My Master Gardener Mama grew tons of winter squash this gardening season and shared many of them with me.  I love, love, love winter squash but don’t have enough space to grow them myself due to their viney nature, so I was delighted to be given some by my mama.  I currently have about 15 [...]

Reason 1,000,000 that I love gardening:  Growing your own food gives you control over the variety of foods that you eat. Take squash for example.  How many varieties of winter squash do you typically see in a grocery store?  Usually you have Acorn, Butternut, Buttercup, and Spaghetti squash to choose from.  You only get to [...]

Sadly, the days have gotten shorter, the nights are dipping below freezing, and there are only carrots left in in the ground in my garden.  No more fresh cucumbers, no more juicy tomatoes.  *Sigh* I lament the passing of another garden season.  Although the beans are gone and zucchini plants has long since spit out [...]

It is getting pretty chilly outside, and I have been drawn to steaming cups of hot liquid.  Nothing like a hot cup of tea to warm your insides and your soul.  Ginger lemon tea makes a perfect cup of goodness that not only warms me up but also has health benefits as well. Lemon: Helps [...]

I just ended the season at The Farm.  This was my first season working at the historic farm set in the 1850′s, and it was a wonderful way to spend a summer.  Each day at the farm I donned my pantalettes, petticoat, collar, dress, apron, boots, and bonnet and worked outside all day in the [...]

My food philosophy is ever evolving and changing the more I learn and the more I try different things.  Over the past several years I have moved away from packaged/processed stuff and into whole foods and making most things at home.  I have dabbled in soaking grains as well as trying some Paleo recipes.  About [...]

I am a big fan of avocados.  These lovely fruits are creamy and delicious, and I could eat a whole one myself straight up (and sometimes I do!).  Not only are they tasty by themselves, they can also be turned into awesome guacamole, which is how we usually consume them around here.  However, I have [...]

Back in August I made a trip to an apple orchard and picked oodles of apples and turned most of them into applesauce.  I also put a bunch in my fridge, and they are still going strong so I have lots of apples to use up.  This delicious treat was concocted on a evening when [...]

Since I grew all open-pollinated veggies this year I am able to save seed.  It is very exciting because that means that I will save a few bucks here and there by not having to buy seeds next year.  And seed saving is pretty easy, especially saving bean seed.  I have learned a lot about [...]

Despite problems with leaf spot and mites and tough weather, it was still a pretty good gardening season overall. This was my first year growing all heirloom varieties, and I have to say that I am pretty impressed with most of them.  I tried several new varieties to see which ones would do best here [...]