Photo by Audrey Pavia Bob travels on the trail in Griffith Park, unfazed by traffic on the L.A. freeway. His name was Bob, and he was a big horse. So big, in fact, that he made my 14.3 hand Milagro look like a mini whenever they rode together down the trail. Bob was the ultimate […]
Birmingham, Ala., was one of the cities where the EPA performed air toxin monitoring around schools. How clean is the air your children are breathing at school? The EPA is on a mission to find out. Last year, as part of a new air toxins monitoring initiative, the agency began monitoring the outdoor air around […]
Photo by Rick Gush My basket-ball sized pumpkins hang in the lemon tree at the bottom of my garden. The aerial pumpkins continue to be the stars of this season’s vegetable garden. The fruits in the picture above are hanging in the lemon tree at the bottom of the garden, and they look like bright orange […]
Courtesy Stock.XCHANG/ Robert Mich Keep your backyard flock free from salmonella by taking biosecurity precautions. The caged chicken versus free-range chicken debate seems to rage on even in light of the more than 500 million eggs recalled in recent weeks. Most in the egg industry still insist that raising hens in battery cages is actually […]
Photo by Judith Hausman These large-rimmed soup bowls are my favorite; they bring out the best flavor in soups. In the wine world, prestigious glassware manufacturers make magical claims that a wine tastes its best in their glasses. Specific shapes deliver wine to the right place on the palate, and position the nose properly to […]
Courtesy Diana Jain Nicole Capizzi runs a CSA from her 1/2-acre urban farm in Seattle’s Rainier Beach neighborhood. Anyone who’s secretly been keeping more than three chickens in Seattle is no longer breaking the law, thanks to new legislation that updates the city’s land-use codes on urban agriculture. But it’s ixnay for the roosters. The […]
When Red first came to live with us, we viewed him as just a mellow older Quarter Horse, the kind you could put little kids and adult beginners on without a worry. The friend we got him from told me that he had royal cutting horse bloodlines, but I figured he probably just didn’t have what it took to be a cutting horse.
Photo by Rick Gush Using a soil sifter, I sift my dirt and compost for my potting mix. I cleaned out the main compost bin this week and am really happy with the results. I’m doing some seeding and repotting these days, and the compost has allowed me to prepare what I think of as […]
Photo by Lisa Munniksma Farmers’ markets across the nation are competing to be America’s favorite in a contest sponsored by American Farmland Trust. Vote for your favorite by Aug. 31, 2010. American Farmland Trust is celebrating the work and dedication of farmers who sell at national farmers’ markets through its America’s Favorite Farmers Markets contest and […]
Photo by Judith Hausman Some may consider these tomatoes rejects. I consider them soup. I finally found it. Thanks to food goddess Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food (Clarkson Potter, 2007), I finally have the perfect summer tomato soup recipe. After many attempts that turned out too watery, too acidic, too sweet or were […]
Courtesy Cornerstone Farm Ventures Cornerstone Farm Ventures created the “Mini Mobile Processing Unit,” a smaller, less expensive mobile slaughtering unit. One of the consequences of the consolidation of food production in the United States is the dramatic decline in the number of slaughterhouses. According to the USDA, the number of USDA- or state-inspected slaughterhouses has […]
Photo by Audrey Pavia Petunia is an important stop on my walks around the neighborhood. Even though I have horses to ride and chores to do, I still feel like I need to take a walk around the neighborhood a couple of times a week for exercise. Nothing clears my head after a day at […]
