It’s time to peruse seed catalogues and plan for the gardening months of summer.
Ari LeVaux
Posted inArticles
The dramatic changes in our planting zones
Early blooms and cold snaps turn gardeners’ lives on end.
Posted inArticles
Vegan food may not be as “vegan” as you think
Plant-based food processing collides with the ugliest side of animal production.
Posted inArticles
Have farmers markets been spoiled by their own success?
People go to farmers markets for many reasons. The jovial, wholesome atmosphere makes people feel good about their communities and the hard work put in by area farmers. Sometimes, we even want to buy something. But actually purchasing food is becoming an increasingly rare act, according to a recent Washington Post article. As one grower […]
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I’m garden-obsessed even though it’s still winter
Soon after learning I was less than nine months away from becoming a first-time father, I experienced an unexpected sense of déjà vu. The baby was coming whether or not the room was painted or anything else was ready. That feeling of being hitched to a biological clock that stops for no one is a […]
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Locavores aren’t loved by everybody
In the last 20 years, the amount of locally grown foods consumed in the American diet has tripled, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and it now comprises 2 percent of the food consumed in the country. As with anything that’s popular, some have seen fit to attack this trend. Why do they do […]
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A street-smart chicken for your backyard
There are many ways backyard hens can die. If you raise them long enough, you’ll see your share. But buff Orpington chickens tend to be survivors. My first clue to their talent for living came when a Siberian husky sneaked into my backyard. A more efficient chicken-killing machine does not exist. The wolfish canine […]
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Lentil Underground is a Montana phenomenon
Lentils are a humble and earthy food. They’re not intended for the fancy dishes that tap-dance around the table; they’re more at home in simple, nourishing foods like Indian dal or hippy mush, the kind of food that feeds villages. Even better, lentils come from a plant that improves the land where it grows as […]
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Grass-fed beef can be good 365 days a year
There is an unfortunate stigma attached to frozen meat, a widely held assumption that it’s inferior to fresh meat. This prejudice runs deep enough that fast-food chain Wendy’s promises that its burger meat is “always fresh, never frozen.” This belief, and all the retail efforts that cater to it, are misguided. If processed correctly, frozen […]
Posted inWotr
How to cook a rattlesnake – if you have to
A neighbor in New Mexico once told me that it’s bad luck — not to mention bad form — to kill a rattlesnake. Unfortunately, he told me this after I’d already killed one. It was sleeping in the garden, beneath a tomato plant, when my wife noticed it. There’s something about a snake in the […]
Posted inWotr
My chickens lay their own Easter eggs
My first baby chicks arrived 10 years ago, just after midnight on Easter Sunday. The post office, of course, was closed, but I got the call to come get them, as happens when live animals are shipped. I’ve been rocking a flock ever since. Those who raise backyard chickens will inevitably go through an obsessive […]
Posted inWotr
Will the nation accept horse slaughter?
Opinion on the recent opening of two slaughterhouses: why horsemeat isn’t such a radical idea.
Posted inWotr
The bullet shortage: a self-fulfilling prophecy
It started with a fear of government intervention and ends with hoarding.
Posted inWotr
Some states recognize that corn ethanol is a bum deal
As ethanol content in gasoline continues to rise, some communities are resisting.
Posted inWotr
It’s time to see exactly how the sausage gets made
This February in Salt Lake City, Amy Meyer stood on the street and used her cell phone to record what was happening outside a slaughterhouse. She then became the first person charged under one of the new so-called “ag-gag” laws. Six states currently have such Farm Protection laws, deliberately designed to stop video recording at […]
Posted inWotr
Roadkill: It’s what’s for dinner
Last week, the governor of Montana signed a bill making it legal to salvage and eat wild animals that had been hit and killed by cars – in short, allowing humans to scavenge edible roadkill. The law applies to deer, elk, antelope and moose, and aligns the state with other states such as Alaska, Illinois, […]
Posted inWotr
A no-nonsense kitchen for Christmas
Based on the variety of ice cream scoops on the market –1,529 available from Amazon alone — you might conclude that the world faces a crisis of improperly excavated ice cream. I think it’s more a symptom of our love affair with cooking gadgetry combined with our ever-larger kitchens. We now easily accommodate toys like […]
Posted inWotr
Shoot it yourself
People hunt animals for a lot of reasons, from filling a freezer to festooning a wall with antlers. As a meat hunter, I’m looking for a year’s worth of protein, with or without antlers attached. Even though I don’t hunt for the post-kill posing or big racks, as a hunter I’m lumped together with everyone […]