The high-starch vegetables play an important role in our winter diets, giving us the extra nutrition and energy we northerners need to stay warm and well-fed when the snow flies. But you’d better believe that we’re counting down the days until the start of this year’s farmers market -– and the first fresh leafy greens and other spring vegetables!

Montreal enjoyed several days of warm weather last week, which melted almost all of the snow that had fallen over the last two weeks, and there was a lot of it. Just as I was beginning to enjoy walking to work in my hiking boots, mother nature dropped another big snowfall on us and I […]

Kei, a commenter on my blog, recently asked about what kind of produce is available these days in Kansas. A San Franciscan, she was surprised by the dearth of produce she found recently in New York compared with her home.
Although I gave her a brief answer, I thought I’d check it out in a trip […]

Since becoming a vegetarian, I’ve been more inclined to celebrate Thanksgiving according to its original intent: to give thanks for a successful harvest by eating the results of that harvest. I like to look to the garden or the farmers market and celebrate the rich bounty of vegetables available at this time of the year — as well as the stories behind them — to celebrate a 100-Mile Thanksgiving, at least in part.

Posts by bloggers at both personal and nonprofit sites that you won’t want to miss.

Autumn is apple season in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, an opportunity to taste apples at their peak and remember how good an apple can be. For many, the apple’s standing has been diminished by too many cardboard-like Red Delicious apples served as token pieces of fruit on airplanes or at other establishments. […]

I am not a wine connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, when it comes to wine, I can generally take it or leave it. I’ve nothing against it, mind you, and I’ve found that the right wine can often make a good meal even more blissful. But I can also leave a […]

When the leaves begin to fall from the trees around these parts and the Canadian geese fill the skies, some folks smile with delight at the vibrant colours of the fall foliage. Other folks, a group which I belong to, see it in a different light. For me, autumn signals the death of the […]

The day I became a farmer was not, as one might imagine, the cool April day I started work as an intern at Guidestone Farm in Colorado. Nor did I not think of myself as a farmer the day I learned how to milk a cow. Getting up before dawn to pick peas did not make me a farmer; neither did bucking fresh bales of hay until the stack reached above my head. Farming is hard work, but hard work alone does not make one a farmer.

Labor Day weekend means one thing in particular to those of us raised in proximity to Lake Erie: the Milan Melon Festival. Throughout the year, Milan is famous for being the birthplace of Thomas Alva Edison, but as the summer winds up, the area around Milan bursts into color and fragrance as the bumper crops of watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe are harvested.

Heaven knows that "the lower-middle portion of the food pyramid" could use some grassroots advertising … but I don’t think this video, made by two guys working in the produce section of an A&P, is it. You can’t beet the silly wordplay, however, and I think it’s a shame that the supermarket chain thinks […]

I started by cooking the chopped red onion and the hot pepper in a bit of olive oil over low heat, letting them take their sweet time to carmelize…. Peaches and Herbs Salsa Makes 1 pint of salsa 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil 1 small red onion, sliced thin and chopped coarsely 1 hot pepper, seeded and minced 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 tsp minced fresh basil 1/4 tsp salt 5-6 peaches, peeled, pitted, and chopped 1 1/2 c chopped tomatoes 1 tsp minced fresh mint 1/2 tsp minced fresh basil Juice from 1/2 lime In large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-low heat.

Artifacts from the Future, the back page of Wired’s July issue:

(Click image for a larger version.)
While all the wacky fruits and veggies seem plausible, I wonder at the inflationary prices. Peak oil, anyone?
Kudos to creator Patrick di Justo. I’m as green with envy as those Cinna-dels, the "only GM apple that expresses both cinnamon and […]

Peter shares his recipe for “spring salad” aka egg-less chopped egg salad.

Peter talks about his CSA box.