Celeste in the Garden
August 4, 2020
Blueberries are great for freezing. Next time you have more blueberries than you can eat—whether you found a great deal at the supermarket, grow berries, or went blueberry picking—try freezing them! Here’s how to freeze blueberries the right way!
It’s important to learn how to properly freeze blueberries so that they don’t all freeze in one giant clump. If you don’t follow these instructions, you’ll be very frustrated when you only want to defrost a handful, and all the blueberries are in a... more
July 17, 2020
How do you ripen avocados so that they’re just right—not too mushy? Here’s what you need to know about selecting, ripening, cutting, and storing avocados. After all, it’s worth the knowledge to enjoy this super-healthy brain food—and make awesome guacamole!
How to Select an Avocado
The best way to tell if an avocado is ready for immediate use is to gently squeeze the fruit in the palm of your hand (avoid squeezing with your fingertips). Ripe, ready-to-eat fruit will be firm yet will yield to... more
April 8, 2020
April is the beginning of the busy season for me. The snow is gone and the garden beckons, but high on my list is to spring-clean the chicken coop. It needs to be done every year!
Once a year, everything gets thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom: shoveled, swept, vacuumed and washed. Everything in it comes out and gets scrubbed down before being allowed back in. I put a few nesting boxes under the coop outside so the girls have a place to lay their eggs. Then I shut their door to the outside—... more
February 20, 2020
I love onions. They are great for bringing out the flavor of meats. Now is the time to plant onions if you are going to grow them from seed. Here’s how.
It’s wonderful to grow a real “keeper” that will last well into next summer. Check your gardening catalogues to see which onion varieties are recommended.
Planting Onions From Seed
Fill a flat ⅔ with potting soil. Add a bit of kelp meal for additional minerals and dig this in.
Broadcast the onions seeds all over the top of the soil. Cover with... more
October 1, 2019
There are some plants that are quite hardy and don’t mind a bit of frost. Others need to be covered to survive once it gets cold. See my photos on using row covers to extend the harvest!
I generally cover my lettuce, spinach and kale and continue to harvest them—sometimes as late as Christmas. If you live further south, you might be able to keep these plants going all winter long with proper protection.
Covering Plants With Row Covers
Row covers are transparent protection often the shape of... more
September 28, 2018
In some places, gladiolus can be left in the ground all winter. In colder climates, however, they would freeze and die. Gladiolus can be saved, though, if placed in the root cellar and replanted in the spring. Here’s how.
First, gently dig the entire gladiolus plant and place on newspapers in a shady spot that won’t get frosted. A porch is ideal. Let them sit there for a week or two until the stems easily pull away from the corms.
Next, separate the new corms from the old ones.
Often, a... more
September 24, 2018
It’s harvesttime. Cabbages are available at a deal. Few people know that in the early 1900’s, the biggest crop grown in this country was cabbages. That’s because they last a long time when put in a cool spot and they can be fermented into sauerkraut!
And sauerkraut is loaded with vitamin C and digestive enzymes. Most early ship explorers brought along huge barrels of sauerkraut once scurvy was identified as a vitamin C deficiency. And anybody with digestive problems can also be helped by eating... more
July 21, 2018
Summer’s a good time to assess what you could use in the garden. Consider the merits of a rain barrel positioned to catch rainfall from downspouts or gutters, especially for plants on dry days or during drought.
We have a large rain barrel that collects all of the rain water that comes off of our wood shed roof. In the spring, we set up a gutter system to gather it into a 50 gallon drum at the bottom. This drum sits up on some wood to get it up off of the ground.
We put some screen at the top... more
June 11, 2018
Purslane, or Portulaca oleracea, is a garden weed that is edible and has many health benefits. Find out the benefits of the purslane plant here, and get a purslane recipe!
Purslane Health Benefits
Like many other weeds, purslane is not only edible but also far more nutritious than many of the crops that we plant! Here’s just a few of the health benefits of purslane:
Seven times the beta-carotene of carrots
Six times more vitamin E than spinach
Fourteen times more Omega 3 fatty acids.
Purslane... more
February 12, 2018
Ever heard of kimchi? It’s a very flavorful, healthy, fermented dish made with vegetables. Here’s a bit about the benefits of fermented foods, as well as an easy kimchi recipe.
What are Fermented Foods?
Fermentation is an age-old culinary art experiencing a rebirth. Explore how to make delicious, healthy, nutrient- dense delicious foods through preservation.
In fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and kimchi, there are large amounts of enzymes that greatly aid the process of digestion. Our... more
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Celeste Longacre has been growing virtually all of her family’s vegetables for the entire year for over 30 years. She cans, she freezes, she dries, she ferments & she root cellars. She also has chickens. Celeste has also enjoyed a longtime relationship with The Old Farmer’s Almanac as their astrologer and gardens by the Moon. Her new book, “Celeste’s Garden Delights,” is now available! Celeste Longacre does a lot of teaching out of her home and garden in the summer. Visit her web site at www.celestelongacre.com for details.
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