“The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946. That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests. It was near kitchens, near tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard.” Joel Salatin

Once upon a time the food we ate did not come in a box or a bag or wrapped in shrink wrap with a stamp of government inspection marking it approved. In this long ago almost incomprehensible time, medicine was not purchased in a plastic jug with protective lids or seals on them. How inconvenient! How uncivilized! It must have been a hard way to live. Continue reading Creating Food Security With a Cottage Garden →

Our daughter Izzy, a freshman at a large urban university, has kept us updated since the election on the rapidly developing situation at her school. For a number of reasons she chose not to participate in protests and movements which the majority of her classmates are swept up in. As such, she has been able to provide us with a more objective, real time narrative.

It is worse than you might imagine.

On election night, Izzy was working to fulfill community service hours at the campus election polling station. By 9pm she texted us that the mood had become chaotic and there were suddenly many police officers on the scene, some threatening to use pepper spray if the students didn’t disperse.

Her text read: "People are not happy. Students are getting rough so we are vacating." Continue reading The Snowflake Riots – An Inside Report from an American University →

Sunflowers are amazing. For a few links and a good video on the many health benefits of sunflower seeds and how to grow and harvest them, please see below.

Here are a handful of images from our hypnotic sunflower patch this year. Continue reading A Sunflower Picture Show →

Corn is the number one crop in America and 88% of it is genetically modified (GMO).  As many of us who follow global health studies know (beyond the western big pharma/food sponsored studies) GMO foods are shown to be a direct cause of many chronic conditions and diseases including cancer and Alzheimer's.

While (for now) it’s possible to find some fresh ears of heirloom corn on the cob (grown from non-GMO seed) during the summer when it is in season, it becomes a bit more complicated to find ways to enjoy heirloom corn all year round. Almost all frozen and canned corn purchased in the grocery store comes from GMO corn. My solution is to can a bushel of sweet heirloom corn for the year each August. Continue reading Heirloom Sweet Corn Year ‘Round →

Perhaps your garden matters more than you think it does. Never has the world seen such unprecedented gambling with any and all systems, natural and manmade, including leveraged bets on your food supply. If you are gardening this summer, on behalf of your plants and all the supporting cast of pollinators, worms and birds, as well as your future piece of mind, I’d like to personally thank you.

If you haven’t started growing a garden to supplement the food you eat, or if you‘re taking a break this season, let me take this opportunity to say in my most convincing mommy-voice, “Your Garden Matters!” Continue reading #YourGardenMatters →