New at the Store

Garden Activities

Pruning fruit trees - but staying inside while the white stuff comes down!

Taking a break over the holidays!

Raking up leaves around the trees - no use letting them go to waste on the grass!

Planting a few extra garlic cloves in pots. They make nice gifts!

What’s Happenin’ in the Kitchen?

Kale, kale, and more kale! Combined with garlic, of course! With chicken, cauliflower, over pasta, in stir-fries…you name it. Kale rules!

Homemade bone-broth soup with ham, beans, carrots, onions, kale - a chilly day - perfect for hot soup!

More dried apples & gingerbread w/molasses & fresh chopped ginger - yum!

Pumpkin custard with whipped raw cream…yum! Thank you Dungeness Valley Creamery!

Homegrown potato-leek soup w/shallots :P I Love soup weather!

MORE dog biscuits! "Woof!"

Drying apples

What I’m Reading

Creating a Forest Garden - $49.95
Retail Price: $59.95
(You Save: $10.00)
from: Chelsea Green Publishing
An amazing book! Click the link above to buy from Chelsea Green - or go to the Bookstore for a quick link to Amazon.

Chelsea Green Publishing

Chelsea Green Publishing - the leading publisher of sustainable living books since 1985.

Weather – What’s Going On Out There?

Snow is almost gone - the wind and rain have chased it out of here! Hold on to your hats! Surf is UP. Most definitely.

For the Love of Kale (and Garlic and Cauliflower)

What’s to salvage out of a garden hammered by winter storms? Italian Lacinato (or Tuscan) Kale stands strong! Here’s a great recipe for Chicken-Kale-Cauliflower casserole (with a fair amount of garlic, of course!)

Artichoke Beauty and the Art of Aioli

We have artichokes! Celebrate by making your own aioli – basically garlic, lemon juice, egg yolks, and olive oil blended together in a smooth mass – to transport yourself into some other realm. It is a night and day difference from the stuff you buy in a jar called mayonnaise. Artichokes – extraordinary thistle that they are – are the perfect partner to this excursion into a gastronomic swoon.

Scapes, Scallions, and the Scarcity of Spring

In this post, I confess to having a serious case of scape envy, based on reports I am getting from others whose garlic plants are already producing those delectable scapes. Want to know the difference between scapes, scallions, and “green garlic” and how elephant garlic fits in to this picture? I’ll try to unravel some of that for you. And if you’re wondering what to do with your scapes, stay tuned for my upcoming cookbook!

Garlic Scapes Return!

I have been getting a lot of questions about garlic scapes lately – and in checking my blog stats, a lot of people are searching for recipes using scapes. Scapes, those curly flower shoots from the hardneck varieties of garlic, arrive just as we are running out of our green garlic harvest. My favorite way [...]

Garlic Scape Hummus

I promised you all my favorite hummus recipe. But first, I’d like to know how a bunch of smashed chick peas mixed with a little this and that, and a name that sounds like something related to compost, has become such an exotic dish among pseudo yuppies like myself. Indeed. Ok – I have a [...]

Garlic Scape Recipes: Pesto

I have been asked – no – begged – to reveal my soon-to-be-famous recipes for pesto and hummus using fresh garlic scapes. Ok. I bend to peer pressure. But not without this warning: EATING THIS STUFF CAN BE ADDICTIVE! And to lure you into my web, I also offer a recipe for homemade crackers to [...]

The Scallions Are Here!

Garlic scallions – or “green garlic” – those tender little morsels before they mature into a pungent clove-divided bulb, spell spring in so many ways! Yes you can eat the shoots! And those garlic cloves that didn’t quite overwinter and have started to sprout? You can still plant them! Even a small pot will do. Crowded is ok. In a couple of months (maybe less), you, too, can be eating your own scallions right from the garden.