tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15428066513923534132012-01-27T23:39:01.925-08:00<b>Take one</b> average middle-class 4 person family.<br> <b>Reduce</b> energy consumption, CO2 emissions and impact on the environment.<br> <b>Add</b> growing their own food, cancelling their housecleaners and landscaper and making instead of buying pre-packaged. <br> <b>Equals</b> recipe for success? Or just a whole lot of arguments?Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.comBlogger14151100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-51882000024514363192012-01-27T00:00:00.000-08:002012-01-26T20:00:34.307-08:00

I was just going to go outside yesterday and take some pictures of the many different vegetables we currently have growing in our hoop houses (as described on The Crunchy Chicken Facebook page), but I decided that I might as well make a video about it. So, for your viewing pleasure, here's a short video of what's growing in our backyard in late January, 2012. I apologize for the weird camera

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-75310343760527504962012-01-26T00:00:00.000-08:002012-01-25T23:31:54.000-08:00

I wanted to create a list of essential Urban Farming books for those who are just starting out as well as for the more experienced urban farmer. I selected books that don't concentrate on just one topic (like city chickens or vegetable gardening in small spaces), but on a wide variety of topics that range from growing food to raising animals and beyond. For those of you who live in the city (or

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-77359330468068983422012-01-24T12:00:00.000-08:002012-01-24T14:33:44.326-08:00

Now that the blog book tour for my book, The Non-Toxic Avenger, is wrapping up this week, I wanted to announce that I'll be hosting a book club starting in February. It will be in the same format as most of my other book clubs: each section will start with an overview, followed by discussion questions. The only key difference is that I'm the author on this one! Here's the tentative schedule

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-34267343722430041822012-01-23T00:00:00.000-08:002012-01-27T09:33:51.618-08:00

This week wraps up the month long blog book tour for my new book, The Non-Toxic Avenger. I'll be visiting the following blog and, as the post goes up, I'll be updating this post with the direct link. I hope that the blog tour has given you some more info about the book! I'll post a wrap-up with links to everything next week so it's in one spot. Tour DateBlogType of Post 1/24/12http://

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-13742347256119148082012-01-17T01:00:00.000-08:002012-01-18T07:37:51.125-08:00

I'm out of town and don't have time to post much, so here are a few things for ya from how I spent my day last Saturday... Before my Dad's funeral. Do not touch prickly pear fruit. No matter how much you want to eat it. They are, not surprisingly, prickly. I spent a good half hour pulling invisible prickles out of my hands. Flavor Flav drives a Prius. And he is a very huggy person. That is

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-5427683172912985772012-01-15T00:00:00.000-08:002012-01-19T11:05:11.551-08:00

This week I'll be visiting the following blogs. As the posts are up I'll be letting you know the direct links. I'm hoping this will give you more information about my new book, The Non-Toxic Avenger, as well as let the readers of the other blogs learn about it as well. Tour DateBlogType of Post 1/16/12http://tippecanoegreen.blogspot.comBook Review 1/17/12http://eco-novice.com/Book Excerpt 1/18

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-65869042758512004782012-01-13T00:00:00.000-08:002012-01-23T13:48:34.229-08:00

The following was originally posted on the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families blog: When my children were babies, their health and safety were high priorities for me as their mother. They still are. I made sure I breastfed my children as long as possible and made sure I bought them car seats with the highest safety ratings. As a mom, I take pride in making sure that I am doing everything I

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-64078597532116048362012-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:002012-01-23T13:51:48.999-08:00

Erica over at Northwest Edible Life is running a giveaway of The Urban Farm Handbook and, as part of the giveaway, she's asking what the entrant's Big Urban Homesteading goal is for 2012. Well, since I already have the book and I have a lot of goals, I decided I wanted to share them in a post. I also wanted to find out what your homesteading goals are for this year, urban or otherwise. Here

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-73887028154298872182012-01-09T00:00:00.000-08:002012-01-17T00:42:57.702-08:00

This week I'll be visiting the following blogs. As the posts are up I'll be letting you know the direct links. I'm hoping this will give you more information about my new book, The Non-Toxic Avenger, as well as let the readers of the other blogs learn about it as well. Tour DateBlogType of Post 1/9/12http://www.bestofmotherearth.comBook Review 1/11/12http://www.thegreenparent.com/Guest post 1/

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-34357580758991630302012-01-05T00:00:00.000-08:002012-01-05T10:16:55.921-08:00

Many of us make New Year's resolutions revolving around health - generally of the lose weight, exercise more and eat better kind. But few stop to think about other things that affect our health. Sure there is quitting smoking and wearing seat belts and other very valid resolutions. But what about reducing your exposure to toxins? And not just if you live near a pesticide sprayed field or a

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-73459845978132018062012-01-04T00:00:00.000-08:002012-01-04T13:35:16.225-08:00

Last weekend, my husband and I hit up The Cellar Homebrew near our place for some cheese making supplies. Since we got a cast iron pizza pan for Christmas to replace our old non-stick Teflon pizza pan, we wanted to try out making pizzas. And what better way to top our homemade pizza dough and pizza sauce I canned from last summer's tomato bonanza than by adding fresh made mozzarella? I dusted

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-57470888062317900112012-01-02T00:00:00.000-08:002012-01-18T07:41:36.581-08:00

Hey everybody! Tomorrow kicks off my blog book tour. What's that, you ask? Well, it's like a regular book tour, but rather than travel all over the country (with a high travel carbon footprint), I'm virtually doing a book tour on people's blogs. For the most part, this tour will be three weeks long and will visit several dozen blogs. This week I'll be visiting the following blogs. As the posts

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-53235937917485874912012-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-31T20:02:53.345-08:00

Just thought I'd throw out there some of the stuff I'll be working on in 2012: 1. Blog book tour - The month of January, a bunch of blogs will be participating in my blog book tour for The Non-Toxic Avenger. I'll be posting a list of participants tomorrow as well as links and updates plus reviews, interviews, excerpts and more as they get posted. I'm also continuing my radio and TV interview

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-68818136209680021902011-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-30T21:05:14.703-08:00

Do you live in the city or an otherwise urban area, yet yearn for life in the country? Well, quit dreaming and start living! The Urban Farm Handbook is a necessity to prove that you can be (mostly) self-sufficient and not have to move out to the sticks to achieve your goals. It also will appeal to those of us (my family included) who want the ideals of country living, but still have the

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-859587456638424682011-12-30T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-29T18:21:28.896-08:00

While I'm off on vacation, I thought I'd bring back the posts that caused the most "excitement" in the last year. And the top 5 posts are.... 1. Urban Homesteaders - Cease and Desist: I can't believe it's been almost a year since the whole "urban homesteaders" trademark activity hit the fan when the Dervaes family started pursuing people and organizations who had the audacity to use their

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-71191043168455011102011-12-20T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-19T20:34:45.494-08:00

I know you are just now hearing about my new book, The Non-Toxic Avenger, and will be hearing a heck of a lot more over the next few months when my blog book tour begins, but I did want to share with you my next book project which I'm actively beavering away on right now. My next book (tentatively titled, Little House in the Big City: Pioneer Living without the Prairie due out early Fall 2012

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-22103881043446081662011-12-19T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-18T20:16:07.280-08:00

For those of you participating in this year's Freeze Yer Buns Challenge, you run the problem of having visitors over who might not, say, appreciate the lowered temperatures. When you're acclimated to 70+ degrees it's really hard to drop the 5 or 10 or 15 degrees in one fell swoop. Generally, when we have visitors over, we are also doing a lot of cooking and, by virtue of having lots of mammals

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-50166525852684658772011-12-18T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-17T21:14:22.670-08:00

The lucky winner of the following candles: 2 Beeswax Ornament candles (each has a burn time of over 40 hours) 1 Beehive candle in Holiday Spice (burn time of over 35 hours) from Big Dipper Waxworks is... Amy McPherson Sirk of the blog, Mamas Garden Ramblings: Life and Times on the Not-So Urban Farm, proving that jumping around like a crazed 4th grader influences the random integer generator

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-32381490607318204942011-12-16T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-15T20:59:22.614-08:00

Still squirreling around looking for last minute Christmas gifts? Well, here are some posts from the past with quick gifts you can make that will surely please! Chocolate Covered Candied Orange Peels - I didn't make any this year and I'm sure there will be lots of complaints. Caramel Covered Homemade Marshmallows - Doing the caramel is a bit tricky so if you want to skip it, the marshmallows

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-30524493777576737102011-12-15T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-14T21:10:04.231-08:00

I don't know how I missed this, but between Thanksgiving and the Dad drama, I didn't spot this review of my book, The Non-Toxic Avenger, until just yesterday. The Non-Toxic Nest bills itself as "investigating everyday toxins & going green in New Zealand" so it seems very fitting that the author of the blog read my book and did a review. She gives a very honest review of what she liked and didn't

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-41867327012739071812011-12-14T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-17T00:27:26.049-08:00

If you are like me, you worry about the nasty toxins found in conventional candles. Most candles are made with paraffin, which is a petroleum product, and even if the manufacturer claims it's made from beeswax, you need to look for 100% beeswax candles. The rest is just paraffin filler. Not to mention that many candles made overseas are chock full of lead in their wicks. It's a lung polluting

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com63tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-30834320634533356352011-12-07T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-06T20:09:07.052-08:00

It seems like every real high point in my life is tempered with some dreadful low. Since my book was released in mid-November, I should be riding a wave of tremendous highs with book signings, radio interviews and other speaking engagements. Instead, I've been riding a wave of tremendous turmoil since my father passed away suddenly on November 30th. I think this is some karmic way for me to stay

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-43722422623699739402011-11-28T10:30:00.000-08:002011-11-28T10:32:16.048-08:00

I'd like to pretend as if I could just continue posting as if nothing is going on in my life right now, but I can't. The last week has been a horrible one and I can't not talk about it. Last Tuesday I found out that my Dad had a heart attack while driving home. He hit the car in front of him and the other driver called 911 when he saw my Dad. The EMTs had to break the window to get him out

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com68tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-25501648105284426882011-11-23T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-14T17:52:45.794-08:00

Anne, the mastermind behind Seattle Sundries soaps, has a book review up on her blog of my book, The Non-Toxic Avenger: What you don't know can hurt you. We did a little book to soap barter a week or so ago and, while she's been enjoying my book, I've been enjoying a little Sasquatchin' in the shower. Don't tell my husband. In any case, go check out the book review. It's got a great perspective

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-26777451973173809252011-11-22T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-16T09:43:23.050-08:00

Okay, so we aren't truly spatchcocking our turkey for Thanksgiving this year. I just can't help myself and must use this term. And, while we are "removing the backbone and sternum of the bird and flattening it out before cooking", we are really just, more or less, parting it out for brining, searing and braising. Just not so much on the flattening bit. The last few years we haven't gotten around

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-7404929983067292032011-11-21T00:00:00.000-08:002011-11-20T22:21:18.538-08:00

Last Tuesday, I was working from home. Or, rather, trying to work from home. Our neighbor down the street was having a giant tree removed from their front yard, which caused a considerable amount of noise from all the sawing and ground shattering that was going on. From the looks of it, it appeared to be an old growth tree that was extremely tall. I can understand why they were having it removed

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-46850415266216956482011-11-17T00:00:00.000-08:002011-11-16T21:23:50.664-08:00

I've spent a little too much time this last week talking with the school, the principal and the special educators and the teachers. This week we met to nail down a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) to help deal with some of the behavioral issues my son has been having at school, most directly related to his anxiety, OCD and avoidance of difficult tasks/situations. Anyway, I wrote up ten goals

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-38192929895152783792011-11-15T10:30:00.000-08:002011-11-15T10:59:50.253-08:00

Poor Chloe. The other day I noticed that Sara, the big blonde pushy Orpington, was pecking at her bald spots (from molting), making her bleed. The little vampire seemed to be enjoying the taste of blood. I spent hours reading up on what to do if the behavior continued, since I know that chickens will potentially just peck each other to death if left unattended. Fortunately, Chloe is smarter

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-2563165674151501742011-11-14T00:00:00.000-08:002011-12-14T17:52:26.530-08:00

Tiffany just posted a review of my book, The Non-Toxic Avenger. It gives a straightforward look at what it's all about, including some criticisms as well. But it will give you a good idea of what to expect. It's always nerve wracking reading reviews and this is one of the first coming in. I look forward to the rest, both good and bad! Here's a snippet: "What makes all of it infinitely more

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-71393948924027058102011-11-10T00:00:00.000-08:002011-11-09T21:03:20.958-08:00

I'm very excited to announce the winner of my book, The Non-Toxic Avenger: What you don't know can hurt you, which will be available in stores at end of November 2011 from New Society Publishers. I've already given a way a few copies to friends and family so I can't wait to hear from the lucky winner who is... Kristijoy! Congratulations! Email your contact information to crunchychickenblog@

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-11731474517371998232011-11-09T00:00:00.000-08:002011-11-08T20:39:46.526-08:00

Chloe is molting. Even though she's the youngest chicken (about 18 months old, which is prime molting time), the older two have managed to escape a full-blown feather explosion like she's experiencing. I wish I could get some better pictures for you, but suffice it to say, she looks an absolute mess. Here you can somewhat see her neck. It looks like it's been through the wringer: And, here you

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-68534464718980258282011-11-08T00:00:00.000-08:002011-11-07T21:12:16.049-08:00

I'm stealing this meme from my pal Rachel over at the blog Totally Ovar It. Age: 41. But, I usually can't remember and keep telling people I'm 39. Bed size: Queen size. Anything bigger is too big and anything smaller is too small. Just call me Goldilocks. Chore I hate: Toilets. Or anything dealing with poop. Dogs: Paco, 1 year old. A mix of chihuahua and something else. Terrier? Essential

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-88735617730114654412011-11-07T00:00:00.000-08:002011-11-06T21:24:51.350-08:00

Henry has been having more and more problems at school and we are really at our wits end with what to do to accommodate him. His school is too. I usually get a call from school 2 - 4 times a week letting me know something has gone badly. I'm not sure if modifications for his behavioral issues will suffice for much longer. Our other option is to transfer him to a school with a dedicated classroom

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-45024053882949436692011-11-02T00:00:00.000-07:002011-11-09T10:40:50.286-08:00

I got a box delivered yesterday full of copies of my book, The Non-Toxic Avenger: What you don't know can hurt you, which won't be available until end of November 2011 from New Society Publishers and I thought to myself, why not do a book giveaway now before it's released? I'm always doing book giveaways, so why not my own? So, I've decided to do the first (I'm sure of several) book giveaway for

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com155tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-53555761769188786742011-11-01T10:30:00.000-07:002011-11-01T12:42:51.401-07:00

Ok, a lot of you on the East Coast have been freezing yer buns already, and even over here on the usually balmy West Coast I woke this morning to 38 degrees for my walk with Paco. For those of you on the Facebook page, we've been discussing temperatures and other issues for a few weeks now, but today "officially" starts the challenge. So, if you've been slacking, it's time to start thinking about

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-1017557878079245182011-10-31T15:30:00.000-07:002011-10-31T15:45:53.976-07:00

Just in time to be a Non-Toxic Avenger for Halloween! I got copies of my book today. They should be available from stores November 22nd, around the same time the electronic edition will be out as well. I have a meeting with my marketing coordinator tomorrow and will be working with my publicist soon. So, I'll fill you in on all the gory details of my book release and interviews as they happen!

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-50826986602302596732011-10-28T09:00:00.000-07:002011-10-28T10:11:26.981-07:00

It's all a giant scam! Scientists are merely out to get us. The Daily Show Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-91603006085768407492011-10-27T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-26T20:12:41.833-07:00

Let me just first start by stating that I am a huge proponent of breastfeeding. Huge. I am very much a fan of extended breastfeeding, tandem feeding, the whole nine yards. I was even so interested in it that I took an online lactation course. The benefits of breastfeeding are so enormous that it is my belief (and hope and encouragement) that any woman who has children breastfeed them as long as

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-72225732373596213582011-10-26T12:00:00.000-07:002011-10-26T12:06:27.980-07:00

The winner of the book, Homegrown and Handmade: A Practical Guide to More Self-Reliant Living, by Deborah Nieman is.... Anna of the blog, Blue Dirt. Congratulations! Email your contact information to crunchychickenblog@gmail.com and I will mail the book out to you directly! Also, for the winner of last week's book, Suzic, if I don't hear from you by tomorrow I'll be picking another winner. I

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-69118535187742179322011-10-26T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-25T21:20:42.788-07:00

One of the big issues with keeping your indoor air temperatures lower (besides feeling cold) is that, for many areas, you can have a problem with moisture, condensation and mold. Not to mention that high levels of humidity will make you feel colder than the same temperature at lower levels of humidity (the inverse is true at super low levels of humidity). Let me 'splain. Most people are comfy at

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-38905407943908744982011-10-25T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-27T00:03:23.341-07:00

Making your own cheese always seems to be an extremely daunting undertaking and it can be, especially if you are trying to make hard cheeses. But there are a number of soft cheeses that are quite easy to make at home. The issue with most cheese making recipes is that they require a bunch of difficult to find ingredients. And, if you are lazy or last minute like I am, tracking down cheese salt,

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-55372269647235499262011-10-23T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-22T21:59:29.599-07:00

Here are some posts on other blogs that are participating in the Freeze Yer Buns Challenge this year. Let me know if I missed any from this week: North Park Homestead: Wood Stoves – Heating with Local Fuel Green Bean Chronicles: Hot Tips for Cold Nights Adventures of a Thrifty Mama: Time to Freeze My Buns? Life with Tim and Noah: Freeze Yer Buns Fast, Cheap and Good: Are you Freezing Your Buns?

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-78541302416164577322011-10-22T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-26T09:58:02.897-07:00

I received a couple of review copies the other day of the book, Homegrown and Handmade: A Practical Guide to More Self-Reliant Living, by Deborah Nieman and so far, I've been really enjoying reading it. It's one of those "books for wiser living" recommended by Mother Earth News. Deborah Niemann is a homesteader, writer, and self-sufficiency expert who presents regularly on topics including

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com141tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-40308975045102882011-10-21T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-20T20:53:11.924-07:00

The EnviroPig, a kind of Yorkshire pig, is a genetically engineered "frankenswine" that has been created to be greener than your average piggy and his poop. Since feedlot pigs have issues digesting the phosphorus they get from their feed, they end up excreting it in their poop and urine, resulting in that factory pig farm stench. This strange brew manure is then used as a fertilizer on the farms

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-70067595958897030622011-10-20T12:00:00.000-07:002011-10-20T12:00:04.529-07:00

The winner of the book, Canning & Preserving with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Make Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Chutneys & More, is... Lucky #1. The first entrant - I don't think this has ever happened before. Anyway, Suzic, you are the glorious winner of this super cool book! Congratulations! Email your contact information to crunchychickenblog@gmail.com and I will mail the book out to

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-68043037813588610912011-10-20T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-19T21:04:17.498-07:00

The following is an excerpt from my book, The Non-Toxic Avenger: What you don't know can hurt you, that is coming out November 2011 from New Society Publishers. Living in Seattle means there is a constant battle between good and evil. And by evil, I mean mold. And mildew and, just for kicks, you can toss in mushrooms as well. In every modern home that I’ve lived in here in the Pacific Northwest

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-5997901216773427802011-10-19T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-24T14:21:42.814-07:00

Everybody is different when it comes to cold tolerance. The biggest factor is what you are "used" to and, by that, I mean what you've been acclimated to. Someone who routinely lives in a cold clime can tolerate much lower temperatures comfortably than can, say, my sister-in-law who is originally from Thailand and could barely tolerate the "low" temperatures of California when she first moved here

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-29014483031325169442011-10-18T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-17T20:55:03.384-07:00

I've been puzzling over this issue for a long time now. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but the gist of it is that many Americans who earn a median income down to the poverty level* defend vehemently the right of rich people to keep their vast sums rather than tax them at a higher rate past a certain earning point. The most common argument is that those rich people work hard for

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-88233539241534900652011-10-17T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-16T21:54:35.090-07:00

Rather than reposting harvest related blog posts from years' past, I thought it would be fun to put together a list of posts that would be appropriate for the fall harvest time of the year. Here are my top 8 favorites: 1. Processing sugar pie pumpkins - How to roast, process and freeze all those lovely pumpkins that you either grew or are buying from the farmers market, farm stand or grocery

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-28067368797242839122011-10-15T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-19T09:53:46.031-07:00

Today's book giveaway is Canning & Preserving with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Make Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Chutneys & More. This book will inspire you to begin canning and, if you are already a canning queen (or king), will get you champing at the bit to whip out the canner and start making some canned gifts for this upcoming holiday season. Topics in the book include necessary

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com96tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-46942611453395158072011-10-14T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-13T20:23:24.113-07:00

Seems that the American Cancer Society has, more or less, rejected a $500,000 donation from an atheist/secular group on a variety of slippery grounds whereby most onlookers can deduce that it has to do with the taint of atheism. If the ACS is sitting so pretty as to turn down a half million dollars, one can only conclude that they are afraid that, by publicly announcing the Foundation Beyond

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-76561873813554389812011-10-13T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-21T09:37:57.287-07:00

It's that time of year, my fellow frosty cheeks. And, woohoo, this year it's the 5th annual Freeze Yer Buns Challenge! Unlike last year, we haven't yet had to turn on the heat so far this season. Outside daytime temperatures have been hovering just under 60, which means that it stays in the low to mid 60s inside. Keeping the ante up Again this year I'm going to be offering some really awesome

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com94tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-76624225229262722362011-10-12T13:00:00.000-07:002011-10-12T13:45:07.613-07:00

And the winner of the book, Keeping Chickens with Ashley English, a book which is, not too surprisingly, about keeping chickens, is: Kara from the blog, "Well, One of My Blogs". Congratulations! Email your contact information to crunchychickenblog@gmail.com and I'll mail that book out to you directly! I'll be doing another Ashley English book giveaway this Saturday, so stay tuned!

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-62245498314621581552011-10-12T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-11T21:14:03.276-07:00

I was planning on doing the last book club post for today but I'm sick and I spent a couple hours in the ER yesterday with my mom, so I just don't have the energy. Soon, though. I promise. In the meantime, I thought I'd show you a picture of the hoop houses that I have set up for fall. The following picture is looking through two raised beds with floating row covers. They are set up over the top

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-3457918678554216982011-10-11T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-10T20:52:20.318-07:00

Our house was built in 1956. We still have a lot of the original elements - tile, cabinets, plumbing fixtures, hardwoods, etc. In spite of the dated look, I like to keep the mid-century modern look going. Which means that the pink tile stays. And some other details that scream, "1950s!" This is all coming back in style so I'm glad we kept them. One thing we've been meaning to replace since we

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-51435519225155881442011-10-10T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-11T09:24:55.238-07:00

This spring, I had 30 gorgeous Rouge Vif d'Etamps pumpkin plants that I grew from seed last February. I grew them under our new grow light operation, made sure they got watered and didn't get leggy or funky. They grew into beautiful pumpkin starts. And then I proceeded to screw things up from there. I was hoping to create a new pumpkin patch in one of our beds in the backyard. I dutifully moved

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-70339735816722700762011-10-08T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-12T09:18:50.621-07:00

Today's book giveaway is the wonderfully pictographic book by Ashley English. As part of the Homemade Living series from Lark Books, this book is a great way to start your library of homesteading books or add to it. Keeping Chickens with Ashley English includes detailed information from selecting a breed to where to get them, housing options, feeding, health, hatching and raising chicks and

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com118tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-78640699017530014872011-10-07T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-06T20:58:58.413-07:00

This picture on the right has been making the rounds on Facebook. And, everyone has an opinion, of course, as to which one is more "beautiful". I apologize for the crude language at the top. I'm not sure what happened between the 1950s and 1960s, but clearly there was a change in ideal body size for women. It went from curvy (Marilyn Monroe) to skinny (Twiggy). And, then in the 70s and 80s the

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-45124906624539868202011-10-06T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-05T20:50:30.959-07:00

The tomato plants have been pulled. The last of the zucchinis are safely stowed in the freezer. And, the rest of summer's bounty is but a memory. Sure, the ground is being prepared for garlic and fava beans and the hoop houses are still working their magic on the chard, lettuce and carrots but, for the most part, the main season is over. For those of you who use gardening as therapy, working the

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-86313365021504896362011-10-05T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-04T21:17:19.354-07:00

Welcome to the second post of the Better Off Book Club! This is the second of three book club summary and discussion posts, covering the three sections of the book, Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology, by Eric Brende. Summary In Section 2: Growing, Eric gets to know the men in their community a lot better. When Eric goes to his first barn raising he not only gets to know many of the

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-11504166609465472602011-10-04T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-03T22:05:37.893-07:00

Well, after an illustrious 6 years, our GE Profile fridge finally kicked the bucket. Early last week it started making weird clicking noises in the evening. By the time I woke up the next morning, everything in the freezer compartment was defrosted and the fridge was up to 50 degrees. I went out and bought a few bags of ice and stuffed them in the fridge. Everything in the freezer that could be

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-84329062570734987092011-10-03T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-02T19:50:46.647-07:00

Parenting, in and of itself, is undoubtedly difficult. If you are one of those lucky parents that has the easy kids (and, by easy, I mean neurologically and behaviorally normal), it's hard to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Someone whose child or children don't behave or react normally. Last week's multitude of events around here brought into high relief once again that the job of a parent

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-15068024886583389102011-10-02T10:00:00.000-07:002011-10-02T11:00:43.774-07:00

Four years ago (and some change), my husband was diagnosed with a form of cancer that most people can't beat. He was given a prognosis of 3 years, with treatment. Well, after two stem cell transplants and years of chemotherapy, he's still kicking it with the help of chemo. Happy Birthday, Hank! I love you.

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-6297829051195970752011-10-01T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-30T20:27:51.756-07:00

This is one of my favorite posts and worth repeating. I ran this way back in 2008, but want to get an updated response. As people become more aware of our diminishing oil supplies and learn about the dangers of fracking, oil disasters and such, our collective understanding over the years will change. I hope. I promise this isn't going to be a Peak Oil blog all the time, I just wanted to put

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-2731596828037980362011-09-30T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-29T21:26:42.478-07:00

If you live in an area that frequently experiences power outages due to hurricanes, high winds and other storms, one of the things you want to have on hand during storm season is backup lighting. Candles are a sure bet, but they don’t put out much light and — if you want to choose options made from renewable, organic materials — beeswax and soy candles can get mighty expensive. There are

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-67985088676936557852011-09-29T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-28T21:32:21.504-07:00

Mother Earth News has an old article up in their newsletter about their Top 20 Homesteading Tools. I read through it, thinking that the vast majority of the suggestions just didn't apply to those of us who are urban homesteaders. So, I thought I'd come up with a list of my own. Here are my Top 11 Urban Homesteading Tools: 1. Garden Cart: I worked for years without one, dragging, hoisting and

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-8186424888471851412011-09-28T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-27T20:56:10.195-07:00

Welcome to the first post of the Better Off Book Club! I'll be doing three book club summary and discussion posts, covering the three sections of the book, Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology, by Eric Brende. Summary In Section 1: Planting, the author explains a little of his background, going from MIT graduate student studying the effects of technology on humanity to taking the

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-91152083278299759852011-09-27T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-26T21:14:40.851-07:00

As another follow-up to my recent money savings from removing or decreasing some unnecessary services, I wanted to add a few more things that we've done in the last week. As you may remember, last week we cancelled our home phone and long distance and reduced our cell phone and cable services. We also cancelled our NY Times subscription. All told, that was over $2,000 a year in savings. Well,

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-82951324541367489482011-09-26T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-25T21:14:37.592-07:00

I'm making my way through a bunch of books and thought I'd share with you what I'm currently reading. 1. The Wisdom of the Radish: and other lessons learned on a small farm, by Lynda Hopkins. Two ex-suburbanites move to the country to grow crops, raise chickens and sell the fruits of their labor at the local farmer's market. It first starts out sounding all pastoral and idyllic but ends in

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-43422285379189980202011-09-24T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-23T21:15:22.058-07:00

Emulating life in the late 1800s a la Little House on the Prairie is a lesson in conservation and frugality. Life may have been a whole lot tougher back then, but the end result was living life with less impact on the environment. For modern day pioneers, you get the environmental benefits as well as the money saving ones. And, if your financial portfolio is taking a nosedive, consider trying

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-21829405750305495392011-09-23T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-22T21:34:20.483-07:00

I haven't polled y'all on this topic in a long while and thought it would be a good time to check in with you. On what, you ask? On "feminine protection". It has such a dubious double meaning to it. I'll refrain from ranting about that one for now. Anyway, I was thinking the other day that I hadn't hosted a DivaCup Challenge in a long while and I figured it was probably not a bad thing since,

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com62tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-34450119396252640042011-09-22T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-13T10:15:06.347-07:00

I've been falling in love with our slow cooker and plan on using it more often. Since my husband has a new work schedule for fall, I'm going to be managing picking up the kids from school, doing homework and making dinner all before he gets home. Since I'll have been at work all day up until I get the kids, I won't have much time to do any prep work. Which is where using the slow cooker will

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-88560886747988794642011-09-21T12:00:00.000-07:002011-09-21T12:00:01.834-07:00

Our day neutral strawberries weren't producing anything in June. Or July. Or really even August. But now that summer has finally started in Seattle (as of the first week of September) our strawberry plants are going crazy. I've been picking almost a cup of berries a day and there are still a ton of green ones on the plants. If this warm weather holds out, we'll be looking at more strawberries (

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-68736737188952126422011-09-21T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-21T10:23:47.449-07:00

As you may recall, in the spring I started a book club about the book, Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology, by Eric Brende. I got one book club post published and another one written (unpublished) with one more remaining. I figure I should finally get off the pot and wipe. In any case, I'm resurrecting the book club. Yeah! For those of you new to this book, I'm including my original

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-86076176624231666712011-09-20T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-19T21:23:31.649-07:00

As the main gardening season starts wrapping up, I thought I'd look back on some of the things that didn't work out for me. Or, rather, due to my own negligence, I ended up with subpar, dead, or unfruitful crops. 1. Not watering enough - Sometimes I get a bug in my britches and plant a ton of vegetable starts, water them well and then accidentally forget about them. They generally still survive

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-19617238331461073892011-09-19T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-18T20:23:50.198-07:00

As a follow up to the post from a week or so ago about saving money, we did a couple things around the homestead that will be saving us a lot of money. First thing up, I cancelled our home phone and long distance service. I figured that, since we have two cell phones, having the home phone land line was overkill. Even though we were a little nervous about severing an emergency line, I figured we

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-17486777207740521962011-09-16T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-15T21:22:29.893-07:00

Well, I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. Field trials begin next month in the UK for experiments to engineer the climate. Using a balloon, researchers will hoist a 1 kilometer hose and attempt to pump water up and spray it into the atmosphere. This first trial is essentially to prove that it can be done. Ultimately, the plan is to pump large quantities of sulphate aerosols into

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-83817396817804821422011-09-15T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-14T20:55:03.705-07:00

With September in full swing and the weather cooling down rapidly, I start thinking of how long we can stretch it before we have to start turning on the heat. In anticipation of this year's Freeze Yer Buns Challenge, I'm always trying to calculate ways to reduce our heating costs. Since we heat with oil, I'm conscious of not only the carbon emissions impact, but the cost. We try to limit its

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-20830394353810225362011-09-14T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-13T20:52:54.602-07:00

On Saturday, I dragged the kids down to their school for our annual pillaging of the blackberry bushes. Well, basically, I pillage while they play on the equipment. The slope is too steep for them and is composed mainly of sand and, this year, I had the added bonus of the grass being cut and left to dry. So, it was slippery slope covered in slippery hay on slippery sand. Needless to say, I fell

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-63578773331809527142011-09-13T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-12T20:42:56.629-07:00

I've been reading a bit lately about how long-form blog posts are going the way of the dodo bird. People are not visiting blogs anymore to get their information but are relying, alternatively, on social media. In particular Facebook and Twitter. I, myself, am guilty of spending way more time on Facebook than I should (Twitter is another story - I can't stand it). In fact, I post many times a day

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-34221519095860880292011-09-12T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-11T20:23:30.567-07:00

Saturday was our community yard sale and, as I was walking Paco early Saturday morning, I noticed that the house that has the huge elderberry bush out front was going to participate. So, I decided that I should stop by to easily talk to the owners about seeing if they use their berries and, if not, if I could harvest them. We have an elderberry bush that I planted this year, but it's not yet

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-19666853541931952442011-09-09T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-08T20:43:05.446-07:00

We took a short trip up to the Crystal Mountain area in the Cascades for Labor Day weekend. It was a last hurrah before the kids went back to school. Since we were going to be in a fairly remote area (well, not too close to any grocery stores), we packed up the car with clothes, food, kids and dog and headed out. We had a great weekend hiking, playing in the heated pool, hot tub, playing

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-57947675309206179492011-09-08T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-07T20:49:00.677-07:00

In honor of the end of our chicken, Sarah's, long and protracted bout of broodiness, we had eggs for dinner last night. Yes, that's right, Sarah started hanging out back down in the run last week and yesterday finally laid her first egg in almost 2.5 months. In spite of wanting to throw her in the pot, we just let her do her thing. I finally got a system down where I'd flip the nesting box

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-66996139612533344632011-09-07T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-06T20:59:25.633-07:00

Here's a quickie post, but hopefully it will get a lot of comments for people to learn from. Aside from just not buying stuff you don't need, what's your favorite money-saving tips? My favorites are: • Reducing energy and water usage • Refinancing our mortgage • Planning our meals in advance so we rarely eat out • Spending little on entertainment (which means lots of free outdoor activities)

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-67118544931502220772011-09-06T00:00:00.000-07:002011-09-05T21:09:36.557-07:00

For those of you curious about the results of the winner of the home energy audit I hosted as a giveaway earlier this year for this year's Freeze Yer Buns challenge, you can read about it on the blog, Concrete to Chickens, Home Energy Audit Results. The blog author gives an honest assessment of the audit and what he got out of it as well as a bunch of pictures of the audit itself. It is pretty

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-84938966744278722092011-09-01T00:00:00.000-07:002011-08-31T20:15:14.479-07:00

With new research showing troubling findings about toxic chemicals in tattoo inks (including some phthalates, metals, and hydrocarbons that are carcinogens and endocrine disruptors) I thought it would be a good time to repost an excerpt from my book on tattoo toxicity. The following is a draft excerpt from my book, The Non-Toxic Avenger, that will be coming out in November 2011 from New Society

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-83509669265410230712011-08-31T00:00:00.000-07:002011-08-30T20:03:01.699-07:00

Do you remember my fridge that I was complaining about years ago? Well, let me remind you. We bought it when we first moved into our house 6 years ago. Back then we bought a fancy new Energy Star GE Profile stainless steel refrigerator with french doors. Let me tell you it was not cheap. I'm wishing we had gotten a cheapo Kenmore instead because it's not worth the cost. About three and a half

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-10485467970207832442011-08-30T09:00:00.000-07:002011-08-30T10:16:09.395-07:00

On Monday, in Seattle, there was a groundbreaking for the first of 12 livable buildings to be completed here. This six-story building is being billed as the greenest commercial building on earth. It will be the largest net-zero energy and net-zero water building ever built. The Bullitt Center will be sporting some of the following features: All energy will be produced by solar power Most

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-74788991375891850622011-08-29T00:00:00.000-07:002011-08-28T21:18:13.762-07:00

Aside from the myriad books I'm reading in researching my potential new book, I thought I'd share some of the things I'm currently reading: 1. The Wisdom of the Radish: and other lessons learned on a small farm, by Lynda Hopkins. Two ex-suburbanites move to the country to grow crops, raise chickens and sell the fruits of their labor at the local farmer's market. It first starts out sounding all

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-49910883561571371362011-08-25T00:00:00.000-07:002011-08-24T21:00:14.062-07:00

I was listening to my local NPR station the other morning and they were talking about how boys in villages in Northern Uganda were being abducted in the middle of the night a number of years ago in order to try to convince them to join their military (the Lord's Resistance Army). It certainly is an interesting way of going about getting new recruits. Anyway, somebody on the show mentioned that

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-41629938558979514982011-08-24T00:00:00.000-07:002011-08-23T21:03:12.263-07:00

This year is the first time I've heard of Hatch chiles, the apparently notorious chile pepper that hails from Hatch, NM. Lovers of this smoky, spicy pepper wait with bated breath for these luscious green babies to come in and annual events in Texas and New Mexico herald their arrival. I managed to score myself a batch of them over the weekend and got down to roasting them. While I ended up

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-33766583588457749912011-08-22T18:00:00.000-07:002011-08-22T18:00:02.991-07:00

I'm speaking tonight at the Sustainable Ballard monthly meeting (this month's topic is on Simple Living) and wanted to get this out before I head out. The winner of the $25 giftcard to Ecomom is: Sarah of the blog, Desiderata. Congrats! Send your email address to me at crunchychickenblog@gmail.com and I'll forward the giftcard to you.

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-83403893369343514622011-08-22T00:00:00.000-07:002011-08-21T21:45:54.912-07:00

We had a pretty uneventful weekend. I didn't get some fall planting done that I wanted to because of being busy. But we did end up going to the Ballard p-patch Art in the Garden again this year. I bought some earrings from a local artist, we bought some flowers grown in the p-patch (see picture below) and generally just poked around. Sunday we took Paco to the off-leash dog park and I let the

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-2169690242087790222011-08-19T10:00:00.000-07:002011-08-22T07:31:36.792-07:00

A few weeks ago I was part of a Twitter party on toxins in relation to my upcoming book, The Non-Toxic Avenger: What you don't know can hurt you. It hits the presses next month and will be available sometime after October 17th. This is one of the reasons I haven't been posting lately, I've been busy responding to copy editing changes, proof reading the galley and coordinating endorsements, etc.

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-36839379636612230462011-08-16T00:00:00.000-07:002011-08-15T21:08:37.414-07:00

On our vacation to Oahu, we went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. In addition to the amazing reef life there are a few other, notable critters to consider. The first is the mongoose. We saw one while we were walking on our way up to the entrance. Apparently, they were introduced to take care of the rats as there are no native snakes on the island. It turns out that something like 99% of the flora (

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-47615012124932471532011-08-15T00:00:00.000-07:002011-08-14T20:58:45.234-07:00

Hey there! I've been off the Internet wagon for a while on vacation with the family. We spent 11 glorious days in Oahu swimming with reef fish and sea turtles and generally having a fabulous time. However, of course, there's a huge cost to all this fun. So, don't think it didn't cross my mind. First off, there's the carbon footprint of flying from Seattle to Hawaii. We will buy some carbon

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-55572548238087614322011-07-25T12:00:00.000-07:002011-07-25T13:31:01.434-07:00

Sunday we finally got some warm weather in Seattle and I think it got close to about 80 degrees. Of course, we're back to cold weather and rain today, but I'll take what I can get. Over the weekend, I harvested all of our onions and got them ready for storage. Same thing with the garlic - they've been drying outside for a while now and I clipped them and got them ready for final drying before I

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-37262348237971753342011-07-20T12:00:00.000-07:002011-07-21T09:57:15.845-07:00

I am in absolutely no position to dispense advice on how to keep cool during the summer. While most of the U.S. is experiencing insufferably hot temperatures, I've been wearing a sweater and a coat. Not to complain or anything, but this temperature inversion has caused us here in Seattle to have an extra cool summer. In fact, the statistic running around is that we've experienced only 78 minutes

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-34176762847283397472011-07-12T00:00:00.000-07:002011-07-11T21:58:36.146-07:00

Sunday I went a little nuts with harvesting the food growing in our urban backyard. I started out picking cherries - about 2 cups worth. I know this doesn't sound like much but the tree is young and I've let the squirrels have their fair share. I then worked on harvesting all the carrots, sugar snap peas and some radishes for a week+ of salads. This included a head of romaine and a bunch of red

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542806651392353413.post-45528047563760090202011-07-05T00:00:00.000-07:002011-07-04T22:09:19.025-07:00

Even though it's early July, everything is running weeks behind in the garden. Our strawberries are finally getting ripe and our cherries are probably a week or two away from being edible. Our greens are doing well, but things like cucumbers and zucchinis are still tiny and look very unpromising. I finally got around to planting our three tomato plants yesterday. Two of them had some fruit on

Crunchy Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10612320939936593420noreply@blogger.com12