Around the Calender In Two Weeks

Willow and Lark go for the berries

This past week, it was acting like August where I live. The tomatoes and peppers that I put in my garden blossomed overnight, and the seeds I planted sprouted within just a couple of days!  I kid you not.  Had I planted them a couple of weeks [...]

The Identity Crisis of Spring

First Greens of Spring

We’re now in the identity crisis of spring, where the weather can’t decide if it’s spring, summer, or “tonight I’m putting on my winter frost face”, thanks very much. I’m still seeing some late daffodils and tulips and the lilacs are still out, but I’m starting to see irises and [...]

Slow Cookers for Fast Lives

Just Like Mom's

Slow cookers.  Redolent of chili, barbecued Smoky links, macrame, mushroom decor, Avocado appliances, and a society-wide, decade long epidemic of bad hair.  The ghost of a thousand church pitch-ins.  One of the few gotta-have-it appliances from my childhood that’s still around (unlike the hot dog cooker that basically electrocuted hot dogs–I have [...]

Little Gems

“Bears Gems.” That’s what the scientific name of the group, Gemmifera,  Brussels Sprouts belongs to means.

For many people, Brussels sprouts are something that we view as a form of culinary punishment from our childhoods.  “Now sit up straight, Bertina, and eat your Brussels sprouts or we’ll have to lace your corsets more tightly, there’s [...]

Luigi, the International Man of Squashtery

Beautiful Box o' Squash

We gardened extensively when I was a child because I couldn’t eat processed foods due to mold allergies (lucky me, truly).  And my mom went on a wild and wacky journey, experimenting with all kinds of nearly-forgotten vegetables.  Funny thing that the ones that she adored and I hated then are [...]

Confusing the Seasons

Soup in a Basket–Parnips on Outside

Last week in Indy, a whole roadside of chicory was in bloom. Lovely, but it’s usually a sign of the 4th of July around here, with the heat of August forcing it dormant. We didn’t get the heat of August–August happened in mid-June this year– and now we’ve been [...]

Tip: How to Easily Print What You Want

I just saw this on Lifehacker, and thought it might come in handy for Good Life Menus users.  This way, you can print out exactly what you want, without having to put things in Word to get the part of the menu you want.

Of course, if you have one of those nifty fantasy touchscreen computers [...]

A Great Year for Apples

I just saw a news item that the moderate temperatures and abundant rain this summer are making this a great year for apples.

And then at our food co-op, the Honey Crisp apples the group ordered, which are still very much in season here, didn’t come in.  My solution?  Go to an orchard.

Where I live, there [...]

Tail End of the Summer

Seems like the summer just flew by this year.  Where I live, there has been an unusually cold summer.  All the wonderful European market varieties of vegetables I planted this spring either got hit by hail (twice), or discovered by the possum that even our dog has failed to drive off.

The herbs are doing very [...]