I’ve been to Kettleman City, California. Sort of. I’ve been to the part at the junction of I-5 and Highway 41, which is where we would turn off to go and visit my grandparents in Lompoc. It’s a cluster of fast food restaurants, gas stations, and motels. Shamefully, I’ve never thought about any people

Severe flooding in Pakistan began July 29, but the emergency is ongoing. Aid organizations have been there from the beginning, but newscasts throughout the month of August reported that many people were having trouble getting assistance. CNN reported in mid-August that the number of Pakistanis needing urgent help is twice t

It’s back to work week for me! And it’ll be back to school week next week. Both of these present challenges, but I’m also participating in a couple of bike challenges this month. 30 Days of Biking has returned for September! This Minneapolis-based event is open to everyone in the world. The only rule for [

We watched a documentary last night — THE END OF SUBURBIA: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream. It’s very interesting, and some of what they predicted (the movie came out in 2004) has already happened. But here’s one takeaway for me. There’s another reason for buying local, besides j

We’re now getting a handful of cherry tomatoes every day. But the really exciting news is that the canning tomatoes are starting to ripen! They’re just beginning to turn yellow. These are Heinz 2653, specially bred for canning. I have frozen tomatoes before, but have never canned them, so I’m looking forwa

I mentioned in my car-free wrap-up that I’ve been doing the Couch to 5K running program this summer. Want to know more? Sure you do! There’s even a tech component. The Couch to 5K running plan was developed by Cool Running. It’s a nine-week program that starts you off by alternating 60 seconds of jogging [

My middle daughter turned eight today. She planned her own celebration, including the transportation. This is what she chose to do. First, we biked down and picked up her friend. Then the three of us biked to the local Izzy’s restaurant (for which we had a coupon) for lunch. Then we biked home for presents, [...]

So far, all of my pictures and most of my updates have featured the vegetable bed in the front yard. It’s pretty well established now, and I don’t have to do much with it right now besides water and weed. The tomatoes aren’t ripe yet, and the beans haven’t started beaning. I’ve been picking abo

No, we did NOT get Chinese take-out! Chicken Fried Rice was actually a great way to use up leftovers and things we already had on hand. I used the remains of a roasted chicken, some long-frozen carrots, homemade chicken broth, and fresh green onions and zucchini from the garden. Here’s my recipe, adapted from an [...]

It’s been a week since I wrapped up the car-free challenge. Things have pretty much gone back to the way they were before, meaning that I don’t go out all that much, but I generally do use the car. That’s the status quo for summer. When I go back to work, I will be bicycle [...]

I follow a wide range of people on Twitter. Well, truthfully, I’m probably more likely to follow people who are like me. But they’re not 100% like me. Anyway, some of the people I follow are in agriculture. Some are organic farmers, and some are more conventional farmers. Farmer Haley falls more on the side [...

Yeah, I know, I said I was going to do 11 days. But my husband and I both have to attend a meeting tomorrow before we go to pick the kid up from camp, so it’s simply not going to be a car-free day. I’m too tired tonight to recap the whole thing, but I [...]

Yeah, I’m ready to be done with this car-free thing. I was really not enthusiastic about it today. I wanted to just frakking jump into the car and do what needed to be done. I used the 3-speed to run an errand (the bank), and then set to work fixing that back tire. I checked [...]

I thought we were all ready for the big ride down the hill to the camp bus. But before loading up my daughter’s stuff, I checked the tire pressure on the Xtracycle. The rear tire was low. I started putting more air in, but it wasn’t getting any better. Then the neighbor’s power washer turned [...]

I can’t believe it’s Day 7! And today, for the first time, I found myself wishing it were all over.  I pushed through it, though, and biked out on my getting-the-kid-ready-for-camp errands. I even took pictures this time! First stop was at Dollar Tree. Actually, I got most of the things she needed here: shampoo

Yep, I totally just stayed in today. I signed up for SOHO Action Day with the SOHO Solutionist, Brandie Kajino, and worked on writing and sending query letters and writing an article. And my dear, dear husband took care of the children and the house, and they stopped at the store while they were out, [...]

The big girls are quite steady on their bikes now, so I threw the youngest on the back of the Xtracycle tonight and took them all to the park. They played, and I ran/walked the walking/jogging trail. I’m continuing on to Day 6 and beyond – is anyone else ready to post a comment or [...]

Nothing very eventful today. I made another bike trip to the grocery store this evening. I left after 7:30 p.m., and it was actually dusky enough on the way back that I turned my lights on. The garden is finally bursting forth! The tomatoes are fruiting and outgrowing their cages. The zucchini are finally getting [...]

We finally have all three kids biking on their own! Oldest daughter has moved up to an adult bike. Middle daughter just tonight moved up to the middle bike and started riding without training wheels. Youngest daughter is now on the smallest bike, with the training wheels on. Yay! But I forgot to take any [...]

Today I rode the Xtracycle to the grocery store. That’s not so unusual. I often stop by the store after work. In fact, I think it’s easier to stop on the Xtracycle than it is in a car. I pull in, lock up, and go inside — no searching for a parking spot, and the [...]

Well, it is Sunday, after all! We simply didn’t go anywhere today. We decided that Trek in the Park was likely to be miserable on a hot day, during the hottest part of the day. And we didn’t need to go anywhere else. I did, however, get up early and work in the garden, so [...]

OK, I have FIVE people committed to one car-free day each. So I will be doing at LEAST five days car free this coming week. But feel free to sign up if you haven’t already; I’ll add you in! Thank you to John Metta, Jessica Weissman, Kathy Baxter, Juan Roman Magdaraog and Melody Murray! Please [...]

I’ve been car-free before. My first two years at Mills College, in Oakland, California, I didn’t have a car.  I was already used to taking buses, so I fearlessly used buses and BART almost immediately upon arrival, sometimes dragging friends along with me. I was surprised that many of my new friends had never u

Today I took my bike out for the first ride of any significant length since school got out. Shame on me! I’ve had all kinds of excuses for not riding my bike, but most don’t hold up if you look at them very long. Today, though, I used the bike to pick up a flat [...]

Yes, we’re in the midst of a 90-degrees-plus (Fahrenheit) heat wave, and I’m blogging about winter. No, it doesn’t keep me particularly cool. In fact, my first reaction to seeing Cooking Up a Story’s video on starting a winter garden is to resist, run, hide my head under a pillow. I have enough work

The sun and heat have finally arrived in Oregon! We had a very cool, wet spring (almost a non-spring), which did affect gardens. But now the tomato plants are doing well, although there’s still no fruit. And we should be eating zucchini within a day or two. The carrots and green onions are finally getting [...]

After making my strawberry freezer jam, our neighbor (a young, single lady) came over with two more bags of strawberries! She also gave us some strawberry plants, as hers are spreading too far. I decided to try the Small Batch Strawberry Jam recipe that I’d seen at Cooking Up a Story, and made three jars [...]

You want to start preserving? This is, like, the easiest thing ever. Seriously. Even easier than applesauce (well, at least for me, because I don’t have a food mill). What you need: Four one-pint containers of strawberries, 1 1/2 cups sugar (or sugar substitute), 1 envelope Ball No-Cook Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin (may a

Have you read Your Brain On Computers, from the New York Times? The article details the lives of a family that’s having trouble with heavy technology use, perhaps an Internet addiction. My husband often accuses me of being addicted to the Internet, and sometimes, when I stay up too late doing pretty much nothing, I [.

We don’t have MSNBC, so I hadn’t see this clip from The Rachel Maddow Show before. If you haven’t watched it, you should. But basically, she shows, through newscast clips from 1979, that it’s all happened before. The IXTOC well blew out June 3, 1979, due to a failure in the blowout preventer. They co