Preserving Tomatillos
Gardeners often complain about a dearth of good advice on using and preserving tomatillos. The USDA and its Extension agents advise chopping the tart fruits into a pico de gallo–style salsa or canning...
View ArticleWalking Onions─to Pickle, to Plant, to Share
My walking onions are ready to walk! Over the summer, floral umbrellas formed at the tops of the hollow stalks, and soon bouquets of bulbils replaced the little flowers. Bulbils is a technical term for...
View ArticleEasy Ajvar, a Pepper-and-Eggplant Preserve from the Balkans
Whenever I shop at Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, and even Lebanese ethnic markets, I look for the ajvar, a jarred pepper-and-eggplant condiment from the Balkan region. Most of these stores stock...
View ArticleA Brilliant Use for Blackberries
It’s been two years since I developed the recipe I’m about to share; I stored it away on my computer and forgot about it. Now, at the height of production for my Heaven Can Wait blackberries, I had to...
View ArticlePink Cauliflower and Black Republicans
Those of you in the Portland area might catch my talk on Thursday, June 11, at 7:00 p.m. at the Museum of the Oregon Territory. I’ll be discussing my book First Fruits: The Lewellings and the Birth of...
View ArticleWhence the Whipple?
The Whipple is a dry bush bean that’s pretty to look at—it’s maroon mottled with white—and said to be richly flavored. The bean is getting a lot of attention here in Oregon because it’s particularly...
View ArticleGoodbye, 2025
Thank goodness the winter calm has given me a chance to finally post some news. Following are highlights from my garden this past fall and early winter. My Christmas Eve tomato harvest. These are...
View ArticlePoached Quinces, for the Pantry
I’ve been cooking quinces in wine and honey for decades, but only this year have I canned the poached quinces for eating out of season. The wine and honey wonderfully complement the flavor of the...
View ArticleBay Nut Brownies
I must apologize for my long silence. I was extraordinarily busy last year finishing two books, The Curious Kitchen Garden, to be published by Timber Press next spring, and First Fruits: The Lewellings...
View ArticleTasting Brined Whole Watermelon
I finally took one of my ‘Winter King and Queen’ watermelons out of its trash can full of brine and sliced it open. What a revelation! This pickled watermelon wasn’t slimy and tomato-like, like the...
View ArticleBring on The Briner
“I should have invented that!” my husband said to himself when he first saw The Briner. People who are handy apparently say this to themselves often, but in this case it’s true: He should have invented...
View ArticleEnd-of-the-Year Treat: Winter Watermelon
Remember the long piece I wrote last year on the ‘Winter King and Queen’ watermelon? The winter-watermelon fun continues. Last spring I gave my friend Betty several starts of ‘Winter King and Queen,’...
View ArticleOne Pretty Pumpkin, Warts and All
The big, warty salmon-pink pumpkin surprised me when it appeared in my community garden plot this year. I couldn’t remember planting the seed. I must have, though, because rolling around my brain was...
View ArticleGathering the Garlic
Every year the garlic harvest seems to come a little earlier than the last. This year I harvested on June 14, despite on-and-off rain. I couldn’t wait any longer; on some heads the cloves were already...
View ArticleRed Orach Leaves as Salad-Roll Wrappers
Every year red orach comes up here and there in my garden, and usually it goes right to seed, sending up a stalk at least three feet tall that bears opposite pairs of two- to three-inch heart-shaped...
View ArticleMore Fun with Jerusalem Artichokes
Once again, about a week ago, I dug into the roots of my Jerusalem artichokes, isolated in a corner of the yard where they get no water that doesn’t fall from the sky, and confined by the landscape...
View ArticleObituary for the Home Orchard Society
Today I’m singing a dirge for the Home Orchard Society, yet another victim of the coronavirus—although, like so many volunteer-run nonprofits, this one was barely staying on its feet when the virus...
View ArticleThe Multiple Lives of a Jack o’Lantern
Because yesterday afternoon was warm and sunny, Robert carved the jack o’lanterns on the deck while I cut back the caneberries. “Do you want to use any of this flesh?” he yelled. He likes to scrape the...
View ArticleA Taste of Winter Watermelon
My friend Betty surprised me when she arrived on my porch holding what appeared to be a large white, gently ribbed pumpkin. “It’s your watermelon!” she told me, smiling broadly. And the thin stem,...
View ArticleEating the Enemy: The European Brown Snail
Throughout last spring and early summer I murdered a hundred, sometimes two hundred, every day. Some were smaller than a pea, others were as big as a walnut. I would pluck them off leaves until both my...
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