Terminal Verbosity

March Phat Fiber “Fluff” – The Elements

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:22:52 +0000

My father used to tell this great story about sawing off the treadle of my grandmother’s spinning wheel as retribution for her not letting he and my uncle go out to hunt. In the end, they climbed out the window and went anyway, and I can only imagine my grandfather’s reaction when he learned what [...]

Choosing a Seed Company

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:41:56 +0000

In December last year, the first gorgeous, glossy seed magazine arrived in my mailbox. After fleeing to a private spot to drool review it in detail, I started thinking about how we choose where to buy our seeds. If the early bird truly does get the worm, Seeds of Change, sender of that first beautiful [...]

Get the jump on the spring garden

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:48:34 +0000

Energized by the first truly spring-like week we’ve had this season, I spent a lot of time in the garden these past few days. Yes, I know there’s still snow in the shady spots and the ground alternates between frozen and muddy muck, but there’s still a lot you can do in the early spring [...]

Garden Primer 4 – Starting Plants from Seed

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:39:07 +0000

With this post, my garden primer series transitions from the planning stage to the doing stage. I will be writing about what I’m actually doing in my garden as I do it, so if you’re in Zone 5-ish, you can probably follow along in your own garden! So, if you’ve been following along with this [...]

Planning the Perfect Pot Garden – Primer Part 3

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:05:42 +0000

I’ve already talked about growing herbs indoors to beat the winter blues, but I know a lot of gardens in urban landscapes are looking to maximize growing space using containers (no, not that kind of pot!) to garden outside too. Whether you’re planting a few herbs in a sunny windowsill inside or growing a large [...]

Birthday Cake – Localized

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:34:49 +0000

Today is my darling husband’s birthday, so this morning the kids & I baked him a cake. I chose my Grandma’s Fresh Apple Cake recipe in part because I had ingredients on hand and in part because it was one I could adapt so that it used mainly local ingredients. Oh yeah, and also because [...]

Why Climate Change is Irrelevant

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:02:26 +0000

The recent spate of snow has brought out the crazies. And I’m not talking about Shaun White. I’m talking about those who, through reductionist thinking, have convinced themselves that this particularly cold winter disproves climate change. But honestly, I’m not even going to get into that debate, because frankly, as I recently posted on a [...]

Garden Primer Part 2 – How Many Vegetables Do I Need?

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:48:58 +0000

It took me longer than I’d hoped to get this post out. Part of my struggle was that choosing the veggies for your garden is such a personal choice. But a conversation with a friend last night helped me really focus in on how I choose veggies for my garden. Start with the limiting factors If you [...]

Eat From the Pantry Challenge – Week Two

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:47:52 +0000

My biggest lesson-learned in the Eat From the Pantry Challenge is not to send your spouse to the grocery store–even with a detailed list–if you expect to hold to eating from the pantry. Oh well, we still were able to use up quite a bit of stuff from the pantry this week, so I can’t [...]

A Vegetable Garden Planning Primer

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:01:45 +0000

I spent about two days of my time off of work planning next year’s vegetable garden. Yes, I realize it’s early January, but I like to start seeds beginning in February, which means I need to get my seed orders in now! That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s too late for you to get started [...]