January has been the longest year ever
...61 days until Spring!
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” ― Anne Frank
I skipped sending a newsletter out last week, on account of the sheer overwhelming devastation coming out of LA, a city near and dear to my heart, where I lived and worked for 4 years, and where our daughter was born. With so many thousands of people displaced, many of whom lost everything in the fires, it felt trivial and flippant to send anything out and create Internet noise. I wish I could fund every single go fund me I’ve seen (the wrong people become billionaires, honestly!) but I’d encourage you, if you want to help, to check out this list of ~1,000 GoFundMe pages for families who lost their homes in the fires along with this list of stuffed animal + lovey recovery for kids whose favorites were lost. There are a lot of boots on the ground in LA doing incredible volunteer work, so this is in no way a comprehensive list!
Two weeks into my No Buy 2025 and it has felt like a walk in the park so far, honestly. I thought I would struggle with no coffee treats while running errands, but an essentially free latte at home > a $7+ drink out. I’ve been unsubscribing from marketing emails with reckless abandon, using products up entirely before I think about purchasing anything new, and abstaining from weekend thrift store trips. As much as I love a good thrift haul, the fact is that I don’t *need* anything, and I use those outings as a chance to decompress and get some quiet alone time — turns out a long walk with a podcast or audiobook, leisurely weekend yoga class at home, or some time huddled up reading with coffee and noise-canceling headphones works just as well, and those are all my favorite price: FREE!
I haven’t given one single thought to the garden the past couple weeks, as I’m still a good 6 weeks out from starting anything. But this weekend I’ve got a date with my seed catalogs, and I’ve been pouring over a new book I got for Christmas, The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman. I’m in no hurry for the garden season to start, because it’s go-go-go for a few months straight and I can’t wrap my head around that right now! I’m too pre-occupied with trying to download all of my saved TikTok videos in preparation for a potential? maybe? who knows? ban coming shortly.
And speaking of seeds, since there are quite a few new faces here on this newsletter (hello! welcome!), I wanted to make sure to drop a link to the seed company document I put together at the end of last year with lots of wonderful crowd-sourced recommendations:
The Ultimate List of Trusted Seed Companies Recommended by Real Gardeners
One area of seeds I will be focused on? Botanical dyes, specifically from Grand Prismatic Seed. I have some white clothing that is begging to be tie dyed, and it feels like the perfect opportunity to dabble in natural dyes. Ya know, since I won’t be buying a tie dye kit this year.
Next week, I’m going to be sharing a comprehensive blog post all about seed starting, and addressing some questions that I sourced from TikTok. If you want to garden this year, you still have plenty of time, and you can do it on the cheap, I promise. We’re frugal hippies, after all —we use what we have or we find it inexpensively! Especially in ~these trying times~.
Until next (pizza) Friday,
Amy
LOLs of the Week
Reading
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
The Seth Material by Jane Roberts
Making
This year, I’m trying my darndest to make everything within reason from scratch —meaning, the goal isn’t perfection, but stretching myself to rethink my grocery store purchases. I’m talking all baked goods, granola, crackers, sauces, dressings, dips, etc. I’m trying to be strategic about making and freezing extra, planning ahead, and getting the kids involved. This isn’t a tradwife/everything is poison vibe, but more of a “everything at the grocery store is so freaking expensive and I’m sick of it” frugal hippie vibe, ya feel me?
From the past two weeks, since I skipped the newsletter last week:
Parmesan and garlic roasted cashews
wheat crackers from this book that I got for Christmas
whole wheat sandwich bread
date caramel for dipping apples, on toast, etc
mini banana muffins
chocolate chip, oatmeal, and peanut butter cookies (froze half the dough for future use)
sourdough cinnamon toast bites
maple grape nuts ice cream
buffalo chicken dip for snacky lunches (in lieu of buying a container from TJs)
applesauce bars (half for lunch snacks, half frozen for future snacks)
Loving
The fact that, in a silly, misguided attempt to ban TikTok, users were so fed up with the ineptitude and corruption of the US government and a certain pair of tech CEOs that there was a mass migration to the Chinese app, Xiaohongshu aka Red Note. I’m on there, and I am loving all of the incredible gardening and food content! Also I didn’t expect at the ripe ol’ age of 38 to start picking up some Mandarin phrases but alas, 2025 is off to an interesting start. Nice to see that there can be bipartisan agreement on a trivial issue like banning a social media app, but my only hope is that they make better use of their time and focus on something a little meatier —perhaps universal healthcare or preventing predatory insurance practices or gun reform so parents can feel safe sending their kids to school. A girl can dream!
This Turkish pasta recipe! I saw it earlier this week and couldn’t stop thinking about it —such an easy and delicious weeknight dinner that was a hit with all 4 members of the family. My 4 and 2 year old kids went back for seconds of the seasoned ground beef, and my daughter requested the meal in her lunchbox tomorrow. Definitely going into the regular rotation.
@granddadjoe1933 on TikTok — HOW could they try to take this app away from us?! He is precious.
Using a backpack with a heavy textbook in it for going on walks, instead of buying a weighted vest (no buy 2025!). I was debating getting one of those weighted vests or a rucksack towards the end of last year, but then was like…duh, Amy! Most of those are glorified, expensive backpacks (A GoRuck bag is $250!!) and you have a cute yellow Osprey daypack that could easily carry 15 lbs. Constraint breeds creativity!
Link Roundup
A ‘potato cartel’ conspired to make your frozen fries 47% more expensive, lawsuits claim [Fortune]
Ozempic Could Crush the Junk Food Industry. But It Is Fighting Back. [NYT]
Choosing Seeds From 14,000 Varieties? It Just Got Easier. [NYT]
How This Billionaire Couple Stole California’s Water Supply [More Perfect Union]
Weapons, dances—and murder? Inside the wild world of bug courtship [National Geographic]
Enjoying Pizza Friday? Share the love and forward this email to a friend you think would dig it so they can get in on the fun, too. Like pebbling, which is what penguins do! They bring little trinkets like pebbles to their loved ones. How precious is that?
I'm loving your no buy 2025. We already make a lot but it's been a good reminder of why I do that, and I'm trying to add some more things to the list
OK, wow, I have had one of those weighted vests in my amazon cart for like a year. I'm taking it out right now!!