I’m not dogmatically anti-plastic, but I try to be thoughtful about how and where it is used in my house, and I am trying to cut down. My garden at this time of year grows under a tunnel cloche of plastic. Freezer stuff gets entombed in plastic, because it’s the best at preserving the bulk orders of…
Recent Posts
How To Render Beef Tallow From Marrow Bones
I recently made beef stock with marrow bones (sometimes called pipe bones) and in the process rendered out a heck of a lot of beef fat (tallow) from inside the bones. Two birds with one stone, and all that. See all the white stuff inside the bones? That’s marrow. It’s either a great culinary delicacy…
The Productivity Junkie Had A Baby
It sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn’t it? So, this productivity junkie had a baby…. I got a very kind email from a reader a few weeks ago that boiled down to this, “how do you do so much while having little kids?” This reader had recently had her own child, and was…
A Thank You Toast For New Year's Eve
Dear Readers, In January of this year, I sat nursing my infant son and looking out the window at my quiet, still garden. As all new mothers will understand, I was stuck to my couch for what felt like days at a time, a willing human mattress and latte stop for my ever-hungry boy. I couldn’t…
Best Northwest Edible Posts of 2011, Part Two
And now, the thrilling conclusion to our story! Or, at the very least, a continuation of yesterday’s retrospective of the best NW Edible posts of 2011. Did you miss the first half of this list? Find it here. July my fave: Being Everyone – Since ya’ll asked, yes, once upon a time I had a six-pack. I still…
Last Minute Stocking Stuffer: "Get Out Of A Chore Free" Santa Cards – Free Download
We do chores around here, kids included. So the gift of not having to do those tedious chores is always appreciated. I’m trying to get the last of the holiday gift stuff together today – wrapping presents, stuffing stockings, etc. – and I put together some “Santa Slips to slip in my daughter’s stocking. These are…
Grow Your Grub Podcast Interview
Put a little gardening chat on while you wrap those presents or bake those cookies or spin that dreidel. (Or, hey, while you dance in Celtic colors around an ash yule log – I’m not here to judge.) This time of year is so busy, we all need to multitask. So while you’re attending to…
5 Solutions To The Kid Gift Problem
The problem: your kid has a lot of friends, and wants to give gifts to every single one of them. With your money. Of course, it is absolutely wonderful that your charming and thoughtful child is thinking of his or her peers over the holiday, and you want to encourage this independent spirit of generosity. You just don’t…
Grocery Shopping The Winter Garden
In the summer I harvest daily. I have to, or the green beans crawl into my house and take over my couch and the zucchini turns into an uncarved canoe. In the winter, the veggies more or less hang out waiting for me to get off my butt and come pick them. Many days, it’s…
25 New Year's Resolutions For The 2012 Garden
This morning a crust of frost danced over the uncovered raised beds and painted the grass with mercurial shine. The garden sits placid and independent under the chill of winter and it seems a bit easier to carve out those chucks of time to reflect upon the year almost past, and the year that is rushing towards…
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’…
How To Dry And Use Mandarin Orange Peels
I’ll happily throw all my locavore principles under a bus to get at a box of mandarin oranges. Maybe it’s nostalgia. Growing up, Christmas-time meant a box printed with exotic looking Chinese characters, and filled with loose-skinned, paper-wrapped oranges that were sweeter and juicier than any occidental citrus could be. So when mandarin season rolls around, I can’t say…