Monthly Archives: July 2010

Word Watch – Have To

July 30, 2010 Posted by Issa under Think About It
3 Comments

How often do you say that you “have to” do something? You have to go to work. You have to pay the bills. You have to call your mother. You have to clean the house. We use this little phrase constantly. It’s such a tiny phrase, but it has great, big implications!

The message behind “have to” is that you don’t have a choice. The choice has already been made for you, and your actions are inevitable. What a sad dismissal of our ability to choose the direction of our own lives! Keep Reading

Nutrition Advice Gone Awry

July 28, 2010 Posted by Issa under Kitchen
7 Comments

It can be hard to follow along with all the nutrition advice out there. Eggs good or bad? How many glasses of wine? This fish or that fish? And that’s not even counting the moral choices of free-range, free trade, etc. Keep Reading

The Opposite of Now

July 25, 2010 Posted by Issa under Nature
No Comments

I cleaned up my computer a bit last night, deleting unused files and programs and sorting everything so I could find it all easier. I ran across some photos that I’d forgotten about. It’s strange to see photos of The Wallow covered in snow, when it’s 90 degrees out right now. Since we’re not using air conditioning it’s 80 degrees inside. Joshua and I have taken several measures to help cool our home naturally, but at the height of summer, there’s only so much you can do! It was fun to run across these pictures from the complete opposite weather. Keep Reading

Eating Meat

July 21, 2010 Posted by Issa under Animals
23 Comments

I have said for a long time that if I couldn’t kill an animal for food, then I would want to become a vegetarian. I’ve never said that I had to kill an animal, or that everyone should. I never actively sought out the experience of doing so. But, I said that if the opportunity arose and I couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t want to eat meat anymore.

I’ve always wanted to be closer to that process and to learn how I felt about it and to see how that would affect my thoughts on eating meat. Keep Reading

Issa’s Italian Spice Mix

July 19, 2010 Posted by Issa under Kitchen
2 Comments

Last week I made sun-dried tomatoes to go in my custom spice mix. I love this mix and use it on all kinds of things. My favorite is to use it liberally on fried potatoes, but I’ve been known to sprinkle it over all kinds of things. I used to just by random Italian seasoning mixes at the grocery store, but it’s even more fun to make my own. Just a mortar and pestle and a bunch of stuff thrown in, and I think it comes out super yummy.

Here’s the recipe in case you want to try yourself. Keep Reading

How To Make Sun-Dried Tomatoes

July 14, 2010 Posted by Issa under Kitchen
5 Comments

I’ve got a spice mix I make that really needs sun-dried tomatoes. They’re expensive, though, and there are plenty of tomatoes coming out of the garden. I could make my own! I did, and they came out great, so if you’d like to try it yourself, here’s the process. Are sun-dried tomatoes from the store actually dried in the sun? Nope. And yours don’t have to be, either. You can use your oven or a… Keep Reading

Chickens in the Yard

July 12, 2010 Posted by Issa under Animals
No Comments

Joshua and I got four chickens a couple of months ago. Joshua built a movable chicken coop for them, which they’ve been kept in full time. They are laying eggs regularly, now, very consistently three a day. This past week, Joshua decided it was time to let them out during the day. Now, the four chickens wander about the yard during the day and wander back into the coop in the evening. Keep Reading

Next Page »