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My Garden / Recipes

Abundance of Green Tomatoes and a Great Recipe to Use Them

green tomatoes

I’ve been putting up all the last of my fall crops: Asian pears, pumpkins, concord grapes, raspberries, aaaaaand lots of green tomatoes. Time to get preserving.

I’m not a fried green tomato fan, so I went looking for a recipe for something different. I found Beryl’s Mom’s recipe for pickled tomatoes. It’s a keeper.

Since I’ve got a mix of cherry, Roma, and an heirloom variety that I’ve been growing from seed for so long that I no longer remember … Read More

Best Pie Crust Recipe

3 piesApropos of the fall weather and the approaching holidays, I thought I’d share my secret pie crust recipe. Good for any and all types of pies—single crust, double crust, lattice, you name it.

There are a bazillion pie-crust recipes out there. So why is this perhaps the best? Because it uses science to help get the best flake and the best taste.

PIE CRUST RECIPE

2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 stick cold unsalted butter
8 oz shortening
1/4 cup … Read More

My Annual Christmas Present to Myself

bakers creek seed catalog

If you’re a gardener and you don’t know about the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog, you should. The catalog always comes in early December, and I always find a few new plants and veggies to try. The diversity and uniqueness of their offerings is fantastic. I dare you to not find something you can’t wait to add to your garden.

I consider this my Christmas present to myself. And now I hope it becomes a Christmas present you give … Read More

Does Severely Pruning Concord Grapes Kill Them?

Can you over-prune Concord grapes?

pruned grape vine

I love my Concord grapes. I love the way they look as a live privacy screen on my fence. I love getting to eat them off the vine in the fall.

So when I had to severely prune them back last fall in order to make repairs to my fence, I worried that I might have killed them. Over-pruning can really impact grape production.

You can see the hatchet job I did on this poor … Read More

End of One Season is Just the Beginning of Another

assprted vegetablesI never get tired of the rhythm of the seasons.

As a gardener/forager, just as one season ends, there’s always the next rolling in right behind.

While my garden might be seeing its last days, it’s time to make the concord grape jam. And nearly time to plant my garlic. And then to pick the pumpkins and squash. And so on and so on. Even in winter, there’s maple sugaring.

There is always something to look forward to.

And, yes, … Read More

No Mow May

no mow may sign If you’re a gardener, you’ve already seen the decline in bees, and maybe even experienced a resulting decrease in crop yield.

wasp nest

Maybe you’ve even resorted to hand pollination, as I’ve had to on a few occasions.

So I’ve become all about the bees, as witnessed by this wasps nest.

You can learn more about why I left them alone in this post which talks about the benefits of wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets.

And letting our lawn go … Read More

Best Heirloom Seed Catalog

Happy days are here again! Nothing blows off the winter doldrums like getting my Bakers Creek Heirloom Seed Catalog. Because I grow organically and save my own seeds, I especially love these guys.

They offer one of the largest selections of 19th-century heirloom seeds from Europe and Asia. So if you’re looking for something out of the ordinary—and sustainable, look no further.

Bakers Seed Catalog

From their website: At Baker Creek, our mission is to provide the seeds of a sustainable food … Read More

Maple Sugaring Season Just in Time!

So it seems that tapping two maple trees gives us just enough syrup to get through until the next maple tap.

But I knew as soon as my family got a taste of this, I’d have to be making more. So, along with their annual garlic allotment,  I’ve had to add two more trees into maple production.

Though, at the moment, with some daytime temps still in the minus digits, it’s looking like we’re still a week or two away. … Read More

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