The bad news on the environment is as unrelenting as a California wildfire. We’re well over 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (scientists consider 350 ppm safe). A 2012 report from the World Bank describes the world as “barreling down a path to heat up by 4 degrees at the end […]
Food Waste
15 Ways to Reduce Waste in School Cafeterias
Recently a concerned mom asked me if I had any ideas to reduce waste in school cafeterias. When my email back to her grew longer and longer, I realized I had better just write a blog post on the topic. The school year may have ended (or will end soon) here in the US but […]
7 Steps to Reduce Food Waste at Home
For Earth Day this year, I visited Hamlin School in San Francisco and discussed waste with students from Kindergarten to grade eight. Considering my audience, I wanted to keep things straightforward and to the point so I came up with a list of steps to reduce food waste at home. I figured most adults might find […]
Bentonite-Calcium Tooth Powder
I am not a dentist. I am merely sharing my own experience, not dispensing medical advice. Now that I have that out of the way… Full-On Hippie Ingredient: Eggshell Calcium Powder For a while now, I have wanted to make toothpaste with calcium powder but simply could not find calcium powder in bulk. So I made my own […]
How to Make Eggshell Calcium Powder
My daughter MK made me some homemade toothpaste a couple of years ago that I really liked. It was very similar to this recipe but she added calcium powder to it. She bought calcium supplements and emptied the contents of the gelatin capsules into her toothpaste concoction. I have wanted to make her toothpaste recipe […]
10 Ideas to Rescue Citrus Peels
The average American eats 12.5 pounds of citrus each year. I searched for the average peel to fruit ratio but found nothing credible. I did have this juicy and delicious mineola on hand, however. Holy cow! The peel accounted for fifty-three grams—23 percent—of this orange. Let’s assume the average peel weighs even less. Even a […]
8 Tactics to Reduce Food Waste at Home
Updated 10/29/18 Food waste is a huge—but edible—problem. These eight tips will help you reduce food waste at home and save money. 1. Buy less food more frequently If you shop a couple of times a week and buy only what you need, you will enjoy fresher food and waste less of it. Yes, I realize some people […]
Clean Your Home with Trash
Click here to go straight to the recipe This winter, I hoarded orange peels compulsively. I found so many uses for them: chai tea, candied citrus peels, frozen zest, fire starters too apparently although I didn’t have much luck with those—or perhaps I did seeing as I didn’t burn down my kitchen. I also used some […]
5 Things I Do that Were Once Considered Normal
I cook, eat and live the way I do for several reasons: I reject single-use plastic packaging I like to eat food that tastes good I prefer to eat food that contains nutritional value I refuse to depend upon corporations to fulfill my every need and desire Consuming less makes my life simpler and more enjoyable […]
Looseleaf Chai
Click here to go straight to the recipe I drink vats of tea. I buy looseleaf tea in a glass jar I take to the store and once home, brew the tea in either my small pot with a built-in strainer or in my daughter’s TARDIS infuser. I toss the spent leaves into my compost bucket […]
Candied Citrus Peels
Click here to go straight to the recipe My younger daughter Charlotte loves mandarin oranges. While the peel to fruit ratio of these small, juicy, sweet oranges doesn’t quite hit 1:1, at three dollars a pound, I do pay quite a lot for peels. And although compost can save the world, I would like to […]
Apple Scrap Vinegar
Updated 10/13/20 Click here to go straight to the recipe In my home, homemade vinegar has been the Holy Grail of scratch cooking. My daughter MK tried a few years ago and came very close, but flies invaded her apple scraps and ruined it. It sure smelled great though as I tossed it onto the compost. […]
Feeding the 5000 Comes to the US
This past Saturday, I participated in Feeding the 5000, a campaign that exposes food waste by feeding thousands of people a free, delicious meal prepared with food that would otherwise go to waste. Feeding the 5000 began in Europe in 2009, but Saturday marked its debut in America. The event’s name invokes the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with a […]
DIY Lard
If this was truly DIY, I would also raise the pigs… This may sound like a contradiction, or merely a justification from a woman who really likes to eat lard, but I don’t actually eat much meat and I rarely eat pork.
Fried Potato Skins
Ideally, my daughter would eat mashed potatoes with the skins on. But as I have usually peeled the potatoes, I have personally trained her to expect mashed potatoes with the skins off. I hate to compost the skins and waste them. Fortunately, you can never go wrong with fat, salt and potatoes, even if just the […]