18 Jun | 2013

Does Your Garden Hose Contain Lead?

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garden hose label

Most garden hoses are made of PVC, which contains phthalates, bromides, and BPA. But did you know that these hoses also contain lead? You know that government warning that comes on the package when you buy a new hose? Yeah, they're not kidding with that. According to an article in TIME, "Hose fittings contain brass, an alloy that can contain up to 8% lead. One in three hoses tested had levels of lead that exceeded drinking water standards — one as high as 18 times the level. It turns out that hoses aren’t covered by the same lead laws that govern plumbing fixtures — even though those hoses are watering our ...continue reading

Filed Under: Gardening, Questionable Practices
5 Jun | 2013

Read About the Ills of Agave on Real Food Forager

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agave nectar

In my recent post about the best non-dairy ice creams, I mentioned that I avoid agave nectar. Agave, a temporary darling of the natural foods industry, was once billed as being low-glycemic and appropriate for even diabetics to consume. Now that we know better, it's important to dispel the myth that agave is good. There's definitely a lot of confusion out there about agave: Is it worse than high fructose corn syrup? Is it better than high fructose corn syrup? Will it make you fat? Or will it help you lose weight? Is agave the devil? Real Food Forager has a wonderful breakdown of what agave really does in your body. ...continue reading

Filed Under: Sustainable Living
31 May | 2013

The Difference Between Soaps and Detergents (and Why I Avoid Detergents Whenever I Can)

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Bubbles

I recently wrote a post about discovering that Ecover liquid dish soap has the surfactant SLES (sodium laureth sulfate) in it. Since then, I've been trying to find a replacement for what had been my favorite liquid dish soap for years. As it turns out, every single natural liquid dish detergent I've looked into has either SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) or SLES in it. Seventh Generation has it. Mrs. Meyers has it. Biokleen has it. CitraSolv has it. Whole Foods brand dish soap has it. Method Dish Soap has it. Clorox GreenWorks definitely has it. Even Sal Suds, Dr. Bronner's home cleaning product, has it. There's a ...continue reading

Filed Under: Keeping House
28 May | 2013

REVIEW: Comparison of the Best Coconut Ice Creams

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So Delicious Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Let's be real: there are all kinds of nasty non-dairy "dairy" products on the market. Some of the worst offenders are in the ice cream category: lackluster almond milk ice creams, sad little rice "treats," and, worst of all, gag-inducing soy cream. Ugh. Of course, some non-dairy ice creams are actually pretty good. I definitely prefer coconut ice cream over any other alternative to dairy, mainly because coconut cream is so rich and fatty than it mimics dairy better than the rest. (And coconut is a healthy fat, too.) So Delicious makes a coconut milk ice cream that's pretty decent. This line of desserts uses agave ...continue reading

Filed Under: REVIEWS: Food & Beverages, Versus
23 May | 2013

Why You Should Grow Mints in Containers

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Chocolate mint plant

Peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, apple mint, lemon mint... The list goes on, and for good reason: mint has one of the freshest scents in the garden. It's used in teas, drinks, and desserts, lending dishes its delicate flavor. Mint is particularly nice in the summer, when its cooling properties are most appreciated. As the weather warms up, it's perfect time to talk about how to grow mint in your backyard. Plants from the mint family are incredibly invasive. Put one in the ground in a nice spot in your garden, and soon it will overtake everything around it. Mints put out thick runners under the ground from ...continue reading

Filed Under: Gardening
18 May | 2013

Why You Shouldn’t Support Commercial Chick Hatcheries

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Baby chicks

With the rising popularity of keeping backyard chickens, it's important to be educated about the conditions in which chicks are raised. I'm still learning about chickens myself, and while researching I came across lots of info about chick hatcheries. While conditions at each hatchery may vary, it's a sad fact that male chicks are, for the most part, unwanted. Most municipalities don't allow roosters within city limits, and roosters are undesirable since they can be loud and aggressive. That's a rooster's job, after all, but doing what they do best doesn't exactly endear roosters to most chicken enthusiasts. Some ...continue reading

Filed Under: Animal Welfare, Backyard Chickens
13 May | 2013

Herb Profile: Lemon Balm

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lemon balm

Lemon balm is a member of the mint family, and its sweet, lemony flavor makes it a garden favorite. This plant can grow to about five feet tall, though the tallest lemon balm plant I've had grew to about three feet tall. They grow easily and steadily, and though the leaves die back in the winter, the roots are perennial. I've actually had some robust lemon balm plants overwinter with leaves intact, which might be because we live in California and have relatively mild winters. Lemon balm produces little white flowers that are a favorite of honeybees, so I like to have pots of lemon balm in and around my garden. I've ...continue reading

Filed Under: Herb Profiles
10 May | 2013

I Brought My Chickens Home Today!

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backyard flock

Meet my new chickens! This morning we headed over to Napa to a local breeder, and picked up four hens. They're still pullets, between three and four months old. The oldest is a Blue Copper Maran, which will lay dark brown eggs whenever she starts laying. We also have a Buff Orpington and a Silver Laced Wyandotte, who will both lay light brown eggs, and an Ameraucana, who will hopefully lay blue eggs. The chickens have explored the new coop, which I'm really happy with. It's a 6'x6' all-in-one coop and run, and the open floor design is meant to accommodate the deep litter method. The coop uses 1/2"x1/2" hardware ...continue reading

Filed Under: Backyard Chickens
1 May | 2013

Growing Celery is NOT My Favorite

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Growing Celery

If you're on Pinterest, you've probably seen the link to a post about growing celery that's been going around. If you haven't seen it, the post goes something like this: Man buys celery, man chops celery stalks off of base, man places celery base in water, celery grows like magic. It looks really easy, so I decided to give it a try myself. The first part of growing celery from celery is easy; all of the above steps have worked really well for me so far. The trouble I've been having is what happens once I plant the growing celery into the soil in my garden. The plant slowly withers and dies a slow, painful death. ...continue reading

Filed Under: Gardening
30 Apr | 2013

Book Review: Food in Jars

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food in jars book cover

I'm just beginning to get into preserving food at home. I've made jam and apple sauce before, but that's the extent of my canning experience. With our garden really starting to boom and the bounty of produce starting to appear at our local farmers market, I'm starting to feel the itch to make preserving foods a bigger part of my efforts in the kitchen. While I have dreams of making delicious and delicate sauerkrauts, I decided to start learning more about food preservation at the ground level. Enter my new cookbook, Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round, by Marisa McClellan. I found this book on ...continue reading

Filed Under: REVIEWS: Media & Books
26 Apr | 2013

The Importance of Soaking Almonds

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sprouted and roasted almonds

A handful of almonds is one of my favorite snacks. Almonds are chock full of nutrients, like vitamin E, protein, and omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. They also contain an enzyme inhibitor, called phytic acid, in their brown skin. Phytic acid negatively affects digestion, and it also bonds with important nutrients in our body, essentially robbing us of those nutrients. Bummer. The good news is that almonds also contain phytase, the enzyme needed to properly digest phytic acid. It's not activated in almonds unless they're soaked in water for a period of hours. Soaking almonds will also decrease their phytic acid, reducing ...continue reading

Filed Under: Dehydrating, Healthy Snacks
22 Apr | 2013

Ecover’s Liquid Dishwashing Detergent Contains Sodium Laureth Sulfate

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No Ecover Dishwashing Liquid

I'm an avid label reader, but every once in a while, something slips by me. Such is the case with my long-used and beloved Ecover Dishwashing Liquid. I've been using this stuff for years, and I was certain that I'd read the label closely. As it turns out, either I hadn't paid close enough attention, or Ecover changed the ingredients without my noticing: I recently discovered that this product contains sodium laureth sulfate. My best guess is that somewhere along the line, the company decided to disclose the full ingredient list. The label probably used to say something like "plant-based surfactants," and I, being a ...continue reading

Filed Under: Questionable Practices
17 Apr | 2013

Herb Profile: Ashwagandha Root

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ashwagandha root powder

As you might guess from its name, Ashwagandha is an herb used in Ayurvedic medicine, and it's sometimes known as Indian ginseng. It's a wonderful adaptogen, and it's been shown to relieve anxiety, reduce fatigue, and improve concentration and vitality. Gaia Herbs states, "In the Middle East it is used to help promote normal sleep patterns and encourage a healthy inflammatory response." Ashwagandha is especially helpful in toning the endocrine and immune systems. I use Ashwagandha root for all of the reasons listed above, plus I find it really helps me calm my mind before sleep. About an hour before I start to get ...continue reading

Filed Under: Herb Profiles
12 Apr | 2013

Six Different Chicken Breeds to Consider

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Barred Rock chicken

Once you've done some planning, it's time for the fun part of keeping chickens: learning about different chicken breeds! There are hundreds of different breeds, which can be daunting to sort through. But some are more common than others, and each breed has different characteristics. Here are the six different breeds I'm interested in right now. If you'd like to learn more about breeds, My Pet Chicken and Backyard Chickens are good places to start. BUFF ORPINGTON Buff Orpingtons are my favorite breed of chicken. They're described as "calm and patient," and they've been known to let small children pick them up and ...continue reading

Filed Under: Backyard Chickens
10 Apr | 2013

GUEST POST: A Chicken Story
by Kelly Murphy

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baby chicks

Since I don't actually have any chickens of my own yet, I asked my friend Kelly to write something about her experience with her backyard chickens to share with you. Photos are of two of her hens, Frida and Lola, as grown hens and as baby chicks. I guess I grew up as a city girl. Besides a dog and a couple of cats, I didn’t really interact with any other domesticated animals, but then we moved to Palenque, Chiapas. Many people in this part of Mexico still feed their families through subsistence farming and animal raising. I remember walking to work each day and encountering chickens and turkeys roaming freely ...continue reading

Filed Under: Backyard Chickens
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