I found this via Delicious Days' website. I found a great excerpt here, but you can find it slightly cheaper here. I can't wait to get this! It's the perfect combination of self-reliance, thriftiness, localvore-ness and taste that I've been looking for! I just hope that my attempt at beer won't turn out like this:
Great info in this NYT article about growing vegetables upside-down. I'm not sure I can trust the gutter over the back porch with the weight of a 5 gallon container of dirt though. Still, the yield seems to be better and there's some good pictures of homemade containers that look way better than those lime green topsy-turvy planters.
Tomatoes and Lavender have begun to sprout!
I've been collecting those little snack size containers of Greek yogurt and applesauce all winter mainly because every time I hovered over the recycle container with one its size and shape seemed to cry out "Wait! Are you sure I couldn't be of some other use to you?
Well, actually, yes. I poked some holes in the bottom, filled with potting mix and put the containers in some old tofu and take-out sushi containers. Push some seeds into the mix, conscript your kid to water every day and you've got a great way to show your kids the value of growing your own food and recycling! Bonus.
I say why not? I've been looking for basil plants for a week now and guess who has a great selection of organic basil, chive and parsley plants? The fancy gardening store? Super Stop and Shop? Nope. Market Basket!!
I put the new plant in the window garden in the bedroom, but I think I'll have to move it because I woke up this morning craving spaghetti for breakfast.
I found some good links for Turkey Day (or, T-Day, as it's known around here)
Need to get out of the mashed-potatoes-green been casserole-canned corn rut? The NYT on-line edition has some great ideas for sides.
Going to someone else's house and don't want to try and figure out what wine goes with stuffing? Turtle Alley, in Gloucester and Salem, sells a chocolate Turkey stuffed with nuts. How awesome is that?
And if the fam is coming over to your place, how to create the right atmosphere? (Unless, of course, your idea of ambiance is a few apple turkeys scattered about) Head on over to Design Lab, Lovejoy Design's new blog. Phoebe Lovejoy Russell has an amazing eye for color and texture and her ideas can easily be adapted to any budget.
For all of you that received homemade cookies in those ubiquitous tins for the holidays, ReadyMade has a great article about how you can use them to create tiered serving trays, ribbon dispensers and cookie cutters.
Since the farmers' markets are starting to become scarce, I've decided to try a little indoor gardening this winter. I am cursed with a black thumb, but hopefully after doing a little research, it will get a little greener. I'm starting with a little counter-top composting rig that I came up with while cleaning the kitchen. Basically it's a half-gallon milk carton, opened at the top with a plastic produce bag liner. It's easy to scrape things into and the Adult Services section of the Phoenix makes a handy resource for the "browns" layer. There are way cuter versions available online. But hey, Christmas is coming and it's the gift that keeps on giving!
