Throwing A Children’s Book Themed Baby Shower

Dr Seuss Cat in the Hat Cake

Our best-est couple friends, Colin and Jo, are about to have their first baby. Yay! Last month, I co-hosted a baby shower for them. Here we all are. Everyone looks happy except Oliver, who resents being forced to stay still for eight seconds. My amazing co-hosts, Roxanne, Sarah and I agreed that a children’s book [Continue Reading...]

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...]

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...]

Dear Busy Person: An Open Letter To You

0199210896.treadmill.1

Dear Busy Person, I love you and I’m worried about you. I have noticed that you are spending a lot of time trying to keep up with things. It looks like you are working very hard all the time just to keep everything afloat. I can tell from all the way over here that you [Continue Reading...]

I’m Like A Pirate, Sorta (What I’ve Learned From Surgery)

Eye Surgery Pirate

As regular readers know, on Monday I had eye surgery. I had hoped to be back up and ready to talk applesauce and last minute fall crop options but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for a while. Here’s what’s up: I was put under general anesthesia and my surgeon cut some of [Continue Reading...]

Zombies vs. The Joy of Canning: Motivation in the Productive Home

Blanching Tomatoes

“Hey, we were planning on getting together later today, right?” I asked my friend. “Yeah, but after dinner.” “Can we push that back to later in the week?” I was exhausted from Can-o-Rama and the idea of a social commitment after dinner was more than I could handle. “Sure. What’s up?” “I’m pretty tired. I [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...]

Canning Swirly Fruit: An Easy Way To Prep Pears and Apples

Canned Pears

Here’s a lovely way to save some time when you prepare apples or Asian pears for canning. Use an apple peeler-corer (see mine at work here) to make beautiful coils of automatically-cored firm fruit. The swirly fruit looks fantastic in the jar, and packs in well for a nice, well-filled raw pack. Don’t get too [Continue Reading...]

Giveaway: Mother Earth News Fair Weekend Passes

Mother Earth News Fair (1)

Are you tired of amazing giveaways yet? Nah, me neither. The second annual Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup (“pyew-AL-up,” for non-Washingtonians) is happening soon, on the weekend of June 2-3, and I’ve got a pair of tickets to give away. We went last year and it was fantastic. I saw Joel Salatin, who is [Continue Reading...]

The Homesteading Hypocrite

NWEdible_Hypocrisy_Trap

The moment I launched this website I started down a path towards raw hypocrisy. I had no idea at the time that this was what I was doing, and it certainly wasn’t my intention. Nonetheless, looking back over the past year+ of posting, it is clear that hypocrisy was inevitable. I have these ideals, you [Continue Reading...]

While I’m Away, Check These Out

dvd

Hi Friends, I’ll be posting sporadically this week, if at all. It’s Spring Break: time to spend some time with the kiddos and get some solid work in on a few garden projects I’ve been needing to wrap up. While I’m quiet, here’s some stuff I’ve been loving: Back To Eden – an amazing film, [Continue Reading...]

Seed-Starting Challenge, Urban Farm Magazine Giveaway & Blog Link-Up

Urban Farm Magazine

Annette, friend and co-author of the Urban Farm Handbook, has organized a 12-months-of-urban-farming challenge on her blog Sustainable Eats. Participants learn, do, share and can win great prizes for taking the challenge. Take The April Seed Starting Challenge The April challenge is all about gardening, and I’m challenging NW Edible readers, Urban Farm Challenge participants [Continue Reading...]