Whenever I have a question about gardening I know where I can turn. My neighbor, Bob Bourke, has been a Master Gardener for about seven years. Since his 60 hours of training he has answered a lot of questions for lot of people, but he has also judged vegetables at the Youth Building at the Franklin County Fair, and built a Question Wheel for the Master Gardeners Fair booth. He’s worked for the Spring Symposium and visited many…
Water is beautiful. Our Frog Pond is beautiful. We can't drink this water, but in July of 1990 it helped keep our house from burning down. The previous owners of our house used Conservation funds to enlarge the pond enough to qualify as a Fire Pond. We are so glad they did. Mostly, though we just use it for fun, swimming, catching (and releasing) newts, and ice skating in the winter. Water is essential. Out here in the…
Lots of people in Heath have an old apple tree or two. Sometimes the apples aren't beautiful, but they certainly can make good eating. I've been using the generous harvest from this unnamed tree to make apple sauce and apple butter. French toast with apple butter or apple sauce makes an easy and nutritious breakfast. My neighbor called me to say he and his wife had collected three big buckets of black walnuts from their two back yard…
Check out what else is Wordless this Wednesday.
The Sunday New York Times Magazine devoted their whole 10-10-10 issue to Eating Together. Well, the previous weekend the Heath Gourmet Club celebrated its 29th anniversary --- 29 years of serving ourselves. Michael Pollan wrote about the 36 Hour Dinner Party that he enjoyed with famous chefs and his son in Napa, consuming a whole goat and a lot of really good produce and olive oil. They also had the pleasure of cooking in an outdoor 'cob oven.'…
I was at a dinner party recently and one of the guests confessed that she liked 'toys.' The toys we had been discussing were Kindles and iPads and who knows what all. They hold no fascination for me, but when I am at a nursery or garden center (or browsing a catalog) I confess I am tempted by all the tools and doodads that abound. When I was at Nasami Farm this fall I saw this EcoSpout for…
I was bragging about not having had any frost yet, but when I went out this morning there was frost on the north side of the house. However, just the merest frosty kiss on the south side. Only half the basil hit the dust. I am happy for the cool nights and days which make working outside such a joy. The holiday weekend promised to be beautiful and my son Chris, and son-in-law Gerry, came to help my…
“I do everything wrong,” Rol Hesselbart said as we looked over his garlic harvest. And, he pointed out, he did everything wrong in Michigan and Virginia before he started doing everything wrong in Heath. Hesselbart, naturalist, educator and retired national park ranger, is known locally for the size and quality of his garlic bulbs. I am one of the lucky few who scored a few to plant myself this month. His growing techniques have evolved slightly since he…
The rain fell. The sun is shining. The trees are glowing. The leaf peepers will be happy this weekend!
Cindy at My Corner of Katy asks us to post three photos on Thursday. They don't even have to be related. The assumption is they might be related to gardening I suppose and you might wonder what toddler snowsuits have to do with my garden. Well, I consider that my garden includes that most tender crop, all the children of my community. I am very happy that our local independent department store, Wilson's, and my newspaper, The Recorder,…