When Things Turn Ugly In The Kitchen

….otherwise entitled “Just Because The Recipe Has a French Word In It And Scary Amounts of Milkfat Doesn’t Mean You’re Julia Child” Three ingredients.  I’ve now achieved a personal best in the flop category and managed to botch a recipe involving only three ingredients.  Cheers!  It’s probably a good thing we don’t have regular TV [...]

Read Full Post »

Drawing a blank

Tuesday morning, up before the dawn.  Chores, cold rainy, dark.  Hot coffee in hand, contemplating the day, and mentally planning how to get the most done.  I can hear people starting to stir upstairs.  CC getting ready for work, the kids working their way to the land of the living.  I turn on the computer [...]

Read Full Post »

Making the best of it…

Please forgive me for not posting last Monday. We are in the section of the country that has had the extreme flooding from rains last week. As a matter of fact we ended up being “stuck” at our house because waters all around our area blocked us in. No work, no school, no driving any [...]

Read Full Post »

Winner!

Random Integer Generator Here are your random numbers: 31 Timestamp: 2009-09-26 23:20:36 UTC That’s the winner of our knitting / fiber book giveway – TechChick!  Congrats, Monica will be contacting you about your prize.  Another giveaway will be coming your way soon, stay tuned. In the meantime, feel free to look over our community resources [...]

Read Full Post »

My Dilemma…

I have a problem, a dilemma…a cunundrum Let me explain… My mother works two jobs, one in our town in Western Washington.  One over the mountains in my home town of Yakima.  Yakima grows apples. My mom works for the biggest apple grower in Yakima Valley.  She also happens to be best friends with said [...]

Read Full Post »

Garden medley

Heirloom or hybrid?  Purists would have you believe gardening is an all or none proposition.  I think you can have both if you choose to.  A garden is a personal expression of the person who tends it.  I know farmers who plant nothing but hybrids and others who plant only open pollinated crops.  Either is [...]

Read Full Post »

family medicine chest – preparing for flu season

there’s been a lot of talk about the swine flu and how to prepare it lately online. a lot of scary talk, from mandatory vaccines (which incidentally, the manufacturers have just had a law passed on their behalf which holds them unresponsible for any side affects that might occur from said vaccination) to quarantines and [...]

Read Full Post »

The Cornbread Gospels

At the risk of being typecast as the cornbread writer, I have to share with you about a book I recently got. It’s called The Cornbread Gospels by Crescent Dragonwagon (you’ll have to ask her about that) heretofore known as CD, if you don’t mind. When I first heard of the book, I just knew [...]

Read Full Post »

Creeping Regulations

Politics, Government, Regulatory Agencies, The Plague, all things I try to avoid.  On my personal blog I sometimes rant about issues, usually to no avail, but here on NDIN we have agreed to leave political ranting alone.  We have touched a few issues, particularly ones that impact the world of the homestead/micro-farm.  The NAIS was [...]

Read Full Post »

Common Sense Frugality

It seems that almost everywhere I turn these days there are articles and stories about saving money and extending tight budgets.  Generally these articles make it seem like frugality requires some sort of advanced degree.  I suppose it’s a sign of the times, everyone is looking to trim their expenses in some way or another.  [...]

Read Full Post »