My maternal grandmother was born and raised in England, and though she lived in the U.S. for decades, her Union Jack pride never flagged. Commemorative plates of Princess Diana decorated her walls, and she insisted on driving north to Vancouver, B.C. periodically to buy tea. “You see,” she insisted firmly, “there is no decent tea in this country.” Every…
Recent Posts
7 Simple, Delicious Ways To Use Lemon Peel
I am such a sucker for citrus. If I didn’t hate temperatures over 73 degrees I’d move someplace where I could have my own huge lemon tree in the backyard and spend all day figuring out ways to use bushels of lemons. As it is, I have to buy my citrus, so I try to get as…
Ultra-light Limoncello
We’ve got a few more weeks of prime citrus season. We’ve already made lemon curd, salted lemons and citrus cleaning spray. It’s party time. Let’s make limoncello! A traditional southern Italian digestif, limoncello is usually served ice cold from tiny little glasses. Traditional limoncello often manages to be both too bitter and too sweet for…
Turn A Mason Jar Into A Twine Holder With This Easy Kitchen Hack
I’ve been tying a lot of stuff up lately. Must be that 50 Shades of Grey cultural zeitgeist thing working on me. If you want to make all your kitchen bondage tasks (everything from trussing a beef tenderloin to draining your homemade ricotta) far easier, make yourself a DIY twine holder from a mason jar. This is the simplest kitchen hack…
22 Signs You Are Desperate To Quit Your Office Job To Become A Homesteader
The job is reliable. You work in a clean office, and mostly you get paid to sit at a computer and type things. There are even a few nice benefits like accrued vacation and dental. You’re living the dream, right? Wrong. The signs are there, there’s no use denying them any more. Here are 22 signs…
A Look Inside My Fridge
I cleaned my fridge this weekend, stepped back to admire my domestic handiwork and realized I’d become a total Portlandia cliche. My fridge is half fermented vegetables and half backyard eggs. Every container is a mason jar. Oh, except for the basket. Right. There’s a twee basket in my fridge. You see where this urban homesteading thing…
The Bloody Valentine
Fifteen years ago, my now-husband and I went out for our first Valentine’s Day date. We went to a nearly-empty pub, sat down for a beer, and within 10 minutes some drunk guy we’d never met had twisted his barstool around started describing the sordid details of his ongoing, bitter divorce. We were young, and West-coast raised…
Save Money With DIY Seed Starting Mix
So, you start a lot of seeds and you’re running out of money for seed starting mix. Right-o. Story of my life. That’s what prompted me to investigate DIY bulk seed starting options, and I’m so glad I did. This is a huge money saver if you are a big seed-starter! The cost of seed…
DIY Lacto-Fermentation Weight for Mason Jars
There are three things to manage if you want the most successful lacto-fermented vegetables: Salt levels Fermentation temperature Oxygen exposure When it comes to that third thing – oxygen exposure – the goal is none. The Lactic Acid Bacteria that ferment veggies into tangy deliciousness are anaerobic. They do their best work far away from…
Aggressive Duck Sex (Or, Why I Drink Whiskey.)
Starting about a month ago our drake (that’s the boy duck), regrew his penis in expectation of spectacular spring-time twitterpation. Oh, you didn’t know ducks lose their penis every year and regrow them? Yeah, duck-keeping is an education like that. Go ahead and watch this. I’ll wait. Okay, are you back? Holy crap, am I…
DIY Herbal Teas (The Giant Tutorial)
I’m a Seattle-girl to the core, so I’m not giving up my coffee any time soon. But I also have a big, soft place in my heart for a steaming mug of herbal tea, especially when I can grow and dry the herbs myself. The Basics Herbal tea isn’t technically tea, since it doesn’t contain…
Unexpected Parenting Benefits of Seed Starting Mix
Recently I had occasion to make a new batch of the seed starting mix I’ve been experimenting with. I’ll do a whole post on this very soon. But to be super brief, you basically just dump stuff together and mix, and I’ve found the easiest way to do this is to just lay a tarp out in…