Ila Bonczek

As we’ve seen in the first parts of this series, natural fibers come from an amazing array of sources. From caterpillar cocoons and animal fleece to plant stalks and seed pods, the natural world provides...

As my design studio professor Paula Horrigan always stressed, a good design is “simple, elegant and direct.” When it comes to brewing tea, nothing fits the bill better than the traditional Chinese Yixing teapot. Meticulously...

As the skies across America explode with color and sound this Fourth of July, one might wonder how and why this clamorous tradition came to be. Like most of us, fireworks’ roots are not in...

Moving through the months to highlight suitable foods for seasonal eating, we have taken the opportunity to examine a different aspect of the practice with each part of the series. Last month we discussed the...

Seed saving is not merely an economical tactic that will save you a good bit of money in the future; it is also a responsible, sustainable, safe and easy way to make your world —...

Our knees are big joints with an even bigger job. We depend on them to stand, bend, get around, and bear heavy loads. These complicated structures are built to last, but like any valued tool,...

Jealousy: a complex concept While jealousy is most commonly understood as a negative emotion directed at a rival in a relationship, it goes far beyond this narrow scope. In Chinese, jealousy is represented by two...

Hemp has been valued for its strength and versatility since prehistoric times. Shrouded in controversy over family ties, hemp production lost nearly a century’s worth of momentum and is only recently making a comeback as...

Dragonflies may be bedazzling beauties of infinite fascination for the dreamers, but they also have a practical side that nearly everyone can get behind: They are voracious predators, eating up to 150 insects per day...

As we mentioned in the first part of this series, eating seasonally is intrinsically tied to eating locally. Local is a relative term, of course, and could mean anything from within your neighborhood, within your...

While forest bathing may initially conjure up images of a whimsical wash up amongst ferns and fairies, the term actually refers to an ancient ecotherapy first documented in Persia 2,500 years ago by Cyrus the...

Yerba maté is a caffeinated herbal beverage widely consumed in South America, much like coffee is enjoyed in North America and many European countries. The traditional processing, preparation and method for drinking maté are fairly...