During the recent 15 months of isolation, outdoor physical exercise helped me manage my anxiety. I am deeply grateful that I could spend time in the forest, on the beach, on the water. My family in Italy, locked inside their apartment, provided me with a comparison that magnified my gratitude. Usually, I exercise early in […]
Fruit
Posted inEat + Drink
Add Melon
Great news: Melon season is in full swing. The list of melon varieties I encountered during recent visits to the Arcata farmers market and the North Coast Co-op is 16 names long, some lovely, like Swan Lake or Snow Leopard, others intriguing, like Toad Skin. We are fortunate a number of farmers grow melons in […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Fruit Trees and Mint Patches
As winter wraps us in her chilly embrace, here on the home farm we are totally jazzed about the winter planting season. Cold weather brings plants into dormancy, creating an opportunity to introduce new additions, such as fruit trees and edible shrubs in the mint family (Lamiacea). Winter rainfall generously irrigates and softens the ground […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
January Gardening To-Do List
This is certainly the coldest winter I can remember since I’ve been in Humboldt County — so chilly that even plants I think of as being hardy are showing serious damage from frost. Though we have all of January’s usual tasks (pruning, pruning and — oh yeah, pruning!), we should give our plants a little […]