A TRIP TO CRANBERRY LAND
Taking a trip to cranberry country during harvest time is a great autumn outing.
WILD BLACKBERRY BENEFITS
My birthday falls during wild blackberry season. What could be finer? In general, I go after the thorny plants that flourish in the dappled light along our wooded paths. But […]
TRADING BEANS FOR BEEF WOULD BE COOL FOR EARTH
Feeling helpless to stop our ever-faster rush toward habitat destruction and loss of diversity? There is something we all can do that will make a difference immediately. STOP EATING […]
THE FUTURE OF FOOD: from the 11th annual Nelson Institute Earth Day Conference
The Nelson Environmental Institute 11th annual Earth Day Conference considered the Future of Food. Skip the Big Mac and pass the tofu, please.
USING OUR INSECT PALS TO BATTLE INSECT PESTS
Last Friday Doug and I got a ton of technical advice and hands-on experience about FARMING WITH BENEFICIAL INSECTS; CONSERVATION BIOLOGICAL CONTROL when we participated in the inaugural Xerces Society […]
FENCING VEGGIES IN AND VARMINTS OUT AT UNDERHILL
Blog Garden Fence In 2012 when the bulldozer was digging Underhill house into its’ hill we had several requests of our excavator, Bruce Lease. We wanted mindful and minimal sculpting […]
GROWING OUR FIRST GARLIC
Garlic is one of the oldest cultivated crops. Potent, esteemed, and finally coming into the cross-hairs of science, where pieces of its DNA sequence may help us better understand human history.
THE WAY OF THE BLACK WALNUT
Gorgeous, delicious and toxic! Their nuts are super nutritious and a mouthful of earthy flavor. Walnut wood has vivid grain. When peeled, they reveal a muscular, sculptural beauty. Everything about […]
EVERY YARD SHOULD HAVE A BIT OF ELDERBERRY
Now that we are living in Underhill House, we love watching the ducks, geese and other migrating birds that take a break in our little pond, but it’s obvious that the feeling is not mutual. That’s why we are planting a hedge between the house and the pond. The plants […]
THE FIRST PIZZA FROM OUR COB OVEN
Last summer, one of the crew building Underhill House asked if we would like to build a cob oven. Brad pointed out that we had all the materials on hand. stone left over from the slipform stone wall (see my blog post Creating a Cob Oven ) plenty of clay […]
Digging in the Driftless 