My grandmother used to make cinnamon pickles out of watermelon rind. It was a dessert she proudly put on our plates. They were delicious and in memory of her, I now make them yearly for my extended family and my kids. Last year I also tried a vanilla pickle which was pretty gross. I'm not … Continue reading Just In Time For Christmas: Modern Cinnamon Pickles And Lemon Candy Pickles!
This is a great project! I've been able to reuse the original for nine years because I bought a dress form and a Styrofoam head that I restretch the ghost over every year. I really recommend getting a form for this project. Find out how to make her below! Halloween 2023 Oh, I had fun … Continue reading Easy Packing Tape Ghost
After a few years of making yogurt I have fiddled around and changed my base recipe. I still make a Greek yogurt type product using ultra pasteurized half and half and I'm still using the same inulin, but I've changed the probiotics. The first year I made yogurt I made three different probiotic strains and … Continue reading Max Probiotic Yogurt
This month is heavy on the picking and light on the work. Why? Because I worked hard in the spring to create this exact scenario. Water-wise, deep beds have yielded incredible amounts of produce. See how we built them here: Hugelkultur, Keyhole Gardens: Bridging Ideas and here: Mother’s Day Raised Hugelkultur Bed! Instructions for creating … Continue reading Reaping The Rewards Of Spring Planning
One of my family's favorite summer foods are often called either "quick" or "refrigerator" pickles. These make the crunchiest pickles because they aren't cooked. I grow Armenian cucumbers, which are actually melons. They taste like cucumbers and they don't get bitter in our high heat like actual cucumbers do. So, I always have fresh additions … Continue reading Quick/Refrigerator Pickles
I have a pomegranate thicket. I figured out this year that this plant was grafted when I put it in ten or eleven years ago. The majority of this monstrosity is rootstock. I almost never get fruit off of the back of this plant's mess. I'm usually very busy all year long because I have … Continue reading Pomegranate: Texas Style
Soil has been added to my vegetable beds. The bananas have been fertilized. Bird baths have been scrubbed. I added water crystals to the beds this year because the bags of composted manure have a ton of sand in them and water runs right out of the beds, without something to absorb it. Pvc marking … Continue reading Finishing The Vegetable Beds
This is the third part of a four part online course. It’s free and if you would like to know more go to the top of this page and click on the Gardening Basics tab. Or you can get the first and second parts of this course here: Beginning Gardener (part 1) and Beginning Gardener … Continue reading Beginning Gardener: Class 3-Walking You Through What You Need To Know
Learning to garden takes time. It's also helpful to have a seasoned gardener show you how to garden in your area. If you don't have someone on hand: you now have me! I may not live where you do (and it makes a huge difference if you are growing in a different area) but I … Continue reading Beginning Gardener: Class 2-Walking You Through What You Need To Know
Sweet potatoes, beet roots (These are chiogga beets. White, yellow or striped beets have a milder flavor than solid red beets), beet greens and spring onions This is my recipe for using up spring veggies before the heat of summer ends their season. I grew all the veggies except the sweet potatoes (which were not … Continue reading Moroccan Sweet Potato Fritters with Ras El Hanout Yogurt Sauce
So, I try out things I find online that are super affordable. Sometimes I'm happy, (like with clothes from temu... if you adjust for American sized women. A large is a 3x on there) and sometimes I'm super disappointed, (like with sale sparkly shoes from Betsey Johnson, that kill my feet.) I look up certain … Continue reading Would I Do It Again?
There are three ingredients and four steps to making your own yogurt: ultra pasturized half and half (for those of you who live outside of the United States, it's half milk/half heavy cream), a bacteria, and inulin. You add these all together and heat the mix for 36 hours. The rest of this article is … Continue reading Homemade Yogurt: Is L. Gasseri, L. Reuteri or BC30 Bacillus Coagulens The Only Bacteria for Yogurt Making-The Ultimate Yogurt Guide
I love getting down to completely, unprocessed ingredients. The more whole foods, and the fewer the ingredients: the better. So when I heard about a very basic, flour-free: egg, nut and seed based bread: I wanted to try it! Sliced after baking It just looks delicious, and it didn't disappoint! I wondered what the texture … Continue reading Stone Age Bread
My grandmother used to make cinnamon pickles out of watermelon rind. It was a dessert she proudly put on our plates. They were delicious and in memory of her, I now make them yearly for my extended family and my kids. Last year I also tried a vanilla pickle which was pretty gross. I'm not … Continue reading Just In Time For Christmas: Modern Cinnamon Pickles And Lemon Candy Pickles!
During the holiday season I reflect on the things I am grateful for. At the top of the list is my family, and more specifically: my two young sons. The following article is my love letter to my boys. I first published this in 2016 and I repost it every year. I still feel exactly … Continue reading A love letter to my boys
This is a great project! I've been able to reuse the original for nine years because I bought a dress form and a Styrofoam head that I restretch the ghost over every year. I really recommend getting a form for this project. Find out how to make her below! Halloween 2023 Oh, I had fun … Continue reading Easy Packing Tape Ghost
This month is heavy on the picking and light on the work. Why? Because I worked hard in the spring to create this exact scenario. Water-wise, deep beds have yielded incredible amounts of produce. See how we built them here: Hugelkultur, Keyhole Gardens: Bridging Ideas and here: Mother’s Day Raised Hugelkultur Bed! Instructions for creating … Continue reading Reaping The Rewards Of Spring Planning
One of my family's favorite summer foods are often called either "quick" or "refrigerator" pickles. These make the crunchiest pickles because they aren't cooked. I grow Armenian cucumbers, which are actually melons. They taste like cucumbers and they don't get bitter in our high heat like actual cucumbers do. So, I always have fresh additions … Continue reading Quick/Refrigerator Pickles
Fig tree is full of ripening figs! (I think this is an unnamed fig someone bought at a big box store. I got a start about ten years ago while walking in my neighborhood.) It isn't a super high quality fig, but it does provide a nice screen between me and my less than stellar … Continue reading Figs, wonderful figs!
Crazy Green Thumbs 