Monthly Archives: February 2012

Tree preservation strategies

I love trees. The Spokane neighborhood I grew up in was filled with pine trees, and we had a few dozen in our yard. Although I hated raking up pine needles (this was my parent’s alternative to assigning weeding tasks), I am … Continue reading

Posted in Cutting down on garbage | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Cooking in a busy world

Should we spend more time cooking? I just finished reading a study (ok, I admit, I did not read the whole study, which went on for pages and pages) about American’s eating, shopping, and cooking habits. Some interesting findings–the average … Continue reading

Posted in Cooking, family dinners | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Starting a neighborhood garden

Forlorn, weedy plot in February You hear a lot about neighborhood gardens these days, and I have always found that idea intriguing. Most neighborhood gardens are large, and involve lots of people and organization. But since I’m not the world’s greatest … Continue reading

Posted in Neighborhood gardens | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Food Inc. fallout

My students watched Food Inc. this week and they are up in arms. As they walked out the door, I heard a few vowing to become vegan. While I don’t want to discourage such inspired exuberance, I know that these sudden … Continue reading

Posted in Making changes, Sustainability | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Vegetarian Valentine’s

A slab of meat may seem like the ideal meal to serve a man on Valentine’s Day, but my traditional February 14 dinner is actually meatless, and my husband loves it (well, it has cheese, an acceptable alternative from his viewpoint). … Continue reading

Posted in Cooking, Vegetarian | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The need for life skills

A colleague forwarded me an interesting article discussing the idea of teaching more hands-on, traditional skills in college. The article started out by describing a college book club that read Diet for a Hot Planet, a book focused on the problems of the … Continue reading

Posted in Practical life skills | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Local food book reviews

I’ve done film reviews–time for some book reviews. There are so many excellent books covering the topic of sustainable foods from many different angles. Here are a couple that focus on local eating. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is Barbara Kingsolver’s account … Continue reading

Posted in book reviews | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Sustainable Super Bowl

Seriously? Sustainable Super Bowl? Maybe you think sustainability is the last thing to think about for a Super Bowl party. But here is a great recipe that is healthy, sustainable, and Super Bowl-appropriate. My husband actually debuted this at another bowl–the 1998 … Continue reading

Posted in Cooking, soup | Tagged , | Leave a comment