SHOULD I SERVE MY THANKSGIVING GUESTS FOOD MADE WITH RAW MILK? My daughter is the new and proud owner of a cow share. Last month she came home from LaCrosse with a glass jar of milk from her friendly, neighborhood family farm. It was filled with the familiar white liquid, […]
This week UW-Madison ethnobotanist Eve Emshwiller taught me to care deeply about oca, a funky little tuber that I will probably never see. Botany seems like a conflicted field to me. Some researchers are working to develop “perfect” varieties of plants that can be grown in vast monocultures, while other […]
I proudly add a new link to my Blogroll. My younger daughter, a senior at UW-Madison double majoring in journalism and biological aspects of conservation, just started blogging – Cooking between Classes aimed at empowering her fellow college students to take charge of what they eat. For fun, I interviewed […]
You remember that quote about how the world is going to Hell in a handcart, and we nod our heads wisely – only to find out the quote is from someone in ancient Rome? It’s a case of chronocentrism: people always believe they are living in the most critical of […]
Who is going to suffer the most from environmental degradation? Kids Who is going to have to take over what ever green programs are being implemented today: Kids. If kids don’t learn what’s going on in the environment and care about it today – we can kiss tomorrow goodbye. Here […]
Last week Michael Pollan visited Madison (see my posts The Soul of a Carrot – Michael Pollan at UW Madison, Corn: How Do You Like Yours? , and In Defense of Food (and Books) Michael Pollan leads “Go Big Read” ), and for many of us it was kind of […]
Sunday when I was sitting outside enjoying a potluck picnic at Tom Brantmeier’s farm near Monroe WI, the blustery wind was keeping the flies at bay on a balmy, cloud-scudded, 72 degree afternoon. The wind picked up, and that night a pounding rainstorm quite literally poured cold water on the […]
Food is more than nutrients – much more, as Michael Pollan told me and 7,000 other eager listeners at the UW-Madison Kohl Center, (See my post In Defense of Food and Books) where huge crowds gather to cheer and jeer at basketball and hockey games. Last night they were all […]
Because our little barn is a timber frame structure covered with slabs of oak weathering to a silvery patina, I like to think it looks like it belongs where it is. (See my post, Building our Timberframe Barn here . But when it was being built, the site looked like […]
GUEST POST BY DELLA HANSMANN Stuff … we all have it. I’m as guilty as the next person of accumulating questionably necessary possessions. I was reminded of that only this morning when I ventured down to the basement of my apartment building to get my tent out of the storage […]
Digging in the Driftless 