As I’m getting ready to harvest my garlic, I do what I’ve always done every year. I go grab my garden journal to get ready to record the harvest date, and the yield and quality of the bulbs.

I’ve been keeping a journal of my garden almost since I began. It’s a habit I picked up from the old woman who taught me.

She drummed into my head, “Karen, if you want to see if what you’re doing works, you’ve got to keep a record! Without the ability to compare year to year, seed to seed, and method to method, you might as well just throw your […]

Gardening season officially starts here on Mother’s Day. That’s typically when all chance of frost has passed. But, maybe courtesy of global warming, there is no frost in the 10-day forecast. In fact, I probably could have planted a week ago and still been alright. May be the first year that I actually get in two full crop rotations… Gotta take the good with the bad.

The temp is a whopping 20 degrees outside, but I’m thinkin’ Spring.  Yes, it’s that time of year already — time to order seeds for this year’s garden!

Regular readers know that I’m big on annual garden experiments. An experiment that I didn’t chronicle last season was trying seeds from a variety of catalogs.

Since I save most of my seeds, I only grow from organic open-pollinated seeds. That immediately limits my selection.

I chose seeds from:

Fedco: They have the most extensive list and greatest quantity of seeds available (good for the serious gardener and small farmer).  Since they’re in Maine, most of their seeds do well from Zone 5 up.

Seeds of Change: They offer […]

I don’t know about you, but around this time of year I’ve gone bone dry when it comes to thinking up tasty cooking ideas for impromptu gatherings. Cait showed me this site. It’s fun. It’s fast. It’s delicious!

You’re welcome! : )

Apropos of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d share my secret pie crust recipe. 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 ice water
2 tablespoons vodka
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

For best crust, use CAKE flour, not all-purpose flour. Place flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add  chunks of butter and shortening. Pulse several times, until butter is the size of peas. With machine running, pour in ice water and vodka and pulse  until the […]

It’s that time of year again.  Around the 1st or 2nd week of October, I plant my garlic. But how do you know which bulbs you should save for your seed cloves? And then how do you know which cloves from those bulbs to plant? It’s easy, once you know what to look for.

Let’s get started!

What you’re looking for are your largest, firmest, roundest bulbs. Sure, save a few to give away as gifts, if you have some garlic-loving friends. But make sure you keep enough for yourself to get your seed cloves.

Now, gently break your bulbs apart to protect  the clove wrapper. Then, here’s what you’re looking for, for seed […]