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Whole-fruit marmalade

We often order a box of grapefruit at Christmas. I had opened the last jar of homemade marmalade in early December and it is also the season in Florida for Seville oranges, the ugly, bitter fruit that produces a delicious preserve. I’ve discovered that it improves with aging. That last jar I was finishing was five years old and had a deep, mellow bittersweetness. (Good marmalade is a balance of sweet, sour, and bitter.) The Orange Shop has a flat shipping rate and offered a much better price on four [...]

December 27th, 2015|Categories: Oddments|Tags: , |

Summer favorite: Tapenade

The sun came out today and it suddenly felt, and smelled, like summer. Fortunately, I'd noticed a half a bottle of olives in the fridge when I was doing a clear-out. (No one else in my family throws anything away, and the moulds that grow when I'm on the other side of the world are truly magnificent.) For us, few things say

July 1st, 2015|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: |

Walking to the shops makes life better

It often takes an outside eye to help one see things close at hand. Last night, a friend came to my house for supper. I'd made a rhubarb crumble, and mentioned that it really should be served with ice cream. Everyone agreed, and my daughter said, in the most ordinary way, "I'll go get some at the coop." The Berkshire Coop is a small version of Wholefoods and it's about five minutes' walk from my house, straight down the hill and across Main Street. She picked up her purse and [...]

June 27th, 2012|Categories: The Search for Community|Tags: , |

10 Practical Ways to Green Your Home

I have often been asked to define the most important thing an individual can do, and I've never liked the question because the answer is, "It depends." On where you live, how you live, whom you live with, and how much time and especially how much money you have. I prefer to talk about principles that anyone can apply. But there are some things that almost all of us can do, so I thought I'd share this list of "10 Practical Ways to Green Your Home," written for a magazine [...]

March 23rd, 2012|Categories: Home Ecology|Tags: , , |