No need to ramble on praising the many health benefits of soybeans, their high quality protein, their healthful oil, and so on. We’ll assume you’re not living in a cave. more >>
You don’t have to pay through the nose to keep cool this summer. Here are some steps you can take to lower your bill, improve comfort and help save the planet. more >>
For the third year, summer tanagers are singing about my neighborhood at Mission Oaks, and on a recent breeding bird census between Schroeder and Mission Valley, I recorded three singing summer tanagers for the first time. The increased numbers of this charismatic species is most welcome, although why it has begun to frequent oak woodland areas of Victoria, DeWitt and Goliad counties is unknown. Although its regular Texas breeding range includes most of the southern half of Texas, it usually prefers broadleaf woodlands like those found along the river floodplains instead of oak woodlands. more >>
What’s wrong with my roses? That’s a question I heard many times over this past week. Nine times out of 10, the problem was due to some tiny little pests called thrips. For some reason, these little insects are especially bad this season. How do you know you have thrips? Well, the most common sign of thrips damage will be flower buds that fail to open, deformed buds, flower buds that open but are deformed, and brown edges on the buds and flower petals. more >>
One of the single most stabilizing factors in a person’s life is the occasional word of reason from a trusted friend, adviser or mentor. These words are often brief and unexpected, but penetratingly powerful to the moment. They catch us off guard and often stay with us for a lifetime. Sometimes they are the definitive weave that clarifies, at least for a precious moment, the tapestry called you. I remember one such moment. I was only 15, and a freshman in high school. I made the varsity baseball team. There were only nine of us. I was the ninth. I was also the smallest. more >>
This simple, egg-free pasta is a delicious, fun and child-friendly way to try your hand at homemade pasta. While it can be shaped however you like, this style traditionally is formed into small, thin discs. This recipe calls for forming the dough into long snakes, which then are cut into small chunks that can be pressed with your thumb to create the discs, or pressed against the tines of a fork or along the ridges of a gnocchi board to produce the grooves that help sauces cling to the pasta. Gnocchi boards are inexpensive and widely available online. more >>
Getting your morning jolt can be tough in Hawarden, Iowa, where there are 2,600 people and not one Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s even harder when you’re too young to drive. Which makes the middle and high school students at West Sioux Community School especially grateful for the Falcon Joe Coffee Shop, an oasis of espressos, lattes and other coffee drinks right inside their school. more >>
