“And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be said of us, and all of us! Charles Dickens, ‘A Christmas Carol’ As we keep Christmas, and keep Christmas well, we would do well to […]
Yearly Archives: 2023
37 posts
Baseline of a Desecrated Land How Israel’s water and agricultural technologies don’t even work for Israel Israeli delusions of grandeur aside, Zionists there can’t feed or water themselves. Never could. Never will. I’m dusting off this 2018 series during the Gaza genocide because of all the nonsense in the Western […]
Perspectives: As American historian Will Durant observed, at the end of the day civilization depends upon the food supply. As our food supply grows increasingly uncertain at every level, putting up food is the embodiment of, “Thinking globally acting locally.” For months during the COVID pandemic local stores around the […]
One of this year’s best headlines was, ‘Pantry porn’ trend rooted in racist, sexist behavior: Loyola Professor’ At first glance, being somewhat dyslexic, I read the title as ‘Panty Porn’. You can imagine my disappointment when it turned out to be ‘Pantry porn’. I read the article anyway, as I […]
Grandma’s Nativity: A little story for my country that spent around a trillion dollars on Christmas this year. It’s an early December tradition here at Woodshed Manor to pull out my grandmother’s Nativity scene. I don’t know how old it is except I’m 68 and it’s older than me. Grandma […]
“Remember, remember, the Fifth of November The gunpowder treason and plot I know of no reason, the gunpowder treason Should ever…be…forgot.” English Children’s Rhyme ‘V for Vendetta’ is a film worth watching every November fifth to see how much more like the present this 2005 film has become. We have […]
First off: Forget DRY CANNING At large in the internet wasteland are those who purport to ‘teach’ us how to dry can wheat berries/beans/lentils/corn etc. Dry canning is packing bulk dry food in jars, heating the jars in the oven, screwing on a lid before it cools, forming a seal. […]
If Halloween in America was a country, it would have a higher GDP than 33 other countries in the world. Yes friends, the National Retail Federation says our wacky country, where 57% of the population couldn’t cover a $1,000 emergency, throws away $12,200,000,000 on stuff like this: and this: and […]
Dehydrators take the water out of food to prevent rot, mold, bacteria including dangerous organisms like botulism. Properly dried and stored food can last for years or even decades. Dried food saved ancient cities under siege as they waited out the enemy. Pemmican made of dried meat and tallow was […]
“This day is called the Feast of Crispin. He that outlives this day and comes safe-home will stand a tiptoe when this day is named, and rouse him at the name of Crispin. He that shall see this day and live old age will yearly, on the vigil, feast his […]
“We will pray with those old druids, ’cause they drink fermented fluids, waltzing naked through the woo-ids, and that’s good enough for me.” from Pete Seeger’s version of ‘Old Time Religion’ Fermentation, our most cultural preparation of foods, goes back over 12,000 years in the archaeological record. It’s been part […]
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?” Okay, I’ll ask. What’s a peck? And what’s a pickle? A peck in the American measuring system: most of us understand to be ‘a […]