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Entries from December 2008

Rian’s Book Club: The One Straw Revolution

October 24th, 2007 · No Comments

I’d long heard of this one. It rang multiple of my bells. It’s by a Japanese guy, it’s about farming, and it’s about organic philosophy. Sweet.
Sadly, I have to report that more accurately it’s by a smug, crotchety Japanese guy, it’s about grain farming, and it’s about how everyone else is dumb. [...]

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Tags: recommendations

Maybe my name should be Cooper!!!

October 21st, 2007 · 2 Comments

OK, I’m back in the club.  You’ll notice a distinct green tinge to the wood that I ripped out of some old fences that the neighbors left.  They were *really* into fences.

Note also that I decided to risk it with some windows (lined with 1/2″ hardware cloth).  The back door is hinged, too, so that, [...]

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Tags: projects

Coop Progress

October 19th, 2007 · No Comments

When it’s too cold to plant anything, you don’t feel like cleaning up yard slop, and you’re making a conscious effort NOT to bake any goodies so as to retain your girly figure… build stuff.
The chicken coop is being designed on the fly (heh, on the fly… birds…) and has now received recycled cedar siding [...]

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Tags: projects

Fall Arrives

October 13th, 2007 · 2 Comments

Fall dropped like an ax this year. So, quick, bake a pie!

This is Cook’s Illustrated’s cranberry apple pie, made with their fool-proof crust that involves vodka. It was dang good, except that all the extra liquid made the crust a bear to work with. It stuck to EVERYTHING. I had to [...]

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Tags: cooking · projects

Rian’s Book Club

October 5th, 2007 · 4 Comments

Move over, Oprah.
I’ve recently been reading:
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

One of the last books that I read was Pollan’s Botany of Desire. In both, I appreciated Pollan’s generally successful attempts to remain accessible as a character. Often authors get carried away with their damn selves while providing scientific or historical perspective. [...]

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Tags: recommendations