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Archive for the ‘Growing’ Category

Let’s Get Hoppy

Posted in Cooking, Crafts, Growing, tagged , , , , on September 25, 2016 | Leave a Comment »

What to do with those hop cones ripening on your vine?  Making beer is the first thing that comes to people’s minds as this plant is what gives brews their distinctive bitter flavor but there’s a lot more you can do! What exactly is hops? Hops are hardy perennials that can grow up to 26 […]

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Garlic Braids

Posted in Crafts, Growing, tagged , on July 10, 2016 | Leave a Comment »

Right now is a good time to harvest garlic.  Braiding it then hanging it in a cool, dark place is a great way to store it for later. First dry the garlic until the leaves are limp and the outside of the bulb is getting papery. Gently brush off the dirt and trim the roots off.  […]

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Fennel

Posted in Cooking, Growing, tagged , on June 12, 2016 | 3 Comments »

The herb fennel is so plentiful and grows so well in the Pacific Northwest that some people think of it as a weed and do their best to eradicate it. Horrors!  This plant is useful from its seeds to its roots and should be cherished! According to Wikipedia this herb was well known to the […]

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Edible Flowers

Posted in Cooking, Crafts, Growing, tagged on June 11, 2016 | Leave a Comment »

Many of the flowers that grace our yards are edible.  They can be used as accents in a salad or as garnish on a main dish. Here are a few of my favorites: I like to use chive flowers in salads to lend a slightly onion flavor.  Here’s a recipe for omelets with chive flowers. Lavender cookies are […]

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Oregano!

Posted in Cooking, Growing, tagged , on June 10, 2016 | Leave a Comment »

My family loves Italian style food so we go through a ton of the herb oregano each year. Luckily it’s very easy to grow; you can start it from seed or buy a plant at most local nurseries.  It does best in full sun and doesn’t like to be water logged but do be aware […]

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It’s Thyme!

Posted in Cooking, Growing, tagged , on May 29, 2016 | Leave a Comment »

Right now is a great time to harvest thyme.  To harvest this useful herb just take your kitchen shears and snip off bunches.  I usually trim off the top three inches and make sure to leave a lot of the plant intact; if you clip off too much you can kill the plant. You can […]

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Seed Starting

Posted in Growing, tagged on March 23, 2016 | 2 Comments »

Here’s some more information on starting seeds.  Right now is a great time to get seeds going for warm season crops like tomatoes and for cool season crops that need a little boost like collards.  While cool season crops can be direct sowed soon I find that doing starts let’s me get a bit of a […]

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Wild Edibles

Posted in Cooking, Growing, tagged , , , , on March 18, 2016 | Leave a Comment »

So what do you do if you have very little land, a thrifty budget and still want to eat super local?  Wild edibles can be a great way to go! By following a few simple rules you can safely harvest a bounty: Only eat what you know Harvest small amounts Don’t harvest near roads or […]

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Soil Temperature and What to Plant When

Posted in Growing, tagged , , on March 9, 2016 | 2 Comments »

This year is a warm one so far and it’s hard not to succumb to the lure of the seed catalogs and rush out and plant everything.  Unfortunately this may lead to a lot of rotten seed in the ground and a need to replant. To avoid this disappointment it’s important to read the package […]

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What’s in That Soil?

Posted in Growing, tagged , , on March 3, 2016 | Leave a Comment »

My soil certainly looked good; rich brown, crumbly with a nice loamy smell but what was really there? Do I have lead in my soil? Does it have nutrients to grow healthy plants? This year I finally got my trowel out, shot out of the house on a cold February day and dug up samples from several […]

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