On soup: “The transformation that occurs in the caldron is quintessential and wondrous, subtle and delicate.” – I Yin, 239 B.C.E. Spring is technically here although temperatures feel more like early summer than spring. But, hey, when is weather ever reasonable here in the Mid-Atlantic? In the seventies this week and maybe snow next week… … Read more
Spring sprang past and everything’s running to catch up. Flowers are blooming and invitations are starting to flow for garden parties, graduations, weddings, and the like. For some, flowers will be featured on the menu as well as on the decor list. In the 19th century, edible flowers were pretty common in recipes, especially for … Read more
The large jack-o-lantern pumpkins we carve in the fall do not make great pies. For that you need to Harvest them when they are small. But there are wonderful additional uses for your carved pumpkin leftovers! Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe Nothing beats homemade roasted pumpkin seeds. Half of the reason I carve a pumpkin each year … Read more
Butternut squash is in the Cucurbita moschata family. Acorn, buttercup, carnival, delicata, hubbard, spaghetti, and pumpkin are also in the family. They are called winter squash because, planted in summer and harvested in autumn, they are available throughout the winter months. It generally grows abundantly here in the Mid-Atlantic, a good thing made better with good … Read more
Ok, so I was supposed to be writing about something else but this caught my eye and hey, I’m all about what to do with your backyard harvest so happy National Hot Breakfast Month! Seriously. Not sure who came up with it, but, every month has some food designation and February is NHBM (and, food-specific, … Read more
When it turned so cold last week, I thought a bowl of soup would be ideal. Unfortunately, I never actually got in the kitchen long enough to do more than heat water for tea. A week later and it’s cold again and, after a 3am inventory of the freezers and kitchen, I had two day’s … Read more
Winter’s on its way and the daylight hours are fading fast. Kinda SAD, isn’t it? What’s really sad is that SAD – Seasonal Affective Disorder – is more than a punny joke for nearly 10 million people. It can run the range of feeling a mild case of the blues to a debilitating bout of … Read more
Permaculture people like to practice a “no till / no dig” policy in their gardening. Most folks in Permaculture agree that one should never till your soil for a number of good reasons. There are fascinating Youtube videos and articles out there on the topic of soil science and why one should basically let nature … Read more
In this article, we’ll cover the basics of getting a backyard farm up and running. By backyard farm we mean anything from a small garden plot to a larger, more systematic approach. It all depends what you want to accomplish. We use the term backyard farming simply because it implies that we are taking a … Read more
I moved away for a few months and, when I came back, my very fertile soil encouraged a jungle to grow It’s not you. It’s your soil. The soil quality in a typical neighborhood setting is usually pretty terrible. Although most people do not realize it, poor soil is the reason why backyard vegetable … Read more