http://www.gritmedia.net/blog Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:36:46 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en After much deliberation, I ordered a sewing machine from Amazon. I promptly unpacked it, then stared, mystified, at all of its complicated plasticky bits. I laid the little tools out on the table. I learned what a bobbin is. I threaded the machine approximately 657 times, watched a YouTube video ... http://www.gritmedia.net/blog/2008/08/06/sew-obsessed/ It's weird -- every couple of mornings, I hear the girl upstairs wailing and crying and screaming "I hate you" to her boyfriend. Every night I hear their television, and what sometimes sounds like a first-person shooter video game. Dan hears their TV at 4 AM when he gets up ... http://www.gritmedia.net/blog/2008/08/01/the-good-of-the-country/ Today Bix turns two. I fed him a big breakfast and let him go back to sleep in our bed. This is not so much different than his normal routine -- he's a lazy dog, and doesn't get out of bed until we do, and likes to return there once ... http://www.gritmedia.net/blog/2008/06/24/happy-birthday-bix/ One Local Summer hasn't officially started up yet, but here in Berkshire county, we're eating local several days a a week thanks to the amazing, beautiful bounty of the Caretaker Farm CSA. Tonight we had a positively sublime summer salad due, in part, to a bit of a cheesemaking fluke. ... http://www.gritmedia.net/blog/2008/06/22/early-summer-salad-with-peas-radishes-and-buttermilk-dressing/ Oh, hello. Is it really halfway through June already? So, the wee garden I'd worked so hard to cultivate this spring was reduced to a withering heap of green last week when a relentless and brutal heatwave descended over the Berkshires for three days. It was the talk of the town: ... http://www.gritmedia.net/blog/2008/06/17/adventures-in-gardening/ The Brattleboro Farmers' Market is a little over an hour's drive from our place in northwestern MA, but, much to my surprise, it's only a mere 45 miles -- albeit on twisting country roads and over the beautiful Green Mountains. (Why isn't Vermont Monts Verts, I always wonder...) Well within ... http://www.gritmedia.net/blog/2008/05/18/nettle-soup/ This morning, over pain a la ancienne and strong coffee with cream, I read a striking passage in a book of essays by Wendell Berry. I turned it over in my head a few times -- it seemed right, and timely, working as I am right now full-time on launching ... http://www.gritmedia.net/blog/2008/05/16/meaning/ On Saturday morning I went out for my usual early-morning walk with Bix, down by the riverside. It was just after eight, but instead of feeling bleary-eyed, I was alert, almost tingling. I watched the river rush past the sandy shore and saw, right in front of me, the unfurling ... http://www.gritmedia.net/blog/2008/05/12/spring-ramp-risotto/ A sure sign of spring in New York City is the arrival of fiddlehead ferns and ramps in the Union Square Greenmarket. Through the wet, gray winter I'd pined for those first green leaves' arrival, and nearly leaped for joy when I finally spotted them some late April morning on ... http://www.gritmedia.net/blog/2008/05/09/herby-fiddlehead-ferns-orechiette/ Today we received our first spring greens from semi-local Sidehill Farm. We carpool with friends to pick up veggies from their greenhouse. This week: teenaged chard (above -- I'm calling it that, since it's not baby, but not big), bok choi, white radishes, pea shoots (LOVE), salad mix, and spinach. ... http://www.gritmedia.net/blog/2008/05/01/green-green-green/