It may look like a science experiment but it’s actually a jar of lemon peppers (aji limon Capsicum baccatum)– some ripe, some not so much – that I preserved in sherry last fall. The jar sits at the back of the fridge where the peppers are easy to pull out and add to all kindsContinue reading “Opening Jars in Winter”
Category Archives: Sustainable Living
Pumpkin Brulee Pie
I’ve done it again. Or rather, I’ve not done it – AGAIN! Taken pictures of food. We grow, harvest, cook and eat, but always, in the midst of wine and men and women, and laughter and conversation, I forget to get the digital camera out and record it for posterity, or at least for GrowContinue reading “Pumpkin Brulee Pie”
Blessings from The Compost Pile
I love compost. I do. It’s rich, dark, earthy-smelling and gives me a sense of being part of the cycle of life. It’s a great addition to the garden beds, but it’s also, often, another inadvertent growing medium – as it was for us this summer. Last fall, I bought two Long Island Cheese pumpkinsContinue reading “Blessings from The Compost Pile”
Late Summer Beans
Yesterday I picked my first batch of the second wave of haricots verts. I’m so excited! Slim little things hanging in clusters off a small patch of French green beans that I planted about six weeks ago in a spot that earlier in the season had held leeks. Though truly organized gardeners usually getContinue reading “Late Summer Beans”
Totally Tomatoes
Yes, it’s been a hard season so far. Lotsa water has encouraged fungal diseases and blight among other things. But it seems churlish to complain since we’re often faced with drought, so given a choice, I’ll take this summer over a lot of others we’ve gardened through. Even though it’s been difficult, I’ve got aContinue reading “Totally Tomatoes”
A Bean By Any Other Name
Our beans have begun to come in – a great blessing, in my books, because I love French green beans, those slim little things that look like they were cradle-robbed from the plant. I’ve planted loads of beans over the years – bush, climbing, semi-climbing (which means they reach about 2 feet tall and needContinue reading “A Bean By Any Other Name”
Tomatoes and Rhubarb and Squashes, Oh My!
And so it begins. Every year I look forward to the garden producing fresh vegetables. Every year, I plan, prep, plant, and – most years and this one is no exception – get overwhelmed. Production and problems and pests, oh well. Even so, being able to walk out back and pick –ingredients for supper, radishesContinue reading “Tomatoes and Rhubarb and Squashes, Oh My!”
Protect Your Garden
Protect Your Garden: Eco-Friendly Solutions for Healthy Plants by Ed Rosenthal is a great book for young gardeners and young-in-experience gardeners, but it’s also one more experienced gardeners will occasionally take into the garden, too. It’s very well organized, helped tremendously for those looking for a quick answer to a specific problem by the color-coded page edges. WantContinue reading “Protect Your Garden”
Got Garlic Scapes?
I just noticed them a few days ago – they kinda hide in all the leaves that the hardneck garlic has sent up over the last two months. But then I caught sight of one of those green, downward curling stems with its barely-yellow arrow-pointed head and realized: It’s time to cut the garlic scapes.Continue reading “Got Garlic Scapes?”
Book Review of Gardening for Geeks
Gardening for Geeks by Christy Wilhelmi packs a big punch of great practical organic information, ideas, projects, and philosophy into a lot of small, easily digestible pieces. Bright and informative without being preachy, the book includes a huge range of stuff in a relatively small space. It runs the gamut from how to create a sustainable ecology toContinue reading “Book Review of Gardening for Geeks”
Nancy Taylor Robson 