Ok, so I am actually (and thankfully) NOT a professional laundress. No one pays me for the service of drying clothes outside, just as I collect no paycheck for growing fruits and vegetables, cooking, canning, homeschooling, or writing this here blog. I do, however, save $1.05 in electric costs per load of laundry NOT dried in the dryer. (Want to know how much your dryer costs per load? Look for the amps and volts on [...]

Things have been a little quiet on the blog because we have been dealing with a little log splitting accident. If you are a facebook fan, I alluded to the incident but figure it’s time to spill the long story here. A week ago Thursday, Alex was splitting some logs in the backyard. Our kind friends gave us two ash tree’s worth of wood stove fuel after the trees were taken down by arborists. The [...]

We’re dealing with some health issues, hence posting is light. I’ll fill y’all in when there is some resolution. In the meantime, find some sour cherries. These are the best preserves ever. If I could only eat one jam for the rest of my life, this would be it. Sour cherry preserves kick the lid off all other preserves. <insert your favorite superlative here> I rarely make such declarations and in fact poke fun at [...]

We are all out of bulk flour so we are offering a group buy again. We order fifty pound bags of King Arthur brand flours through a wholesale company. The flour is high quality and manufactured in an employee owned co-operative business. This time around, we are able to get organic bread flour. Yay! Group Buy Details The flour comes in whole fifty pound bags. Orders are due Tuesday June 28, 2011 at noon. People [...]

After a spring devoid of garden success (sparrows ate the peas, springs crops like radishes bolted too quickly, lettuces were slow to grow), I welcome summer. Warmer temperatures and less torrential rain will surely help our sustainable garden grow. Grapes, tomatoes, and peppers bend with fruit and hope for autumn harvest. Greens and herbs grow by inches overnight. Insects exchange flower dust for nectar in the symbiotic relationship that creates so much of our food: [...]

Inspiration and Ideas: We have lots of leftovers from last night’s Father’s Day feast including: blueberry basil turkey burgers, potato salad, black bean salad, green salad, mac & cheese, grape pie, & pavlova. My left-over-disappearing-machine, aka Alex, is traveling to Connecticut this week. I am terribly jealous. I want to travel, don’t want to single parent, and have no plans this week, except… I am teaching Jam Canning on Tuesday evening at Wild Goose. Space [...]

I am surrounded by fantastic fathers. These inspiring, caring men enrich the lives of Lil and I: l to r – Mitch, my dad; Mike, my uncle; Tom, Alex’s dad, click to enlarge My dad, Mitch, is patient and funny. He encouraged his four girls to be strong curious women, enduring the resulting loud and confusing dinner conversations. I clearly picked up Dad’s love for the outdoors, good food and strong drink. Speaking of eats, [...]