I got my Toshiba VCR/DVD player and my little JVC CD/cassette player fixed over Christmas. Yes, I’m a Luddite. I don’t want a digital box, I don’t want a PVR, despite all the strong-arming going on by the service providers. I don’t need to watch more TV than I already […] Read More
There is talk lately of retiring the word sustainability and shifting to resiliency. Merriam-Webster defines resilience as: 1 : the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress 2 : an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune […] Read More
I’m interested in linguistic shifts. We are in one of those moments right now with the word sustainability. More on that in a future post. First, an earlier language shift, one that will be important to that discussion. In the 1960s, Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer introduced permaculture; the concept was […] Read More
I was at Winners/Home Sense with my friend Megan a couple weeks ago and spotted a lovely red pan, made in Italy. I am trying to replace all of my Teflon pans. I did some research and found a good product review list on Goodhousekeeping.com that I carry around with […] Read More
I was cross country skiing at Cypress last week – on one of those gorgeous blue sky days. I took a cocoa and muffin break in the Hollyburn Lodge and when I was done, tossed my cup and wrapper into the nearest receptacle. Later, on a lunch break, I overheard […] Read More
As you might suspect, the name, Three Sisters Farm, was inspired by the Mayan (and other indigenous peoples) tradition of planting corn, squash and beans together. The three companions nourish and support each other. The beans wind their way up the tall corn stalks, stabilizing the corn plants and fixing […] Read More
My friend Linda invited me over for a pizza making party. She is an amazing cook, once very active in the local Slow Food chapter and she’s Italian, so she was clearly qualified to be leading this cook off. We were going to make blue cheese and fig jam pizzas, […] Read More
A friend of mine gave me a Swedish dishcloth in my Christmas goodie package. Who knew there was such a thing? On the tag, I read: “This marvelously absorbent dish cloth from Sweden is a wonder in the kitchen.” Apparently after using it I would never return to sponges or […] Read More
In the early 1990s, while living in Winnipeg, I began to experience early stirrings of environmentalism. I bought a book called The Canadian Green Consumer Guide, How Can you Help? Responsible shopping that won’t cost the earth (McClelland & Stewart, 1989). The guide, prepared by the Pollution Probe Foundation with […] Read More
Can we have one of these in Vancouver, please? How about the steps that lead down from the Burrard Bridge to the Aquatic Centre? Some other interesting options here.