Hi there,

It's been a busy stretch since the last update, mostly because my dog has retained a lawyer and my cabbage has been quietly outsmarting me for years. Let's get into it.

Farmer Jack had a day, and he wants everyone to know about it. I have about a dozen nearly identical photos of him sitting on the patio table next to a tomato harvest, getting progressively more done with my whole operation with each shot, like watching a small dog's soul slowly leave his body over the course of a photo shoot he never agreed to. He's filing a formal complaint with HR, if HR could please identify itself. Full story here — he'll get over it, he always does.

I accidentally discovered I've been doing sauerkraut wrong for years, on purpose, with my own two hands. Years of squeezing and kneading cabbage until my forearms filed grievances of their own, and it turns out salt plus a little patience does the exact same job while I fold laundry instead. I feel personally betrayed by every batch of kraut I've ever hand-massaged like a cabbage-crushing peasant when I apparently didn't have to. Here's the whole humiliating discovery.

And then I fell for a craft trend, immediately, no dignity, no regrets. Turns out a dish drying mat, folded and sewn a certain way, becomes a genuinely cute basket that fits 3 quart jars perfectly, and I am now the kind of person who owns a basket-making opinion. I'm calling it now — these are showing up under trees this Christmas whether your family wants one or not. Free pattern included, so you too can fall for a trend correctly on the first try.

If you missed anything else, the full blog has it all in order, newest first, mild betrayal and formal complaints included at no extra charge.

That's the update. Go check on your cabbage. It's up to something.

— Sandy