Tag: organic

We Need All the Bees We Can Get

We Need All the Bees We Can Get

| November 22, 2014 | 6 Replies

“We need all the bees we can get,” a commercial beekeeper told me at the California State Beekeepers Association annual convention this week in Valencia, California. I had been invited by CSBA Ladies Auxiliary president Melinda Nelson, a beekeeper I’d met when I spoke at the Orange County Organic Gardening Club in May, to be the […]

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Maybe the Best Chicken Salad Ever!

Maybe the Best Chicken Salad Ever!

| November 14, 2014 | 2 Replies

“Maybe the best chicken salad ever,” I said to myself while polishing off two bowls for lunch. I’m am only a “20 minute cook” (if it takes more than 20 minutes to make, I leave those recipes to the experts!) so this salad fit my parameters. I rarely measure anything, so it’s hard to write […]

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Loveliness After the Rain & More on our Water Woes

Loveliness After the Rain & More on our Water Woes

| November 14, 2014 | 2 Replies

Loveliness After the Rain & More on our Water Woes. Last night’s light shower was nothing more than a blip on the radar of California’s vastly reduced water supply due to four straight years of drought. Still, the sight of dripping flowers in the morning light cheered me. I attended a Sierra Club Angeles Chapter water forum last night […]

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Farm Fresh Produce to Your Door

Farm Fresh Produce to Your Door

| November 7, 2014 | 4 Replies

What could be more convenient than farm fresh produce to your door? Because I have such a small garden in my front yard, there is a lag between seasonal harvests. I fill in this gap with a farm box from Farm Fresh to You. I often am inspired by the recipes they include in the box, but […]

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Growing Heirloom Tomatoes Part 2!

Growing Heirloom Tomatoes Part 2!

| October 29, 2014 | Reply

Growing Heirloom Tomatoes Part 2 has arrived! In June, Kaye plants extra seedlings at neighbor’s houses, and gets hit with everything from deer to June bugs in part 2 of the growing heirloom tomatoes epic! As the giant pumpkin threatens to swallow a few struggling tomato plants, Kaye gets to do a little gardening with kids, […]

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Morning Impressions with Monarchs

Morning Impressions with Monarchs

| October 21, 2014 | 2 Replies

Morning impressions with monarchs began my day. I spotted a pineapple guava yesterday and thought this morning it would look nice when the first rays of sun kissed it. As I was photographing it, just after the sun rose past my neighbor’s tree, I remarked (to myself) that I hadn’t seen many Monarch caterpillars, considering that […]

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October Blooms both Ethereal and Lusty

October Blooms both Ethereal and Lusty

| October 4, 2014 | 2 Replies

October blooms both ethereal and lusty grace my garden this first week of October, and feed Monarchs, other butterflies, hummingbirds and bees. I thought I’d take a close look around, now that the summer garden is mostly finished, and see what’s blooming and providing pollen for the pollinators. After the huge squash blooms of summer […]

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Growing Heirloom Tomatoes Part 1

Growing Heirloom Tomatoes Part 1

| September 30, 2014 | Reply

Growing heirloom tomatoes part 1 covers heirloom seeds, seeding, planting, and managing to care for many more seedlings than ever imagined. Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3! Click through to YouTube for highest resolution. I planted over 200 seeds this year, 150 of them tomato! Nine varieties were from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and the […]

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Summer Garden Update

Summer Garden Update

| September 6, 2014 | 2 Replies

Summer Garden Update, the latest episode of “Late Bloomer” reveals a front yard that’s loaded with food plants. The parkway exploded from “Planting a Parkway Food Forest.” From corn and quinoa, to tomatoes, Kabocha squash, tomatillo and beans, there’s lots going on in early July. Don’t have room for a back yard food garden? Use your […]

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My Tomato Cooking, or How I Avoided Canning

My Tomato Cooking, or How I Avoided Canning

| September 5, 2014 | Reply

My tomato cooking, or how I got around the canning thing, is, well, I cheated. You can’t cheat with canning, I know, I know. That’s why I’ve been procrastinating learning to can since I started growing food in my Los Angeles front yard three years ago! After a 42 pound tomato harvest two days ago, I was […]

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