tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45542078599393113182012-01-16T14:42:57.156-06:00-----------------Leading a pioneer life on the west side of Chicago----------------- Urban gardening * Local eating * Slow CookingAbbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.comBlogger1341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-48992860224115043432012-01-15T15:49:00.004-06:002012-01-15T16:24:14.978-06:00

My daughter was born in the late spring of 2011. The summer and fall went by in the milky haze a newborn brings to a home. I even took a long vacation away from Illinois at the peak of summer, with nary a moment's anxiety about my garden. It was a neglected mess anyway, what did 2 weeks without water matter? We did spend long lazy days out in the garden, although I will admit that many a tomato

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-13200738700001777222010-11-01T13:19:00.008-05:002010-11-01T13:53:42.898-05:00

Snow is in the forecast for Friday, and after a six-week hiatus from gardening and writing, I face today the mountain of chores long overdue for my ragged, late-fall garden. I spent virtually the entire autumn in the low-energy state of early pregnancy -- napping, cooking just enough for family needs and generally guarding against any extra expenditure of effort. Now, at four months along, my

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-32342920588877454942010-09-20T20:21:00.004-05:002010-09-20T20:37:42.705-05:00

Autumn is right around the corner, and -- despite the 90 degree day that we are facing tomorrow --there is no more insistent a reminder of this turn of seasons than the scent of concord grapes. The arbor hangs thick with ripening fruit right by the door of the garage. I arrive home every evening to the heady scent of sun-baked grapes. The birds are getting a lot this year, and I am not sure I

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-34630848136178620552010-09-08T19:19:00.003-05:002010-09-08T19:42:53.531-05:00

Tonight begins the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah. Apples and honey are the traditional foods, symbolizing a sweet new year. Our family is not observant -- actually not religious in the slightest! --but I try to celebrate the traditions of my mother-in-law and her family with my young son. He is an easy mark on Rosh Hashanah -- what 3 year old wouldn't want to dip apples into honey as a snack?

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-43937712856584456942010-09-05T05:47:00.002-05:002010-09-08T19:02:36.016-05:00

July was a cruel month to my nasturtiums and, by the end of the month, they had withered away to straggly, yellowing stems. I ripped the nasturtiums out of the corner of my yard, as the dying foliage looked particularly horrible against the lush August green of the rest of the garden. As I tore out the plants, I noticed little rootlets hanging off the main stems. I decided to replant these

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-84669893188035683722010-09-03T17:40:00.004-05:002010-09-03T20:38:13.010-05:00

The most anticipated flower in my garden bloomed today -- passiflora incarnata alba, the passion flower. I started these seeds early in the winter and have been nursing this plant along ever since, first under a cloche and then against the onslaught of the slugs.All of my careful ministrations were worth it when when I returned from a long day of work this evening to find two blossoms quivering

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-50329613041396752322010-09-01T06:08:00.003-05:002010-09-01T11:18:53.433-05:00

No matter how carefully I tend my home life of urban farming and slow cooking, there are times when my professional duties overwhelm any homesteading reveries. The past 10 days have been a harsh reminder that the skills that pay my bills have less to do with my green thumb, and more to do with my medical training. I am tending patients right now, not plants. I leave early in the morning and come

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-25947196124433532952010-08-24T20:11:00.005-05:002010-08-24T20:56:42.596-05:00

Every year in my garden, one plant does very well, outpacing all others in productivity and vigor. Each year a peculiar set of elements - rain, light, perhaps whatever I laid down as mulch the year before -- combine to create near-perfect conditions for one of my edible crops. 2006 was the year of basil, 2007 the year of the tomato, 2008 the year of the zucchini, 2009 the year of the green bean.

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-31589054098464067882010-08-19T16:48:00.005-05:002010-08-19T18:06:51.828-05:00

The Independent Garden Center Show took over Navy Pier this week -- and though I am but a humble local garden blogger, I thought it worthwhile to stop by and check out what the area garden centers would be growing, promoting and teaching in the upcoming year. The show has educational sessions and speakers, but the main action seemed to be the giant hall full of vendors. There was row upon row of

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-38681216326144367292010-08-15T12:11:00.005-05:002010-08-15T12:31:20.252-05:00

In his delightful gem of a book, Annuals for Connoisseurs, Wayne Winterrowd recalls an older gardener who continued to scale back her garden, bed by bed, year after year. At the end of her days, she left herself with nothing more than a single small plot of zinnias that she could see from her sitting room. "Those she could not forgo". I was utterly charmed by the idea of the flower you cannot

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-71688099773445238462010-08-14T07:57:00.003-05:002010-08-14T08:04:39.483-05:00

The first of the Kadota figs are ripening. They are soft and very sweet, but a little insipid when eaten fresh. They are best for canning and drying. Unfortunately, I only have one potted tree, so gathering up enough ripe figs at the same time to justify an afternoon of canning or dehydrating is a bit of a challenge. The first ripe ones will go to fresh eating, and once the "main crop" comes in (

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-27055805413876968072010-08-10T07:29:00.005-05:002010-08-10T08:09:21.088-05:00

The salad we ate last night for dinner featured an embarrassment of garden riches....homegrown corn, tomatoes, potatoes and beans. The color of the beans is a bit jarring, no? A nearly black component of a salad doesn't exactly bring to mind summer freshness. In their raw state, these beans are a rich maroon. They are red noodle yard long beans and they are far outpacing my pole beans.The first

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-53015840216197478922010-08-08T10:28:00.004-05:002010-08-08T11:07:12.742-05:00

I went to a Barnes and Noble for the first time in a long while and was shocked by the rack of newly released cookbooks -- nearly two prominently displayed shelves of glossy hardcovers emphasized local food, seasonal produce and kitchen gardening. Snark all you want about trends and recession-era fashions, but it warms my heart to see this ethic become mainstream. There was even a thick stack of

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-33064546215109298042010-08-06T08:05:00.007-05:002010-08-06T08:36:30.590-05:00

Today is my son's first day of school. He will be a student in the early childhood classroom of a Montessori magnet in the Chicago public school system. This school has a garden, albeit a few raised beds on an old asphalt basketball court. I'll take it -- any outdoor activity is a luxury in a school system imperiled by a city that pours money into TIF's instead of education. In honor of the start

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-14648402395511143102010-08-03T20:42:00.001-05:002010-08-03T21:16:11.954-05:00

There are those in my generation who may remember a TV game show from the early 1990's: Supermarket Sweep. The show pitted two couples against each other in a supermarket and culminated in a frenzied shopping spree. The point of the spree was to fill your cart with the highest-value items in the allotted time. Everyone went for the shallots, which were inexplicably located on a dry-goods shelf,

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-59507823963900769372010-08-02T09:49:00.005-05:002010-08-02T10:02:45.313-05:00

Here is my nasturtium tee-pee before I left on an out-of-state trip:Here is my tee-pee as I found it, six days later:Annuals break your heart every time. At some point, they just pucker out and there you are, left with the wilted, tattered remains. Have the plants reached the end of their life? Was it the heat? Was it too much rain? I am going to pick off the nasty bits tonight, and see what I

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-17086897299528730452010-07-27T07:31:00.006-05:002010-07-28T06:54:00.975-05:00

My sister is getting married this weekend and we are all looking forward to celebrating with the happy couple. I leave my garden with some trepidation, knowing that a few days of not picking cucumbers or tomatoes could promise a pathetic vegetable patch on my return. I have promised the neighbor kids a monetary reward for keeping the vegetables picked and the containers watered. Twelve year-olds,

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-40708909592370228022010-07-24T15:30:00.001-05:002010-07-24T15:34:57.923-05:00

With apricots and cherries in season, I am up to my ears in jam, despite the unavoidable fact that my family prefers salty preserves over sweet ones. It was time to put up some more savory treats, so I turned to a newly released book: Homemade Living: Canning and Preserving with Ashley English (I received a review copy from the publisher). Ashley English writes a blog, Small Measure, that will

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-14703613482249792052010-07-23T07:50:00.003-05:002010-07-23T08:23:02.971-05:00

This morning I experienced two conflicting emotions about sharing the bounty of my garden. On one hand, I need to foist off my surplus now, lest our family develop some kind of nutritional deficiency from living entirely off cucumbers. I collected a large basket of produce this morning from my beds, including the giant cucumber above that sneakily swelled up on a rogue vine behind the AC unit. I

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-39793793620497972202010-07-19T06:57:00.004-05:002010-07-19T08:03:30.676-05:00

My strawberry patch had a second flush of ripe berries over the weekend. Given the wealth of fresh plums, cherries and peaches on our counter right now, I feared that the strawberries would go uneaten. What? Homegrown strawberries uneaten? Well, we find these July berries to be a little less luscious then the first June crop -- blander and drier, likely secondary to the inevitable heat and water

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-68955887771205915242010-07-17T11:46:00.005-05:002010-07-19T08:08:54.808-05:00

I have four cucumber plants in my garden this year. Two are in a raised bed, sprawling along the ground in a forgotten corner of our patio. Two have been trained vertically up the sunniest section of fence in my yard. Both receive the same amount of water and light, but the sprawling plants are well ahead of the vertical climbers. What gives? The vertical climbers are lush with leaves and covered

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-66843889901267286722010-07-14T08:12:00.006-05:002010-07-14T08:52:48.568-05:00

I can't spend my summers in the French countryside, but at least my garden lets me eat like I'm there. The garden stars have finally aligned to give me all the critical ingredients for one of our favorite summertime dinners, a French tian. Tian is just a fancy way to say a baked vegetable casserole. Larousse Gastronomique officially defines it as "an earthenware ovenproof dish from Provence,

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-30404666943975002102010-07-12T11:51:00.003-05:002010-07-12T12:09:09.369-05:00

One of my Opalka tomato plants has come down with blossom end rot. Blossom end rot (BER) is not a pathogen-borne disease, but rather a calcium-uptake issue. Either there is calcium soil deficiency, or conditions (drought or excess water usually) lead to impaired calcium delivery from the roots. None of the other neighboring tomatoes are suffering similar issues, so I am loathe to blame this on a

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-48398522371661276562010-07-10T20:25:00.005-05:002010-07-10T21:02:38.234-05:00

It is hard to face another canning project so soon after the flush of June strawberries. Early July offers a little bit of breathing space in my own edible garden. There is little to eat aside from young squash and the earliest of the cherry tomatoes, which are eaten immediately upon discovery. My blueberry bushes -- more likely candidates for preservation -- are young and only have a few berries

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-33570638389026020612010-07-09T07:28:00.006-05:002010-07-09T08:06:16.635-05:00

This week has brought me two sets of flowers I have never seen, from my hen and chick plant and from my spider plant. The hen and chick flower stalk is a little jarring -- making for an oddly asymmetric and top-heavy container. The mother hen plant will die after flowering, but fortunately there are plenty of chicks to take over. Some folks cut the stalks off, but I will keep it for now-- I want

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-30548260428923019602010-07-06T20:52:00.003-05:002010-07-07T10:26:18.800-05:00

An article on Salon recently discussed the cultural phenomenon of "radical homemaking" -- namely, a "new" movement of folks embracing self-sufficiency and shunning consumer culture. As the author puts it, this is the idea that "we don't have to rely on nameless, faceless corporations to feed, clothe, shelter and entertain us. Instead, we can take ourselves out of an economy that requires endless

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-74900189818688630782010-07-04T09:02:00.001-05:002010-07-06T21:22:57.289-05:00

My nasturtium 'Spitfire' tee-pee is coming along nicely, although it may be hard to appreciate in this photo, given the visual background of vertically climbing Armenian cukes and a big zucchini muscling in from the side. The nasturtium still boasts mostly foliage, despite careful neglect with the hose and no fertilizer (the oft-recommended approach to get heavy-blooming nasturtiums). I can see

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-54075472581958401592010-06-29T06:43:00.004-05:002010-06-29T08:15:15.727-05:00

I admitted defeat with my onions yesterday -- the stormy, wet weather had beaten them down beyond all redemption. Their green tops were folded over, bedraggled on the ground. Other plants -the tomatoes, the melons, the cucumbers -- have been thriving in this humidity and have grown to gargantuan proportions for this point in the season. Certain parts of my garden look more late August than late

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-9501937673042995282010-06-26T09:00:00.003-05:002010-06-26T09:31:49.243-05:00

Here we have the first zucchini blossoms of the season, promising one of the most delicious and fleeting of garden delicacies: stuffed squash flowers or fiori di zucca. I have posted before about my general disappointment with edible flowers -- the humble chive notwithstanding. Well, here is yet another exception. When stuffed with cheese and served forth with a light sauce, these zucchini

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-44416328330729355522010-06-23T05:51:00.006-05:002010-06-23T07:58:25.282-05:00

The June blossoms are cascading across garden blogs in a rainbow of colors. Gorgeous photos of lush foliage and romantic arbors are glittering through my internet browsing. I know you can shoot any garden carefully, edit well, and probably wind up with a montage somewhat able to convince the casual viewer that you reside within the pages of a gardening magazine. I don't begrudge these bloggers

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-67918175177932175062010-06-18T06:58:00.007-05:002010-06-18T07:32:37.819-05:00

When I scored some red kuri squash seeds in a seed swap this spring, my reasonable inner voice told me to back away slowly and leave the squash -- with it's large leaves, tenacious vines and high water needs -- to a gardener with more square footage. But my inner crazed gardener beat down that reasonable voice and I furtively tucked an envelope of the seeds into my pocket. I had to be furtive --

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-56858152313498630292010-06-13T18:42:00.002-05:002010-06-13T19:13:28.366-05:00

The Territorial Seed Company mailed out its Winter 2010 catalog this week. The tomatoes are just blossoming and already I must think about the first frost date? It is hard to consider brassicas when the taste of June strawberries lingers on your lips. Initially, I reacted to the catalog with a snarky muttering about seasonal marketing - was Territorial following in the spirit of Walgreen's, who

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-49105436599054315432010-06-10T21:14:00.005-05:002010-06-10T21:47:56.042-05:00

I am a sucker for seed names -- a romantic reference or a clever descriptor always makes me want to grow that variety. Who cares how delicious or reliable the more-mundane-named variety is? Enticed by the name on the label, I picked up some atomic red carrot seeds at a seed swap in early spring. Atomic red! It was thrilling -- radiant, nuclear, flaming hot red! I couldn't wait. Scarlet Nantes had

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-9572805161137657112010-06-06T14:26:00.006-05:002010-06-07T20:25:49.992-05:00

The nasturtiums are leafing out nicely. No flowers as of yet, but enough foliage to let me harvest a few leaves for a taste. Whooo-wee! Does that clear the nostrils! The nasturtium entry in Alan Davidson's essential Oxford Companion to Food remarks that the taste is similar to watercress, which is all well and good, yet he goes on to caution that the leaves should be used sparingly. That should

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-70913641373149075642010-06-04T07:01:00.004-05:002010-06-04T07:32:56.811-05:00

No matter how much I long for the first strawberry, within weeks of the glorious inaugural bite, I am up to my neck in the fruits and ready to call it quits. I can barely keep up with harvesting them, let alone eating them or preserving them. I have 5 pounds of strawberries sitting in my fridge that I was going to turn into jam yesterday. But after a full day of work, then picking and cutting off

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-49612573109610407312010-06-02T19:07:00.004-05:002010-06-02T19:59:04.002-05:00

There are some herbs that are best left to the appreciation of the eye and nose, to flavor the landscape rather than the table. Maybe I have yet to unlock their culinary secrets. Given the wealth of delicious, easy to grow herbs available to gardeners, I am puzzled as to why anyone would grow borage, for example, for culinary reasons.Now, I love herbs. My herb garden is a constant source of

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-16296728125595318402010-05-29T06:13:00.002-05:002010-05-29T06:26:58.325-05:00

My son and I woke up today and went to pick strawberries in the still-cool morning. The first crop hung red and ripe from the plants, and in a few minutes we had a bowlful. We sat quietly, eating the berries, juice dribbling down our chins. Our neighborhood, normally raucous with music, cars and conversation, was still silent in the pre-six-o'clock-hour. This one moment -- of bucolic peace, of

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-42320948592131030842010-05-26T09:03:00.005-05:002010-06-13T19:15:42.802-05:00

I invited friends over to dinner last weekend -- promising fare from my garden -- only to realize that my edibles were either fading out (rhubarb, lettuce) or still in their infancy (tomatoes, peppers). I scavenged beet greens, herbs and pea shoots, and then the grapevine caught my eye. The new vines were springing out all over their trellis -- lush and leafy, and threatening as usual to overtake

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-48565952985897145862010-05-22T07:10:00.003-05:002010-05-22T07:32:28.827-05:00

The kitchen garden is in a bit of a Spring slump this week. The rhubarb is looking raggedy and the asparagus is ferned out. The cold weather greens have been pulled for the table to make way for warm weather crops. The peas have barely started to bloom. While a few fruits are nearing ripeness, we are still a few weeks away from a real strawberry harvest:This gives me little to use in the kitchen,

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-13592669090433619692010-05-19T08:10:00.007-05:002010-05-19T09:06:21.132-05:00

Hops and horseradish are both new to my garden this year, but historically appropriate to this area of Chicago. Indeed, I expect someone has raised the plants on this land at some point in the last century. While my neighborhood, Hermosa, is now known mostly as a Puerto Rican and Mexican community, it once housed mostly German and Czech immigrants. The neighborhood is bordered by rail yards and

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-64498217428034302092010-05-17T05:44:00.003-05:002010-05-17T07:04:33.379-05:00

The hot-colored blossoms of California poppies are my first harbingers of summer. There is much to recommend these easy plants; I love the ferny foliage, the silken texture of the blossoms, and the long blooming season. Multiple sources write that they make good cut flowers, though I have never had much luck. I can't say I regret that, as the informal, nodding stems seem more at home in a casual

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-21012642418384777842010-05-16T14:55:00.003-05:002010-05-16T15:24:02.101-05:00

I stopped by the Kilbourn Park Organic Plant Sale today and as I was settling the bill, the cashier pointed out a forlorn group of plants. They had literally been kicked to the curb. There they sat, leggy and wilting, along the harsh sunny asphalt of the greenhouse driveway. She told me they were free for the taking and encouraged me to pick up a few. Sigh. I am not one to ever turn down a chance

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-75822039520019237512010-05-15T10:36:00.003-05:002010-05-15T12:00:19.695-05:00

I often read praise for the productivity of the greens of early Spring, especially kale. Eliot Coleman, among others, waxes poetic on how hardy and productive kale can be, growing even in the snow. Never mind that one can tire quickly of earnest stir-fries and nutrition-filled omelets! But what of the daikon radish? Pound for pound, it has far outpaced the greens in my garden. I planted the

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-76984443820021410682010-05-12T07:02:00.004-05:002010-05-12T07:39:42.231-05:00

Thanks to the wet weather, the slugs have come out in force in my May garden. I pulled three off my "maypop" passiflora this morning -- damage had already been done, as you can see in the above photo. The kohlrabi, below, looks like it was a delicious midnight snack for these pests. Hopefully the young plants will bounce back, but the leaf damage on the kohlrabi was pretty extensive. Mama's goin'

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-90794281897292200532010-05-08T18:23:00.003-05:002010-05-08T18:48:51.639-05:00

After a cold, rainy day more reminiscent of March than May, we here in Chicago are threatened with "patchy frost after midnight", mostly the western suburbs. After an obsessive scouring of all weather-related media, I am reasonably sure my garden will be safe from ice. However, with many of my annuals in the ground already, I'm not taking any chances. Late afternoon found me scrambling around the

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-36804216442719258192010-05-05T16:20:00.002-05:002010-05-05T17:09:52.782-05:00

Cinco de Mayo seemed like an excellent day to slice open the Monterrey Jack cheese that I made in January. I planned to pick up some masa at the local Mexican store, entertaining a rosy vision of pressing my own tortillas and toasting up homemade quesadillas. I sliced into the red wax and all looked well: a little wetter and crumblier than I had expected, closer to feta than cheddar in texture.

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-4118944343746088832010-05-04T18:42:00.005-05:002010-05-04T19:29:31.755-05:00

The garden greens are coming fast and furious these days. From young kale to crinkly spinach, I am serving up this leafy bounty before the cool Spring weather is replaced with bolt-inducing heat. Many of the greens, specifically the mizuna, are doing well with "cut and come again" treatment (hence the shaggy look in the photo). Yet, most plants will have to be yanked and eaten in their entirety

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-29775743617164843692010-05-02T09:35:00.004-05:002010-05-02T10:07:55.784-05:00

Edible flowers always seem to me more of an eye-pleaser than a palate-pleaser -- while a few yellow or purple blooms can boost the visuals of a salad, I rarely find that they boost the flavor. After the "Wow! I am eating a flower" moment, I don't need to go back for another taste. A garnish of flowers is a good way to show off your chef street cred to impressionable guests. Sadly, after the oohs

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-72183007881844398092010-05-01T12:26:00.006-05:002010-05-01T13:15:48.321-05:00

The backyard homestead has become more lush in the past week. Every day, there is the possibility of one, or even two, homegrown ingredients on the dinner table. Last night, we had mizuna in our stir fry. Tonight, freshly picked radishes and rhubarb will grace our May Day table. The radishes will be served simply, with homemade bread, salt and butter. The rhubarb will become a small dish of

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-16539988826927255462010-04-29T17:50:00.007-05:002010-04-29T20:00:27.742-05:00

I have to remind myself next year to not schedule so many business trips in the tender weeks of late Spring. While in Vancouver, I missed the sprouting of the shallots, the first blossom of the Early Girl tomato, and the initial burst of intense forget-me-not blue now edging my front bed. I missed the unveiling of the 2010 One Seed Chicago plant: bee balm (I voted for it!). I also missed my

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-3723630337878223252010-04-23T07:29:00.006-05:002010-04-23T08:00:13.381-05:00

The nights are still cool but my garden is full of sweet promise. The first of the fruits are starting to set: the strawberries, the grapes, the figs. Blueberry blossoms hang like porcelain bells from their thin branches. I think these are two year old plants, so I am advised by various authorities to not let them bear fruit. I assume this is in the interest of diverting energy solely to plant

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-17945327645802658902010-04-21T08:13:00.004-05:002010-04-21T08:53:10.630-05:00

After the warm spell a few weeks back, Nature has emphatically reminded us that frost will threaten Chicago well into May. Blankets hopefully stowed away in closets have been pulled back out and spread once again across the bed. I recycled my milk gallon "cloches" during the early 80 degree weather, only to spend a hasty evening with a box cutter this past weekend, fashioning more.This is not to

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-6812779251981190052010-04-19T14:07:00.009-05:002010-04-19T14:55:28.076-05:00

The annual torrent of curses is now pouring forth from my usually mild-mannered husband as he digs the first crop of dandelions out of our lawn. Weed though they are, I can't say I begrudge their presence. Dandelions bring a bright, cheery punch of yellow to otherwise neglected lots in our neighborhood. My son is having great fun following his father with the "compost wagon" and collecting the

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-57028381906877948012010-04-17T14:00:00.002-05:002010-04-17T14:32:04.076-05:00

The spring violets are in full bloom in my yard and they gave me cheery company as I planted onion sets this morning. I had hoped to have some "dark freckles" violets blooming among the common dooryard variety that edge my brick paths. Thanks to a high wind and a poorly anchored greenhouse, I lost all my freckly seedlings a few night ago. No matter. The common variety is the state flower of

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-69207219950414240322010-04-14T07:11:00.003-05:002010-04-14T07:44:32.116-05:00

There is a tipping point every year when the garden saves me, and I know that -- from a culinary perspective -- Spring has truly arrived. Last night, I came home late from work and I looked at my hungry family and then at my sparsely stocked pantry. I realized the only thing between us and a restaurant was the garden and -- joy of joys! -- the garden saved us. Hooray for the seasonal miracle of

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-54094454335498205092010-04-11T09:08:00.006-05:002010-04-11T14:23:04.328-05:00

I just returned from a business trip to Portland and am now filled with acid-loving plant lust. The rhododendrons and azaleas were just beginning to bloom, in stunning colors from deep blood red to pale yellow. Set against the background of a mixed conifer forest, the plants were a sight to behold: glossy foliage and clusters of richly hued blossoms. Growing up in New Jersey, I had seen my fair

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-36888478022035432572010-04-05T08:20:00.006-05:002010-04-05T09:10:11.649-05:00

Up came the rhubarb this weekend. Already I feel oppressed by the looming harvest, and I am down to just one plant this year. I always make a pie or cobbler, maybe a fancy cocktail like a Rhubarb Collins, and then I scratch my head. There are plenty of quick bread and muffin recipes out there, but my family doesn't eat a lot of sweet baked goods. Orangette recently posted a roasted rhubarb recipe

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-47523422915731216912010-04-04T08:32:00.009-05:002010-04-17T16:30:23.741-05:00

Chicago is in midst of a deliciously warm Spring, and I find it almost unbearable to have to hold on to my seed packets and not plunge all their contents into the thawing earth. Oh, the cursed phrase "after all danger of frost is past"! During cold, wet Springs, it is easy to defer the seeds and transplants, one feels so protective after a winter of careful planning. But this warm weather is

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-34012757823737542502010-04-01T17:03:00.005-05:002010-04-01T17:17:00.675-05:00

I almost pulled out the garden hose today, to reconnect it to the outside spigot. I would have had to wrestle it over a mountain of cardboard, plastic and glass waiting to go to the local recycling center. After a long day at work, I didn't have the energy. So I just grabbed my biggest watering can and filled it from the spigot over and over again. It was slow work, but pleasant. Rather than

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-41729435441475966242010-03-31T06:52:00.006-05:002010-03-31T08:45:59.317-05:00

What can one write about food in Paris that hasn't been written a thousand times before? I arrived in France steeped in a lifetime of cookbooks, memoirs, and novels about French food. Thanks to a voracious reading habit, I have dined many times over with Liebling, cooked in a pre-war kitchen with M.F.K. Fisher and parsed the finer points of egg dishes with Escoffier. Thanks to Julia Child and

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-80700315786860254722010-03-28T06:19:00.006-05:002010-03-30T18:56:45.928-05:00

Well, I am back and with a bit of a foie gras myself....daily croissants and chausson aux pommes can do that to you. But let's talk plants. I arrived in Paris a few weeks too early for true spring blossoms. Overall it was cool and bit wet, much like here in Chicago. The buds on the trees and shrubs at the Luxembourg Gardens were teetering right on the edge of blooming:Nevertheless, one could

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-21898491237200183712010-03-18T16:38:00.005-05:002010-03-18T17:14:21.559-05:00

Chicago is cruel in early Spring. We usually get a brief, honeyed taste of summer followed by the return of winter weather. This year is no exception: my city is currently basking in run of beautifully warm days. We are, however, facing some dips into the 20's this weekend, as well as possible snow and freezing rain. Today I could garden barefoot, wearing just a T-shirt, though the breezes still

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-28614156436651634232010-03-15T18:17:00.000-05:002010-03-15T18:17:34.018-05:00

One of the pleasures of tending a very small garden space is the surplus of seeds I face each season. Even half of one packet of tomato or carrot seeds could likely cover most of my garden real estate. There are a few companies I've found who sell small "sampler" amounts of seeds, meaning ten to twenty, rather than hundreds. But my favorite companies -- Seed Savers, Baker Creek, Renee's, Pinetree

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-27283036605167126602010-03-13T13:44:00.004-06:002010-03-13T14:33:05.559-06:00

I awoke this morning to find that the lettuce has emerged in the cold frame. The first spring harvest is near! Well, the first spring garden harvest. We did eat homegrown food this week -- fresh food, that didn't come from a jar or my dried stores. Pictured above are specimens from my second crop of shiitake mushrooms. I grew them from one of those kits that you can buy in the many seed catalogs

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-69630736373888505392010-03-11T20:15:00.006-06:002010-03-11T21:47:49.833-06:00

Tonight I attended an urban composting lecture at the City of Chicago's Center for Green Technology. For years, I have passed this center and I have always wondered what it looked like inside, and what programs they offered. When I recently I picked up a brochure at the library advertising spring educational programs -- including the one tonight on urban composting -- and decided to sign myself

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-89503003852227027502010-03-09T06:18:00.006-06:002010-03-09T07:10:37.509-06:00

The chives are up! They are always my first edible sign of spring, cheerily growing despite frozen ground and wet, chilly air. This year they even beat out my earliest crocus. I have two large chive clumps, both of which need dividing. The soil is still too wet for me to start digging. I want to pot up one of the divisions, so that I can try to winter them over indoors next year. Right now I

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-8932602767102906542010-03-08T06:42:00.012-06:002010-03-08T13:09:09.027-06:00

I attended the Chicago Flower and Garden show this weekend, looking for some inspiration and a gardening fix to get me through these wet, chilly weeks of March. A better name for the event would be the Chicago "hardscape" show...it was heavy on the fountains, paving stones, and other expensive trappings of suburban landscaping. Ho-hum. My two favorite specimens on display were a houseplant, a sea

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-11618838620498848932010-03-06T07:22:00.003-06:002010-03-06T08:02:22.232-06:00

The ground is still frozen solid and the snow is just now starting to melt away. Despite the frozen breaths, I smelled spring in the air as I worked outside this morning. I decided this was as good a time as any to bring my new cold frame out of the basement. I had been planning on painting it white on the inside and dark on the outside, to maximize reflection and absorption respectively. Then I

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-20100520897831721922010-03-01T09:36:00.008-06:002010-03-01T11:51:51.062-06:00

The abundant and still-falling snow has lulled me into winter complacency, so much so that I was startled to be facing the first day of March this morning. I probably should have pruned my grapevine in February. The grapevine must be pruned while still dormant, before early spring when the sap rises. One must find the ephemeral pruning window between the last of the bitter cold and the first hint

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-31939151009729852692010-02-28T19:28:00.002-06:002010-02-28T20:31:56.149-06:00

After months of sitting on my shelf, some pickle alchemy has finally occurred with my green bean pickles, a.k.a. dilly beans. I hadn't even planned on pickling green beans last year, but thanks to One Seed Chicago, I had a glut of blue lake pole beans in my garden come fall. I decided to put up a few jars of dilly beans -- I love dill pickles, and I didn't feel like blanching and freezing my

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-20589541023409800252010-02-27T10:03:00.010-06:002010-02-27T11:21:06.269-06:00

Most Saturday mornings, I make a loaf of bread for weekend snacks. The recipe varies, as does the shape, but my loaves usually have a neat series of straight parallel lines or a large criss-cross slashed into the top. A few quick runs with a razor blade just prior to baking yields a nice finished pattern that I always admire. This morning, I turned the dough into a blazing hot cast-iron dutch

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-34117550576222191002010-02-26T06:56:00.004-06:002010-02-26T07:54:29.686-06:00

One of the more welcome trends in food magazines of late has been a genuine emphasis on recipes featuring whole grains. In years past, many magazines would have but one or two such recipes, usually relegated to the diet or healthy living column. Either that or they were designated as the token vegetarian option amidst recipes for braised pork belly, grilled steaks and their ilk. Too many of these

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-47568198045067488632010-02-25T15:40:00.008-06:002010-02-25T16:01:07.345-06:00

Last year, two men at work were locked in a no-holds-barred race to have the first tomato of the season. Every day they discussed at length the walls-o-water, the cloches, the coddling. I found it all a bit tiring. I felt this macho race to be first had little point, since shortly we would all be up to our necks in warm-season crops, with coworkers carefully avoiding us lest they be handed

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-22450763005576197552010-02-20T13:40:00.010-06:002010-02-21T16:18:26.589-06:00

Is there a bigger racket in supermarkets than the herb section? Tiny little plastic boxes filled with a few wilted sprigs go for two or three dollars, sometimes more. With large herbs like sage or basil, that price can break down to over 10 cents a leaf. For anyone who gardens, even on a windowsill, it is shocking to do the math on the retail value of your herb plants. I look at my ratty,

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-73323971023886407162010-02-18T15:00:00.007-06:002010-02-18T16:38:01.676-06:00

My main winter project, the cold frame, is finally built and waiting for a layer of paint. With the Winter Olympics on full-blast, I have stayed away from my cold workshop in the basement in favor of a cozy spot on the couch and good view of the speed skating relay semifinals. The paint can wait for another day, or at least until I have finished analyzing all the men's figure skating costumes.

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-60400949063663716752010-02-14T08:07:00.012-06:002010-02-14T10:35:32.254-06:00

While I do always appreciate the handmade and homegrown, I am a sucker for florists' plants in full bloom. I love coaxing plants into blooming, but there is such a thrill when someone else does all the work under professional plant-growing conditions, and I get to enjoy the fruit, or blossoms rather, of their labor. For me, this red florists' cyclamen is a far superior gift to a box of Valentine

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-89611341620332185182010-02-12T05:58:00.007-06:002010-02-12T07:45:07.992-06:00

Valentine's day is soon upon us and an assortment of children ranging from 1 month to 4 years old are descending upon my house tomorrow for a holiday celebration. Valentine's Day conveniently falls on a holiday weekend this year and, being a government employee, this means I have Friday to prepare and Monday to recover. I figured this party would be a nice activity for the folks who aren't going

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-88480752103928928652010-02-09T05:44:00.006-06:002010-02-09T07:51:45.745-06:00

The seeds germinating in our upstairs bedroom have let me live in a dream state of near-Spring for the past week. I woke this morning to another thick blanket of snow, and the heavy flakes have brought me to back to Chicago's wintry reality. There are few ways, at this point, for me to get out my gardening ya-ya's. The seeds have been purchased, the catalogs thumbed through until pages have

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-84480050924207624802010-02-07T10:01:00.008-06:002010-02-07T15:24:28.972-06:00

I picked up some local cream this week from a farm in nearby Wisconsin. I am astounded how thick and rich it is compared to the usual "ultra heat treated" cream I find at the grocery store. This local product is close to the consistency of yogurt. Just a few spoonfuls have added a silky richness to my sauces that I can usually only achieve with a beurre manie. This thick, intense cream brings to

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-69026415452956013382010-02-06T06:47:00.003-06:002010-02-06T12:59:24.624-06:00

The garden issue of Martha Stewart Living arrived in my mailbox yesterday to both my delight and chagrin. I wish I could muster the disdainful attitude of the bloggers over at Garden Rant -- their manifesto proclaims boredom with perfect magazine gardens and a love for "real, rambling, chaotic, dirty, bug-ridden gardens". Many gardeners call the seed catalogs "plant porn", but for me, Martha's

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-21464899844172084172010-02-02T17:58:00.001-06:002010-02-12T07:45:44.472-06:00

It is halfway to Spring and snow is falling in Chicagoland in big, thick flakes. I am glad for this reminder that we are still in the thick of winter, since it was only yesterday that I got around to starting my winter sown seed project. As a cook, I thrill to the discovery of unfamiliar recipes and cooking methods. After years of braising, baking and stir-frying, it is always wonderful to feel

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-85203063457434925972010-02-01T07:49:00.005-06:002010-02-12T07:46:00.874-06:00

I checked on my first seed-starting projects of 2010 today and was excited to find some babies popping up! I started my Passiflora incarnata seeds a mere two weeks ago. My web research had indicated that germination could take months, especially for seed that wasn't fresh out of the fruit. As is typical of gardening advice on the web, germination instructions varied wildly: some sites recommended

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-84067571847559387952010-01-31T07:20:00.006-06:002010-01-31T08:14:32.864-06:00

I belong to the rapidly dying breed of snail-mail magazine subscribers. I am trying to modernize by following blogs, but there is little else that gives me a thrill like getting a real, glossy magazine in the mail. Given that we do most of our household business online now, if you took away the magazines and seed catalogs, there would be little left in our mailbox beside junk mail. My absolute

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-78404695513763572672010-01-30T06:51:00.006-06:002010-01-30T08:59:52.886-06:00

We live in a tightly-packed working class neighborhood on the Northwest side of Chicago. The narrow city lots mean we really rub elbows with our neighbors - we can literally reach out and touch our neighbor's house from our kitchen window. I don't kid myself that we live in an aesthetically pleasing environment: this is a tough, urban neighborhood. Lots of fences, more cement than green space,

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-46410221019503045652010-01-27T07:02:00.010-06:002010-01-28T19:24:44.767-06:00

The cold is back in Chicago with a vengeance, but over the weekend we had a bit of a January thaw. The snow that had been hanging around since before Christmas melted away, and I went out to assess the garden. I found my fall-divided Sedum "Autumn Joy" already putting forth new growth.I also took a long, sad look at my Munstead Lavender. I didn't prune it well this past season and the center is

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-28444928998547547362010-01-25T06:44:00.005-06:002010-01-25T08:39:39.895-06:00

My garden reading (both blog and book) tends towards the rural homesteading variety. I am not raising my own livestock, grinding my own grain or eating solely off of my winter-grown greens. Thus, I tend to think of myself mostly as a homesteading dilettante -- if a home-cooked dinner doesn't come together one night, it ain't like I'm gonna starve! Just dial the phone or head out to the nearest

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-26303656133898886192010-01-20T09:30:00.006-06:002010-01-20T10:23:54.447-06:00

As an urban gardener, I learned quickly to think vertical. Not only do vines and climbers increase the productivity of a limited space, but they also add new heights of visual interest when a space-and-sun-hogging tree just isn't feasible. All of my favorite garden design books advise the creation of outdoor "rooms", an idea which always seems a little out of reach for my tiny plot. Our whole

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-70613922188250373622010-01-17T06:51:00.010-06:002010-01-17T20:38:03.189-06:00

My asparagus bed is now heading into its fourth season in my garden, occupying the sunny northwest corner of my backyard. Given the size of my overall property, I rarely get enough spears for more than one meal or a few appetizers. Many spears do not even make it into the house, as they are tender enough to snap off and snack on as I garden. For those used to tough grocery store asparagus, I

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-31981948234445796022010-01-14T15:45:00.002-06:002010-01-16T09:00:14.669-06:00

If you are looking to impress friends and relatives with your culinary green thumb, fruit is the way to go. Last summer, people who yawned at my piles of green beans and eggplants would invariably perk up at the sight of strawberries. "You GREW those?" they would ask, as if somehow this required a super-secret level of gardening prowess. Folks who gave not a second glance at my beautiful herb bed

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-52565373329224887272010-01-11T21:43:00.011-06:002010-01-12T10:22:02.930-06:00

Every time I see two wilted sprigs of sage in a plastic box going for 2.99 at the local grocery store, I thrill to the little patch of herbs sitting near my garage. Considering value for square foot, can there be anything more rewarding than herb gardening? With a pair of sharp kitchen scissors at the ready, I can jazz up any lackluster meal with a trip to the backyard. Just yesterday, I dug

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-75047809227259765402010-01-09T14:00:00.016-06:002010-01-09T16:38:41.986-06:00

I sifted through my seed packets today and laid out a plan for the first area of my garden: the 4x4 foot raised bed. I am going to attempt to succession plant this bed using a cold frame and floating covers on both ends of the growing season. I have divided the bed into 9 sections, similar to a square foot gardening approach -- I'm not sure I am going to put a physical grid down, I think I can

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-13921238394685117642010-01-05T13:26:00.001-06:002010-01-05T13:29:18.125-06:00

This is the third year that all Chicagoans can achieve horticultural unity and sow seed together, courtesy of One Seed Chicago. This "urban greening project" distributes free seed packets of a single selection to all interested Chicagoland residents. Everyone then raises the same plant in their yard, school or community garden. The idea is to foster a green community spirit. This effort is

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-91376611365827509762010-01-03T15:45:00.004-06:002010-01-03T16:57:14.284-06:00

With 2010 seed packets beginning to arrive, my fingers are twitching to start the spring garden. It is months away, but I have promised myself that this year I am going in with a game plan. I used to be one of those gardeners who realized it was Memorial Day and would go to the nursery, buy some plants and plant them in one weekend-long burst of garden energy. I rarely considered eventual height,

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-64954959306406472772010-01-01T07:31:00.009-06:002010-01-06T11:38:50.163-06:00

The new calendar year starts today and visions of the 2010 garden dance in my head. I'm sure every garden journal and blog today will be replete with earnest commitments for the coming season, and I gladly join the chorus of hopeful resolutions.1. Share seasonal feasts. Our family life is marked by the appearance of much-anticipated foods from the garden. The Italians have a word for a festival

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-85072830221748835892009-12-30T16:21:00.006-06:002009-12-30T17:20:32.353-06:00

Well, my Christmas present has arrived....my first little greenhouse! It probably barely qualifies as one, since it is basically a shelf with a fitted plastic cover. Had I been a little more crafty and resourceful, I probably could have rigged one up myself. But, I received some holiday spending money specifically designated to be used towards gardening supplies, so I decided to try it out. I

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-61187079698848908042009-12-28T16:10:00.003-06:002009-12-30T16:58:59.270-06:00

At my current job, I am occasionally required to provide breakfast for a working group of 16 colleagues. This is always a source of unnecessary anxiety for me: what should I make? what ingredients to use? how much to spend? Most people bring boxes of supermarket-purchased croissants, or Dunkin Donuts or McDonald's. On principle, I am opposed to giving any money to the fast food chains. The

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-74882330315182417312009-12-26T06:37:00.009-06:002009-12-26T10:55:56.299-06:00

In the wake of the holidays, I always face the decision of what to do with the various holiday plants that I have acquired over the season: the miniature pines, the poinsettias, the bulbs. Should I keep them, and nurse them along for another season? Am I hardened enough to toss them out without so much as a blink? I am loathe to trash them, largely because it feels so wasteful. Yet I have never

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-35298596680387345022009-12-24T04:00:00.005-06:002009-12-27T14:36:46.942-06:00

Is there a bigger selling point for the west side of Chicago than the peaceful botanical oasis that is Garfield Park Conservatory? The lush vegetation, the children's room and the events (like the awesome Halloween party with owls, wolves and other critters) make it a regular destination for our family. The first winter with a baby can be a little tough in this windy, cold neck of the woods -

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-5957011797092182242009-12-19T06:45:00.002-06:002009-12-27T14:29:59.555-06:00

Wintertime offers the opportunity to catch up on my reading of all things gardening, cooking and homesteading. The Chicago Public Library's online hold system is sending me a steady supply of books from all corners of Chicago to my local storefront branch on North Avenue. Since I have no weeding or harvesting, I also have more time to experiment with ideas from these books. For example, several

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554207859939311318.post-73125085621325337222009-12-16T16:50:00.007-06:002009-12-27T14:36:32.886-06:00

Logan Square, which borders my neighborhood to the east, now boasts a food co-op. Given my growing commitment to supporting local food systems, I was excited to check out the The Dill Pickle Food Cooperative. For those who don't know, a cooperative grocery store is, as the website states, "an independent, democratic organization that is owned, operated and financed by its members". My friends

Abbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11367654702422691061noreply@blogger.com4