The Radical Homemaker

Warning: Blending authenticity with joy may arouse contempt.

I am not sorry.

For Halloween this year, Saoirse dressed as a flapper. Ula dressed up as a vampiress from Venice. I went as Frantic Mother. I’ve worn that costume for over a decade now. But this was the first year I actually realized I was clothed in it. It was early October when I finally started to figure […]

Making Neighbors

Is it possible to stay neighborly if they’re detonating explosives next door? Don’t move to Upstate New York if you can’t abide the sound of gunfire.  This time of year, it reverberates across every ridge top and echoes down every valley.  It blasts out from the next field over, and the next porch over. I’m […]

Where does eternity go for supper?

In the death that signifies the end of the growing season, I wondered if I would ever know forever.  Then I met it for dinner.   Until it’s time to carve the turkeys, I work almost completely alone on the day of the community turkey supper.  Bob is madly cleaning the house for some out-of-town guests […]

Buckwheat-Lard Pancakes

Did that get your attention??? Pancakes are a rare treat in our house, but the morning after the West Fulton Turkey Supper, we pulled out all the stops in celebration.  And while it is historically understood ’round these parts that buckwheat makes the BEST pancakes (and hey!  It’s gluten free!), it has long been forgotten that […]

Blame the Blood Moon

It seemed like there should be something magical about a Blood Moon.  And there was. “Shanny,” Aunt Kimmie’s gravely baritone rumbles into my voicemail.  “Sunday night.”  She says.  Then she pauses.  I think she assumes I’ll know whatever it is she’s reminding me of.  Maybe the ghosts who watch her drink her morning coffee are […]

Samhain Stew

A version of this recipe originally appeared in Long Way on a Little, but in recent years it has evolved in our house to this new iteration, Sahmain Stew, where we’ve taken on the tradition of making it once per year with  broth and stew meat from all the animals we raise on the farm (but […]

What kind of a friend am I?

How does friendship hold up in the face of social media and full lives? I am sitting with a group of mothers of infants and toddlers at my local co-op’s natural parenting meeting, wondering what kind of friend I am.  I’ve known the group’s organizer, Meg, for several years.  She asked me to come speak almost […]

Great Stew: Anyone Can Make it

Very often, the simplest dishes I prepare are the ones that receive the most comments.  A friend dropped in the other day to retrieve her daughter from a play date.  She sat down at the kitchen table and as we chattered away, I set a bowl of stew in front of her. She picked up […]

Lemon Chicken (or Turkey) Salad with Braised Sweet Peppers

This salad turns leftover chicken into a colorful palette of late summer colors. While the recipe suggests that you serve it warm, it is also terrific picnic farele. Serves 6 1 clove crushed garlic 1 tablespoon lemon zest 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or 2 teaspoons dried) ½ cup olive oil 2–3 cups diced cooked […]