Celeste in the Garden
July 15, 2016
You don’t need chemicals to get rid of pesky garden pests: Companion planting, natural remedies, and attracting predators to your garden can save you money and also save your plants.
As gardeners, we often find that various insects can be found eating our crops. This is disturbing and frustrating. Broccoli looks disgusting when it is covered by small worms along with their poop. Cucumber beetles eat holes in the leaves of the plants and spread disease from one to the next. Cutworms strike at... more
April 25, 2016
Mayonnaise is something that can be made and fermented at home. It’s actually a very good idea to make your own as most of the brands found in the supermarket are made with inferior and sometimes unhealthy oils.
Ferments are becoming quite popular these days. As our gut biome is used to the probiotics and digestive enzymes that they provide, it’s a good idea to eat some on a regular basis.
Fermented Mayonnaise Recipe
Ingredients:
Hand blender or food processor
3 egg yolks from a known source.... more
April 4, 2016
See how to make fruit kvass, a fermented drink that’s probiotic-rich, refreshing, and hydrating!
Why Fermented Drinks?
For tens of thousands of years, our ancestors used fermentation as the main method of preservation of their food. Without refrigeration or the ability to can, they relied on the workings of natural microorganisms to change their fresh harvests into storable ones. They made and ate fermented sauerkraut, kimchee, grains, pulses, milk, fish, meat and vegetables. This process not... more
March 3, 2016
Ever tried sowed seeds outside in the hard winter ground? My friend, Jackie Caserta told me about this new idea and it sounded pretty easy so I decided to give it a try.
Granted, this is an experiment on my part, but the woman who wrote about it, Trudi Davidoff, said that these plants ended up being much hardier and healthier than anything started inside. It’s best to use cold-hardy plants so I decided to try some lettuce, broccoli and Swiss chard.
The idea is that you sow seeds into mini-... more
December 16, 2015
Here’s one of my favorite Stir-Fry recipes using bone broth. It’s good for you and good tasting!
Bone broth soup is really good for us. I noticed over 30 years ago that—if my husband, Bob, and I have at least two servings a week of my homemade soup—we have no problems with our joints.
When I forget, my knees really bother me. So I have learned to incorporate the broth into as many meals as possible.
Click for Bone Broth Soup Recipe
One delicious way to eat it is in a stir-fry!
Begin by cutting... more
October 8, 2015
Though I have used sand to store my beets in the root cellar for many years, this year I decided to use wood chips to keep the beets from rotting. Here’s how to store your beets!
Storing Beets in Sand
Last year I had a problem getting dry sand to use on my beets for the winter. I used to wait for a particularly dry stretch in August and then take some buckets, a shovel, and a hard hat to a sand depot nearby. I would drive in and scoop the sand off the top of the many mountains where it was bone... more
September 30, 2015
Digging potatoes has got to be one of the most pleasurable aspects of gardening. It’s buried treasure! Will there be lots of them or just a few? Either way, there are some critical steps to preparing them for winter storage in the root cellar.
Take a pitchfork and dig in quite a bit away from the plant. Lift the soil to loosen it. Then, with gloved hands, gently reach around feeling for the potatoes. They tend to grow close to the now-dead vines. They also form above where the original potato... more
September 12, 2015
Our ancestors knew how to preserve food—they had root cellars capable of storing large amounts of produce in the cool underground. This allowed them to partake in fresh vegetables through all those cold winter months and on into the spring.
What Is a Root Cellar?
There are many types of root cellars, but they generally consist of a space dug into the ground that is cooled by the ambient temperature of the Earth. They are utilized to store root vegetables such as beets, carrots, turnips,... more
June 2, 2015
Whether you live in the South and are well into the vegetable gardening season or you live in northern regions and are finally starting to plant, I hope these planting tips will provide some timeless advice.
If you get frost in your area, tomatoes, peppers, basil, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, paprika and summer and winter squash are all very sensitive to frost (for a free complete list to download, go to my website at: www.celestelongacre.com). In my northern climate, I started planting the... more
May 19, 2015
I love homemade whey, that cloudy liquid that remains after milk has been curdled or strained, and it can be used in many fermentation recipes. Whey contains probiotics which are “good” bacteria that is good for your health, especially your digestive system.
I add whey to all of my fermented foods such as sauerkraut, ginger ale, ketchup, and pickles. Our ancestors always fermented their condiments; this gives them not only probiotics but digestive enzymes as well.
After two years of drinking... 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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