5 Ways Home Gardeners Can Make More Robust Soil

As a child, Kristin Ohlson had easy access to gardens. Her grandparents maintained a small orchard and grew produce on their farm; her parents also planted huge plots of vegetables and flowers each year. While Ohlson didn’t develop a deeper agricultural interest until she grew up (all those hours harvesting vegetables cut into childhood playtime, […]

How to Correctly Plant Tomatoes to Get 5–8ft Plants

How do we plant a tomato, you might ask?  With a ridiculous amount of stuff in the hole, is the answer.  When someone ropes me into telling them and I start the long answer, I eventually see their eyes glaze over.  That’s the point where I say, “Then you throw in the kitchen sink and […]

27 Diagrams That Make Cooking so Much Easier

Including easy ingredient substitutions, basic knife skills, meat marinating times, and more.  1. For making your own vinaigrette Which you should be doing, instead of buying the bottled stuff. It’s healthier and tastier, and it’s really not hard. Here’s everything you need to know about building a better salad. 2. For making substitutions when you’re […]

Holiday Prep Guide for Eco-Lovers: Festive and Green Home Decor

Do you love the holidays, but also the environment? There are plenty of festive ways to incorporate your green lifestyle into your home for the holidays. The first thing to always keep in mind is to simplify. Making things simple reduces costs, stress, and waste, and also gives us the time to slow down and […]

Mushroom 101: How to Choose, Prep and Cook Mushrooms

Mushrooms are in season right now and are such a great way to add local produce into your weekly menu.  From mild flavored white button mushrooms to portobello’s earthy flavor, there is a mushroom that can be added to most any style of cooking.  The following is a rundown of how to select, prep, and […]

Recipe: Lighter Baked Macaroni & Cheese with Spinach & Red Peppers

We are getting into the days when hearty casseroles and warm cheesy things are starting to sound like a good idea again. My absolute favorite time of year. Put this casserole on your list — it’s a veggie-filled riff on baked mac ‘n’ cheese that doesn’t require a roux or even much prep at all, […]

8 Essential Tips for Avoiding Food Waste

None of us like wasting food. We definitely don’t set out to do it. But, as hard as we try it inevitably seems to happen in one way or another. The Kitchn talks a lot about food waste, like, ways to avoid it, great habits to to help you prevent it, the useful tips to […]

Trying Meatless Mondays? 7 Ways to Go Meatless Every Day of the Week

If you are on to Meatless Mondays, kudos to you for taking a step in the right direction. Undoubtedly, you’ve discovered it’s not so terrible, and now that you’ve got some momentum, why not up the ante a little and ditch the meat more often? While it might be a bit much to expect everyone […]

Nuts for Nutella? Learn How to Make Your Own

We know, it’s a dilemma. Nutella is so good … and yet so not local: It takes at least six countries to make a jar of the stuff. Luckily you don’t have to choose your gut over your guilt complex when it comes to this homemade treat, since it doesn’t get much more local than […]

How to Raise an Earth-Conscious Child

Children these days have many technological distractions that keep them busy and less connected with the environment. Whether it’s a video game, television program or computer screen, children are forgetting how to connect with their natural side. Many parents seem to be forgetting the importance of teaching children about their intrinsic connection to the earth […]

How to Find Great Organic Wine

It was the late 1990s when “organic wine” began appearing on store shelves. Many consumers, including this writer, were thrilled to finally discover organic wine options. But according to Adam Morganstern, wine expert and editor of the Organic Wine Journal, many wines that aren’t labeled organic actually are. “Some of the best organic wines in […]

How to Freeze Peppers

If you like frozen peppers in the winter, just imagine how good it would taste if you had picked a bag yourself and then quickly froze it at home!  It is also one of the simplest ways to put up a vegetable for the winter. Here’s how to do it, complete instructions in easy steps […]