Easy Scandinavian-Style Bread

October 8, 2015

...it’s still very good. And it’s 100% whole grain and packed with healthful seeds. And for a yeasted bread, it keeps well. Our loaves have been lasting at least three days on the counter top, unwrapped. This isn’t a bread for soaking up sauce, or making fancy sandwiches, because it’s not springy. Instead, it’s a bread for layering with cheese or lox or slices of cucumber and salt. It’s also great toasted. But mostly I’ve just been eating it slather...

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What’s the Most Squirrel-Proof Fruit?

Mr. Homegrown

September 29, 2016

Fruit Trees, Gardening, Pests

16 Comments

...tree has hidden, wicked thorns. The downside is that these two qualities also make them difficult to harvest and eat. I use what we call the pomegranate spanking method to release the seeds. Squirrels have not yet figured this out. What fruits do you manage to wrestle from the squirrels? What have you noticed in your garden?...

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Our Disastrous Summer Garden

Mr. Homegrown

September 15, 2015

Fruit Trees, Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

37 Comments

...aster. Here’s a few of the things that happened: We planted a bed of basil seeds and got lambsquarters (Chenopodium album) instead. Yes, I know lambsquarters are edible, but I was looking forward to the basil. Our Swiss Chard, usually a good performer, was stunted and anemic. It seemed incapable of growing past 8 inches. Our tomatoes grew well, produced a fair amount of fruit and then abruptly dried up and croaked. We planted zucchini too late and...

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Flowers from Vegetables

Mrs. Homegrown

July 22, 2014

Gardening, Permaculture, Vegetable Gardening

12 Comments

...e of those long-leaved, bitter greens beloved in Italy and sold by Franchi seeds. It’s easy to grow, pest proof, and we like the strong, bitter flavor. The flowers, though, are amazing. The greens send up narrow stalks 8′ tall or more (approx. 2.5 meters) and the stalks are covered from top to bottom with beautiful periwinkle blue flowers which are about 2″ (5cm) across– classic chicory flowers. The bees adore these flowers. What’s more, this plan...

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What I’m Growing this Winter

Mr. Homegrown

October 23, 2013

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

11 Comments

...we have that phenomenon called “rain” (hopefully). As usual, I’m planting seeds from an Italian seed company, Franchi. Here’s what I’m growing: Arugula “Coltivata Sel. Ortolani” One can never have enough arugula. It’s my favorite vegetable. This year I’m trying Franchi’s arugula “Coltivata Sel. Ortolani.” Franchi sells both “cultivated” and “wild” varieities of arugula (confusing, since the “wild” varieties are actually cultivated). Cultivated va...

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