nena FINE grant at work
The North End Neighborhood Association (NENA) – was the first place I started when looking for support for the SNOW Block Alley project. Not only did receiving one of their FINE (Funds to Improve the North End) Grants help me financially but it also gave me the...
diy almond milk
I first met Andrew Wilder of Eating Rules at Camp Blogaway in May and then saw him again in July at the Orlando Food & Wine Conference. Here I got to spend more time with him and found out about his October Unprocessed campaign – a month dedicated to reducing or...
north end alley now a cool place to hang out
When the Idaho Statesman called me for an interview about the SNOW Block alley project, I was excited. And then on the morning of August 18, my phone started blowing up at 6:00 a.m. Not only was there a great article in the paper, it was on the front page! A huge...
jaialdi 2015
For one week every 5 years, I am transported to another country without leaving my own city. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I'm going to be lobbying hard to come back as Basque. Or maybe I was already a Basque in another lifetime. That would certainly...
roasted beets with salted yogurt
My dad is in his late 80's and still grows a garden big enough to feed a small third world nation. Everyone tells him that he should cut back. Make the garden smaller. Grow less. Spend more time relaxing and less time planting, and harvesting, and weeding. My mom is...
how our garden grows
Seems like these days I'm always way behind on the posts about the alley but it's hard to have much time to write about it when I'm still working on it! At the root of it all (pun intended) – we could't have done our alley project without the help of our sponsors,...
pull tabs, not corks
For the Edible Idaho Summer 2015 edition, I jump into the budding trend of putting wine in cans. A special thanks to Guy Hand for all the lovely photos. If you’d like to see the complete online version of the magazine, click here. The Strange Folks at Split Rail...
free standing garden trellis
When I was dreaming of the alley project and an alley lined by edible vertical gardens, fruit trees were an integral part of that vision. I'd always thought espaliered trees were very cool but had been a bit intimidated. Sometimes you just have to jump in with both...
now that’s a rain barrel!
Here in the high dessert of Idaho, it doesn't rain a lot so when it does, I want to make sure and capture as much of it as possible. Especially when the two barrels we are installing as part of the alley project will be for the use of anyone in the block to water the...
the day the alley got paved
I have clearly underestimated the excitement of fresh asphalt as the day the alley got paved, I actually took the day off of work. It's not that I necessarily planned it that way but it was a long road in coming and I didn't want to miss a minute. Paving an Alley in...
easy garden trellis
Having an idea is one thing but bringing it to fruition is a whole other can of worms. If it wasn't for the sponsors that supported our alley project and our vision right from the beginning I can easily say it would have never happened. It would have simply been cost...
fudge protein balls
A few weeks ago I spent a weekend at Camp Blogaway, a self proclaimed "bootcamp for food and bloggers". We had a host of great sponsors, including Canadian Lentils. I have to admit, I can't even remember the last time I cooked lentils. But when chef Christine Farkas,...