It’s mid-August and our mid-summer’s produce is a dream. Come gaze at our garden, and see why I am so excited about a plant I nearly pulled. I’d worried that some of our cucumbers just didn’t grow. That’s happened to us before — last year with baby bok choi, this year with my favorite peppers….
Eating Locally
How to Make Easy Dill Quick Pickles
Ready to use in just over an hour, these Easy Dill Quick Pickles are a great way to enjoy pickled cucumbers sooner than later this summer. When I first started pickling things, I didn’t really know the difference between canning pickles and making refrigerated pickles, though the refrigerated ones seemed — at the time —…
In Our Maine Garden: Sometimes Your Bounty is Just Under the Soil
I’ve been biding my time until our carrots and radishes were ripe. Finally, this past week, I took a chance and pulled some — and guess what? They were. Buried just under the soil were perfect carrots, delightful beets and the beginnings of walla walla onions, though I didn’t pull any of those yet. So…
Arugula Salad with Balsamic Roasted Radishes and Sweet Potatoes
Radishes, sweet potatoes and shallots are roasted with balsamic vinegar and then tossed with fresh arugula in this savory arugula salad recipe. July was the hottest month in recorded human history, the Washington Post reported this morning. We sweated through it, closing curtains to the punishing heat of the morning sun, reversing the direction of…
In Our Maine Garden: Patience Delivers a Harvest
Okay, okay. It wasn’t patience that delivered our harvest. It was planning, planting, weeding, watering, sunlight and warms. It was things both in and beyond our control. Over the last week or two, we’ve harvested at least nine pounds of string beans — green haricot verts, purple string beans and wax beans. We’ve also harvested…
Homemade Basil Pecan Pesto
With a warm, rich flavor, Basil Pecan Pesto is delightful on pasta, lovely on sandwiches and perfect on chicken, fish and vegetables. What a great summer sauce! There are little lessons that I learn in the garden each year. This year, my first and biggest one was to be less impatient. In my rush to…
Blueberry Pecan Scones
Quick, easy and low-mess, these Blueberry Pecan Scones have a one-bowl preparation and bake for only 20 minutes. Why not try these for breakfast soon? Like much of the country, Maine has been in a heatwave for days. It’s meant I haven’t felt much like cooking and have avoided the kitchen. But when I stumbled…
Homemade Strawberry Sauce
Fresh strawberries, sugar and lemon juice are all that’s needed to make a batch of this sweet strawberry sauce — perfect for spooning onto waffles, pancakes, angel food cake and more. If early summer has a flavor, it might just be strawberry. It’s the fragrant reminder of childhood treks through strawberry fields and trips to…
In Our Maine Garden: Harvesting Begins
Harvesting from our Maine garden is one of the joys of planting and growing our own food. Here’s what we’re picking this week. The first thin peapods appeared a week ago on the plants in our garden. Within a few days, the pods began to bulge with peas. By today, the first few were ready…
How to Grow and Cook with Mint
It spreads rapidly and can take over a garden. It’s been used by humans for thousands of years. If you are curious about this herb with medicinal qualities, here’s how to grow and cook with mint. Fragrant mint reaches toward the sky when it grows, a stalk of taut leaves and refreshing aroma. Brilliantly green,…
