Last week I went to my first professional conference: the Arts in Our Communities conference in Charleston. This two-day conference was free to attend, and open to anyone. Judging from the attendees I met, it attracted a mix of artists and arts organizers — or more often, people who are ...
After eating a particularly pungent shiitake mushroom a couple years ago, my daughter decided then and there that she didn’t like any mushrooms. Recently, she begged for seconds — of mushrooms very different from the original offending shiitake. These were lion’s mane mushrooms. I ...
For a few days around Christmas, when my family was all together, we decided to stay off our phones. I turned on my “do not disturb” setting for the first time, and enjoyed the digital fast. This month, I’ve been into board games. I borrowed a game — Wingspan — from a friend and ...
BY ALDONA BIRD Many jars have long-term residences in my fridge. Some of them come and then depart at excruciatingly slow rates (with just a little of their contents used at a time), while others have identities lost to the sands of time. These long-term jars are about half ferments and ...
Salt of the earth is a compliment, but salting the earth is bad. However, this time of year we salt roads to melt ice and that salt does not simply disappear once the roads are safe. It dissolves and runs off, contaminating the soil and water around roadways. According to an article ...
I’ve been trying to form a new healthy habit. It isn’t so much a new year resolution, but more a strategy of desperation. In December my family was almost continuously sick — especially my daughter. I’ve noticed that both she and I have lost a lot of stamina during our protracted ...