Coffee and Tahini Date Balls

April 13, 2015

...best place to buy them will be at a market specializing in Middle Eastern foods. There you will be able to get big fat soft dates for reasonable prices, and they will be fresh. If you happen to live near a Trader Joe’s, they have inexpensive dates as well, though they can be a bit on the dry side. If you live near a co-op or a health food store with bulk bins full of dates, you’re in good shape as well. And if you live in the right region, you ma...

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The Soil Beneath Our Feet

Mrs. Homegrown

April 23, 2015

Back to the Garden

4 Comments

...ack yard to global economies. Healthy soils make strong plants, increasing food yields and discouraging pests. Healthy soils wick and hold water, helping in times of both drought and flood. And healthy soil sequesters carbon. When we think about CO2 emissions, we think about the burning of fossil fuels–and we should, because those account for 65.5% of carbon emissions, according to this fact sheet from the State of Washington’s Department of Ecolo...

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A happy tangle

Mrs. Homegrown

October 12, 2015

Animals, Nature Awareness

2 Comments

...t our ripe, ruby red pomegranates, which, when they split open, are also a food source for the birds. It’s hard to describe, and pretty much impossible to photograph, this cheery, eye-popping chaos, but we enjoy it, and the cats are entranced. While I’ve sometimes wondered if it is right to keep a feeder in our yard, I feel good about it as of now, because we are providing other sources of forage as well. We let our plants go to seed. We don’t spr...

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Growing Strawberries in a Self Irrigating Gutter (SIG).

Mr. Homegrown

March 19, 2013

Gardening, Self Watering Containers

15 Comments

...r. This could be countered with a mosquito dunk. Advantages I can now grow food in an otherwise useless space–the top retaining wall in our front yard (we live on a hill). I can also, finally, make good use of my rain barrel. I was also able to recycle a bunch of scrap wood and some billboard material. And, unlike hydroponics, no electricity or liquid fertilizers are needed. If this system works out I’m eying the top of our garage for more SIGs (o...

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On Moldy Jam

Mr. Homegrown

July 27, 2020

Food, Food Preservation

2 Comments

...ficial fungal cultures as well as toxic ones that can develop on preserved foods. In short, our understanding of food safety issues of these types of fungal-preserved foods is evolving and complex. However, while fungal cultures are intrinsic to the preservation of certain foods such as blue cheeses, fungal cultures don’t belong on jam. The restaurant has since promised to follow food safety practices regarding the product they package as well as...

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