Yips and Howls
A Writer's Reflections on Nature and Culture
  • Home
  • About
  • Biodiversity
    • Species of the Week
    • Wild Encounters
    • Wild Plants
  • Writing
  • Photos
  • Main Website
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
}

Sustainable Gardening

Nettles in the hog sheds

When Life Gives You Weeds…Eat ‘Em

By Elizabeth Enslin on June 11, 2010

With all the rain out over the last few weeks and the challenges of getting the summer garden in, I’ve been grateful for food that sprouts with no effort on my part. I might not want stinging nettles in my cultivated garden, but I like having a patch on a distant corner of our property.  

...read more

Posted in Recent, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Gardening, Wild Plants | Tagged food, Homesteading, nature, Sustainable Gardening, wild | 5 Responses

Steaming bowl of gundruk soup.

Gundruk Saves the Day

By Elizabeth Enslin on June 4, 2010

Rain.  Day before last, it was relentless.  We had a reprieve yesterday, and I got some planting done, but most of my garden is flooded and impossible to work.  I’m already a week or two behind.  In this short season, that could mean a lean year for vegetables. So when I woke at five this  

...read more

Posted in Recent, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Gardening, World Travel | Tagged food, Nepal, patience, Sustainable Gardening | 2 Responses

Domestic Challenges, Wild Beauty

Domestic Challenges, Wild Beauty

By Elizabeth Enslin on May 23, 2010

I’m ecstatic to be back on our property in Northeastern Oregon.  There’s lots to do: organizing inside the yurt to make cooking and storage more convenient, building a spring box and laying pipe to get potable water into the yurt, putting in the garden.  And there are many challenges: a muddy road, cars that get  

...read more

Posted in Images, Recent, Sustainable Food, Wild Plants, Yurt Living | Tagged beauty, Homesteading, photography, Sustainable Gardening, wild | Leave a response

Pinyon pine Christmas tree

Our Live Christmas Tree

By Elizabeth Enslin on December 25, 2009

I used to be the Christmas tree enthusiast in the family. I’d drive around Seattle for hours looking for the perfect tree, set it up, decorate it….

...read more

Posted in Recent, Sustainable Gardening, Wild Plants | Tagged holidays, nature, Sustainable Gardening, wild | 2 Responses

The pardoned potato

The Pardoned Potato

By Elizabeth Enslin on December 3, 2009

On Thanksgiving, we couldn’t bear to slice and roast this huge homegrown potato face. Nor could we boil and mash it….

...read more

Posted in Humor, Recent, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Gardening | Tagged food, holidays, photography, Sustainable Gardening | 2 Responses

Fuyu Persimmon

Persimmon Joy

By Elizabeth Enslin on November 18, 2009

I love how persimmons hang on the tree after the leaves have fallen.

...read more

Posted in Images, Recent, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Gardening | Tagged beauty, persimmons, Sustainable Gardening | 2 Responses

Ama: My Greatest Teacher

Ama: My Greatest Teacher

By Elizabeth Enslin on November 10, 2009

Growing food this summer in northeast Oregon, I relied on all that I’ve learned over the years from books, conversations, observations, and personal experience. But I probably heard Ama’s voice more than any other….

...read more

Posted in Cultural Diversity, Publication, Recent, Sustainable Food, World Travel | Tagged creative nonfiction, inspiration, stories, Sustainable Gardening | 2 Responses

Ancient Lessons in Food Storage

Ancient Lessons in Food Storage

By Elizabeth Enslin on October 31, 2009

One of the things I loved best about teaching high school social studies was shaking up students’ perceptions of history. And one of my favorite lessons was in Ancient History. I’d bring in a a jar of beans and a potato with so many sprouts it looked like an octopus (the fact that I always found one in my cupboard could have doubled as a cautionary lesson in the domestic arts)….

...read more

Posted in Politics and History, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Gardening, Yurt Living | Tagged ancient history, anthropology, archaeology, Homesteading, patience, Sustainable Gardening | Leave a response

Revolutionary Potatoes

Revolutionary Potatoes

By Elizabeth Enslin on October 24, 2009

Like many who follow environmental and sustainable agriculture news, I woke this morning to tweets and retweets of a Michael Pollan quote: “A vegan in a Hummer has a lighter carbon footprint than a beef eater in a Prius!” I’m not vegan or vegetarian and suspect the statement glosses over vast differences in the way  

...read more

Posted in Sustainable Food, Sustainable Gardening | Tagged climate change, Sustainable Gardening | 6 Responses

Five Lessons From My Inland Northwest Garden

Five Lessons From My Inland Northwest Garden

By Elizabeth Enslin on October 5, 2009

The cool, clear nights that make autumn so beautiful here in the Blue Mountains also bring frosts that kill tender vegetables. With the harvest spilling over boxes and racks around our tiny yurt, it’s a good time to reflect on what I learned this summer….

...read more

Posted in Humor, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Gardening | Tagged food, photography, Sustainable Gardening | 8 Responses

Popular Posts

Next »

About Elizabeth Enslin

A writer based in Oregon, I look for inspiration and distractions in nature. An anthropologist, I ponder the places where nature and culture meet. A kitchen gardener, I promote biodiversity and learn from farming traditions around the world. A recovering academic, I try to do all with compassion and humor.

Find out more about me here, or at elizabethenslin.com.

  • Topics
  • Tags
  • Calendar

Around the Northwest Biodiversions Biodiversity City Parks Cultural Diversity Eco Travel Explorations Featured Following the News haiku health Homesteading Humor Images Kudos NaPoWriMo On Blogging Pacific Northwest travel Pets Poetry Politics and History Publication Readings Recent Rocks I Have Loved Seasons and Rituals Social media Southwest Travel Species Humor Species of the Week Sustainability Sustainable Food Sustainable Gardening Travel Wildlife Encounters Wild Plants wordpress World Travel Writing Writing Process Yurt Living

amphibians beauty blogging books childhood climate change cows creative nonfiction cultural anthropology desert exploration food holidays Homesteading Humor inspiration literary nonfiction maturity memoir music nature nature writing Nepal nostalgia Obama oceans passion patience photography photography play Poetry rhythm sex snow species standard poodles stories Sustainable Gardening twitter web design wild wildflowers wordplay wordpress

September 2010
M T W T F S S
« Aug    
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  

Recent Comments

  • Elderberry Bloom 
    • suzi smith: our flowers are fading in the uk… i love the elder, especially the older trees. An elder orchard...
    • Mike B.: You’ve got a great site! Unfortunately, we have tons of RED elderberry which are poisonous- but the...
    • Patricia J. O'Brien: I feel like I took a stroll through your woods and learned something new and wondrous. Thank...
  • When Life Gives You Weeds…Eat ‘Em 
    • Jennifer (ponderosa): You have clover among your miner’s lettuce. Can people eat clover? My guinea pigs love...
    • arati: ver y cool :)
  • Photos 
    • Nicole Raisin Stern: Hello Elizabeth and greetings from Kyoto, Japan. I found your website via a Pacific Yurts...

Networking

Nature Blog Network
Read Write Poem

Blog Carnivals


Festival of the Trees

Tweets

  • Our new farm website is up and running. Guess that makes it official: I am now a professional garlic farmer. http://ow.ly/2yCWD #profood
  • Grilled Walla Walla Sweets are becoming one of my all-time favorite foods.
  • Survived the city & big box stores. Happy to be back in #yurt with crickets chirping and rain pattering on roof.
  • is in the big city ... of Lewiston, ID fortifying herself with a cappuccino and sandwich before tackling the big box stores.
  • Didn't expect a day of thinning ponderosa pine to be so satisfying.

Blog Bling

Thanks Erin, Carole, and
Irene.

Copyright Elizabeth Enslin 2010 Yips and Howls. Please don't copy or use any content on this site (including photos) without permission. Powered by WordPress and Hybrid. Log in

Technorati
Blogged
Blog Directory
Non-Fiction Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory
Blogher