Amie is drawing like a mad woman nowadays – wanting to become an artist and all that requires lots of practice – and she was taping her drawings all over our walls, with lots and lots of tape, of course. Fearing for our paint job, I gave her a large stack of cheapo IKEA frames …
Author Archives: kaat
This Is What I Grew Them For
Frietjes, Frites, Belgian Fries. The Bintje, a very popular European potato but virtually unknown here in the States, is the best potato for fries. It has a starch solid content of about 20%, so it’s neither waxy nor floury. So what you do to bring out the best in it, is fry it twice. Fry …
Spudtacularly Disappointing
In the balmy 60F weather I dug up the last two potato towers. All in all there were three bins, 4’x4′ each and filled up to about 3′ high. In one I had put 2.5 lbs of Salem, in the other two 2.5 lbs of Bintjes each. I harvested 1 lb and 1.5 oz of …
Stories and Drawings of Amie at Just Four, and Jelly
It seems I’m no longer writing in my (analog) journal. Don’t know why, but in any case I am jotting down Amie’s sayings and doings on pieces of paper here and there. Here’s an effort to preserve them. … Amie had to have four shots at her four-year well-visit. We did two during that visit, …
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Apple Peel Jelly and Wood Fire
We lit our wood stove for the first time yesterday. The temperature inside was 62 F, so quite bearable, but we wanted to cure the stove while we could still open the windows, and get the hang of lighting a fire before the cold really kicks in. Going by this evening’s attempts, we’ll have to …
Riot for Austerity, Month 11
Our Riot is almost a year old! It feels great to have come this far, and I can’t wait to tally up the yearly average. But first, month 11. Gasoline. This went down a bit from last month because DH’s shuttle rides again. 9.55 gallons pp = 23% of the US National Average Electricity. Our …
Independence Days, Week 6
The Indian summer came, went, and came again. Last Friday we hit 37 F – cutting it pretty close – but yesterday it was 70F. It’s going to get cold again soon, though. Plant. Moved (replanted) the 2 rhubarb plants, because in the end we chose their first bed as one of the beds to …
Canning Update
101 jars. Top row, left to right: 3 pints pickled cucumbers 6 8 oz cranberry peach preserves 9 8 oz fig preserves 8 pints apple sauce 5 pints basic tomato sauce 7 pints green bell pepper 7 8 oz peach salsa Bottom row, left to right: 9 quarts green beans 6 pints peach pie filling …
Mass. Relocalization Conference: McKibben, Lappe, Mel King…
Heads up: October 18 Roxbury, MA Bill McKibben, Frances Moore Lappé and Mel King The major goals of the conference are to educate, inform, and empower Massachusetts residents to take actions in their communities to help build the local infrastructure and institutions needed to provide economic security in a changing world. The conference will help …
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Winter Harvest
I bought the book. Nowadays when I want to buy a book I get it from the library first. After a couple of weeks of perusing and handling it, I might think differently about spending $15 on it… Not so with Coleman’s Winter Harvest Handbook. It’s full of hard practical advice and it’s beautifully made …