Some summers are zucchini summers, and we are in the midst of one right now! While last year most of our summer squash plants got eaten by squash bugs, this year we have so many zucchini that we don’t know what to do with all of them. We’ve given them away, fed them to the…
Ingredients & How-To's
Get back to the basics and learn how to cook with simple ingredients in a way that enhances their flavor and texture.
Our "how-to" articles will help you know how to properly prepare harvest-fresh vegetables like radishes or beets, where to boost the flavor of your meals with herbs like sage, or even use more unusual foods like burdock root. Many of these recipes use traditional methods like cooking with cast iron so we'll show you how to care for cookware that will last a lifetime.
You'll also find simple food preservation methods as well as learn how to make starters for fermentations such as a turmeric bug for your naturally fermented soda creations!
5 Medicinal Herbs in Your Spice Rack
I love herbal medicine, and when I first got really into it I was surprised and pleased to learn that so many common herbs and spices are medicinal. Many herbs and spices that most of us already have in our spice racks do double duty as powerful healers. I’m going to go over five of…
8 Ways to Eat Radishes and Radish Greens
Radishes are a vegetable that are sometimes hard for people to get excited about. I think they are amazing, though! For one thing, they are super quick and easy to grow. They germinate in no time, even in cold weather, and are on your dinner table before any other plant in your garden has time…
How to Cook Turnips and Their Greens
Turnips are a vegetable people love to hate. This is something that I don’t understand, because I think they are awesome! (No, I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck). They are cheap, easy to cook, easy to grow, and just like beets, you get two tasty vegetables in one. Turnip greens are actually one…
How to Make a Turmeric Bug
One of my favorite things to ferment is to make a ginger bug. It’s always worked well for me, and I love the ginger sodas I can make from it, like my strawberry rhubarb soda. I have heard and read that the same thing can be done with turmeric root, and it is something that…
5 Easy Ways to Cook Winter Squash
Winter squash is one of my absolute favorite vegetables. They are hearty and filling, the perfect cold weather food. In the fall and winter, we probably have winter squash 2-3 nights per week or more. There are many different ways to prepare it, some more elaborate and fancy than others, but it doesn’t have to…
How to Cook with Cast Iron
I love my cast iron skillets. I use them every single day. If they are properly cared for, they can work just as well as a non stick pan, but without all the nasty chemicals. I slide over easy eggs out of my baby cast iron skillet without effort every morning! I even use them…
How to Cook Jerusalem Artichokes (Sunchokes)
Jerusalem artichokes, also known as sunchokes, are a root vegetable that some people love to hate. They have two things going against them, one being that they can completely take over your garden, the other that they have been known to cause gastric distress in some people. They didn’t get the nickname “fartichokes” for no…
How to Cook and Eat Artichokes
Artichokes are a strange vegetable for the uninitiated, but an absolute delight for those of us who love them! When I was a kid, it was always an exciting night in our household when we had artichokes with dinner. I must admit that I wasn’t a kid who liked a whole lot of vegetables, but…
How to Cook Burdock Root
Burdock is a plant that is useful in so many ways, but we often don’t know what it is or what in the heck to do with it. It is great for your garden in that the long roots break up the soil and the leaves can be used for mulch. It is a powerful…
