Langhorne Slim at Johnny Brenda's

Last night Meg and I and some of our friends made the trek into Philadelphia to see Langhorne Slim at Johnny Brenda's. I got hooked on Langhorne Slim about a year ago when he showed up on one of my Pandora stations. The entire experience, although not planned this way, was truly a locavore's delight.



It turns out that Langhorne slim is from Langhorne, Pennsylvania, in Bucks County, which is a high-speed-hour northeast of Downingtown. And Johnny Brenda's turned out to be a real gem. They only serve locally brewed beer and their entire menu is made with ingredients from small scale local farmers. Hell, we just wanted to go see a show, but we ended up getting a case of the feel-goods too.

In Every Home

I have a little exercise for you all to try out. I want you to go into your refrigerator, grab a bottle of beer (or soda), and search your entire kitchen for a piece of furniture or cabinet hardware with which you can open the bottle. There is one in every home and a majority of the time it's in the kitchen.



We lucked out with the cap catching drawer. In the last place I lived, the opener was a hinge on the refrigerator and the handle on the screen door. I don't believe this knowledge will reduce our carbon emissions, nor is it a measurable forward step towards self sustainability; but I can guarantee that you will gain a few cool points with at least a handful of your friends. Cheers.

Al Fuego

What do you do on a 40° February night after you've spent the day finally cleaning the remaining crap from around the garden?


You gather everything into a big pile.


And you burn it.

And you get some beers and you set the camera's shutter speed real slow.


And you take some trippy photos.

Local vs. Organic

There is an interesting conversation going on at Garden Punks that is addressing the argument of "What is Organic?" I dig the spirit of the post, but what has caught my attention is what was said in the comments left by Patrick and Life and Lawns.

The question I think that is being addressed, is what makes something organic and is it REALLY organic. Quite honestly, Meg and I feel the whole "Certified Organic" thing is a load of bullshit, specifically for reasons Patrick had brought to light. Certified Organic is a USDA regulated tag and I'm sure it's pretty safe to say that they're readily influenced by some shady lobbyists.

Meg and I are very organic-minded in our lives and in our garden (if you could separate the two), but as consumers we find the organic/green tag to be nothing more than just a tag. What the hell am I getting at? Try this on: if you have to make the choice, is it better to buy organic, or local? Personally I would have to go with local. Although I like the taste and politics of an organic avocado from Trader Joe's, the fact that it was shipped in from Peru doesn't help the environment a damn bit (Meg's words).

Tiny Farm Blog put up a post today that I think brings together the best of both worlds. I dig his dedication to sustainability and earth friendly practices. Side note: he is Certified Organic, but he's growing in Canada so I'm not entirely familiar with their regulations. After reading his blog for the past six months or so, I'm guessing certified organic there means you're pretty kick ass.

To bring this back into Garden Punks's original post about organic beer, I would have to say I would prefer to go local. Fortunately we have a kick ass brewery right down the road (it's seriously like only three miles, max). If you ever run across a bar that serves Victory, I highly recommend a hearty sampling. Warning: If the Victory beer you're drinking is Golden Monkey or Old Horizontal, please don't drive. I swear the stuff will make you hallucinate.