Best Cities for Coffee Drinkers?
Check out this World Hum article on the seven best cities in the world for all you latte-drinkers, java-sippers, and espresso-lovers. Here's the rundown: via Best Cities for Coffee Drinkers? - Slashfood.
Author: Gary Boyd
Perry says no to $555 Million
When I read this yesterday I wasn't surprised. Gov. Rick Perry today told the federal government that Texas doesn’t want $555 million to expand benefits for the unemployed in exchange for widening the program to include part-time workers. The Legislature can decide to accept the money, but Perry said the…
Morning Light
As the sunlight begins to show the scene outside my kitchen door, the spring weeds wildflowers look like misty ponds scattered over my back yard. Mounds and mounds of purple vetch (Vicia americana) with their millions of tiny purple flowers on multiple green stems seem to rise mistily from the…
Twitter Updates for 2009-03-10
Daily through the screen door, the Pileated Woodpecker that we see occasionally, can be heard greeting the day in the woods along the bayou. # Powered by Twitter Tools.
Weather Musing…
Ten days into March and the weather feels more like late spring or early summer from my childhood. This week we have seen 80's over and over again. So far the March winds (which began blowing in November) have kept the house reasonably comfortable. I don't like to think about…
The Great Disruption
In the meantime, says Gilding, take notes: “When we look back, 2008 will be a momentous year in human history. Our children and grandchildren will ask us, ‘What was it like? What were you doing when it started to fall apart? What did you think? What did you do?’ ”…
Twitter Updates for 2009-03-05
@BlueRidgeblog I bought , read , and wore out these books back in the '70's dreaming myself back to the land. Bought new copies last year. in reply to BlueRidgeblog # Spring returned. Summer is coming, too. Yesterday hit the low 70's, the prediction for today is the upper 70's.…
The Politics of Food = Food, Inc.
Reading the news this morning, I saw this short spot: Marion Nestle went to see Food, Inc and she gives it two thumbs up. I've only seen clips and heard a talk by the director and stars Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan about the making of the movie. It's going…
California Drought Continues…
Parched winter months this year have put California agriculture into a tailspin. With a third dry year in a row, the state has been forced to deeply examine its strategies for coping with dry times. Many worry this drought is a harbinger of the long-term impacts of climate change, a…
Kitchen Gardeners International
Dear Kitchen Gardener, Whats a home garden worth? With the global economy spiraling downward and Mother Nature preparing to reach upward, its a good question to ask and a good time to ask it. There isnt one right answer, of course, but Ill give you mine: $2149.15. Last year, my…
Mark Bittman Obsesses About Veganism, Priuses, Carbon Footprints and All That : TreeHugger
We love Mark Bittman for his sensible approach to cooking and eating. The name of his column in in the New York Times,Scryve Corporate Social Responsibility Rating The Minimalist, says it all. In a recent web interview, Bittman expounds on ecological eating and his philosophy on cooking. Check out the…
Texas Independence Day
Today is Texas Independence Day, when a group of men met in a tiny unfinished wooden building in the small town of Washington-On-The-Brazos to take the daring step of announcing to the world that they were creating a new nation. via Writer finds record of Texas' birth 173 years ago…
More “Victory Garden” Talk…
The garden for recovery movement keeps gaining ground...Roger Doiron has an op-ed out this weekend... In Jerzy Kosinski's novel and award-winning screenplay, "Being There," the U.S. president turns to a plain-spoken gardener named Chance for wisdom at a time of economic crisis. The insight Chance offers is as simple as…
How does your garden grow?
It seems that every where you go online these days you read the same thing...At least from anyone of a certain age...People are thinking and planning to garden their way through the crisis. Leon Hale posted his plans on his blog today... The news keeps being bad, and we haven't…
Twitter Updates for 2009-02-27
Winds blow. Lakes of blue sky scud overhead in the pale gray bowl of sky. Leaves, nan-falling since autumn, fly by like sailboats in a race. # Overcast (mostly) and the temperature is at 80 and it's still rising...Thank god it is breezy, otherwise I'd be turning the AC switch…
The Weather, My Wife and Happiness In Our Coming Life Together…
Last evening as I sat with grandson in arms gooing and oogleing, my wife made the comment that it was going to get cold again this weekend. Now my wife thinks cold on the weekends is a personal affront to her happy enjoyment of her non-income producing time. Keeping in…
Twitter Updates for 2009-02-26
@bittman I had that prob a few years back...seemed to escalate as I kept taking them. Finally just quit and decided to tuff it out...worked. # Powered by Twitter Tools.
So Let Me Get This Straight…
Let’s talk pills. To treat everything from allergies to heart problems, half of Americans take a prescription medicine every day, and nearly all of us reach for the pill bottle on occasion. It's perfectly safe, though, because the Food and Drug Administration regulates the ingredients that go into those medicinal…
Musing My Morning Out…
Life throws you that spitball. Your plans don't count because your plans were based on being allowed to work out your career and end it when you planned.
February Wanes…Summer Seems Near.
Looking on the weather wunderground, I see that Fred is still feeding the woodstove and wearing the multiple layers of clothes he was lamenting in his essay. While I am enjoying the open door and the porch rocker, Fred is still dreaming his summer weather dreams.
Twitter Updates for 2009-02-23
Is it darker at night where you are? Am I seeing another byproduct of the economic crisis in that people are turning off the outside lights? # Powered by Twitter Tools.
The Ethicurean: All steriled up: Produce safety guidelines throw sustainability out, keep toxic bathwater
Good article on the food safety issue from The Ethicurean Blog. Down on the farm Here’s a quick backgrounder: After the E. coli/spinach episode in 2006, big leafy greens producers in California (where the toxic spinach was grown) got together and drafted guidelines to reduce the risk of contamination on…
Spring…Already?
This past week the signs of the season's change have sprung up all around...The oaks that were stripped of their leaves by Ike in September, now are leafing out with all of that bright, spring green color that changes the very light. Around the edge of this little house the…
Twitter Updates for 2009-02-19
@scalzi The whole reason I prefer driving...Enjoy the trip. # Powered by Twitter Tools.
Twitter Updates for 2009-02-18
On awakening our lady weather presented early summer. Light rain falls from a gray sky. Neither rising nor falling, the temperature 'tis 70. Twitter Tools Powered by Twitter Tools.
“Dangerous Food”
While most successful food producers are far more diligent — big name-brand peanut butter is considered safe, for example — American consumers have faced far too many food-supply emergencies in the last few years. Congress and the Obama administration must finally make food safety a serious priority.The new agriculture secretary,…
Is it really “Victory Garden” Time?
My reading on the web keeps coming across a common thread...It's that over and over in blog posts and comments people are talking about buying seeds and starting to raise vegetables again. It looks like I'm not the only one making the connection. Here is what Verlyn Klinkenborg had to…
Nature’s Cathedral
Reading Leon Hale's column is an institution in Houston and the surrounding counties as well as my house. Mr. Hale has been published in a Houston Paper for most (if not all) of my life, and his was the only column I remember reading in my dad's paper as a…
Twitter Updates for 2009-02-14
Winter thunderstorms...all thunder, no rain. The day really looks wintery, 'tho the temperature belies the look...Shorts and flipflops rule. # Powered by Twitter Tools.
Peanuts…Get Your Peanuts Right Here!
It seems the story of the Peanut Corporation of America just keeps getting better and better as it shows just how poor America's food safety system really is... Even amid a national salmonella outbreak linked to peanuts, state health officials allowed a Texas peanut plant last month to continue shipping…
