Sam Schipani

Working outside? Yard work is hard enough without being bitten by flying nuisances. Here's how to repel mosquitoes. Photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels Gardening is fun. Mosquito bites are not. If you think mosquitoes…
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Saving phacelia seeds. | Photo by Shawn Linehan Most gardeners who have been growing from seed for many years have experienced the heartbreak of a variety they really love disappearing from seed catalogs or the shelves of their local…
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Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels Citrus fruit and juice have a wide variety of uses in your daily life. Whether you are squeezing an orange into fresh juice or squeezing lemons to use as a natural stove top cleaner, you probably have…
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Photo by Luke Sahlin Corina Sahlin moved from the Alps of Germany to the magnificent, wild Pacific Northwest in her twenties in search of a more adventurous life. After meeting her husband on a dairy farm in Washington, they…
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Photo by Gabor Degre Whether you like them baked, fried or mashed, there is no doubt that potatoes are some of the most tasty and useful crops around. Many gardeners will add them to their plots and to enjoy the starchy, scrumptious…
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BeforeAfter I’m a dirty chef. I let food splash everywhere when I’m cooking. I’ve had more than my fair share of pots boil over with hot water, broth and sauce. My apron looks like it’s been through war. As such, I have an…
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Photo by Sam Schipani As more and more refrigerators have built-in icemakers, ice cube trays may seem like an unnecessary novelty. Standard, rectangular ice cube trays always seem to pop up at thrift stores, relegated to forgotten…
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Photo by Jan Kroon via Pexels You have piles of compost, your seedlings are flourishing and you are preparing to transplant them to your garden. You may think you are ready for spring gardening season, but it is possible that you are…
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BDN File Photo My laundromat is the Bermuda Triangle of socks. No matter how hard I try, I always end laundry day with at least one sock that has lost its mate to the swirling morass of machine washing. I may lament over the loss of…
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BDN file photo Your seedlings are hearty, and your beds are ready. Excited for the season, you transplant your precious seedlings -- tomatoes, cucumbers, kale and everything in between -- into your garden. You think everything is ready…
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Photo by Sam Schipani You may be used to rinsing your fruit and vegetables in the sink before you eat them in order to remove the invisible grime of production. But if you are worried about imperceptible chemical pesticides, fungi and…
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Even zero-waste enthusiasts occasionally forget to bring reusable bags to the store. And when it happens, there’s that sinking feeling at the check-out counter, when the conveyor belt is brimming with groceries and our handy totes are…
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