life on garden time
It is, somewhat shockingly, just a few days before Thanksgiving. I’m not sure how this happened. Perhaps because I’ve been even more of a homebody than usual this past 8 weeks, I’ve missed the traditional warning signs: Williams-Sonoma window-displays featuring festive, faux-gourd soup tureens and French porcelain turkey-shaped gravy boats. Pre-lit plastic Christmas Trees and [Continue Reading...]
Last year we performed a taste test. We ordered two, 12 pound turkeys from our local yuppie-hippie market. Both were raised by Diestel, a large, independent, family-owned turkey ranch in California. By all accounts the birds had a good life and one bad day, living on pasture, free-ranging and eating vegetarian feed and whatever bugs [Continue Reading...]
Some tastes are summer in your mouth. This is one of them. When the weather gets gloomy, and the great overcast sky of Seattle forms a continuous ombrey of silver-darkening-to-slate with the damp pavement, this is the flavor that recalls sun on your neck and trips to the lake. This is also the recipe that [Continue Reading...]
It’s time to come clean. It’s the big finale, the big reveal – did we make our No Spend budget or blow it? Did you make your budget? I’m happy to say that we did stay within $250, and we saved up a ton of money this month. In addition to the casual dollars we [Continue Reading...]
It’s November, and you know what that means. In just a few weeks, all over the United States people will express their gratitude for family, health, and living in this great nation with the annual turkey-gravy-mashed-potato bender. Thanksgiving is, without a doubt, my favorite holiday. Here’s why: I love to cook and eat with family and [Continue Reading...]
Today is the last day of No Spend Month October and I am happy to be able to open up the wallet a little more tomorrow. My son needs bigger pajamas, both cars need gas and I would really like to start implementing our plan to phase our light bulbs to LEDs. In a more [Continue Reading...]
Someone has to say it: the zombie apocalypse is upon us. The electrical grid is blowing up, the Eastern Seaboard is underwater, the Appalachia’s are under snow, freeways have turned into waterways and, just so the West Coast can get in on the action, earthquakes rock the coast of British Columbia roughly every two hours. [Continue Reading...]
Throughout this No Spend Month I’ve talked (and talked…and talked) about financial values. Well, now I have a confession to make. There really aren’t any financial values. There are just your values. Financial management and financial goals are big tools to help you live in accordance with your values, but they are not the same as values. If [Continue Reading...]
Ah, Hubris Last time this week I was feeling pretty rocking about our No Spend Month Prospects. With over a hundred bucks of our alloted $250 left, stretching the pennies to November seemed a pretty simple task. I was sure that if I could just stay away from the sushi we’d have this challenge in [Continue Reading...]
My friend had a leak under her sink. Big puddle of water. They called the plumber, who quoted her $800 to pull and remove the leaking faucet and replace it with a new one. She related the story to me: “$800?! Are you kidding? That’s a lot of money! That’s almost a thousand dollars!” “So [Continue Reading...]
Your clothes dryer sucks your money away. After your basic HVAC, fridge and freezer it is the biggest and most expensive energy hogging appliance in your house. You are a NW Edible reader, so of course you know a clothes dryer is totally optional. People have, can and do line-dry their clothes 100% of the [Continue Reading...]
My counter was full of good but not perfect apples from the espaliers. Each had a little scab or a bruise or a small wormhole, so they weren’t going into storage in the refrigerator. Over the course of the day the whisper in my brain: “apple fritters…apple fritters….” rang louder and louder until finally I [Continue Reading...]
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