Living wisely in the modern world

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pickled_ramps

Appalachian Spring: Ramp Season!

Just got in from a lovely hike along the ridge, down the north face broadside and into the bottomland armed with a garden hand spade and my two trusty dogs. Who are not particularly known to be good truffle-sniffers, and wouldn’t know a morel if it bit ‘em on the nose, but who can definitely …

Pie Crust Update!

ALERT! Pie Crust Update!

Ah, pie! Who doesn’t love pie? Custard pie, pumpkin pie, berry pie, meringue pie, ‘mater pie… and any good – or merely beloved – pie chef has his or her favorite crust ‘secrets’ that draw the oohs and ash from their intended pie-audience. Now, there are different sorts of pie crusts for different sorts of …

An Early July of Biblical Proportions

The first week of July here in the southern Appalachians has been positively diluvian. That means we’ve had so much rain – falling at the rate of 1-2 inches an hour spaced in waves throughout the day and night – that I’ve literally considered that I ought to build an ark. Worst day of all …

herbs

January’s Ice & Ills

This has been the coldest January in my neck of the woods for so many decades that not even the record-keepers can recall a colder one. Despite what we considered very clever precautions in the week before last’s super cold snap (negative temps), we ended up with a busted pipe in the basement wall anyway, …

Cider, Salsa and Peach Pie

The photo on the left is of my 3-year old volunteer peach tree, taken just this afternoon. You can see that it’s growing right next to my recently-moved compost bin, from which it volunteered. I have no idea exactly what kind of peach it is, but it was one we ate three years ago and …

Incoming Fruit!

Pear-Grape Jam & Pear Butter Despite the April freeze, which managed to hit after a March so warm that all the fruit had already blossomed, a goodly amount of concord and muscadine grapes managed to overcome the stress, and the cinnamon pears are falling at easily twice their usual size. And while harvest is a …

Macaroons

Dessert Fads in 2011

Even though everyone enjoys a bowl of ice cream or a few cookies, there are still major trends in the dessert industry every year that overshadow the classics. A handful of delicious sweets always gain huge popularity and spark tasty and beautiful dessert creations. These are the top 5 dessert fads of 2011 and a …

Cranberries

Best Thanksgiving Perk: Cranberries

Thanksgiving is just over a week away, which means one of my absolute favorite fruits are now being sold fresh in bags – often on half price sale – at grocery stores everywhere. For Thanksgiving I use just one of those 12-ounce bags to make my famous Crackberry Sauce (regular whole cranberry sauce with a …