Land Girls

...an Oregon hops field. They look so happy (and stripey)! Were they paid in beer? We’d never heard about the WLA prior to today–which is astonishing and a little sad–and stranger still, of all sources, we have the louche Chap magazine to thank for this increase in knowledge. They ran a Land Girl fashion spread titled “Britches & Hoes,” saying, “The recession has led to endless talk of austerity measures, making-do-and-mending and growing your own v...

Read…

Straw Bale Garden Part III: Adding Fertilizer

...rea, on philosophical grounds, but blood meal, a byproduct of our industrial food system, doesn’t make me feel much better. Urea would be a lot cheaper. Perhaps the best solution would be human urine. Throw a week-long party, serve a lot of beer and invite your guests to fertilize your bales! Undiluted human urine has an NPK ratio close to that of blood meal. Those of you who have experimented with straw bale gardens please leave a comment on what...

Read…

Does Sourdough Offer Hope for the Gluten Intolerant?

...ise quickly. But even before Pasteur, bakers used the yeast remaining from beer making (also a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to make doughs rise. Sourdough cultures are not as powerful and predictable, so it’s understandable that commercial bakers would want a more dependable alternative. What is in a sourdough culture? There are many strains of yeast in sourdough cultures, but the main one is Candida milleri. Candida milleri is tolerant of...

Read…

Did Kelly follow her 2012 resolutions?

...due for a complete overhaul.) This I did. All of it. Yay me. -Organize the labels or tags on Root Simple so our dear, somewhat abused readers can find information when they want it. This I did as part of our overhaul. -No processed sugar for the month of January. Or beer. (sigh) This I did. I’d forgotten. I probably should do it again, because I’ve been having a torrid affair with the cookie jar. -White flour, crackers, tortillas, pasta & etc. are...

Read…