Tom and I visited New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut (four states!) over Easter and shared some great walks with my brother and sister near each of their new homes. In terms of fungal activity, it’s a little early for morels and off-season for the many summer and fall varieties, but I still kept an […]

All the time she spends away from our land – with what seems like most of the year seized by Old Man Winter’s cold, dead hands – makes the return of the Green Goddess to our fields and forests so much more sweet; an unrivaled cause for celebration. The objects of her cult are easily […]

May in Minnesota, however mild, is not exactly a month of abundant agricultural production. Plants just haven’t had enough time to shake off the winter chill and start the reproductive cycle that brings us delicious veggies all summer. Given that fresh local produce is hard to come by in this early month, one might question […]

As much as I love the fresh vegetables at the Midtown Farmers Market, the joy of shopping there comes from more than just the products you can buy. Today, that joy was most aptly expressed by the beautiful weather: after a season-opener featuring gale-force winds and a second week where we endured a frigid bike […]

Ah, springtime. Its combination of tender green vegetables and temperatures often still cold enough to allow keeping the oven at 500ºF for a few hours make it almost the perfect time to cook pizza. Almost, were it not for the fact that tomatoes are still months away. But tomatoes – while crucial to many pies […]

We’re not accustomed to visiting the May farmers market the morning after some (very slight) snowfall, but the morning’s bright blue skies  were enough to encourage us to hop on our bikes and head down to the Midtown Farmers Market. Though old man winter has stretched out one shivering, icy finger in a desperate attempt […]

Ramps and I started off on the wrong foot this year. It’s nothing personal against ramps; I just want to hate them because they’re so hip. But that’s not really fair. Ramps are pretty great: for one thing, they’re members of the onion family, and I could never hate an allium for long. And, in […]

The plantable space available to Martha and me near our apartment is limited  to a 8×20″ window planter in which we raise a jumble of herbs every summer and fall (last year we also tried small pots with tomatoes on other windowsills, but they jumped to their death in a windstorm). This is hardly enough […]

It’s springtime again, which means the Internet is running rampant with reports of ramps. Amidst all the gushing over this early allium, I read probably the best assessment of ramps ever written: Most “spring” menus are cruel teases. The good stuff we really want, like local peas and asparagus, doesn’t turn up for at least […]