More on How to Make Clear Ice

June 2, 2017

Food

...cooler (also known as “directional freezing”). The distilled water and hot water methods don’t work, according to English. I also learned that the enigmatic David Rees (author of a book on sharpening pencils!), and one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, did a whole National Geographic special on ice that includes a segment on making clear ice. And did you know that clear ice sometimes happens naturally? Behold this viral YouTube hit, “Walking o...

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The problem with polar fleece: it’s in the ocean, it’s in sea creatures, it’s on our plates

Mrs. Homegrown

August 17, 2016

Domesticus

24 Comments

...essen the shedding by using liquid detergent and fabric softener in a cold water wash, but this is not a solution, just a mitigation. It turns out that over the years here at our house we’ve sent a good deal of these stray fibers into the soil around our house, since we’ve been using a greywater system. I’m not sure what to think about that. I doubt that the fibers are as disruptive in the soil as they are in a marine ecosystem, but still, it’s no...

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Baking Bread with Specialty Malts

Mr. Homegrown

June 13, 2016

Beer, Bread, Food

2 Comments

...t the sugars that form in the malting process. Fermenting that sugary malt water creates alcohol. Most of the grain used to make beer is two or six-row malt. You add so-called “specialty” grains (that have been caramelized or roasted) to add flavor. If you skip the beer making and add the specialty malts directly to your dough, more of their flavor makes it into the bread. Step into a homebrew shop and you’ll find bin after bin of different specia...

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Toilet paper in the woods: a rant and some advice

Mrs. Homegrown

August 4, 2014

Domesticus, How-to, Thoughtstylings

40 Comments

...drives me bonkers. I clean it up when I can, just like I pick up the empty water bottles and beer cans and pint bottles of booze and cigarette butts and those damn plastic flossing devices and everything else people see fit to leave behind whenever they visit nature. I suppose we all have our different priorities and beliefs, but to me, the wilderness is sacred, all of it. Not just pristine wilderness, but parks and roadsides and beaches. I’d no m...

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Day to day, our decisions count

Mrs. Homegrown

April 30, 2015

Back to the Garden

6 Comments

...ean staggering amounts. For instance, according the NRDC, 80% of our fresh water goes to agriculture. So, when we’re wasting food at this rate, that means that 25% of our fresh water is going directly to waste. Here in the dry West, that kind of extravagance has become unconscionable. In terms of soil, think about this. To grow all the food we waste globally, we use an area of land one and half times larger than the U.S. That’s a lot of soil. And...

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