tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34129950235224032892011-12-26T10:48:22.869-08:00How we can regain control of the foods we eat, re-establish a respectful and sustainable relationship with the earth, and nourish our bodies and souls.Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.comBlogger791100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-44588452958769149922011-04-28T05:27:00.000-07:002011-04-28T05:39:38.068-07:00

Whole Health Source is one of the best health and nutrition blogs I've ever encountered. It's written in a totally accessible way by a young neurobiologist whose day job involves studying body fat regulation. He really knows his stuff and can explain complex biochemical processes in a way that doesn't make your eyes glaze over. When I stumbled across his blog I spent about three days reading my

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-54298356263515483832011-02-27T08:59:00.000-08:002011-02-27T10:42:18.661-08:00

One thing I hear repeatedly online in health and nutrition forums is that it's impossible to afford a healthy diet when you're poor. Nothing could be further from the truth. A healthy diet (at least in the US) can be had for very little money. A change in eating and cooking habits is all that's required. Here are a few tips:Only buy real food and only buy unprocessed food (or in the least

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-58814740975808880592011-02-23T08:31:00.000-08:002011-02-23T10:29:33.214-08:00

We should worry about peak phosphorus, yes. It is going to become a major issue with very dire consequences. Yet it's all a bit ridiculous because before the Green Revolution--before the advent of industrial agriculture--we got along just fine without rock phosphate (the form of phosphorus experts are referring to when they talk about "peak phosphorus").We're not about to run out of phosphorus.

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-52702719950828568292011-02-19T06:01:00.000-08:002011-02-19T06:01:00.204-08:00

Gavin over at the Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op had a nice post earlier this week about food waste. It got me thinking again about my own habits. Gavin mentioned bones being an issue in his household, and the same is true for me. Bones still are the only food-related waste I create. I'm sending them off to the landfill when absolutely everything else gets either consumed or composted. It seems like

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-69701351174933990472011-02-18T05:35:00.000-08:002011-02-18T05:35:00.578-08:00

Yay for me! There's progress to report in my first progress report!I've had no--zero, zilch, nada--refined flour in the past month. Only whole grains. And I'm loving it. I may never go back to using refined flour at all. One hundred percent whole grain breads are definitely dense, but I'm learning to enjoy bread that way. And actually, I'm not baking bread very much at all. Mostly I make

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-44640111812177608352011-02-15T06:48:00.000-08:002011-02-15T09:11:58.107-08:00

Last year I experimented with growing oats by planting a single 100 square foot bed of nude oats (avena nuda). I expected to get roughly 4 pounds of oats from that space. Unfortunately the grasshoppers more or less ate the entire crop. All I had left was enough for a single bowl of oatmeal. Needless to say I won't be tying up 100 square feet of my garden with oats again until this current plague

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-16211491106133056042011-02-04T05:48:00.000-08:002011-02-04T07:51:34.029-08:00

Iodine deficiency is on the rise again in the US. It seems hard to believe that living as we do in such an affluent culture we still have to worry about such a basic nutritional deficiency. After all, didn't we eradicate iodine deficiency back in the early part of the twentieth century? Hasn't iodizing our table salt solved the problem? Well, in a word, no. We are increasingly deficient in this

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-86559356021022431342011-01-26T06:38:00.000-08:002011-01-26T06:38:00.226-08:00

If you've followed this blog for awhile you'll know this is something I really struggle with--trying to cut down the amount of sugar and refined grains in my diet. I know what a health disaster these substances are, I know I feel much better when I don't eat them, and yet my addiction persists. I've never gotten to the point where I'd be willing to give up sugar and refined grains cold-turkey--

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-89363646795301789372011-01-23T09:13:00.000-08:002011-01-23T11:59:08.600-08:00

A study out this month in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior suggests that the golden skin tones attributed to diets rich in carotenoids appear more attractive to us than the "glow" of suntanned skin. It makes such good evolutionary sense--we will be more attracted to a mate who shows visible signs of good health. And a carotenoid "tan" is typically an assurance of robust health, as

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-72800434043289638112010-09-17T12:24:00.000-07:002010-09-17T13:28:56.781-07:00

Since I'm planning to go off-grid in the next few years, learning what I can about low-energy cooking seems important. I'm planning to build an experimental solar cooker, a solar dehydrator, and a rocket stove, but haven't gotten around to any of these projects yet. But there's one technique I can easily play with right now--since I don't need to build anything first--and that's thermos

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-1702710389681080712010-04-18T06:10:00.000-07:002010-04-19T06:26:55.404-07:00

Lately I've been coming across quite a few people online who rail against the idea that anyone could achieve food self-sufficiency. One guy on a forum asked the other members if any of them were growing and/or raising all their own food. He was arguing that food self-sufficiency is unrealistic. The replies went on for pages and pages but not a single person could say yes to his question. A lot of

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-90909808205924696682010-03-31T08:11:00.000-07:002010-03-31T08:35:16.587-07:00

Yesterday I was out enjoying our 88-degree weather, double-digging one of this year's new garden beds. There were a number of surprises as I dug, including part of an old foundation, chunks of coal, an old rusty pipe, and broken glass. At one point I unearthed a huge lawn grub, all pasty white, curled in a ball, and squirming. A few minutes later I dug up this gigantic pasty white thing, round

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-85257280164394719602010-03-26T08:10:00.001-07:002010-03-26T08:36:39.841-07:00

Ah, Spring is really here. After a long winter of dreaming about gardening, the busy season is finally here. No more time for dreaming, there's way too much to do. Yesterday I finished sifting the compost. I got about two-thirds of a cubic yard of finished stuff which I need to spread on all the beds that will be getting the earliest plantings. Then there's a huge pile of unfinished compost

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-23530076293750349302010-03-23T08:16:00.000-07:002010-03-23T08:34:23.543-07:00

I've been a subscriber of Dr. Mercola's alternative health newsletter for several years. While I don't always agree with everything there, it's very informative and I've learned a lot. Plus the community is great too.One thing that has irked me a little is Dr. Mercola's push to sell krill oil as a source of omega-3's. Today there was an article, Lawsuit Raises Fish Oil Supplement Concerns,

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-71802435530838718032010-03-20T08:11:00.000-07:002010-03-20T08:11:51.360-07:00

An article last month in the New York Times revealed a case of bribery and corruption that allowed tainted tomato products to be sold for years.  SK Foods, one of the largest tomato processors, sold millions of pounds of moldy or otherwise defective tomato products to more than 55 companies, including Kraft.  Some companies sent the defective tomatoes back, but many more did not and the tomato

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-25490614817002938992010-03-19T10:16:00.000-07:002010-03-19T12:22:13.481-07:00

Michelle Obama spoke about obesity Wednesday at a forum sponsored by Newsweek.  (The full transcript can be found here.)  If you read the whole thing it sounds pretty sensible, but the part about Twinkies seemed a little silly.  It started when the interviewer asked her if she thought Twinkies and Fruit Loops should come with warning labels.  You know, that strikes me as extreme, because a

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-53151079587272673662010-02-10T06:37:00.000-08:002010-02-10T06:37:00.474-08:00

I'm taking a little time today to look over where I stand as far as food security goes. If I got snowed in today by the blizzard to end all blizzards and couldn't get to the store for weeks, how would I fare? And beyond that, if something equally catastrophic but more slowly unfolding were to happen, such as total economic collapse, how well would I be positioned to ride something like that out

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-17816164420527158552010-02-09T07:41:00.000-08:002010-02-09T08:25:40.477-08:00

For the past two nights I've been dreaming about lettuce--if that isn't weird, I don't know what is! In the first dream I was in a large hall for some sort of celebration feast. There were these large tables set up with seed flats, row upon row of them, of young lettuce plants. The lettuces were all about 6 or 8 inches tall and there was every imaginable variety represented. It was beautiful, all

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-5954813842519906582010-01-25T09:47:00.000-08:002010-01-25T10:21:38.555-08:00

Okay, I know it's only January and I'm already obsessing about gardening. But seriously, it's only a few more weeks before I can get started again, at least with seedlings in the house. And if I'm really on the ball I'll be able to get some plants in the ground soon too.John Jeavons includes a chart in How to Grow More Vegetables that shows the optimal soil temperatures for germination of

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-62517070568653631802010-01-23T09:01:00.000-08:002010-01-23T09:43:59.288-08:00

We're told to reduce, reuse and recycle, but it seems to me that when recycling becomes too easy people forget the first two principles almost entirely. Recycling becomes automatic, especially in places where curbside recycling is the norm and little thought is required other than remembering to drag the bin to the curb every week. When it's that easy people get complacent. They're doing the

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-76524771831172384822010-01-20T07:32:00.000-08:002010-01-20T07:46:12.373-08:00

At the end of the holiday break I got an email from my son's school saying that all of the fresh fruits and veggies on the lunch menu, including the salad bar, are now organic. This is awesome news in itself, but then last week I got an email from the district listing all the changes they've made district-wide and together it adds up to some really positive change.Here's part of the email from

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-19792282519087103282010-01-02T20:14:00.000-08:002010-01-03T09:09:53.705-08:00

I started my first batch of homemade yogurt last night before I went to bed. I followed Sally Fallon's super easy directions in Nourishing Traditions.Instead of obsessing about keeping the temperate at an even 110 degrees Fahrenheit, you just leave it comfortably warm and forget about it. It worked. I left it overnight in the oven (I had initially preheated it to warm, then turned the oven off

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-494042325949248882010-01-01T13:51:00.000-08:002010-01-01T15:27:14.568-08:00

This post has nothing whatsoever to do with food (although it does involve some cooking), but I wanted to share it with you anyway. Making your own laundry detergent is a great way to save money and it lets you be in control of what goes into the final product.This is the recipe I've been using for nearly two years now. One batch makes a 5-gallon bucket, which in my small household lasts for 6-

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-35845802081691861512010-01-01T10:18:00.000-08:002010-01-01T11:06:23.180-08:00

My goals for the new year:Expand the intensive garden from 500 to 800 square feet.Get the soil tested and amended.Grow 100 square feet of oats.Get 3 or 4 hens.Get meat rabbits.Eat only home-cooked meals--no restaurants or convenience foods at all.Start ordering bulk grains and beans.Get a pressure canner, oat roller, and grain mill.Build a multi-purpose warming box for: food dehydrating, seed

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-8473952408802095232009-12-20T08:10:00.000-08:002010-01-03T09:20:11.894-08:00

There's a great book, Gardening for Maximum Nutrition,that was written in the early '80's. I have taken it out of the library several times in the past few years and this fall I needed to refer to it again for some articles I was working on. But when I went back to the library I discovered it was no longer in their collection. I guess it was just too old. The library I go to has a fantastic

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-51366211716452521822009-12-07T09:36:00.000-08:002009-12-10T08:23:53.617-08:00

Time magazine ran an article on Friday on humanure (in case the topic is new to you, that's the composting of human waste). I think that's awesome.Humanure: Goodbye, Toilets. Hello, Extreme Composting.The best source for information on humanure is Joseph Jenkins book, The Humanure Handbook, which he has been making available for free on the Internet for years. You'll find it an amazing resource (

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-235027565651047682009-12-04T08:41:00.000-08:002009-12-04T09:37:02.856-08:00

At the library recently I overheard the woman who runs the little coffee shop talking to a patron. She was talking about her kids and in a totally exasperated voice said, "Every night as soon as the dishes are put away, OUT come the chips, AND the cookies, AND the pretzels...!" And I thought to myself, But who is buying all of that? If you're so exasperated, just quit buying that junk. Seriously.

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-64282631699235849252009-11-27T15:27:00.000-08:002009-12-02T08:17:38.727-08:00

I've been saying for the past month and a half, "Gotta get the garlic planted, gotta get the garlic planted," and it kept not happening. Today was a gorgeous day, sunny and in the low sixties, and the first day since battling this respiratory thing that I felt up to doing anything physical. It's best to plant garlic at least a few weeks before the ground freezes so the roots can get a bit of a

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-36545463088369897182009-10-20T10:05:00.000-07:002009-10-20T12:45:26.188-07:00

Check out "You Are What You Eat", a great series of photos by Mark Menjivar, showing the contents of people's refrigerators.Here's my fridge:

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-24731585448042086892009-09-24T09:12:00.000-07:002009-09-24T09:45:59.067-07:00

A federal judge has ruled that the government illegally approved "Roundup Ready" sugar beets in 2005, without adequately addressing the likelihood that wind-borne pollen would contaminate non-GM crops.The full story is covered in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle.What this means is unclear. The USDA will now have to conduct a review, including public input. In the meantime, sales of GM sugar

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-65705848380051568742009-09-21T20:32:00.001-07:002009-12-21T09:34:40.236-08:00

To compost:Throw stuff in bin.Keep throwing stuff in bin.Dump used cooking water on top here and there, rinse compost bucket (aka sludge bucket) out and dump water on top here and there.Allow strange and fantastic things to sprout out of the top. See how many strange and fantastic things show up. (That's a tomato plant sprouting out of the pile in the picture.)Next spring sift the whole pile

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-6111255330898973582009-09-19T06:12:00.000-07:002009-09-19T06:12:01.016-07:00

Hew Boy, have I been having some fun learning how to ferment things! It seemed to be going well for quite awhile, but then I hit a few bumps in the road. I guess there are too many biological processes involved when you're not sterilizing your food to death. Things can go awry, horribly awry.The beet juice thing was awesome for a few weeks. I kept brewing new batches and drinking a small

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-33637954636656953412009-09-18T08:21:00.000-07:002009-09-19T06:52:20.907-07:00

Have you been following the Obama family's adventures (and misadventures) with gardening this year? And now the Farmers' Market they just opened near the White House?Michelle Obama launches D.C. farmers market, touts White House gardenI love what they're doing, but at the same time I'm really bothered by the disconnect between their personal actions and what the Obama administration is doing to

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-74704670117973877502009-09-16T11:09:00.000-07:002009-09-16T11:24:43.102-07:00

How do we get the concept of Zero Waste to catch on with the general public? I've searched Google to see how this movement is catching on and the sad fact is it isn't yet. Not really. Not in the home at least. I see governments and municipalities trying to address the issue, but very few examples of families trying to address it.As usual, the UK and Australia seem to be miles ahead of the US.

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-51402739193722877742009-09-15T12:29:00.000-07:002009-09-15T12:41:11.384-07:00

Every available space covered with tomatoes! I can a big batch, then go out and pick some more and the counters are covered again. I'm swimming in these things. Help!!

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-22352139904404629902009-09-15T10:18:00.000-07:002009-12-21T09:42:59.547-08:00

I did a little analysis this morning, picking through the trash cans. I don't create much waste, but I still have a way to go to get to zero waste. I wanted to see what was really in there, so I could see if there was any way to reduce my waste even further.My largest form of waste is used cat litter. I have an elderly cat who goes through two 25-pound bags of clay litter per month. The other

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-20605655008076556232009-09-13T10:56:00.000-07:002009-09-13T17:44:42.443-07:00

No stack of gardening books could teach me as much as I've learned by simply being out there in the garden working and observing. Here's what I learned this year.My book-learning had already taught me that cucurbits don't transplant well (cucurbits are all the members of the squash family--cukes, zukes, pumpkins and other winter squashes, gourds and melons), so it's best to direct-seed them into

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-85292347900328001922009-08-25T08:39:00.000-07:002009-08-25T10:11:09.131-07:00

The garden is in its full glory and it's all I can do to keep up. The kitchen looks absurd. Tomatoes everywhere, onions, garlic, today's green beans, cucumbers soaking in ice water, beet juice and salsa lacto-fermenting in their jars, sourdough starter sitting out, and dill and coriander seeds drying. The living room has a braid of garlic, more dill and coriander hanging to dry and some

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-38576018402922462652009-08-16T08:58:00.000-07:002009-08-16T09:16:01.549-07:00

Since I've been obsessing about sugar all summer long, I can't possibly ignore the news in recent weeks about an impending sugar shortage.My initial reaction was that of course it would be a fabulous thing. We'd all be better off if we drastically curtailed our sugar consumption. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it just won't play out that way.If the government doesn't relax

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-18943816778043557902009-08-14T15:46:00.000-07:002009-08-14T16:20:52.024-07:00

After a week of brewing, my first batch of fermented beet juice was ready for the big taste test today. I was a little worried because I had heard others refer to the taste as "medicinal"--and that usually doesn't bode well. Fermented beet juice is medicinal, i.e. it's known to have anticancer properties as well as other health benefits, but the taste is actually very pleasing. Salty, tangy, a

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-85708947926018911332009-08-07T10:38:00.000-07:002009-08-16T09:51:05.845-07:00

I finally did it! I've been experimenting with homemade ginger ale for awhile, and although the results have always been passable, this week I finally brewed the perfect batch.The big difference this time was that I was out of commercial yeast, so instead I used a tablespoon of my sourdough starter. I think the gentler action of the starter was just what was needed. The result is a sweet, tart,

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-6986126178069294462009-07-11T07:27:00.000-07:002009-07-11T08:25:22.565-07:00

I'm now three weeks into my diet experiment, and have continued the trend of losing one pound per week. I've never actually been on a real "diet" in my life (i.e. a diet to lose weight), since my problem has always been too little weight and not too much. But I can confidently assert that a low-carb diet works for weight loss! It's quite amazing.Collin gets back from his trip on Monday, and since

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-4613060594519615272009-07-09T07:31:00.000-07:002009-09-22T13:04:19.903-07:00

One of the Permaculture Principles is "Produce No Waste". I'm constantly working with this principle in my home and on my small patch of earth.How can I close the loop on waste? How can I get out of the importing and exporting business and instead cycle resources continuously around my patch of earth, with nothing entering or leaving the property? These are questions I constantly ask myself.While

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-88326783878525362822009-07-08T17:27:00.000-07:002009-07-08T18:06:11.388-07:00

We're starting to finally get some hot weather and when I went outside to water this morning I noticed that most of the spinach looked dangerously close to bolting. So, since I made a commitment to really stay on top of the garden this year and not let any perfectly good food go to waste, I rearranged my day and set about dealing with the spinach.I decided to turn it into more spinach pasta,

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-35942757355368817662009-07-08T06:08:00.000-07:002009-07-09T06:53:35.945-07:00

What happens when you take back responsibility for your own food supply?You eat healthier and more interesting foods and become a healthier (and more interesting!) person.You reconnect with nature and the rhythms of the seasons and become more grounded.You feel secure and empowered because you know how to provide for yourself and your family.You save money.By your simple acts, you protest against

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-36511666688934052102009-07-07T09:01:00.000-07:002009-07-07T10:19:41.790-07:00

The garden has bounced back from the hailstorm so I went out and tried to get some pictures. It was not the best time to shoot pictures, but these at least give a broad impression of the garden.I've got 448 square feet of biointensive beds--the rough equivalent of a 20 x 90 foot conventionally-spaced garden. I love gardening intensively and I can't imagine ever going back to the old way. This

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-66748242012261883752009-07-06T13:16:00.000-07:002009-07-09T06:57:21.559-07:00

Sprouts are little nutritional powerhouses--no other food packs as much nutrition per calorie. They're full of vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein and beneficial enzymes. Best of all they're inexpensive and always in season if you grow them yourself.And growing sprouts couldn't be easier. Place seeds in a quart-sized canning jar, cover with water and soak for the recommended length of time (this

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-40997887620358904242009-07-06T08:51:00.000-07:002009-07-06T13:15:44.596-07:00

If only all stores would be so forthright:I hate supermarkets--everything about them--and the more responsibility I take back for my own food supply the more dysfunctional the whole concept of the supermarket seems to me.The supermarket: A building with a huge ecological footprint, situated in a vast sea of concrete and accessible to most people only by carbon-spewing transport devices.The

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-17391482522799956362009-07-05T08:04:00.000-07:002009-07-05T09:10:23.719-07:00

Yesterday I baked this loaf:And I made my first batch of spinach pasta:I couldn't get a picture of the finished pasta because a storm rolled in and messed up the lighting and then night fell. So I just ate it. Not all of it, mind you--I froze some too.My recipe was a hybrid of one I found online and one in my pasta cookbook. I used five ounces of fresh spinach, one egg, 4.4 ounces of all-purpose

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-65481289225919237232009-07-05T07:10:00.000-07:002009-07-05T07:10:00.276-07:00

Well, I wanted to take some pictures of my beautiful garden this week and post them here, but Mother Nature can be very cruel. Actually, it's not all that awful. The garden will survive. But flattened plants with minced leaves aren't particularly attractive, so I'm going to give it a few days to bounce back before I take some pictures.The hailstorm produced maybe nickel-diameter hail--not too

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-32319262584859741652009-07-04T06:27:00.000-07:002009-07-04T06:27:00.795-07:00

I just learned we finally got a farmer's market. It opened Tuesday night and will run every Tuesday from now through October. It's actually one town over--about seven miles away. My little town isn't big enough to support such a thing (we've got a population of somewhere around 200, whereas the next town over bustles with more than 5000 residents). I'm so excited! I didn't hear about it soon

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-61060908626410353932009-07-03T07:44:00.000-07:002009-07-03T08:22:01.449-07:00

I've been on my new "diet" for two weeks now and I've lost two pounds. My reasons for eliminating sugar and refined flour have nothing to do with losing weight, it's just happening. However, I always lose weight in the summer so it may have nothing to do with the diet.But at this rate--a pound per week--I would quickly lose too much weight. Normally I lose ten pounds every summer and gain it

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-22606745510733387952009-07-01T06:02:00.000-07:002009-07-03T08:32:57.001-07:00

I'm growing garlic for the first time this year--Chilean Silver, a softneck variety, and Chesnok Red, a hardneck. When I went to order the bulbs last fall, I didn't know the difference between the softneck and hardneck varieties. I knew one did better in colder climates, supposedly, but I couldn't tell whether my climate on the desert plains of Colorado was considered a colder climate or not. So,

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-62796432500820653562009-06-27T07:26:00.000-07:002009-07-03T08:39:05.535-07:00

I tried making another batch of brown rice syrup last night, changing up a few things. The result? Another jar of mud.It was not a total failure. The fact that I got eight ounces this time, rather than two, means that homemade brown rice syrup will be economical when all is said and done. By rough calculations I figured that this eight ounce jar cost me $1.21 to make (not counting labor and

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-31220792109611330242009-06-26T07:45:00.000-07:002009-08-16T09:26:46.400-07:00

A few years ago I decided to try to figure out how to make brown rice syrup. I didn't find a whole lot of information to go on, but I went with what little information I had and did some experimenting. The result was a syrup of the right consistency but muddy looking (kind of like beef gravy) rather than translucent. Worse than that, while it had a degree of sweetness to it, it also had an

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-7549041013584002622009-06-23T08:06:00.000-07:002009-12-04T10:23:41.419-08:00

This post is a response to the propaganda--er, comment--I received yesterday from the Corn Refiners Association on my post about giving up sugar and refined flour. I've been aware that the Corn Refiners Association launched a huge campaign awhile back, but I don't watch t.v. or or read newspapers or magazines, so this is the first time I actually saw one of their ads.That they have someone

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-21166987564703782972009-06-22T06:01:00.000-07:002009-06-22T06:56:36.642-07:00

One night a few weeks ago I was going through some old papers of mine and came across the folder which contained all of my New Year's Goals, dating back to 1992. Somehow my son coaxed me into reading them aloud--how embarrassing for me and entertaining for Collin! Anyway I noticed one thing that kept coming up over and over again. In fact, you'll find it below in my New Year's post on this blog--

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-15818129661466802492009-06-21T07:01:00.000-07:002009-06-21T08:21:28.717-07:00

To me the whole concept of popping pills for health is a bizarre one, whether we're talking prescription pharmaceuticals or herbal remedies. Health doesn't come from a pill. Health comes from whole foods and the right lifestyle.My biggest gripe, naturally, is with pharmaceuticals. The body wasn't designed to be assaulted with straight chemicals. It has an elegant system already in place to

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-38279163093102376252009-06-08T07:34:00.000-07:002009-06-08T07:55:21.882-07:00

I learned that the hard way this weekend. Definitely call before you dig anything--not just footers and trenches and post holes--anything. If your little kid is going to be out in the dirt with his Tonka trucks, call and have them locate the buried lines first. I'm serious.Here in Colorado, the Public Utility Commission only requires the phone company to bury their lines 6-12 inches. That's

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-54262529156736548272009-05-18T11:33:00.000-07:002009-05-18T12:12:15.732-07:00

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided to expand the garden to 400 square feet this year. That's a lot of work for one woman to pull off. The three new beds went in where there had previously been lawn, so I had to remove 300 square feet of sod first before I could even get to the double-digging. I also had the brilliant idea that I should transplant the sod into some sketchy parts of

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-53497891801522920502009-04-19T08:40:00.000-07:002009-04-19T09:26:21.968-07:00

I few years ago I started trying to incorporate graham flour into some of our baked goods. Graham flour of course is what gives graham crackers their distinctive texture and taste. What many people don't realize is that graham flour is a whole wheat flour and therefore much more nutritious than refined flour.After some experimenting I found that many of our favorite recipes didn't adapt well to

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-78185741884997542132009-02-16T09:14:00.000-08:002009-02-16T10:44:35.026-08:00

For Christmas my son got me the book Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plantsby Steve Brill. He couldn't have picked a better gift. In the fall I had borrowed a copy of this book from the library and mentioned to Collin that I'd like to get my own copy someday, but I was totally surprised when he presented it to me at Christmas.He and I both want to learn about wild foods, so the

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-3706159275595004762009-01-01T15:11:00.000-08:002009-02-11T07:56:09.418-08:00

My goals for the new year:Expand the bio-intensive garden to 400 sq. feet.Establish a large herb bed that's critter-proof.Build a small cold frame.Get enough soaker hoses to adequately cover all the beds.Cook fun, healthy meals with my son, using our garden produce as much as possible.Buy a pressure canner, tomato sieve and other tools to help preserve the harvest.Set up the compost tea bucket

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-81600525676510969942008-12-16T08:49:00.000-08:002008-12-16T14:22:54.616-08:00

Yesterday morning the temperature outside was minus 11.1 degrees Fahrenheit. It can't already be time to hunker down and hibernate! To make matters even more dismal, for dinner I finished off the last of the carrots, beets and squash from this year's garden. All I'm left with now are a few jars of pesto, some frozen swiss chard and one small container of butternut squash soup.It would be nice to

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-39096125080819094322008-12-07T07:09:00.000-08:002008-12-07T08:30:29.096-08:00

I love when I find a way to achieve several objectives with one action. This week I figured out just such an action I could be taking.Coffee is one purchase that I will probably continue to make even when I've gone 99% local. Yet, I'm aware of the issues surrounding conventionally-grown coffee: pesticide residue on the coffee beans, environmental damage from clearcutting and monoculture

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-2148704181175873862008-12-03T07:38:00.000-08:002008-12-07T08:38:19.150-08:00

Starting in January, you'll be able to recycle your Brita water filters in the US, by dropping them off at participating Whole Foods Market stores or by mailing them to Preserve, the company that will be handling the recycling process. Brita will post the full details of the program on their website in January.For now, this program only applies to Brita's pitcher filters, not to their

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-76825227795161424182008-12-02T13:59:00.000-08:002008-12-03T08:06:06.368-08:00

I've heard it said that unlike most cultures, America really doesn't have a cuisine of its own. Instead we have a hodge-podge of ethnic cuisines, but nothing really that defines the country as a whole.However, we do have food traditions worth preserving and traditions in danger of being lost. Fortunately there have been several projects lately aimed at preserving some of these old traditions."

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-62560231331486069312008-11-20T06:01:00.000-08:002008-12-16T14:17:54.145-08:00

The decision to eat locally and in-season as much as possible creates some issues in the winter months. It's obviously not possible to eat in-season in the dead of winter when nothing's in-season (if you live in the northern zones). Still, there are many ways to enjoy nutritious foods all winter long without having anything shipped in from Chile.If you plant a summer garden, a root cellar will

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-63081118142367235272008-11-19T06:40:00.000-08:002008-11-19T06:40:00.393-08:00

If an endless supply of cherry tomatoes all winter long sounds good to you, you might be interested in a 2004 Mother Earth News article, "Real Food Winter Tomatoes" by David Cavagnaro.It's too late for this winter, but bookmark the article now and refer back to it in late winter when you're getting ready to order next year's seeds. Make sure to order some of the indeterminate tomato varieties

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-68138852685081924922008-11-18T11:23:00.000-08:002008-11-18T18:20:06.410-08:00

In the dead of winter when the garden has gone dormant and is buried under a foot of snow, what could be nicer than a few potted herbs sitting on the kitchen windowsill?Herb gardening, both indoors and out, is one part of my strategy to reach food self-sufficiency. Herbs may seem insignificant, but since across the board they contain so many life-enhancing properties they really deserve a

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-24233307807701359872008-11-18T07:32:00.000-08:002009-02-16T10:24:16.929-08:00

By some estimates, half of all U.S. food is wasted. For my part, I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to keep food out of the waste stream. It's sacred stuff we're talking about here--food, sustainer of life. We shouldn't be treating it so casually.I do pretty well, but there are still blind spots. I've been composting for years, so not much escapes the property. Food scraps get turned

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-85116435332846207542008-11-12T05:52:00.000-08:002008-11-12T05:52:00.393-08:00

In August the FDA approved the voluntary irradiation of fresh and packaged spinach and iceberg lettuce as a measure to prevent the spread of bacterial foodborne illnesses. It claims that the procedure is safe and does not destroy any nutrients in the food, in spite of plenty of research to the contrary (check out the references at the end of The Center for Food Safety's irradiation fact sheet

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-34341592652438463252008-11-11T16:35:00.000-08:002008-11-11T16:55:14.560-08:00

An almost surefire way to begin changing the way you eat is to get rid of the microwave oven. This is a sneaky way to start eliminating processed foods from your diet. Eliminate the microwave and you'll no longer buy frozen dinners and other highly processed convenience foods (or microwave popcorn with artificial butter...). Getting these nasties out of your diet should be a priority and

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-10125913502872650022008-11-06T17:47:00.000-08:002008-11-06T18:17:16.116-08:00

I lied yesterday when I said I bake all of our bread products. I was forgetting about noodles. I'm still buying a lot of pasta.I have taken steps toward making it all myself. I always make homemade egg noodles for chicken noodle soup, and here and there I've made homemade ravioli and homemade tortellini.But on a weekly basis, no, I'm not there yet.The tough part is planning ahead. Store-bought

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-35034108494986247882008-11-05T08:07:00.000-08:002008-12-07T08:24:39.207-08:00

Changing the way we eat can seem really daunting at first. Especially if you're like me and need to be mindful of costs. It just wouldn't be possible to suddenly switch to all-organic, all-local food overnight; the household budget would implode.I've always liked the quote by Theodore Roosevelt, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."Figure out what you can be doing right now, and

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-25419609519041869012008-11-04T07:54:00.000-08:002008-11-05T08:48:54.783-08:00

The bible of biointensive gardening is John Jeavon's book How to Grow More Vegetables (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine.It is absolutely the best gardening book you could own if you are serious about growing your own food.It includes instructions on how to double dig your garden beds, sample garden plans, and

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-77263156157026530312008-11-03T20:00:00.000-08:002008-11-03T20:47:50.496-08:00

Fifteen hundred miles is the number I most frequently hear mentioned as the average distance our food travels to reach us. In some cases, food that has been locally grown is shipped away somewhere to be processed before being shipped back to appear on local shelves. The inefficiencies are astounding.That's why I'm thrilled to be seeing more and more things like the 100 Mile Diet , where the goal

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-60794452355800423542008-11-03T09:58:00.000-08:002008-11-03T09:58:00.818-08:00

This past season I planted a small garden. It was the first garden I've put in at this location, so it was an experiment. I didn't know what to expect from the local soil, a light sand I've never encountered before (being originally from Pennsylvania, and later living near Denver where the soils were heavy clay). My garden was a tiny 4 foot by 25 foot plot, but I used a biointensive, organic

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3412995023522403289.post-17782108239661408472008-11-02T09:25:00.000-08:002008-11-11T15:51:43.838-08:00

Food gives us life. It's what allows us to be here. It should be everyone's number one priority. If we get lazy and complacent about our food (and we have), leaving it to others to provide for us, we put ourselves at risk. Especially when the "others" we are leaving it to are interested primarily in profits rather than in nourishing people or creating a liveable planet.I'm creating this blog

Melanie Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034189354730902887noreply@blogger.com0