Links and Mending

• Cutting flat vs cutting on the fold (via Grainline) 

• I really like Budget Bytes. Not complicated but very appealing recipes made with real food. Many meals in my Plan To Eat meal planner are from this blog these days. (I loooove plan to

  

  Mending the wool jammie pants with colorful wool thread

  eat as well)

• Tonight's dinner from Budget Bytes.

• This mending is so inspiring. Now that I have jettisoned all the rtw that isn't quality what's left is getting mended. 

• I seriously love this. (Free Tea Party)

• Dry shampoo, where have you been all my life? This one is working well and doesn't have artificial fragrances or weird chemicals in it. 

• Someone needs to make me Feta Tapenade Tart Soleil

On Buying and Using the Right Tools

I used to be very much a Jerry-rig/make do kind of woman. For some things I still am but I'm beginning to recognize the value of having the right tools for the job and using things that actually work when you need them to. I don't know if this is because parenthood has cut my free time to almost nothing or I'm just not as interested in spending time messing around with some tiny thing, on the way to a larger project, when I could just be doing the damn project.

We recently had to get a new stove because ours was nearly kaput. I mean, it was an improvement over a camp fire but it had become unreliable and half the functions didn't work (pepper season is imminent and I will have roasting of peppers to do!). I didn't realize how unreliable the old stove was until we got a new one and suddenly cooking was easier and faster. Dinner is taking half the time because the thing gets hot and it gets hot quickly. Amazing!

I feel this way about my tape dispenser too. For years I used whatever random, old (read: covered in dust and dog hair) roll I could find. It was annoying. Sometimes the thing broke and then it was a pain to tear the tape. Sometimes it lost its stick. And of course, dog hair and dust. After a few months of taping printed sewing patterns together and making fitting adjustments on pattern paper I decided to get crazy and buy one of those weighted tape dispensers that takes refills. Not only was this option cheaper and created less waste now that I tape all the dang time but it is so much easier to use! All my sewing related taping tasks go so much faster.

Here are some of the other good tools that have made things faster and less frustrating:

I'm not just crazy neat with my pins, that's the super strong magnet at work! I toss the pin in the general direction of this thing and SPOING!, it falls into line.

After reading a blog post all about seam grading I decided to splurge and get myself some 5" Gingher tailor's shears and it turned out not to be a splurge at all but rather the correct tool for the job. Lots of things were easier with these shorter scissors.

I feel this way about my iron too. After years of a leaky Rowenta (leaking almost since it was new... not too happy with Rowentas) I looked for recommendations from my favorite sewing bloggers and, after talking myself off the ledge of getting a gravity feed, went with the recommendation on Closet Case Files and got a not very expensive Panasonic. It is working WONDERFULLY and my sewing is much better because my pressing during construction is much better.

And of course there is the Raskog cart. That has made a WORLD of difference. It used to be that I had to wander all over the place to put things away after a sewing project. Containers for all my tools were in different places. Since this was a pain it tended not to get done things were a mess. Now, I just roll my cart over and put everything right back where it goes. Love it. 

See? Right tool, right job - magic.

In which I once again am reminded not to be a jerk

I don't know why I need constant reminders not to be a jerk. You'd think that one of these days, maybe, I would learn that lesson and it would stick. I suspect the truth is that I am one of natures jackasses. But I haven't given up! I strive to be nicer and it's helpful that I'm married to a man who's superpower is empathy. Some of my friends have that superpower too and usually keep me in line by gently pointing out that I'm being a jerk. Again.

Anyhow, the other day I was talking with a friend about how our toddlers say these crazy and confrontational things. For example her daughter, when walking past a smoker, dramatically coughs and gags and says "smoking is so bad for you" or the like. My friend, being a non-confrontational person, tries to gently and quietly say "yes, you're right but we don't need to make a scene". She said her husband on the other hand says (at normal volume) things like "you are absolutely right! Smoking is completely disgusting!"

Small has taken to saying things like "we never ever eat candy because it is soooo bad for you" and I have traditionally responded rather like my friend's husband and said "you are absolutely right! candy is a totally unnecessary food and it will make you less healthy so we don't eat it" regardless of who hears me.

And here is my latest reminder of why I am (constantly) in the wrong. This piece in Huffington Post is about explaining to privileged kids what it means to be working poor. It's only tangentially related to the conversation my friend and I were having but it talks about food deserts and that reminded me that I have no idea why people make the food choices they do. I can say "well there's never a reason for candy" but if I try (if I use the empathy I often neglect to employ!) I can come up with all kinds of reasons why giving that kid a piece of candy is the compassionate thing. Maybe he has a rough time and not much food and yes, candy doesn't help with that, but maybe it provides a little brightness. Maybe he has major food allergies and the usual, more acceptable, maybe more nutritious treats are off limits and that candy makes him feel normal and included. Or maybe the parent is creating an off-the-wall sugar monster who is going to grow up with a craving for sweets and no taste for nutritious foods who will be diabetic by 35 but the point is I have no idea what is going on!

Non-judgement is always the appropriate response but I can't seem to remember that from one week to the next. I'm not going to lie to Small. We will explain the reasoning for our food choices because we want him to understand. I might even think that others, in general, would be better off if they ate food like us. But I shouldn't judge others for the choices they make because that way lies all the bad things. Life (and parenthood) is hard enough without me making others feel bad about the things they do.


And speaking of regular reminders, Zen Shorts by Jon J Muth is one of my favorite books ever and I feel like I should probably read it daily to become a better person. It's the story of three siblings and their new friend Stillwater (a panda). Each child's interaction with Stillwater provokes him to tell a story and each story is a beautiful nugget of wisdom about how to live a contented life. So lovely.

Links to Share

Things I'm reading, thinking about, and working on this week...

- Oh boy, did I learn these lessons in a big way when I did landscape design. "Do You Really Need That Tough Customer?" by Tara Gentile

- What a lovely way to educate our young children about mega-fauna, environmental catastrophe through the ages, and the truth in myth. "The End Of A Chapter" by Brian Kallen at Restoring Mayberry  

- The Power of Concentration.

- Coming soon to an Etsy shop near you.

- How to make a notepad from junk mail.

- "...we’re not all competing for the same slice of pie." The Shocking Truth: I'm Not Your Competition by Carrie Dils

- Weirdly inspiring post from Cracked. 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You A Better Person by David Wong




What are you working on this week?

Non-GMO Masa

Did I mention this already? I was searching for GMO-free masa (because we hate GMOs but loooove tamales) and contacted Bob's Red Mill about their masa...

Hi Annie,

Thank you for your e-mail. Here at Bob’s Red Mill, we only purchase identity-preserved products that originate from non-GMO seed. We think it is very important to offer the most natural, wholesome flours and grains. You can purchase our products knowing that we make honest decisions on behalf of our customers.

I will note that the reason we do not label our products as non-GMO is because we cannot guarantee the complete absence of genetic modification in our products because of wind drift, pollinators and our lack of testing equipment. We are, however, venturing into GMO testing so that we can guarantee our products’ GMO-free status. This is a new venture that will hopefully be in fruition by next year.

Let me know if you have any further questions, take care.

Andrey Gorban

Customer Service Representative

Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods

(971)206-2231



Yay Bob's Red Mill! 

I'm very happy to see that they're going to start a testing program.


More on GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms):
Mark Bittman in the NY Times on GMOs and Prop 37 in CA
The Non-GMO Project
GMO Myths and Truths from the Organic Consumer's Association

The Non-Disposable, No Waste Life and Baby... Post Birth Update

So... after 9 months of being sick and 2 months recovering from surgery I now have a 10 week old baby boy. Hooray!

baby feet!

I got to thinking about the planning we did before Poppyseed was born regarding the stuff we need, the stuff we want, and the stuff we don't need (or want). Now that kiddo is 10 weeks old, I have some revisions to make, thoughts to contribute, and things to add.

Diapers, etc. My baby is a super pee-er. I know we have 35-40 diapers and for the first month we went through more than that each day. We could have used more diapers in the stash although our diaper pail (a bucket salvaged from the dissection lab at the high school) just barely holds every one we have. But, it would have been nice to not have to wash every single day. As it turns out, Mom, Dad and Grandma have different preferences (and success) when it comes to style of diaper. Good thing we have flats, contours, prefolds, and fitteds with both pins and snappies because otherwise one or two of us would not have been able to diaper the baby.

Mark Bittman on McDonald's Oatmeal

Along the lines we discussed the other day - that none of us really need or will benefit from "healthy" convenience foods - Mark Bittman in the NY Times calls McDonalds out on their newest "healthy" choice: oatmeal.

'A more accurate description than “100% natural whole-grain oats,” “plump raisins,” “sweet cranberries” and “crisp fresh apples” would be “oats, sugar, sweetened dried fruit, cream and 11 weird ingredients you would never keep in your kitchen.”'

"How To Make Oatmeal... Wrong" by Mark Bittman, New York Times Opinionator Blog, February 22, 2011, 8:30 PM

I'm A (sub) Urban Homesteader

Today, Monday, has been declared action day by the newly formed Facebook group "Take Back Urban Home-steading(s)".

For an quick intro into what's going on I recommend Crunchy Chicken's post from last week, which was the first place I read about this controversy.

My first reaction was to look a little deeper and make sure all this was real (although I do trust Crunchy Chicken) because haven't we all read something online which, when we looked into it, turned out to be kind of different from reality. After all, the internet often operates as one giant game of telephone, with reality being massaged and misinterpreted with every iteration. So I read all the Dervaes' blog posts on this subject because, as they said in their Feb 17th blog post Who Owns These Trademarks?: "Know the facts before you react!"... And I agree with that statement. 

How to Cook Beans

I stated in a previous post that we need to take responsibility for ourselves and learn to cook. I also said that many nourishing, real foods don't take very long to prepare. Those foods are also cheaper. So, I decided I should put my money where my mouth is and give some examples.

Long soaked black beans.

Let's first take beans. I cook dried beans and we eat them all the time. I do freeze them but, even if I didn't, I could still cook them every day in only a few minutes. Here's how:

Wal-Mart and "Healthy" Food

I'm sure you've all heard about Wal-Mart's 5 year plan to cut salt, fats, and sugar in thousands of its packaged foods. The plan calls for a reduction of sodium by 25%, sugar by 10%, and the elimination of trans fats. They also plan to "...develop criteria, and ultimately a seal, that will go on truly healthier foods, as measured by their sodium, fat and sugar content (emphasis mine)."

I have a very hard time trying to figure out how to react to this. On the one hand, obviously, if people are eating these things then eating a slightly better version is good, right? But, if all we ever do is come up with ways to make terrible things slightly better while leaving them still terrible we are never going to make the radical change we need for real improvements in health and longevity.

Also, how did we come to a place where "healthy" is defined by how little fat, sugar, and salt something has in it? By this measure, Styrofoam, plastic forks, and drywall screws are good options for lunch because there's no demon salt, fat, or sugar! It's a ridiculous metric and it shows how confused we've become about what food is and what makes it "good" food. 

Props To "Cooking Light" For Changing Their Stance On Eggs

For the past few years the magazine Cooking Light has mostly just ticked me off. Their premise, that one should become healthy by eating lean meat and low fat dairy, I think is wrong headed. The emphasis on lean chicken breasts in particular makes me crazy. Seriously, how many lean chicken breasts does one person want to eat?

That is slowly changing. Recently (I wish I could be more specific but I couldn't find it... certainly within the past two years) Cooking Light had a short article on eggs in which they partially revised their stance. They said the cholesterol in eggs isn't so bad and since eggs are so nutritious you should definitely eat them. But then went on to say that you should limit yourself to one a day so that you don't consume too much cholesterol! Everything in moderation, right?

I found this very irritating. They had the evidence right in front of them but were too cautious to really come out and make a stand which would contradict what "everyone knows" about eggs and cholesterol. 

However, this month, the very first article after the letter from the editor and the letters to the editor says this:

On Holiday Food, Family, and Velveeta Cheese

While catching up with friends post-holiday this year I noticed a trend. 

Those of us who normally eat crazy stuff like raw cheese, tatsoi, and pastured eggs can become frustrated when we spend the holidays with parents or relatives who believe healthy means low fat or that cheese dip should be canary yellow. If you spend enough time eating things cooked from scratch with whole and wholesome ingredients, both the mind and the body rebel when you consume the foods of childhood: the green been casserole made with canned condensed soup, the GMO tortilla chips dipped in Velveeta queso, or the wiggly Jello salad complete with marshmallows and Cool Whip. What is a body to do?

All this reminded me of an op-ed piece by Andi McDaniel I read in the Washington Post a few years ago. Andi is a friend of mine from college, journalist, blogger, big thinker and all around cool gal. She was nice enough to let me reprint her insightful piece for you to enjoy.

Mom's Cooking, So Hold The Arugula
by Andi McDaniel

I confess. I’m one of those “thoughtful” eaters you’ve been hearing so much about — the ones interrogating the arugula in the produce section or scrutinizing the ingredients on each box of Annie’s mac and cheese. When there’s a traffic jam in Aisle 3, it’s usually us, commandeering the tortilla chips, weighing the question of local vs. organic against any number of other eco-socio-ethical concerns.

I shop like this because, according to what I’ve learned from books such as “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “Fast Food Nation” and from spending two summers working on organic farms, it’s the most effective way to “vote” for a healthier food system.

But for all my pondering in the produce aisle, there’s a point where I draw the line. The few times a year when I visit my folks at my childhood home in suburban Chicago, you won’t hear me talking about food miles or the sheer horror of a transcontinental February tomato. When Mom’s cooking, I check my dogma at the door.

A Must Listen episode of "To The Best of Our Knowledge"

"To The Best of Our Knowledge", one of my absolute favorite public radio programs recently had an episode on upcycling and recycling that I think my readers will be interested in.

Segment one is an interview with Annie Leonard, author of "The Story of Stuff". Did you know that most of our recycling gets sent to the third world for processing? Part two features Tom Szaky, the founder of TerraCycle, which if you've never heard of it, is a company providing an upcycle solution for those who don't want to go through life without convenience packaging. They upcycle (and sometimes recycle) trash into purses, pencil pouches, clip boards, clocks, speakers, kites and more. There is also an interview Mark Frauenfelder, founder of MAKE magazine, about DIY, upcycling, and the pleasures of actually making things.


Check it out! Listen here.

Green, Sustainable, Crunchy and other descriptions for a save-the-earth lifestyle

(I'm working on some posts about the environmental impact and nutritional qualities of grass fed meat, dairy, and eggs that are very research intensive, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I thought I'd share some other types of posts. Even these take a long time to produce! I've gained tremendous respect for all those bloggers I read who have coherent, detailed, and well researched posts.)

I've been thinking about the words and phrases we use to describe a "green" lifestyle. In addition to green we've got sustainable, crunchy, organic, beyond organic, granola, eco, eco-friendly, low impact, no impact, intentional, locavore, and others I've come across and forgotten. 

Each has a slightly different connotation. For example "green" is pretty general and now that companies are "green washing" (usurping the term to market products that are not, in fact, green) I think it's not very useful anymore. Similarly "organic" has lost much of its value. Unlike green it has a specific legal meaning. Most people imbue it with either more or less meaning than it actually has, but for me, organic does not go nearly far enough to describe how I live my life, raise my chickens, or grow my vegetables. 

"Sustainable" is my favorite. I think it's the most useful because it is not a metaphor (green is, after all, a color) and it's specific (sustainable adj \sə-ˈstā-nə-bəl\ - capable of being kept up or prolonged). Its specific definition makes particular sense when we use it to describe systems. Thus something might be environmentally sustainable or economically sustainable. 

So "sustainable" works but it only describes the outcome not the process. It doesn't give any clues as to what specific choices and lifestyles end up being sustainable. I've been thinking about other words we can use to describe the process of living a sustainable life. The words I would use to describe my life and the values that inform our choices are: