In the Garden with Celeste

April is the beginning of the busy season for me. The snow is gone and the garden beckons but the first thing that I do in the spring is clean out the hen house.

                Now is the time to plant onions indoors. If you want onions that are going to keep through the winter, you need to plant a good “keeper” variety. Catalogues will generally have this information available.  I always plant them either in late February or March. This year, there are four different days which are particularly ideal in the month of March. The 11^th, 12^th, 20^th and 21^st are all spectacular.

Amaryllis

Here in New Hampshire, winters are long. The landscape is somewhat bleak (although snow scenes can be pretty) and the only flowers that we get to view are inside. 

I learned a lot about nutrition over the years by studying it on my own. When I came across Sally Fallon (Morell)’s book, “Nourishing Traditions, things really fell into place. She is fantastic about telling you what the different vitamins, fats, enzymes, etc. do in the body. Then, she describes—in over 600 pages—how to cook everything. For example, she says about enzymes…

And Now to Next Year.

No sooner has the garden been put to bed, most gardeners are already thinking about next year.

Few flavorings rival garlic. It’s pungent, exotic, powerful and scrumptious. Fabled uses of the stuff also include the warding off of vampires and the cure for what ails you. Historically, many serfs were forced to grow it as the King demanded it for taxes. Garlic has been a mainstay of most households for a long, long time.

Canning Tomatoes

Home grown tomatoes are almost everyone’s favorite vegetable. All year long, we dream of sinking our teeth into the sweet, soft flesh of a truly ripe one.