Who would not want to belong to a group of people who not only grow giant pumpkins, but like to smash them, wear orange tuxedos, sail in pumpkin regattas, tour pumpkin patches and compete at fairs for the honor of growing the biggest pumpkin? Recently I attended a meeting of the Franklin County Giant Pumpkin Growers Association who haven’t yet, done all of these things, but they are in touch with other growers across the country…
“Grow Food Everywhere!” is Ricky Baruc’s enthusiastic motto. It doesn’t matter if the soil is bad, or if you have a bad back. At Seeds of Solidarity Farm in Orange Baruc and his wife Deb Habib have proved that food can be grown anywhere, by anyone. He said his secret is cardboard and worms. I will add he gets some aid from the beautiful Diemand Farm compost. His technique is simple. He clears the garden spot then lays…
Last week’s heat wave woke everyone up. There was enough breeze to keep the black flies down, and make it possible to work in the unexpected 80 plus degrees heat. I always start working close to the house. The Herb Bed is protected from the winter winds and the soil drains well. I weeded the entire length and spread around some rotted horse manure I got from a neighbor’s farm. The Red Fire lettuce…
I went into Green Fields Market yesterday, and there was Governor Deval Patrick glad-handing the lunch crowd, accepting thanks for the good work he is doing, and probably taking some criticism, too. Massachusetts, like the country, is suffering from the economic crisis. The State is cutting budgets in almost every area. People are not happy.However, yesterday's headlines in our local paper, The Recorder (for which I write a garden column) were heartening. At least when it comes to…
Promises of glory at Smith College Bulb Show Mary McClintock, with her Root for Your Favorite Root project, has made me think a lot more about the root vegetables I plant than usual. I’ve also been thinking about root crops in general because many of them are good keepers. They can be stored in the fall without a lot of laborious processing if you have a cool cellar, or can provide the necessary root…
Tomorrow we are hosting the Heath Gourmet Club (27 years of serving ourselves) February dinner. Since it is Valentine's Day the theme had to be love. I sent out word that our entree will be chicken with citrus and amaretto - the amaretto supplying the love. I suggested that in addition to thinking of aphrodisiac foods which did at least once on an earlier Valentine's Day, there were many ways of thinking about food of love. They…
Tomorrow we are hosting the Heath Gourmet Club (27 years of serving ourselves) February dinner. Since it is Valentine's Day the theme had to be love. I sent out word that our entree will be chicken with citrus and amaretto - the amaretto supplying the love. I suggested that in addition to thinking of aphrodisiac foods which did at least once on an earlier Valentine's Day, there were many ways of thinking about food of love. They could…
Celeriac was lauded in our daily newspaper, The Recorder, on Saturday by Aaron Falbel of Sunderland for its brightness of flavor, versatility, and modesty. He says,Relegated as you so often are, to the back and upper shelves in the supermarket,Tossed among horseradish, jicama, salsify and other strange,Unidentifiable rooty things.Little do they know that you are the storage champion of all time, Leaven even butternut squash in the dust. . . .You persevereon, and on and on, Keeping your…