As two Midwesterners who moved to Puget Sound, we found out exactly how little we knew about seafood. After all, the fish we grew up on came out of lakes and streams. Today fishing industries around the world – both finfish and shellfish – are continuing to harvest as large a quantity of fish as possible, mostly without regard to the remaining fish stocks, the environmental effects of wild and farmed catch, and the careful labeling and identification of the product in restaurants and markets. And to make matters worse, we are facing the introduction of genetically engineered fish into the American food system.
Read more: Fishy Fish Tales
If you think watching a documentary about wild fish sounds boring, this film may well change your mind. It provides sobering insight into the inner workings of government agencies, and includes rare footage of the bureaucrats tasked with food and environmental safety. It reveals how the very agency tasked with protecting wild salmon is actually working to protect the commercial aquaculture industry, to devastating effect.
Read more: Salmon Confidential
Lea McEvilly, April 23rd, 2013 
I had never seen the cherries so beautiful! The birds and I were in a cherry picking frenzy! There was plenty for all to enjoy, although I did protect one tree with the “famous inflatable fake snake.” The birds would not go near it, but they still were free to stuff themselves on the other two trees. We had been enjoying cherry pies, tarts, coffee cake, and cherry topping for ice cream. It was good that I was getting plenty of exercise!
Read more: Voices From the Farm: Coyotes Threaten and Snakes in the Cherry Tree
When it was first issued, Tassajara Cooking became an overnight classic. Ed Brown’s recipes for cooking—for learning to appreciate all the steps involved in making a meal, from selecting the ingredients to serving the finished dish—struck a chord with people who care about food and nutrition. This groundbreaking book, in a completely redesigned format, is just as timely and relevant today, more than thirty years later.
Read more: Tassajara Cooking by Edward Espe Brown
It’s Spring and we’ve got strawberries! Well, actually we have strawberry flowers! Fragaria vesca – the wild woodland strawberries native to the Pacific Northwest – are starting to bloom! Those lovely little white flowers (generally 1/2″ to 5/8″ across) begin blooming here in early to mid-April and soon produce tiny sweet fruit. Fruit that is often no bigger than the nail on your little finger.
Read more: Spring’s Promise: The Wild Strawberry
Ina Denburg, April 19th, 2013 
With gratitude I stand on the shoulders of all those who illuminated the path before me as I walked. Special thanks to you Ed Brown, for the Tassajara Cooking book. Your light still shines within me as I help to illuminate the path for others. And I still recommend your book.
Read more: Loving Veggies on the Shoulders of Ed Espe Brown
Kate Hilmer, April 15th, 2013 
These past few weeks have been a flurry of activity in our little house. As we shake off the shreds of winter to welcome in spring, the birdsong outside our window is echoed by an entirely new sound inside – the nearly constant chirping coming from a box in the corner of our living room.
Read more: Kate’s in the Kitchen: Living the Chicken Life
Lea McEvilly, April 15th, 2013 
Together Big Jumbo and her twin, Big Mumbo, produced 65 lambs in their lifetimes. With the multiple births several lambs were lost, but those saved earned Big Mumbo a Lifetime Lambing Average of 325%, and Big Jumbo a 250% Lifetime Lambing Average. Thankfully, their genes were still well represented in our flock by their offspring retained over the years.
Read more: Voices From the Farm: Recalling a Chicken Dinner, Sans the Chicken
Washington State University Extension, Snohomish County, has field tests in place using locally produced compost (from Cedar Grove) as an experimental input on local farms.
Read more: Back to the Future: Compost on Local Farms
When the grocery store in Elwood, Nebraska, closed in January 2012, Sharlette Schwenninger and LeahAnn Brell went into action. Today, the Elwood Hometown Cooperative Market has a bright future in a vibrant, engaged rural community.
Read more: When a Grocery Store Closes, a Co-op Opens
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The A/V Department Video: Gene Yale grows 170+ apple trees in a city lot. By growing tiny little trees – grafted and managed like Bonsai – Gene has 3-foot apple treas that bear full size fruit.
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Photo of the Month Pig Mania
Crown S Ranch, Winthrop WA
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