Things are getting exciting in our mostly-finished greenhouse! Last year we raced to get the growing beds built and filled before the ground froze. This March we raced again to finish the top edge of the boxes so we could plant. By then the temperatures in the greenhouse were staying […]
Two years ago, while striding up through the woods to the top of our land, my eye fell on some delicate white-petaled flowers growing in the shelter of our biggest oak. I hadn’t noticed them before so I leaned over and looked closer. Then I swore. Garlic mustard! The first […]
I garden like I cook – using a mix of intuition, inspiration, opportunity and random readings. This system works better for cooking, where any totally “out there” idea produces just a single adventure for the taste buds rather than a failed crop for the year. This spring I finally enrolled […]
Food comes from the soil, but where does soil come from? That’s what I’m learning in my first reading assignment of the Training Program for Master Gardener Volunteers. (The University of Wisconsin Extension Master Gardener Program provides extensive, free horticultural training to people,who in turnshare their training for gardening-related projects […]
When you pay for organic milk, what are you paying for? I pick that bottle off the shelf imagining cows grazing in lush pastures, a breeze ruffling their top knots, as they gaze off into the distance thinking calm and cowish thoughts. Those are the cows whose milk I want […]
Sunday was one of the days (there are many more – all the days of winter, actually qualify) when I am very grateful to live in a town with a vibrant winter famer’s market. It is possible to be a well-fed locavore with the Dane County Farmer’s Market at hand. […]
Ever wonder how Bugs Bunny always cleaned Elmer Fudd’s clock? Which one was eating carrots? Those brilliant orange, satisfyingly crunchy roots power packed with carotene are actually a newcomer in the 12,000-year-old world of agriculture. Carrots are a domesticated form of Queen Anne’s lace, and have been traced back to […]
PLAN IT NOW PLANT IN IT NEXT SPRING During World War Two, 20 million Americans planted victory gardens to free up produce and the means to transport it for the war effort. In their own back yards, they produced up to 40 percent of the vegetables America ate. We can […]
For better or worse, the race to get projects done before the ground freezes is over, and I think we won. The temperatures around here have dropped. At the moment, it’s 17 degrees F outside, and a big snow dump is predicted today – the first serious snow of the […]
18 years ago I drove my shovel into the ground of my new yard in Libertyville IL and broke the blade off in that rock-hard clay. I replaced the shovel, and while I was at it I bought a big, black, plastic compost bin so I could compost urbanely. By […]
Digging in the Driftless 