Hair of the Dog

Photo from the Daily Telegraph I’ve often said, badly paraphrasing Mark Twain: “Everyone complains about dog hair, but no one does anything about it.” Well, now someone has — and at the exact moment when it can help alleviate the ecological disaster of the BP Gulf oil spill. Turns out there is an innovative charity called A Matter of Trust that has figured out...

Under the Worm Moon

I have a great app for my iPhone. It’s called Moon Phase, and it tells me, on any given day, what phase the moon is in and scientific factoids such as how close to the earth it’s passing and what constellation it’s in. It also tells me the name of the moon, depending on who I want to refer to: the English, American Colonial Tradition, Native American, Medieval...

Miscellanea: Kitchens, Carrots and Sweet...

Native bees mating. This post contains a bit of real news and some wrapping up of recent loose ends. First of all, the kitchen back in the house in San Francisco. It’s going through a complete overhaul. Yes, we do it once every 27 years, whether it needs it or not. Beside the Spring chores, this overhaul is one of the reasons I’ve fled the City and am living up in Sonoma...

Cutting the Mustard

Kermit the Frog had it right. It’s not easy being Green. It’s even harder being Native. Tell it to Sitting Bull. That doesn’t stop us from fighting the good fight here at Two Terrier Vineyards. We are blessed with a unique piece of land. Unique mostly because it was neglected for probably hundreds of years. While we have evidence — grinding stones and...

So Now I’m A Kindle Kid

I don’t shop. I hate shopping, especially for clothes. I force myself to shop for clothes once every two years whether I need it or not. But I confine myself to no more than three stores and no more than three hours. (Usually Talbots, REI and Target can fill all my needs.) But I do buy books. Lots of books. I buy books on-line. I never pass up a used book store. I’ll buy...

The Time Whole Foods Got It Right

Whole Foods has taken a lot of heat recently — mostly due to CEO John MacKey’s Wall Street Journal Op-Ed piece on the Health Care debate. What sparked a lot of criticism was his somewhat clueless opinion that if people would only eat organic food, they wouldn’t need expensive health care. Aside from the fact that this doesn’t take into account accidents,...