Have you ever made homegrown dried beans? It’s a lengthy and annoying process, in my opinion. I do it every year because I just can’t stand to waste. Here’s how it goes: I try to pick fresh green beans I grow every few days. We like the little sweet ones. Beans are prolific. The bright green leave camouflage the slender green sickles. I miss many that then grow too big for us to enjoy fresh. [...]

A week ago, I shared that urban agriculture genius Will Allen is visiting Columbus. Tickets are still available to the Friday keynote and Saturday-Sunday workshop intensive. Thanks to a donation from Scotts via Slow Food Columbus, I am able to give away a ticket to the keynote address this Friday, July 15, 2011 at Franklin Park Conservatory. The winner can attend both the semi-private meet & greet session at 5 pm and the 6 pm [...]

My cousin Todd, owner of Combs Landscape Design, came over to talk about our garden last week. He encouraged me to think of the backyard as a room with ‘walls’ of fence and house to be decorated with wooden panels painted by Lil. He advised us to expand the number of garden beds and arrange them in a funky mixed up way to complement the kid friendly decor coming soon. Thanks to intern Keara and [...]

There is nothing I love more than planning gardens. There is such anticipation in the planning: what will grow, what new things do I want to try, what do I love to eat? I casually advise friends and family, occasionally drawing up a whole plan. Last year I attempted to inspire beginning growers with a series of basic edible gardening articles I published on this blog. This year, I collected and expanded those articles into [...]

Local folks, are you interested in growing potatoes? Last year a small group of us ordered seed potatoes together to save on shipping. This year I offer to organize a group to do the same. If you want to participate, fill out the order form below. I will accept orders until Monday February 28 at 8 pm. Totals will be emailed on Monday evening with payment (paypal preferred, cash or check accepted) due March 4, [...]

Oh, Julia Child, you dear pink tomato.  Your blushing beauty covers your spicy inside, tempting gardeners for decades. Cherokee Chocolate, dark enchantress of the bunch.  That Christmas colored skin of yours yields to a dark juicy flesh, dripping with sunlight transformed to sweetness. Then there’s you, Rutgers.  Your pleats, your bulbous inundations, inspire a thousand delicious thoughts. All together, you are a brothel of diversity, a color, size, and flavor for every preference. Sliced raw, [...]

Summer is running away with my sanity, I think. I still haven’t recovered from waking every day at dawn on the canoe trip, so I’m lacking sleep.  There are so many events, activities, plans, and parties that I can barely keep up with myself.  In fact, I’m writing this post on OSU campus in a short break from my volunteer role as an orientation coordinator for the 4-H International Program. Next week looks to be [...]