be found pretty cheaply new or really cheaply used. My ginormous canning kettle came from the thrift store and cost, as I recall,…
Culture Your Cukes: Lacto-Fermented Pickles
My pickling cukes are starting to come on, which means it’s time to get cozy with your friend and mine – the beneficial microbe! I am a tremendous fan of pickling through lacto-fermentation. Think of it as yogurt making with vegetables. Beneficial bacteria chomps down on the natural sugars and starches in the vegetable and converts it…
Roadtrip! Peppers, Sun, And Locavorism
Because summer refused to come to me this year, I went to summer. Yesterday I drove to Eastern Washington, a region as dissimilar from Western Washington from a gardening perspective as Iowa. I was visiting a friend and, for the first time, stomping around her garden. Eastern Washington is hot, dry and seasonally distinct. If you…
Gardening Goals And Edible Expectations
My friend Fruit Lady is brand new to veggie growing. This spring she put in several good-sized raised beds, but doesn’t care how much she harvests. She grows vegetables so that she and her kids can learn about the process. Really, it’s mostly for the kids, and anything picked is bonus. That’s not how it…