In late February we hosted a wildlife photography program at our home featuring Fernando Boza, who captures phenomenon photos and videos of wildlife in Colorado and beyond. To give you a few examples, Fernando has set critter cams to follow mountain lions, bobcats, bears, coyotes, eagles and such along the Colorado Front Range Game game trails, resulting in these fabulous takes. A key takeaway from Fernando was to just get outdoors, and take a camera with you. He said, "If you're hiking and have to carry a lunker camera so leave it behind, you lose out." He reiterated that many a beautiful s ..read more

The following is from the historical memoir The Richest Soil Grows the Deepest Roots, which my mother (Helen Ruth Poss Marr) and I co-authored. Available as paperback and e-book from online retailers, including BookBaby and Amazon (Amazon paperback pre-order, release date October 29, 2021). In this excerpt, Mom reminisces about fried chicken and her mom's hen business, plus our family's fried chicken recipe: Fried chicken! In my generation, that was one of the first things a Missouri farm girl learned to cook. After we left the farm and had our own families, my sister and I both made fried ch ..read more

From 1848 to 1855, thousands of people from many disparate places traveled through Missouri to and from California. Gold fever seized the state, and many Missourians trekked west, mainly from counties close to the Missouri River.1 My grandfather and his sisters shared stories about their grandfather (Tom Hancock) traveling by ship to California for the Gold Rush, circumnavigating Cape Horn. Tom was one of several Hancock cousins who traveled from Missouri to California during the Gold Rush.2 Some Hancocks remained and made the San Joaquin Valley their new home. Tom, along with some other Hanc ..read more

Several years ago, I wrote a lengthy post on making fermented sour cream and it has been one of the most popular articles on my blog. I cannot remember the last time I bought sour cream; it so easy and satisfying to make. Although the fermentation process for sour cream takes a few days, kitchen time is minimal. If you like the idea of making your own tangy sour cream that's sure to please and is a really fun conversation starter, read on.  I see a lot of blog posts about making quick sour cream, and that might do in a pinch. But let me be clear, there is a difference between sour cream ..read more

Along the Colorado Front Range, the vegetable garden season came to an abrupt close last week as we experienced our first snow along with a wild temperature swing that broke records. The 2019 growing season was a challenge. Spring snow lasted until late May and all the plants were slow to start. But we finally started enjoying harvest season, albeit a couple weeks late. On October 11, with low temperatures and snow in the forecast, I pulled the last of our tomatoes, green beans and other garden vegetables, enjoying the 80 °F weather. That evening as the temperature plummeted and snow began to ..read more

Here and there, at the edges of riparian areas and irrigation ditches along the Colorado Front Range are thickets of wild plums. Prunus Americana, commonly known as wild plums or American plums, are native to North America. This variety of plum is the key ingredient some of the best jellies, jams and sauces. Take my word for it! I've been harvesting Colorado wild plums ever since I moved this this beautiful state. With the unpredictable late spring snow storms along the Colorado Front Range, some years are better than others for fruit harvest. This happens to be a particularly good year for f ..read more

Last night was a "whatever is in the kitchen" moment. I'd been on the road, then spent the day helping my son set up his new apartment and had yet to restock the kitchen. But I did have a stash of assorted vegetables from the backyard garden and recent trip to the Longmont Farmers Market. An the box of acini di pepe pasta on the pantry shelf had been staring me in the face for a while. Time to put it all to use. Acini di pepe, the Italian phrase for "grains of pepper," cooks up into pearly minute globes of pasta, perfect for a chilled summer salad. The circular pasta is perhaps better known as ..read more