Nature

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

Apropos 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

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

Can you over-prune Concord grapes?

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