Archive for the ‘Portfolio’ Category
This Week’s Stories: Textile and Coffee Waste, Sustainable Beer and Taking Action
Here is some of my work published this week:
Coffee Waste or Product Potential? – This story was featured in the print edition of Fresh Cup but is also up online. “Wast is simply resources in the wrong place,” says Daniel Crockett of Bio-Bean. I love that sentiment, because it challenges us to rethink what we assume is, or isn’t, something with potential.
10 Fashion Brands Innovating with Textile Waste – Speaking of waste, I also wrote a piece on textile waste. Did you know that in just 20 years, our textile waste has doubled? Today the average American discards around 70 pounds of textiles per year, the majority of it ending up in landfills. Fortunately, there are some innovators out there attempting to do something with it.
Patagonia is Making a Sustainable Kernza Beer – Patagonia, long known for its apparel, is moving into the food space. I love their efforts in working to build a better food system, and the new Long Ale beer is just another example.
Food, Agriculture and Environmental Organizations and Independent Media Outlets You Can Give To – If you’re looking for places to support this holiday season (and places whose work is very needed in the current political climate), I put together a roundup of some food and environment related organizations and media outlets over on Foodie Underground. There’s also an essay about caring (which includes a recipe for pumpkin oatmeal pudding) if you’re interested.
And finally, these weren’t written by me, but I was happy to have Hello, Bicycle mentioned in this list of presents for women cycling fans, as well as this mention of Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break in Condeé Nast Traveller.
Image: Domestic Stencilworks
#mybodymychoice
Stars, Stripes and Uterus, 5.5″x 8″ papercut © Anna Brones, 2016.
I made the above papercut in honor of women’s rights around the world, and if you are interested in showing your support of women’s rights, you can snag it as a coffee mug, t-shirt or print over on Society6.
Bikepacking the Olympic Adventure Route with Komorebi Cycling Team
This is an essay I wrote over on Adventure Journal, which also includes a list of tips for meal planning and cooking for a bikepacking trip, along with a few links for recipes.
This is all the email said:
Riding bikes in the backcountry, camping, making food on the trail…June 17-19. Interested in details?
Like any sane person, I responded with an “um…okay!”
It was a proposal to join a bikepacking trip with Komorebi, the Portland-based women’s bikepacking team. The fact that I had never been bikepacking didn’t deter me, and after all, that was the whole point of Komorebi: to get more women adventuring on two wheels. Okay, actually it did freak me out a little bit, and as soon as I said yes the thoughts started swarming in my head:
Will I be able to keep up with women who bikepack all the time?
Will they judge me if I am not fast enough?
I don’t really ride mountain bikes, what if I fail?
Support Indie Publishing and Preorder ‘Comestible: Summer 2016’
Earlier this year I did something a little crazy: I launched a small print publication. It’s called Comestible and it’s a quarterly journal/zine all about food. But it’s not another food magazine. Comestible is a little different (or at least, I am working hard to make it so).
Since it came out in April, I have gotten a lot of great feedback on the spring issue. It’s so wonderful to see it out in the world being enjoyed by people!
A spread from the spring issue of Comestible. Illustration by Jessie Kanelos Weiner.
It’s now time for the summer issue, and I am doing the same thing as last time: raising the production funds on Kickstarter. Why? Launching a small print publication is hard, and while I would love to, I don’t have the capital to pay for the printing up front.
That’s where you come in. Taking part in this Kickstarter campaign is an easy way to preorder a copy of the summer issue and ensure that you are part of the first group of people to receive it.
What will be in the summer issue?
- More beautiful illustrations (like the one above – which yes, you can color in!)
- An excerpt from Simran Sethi’s book Bread, Wine, Chocolate : The Slow Loss of Foods We Love
- A trip to coffee origin with Eileen P. Kenny
- An exploration of the vineyard and the world of natural wine with j.brix winemaker Emily Towe
- A look into the world of natural dyeing by Sasha Duerr (my goal is to have more food/fashion/fiber crossover like this in the future!)
- Seasonal recipes to take advantage of summer ingredient favorites, like sweet corn, tomatoes, cherries and more.
You can preorder a copy for $12, and there are also some good deals in there if you want to pick up a bundle of them, or if you want to stock up on the spring issue as well. Not to mention there is a limited edition Comestible coffee cup!
Support indie publishing and preorder a copy of Comestible: Summer 2016.
Preorder My New Book: Hello, Bicycle
I am on the less-than-a-month countdown until my new book Hello, Bicycle comes out. Starting to get the pre-book birthday jitters.
As you might gather from the title, the book is all about bicycles. It’s illustrated by the talented James Gulliver Hancock and is a guide to embracing the two-wheeled lifestyle. How to change a flat tire? That’s in there. What you should look for when you are buying your first bicycle? That’s in there too. How to plan a bike trip? That’s in there as well. Recipes for bike snacks? Oh yes.
The book is officially out June 7, 2016, but you can preorder a copy now now and ensure that the book arrives at your doorstep at the beginning of June. That way you know you will be set for all of your summer cycling adventures.
I am working on planning a pedal-powered bike tour for later this summer – more on that later – but if anyone has any recommendations of great bookstores and/or bike shops on the West Coast that would be good for an event, please tell me!
Now, get off your computer and go get on a bicycle (after you order the book that is).
This Week’s Stories: Paris Coffee + Natural Dyeing
Another week, another list of stories, including one I worked on last fall before I moved from Paris, and which finally made it out into the real world. In a print magazine!
Paris Coffee Revolution – My story on the specialty coffee scene in Paris is the feature in this month’s Fresh Cup magazine. But you can read it online too.
Are Self-Cleaning Fabrics in Our Future? New Research Says Yes – Did I say self-cleaning fabrics? Oh yes, I did. You might not have a self-cleaning t-shirt tomorrow, but research is leading us in the right direction.
Planting a Dye Garden to Make Your Own Natural Dyes – Kristine Vejar, author of Modern Natural Dyer and owner of A Verb for Keeping Warm, helped me put together a post on natural dyeing and five great plants to put in your garden that you can dye with.
Rice Pasta, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Hazelnut Parmesan – Another adventure-friendly recipe over on Adventure Journal. Super easy and perfect for warmer weather outdoor cooking.
Images: Kristine Vejar
This Week’s Stories: Coffee, Gender and Mushroom Fabric
As a freelance writer, sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all of your various work and projects. And sometimes, you write a piece and practically forget about it until it finally comes out, given all the time that goes into the editing process in between.
I often think about what drives me to continue to write, particularly given many of the difficulties of the industry. Whenever a story comes out that I worked hard on, it makes me happy to share it. Why? Not because I need people to tell me “nice work!” but because the articles that I choose to write are stories that I care about, stories that I want people to know about and stories that I hope lead to further discussions.
This week I had a few of those. Here they are along with some of my other writing published this week:
“Gender & Coffee: Challenging the Status Quo”
The gender disparity in coffee is similar to the gender disparity in many other professions. It’s a complex and difficult topic to write about, and fortunately I had a lot of help from some good people along the way.
“From Fungus to Fiber: Developing and Using Mushroom Textiles”
Fabric from mushrooms? Yes, all thanks to mycelium! Stories like this one with a nature/food/fashion crossover are some of my favorite to research.
“5 Breakfast Lessons I Learned from Scandinavia”
There are a lot of things that we can learn from the Scandinavians when it comes to breakfast. The most important? Make time to actually eat and enjoy breakfast.
“How to Make Granola Bars with Peanut Butter”
This is my latest recipe on Adventure Journal, where I develop outdoor-friendly recipes. This one also happens to be incredibly bike friendly, perfect to stash in your jersey pocket.
I Am Launching a New Quarterly Print Publication!
It could be considered moderately crazy to launch a print publication, but I finally decided to take the leap on a creative challenge that I have been thinking about for over a year: a print quarterly dedicated to real food. The quarterly is called Comestible and it’s launching this spring. I am both excited and nervous. But mostly excited!
Here is a little bit about Comestible:
In this day and age we are inundated with food media; glossy food magazines, elaborate food blogs, celebrity status chefs. But has all of this made us eat better? Not quite.
We live in a world of extremes, obesity and fast food on one end and the superfood craze on the other. Certainly there has to be something in between. This is where Comestible comes in. Part food narrative, part food guide, part cookbook, this is a journal devoted to real food.
Comestible is themed by season, based on the belief that we should all live a little more in balance with the natural world, not just because it’s what makes sense, but because it’s what’s good for us. There will be guides to what’s in season (think of it like a simplified Farmer’s Almanac) and how to put that food to use; the kind of guidebook you wish was available next to the farmers market stand when you’re wondering what to do with all those vegetables.
Ultimately, Comestible is a celebration of real food, accessible to real people. Simple, informative and fun, Comestible should inspire you to do more with your food. To cook something, the plant tomatoes, to build a beehive.
Comestible is about celebrating the one thing that sustains us and brings us together, no matter who we are or where we are in the world.
***
I am raising the initial print funds for the first issue on Kickstarter, and if you want to preorder a copy, I would be thrilled to have your support. You can pledge here.
You can also follow Comestible on Facebook.
A Pro Bono Lawyer, Who’s Entirely Mobile
This week I was excited to publish a story about Melanie Gleason, an amazing woman who is running a 100% pro bono legal service out of her Smartcar. I profiled her work, particularly work with farmworkers, in a story on Civil Eats.
Gleason doesn’t charge for her services, and she isn’t tied to an office; that makes her work – which she calls Attorney on the Move – pretty revolutionary, and ensures that she is allowed to bring legal services to people in rural communities who might not otherwise have the access. If you have ever doubted that one person can make a difference, Melanie is sure to change that.
Inspired by her work? You can support Gleason and her services on her crowdfunding page.
Read the full story on Civil Eats.
Photo: Melanie Gleason/Michael Fagans
Cranberry and Orange Buckwheat Porridge
Why make oatmeal when you can make buckwheat porridge?
My latest recipe for Adventure Journal is sweetened with honey, studded with dried cranberries and orange peel and a perfect addition to any outdoor morning ritual. You can snag the full recipe here.
blog.annabrones.com 