I’m on a mission this year to try as many rhubarb recipes as it takes to find ones that my kids just love. While I enjoy rhubarb in just about every way you can prepare it, getting not one, not two, but all THREE kids to appreciate a rhubarb recipe has been a challenge. I grow a massive amount of the most beautiful rhubarb you’ve ever seen. The deep, dark, ruby red kind. But it doesn’t matter how pretty it is if it’s not being enjoyed by all. And that means I can’t just turn every last bit of it into wine. So in the past week, I’ve tested- and kid approved- several different recipes. Unique, f ..read more

As I sit down to write after nearly two years of absence, I’m reflecting on the reasons behind my sudden departure from this space. It’s true that it seems most people don’t take the time to read blog posts anymore. I know I don’t. I’d much rather listen to a podcast while multi-tasking. I don’t even sit down to watch videos, just listen to them. I think if blog posts were all available in audio form, I would likely consume far more content. But that isn’t the reason. And neither was the world shutting down back in 2020. It really started with a back injury in April 2020 where I was quite lite ..read more

Back in March, when (for us) all of this Covid-19 business began, I had had great intentions of journaling about the experience. But months have gone by without a single stroke of a letter in said journal…until now. Except it is in digital format. And it’s open for all to see. I just can’t keep my mouth shut any longer. I have sat back, listened, watched. I was right there with you when schools were shut down, right in the middle of the biggest month in retail and I was working around the clock from home on my online business. Up at 4 AM and working until I couldn’t any longer. I was suddenl ..read more

Garlic scape season is kind-of a big deal. It’s fleeting, it’s abundant, and it comes all at once. It doesn’t care that it’s 500 degrees outside. I care. My fair freckled skin cares. But garlic scapes do not care. They wait for no one. And so, I braved the heat to grab a handful of them just last night so I could make this ultra refreshing dip, and I sit here at my computer with the fan on high, drafting out this blog post for you because I think you need this recipe to help cool you down too. It’s perfect for chips, crackers, or as a veggie dip. If you love pesto- especially garlic scape pest ..read more

As I sit here today, winter is beating at our back door. And I’m here all like, “What. Just. Happened.” Like, for real. Spring didn’t even arrive until our last frost mid-June. Then came the worst biting insect season I’ve ever experienced. So bad that much of the time we could hardly stand to be out of doors and our only source of entertainment was watching the sheep speed graze and then make a mad dash back to their shed to get relief from the onslaught. It wasn’t until the second week of August that the bugs subsided enough for us to finally enjoy being outside. But it was already turning ..read more

Don’t you just love those foods that you could just wrap yourself up in and wear like a comfy oversized sweater? You know, the ones that are just so darn good they warm you up from the inside out and make you feel okay with the world. Even a world that is as cold and desolate as a northern Minnesota November. While there are those who live for the dropping of temperatures, there are also those who only scrape by and manage to make it through the cold dark months by filling our bellies with all manner of comfort foods. Comfort foods like chicken pot pie. And soup. And sometimes a combination ..read more

Do you remember those foods from your childhood that you just simply hated? Me too. Canned spinach is the first to come to mind. No matter how many times my mom forced me to eat it, it always left me reeling in dry heaves. I remember it sitting in a rounded pile on my plate, covered in butter and salt. It would eventually get cold and because I was not allowed to leave the table until my food was finished, I would try to eat the slimy mass in one big bite. Swallowing it whole while pinching my nose shut. To this day, I cannot think of anything more repulsive. And then there were the foods th ..read more

When I first started growing garlic years ago, I did so with little expectation. I’d taken a single bulb of garlic from our local whole foods co-op which consisted of 9 cloves, dug a trench and planted them in the fall. The following spring, it was so exciting to see the little green spears emerging from their hugel bed while everything else was brown and dead. A couple months later came the scapes, or flower stalk. (I recall being very focused on getting them removed because they would inhibit the growth of my precious garlic, not because they are quite literally one of the most delicious gre ..read more

Back in March, when (for us) all of this Covid-19 business began, I had had great intentions of journaling about the experience. But months have gone by without a single stroke of a letter in said journal…until now. Except it is in digital format. And it’s open for all to see. I just can’t keep my mouth shut any longer. I have sat back, listened, watched. I was right there with you when schools were shut down, right in the middle of the biggest month in retail and I was working around the clock from home on my online business. Up at 4 AM and working until I couldn’t any longer. I was suddenl ..read more

Garlic scape season is kind-of a big deal. It’s fleeting, it’s abundant, and it comes all at once. It doesn’t care that it’s 500 degrees outside. I care. My fair freckled skin cares. But garlic scapes do not care. They wait for no one. And so, I braved the heat to grab a handful of them just last night so I could make this ultra refreshing dip, and I sit here at my computer with the fan on high, drafting out this blog post for you because I think you need this recipe to help cool you down too. It’s perfect for chips, crackers, or as a veggie dip. If you love pesto- especially garlic scape pest ..read more