Feb
01
This winter I finished a project I started in June of 2010 and posted what I thought was this innocuous little picture of what is left of my paper-based filling system–a tiny set of file drawers that fits next to my desk and is small enough to fit in a suitcase–on Facebook. It set off …
Dec
02
You remember that children’s book about the country mouse who trades places with his big-city cousin and ventures to the city to see what it’s all about? It occurred to me this afternoon that I am that mouse. Despite having a rather big-city penchant for the opera, fine wine, fancy restaurants, and shoes, I think …
Mar
14
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 …
Feb
24
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 …
Feb
22
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 …
Feb
19
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 …
Jan
04
This month, Life as Mom is hosting the Eat from the Pantry Challenge. The idea is that each family spend the month of January trying to eat their way through the bounty in the pantry/freezer/cupboards to save a little money in the New Year. I am a bulk food addict and I belong to an …
Dec
16
Last year, I would have liked to use protecting the environment as an excuse for not sending out the annual Christmas card, but the truth is I just ran out of both time and inclination. But that year off gave me quite a bit of time to think about Christmas cards, what they mean, and …
Nov
09
I don’t like ambiguity, especially when it comes to the health of my children. So I was alarmed when I couldn’t find a satisfactory answer to the question: “Do modern-day crock pot glazes contain lead that can leach into my food?” While lead in ceramics has been an issue for as long as we’ve known …
Nov
03
Update: Some additional resources for more information added below! With controversy still raging over Sigg’s recent admission that their original water bottles — often touted, even by this blog, as a safe/BPA-free choice — contain minimal amounts of Bisphenol-A, a Consumer Reports study released yesterday illustrates that the BPA problem is even worse than we …
Chatter