First peaches in the jar this season
It’s an overcast drizzly summer day here at my house; perfect for canning peaches. Local peaches have gone up in price this year but I was able to find one orchard that would sell me seconds; fruit a bit…
Organic Hen Feed? Sorry, Not Interested.
I’ve just heard on NPR this morning that the current price for organic soy beans (mostly imported from China) has risen to $800 a ton – roughly twice what it was last year. This has put commercial organic chicken raisers…
Our Fabulous Homemade Chicken Plucker
Next weekend is hen culling day; we have some older spent hens and some hens who don’t lay enough to justify dealing with their aggressive barnyard attitude. So on Sunday the flock will go from 29 to 15. This time…
Chefs and Slaves: The Cooks in Jefferson’s Kitchens
Originally published as: Fossett, Gillette, Hemings, and Hern: Putting Names to Monticello’s Cooks http://www.kitchensisters.org/hidden_kitchens/herculeshemings_story27.htm This is an excerpt from my foodways lecture series entitled “Fossett, Gillette, Hemings, and Hern: Putting Names to Monticello’s Cooks.” Edith Hern Fossett and Frances Gillette…
Thanksgiving Traditions in Virginia 200 years ago
Originally published as: Slow Food – before Thanksgiving – 200 years ago – 1813 – food traditions in Virginia – http://www.slowfoodusa.org/thanksgiving In Virginia of the Jeffersonian Era as the dark days of late fall and early winter closed in people…
The Fall Garden at Indigo House
Here in our Central Virginia garden & yard I/we are in Fall mode. This is always a combination of cleaning up and closing down along with strategizing on how to keep ongoing projects running despite bad weather. The big thing…