A happy tangle

...t our ripe, ruby red pomegranates, which, when they split open, are also a food source for the birds. It’s hard to describe, and pretty much impossible to photograph, this cheery, eye-popping chaos, but we enjoy it, and the cats are entranced. While I’ve sometimes wondered if it is right to keep a feeder in our yard, I feel good about it as of now, because we are providing other sources of forage as well. We let our plants go to seed. We don’t spr...

Read…

Saturday Tweets: Scary Gelatins and Flesh Eating Screwworms

...bout relational approaches to issues like #climatechange, which I summarized in @NewRepublic https://t.co/UdWXH3uPYP — Faith Kearns (@frkearns) October 18, 2016 10 facts you might not know about Food Waste: https://t.co/35NuLW88tg #foodtank pic.twitter.com/BSF4mvmQX5 RT @Food_Tank #foodwaste — UC Food Observer (@ucfoodobserver) October 18, 2016 What Will Break People’s Addictions to Their Phones? https://t.co/VHU1OjHuYG — Root Simple (@rootsimple)...

Read…

Anima: Animals, Faith, Compassion

...w do we feed a growing population and not destroy the planet? How does our food impact our health? How do we keep the costs of food reasonable? What kind of diet should we follow? What about GMOs? We might be tempted to rely purely on the scientific method or economic statistics for these answers but life is not so simple. All too often we forget that our bonds to the natural world are also defined by meaning and spiritual practice. This short fil...

Read…

Savoring the Fruits of Your Labor Panel Discussion

...Public Library on May 1st for a panel discussion on backyard gardening and food preservation: Santa Monica Farmers Market 2014 QUARTERLY PANEL SERIES When: Thursday, May 01, 7:00 – 8:30 pm Free and open to the public Where: Santa Monica Public Library 601 Santa Monica Blvd. MLK Auditorium SAVORING THE FRUITS OF YOUR LABOR Gardening and preserving stories and strategies to improve your quality of life and your bottom line. Backyard gardening and fo...

Read…

On Moldy Jam

...ficial fungal cultures as well as toxic ones that can develop on preserved foods. In short, our understanding of food safety issues of these types of fungal-preserved foods is evolving and complex. However, while fungal cultures are intrinsic to the preservation of certain foods such as blue cheeses, fungal cultures don’t belong on jam. The restaurant has since promised to follow food safety practices regarding the product they package as well as...

Read…