Down Home Blog

It’s been dark and rainy for the better part of two weeks, making me even more aware of the shortening days.

New England state fairs made pumpkin history in late September.

The onion and its satin wrappings is among the most beautiful of vegetables and is the only one that represents the essence of things. It can be said to have a soul, wrote the American essayist Charles Dudley Warner, a friend of Mark Twain.

If you’ve ever tended a big food garden in a region that gets frost—the kind of garden that you hope will feed your household all year long—you know the alternate reality that late summer brings.

Budgets are tight for many of us. If you’ve squeezed and squeezed and squeezed yours again, maybe these few tips can help you squeeze some more—and have a little creative fun along the way.

Avocado, cornmeal, cabbage, honey, milk, eggs, potatoes, cucumbers, apple cider, yogurt, lemons, cottage cheese, wine, oils, lard, ground spices, herbs, salt, bananas, tomato pulp, flowers, clay, pigmented minerals, seawater, fish scales, ground insects, and yes, mule’s urine, placenta, and bird poop.

A personal observation, a concrete seasonal reference, a pivot word or turning point that introduces an insight/shock of awareness, and all in only three lines of text totaling 17 syllables: These are the traditional components of the classical Japanese poetic form known as haiku.