• Observations on Curing Cast Iron Pans

    I have a big selection of cast iron pans – one of which I received from my stepfather in 1957 and have been cooking in ever since.  Its inner surface is so slick the cornbread lifts out easily and even…

  • Illness, Archaeology, and the Garden: an update

    Query: Is it an homage to the 18th century humeral notions of medicine (puke, purge, and scare the hell out of the illness) that liquid medicines are still being formulated to taste like rotten fruit mixed with pigeon shit and…

  • Compost maintenance ideas

    For keeping pests (crows, coons, opossums, cats, dogs) out of your compost pile I have two suggestions; A length of chicken wire on top of the pile – weigh it down with a brick or cinderblock – will keep critters…

  • Apples on a wonderful late winter rainy day

    This is what I do when it rains; cook, of course!  I converted the remaining half bushel of November 2010’s pie apples left in our spring house into pie slices in bags in the freezer. We had a mixture of…