Section » Fruits and vegetables

Beet me up: Six summery ways to enjoy the sweetest root vegetable

By • on May 28, 2012

I peek under our hoop house garden bed to check the progress of the hundred beets we planted early in the winter. The greens look healthy and strong. For two months I have resisted the urge to harvest baby beets early. On occasion, I did harvest a few beets under the auspices of "thinning the bed." (Sometimes thinning a garden bed is necessary to give

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Minding common ground: “Poly-farming” in northeast Ohio

By • on September 27, 2011

Just about any road I take that leads me out of Wooster, Ohio, very quickly guides me past vast fields of corn or soybeans. Agriculture plays a vital role in Wayne County’s economy, and for several

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Two cookbooks give winter vegetables a starring role

By • on January 1, 2011

The temperatures have plunged below the freezing point, the first major snow of the season has blanketed the ground, and winter is officially here. Baby, it’s cold outside,

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Cooking outside the zone: Agretti, paired with fregola

By • on August 13, 2010

At last week's farmers market, one of my outside the zone choices (made in honor of National Farmers Market Week) was agretti (Salsola soda) from La

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Cooking outside the comfort zone: green tomatoes

By • on August 4, 2010

In the world of science, there's something called "publication bias," which recognizes that studies with positive results are more likely to be published than studies with negative ones. I suspect there is a similar bias

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Cooking outside my comfort zone, pt. 1: A remembrance of squash blossoms past

By • on July 28, 2010

In honor of Farmers Market Week next week, I vowed here to get out of my market rut and cook outside my comfort zone. That's how I came

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Cook outside your comfort zone in honor of National Farmers Market Week

By • on July 22, 2010

It's the height of summer, and the tables of farmers markets around the country are overflowing with firm-fleshed, scarlet tomatoes; bunches of fragrant basil; and -- depending on where you live -- juicy stone fruits, avocados,

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U-Pick, u-pack, u-preserve cherry madness

By • on July 16, 2010

By Mat Rogers Recently my wife and I took a day trip to the cherry and apricot orchards of Enos Family Farms in Brentwood, California, which offers pick-your-own-fruit

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Contain your enthusiasm: Review of “From Container To Kitchen”

By • on July 10, 2010

As an apartment-dweller, I know the frustration of not having enough soil to call my own for a garden. (Why do you think

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The pie’s the limit! Get baking for Pi Day, March 14

By • on March 13, 2010

Back in my (much) younger days, I used to enjoy math class. I especially got a kick out of geometry and the formulas used to calculate area, perimeter or circumference, and volume. My mother and I used to have fun with one formula in particular: "What's the formula for the area of a circle?" she would

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The spirit is willing, and the fresh is weekly: Review of “A Year on the Garden Path”

By • on February 28, 2010

For the past few weeks, I've been watching the snow drift down with deceptive lightness, only to accumulate in deep piles (18" and counting here in northeastern Ohio) that have well and truly buried any remotely green thing on the ground. While it's lovely to sit inside and watch winter's show, I also

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Souped-up meals to warm up snow days

By • on February 14, 2010

Every time I've looked out the window this week, I've felt a childlike glee at the sight of all the snow piled up. A whopping 18" dropped in 24 hours last weekend, a few more inches covered that earlier this week, and more is in the forecast. I really sympathize with the folks further south (south!)

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Grow-hio: Midwestern farmers rely on Eliot Coleman’s advice for cold-weather farming

By • on December 28, 2009

As winter approaches, even the most knowledgeable of local-foods-loving shoppers have wondered what fresh produce they will find over the winter months, and the opening of a year-round market here in Wooster has only increased the frequency of that musing.

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Apple days are here again

By • on October 18, 2009

As the weather turns colder here in northeast Ohio, harvests are tapering off and farmers markets are dwindling, both on the farmer side and the shopper side. We're approaching that time of year when the only local produce you can expect to find for months consists of potatoes, onions, cabbage, and squash. For

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Meet your greens, part 3: Taking the stand against the veggilantes

By • on October 4, 2009

This is the third in a series about the USDA hearings on an industry proposal for a food-safety marketing agreement for leafy green vegetables. My first post describes what marketing agreements are and do; my second

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