A Community Thing

Clasp Hands

Hi there. I’m Erica. Been a while, hasn’t it? Sorry about that. I have been elbows deep in my real life, for good and for bad. This blog is real enough. It’s as true as it needs to be. The stuff I write about doing, I actually do. The rants about food politics, I actually [Continue Reading...]

Whine, Wine and Weed

Weeding Tool

Whine I would like to humbly suggest that an urban homesteading lifestyle requires a certain degree of letting shit slide. You have two choices: make peace with weeds, kitchen dishes, chicken shit and dirty fingernails or go crazy fighting the inevitable. I would like to humbly suggest that blogging also requires a certain degree of [Continue Reading...]

Reader-Blogger Meetup in Seattle with NW Edible and MMM!

MMM_NWEdible_Meetup

Regular readers know that my absolute favorite financial and frugality blogger is Mr. Money Mustache, he of the “early retirement through badassity” slogan. In fact, a few NW Edible readers have even told me that, once they started reading MMM, their outlook on finances, hope, freedom and even their future totally changed for the better. So when [Continue Reading...]

No Spend Month: Final Numbers and Reader Feedback

Caveman Coffee Grinding

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...]

Seven Great Things You Missed On Facebook: Peanut Sauce, Peaches and More

Peach Ice Cream

It’s been a busy week over on the Northwest Edible Facebook Page. We blew through the 5,000s in no time and are currently sitting at over 6,000 smart, bad-ass and very attractive community members. Thank you guys! Homebrew Husband captured the exact moment of the 6,000th like on his phone. Not that we are total [Continue Reading...]

Three Book Giveaway: Build The Life You Really Want

Lisa Kivirist (1)

An advertising agency in Chicago used to pay Lisa Kivirist one big paycheck. Now, hundreds of people pay her lots of very small ones. All these little paychecks – over a thousand last year – allow Lisa, her husband John and their son to live the life they want: rural, sustainable and meaningful. People write [Continue Reading...]

Are You One Of Those "Organic" People?

Some couple friends of ours came over last week and the wife of the couple mentioned that a friend-of-a-friend was, “one of those organic people.” At this point I had to say, “Well, I roll pretty crunchy-granola, too, ya know.” “Yes,” my friend responded, “but you’re not – you know – one of those ‘organic’ [Continue Reading...]

Fear And Sowing In Suburbia

I had a long conversation with my mother-in-law yesterday. She lives in California, and she told me that word on the Cali street is, if your home is burgled you don’t call the cops, because they won’t come. Because of budget cuts, there aren’t enough police officers to take a report at the scene of the crime. [Continue Reading...]

There’s Not Going To Be An Earthquake. But If There Is…

“There’s not going to be an earthquake. It’s not going to happen. But if there is an earthquake, we have to be prepared.” So began the neighborhood meeting on emergency preparedness. Six of us gathered, representing about half the homes on the block. We wanted to talk about disaster readiness from a local community perspective. We talked [Continue Reading...]

Self-Sufficiency, Not All-By-Yourself-Sufficiency

I was attempting to turn and loosen one of my most heavy-soiled beds this weekend. I needed a good stout garden fork. Sadly, I had not yet replaced the fork I snapped in half while transplanting asparagus crowns a few months ago. Without a garden fork, I was hacking at my soil with a pick-mattock. Doing [Continue Reading...]

Yuppie-Hippie Artifice

There is this term I bandy about: YuppieHippie. As in, “I picked up my grass fed milk at the YuppieHippie market. It was on sale for $10 a gallon.” In my town there is a segment of the population that cares about the eco trendy trinity of local-organic-sustainable because they can. They drive their hybrid [Continue Reading...]

Weekend Inspiration: Growing A Giving Garden

I am planing on planting a row for the hungry this year and donating the proceeds to my local food bank. I am excited to do this, and believe it is a small but important thing I can contribute. If you are fortunate enough to have the space, will you consider joining me in some planned giving [Continue Reading...]