Fresh apple cider has a very short shelf life and even changes flavor over a few days. It is possible to use cider that’s beginning to ferment, “cider that tastes like ginger ale” as my daughter describes it, in your cooking such as with the below recipe. The other possibility is to make apple juice, [...]
Nectarine Jam This jam shouldn’t be canned due to the lower amount of sugar. 1 pound nectarines, peeled, pitted and sliced thin 1 1/4 cups sugar 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice Bring all the ingredients to a boil in a non-reactive skillet. Reduce heat and simmer until it begins to look syrupy. Skim off any foam [...]
Our two hives struggled this summer with a swarm, mites and robbing each other of honey, yet they still managed in their first summer to draw comb for two hives, both with two deeps (the lower boxes) and one super (the upper box.) While we were able to harvest only a disappointing pint… total, it [...]
It’s only taken thirteen years, but I feel as if our household has finally gotten the hang of a simple Christmas, planning ahead, not taking on too much and really enjoying the days of baking and making gifts. The girls helped me make a slew of cookie dough which we then wrapped in plastic wrap [...]
A place where I was surrounded by cooking, creativity and learning. A submersion in the language and craft of all things culinary. I needed it. So much of my work happens with me at the helm, so to speak. Me deciding how, what, when, where, from whom and to whom. Most of the time I [...]
The air was still shaking off the sharp, crisp tang of an early spring morning when we left with our deep in the back of Joe’s Subaru to receive our first nuc from Humble Abode in Cooper’s Mills, Maine. The drive through lime and kelly green farm country and past fields of dewy grass took [...]
At our girls’ school, maple sugaring is the responsibility of the third grade. I don’t know if it’s a Waldorf tradition or if its just our school, but the process and the history gets passed down from one class to another. The sugar shack was built a number of years ago by that year’s third [...]
The days slip, quickly. It’s hard to believe that it was over a week ago now that I took a canning and preserving class at Ten Apple Farm in Yarmouth. Margaret, co-owner of the farm and author of The Year of the Goat, and Alison, Master Canner extraordinaire, couldn’t have been better hosts. I’ve been [...]
