Category Archives: Uncategorized

I took it as some sort of sign that two people, from completely unrelated parts of my life, sent me information about naturally dying Easter eggs. The photos from the blog posts I’ve seen show a beautiful result, silhouetted sprigs of grass and flowers against the white of the eggshells and bathed in natural dyesContinue reading “Chemistry in the Kitchen”

Until today, I’d never been to a grocery store so popular that I had to wait in line to get into the parking lot. Mental note: Next time we venture up to Caputo’s Fresh Market, pick an off time, if there is such a time for the Elmwood Park grocery. We’d been wanting to checkContinue reading “Did You Say Olive Bar?”

The kids had a performance today, so we missed an opportunity to see a screening of “Dirt: The Movie” at the Chicago Cultural Center. I hope I get another chance to see the documentary, which debuted at Sundance last year. Future Farmboy watched the trailer with me and seemed like he was really into it.Continue reading “Movie Digs Up the Dirt About Dirt”

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day today, I dug deep into our record collection to dust off an LP set that belonged to my grandfather. It’s a fantastic slice of history, “The Irish Uprising: 1916-1922.” Narrated by Charles Kuralt and recorded live in Dublin, tracks include songs by the Clancy Brothers, Tommy Makem, a SinnContinue reading “Easter 1916”

This is actually an IPA, but we Irished it up a bit:

All ag eyes are on an important seed engineering case involving sugar beets. Today a federal judge in San Francisco ruled against organic farmers who wanted an immediate ban on the planting of genetically modified sugar beets, which were engineered by Monsanto to resist the herbicide Roundup. The good news for organic farmers, who sayContinue reading “Shortage of Conventional Seed Forces Judge's Hand in Sugar Beets Case”

Just loved this piece in the Kansas City Star about how the country is in the grip of a goat shortage. I knew that demand for goat meat was on the rise. Increasing immigrant populations have been a boon to local farmers who have the space to grow meat goats and raise/slaughter them according toContinue reading “U.S. in Midst of Goat Shortage? Sounds Like an Opportunity”

Before I completely crash out tonight, I had to document this VFG Test Kitchen experience. Fairly often, I throw out a wish or request on some form of social media, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Every once in a while I get a useful response. This time, I struck gold. Or, more accurately, orange. I’d askedContinue reading “Best. Carrot Cake. Ever”

No doubt there’ll be an appeal of last week’s breathtaking $11 million verdict against a confined feeding operation in Berlin, Missouri. The case, which for years has pitted family farmer against large scale farmer, involved the stench emanating from a farm owned by Smithfield Foods subsidiary Premium Standard Farms. One expert is reported to haveContinue reading “7 Farm Families Win $11 Verdict Against Missouri Factory Farm”

I am just now seeing this video, which I found on Oak Park’s garden resources site. It’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to build a raised veggie garden, featuring Cheney Mansion’s Head Gardener Charlie Ruedebusch: I don’t know why I’ve never thought about using string to create a grid. That’ll be especially good for theContinue reading “How to Make a Raised Bed for Gardening”