My Garden / Recipes

I’ve been a little under the weather, and wanted to make myself a healing soup that wasn’t the usual boring Chicken Soup. This Seafood Curry Chowder, with its Indian spices (which helps open breathing passages) and chicken broth (general fixer-upper elixir) gives a one-two punch!

BUT…

It’s so rich and delicious and special–and SIMPLE to make–that you could serve this at any dinner party and get rave reviews. It’s my family and friends’ all time favorite soup!

1 fillet of … Read More

As I mentioned recently, I get three kinds of calls from family. Last week it was my sister asking how to tell if her garlic was ready to be picked.

Where we live (in the Northeast), we plant hard neck varieties at the end of September into early October, which means our harvest time is roughly mid-July to end of of July. This is my sister’s first year of planting her own, and she wasn’t sure when to pull her … Read More

In the Northeast, we use Mother’s Day as the official opening for our gardening season. For those of us who want to get a jump on growing, starting seedlings a month or two in advance is a way of life.

Before I can plant these outdoors, I’ll start hardening them off by putting them outside in a sheltered sunny spot for a few hours a day. That will help lessen the transplant shock.

Then I’ll direct seed the rest of … Read More

Next to growing garlic, potatoes come in as a 2nd favorite on my list of most fun and rewarding things to grow. And they taste so much better than store-bought.

The other great thing about potatoes is that you can harvest them over a few months. So when I’m looking for stuff to throw together for dinner, I can go out, dig up a few, grab whatever else is ripe, and have a delicious vegetarian meal in no time at … Read More

More than the economy is falling on hard times these days. A potentially huge problem is looming for gardeners and food growers everywhere.

I just had a friend share with me that, in her area, zucchinis aren’t setting full fruits. So I checked my plants and , lo and behold, found some developmentally challenged zukes in my own garden. Confirmed in newspapers and online sources, many zucchini and squash plants are setting miniature or quickly rotting fruits.

The reason? The … Read More

With all the anticipation of getting ready for my gardening season, I’ve been cooking up a storm testing new recipes.  Cait is always very happy when this happens.  As she was munching and I was preparing, we got to talking about favorite childhood tastes.  For me, hands down, it’s my mother’s Orange Salad recipe.  It’s so simple and refreshing.

Orange Salad Recipe

1. Peel skin off several oranges, leaving a fair amount of pith (the white inner skin).
2. Slice and cut

It’s that time of year; hard frosts herald the end of my gardening year.  As I work to put my garden to bed until next spring, it’s a good time to take stock of the growing season. This year, with summer weather more typical of Ireland than upstate NY, and less time available for gardening chores than I like, my garden was more under Mother Nature’s charge than mine. The results were mixed.

As I review the different veggies that … Read More

I’ve been growing my own garlic for about 15 years — all from my own bulbs that I harvest from year to year.  I don’t remember what possessed me to order my first bulbs from Seeds of Change way back when.

After all, garlic seems a slightly peculiar item to grow when they’re so plentiful and cheap at the grocery store. And even more peculiar to fall in love with. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I get a bigger … Read More