All Blog Posts (1,121)

Finally, a break in the huge system that has hung over our tiny island home these last two weeks (though I believe it is only a temporary respite).

A combination of dry weather, and the appearance of Handy Andy - something akin to the alignment of the planets, we finally managed to make some progress on what had become a fenced off quagmire, and new home for the local frog population, safe from dog-kind.

With the wood for the two raised beds duly installed,…

We’ve been telling the story of North Country Sustainability Center for nearly two years. Finally we put it in a YouTube storybook.  Check it out, please.

http://youtu.be/Dyn9iSp8yXU

NCSC, as we call it, is a innovative incubator that builds communities by  allowing the development of the skills that have long been there.  Traditional skills such as carpentry, sewing, cooking and farming are being…

I don't know why the formatting for my blog posts always comes out wonky here. If you'd like to read this as I meant for it to be formatted, check out my blog post here: http://crunchychelle.com/lemon-verbena-pound-cake/

After sitting in my fridge for a week waiting to be used, I turned my lemon verbena syrup into a delicious glaze for the lemon verbena pound cake I made this past week.…

(When we last left our hero he was in the front yard gussying up the place for his front yard wedding)



Good morning from Grandin Village. I had the honor and privilege of waking up every hour last night for reasons unbeknownst to me. Was it the rigorous workout in the front yard yesterday? Or perhaps the allergy pill I took? Maybe the chocolate I ate right before bed? I suppose the cause matters little to my tired old body this morning. If the reason for my insomnia was the…

Here in Baltimore, we have learned that value-added products such as pickles and jams, dried teas and spice rubs, drinks, baked goods, and more can really supplement the income you earn to support your homestead or urban garden project.

Especially for our urban farm, where we want to…

Well I see it has been nearly a year since I last wrote!  Spring is early this year and a lot has already been planted.  As for the 70 acres, we have been doing a lot of observing of sectors and discovering what is growing where.  Didn't accomplish a lot last year but feel we have come a long way in understanding the uniqueness of the land we purchased.  So much of it is already just perfect.  Trying to get a feel as to how we want to fit in without disturbing too much. The back corner has a…

I love the smell of lemon verbena. It's so light, so lemony, it's one of the herbs we've been growing for 2 years now. It won't survive frost outside, but will hunker down over the winter if you bring it inside, losing most of its leaves during the dark days, but growing back when spring is back in full force. Before the end of last fall, I collected the leaves to dry and make into a lovely, light tea, but already this Spring it has started growing back in leaps and bounds!…

I apologise in advance to all those experienced homesteaders and country folk out there for whom ticks are just an annoying inconvenience that happens every summer and who will think me an ex-city-dwelling, drama queen.  For me, first-time dog owner and new tropical gardener, they were something of an unseen, and unknown, Nemesis lurking in the long grass.

Having finally gotten around to clearing a new patch of grass that had stood as tall as me (possibly taller), for many months, I…

Pizza Hippo thanks everyone who generously gave both financial and emotional support to this now funded project.  Especially the financial supporters.  (And a special thanks to Homegrown.org for curating our Kickstarter page.)

All joking…

Originally Posted at Mary's Kitchen:

Calling all herb crafters!

Are you aspiring to support yourself by supporting your community with homemade herbal goods? Well, Poppy Swap has got you covered with a FREE e-book that covers business savvy from online marketing, to product pricing, GMP…

Hello hello!

What a gorgeous week we've been having here in southern Vermont!

It's also only five days until Pizza Hippo opens the season at the Putney School's Earth Day celebration.  The weather is supposed to be less than stellar on Sunday, mirroring last year's auspicious start.  Hopefully we'll have more cloud and less rain!

It will be an amazing feat when we set up Sunday morning, though.  Svetlana, our 88 Volvo Pizza Wagon,…

Contrary to expectation, and something of an anomoly, as we head into the rainy season, water shortages and water storage have been on my mind.

My experience thus far has been that when the island has high or sudden rainfall, the reservoir gets filled with silt and debris as water thunders down the…

(so I am camped in front of the computer for the weekend!) Then again, the forecast for the weekend reads "hail and tornados", so I'm fine with staying inside.

Soooo... I started out with 3 long beds, which, from my prior post, needed the gook…

Historically, I've done things the hard way. It's my nature. I joined the Marine Corps my junior year of high school because it was the "hardest" of the armed forces. After 4 years of struggle and stories upon stories to tell my grandchildren some day I got out of the Marines and plunged right into a career as a stand-up comic. That's harder than being a Marine, take my word for it. And after a decade in the performing arts, I decide to be a farmer?! What the hell is wrong with me? I could…

This morning we experienced the low point of growing food in the city, as our intern saw a few men walking away with handfuls of our garlic, which is about five months old.

We haven't had much produce theft so far, but it's always a little frustrating when it happens. I guess we don't have to worry…

What a neat little gadget from a fellow Facebooker. He husband built this mobile soil sifting cart for her with a hinged top so she could tip the remaining stones straight into a wheelbarrow - I have some old timber about the place and some spare barrow wheels....I see another project coming Handy Andy's way!…

And I'm bringing you a love that's true