Slightly spicy, warming, and delicious, mulled wine is quick to make. All you need is a few spices, some wine, and a few oranges. Learning more about spiced wine will help you create the best drink this holiday season. Occasions For Mulled Wine Mulled wine is typically a winter drink. This spiced, warm, alcoholic beverage is a perfect addition to …
South Whidbey School Farm Teaches & Nourishes Kids and Community
Cary Peterson has been rocking her soil-stained hands for the last three decades. In 2009, she helped the Good Cheer Food Bank start a garden to grow vegetables for food bank clients. “It was really transformative for the community right after the crash,” she explains. Being able to provide fresh, organic produce to people who wouldn’t otherwise have access to …
Meeting Essential Needs With Dignity – And A Few CoolBots
“CoolBot has been our favorite thing,” professes Robin Peacock, Executive Director at MEND. MEND, which stands for Meeting Essential Needs with Dignity, is a non-profit corporation that provides strength and support for its network of local food pantries in Essex County, NJ. MEND has been fighting hunger for both families and individuals since 1980 by providing supplemental fresh food, funds …
Is it Possible to Make Homemade Cheese? Yes!
Cheese isn’t something one needs to buy at the store. It’s not just possible to make homemade cheese, it can be easy! While most types of cheeses take some special ingredients and equipment, a few kinds can be made with ingredients and materials one likely has at home right now. Cheesemaking is a science, in fact, it might be the …
Lagering 101: Pilsners, Bocks, and Dunkels
Lagers are darn tough beers to make. Their crisp and clean taste leaves little for imperfections to hide behind. Making a standup pilsner, bock, or dunkel can really test a brewer’s capabilities and equipment. If you’re thinking of brewing a lager, consider yourself warned! Is a Lager an Ale? No! All beer can generally be separated into two overarching categories; …
Second Chance Foods Doubles Down on CoolBots
Rescuing Food – Reducing Hunger – Raising Awareness Second Chance Foods does exactly that: They rescue food from grocery stores, restaurant suppliers, home delivery services and local farms that would otherwise get thrown out and go to waste. They get new food donations every single day, distributing it all within 24 hours to local hunger relief organizations. This constant stream …
Kombucha Origins: The Surprising History of a 2,000-Year-Old Drink
Sourdough bread, kombucha, home improvements, meditation, vanlife conversions – the crippling anxieties and systemic shortcomings of this pandemic era have inspired us to try new things in different ways. Kombucha, in particular, has gained massive popularity in the United States over the course of the past 10 years, and in these explorations of “at-home-in-a-pandemic-experiments” more people than ever are brewing …
The Beginner’s Guide to Vinification
Vinification is the process of turning grapes into the alcoholic beverage we know and love as wine. This process happens via fermentation. Vinification is an activity nearly as old as human civilization itself! A 2017 discovery found evidence that humans made wine as early as 8,000 years ago. These days, aspiring winemakers and enthusiasts go through years’ long courses in …
Grow, Cook + Share: Nashville Food Project Fuels Community With Help From CoolBot
The Nashville Food Project does a lot of amazing things. The simplest explanation is that they grow, cook and share. This non-profit organization’s cornerstone philosophy is that all people should have access to the food they want and need. The Nashville Food Project aids this mission with their gardens, where they grow organic food and share resources; in their kitchens, …
Where are they now? An update from Mayfield Flowers.
When we last spoke with Keely Sindler, she and her sister Marcy were about five years into their floral business, Mayfield Flowers. Needless to say, lots has happened since 2017. We recently had a chance to catch up with Keely and get an update from Mayfield Flowers — which has grown from blooming to flourishing. “The past year was interesting …