Parkway Plantings

...is is a pole bean with a brilliant red color that, sadly, disappears after cooking. One of the nice things about planting the seeds in our street garden this afternoon was chatting with the folks who come by. Sadly, we found out that one neighbor is breaking up with his wife and needs to find an apartment. But on a happier note, another neighbor reminisced about his Italian grandfather who grew lots of vegetables and even made his own wine in the...

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Social Media as a Homesteading Tool

...em like tracking devices with phone privileges to me. Perhaps some of you will show me the smart use of a smart phone. But I also believe the Luddite path is a dead end. If you write a homesteading/gardening/cooking/home ec blog, or know of a good one leave a link to it in the comments. And friend Root Simple in Facebook here....

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The tale of the worm bin celery

...me fine. All winter long I used this plant as the basis of my cold-weather cooking–chopped onions, carrots and celery in the bottom of every pot. It was a real treat not to have to buy celery for such a long time, and to have that flavor available whenever I wanted it. I should add that the leaves were just as flavorful as the stalks As a side note, I’ve heard of a breed of celery made to work precisely this way, called cutting celery, but I’ve ne...

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Weekend Linkages: Verging on Christmas

...Advent Lessons and Carols from St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral Los Angeles Complete Hobo Stove & Cooking Pots System Grow mushrooms in a 5 gallon bucket The mayor knew They don’t want you to know about triple hung curved glass windows Not a collection of mudlarking finds from the foreshore of the Thames. Biscuits...

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Moldy Grapes!

...elf!]. I found a recipe attributed to Sally Fallon which called for no pre-cooking at all, just pickling in whey and salt. I saw others that recommended pressure canning and I don’t have a pressure canner. What I ended up doing was blanching the grape leaves before I pickled them, hoping that would soften them up some, but not so much that they would disintegrate when rolled. I was sure to only pick the youngest, freshest leaves. I should have don...

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