I’m on a very old version of WordPress, mostly because I haven’t had the time to upgrade, and while it used to email me when there were comments, so I could moderate or respond right away, it seems to have stopped doing that. Hmm. Don’t know what that’s about. At any rate, it was only this afternoon that I realized all of you have been leaving great comments, and chatting amongst yourselves, which is fabulous. I’m just chagrined for being a little late to my own party. Perhaps another resolution — upgrade soon.
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One of my projects for 2009 is to take up Bob del Grosso’s challenge — the Fanatic’s Proposal. I’m going to see how little food I can buy, how much of that food I can buy locally, and how much I can live out of my own garden, pantry, and freezers. So here’s the roundup of what I bought and ate this first week of the project. Bought: 1 3lb. bag navel oranges 1 doz farm eggs 8 lbs organic potatoes (trade for 2 gal. milk paid for but not received) 4 bottles cheap red wine (>6 bucks each), 1…
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Part of my decision to get rid of most of my cable service grew out of my resolution these past few months to turn the TV off in the evening. I spend my working days plugged into two different computer screens, where I’m working, emailing, IMing and generally being bombarded by electronic communications. It’s insane. Last summer was the beginning of my escape from the TV — I spent most evenings outside, in the backyard, with a fire in the firepit reading a book by the light of the Coleman lantern hanging from the apple tree. It was bliss. Now…
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My lovely friends Chris and Debi Lorenc have gone off on an adventure worth reading about. Chris and I met in a workshop during the very first year of the Art of the Wild workshop at Squaw Valley. I was workshopping the very first chapter of Place Last Seen, and Chris was working on a luminous manuscript about the Santa Cruz mountains as an ancient spiritual site. He’s a beautiful writer, and he and his wife Debi are spiritual people in the deepest, sweetest sense — true seekers. I love them dearly and their dispatches make me kvell on a…
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Over at Grist, Tom Philpott has a fascinating proposal for how to use the stimulus money to stimulate the local food movement. Among his proposals: reinvest in local food infrastructures: slaughterhouses, meat lockers, and school kitchens cook real food in schools again — he proposes a Cook for America program for culinary school grads mired in debt. Based on the Teach for America program, it would get real food, cooked on site, back into our schools. The comments are also worth reading because Grist’s readers have some terrific ideas. I know that I would not be able to eat as…
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It’s a recessionary January, and I came into this new year wondering how on earth my credit card balances has mushroomed like they have? With the state of the economy being what it is, and layoffs happening right and left, I find myself in a bad position. A position that all this LivingSmall stuff was supposed to protect me from. So I’ve been drawing up budgets, and it’s a good thing I have full freezers and pantries and a garden that will eventually thaw out and come back to life, because if I’m to get out from under this terrifying…
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As I noted last week, I’m taking up Bob del Grosso’s challenge — the Fanatic’s Proposal this year. I’m going to see how little food I can buy, how much of that food I can buy locally, and how much I can live out of my own garden, pantry, and freezers. So here’s the roundup of what I bought and ate this first week of the project. Bought: 6 Tangerines 1 bunch scallions 1 gallon farm milk Cooked/Ate: breakfast: toast with melted cheese, or breakfast of champions last week’s ham and bean, and escarole-potato soup (lunches) turnip greens from the…
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I’ve been making no-knead bread for a couple of years now using the following formula: 3 cups flour (1 c. all-purpose, 1 c. bread, 1 c. whole-wheat) 1 tablespoon salt 1/4 teaspoon yeast 1 1/2 cups sourdough starter 1 cup water This makes a nice loaf of bread, but I only bake about once a week, and I was getting tired of wasting so much flour to re-animate my sourdough starter every time. I’ve been intrigued for a while with the idea of sourdough starters that aren’t a slurry, but rather are dough. Martha Stewart had a guy on at…
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This is my “new” Griswold cast-iron skillet and it’s changed the way I think about cast iron altogether. I’ve had a 12-inch Lodge skillet forever, and it’s great for searing meat or for big stir-fries, but it’s really heavy, and the skillet surface is sort of pebbly. This new skillet (which I got in an antique store) is smaller, 8 inches, and lighter, and has a smooth surface. This is the best pan I own. I love this pan. Because it was old it was pretty much seasoned, and with a swipe of olive oil after each use, it’s non-stick…
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Finally! It was gorgeous today — 20 degrees, blue skies, and most important, almost no wind. I mean, a normal breeze, but not like the last several weeks where every time you go outside you feel like you’re getting punched in the head. So this afternoon Raymond-the-dog and I went up to Suce Creek for my Favorite Skiing Expedition. As far as I’m concerned, the Suce Creek road is the perfect ski — a mile and a half uphill, you get all warm and out of breath, then you get to turn around and race your dog back downhill on…