It’s with good reason that homeowners are installing the farmhouse sink once again. Not only are they an aesthetically pleasing design element, they’re highly functional. The farmhouse sink has no …
How To Cook Chicken Gizzards
The gizzard is an extremely strong and tough muscle with grit inside it, which doesn’t sound appetizing, but it is actually my favorite chicken organ. It's the part of the chicken’s digestive tract …
Root Cellars: The Original Refrigerator
Root cellars are the original refrigerator. Back in the days before refrigerators were invented, homesteaders stored their produce, among other things, in the root cellar. They have been around …
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Growing Herbs Indoors
The long, cold, winter months or even the fate of living in a small apartment are not enough to stifle the need for fresh herbs. The smell of basil, the sight of green cilantro, is something that we …
12 Delicious Vegan Pasta Sauces without Tomatoes
Whether you're allergic to tomatoes, don't like the flavor of tomatoes, or want to reduce your intake of nightshades (the botanical family that includes eggplant, peppers, and white potatoes), this …
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Kitchen Stools
To have a nice island or snack bar, you'll need different seating than traditional dining areas, namely, kitchen stools. The stools you'll want depends on your style, the size of the space, and the …
Growing Onions
Onions are easy to grow, and they're the first ingredient in my culinary toolbox. Almost every dish I make starts with caramelized onions, so my garden is never complete until I have grown my season’s …
How To Cook Leeks
Leeks are a must-grow star of the winter garden. Leeks are milder in flavor and have a longer growing season than onions, another member of the allium family. Because the edible bulb of a leek grows …
Live Edge Slab Furniture
Although it may seem like the modernized live edge wood slab furniture is a relatively new trend, it began and was popularized back in the 1940’s by furniture designer George Nakashima. The …
How To Make Goat Cheese
At our goat dairy, we run summer workshops on making cheese. We like these cheeses because they don't require rennet or even aging. In this article we'll go through everything from getting the milk to …
Buying Ethical Meat At The Store
So you’re at the supermarket, standing in the chilly wasteland of the meat aisle. You’re looking at all the options and wondering how do you really know which brand or label is better for the …
Cast Iron Dutch Ovens: The Ultimate Guide
My enameled Dutch oven is my favorite cooking tool. But only since I graduated from my 20s. The impatient, impulsive, careless me and the Dutch oven were not compatible. I had a date to meet, a show …
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Kitchen Compost Bin Options
With a greater focus on the environment than ever before, more and more people are trying to figure out how they can make a positive impact. If this sounds like you, then indoor composting might be a …
What If Your Kitchen Composter Did The Composting For You?
We know that collecting food scraps in a kitchen composter is a good idea, but what happens after you've gathered all of that food waste? Calling a kitchen countertop compost collector a …
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DIY Soap Recipes
As an urban homesteading enthusiast, I definitely have the DIY bug. Gardening, landscaping, and chickens are all great for outdoor ideas, but in rainy Seattle it’s nice to find an indoor project too. …
Dirty Dozen Produce (And 2 To Really Avoid)
Using data from tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Working Group has picked their "Dirty Dozen" produce for 2016. These 12 foods contain the most dangerous …
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Best Canning Recipes
Canning is a fun project that gets your hands dirty, keeps your food fresh, and gives you a last-minute gift option when the holidays roll around. The key to successful canning is starting with a …
QUIZ: Match The Food With Its Scientific Name
Your favorite foods also go by Latin names. Can you figure out what they are? No botany degree required! The hints are all in the names. Give it a shot. …
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10 Awesome New Inventions For Homesteaders
Handy Camel Bag Clip The problem: Most bag clips are cheaply-made and used for light stuff like bags of chips. The solution: A hardy clip that seals bags without puncturing them, since the plastic …
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Chuño
Dehydrated potato sounds pretty boring, but it’s the food that made the Incan empire possible. Tragically for Incan society, this nutritious, stable food also allowed Spanish conquistadors to wage war …
Eco-Friendly Kitchen Sinks
Seekers of eco-friendly sinks, I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news first: Affordable, new kitchen sinks aren’t 100% eco-friendly. When choosing a sink you'll be balancing …
Thrive Market Review
Editor's Note: We've been hearing awesome things about Thrive Market, but before we plunked down the $59.95 membership fee, we needed to know: Is it better than other online and local organic food …
Vegan Bulletproof Coffee
You can skip the butter and coconut oil: this vegan bulletproof coffee is so delicious, making a great morning or afternoon treat, with the benefit of healthy coconut oils and superfood maca. Have …
Best Dehydrator Recipes
If you're lucky enough to have an overabundance of fruit, veggies, or meat, you also have a problem. How to preserve this bounty? Refrigeration may only keep the stuff fresh for a few days. Freezing? …
Appliances Of The Future
What will kitchens look like in 30 years? Likely, they'll need to be much more energy-efficient and take up less space. Like these! Dishwasher Under The Sink Drain Dishwasher under the sink drainer …
Celebrity Endorsements Sling Unhealthy Food to Consumers
Should celebrities be more careful about their endorsements? A new study found that celebrity endorsements of food products encourage less healthy food choices. What do Taylor Swift, …
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Flatpack Urban Farm Grows 6.6 Tons of Food in 538 Square Feet
This flatpack urban farm only takes up 538 square feet, but its creators say that it can yield as much as 6 tonnes (6.6 tons) of fresh produce per year. Danish company Human Habitat has developed a …
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Charcoal Stick Filters
Looking for plastic-free water filtration? Try activated charcoal sticks...the only significant difference between a Brita filter and a stick is that water is filtered through a Brita …
7 Best Veggie Burgers
Flickr pic: miikkahoo 1) Beet and Bean Burgers Inspired by the veggie burgers at Northstar Cafe in Columbus, Ohio Makes 6 burgers Ingredients 1/2 cup brown rice (a bit more if you love …
Bento Box Inspiration
If you have the time; an artistic meal could only lift one's spirits. Only natural dyes, please! 'Green Goddess, cool as a cucumber' by Sakurako Kitsa.www.flickr.com Mashed potato snow, …
The 4 Types of Solar Cookers
Downing trees or gathering sticks to fuel stoves is a major cause of deforestation and desertification. But if you could get that fuel free from the sun... The Panel Solar Cooker The Panel …
Indoor Pizza Ovens
Dreaming! and completely decadent unless you also cook multiple items in the warmed-up masonry. If you are going to opt for a wood-fired oven in your kitchen, do investigate including a masonry …
Food as Medicine: Treating Chronic Disease through Diet
The medical industry makes most of its money by medicating so-called lifestyle diseases, like cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. These diseases also happen to …
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Make Your Own Homemade Tea Blends With These 8 Recipes
Homemade tea blends can be very simple or more complicated, and you can customize your recipes to suit your own tastes. These are some of our favorite hand-crafted tea ideas to stock your …
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Cooking for Two: 20 Healthy Recipes for Two People
Have you noticed that most recipes make enough food to feed an army? Here are 20 recipes to make cooking for two easy and healthy. We’ve gathered 20 healthy recipes for two people that nourish the …
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What You Need To Know About The Health Benefits Of Pomegranate
Some pomegranate health claims are accurate. Here's the skinny on what the real health benefits of pomegranate are vs. the ones marketers overstate. The makers of pomegranate juice have been under …
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Girl Scout Cookies News: Gluten Free Cookies, Thin Mints Now Vegan
There is exciting Girl Scout cookies news: Thin Mints are now vegan and there is a new gluten-free toffee cookie, the Toffee-tastic. Vegan Thin Mints At a recent Girl Scout cookies training, …
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5 Unusual Benefits of Going Vegan (Warning: Poop Talk)
There are two types of vegans in this world: the ones who do it for the animals and the ones who do it for their own health (this one also includes doing it for the environment, which impacts our …
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Josey Baker’s Scrumptious Gluten-Free Bread Recipe
This incredibly delicious, yet incredibly healthy, gluten-free bread recipe comes from Josey Baker Bread, the fun, new eponymous cookbook from the charming San Francisco–bread maker. With thirty-eight …
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What if You Woke Up Tomorrow and Cinnabon Was Vegan?
I’ve never eaten at (or a) Cinnabon. I’ve smelled the cloying aroma wafting through shopping malls inappropriately mixing with department store perfumes and greasy Sbarro pizza. It offends me not just …
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USDA Recommends Deregulation of 2,4-D Resistant GMO Crops: What’s the Big Deal?
Last week the USDA released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement on newly developed 2,4-D resistant genetically modified corn and soybean traits. As the internet exploded with pro-biotech …
Vegan Athletics: The PCRM VegRun Program
The folks at Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) launched a plant-based running program, and they offered me a free account to try it out. I jumped at the change to prove that vegan …
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Watch and Share: Genetic Scientist’s TED Talk Indicts GMO Agriculture
Dr. Thierry Vrain spent most of his working life advocating for biotechnology companies, as a soil biologist and genetic engineering enthusiast. In his recent TED talk Vrain …
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Coke – Not Pepsi – Removes Carcinogenic Caramel Coloring
Cancer-Causing Ingredient Found in Pepsi Products Nationwide – Except California! That's the headline of the Center for Environmental Health's efforts to expose Pepsi and its lackluster actions to …
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“Grass-Fed” On The Label: What It Does (And Doesn’t) Tell You
I spied a new product in my grocery store the other day — vacuum-packed beef sold under Safeway's Open Nature brand. The label indicated this beef came from grass-fed, hormone-free, antibiotic-free …
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Top 10 Most Common GMO Foods
Genetically modified organisms, such as plants and livestock are already found in our supermarkets. GM plants are much more common than many people realize too. Here is a list of the 10 most common …
Bel Brands USA Responds To Red Wax Wrapper Question
A few weeks ago I posted about Mini Baby Bel's red wax wrapper and how the company could not confirm that the red dye doesn't leach into the cheese it contains. Here is the response I …
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5 Things You Absolutely Need To Know About GMOs
What's all the fuss about? Even if you're out of the loop on the GMO debate, here are five things you want to know about GMOs and the food supply. 1. GMOs are hidden in many foods. It turns …
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Laughing Cow Mini Babybel Red Covers May Leach Dye
According to a recent email from the Feingold Association of the United States, Laughing Cow Mini Babybel Mild Cheddar suggests that Laughing Cow "was unable to be sure if the dye in the …
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Similac Organic Formula: Is it healthier?
Choosing the best formula for your baby is tricky business! Similac makes an organic formula, but how healthy is this option for your child? We know that breast is best, but some moms are not able …
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