We spent a lot of time outside today.  18 mile bike ride, chalk on the sidewalk, cleaning up the garden. I brought out my camera to have a record of this and realized that right around the corner was our beautiful blue rain barrel. Ours is a standard barrel from Rain Brothers.  If you live in Columbus, seek out these cool dudes.  They have a store with limited hours on Arcadia and Calumet and you [...]

Well, maybe. 1) Order a packet of organic salad mix seeds from Earth Bound farms: 2) Get a pot or bucket, bigger is better. 3) Fill it with dirt. 4) Plant after first frost and put in sunny spot outside. 5) Water, harvest, and enjoy!

The weather was springlike today!   We took a trip to Oakland Park nursery to buy seeds.   (They are 33% off right now, local friends!)  By afternoon we had gardening fever and just couldn’t wait to get our hands in the dirt. Alex dug out some compost from the bottom of our bin to mix with potting soil so we could start our tomato, pepper, and herb seeds.  He decided that maybe we should move the [...]

Last year we made five raised beds in our tiny urban backyard.  We had success growing green beans, peas, carrots, tomatoes, squash, potatoes, broccoli, and greens. We want to maintain these beds and do the following in 2009: 1) Move compost bin outside fence so dogs can’t dig in it Alex did this today today! 2) Put two dwarf fruit trees or berries where compost bin was located 3) Add 2×5 raised bed for tomatoes [...]

We recently picked up more Ohio apples from a farm stand in north east Ohio while visiting my uncle.  (Our nearby local fave, Charlie’s, is sold out until next fall.) We put some in the fridge for storage.  Charlie taught me last year how to keep apples fresh for months: 1) Wash apples. 2) Place wet apples in a plastic bag (like a grocery sack). 3) Gently close sack but don’t let all the air [...]

I am really excited about Columbus Restaurant Week.  I am telling everyone I know.  I even gave my brother in law some Dine Originals gift certificates for watching our dogs in the hopes that he will go support restaurants next week. There’s only one problem.  I don’t eat meat.  Fixed price meals usually don’t work out so well for me.  I rarely ask for exceptions for prix fixe menus because the whole idea is to [...]

The most fulfilling destination of our Orlando trip was the Showcase of Citrus pick your own farm.  Located about a 45 minutes drive west of our hotel at the Orlando convention center, the farm was nearly empty on Tuesday afternoon when we visited. You can buy bags of already picked fruit, but we chose to pick in the field.  Showcase of Citrus provides wagons and bags.  The fields are divided by a canal used for [...]