Adventures of an urban homesteader growing greens, preserving the harvest and tending a backyard barnyard
This has been the summer of visiting great American gardens! I enjoyed a long visit to George Washington’s homestead at Mount Vernon earlier this summer. On our recent drive West, we made a stop in Virginia to see Thomas Jefferson’s estate – beautiful Monticello. It is difficult to compare the two estates because they are so different. I think Mount Vernon was more interesting in
My summer in New York was a fun, yet mixed, experience and the road calls me West. Goodbye New York parks that helped inspire my design aesthetic. Goodbye take out, delivery and crazy food combinations like s’mores french toast. Goodbye gazillion H&M’s stores. They say one is coming to Portland, but I know the selection here can’t be beat. Goodbye Harlem. After reading your great
Apparently there is a theme to my sight-seeing when traveling and it involves lots of plants. What a shocker! I miss plants – a lot. My friend Denise is also a plant junkie, so visiting the New York Botanical Garden became a fun excursion for us while she was here visiting. It’s not super easy to get to though. We had to trek up to
I mentioned in my last post that we got to see the White House vegetable garden from a far when we were there visiting. I thought I would share my few photos from it because it’s pretty and also kind of funny to me. It’s hard to see exactly what they are growing in here, but this as close as I could get. I could
Our trip to Washington DC was relatively short, allowing ample time to visit Mount Vernon the first day and one other day to run around the Mall like mad trying to see the sights. I had heard before that all of the museums were free in DC, but that seemed like an urban legend – too good to be true. Turns out they are all
My sweet friend Denise brought me a much needed dose of Oregon by coming to visit me in New York, and I saved the best gardening-nerdy things for her visit. One of our stops was at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, which is not such a far walk for our apartment. We had a nice, albeit hot, walk through beautiful Prospect Park on our way to
Sometimes you visit a place so spectacular that no amount of pictures can capture its magnificence. This post is filled with way too many pictures, but nothing will compare with seeing Mount Vernon in person. You must visit if you ever get the opportunity. Mount Vernon was the estate of George Washington and it is located right outside of Washington DC, about a 30-45 minute
It is hot, hot, hot in New York City during the summer and I am all about spending as little time as possible over a stove. Pasta is something I never got too excited about until this summer because it always seemed bland to me. I have been experimenting with new recipes that taste delicious and minimize cooking time, so I have changed my tune
Okay, not totally. But after the first few days of moving into New York for the summer, I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stand to have a perfectly sunny windowsill sitting empty. And fresh herbs from the grocery store never last as long as I want them too. So I have the beginnings of a windowsill herb garden. Super simple – a basil planted in
Inspired by my earlier road trip this summer, I have been incorporating some new dishes into my cooking repertoire. By far the most challenging aspect is working in such a trimmed down kitchen. Our apartment has 12″ of counter space, very limited spices, no measuring spoons, and only a wooden spoon for cooking utensils. But I remain determined to make good food this summer, even
