FROM SCRATCH CLUB

If you caught my previous post, then you already know I’m trying to start a micro farm this year called Little Sparrow Farm. In mid March I started my seeds with some grow lights in my basement. In late March I went out-of-town for a week and my husband was in charge of the seedlings. […]

I’ve lived a lot of places but grew up mostly in Phoenix. Phoenix is a very interesting place. The things I love about it are pretty much what most tourists would find really stupid, or just plain odd. Since my whole family still lives there (How can they possibly still live there? It’s so hot!!) […]

This week I could finally go out and check on my bees since I buttoned them up in the fall. I went out with some jugs of sugar syrup and the feeder boxes. Some people feed their bees all winter, but where my two hives are located I couldn’t really get to them all winter. […]

The following is the very basic tale of how I’m starting my own micro-farm in Ballston Spa. It’s called Little Sparrow Farm, and yes, it’s named after Dolly Parton. Last summer I was telling a friend how I was going to be ordering a lot of garlic. The amount I ordered ended up being over […]

Just before Christmas I went to go visit my dad in Santa Fe. I hadn’t been to “The City Different” in sixteen years, which is now half of my life. When I lived there as a kid I took it for granted. It has a very slow pace, which I appreciate as an adult, but […]

Around the holidays I give and receive lots of sweets, which is fine, but sometimes you want a little something different. That’s why this year I’ve decided to make some spicy beef jerky for several of our friends. If you have a food dehydrator (I got mine a few years ago for $5 off Craigslist) […]

Poor Brussels sprouts. Always the punchline to bad jokes about foods people were forced to eat as a child. These little green globes don’t get the love they should. In fact, I always thought they were a bit “blah” until I had them fresh from the stalk as opposed to boiled from a freezer bag. […]

As I write this I’m certain one of my hives has hive beetles and there’s a hurricane that might hit us early this week (Editor’s Update: 10/30/12 Hurricane Sandy did not hit us as expected in Upstate New York, but others in CT, NJ, PA, and of course NYC & the 5 boroughs where not so […]

I recently got back from a crazy five-day trip to the D.C. area. In that time, I spread some DIY Bacon love to Maryland where I taught a private lesson on bacon curing, I got to hang out with the wonderful Celia from On Cardamom and Cast Iron, and see the sights from the windows […]

Recently I was asked by someone how she, with multiple kids and several part time jobs, could fit more from scratch cooking into her life. She said she’d love to do it, but just wasn’t sure how she could fit it all in. Since I’d been meaning to write on this for some time now, […]

When we bought our house in the summer of 2009 we quickly realized there was no simple spot for our garden. Our larger backyard was simply too shady and the front yard was engulfed by a tree and a 20-30 year old hydrangea bush. That front spot got plenty of sun though, so we knew […]

A few months back Jillian and I got to participate in a webinar put on by Mark Izeman of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Laurie David, author of The Family Dinner, Great Ways to Connect to Your Kids, One Meal at a Time. The webinar focused a lot on food and the environment and […]

The summer growing season is in full-swing now, and that means veggies might start piling up in your fridge! It makes you moan and groan and feel all guilty but you know it’s true. If you get a CSA share or are an avid gardener, pretty soon you are going to scowl when you realize […]

So the next step of my bee saga begins…Actually working with bees. Mid- April I got an email from my source that my bees would need to be picked up on May 5. When I read the email I was immediately perplexed and a bit panicky because for some reason my planner said “late May: […]

I have to apologize for my lack of photos of the amazing food that we ate. I was too entranced to think to take pictures of everything. However, if there were more, you’d probably drool on your computer, and then I’d owe you a new computer. Last week my husband, son, and I were invited […]