Life on the Farm
A neighbor once gave me a couple of huge cabbages from her garden. When I told her I wasn’t sure what to do with all that cabbage, she gave me her recipe for freezer coleslaw. I’m pretty fussy when it...
Luffa is a versatile vine that produces long gourds, which can be turned into durable sponges. Growing luffa requires 90 to 120 days and a sturdy trellis for support. The vines feature beautiful yellow flowers that attract pollinators. After harvesting, the gourds must be dried thoroughly to create sponges.
Many plants have names that refer to chickens. Some are essentially weeds like the chickweed that tries to take over my garden. Others are ornamentals like hen and chicks, which grow either indoors or out. Here are nine fun chicken-theme...
Every few years our Yukon gold potatoes develop seed pods, also known and potato berries, that look like little green cherry tomatoes. Last year we had an abundant crop of potato berries, so I wondered if you can grow potatoes...
Decades ago a restaurant in the town where we do our shopping served an amazing fresh strawberry pie that my husband Allan and I always stopped to enjoy. Then one day they switched to aspartame. Thereafter, we decided that if...
When you grow your own sweet corn, you can have plenty of fresh, tender ears to eat, can, freeze, and make yummy pickled corn on the cob. But the first order of business is to choose the right variety for...
Yukon Gold potatoes are ideal all-around spuds. They are not as mealy as white potatoes and not as waxy as red potatoes, making them perfect for any method you might use to cook a potato. They are smallish in size,...
That’s a trick statement, because celeriac is a type of celery. However, all the attempts I’ve ever made to grow regular celery ended poorly. So I was left with buying celery at the store. Since celery is sprayed with 29...
Turmeric is, in many ways, similar to ginger. After I discovered how easy ginger is to grow in my garden, I was tempted to try turmeric. I was a bit reluctant, however, because I’d been led to believe turmeric stains...
Frost or freeze? Weather reports often refer to such things as a “light frost” or a “hard freeze.” So what’s the difference between a frost and a freeze. And, more important, what temperature is “light” and what temperature is “hard”?...
