Sometimes you need a Break

Have you ever felt like you were looking down a looong tunnel with little to do but head forward? Okay, that might be a little melodramatically bleak, but in the right light fall can feel like that to me. I know that winter is coming, and while I love the first six weeks of winter [...]

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A Nourishing Breakfast

Last week we talked about Why you wouldn’t just eat an egg?, instead of a processed bowl of cereal full of sugar and GMO ingredients. I mentioned that we eat custard for breakfast or snacks and a few people requested recipes. The custard we eat is a bit different than what you may be used [...]

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Radio food

On Sundays I listen to the radio. All day. I turn on NPR and cook while listening to Krista Tippet, then Weekend Edition, then the local Chicago gardening show The Mike Nowak Show.  After Mike I’ll haul my little portable radio out to the porch, crank up the volume and garden while listening to Bob [...]

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Sunday photos: vistors

This is Skye. I call her Corndog because in past years she’s always gone straight for the corn, I think because she knows how attractive she looks sitting in the dappled shade.  She comes by every now and then to scare off rabbits (which actually come to think of it, she isn’t very good at) [...]

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Collecting Simple Pleasures

It seems to be part of the territory, with many if not all homesteaders, that we like to collect things. It could be practical things like canning jars or antique pillows. It could be things you keep for aesthetic value like old broken farm implements, unique thimbles or unusual rocks. It could even be something [...]

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Why Wouldn’t You Just Eat An Egg?

I heard the new commercial for Kashi cereal the other day that claimed “More protein than an egg” and I thought to myself “why wouldn’t you just eat an egg?”. After all you’d be eating REAL food, in it’s simplest and most natural form instead of a product make who know how long ago, in a factory from GMO ingredients (Soy & Canola) and loads of sugar. An egg would be also be cheaper and if you purchase it locally or keep your own chickens, it’s much better for your local economy.

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Equinox

Of the lunar events that mark the calendar, I think the fall equinox is my favorite. There is such a sense of balance as the garden stands poised between summer and winter. There is still food to harvest, and a few 3-season flowers like cleome and black eyed susans won’t give in to the cool [...]

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Take the $5 Challenge

OK all you REAL foodies, this challenge is for you. It’s been 6 months since the REAL Food Challenge and this is the perfect way to get back on track if you haven’t been keeping up with REAL food. Slow Food USA initiated the $5 Challenge. The goal is to cook healthy meal for less [...]

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Eager to Learn

Mr Chiots and I were talking about our three favorite things to do the other evening. Along with hiking and gardening, reading and learning new things was also on my list. I’m an avid reader, always have been. As a little girl I read through all the books in the house and then discovered the [...]

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Harvest Moon

Over the course of the seasons, the moon rises later and later. Except the Harvest Moon, the full moon closest to the Equinox, which rises at the same time several nights in a row, and rises earlier, giving that much more light right when the farmer needs it, at harvest time.  (Pretend I knew this [...]

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