I am this. close. to getting out of the city. On a Bolt Bus somewhere on the near outskirts of Manhattan, heading to Boston for the night before taking another bus and then a ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. I’ve never really been on the New England coast before, so I have no idea what to [...]

* Greenpoint Soup Kitchen Garden, a volunteer-run community garden housed in the backyard of the Greenpoint Reformed Church, is holding an informational/organizing meeting this Saturday from 4-5 p.m. in the backyard of 136 Milton Street.  Looking to set up volunteer schedules for gardening, watering. * Food Safety Bill (S510) debate in the Senate pushed back [...]

Lots of food policy, agriculture news this week: * Pittsburgh considers reining in urban agriculture, beekeeping and chicken raising. Says the mayor’s spokesperson, “Anytime you see something growing and expanding and there are no rules, you need to regulate it.” Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear …(but darling for the way she manages [...]

Via Joann, the Unhappy Hipsters tumblr:  Dwell magazine images re-captioned. This is my favorite:  Lying on his back, watching the passing clouds, he worried over the Nathaniel Hawthorne lookalike’s role in this grim threesome. Also via Joann, Radish, a “seasonally prepared foods” store, is set to open this spring on Bedford Ave, in the storefront [...]

• Brooklyn’s Backyard Chicken Keepers from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo. Meet Megan Paska and Katrina Mauro both Mother Hens to four curious egg-laying chickens in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. They decided to raise chickens for the first time in their tiny urban backyard as a way to live more sustainably. What they discovered is that raising chickens is [...]

Welcome, class! This will be the first of many Friday “Home Economics Lessons,” links to the random cooking-, farming-, dancing-, creating- and Brooklyn-spectacularity-related things we’ve been reading about throughout the week. Let’s begin with this article in Bust magazine, via Stem + Leaf, about the history of home economics. Writer Emily McCombs notes, “From feminist [...]