Are Easter baskets or spring baskets a tradition for you? Some parents celebrate Spring Equinox, or the first day of spring (around March 20-22) with a basket of garden goodies to enjoy together. Spring break or Easter week is a great time to do the same. As a kid I used to search for my …
Garden-Themed Easter Basket Ideas for Kids To Celebrate Spring Read More »
Why are high quality vitamins for women important? Because women do a lot! Our minds are always running, and our bodies carry out so many functions especially within the family. Especially during pregnancy, postpartum and breastfeeding, our bodies miraculously create and sustain new life from within their own resources and nutrient stores. We forget how …
Vitamins for kids–are they necessary? I’m definitely a fan of doing what I can to get my kids to eat nutritiously as much as possible (tips on that coming soon!). But, let’s be honest, they often don’t–and if you’ve ever actually counted your own nutrient intake, neither do we! And if you’re a gardening nerd …
Thanks to our local farmer’s market, I totally fell in love with these bruschetta stuffed mushroom caps this year! One of the farm stands had fresh mushrooms, and that became one of my favorite booths to shop at. This page contains affiliate link recommended products to help support this website without annoying ads!
One September I was driving with a friend up to Tehachapi Mountain park when a striking cluster of berries along the side of the road caught my eye. A spark in my memory brought to mind an article by my longtime favorite local columnist that I’d read the same time last year. Wild Elderberries? Could …
Have you ever tried limeade made with fresh mint leaves? I really can’t say enough about how yummy it is! Of course limeade is delicious already–like lemonade’s quirkier, sweeter, and more flavorful cousin. But adding some fresh mint makes it irresistibly smooth, mellow, and refreshing…. Whenever I drink it, I just can’t put it down!
Thanksgiving is easily one of my absolute favorite holidays of the year. I love to cook, but I’m afraid my Thanksgiving cooking resume is quite underwhelming. What do I make for thanksgiving each year? Usually, just one thing: a strawberry banana jello salad.
I live in the high desert of California. Everything dries out here–very quickly–even if you don’t want it to. Food, skin, grass and plants, you name it. So I admit that for me, drying herbs is usually not too complicated. But besides just drying, there are plenty of different ways to save your fresh herbs. …
Have you tasted a delicious fall persimmon yet this year? Or are you a bit confused by them like I was at first? I remember the first time I ever saw the strange reddish-orange fruit, in a basket in my Grandma Lucy’s RV during our traditional November family beach trip. At first I thought they …
Are you wondering what to do with all the tomatoes piled on your counter? (What a great problem to have!) This is the perfect chance to blanch, peel, and preserve them for all your tomato recipes…. and you don’t even need “Little House on the Prairie” skills to do it. All you need is a …
How to Blanch Tomatoes for Freezing, Canning, or Cooking Read More »
For the most part, my memories of gardening as a kid are vague. There are a few specific ones—like that my mom’s favorite tomato varieties at the time were called Early Girl and Better Boy ( I thought it was funny that the plants were “boys” and “girls”). With our wild mountain property, she always cautioned me to keep an eye and ear out for snakes. I remember our corn harvests were a little underwhelming. But aside from that I couldn’t tell you much about our little plot and what we grew on it. Tomatoes were the main thing I appreciated, since I didn’t like squash til I was older and we never grew peppers.
Yet, clearly the garden had an effect on me.
From an early age I would declare “yard work” my favorite family chore, and I loved biology in school. I am still a big fan of fruits and veggies to this day, even many that I did not like in those days. And as I’m sure you can guess from this blog, the garden is still my happy place—where magic happens daily and the cares of the world disappear into the calm silence of growing things.
There’s nothing like a good tomato cream sauce… especially if you can’t have cream! The secret ingredient may surprise you, but whether you pair it with veggies, pasta, or bread, this rich and creamy dairy-free tomato cream sauce will not disappoint!
This fresh & authentic-tasting easy blender salsa is always a hit with company! It’s so easy, it’s hardly worth calling a recipe, but it’s good nonetheless! (I admit, I rarely stick to recipes anyway.) It may be cheating a bit, but the good news is that it’s only 3 ingredients , and your friends will …
My great grandparents were gardeners, too. They had a lovely big garden in the Midwest where my Mom grew up, and she still swears they grew the best corn she ever tasted. She remembers how she and her siblings would be sent out to pick some for dinner and hurry it straight in to the …
Grilled squash is such an easy summer side dish and a quick recipe to use zucchini and summer squash from your garden. All you need is your barbeque grill.