Hay fever means tissues and pockets aplenty
Sniffling and snuffling. Wheezing and sneezing. Hay fever season hit our farm so hard this ...
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Maine Dish
Biscotti makes nutritious snack
"Maine Dish" chef Cheryl Wixson devised an almond biscotti recipe after searching for a gluten-free ...
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Crimson-red amaranth eaten in Pre-Columbian rites
Best yet, it is a grain crop that home gardeners can easily grow. You sow it after danger of frost, about ½-inch deep, in a finely textured, moistened seedbed — the kind you’d prepare for carrots.
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Relish the garden harvest that each season bestows
If you have ever wondered who created the great classic recipes, the answer, in most cases, is “nobody.” They sprang from the garden, farm and orchard, just as a carrot sprouts in the row or an apple falls from the tree. No Italian chef set out to invent minestrone; it is simply the contents of …
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Warm up with stuffed cabbage leaves
Sadly, aside from Peter Rabbit, the rest of my family is really not completely in love with cabbage. Sometimes called the workhorse of the winter kitchen; cabbage is one of the few green vegetables that can be stored from harvest in the fall until spring in my root cellar. The first cabbages were brought to …
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Growing your own artichokes
The artichoke is a formidable vegetable. Armed like a cactus, the spiny globe is as much a challenge as a temptation. You must peel away many sharply pointed scales to reach what Pablo Neruda called “the peaceable dough of its green heart.” But the reward is great. The heart is silky-tender when steamed or boiled, …
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Gifts for sportsmen
Most of the sportsmen and women I have known over the years have an affinity for tools of the trade, gizmos and gadgets that have a practical application in their outdoor pursuits. And if they want something, and can afford it, they just go out and buy it. Oh, there are exceptions in the outdoor …
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Gingerbread cookies are a crowd favorite
Last week, my culinary students at Deer Isle-Stonington High School prepared and served a harvest lunch for their 120 classmates and staff. It was a heroic effort that involved the whole school and spanned over two weeks of preparation. Students roasted five Maine-raised turkeys, picking the meat off the bones, making stock and preparing gravy. …
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Let vegetables speak for themselves
Gardeners and cooks make excellent bedfellows. Likewise, farmers and chefs, judging from the number of restaurant menus that honor the producers of their vegetables, meats and cheeses. An affectation? A fad? I think not. It reflects a passionate interest in how food comes into being. Farmers, in turn, love to see what chefs do with …
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Preserving tomatoes to enjoy all year
If I had the self-discipline of a Zen Master, I could walk out to the garden on a late summer day, pick the most perfect tomato for lunch, then make compost out of all the others too numerous to consume. At heart, I believe in living from moment to moment in the garden, eating only, …
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Stop the rot: avoid sordid messes in fridge
When you pick a fruit or vegetable, it is still a living, breathing thing. It respires, taking oxygen from the air and releasing carbon dioxide. But it can’t live indefinitely. A peach, lettuce or bean, once cut, can no longer make food by means of photosynthesis, and begins to draw down its stored reserves. It …
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Sifted compost ultimate luxury
If compost is the Holy Grail of organic gardening, what’s the holier than thou? Sifted compost. What you want in making perfect mature compost is, of course, organic matter so fully broken down that the original ingredients — whether straw, weeds, kitchen scraps or goat droppings — are no longer recognizable. Finished compost looks like …