I did not anticipate entering a dust storm area after I left Boise, Idaho this morning. NPR reported on dust storms caused by soil erosion in the American Southwest. I experienced that odd feeling of synchronicity outside Baker, Oregon (in the American Northwest) as I passed a sign that warned: “Blowing Dust […]

This weekend I decided I needed a break from a particularly long and crazed period of overworking as a freelance graphic designer. As is said, when it rains, it pours — and it’s either feast or famine. So yes, I guess I’m feasting now! (But somehow I am feeling a twinge of famine in some […]

It’s not the first time I’ve heard of this stuff, but it’s the first time I’ve heard anyone get really excited about it. William Saletan can’t wait for us to start eating fake meat. Well, fake, not fake exactly, more like semi-real, or mostly unreal, or entirely disgusting. Agriscientists would stick some muscle cells on […]

It’s not easy eating Ethicurean. Two new outdoor food markets are opening in New York — competitors to Greenmarkets, the venerable farmers markets where all the top chefs shop. The brainchildren of Nina Planck, the soon-to-be author and self-described “leading American expert on farmers’ markets and local food,” the markets will include vendors selling homemade […]

Ethicurean friend WW tipped us off to this recent BBC video clip of a U.K. McDonald’s executive facing off with Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser. This is the first time anyone from the fast-food chain has had the (meat)balls to appear with Schlosser, as opposed to just issuing press releases insinuating he’s an un-American […]

The Atlantic’s Corby Kummer has a nice essay on Honest Tea and the small victories it has seen in the past few years. Kummer starts with the standard screed against high fructose corn syrup (unlike sugar, it doesn’t suppress the hormone that controls appetite, and it is more readily converted to fat by the liver, […]

Ethicurean friend Derf sent us a news clip recently about a Journal of Reproductive Medicine article (alas, no free eWeb access). It suggested that the rise in twins over the last few decades is probably not just from increased fertility treatments in the U.S., but quite likely from the side effects of synthetic bovine growth […]

Eating meat again has been a revelation for me.
Back story: As a teenager, I was a picky eater and an animal lover, therefore much repulsed by the blood and well, fleshy-ness of pretty much any meat except blameless, boneless chicken breasts. Around the age of 21 I declared virtuously that as long as I […]

My lunch-time post yesterday mentioned a local non-profit group’s ownership of 532 acres of organic farm land in Washington. I failed to mention that they claim to be the only non-profit trust in the United States dedicated to organic farm preservation, and I failed to check this claim.
That group, PCC Farmland Trust, does appear to […]

May 14, 2006. 11:00 a.m.
We stalk and claim our elusive chickens. Our early morning visit to the market pays off. Laden with vegetables, meats and cheese, we return home to plan our dinner.
“They’re frozen,” observes the Butter Bitch. Sadly, she is right. We were so happy to get chicken that we overlooked […]

Richard Huff tipped me off to a grassroots movement to preserve farmland and promote organic farming.
PCC Farmland Trust, a non-profit land trust and wholly separated entity founded by Puget Consumers Co-op Natural Markets, purchases land to be set aside for organic farming. The trust currently owns four farms in Washington totaling 532 acres. The farms […]

We signed up for a CSA box! I am so excited I can hardly wait until Thursday when I get to pick it up. I had avoided doing this before because I felt like it would create too much pressure to have to cook when I didn’t feel like it, but I’m over that. Now […]

An article in today’s NYT about artisanal sausage-making starts off innocuously enough, seemingly about the difficulty of preserving this centuries-old skill of turning slowly rotting, moldy meat into tasty, savory snack material. And then the meat inspectors arrive.
shreek! shreek! shreek!
Turns out most sausage makers aren’t giving up the craft because they’re tired of smelling […]

April 30, 2006. 1:00 p.m.
The Man of La Muncha and I make our way to our local farmer’s market. It’s a lovely Northwest afternoon (note: “lovely” means “not hailing and not pouring rain”. It is in fact cloudy and cool). We buy miner’s lettuce, an olive bread made from locally harvested wheat, rapini, leeks, […]

In an effort to chow down on more local produce, we signed up for Planet Organics last weekend and the first box arrived today. We got the requisite seasonal veggies, and they were delicious. Started dinner with a Deep Flame Lettuce salad with local tiny tomatoes and Pt. Reyes blue cheese. The lettuce was more […]