How the Drought Will Affect Food Prices Wondering how the drought will affect food prices? It depends on how much worse the drought gets, or so says the United States Department of Agriculture and Economic Research Service. (USDA ERS). According to their most current report, they predict the cost of eggs will rise (no surprise) […]

Would you like a chance to win a FREE Harvest Right freeze dryer? Countryside Magazine is giving you the chance! All you have to do is enter the Preserve the Harvest contest and you’ll be in the running to win useful food preservation gear like a food press, canning jars, pectin, pollinators and more. Your […]

Another driveway discussion led to the statement that ‘home freeze-drying alone can drastically improve the quality of life’. That’s a big statement, and I said it with a straight face. Here’s why: Without the ability to preserve food, humans have to spend the biggest portion of the day looking for or cultivating fresh food. That […]

Heriloom tomatoes are at their peak so we’re eating bruschetta for dinner nearly every night right now. We just toast some good bread, rub it with a clove of garlic and top with diced tomatoes. Then we drizzle a little olive oil (peppery Oro Bailen is the current household favorite) and sprinkle with sea salt […]

Many of us store foods like potatoes, onions, garlic and ginger root in the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator, but storing root vegetables don’t do do well in cold storage. High humidity in refrigerators causes rot and storing root vegetables together can actually affect the flavor. The good news is there is an easy and […]

Organizing an emergency pantry, whether it’s a shelf or a whole closet, can help you see what stores you have and what you need. Here are some inexpensive ideas for giving your pantry an organization makeover: Commercial Kitchen Shelving Wire racks from your local restaurant supply store are a fast, fairly inexpensive storage solution. If […]

A few years ago a friend joined our local  Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group and couldn’t stop talking about it. Every Wednesday she’d get a big green canvas tote on her doorstep, filled to the top with fresh, in-season vegetables. “It’s like Christmas every week,” she said. I was skeptical that vegetables could be as […]

Earth Day is a good time to check in and see if we can reduce our dependence on things that are either bad for the environment or things that require significant energy or resources to produce. Everyone thinks of plastic first, and we absolutely should be reducing our reliance on single-use plastics. However, reducing food […]

For gardeners, Spring is usually an exciting time. West Coast gardeners, however, are facing more months of drought which likely will mean water rationing. Not so exciting. The truth is, drought can happen any time, in any geography, and can last for years. Even if you’re gardening in a region that isn’t experiencing drought, it […]

My neighbors love it that I share our driveway conversations on a blog. They really do. So here’s another good one: I mentioned recently that our neighbors across the street are vegetarian / vegan; one for health reasons and one for ethical reasons. These two are no slouches in the kitchen, so when neighbor #3, […]