My Garden / Recipes

For the tenth time, Andrew opened the refrigerator, hoping that something “good” would magically materialize. For the tenth time, when no miracle occurred and the exact same food stared back at him, he finally exclaimed, “Is it me, or is there only weird stuff in here?”

Because I hate grocery shopping even more than I hate cleaning toilets, I’ve been known to prolong going to the store for as long as is humanly possible, or until no one can stand … Read More

— To cook up all this zucchini. This is one week’s worth.

You’ve seen Monster Trucks. How about Monster Zucchinis?

Actually, it’s just one of my seed zucchinis from which I’ll save seeds for next year’s crop.

I’ve shared two of my favorite zucchini recipes here.

This is another family favorite.

It’s been about a month since I planted my garden.

Here’s how it started.

Here’s what it looks like one month later. What a little sun and rain will do, when you start with good dirt…

Without a wide-angle lens, I can’t get the whole thing in. But you get the idea.

So far, we’ve enjoyed Swiss Chard, Bok Choy, the usual lettuces, peas, snow peas, beets, all kinds of herbs (most of which I dry for use throughout the … Read More

With the cost of food skyrocketing, and the prices of organic produce off the charts, my garden experiment this year is to work toward growing enough food to feed my family for the year. Matron of Husbandry over at Throwback at Trapper Creek was the one who inspired me.

This year, I’ve more than doubled the size of my gardening space, as well as added several more fruit trees and bushes. Even with all that, I’ll need to increase my … Read More

It’s that time of year. The weather’s warming. The birds are nesting. The garden’s calling.

Cold weather crops are well underway.

Seedlings are put outside for a few hours a day to start hardening.

When they all come back inside, there’s hardly a flat surface free. Time to seriously think about the benefits of a small greenhouse.

Also time to double the garden size.

I’m seeing lots of hot showers for sore back muscles in my future.… Read More

Barbara Kingsolver brought the idea of locivore food growing and buying to the fore with her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. In it, she speaks to the value of focusing on eating locally instead of using fossil fuel to transport food long distances.

While Kingsolver feels a moral and environmental obligation to do so, most people are starting to feel a financial obligation to do so. The price of fresh fruits and vegetables (especially organic) is … Read More

In my previous post, a reader had a question about seeds. My response was getting long, so I decided to share it here. I’m sure there are other would-be gardeners who also aren’t clear on the differences.

Jo at Ecology of a Woman asked about three types of seeds — Heirloom, Hybrid, and GMO (genetically modified organisms). I’ll add one more type — Open Pollinated (of which Heirloom is a subset).

Here’s the quick run-down:

Hybrid Seeds are produced by … Read More

Oh the weather outside is frightful.

It’s been hovering around -15 F in the mornings around here. And we’ve had quite a lot of snow already. Deep winter is upon us.

But the fire is so delightful.… Read More