Putting Your Civic House in Order: How the Young Members of the Family Help

July 10, 2017

...roads, winding in between waving fields of grain, truck gardens, orchards fruits, walnuts, plums, peaches and figs; that its schools we unexcelled and that the interest of the people in agriculture was intense yet that unsightly waste places and a woeful lack of finish and formity marred this natural beauty and showed that the best use was not being made by man of the lavish gifts of Nature to awaken people to a greater appreciation of the beauty...

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Day to day, our decisions count

Mrs. Homegrown

April 30, 2015

Back to the Garden

6 Comments

...int, or perhaps is delivered to your door. Some CSAs go beyond veggies and fruits to provide meat, fish, milk, eggs, bread, flowers, etc. It takes some getting used to being in a CSA, because you don’t get much choice in what you’re given week to week, so you and your family need to have a spirit of adventure to go forward with it. CSAs and farmers’ markets teach you many things, including: The amazing flavor of food which is both fresh and in-sea...

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Damned Figs!

Mr. Homegrown

March 14, 2008

Gardening

4 Comments

...er got satisfactory results. During the day flies laid their larvae in the fruits yielding gooey masses that would drop to the ground to provide rotting fig feasts to visiting rats and possums. We replaced the fig tree with the Valencia orange tree in the photo above. One of the most important lessons we’ve learned in our ten years at this address is that if you’re going to plant a tree to choose varieties carefully and, when space is at a premium...

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Growing Watermelons

Mr. Homegrown

September 4, 2008

Gardening

10 Comments

...er watermelon vines I have going (in a better location) already have a few fruits developing on them. Some things I’ve learned about watermelons: 1. Fighting powdery mildew. Our inland coastal climate, with its hot summer days and cool evenings, is not the best place for melons as we tend to get powdery mildew, a white fungal growth that covers the leaves. However, our watermelon vines seem to be resistant to this problem, unlike the cantaloupes t...

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A Purple Dragon Carrot

Mr. Homegrown

February 13, 2009

Food, Gardening

17 Comments

...r reminiscent of the domesticated carrot’s wild ancestors, which were probably tamed in what is now Afghanistan. Wikipedia identifies the purple hue of these carrots as anthocyanin a possible source of antioxidants and a common pigment in many red-hued fruits and vegetables. Also note all that foliage. It’s edible. I tossed the carrot tops in with some couscous, olive oil and balsamic vinegar for a tasty dinner. The carrots themselves were served...

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