Stickers for the Organic Gardener

May 8, 2009

...Boing a clever re-purposing: “Evil Mad Scientist Labs wants you to proudly label your organic garden with these handsome “Now Slower and with More Bugs!” stickers, originally produced to adorn software products. The influence of the Slow Food movement is increasing, and gardening is getting ever more popular. Even the tech bloggers are posting about local pollinators and getting beehives. In this environment, it is fitting that a new use has been...

Read…

The Organic Minefield: How organic are your organic eggs, soy and dairy?

Mrs. Homegrown

August 28, 2013

Food, Thoughtstylings

4 Comments

I wish the label “organic” meant all that I mean when I use the term, but unfortunately organic is not a a guarantee of sustainable agricultural practice, much less humane treatment of livestock. The Cornucopia Institute promotes sustainable organic agriculture and family farms, and helps consumers parse the difference between greenwashed and genuine organic farms and suppliers. They release quick reference charts on various subjects, as well as...

Read…

How to save tomato seed

Mrs. Homegrown

September 19, 2013

Gardening, How-to, Miscellaneous, Tomatoes, Vegetable Gardening

14 Comments

...mato over the jar. It’s best to just squeeze cherry tomatoes. (You can use food processor, too, if you’re doing big batches.) Pour a little water over the pulp. It should cover the pulp by say, 2-3 inches or so. Cover the container and let it sit for a few days (3 days, roughly–weather makes a difference), until white or grey mold forms on the surface of the water. If you do a big batch, you will smell the rot. Don’t worry about it–just keep the d...

Read…

How To Freeze Fruits and Vegetables

Mr. Homegrown

February 1, 2013

Food, Food Preservation

13 Comments

...that covers blanching times and many of the other particulars in freezing foods. One thing not covered in that pamphlet is that some foods like berries, green beans, peas, diced onions, whole-kernel corn etc are more convenient to cook with if you can just pour them out of a freezer bag without having to break them out of a solid mass. To do this you’ll individually quick freeze IQF them. To IQF: Wash, blanch (veggies) and cool . Spread in one la...

Read…

LA on Fire

Mr. Homegrown

January 8, 2025

Thoughtstylings

9 Comments

...harred page from a screenplay that landed on his roof over the night. That page likely drifted from the Eaton fire twelve miles northeast of us. Other than horrible air quality we’re safe but I made the mistake of checking the news on the cesspool known as X, hoping to check on some friends in Altadena. Instead of helpful information, I found right wing misdirection and conspiracy theories, blaming the fires on political enemies, water policies an...

Read…