Category Archives: food

roadtrip to tucson

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Earlier this summer, Aimee, Stephanie, Ryan and I traveled down to Tucson to get out of town.  The heat was inescapable as Tucson has relatively the same temperature as Phoenix, but it does have an interesting artsy, indie, hippie culture which is an oasis in itself.  In the downtown fourth avenue area, we ate at a vegetarian restaurant with a morroccan theme for lunch, purused the books at a liberal bookstore, and drank coffee at a stand with a back patio.  I watched the three others pick up mesquite pods from the dirty sidewalk in front of where we parked; they intended to make flour from the pods, but Stephanie said they went bad after a couple of forgotten weeks in the car. We also picked up native Arizonan seeds from the Native Seed Search store.  We finished the day trip with a visit to a local coffee roaster where Aimee managed to talk the owner into buying all of our drinks, and we ate dinner at the Korean restaurant next door.  And we played “Hinky-Pinky” for about a full dirty hour on the return drive.

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Pump for Chandler Biodiesel

Woot! This is really exciting news. Some friends of mine have cars that run on biodiesel, and I know that it is inconvienient to collect and process one’s own grease. Having a local source for already converted oil will be a huge step for those who have been considering the switch. It sounds as though it will be at a much lower cost than traditional diesel as well.

More and more alternatives to traditional fuel will be a better solution than one. In other words, we can’t all switch to one other type of fuel–we need diversity. A community that has a strong mass transit system combined with telecommuting, biking, electric and algae fueled cars, motorcycles, and transportation options that haven’t been invented yet are a better solution than simply processing mass quantities of corn and soy for fuel.

Growing food like we have been is not sustainable and is poisoning our water and land. We need to return to closed system farming that recycles the waste of animals into fertilizer for the crops. Farms like Polyface Farms in Vermont are an example of the types of farms we need to support as consumers. I know here in Arizona we have access to CSA‘s and local farms like Crooked Sky Farms and Tonopah Rob’s Farm from which we can buy our produce.

If you aren’t able to garden yourself, I recommend joining a local CSA or finding out how you can buy produce at a farmer’s market.

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community garden

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So the garden is looking pretty good.  If anyone is dying for arugala–come and get it.  There is aplenty.  Even though it was pretty late in the season, we managed some broccoli and this one small cabbage head.  The chickens get to eat most of the late winter crops because the aphids seem to target anything that liked the colder weather.  Hopefully, the chickens will start to lay eggs soon.  We are talking about buying a dairy cow.  If you want in, let me or Wendi know. (preferably Wendi because her friend will keep it.)  The purple beans are looking beautiful.  I cannot wait to try them.  I hope they produce a million beans.

it’s coming…

Taco Day Tres is May 10th! 10am-10pm

View last year’s tally: Taco Day Dos

Donations will benefit: JustOne

Mark your calendars!

Location will be at the Newsome house in downtown Phoenix.  (Don’t know where that is?  Send me an email, and I will send you directions).

anniversary numero seis

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David and I shared our sixth anniversary yesterday.  On Saturday we ate dinner at the Citrus Cafe which is a little French restaurant just down the road from us.  Everything was delicious, and my amuse-bouche definitely amused my bouche.  The last one was a homemade tarragon ice cream.

I can’t believe how quickly six years goes by…it seems as though we just married yet we’ve known each other for so long.  I’m so happy to be married to David.  He is intelligent, funny, hard-working, and he makes a mean tuna casserole.  I am not kidding.

work day for front garden

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The planning…

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Tilling by hand…weren’t sure if we would have access to the roto-tiller. But those guys really tore it up–great job Adams and Jacob!

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Thank you, Sonny. He also tilled the side of the yard where we plan on placing the tomatoes.

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Winter lettuce

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Chalk drawings

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Our forewoman, Layla

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I think this was leftover from New Year’s Eve…

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Chico, Verdi, Avacado…what is your name?

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Baby Shea never fails to provide a beautiful photo.

(All photos with the exception of the bird courtesy of Stephanie. All editing by Jamie)