About

About the Blog: This blog started as a way to share my experiences cooking through all the recipes in Simply in Season, which is part of my quest to discover simple ways of preparing local, healthy foods and to learn more about nutrition, sustainability, and how our eating choices impact the world.

Some of the topics you’re likely to find:

• Recipes, from the simple to the complex. Mostly healthy, mostly using local foods. Sometimes not. I work full time, so I’m realistic and non-judgmental. In real life I have friends who are vegan, vegetarian, follow Nourishing Traditions, make everything from scratch, make nothing from scratch, are professional chefs, and who never cook if they can help it. I like good food and like to support local artisans. I try to include nutrition info and tips and tricks along with reviews of the recipes.
• Reviews & Giveaways. Mostly cookbook reviews, but sometimes other books that have to do with simple living or local food. Sometimes companies send me things to review that fall into the category of cooking/frugal/green/health/fitness and these are always disclosed and all opinions are always my own.
• My weight loss journey. DH (Dear Husband) and I love food, wine, and beer, and although we’re pretty active we both need to lose some weight. I’m on a journey to lose 100 pounds, so I post about my journey.
• Simple Living. My work has given me firsthand experience in developing countries, and I’ve developed a sense of biblical justice and a desire to “live simply so that others may simply live.”
• Misc. I have a ton of interests, from cheesemaking to triathlons to sewing, so although most posts are about the above topics, you never know what I’ll post about next!

About Me: I’m a 30-something DINK who has been part of CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) since 2005. I grew up in a farming community as the daughter of a potato and onion farmer,  and ran away to the big city only to find myself working for an international relief and development organization that specializes in food security and helping farmers in developing countries. Since then I’ve been rediscovering my roots by learning to cook delicious food featuring products from local farms.

I work full time at a job I love, doing public relations for aforementioned international relief and development organization. I have a great husband whose hobbies include homebrewing and triathlons. Our “kids” include two Italian Greyhounds and two cats.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Do you have a deadline?

Well, originally I wanted to finish all the recipes by the end of August 2010. I’m still working on it though, since the items in my CSA basket did not always  match up what I needed to make the recipes. In the meantime I’m still cooking the recipes as I can, but also including other posts that focus on the same issues, and local ingredients. I think I’m a convert now.

Does it cost a lot to eat this way?

No, in fact our grocery bill has gone down substantially. Most of the ingredients are very simple and feature things you wouldn’t normally think of featuring – like cabbage, carrots, and other produce that is inexpensive when it’s in season.

Where do you get your groceries?

From June-October I get my vegetables from Trillium Haven CSA, supplemented by the Fulton Street Farmer’s Market.

In the winter, I like to get vegetable boxes from Visser Farms.

I get my milk, eggs, chicken, and occasionally cheese and other meats from Grassfield’s.

I occasionally get beef from Byron Center Meats, or venison when my husband is able to shoot a deer.

I get whole grains and other staples in bulk from Harvest Health Foods.

Everything else I get as needed from Meijer’s, a locally owned grocery store, or Costco.

Disclosure Policy

As required by the Federal Trade Commission, here is my disclosure policy. While I  know that such fine print is about as exciting as watching water boil, here it is anyway.

• Posts may contain affiliate links: I am paid a (very, very) small commission if you buy them after you click through my site’s link. Trust me, I am not in this to make money. If something is in there that means I use it myself and would recommend it to my friends and family.
• Some of my giveaways are generously sponsored; others I pay for out of my own pocket. In each post I’ll tell you if someone gave it to me for free. Speaking of which, I don’t give away crap. So if a company does offer something to me for free and it sucks I am not going to give it to you. I’ll save it for regifting to relatives.
• Same thing applies to book reviews. If a publisher sends me a book, and I like it, I will give it a good review along with a link to Amazon (and if you buy it I get a few cents, as stated in item #1.) If I don’t like it, I will donate it to the library and not post about it because as momma says, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.

Comment Policy

Anything vulgar, spammy, or downright rude will not be tolerated. It’s my blog, so there. I can delete you if I want. I’m also not responsible if I don’t catch it before it’s posted. But I’ll do my best, ’cause I hate mean people.