SILVER LININGS OF COVID

Making lemonade from lemons While the COVID crisis caused worry and extra caution for the past year, not all of it was bad. Our sadness at the suffering of others from the virus and its associated effects gave us the worst times. Because of my husband’s sometimes weakened immune response to illness, we became proactive

MAKE YARD A FOUR-LETTER WORD

Residential Yards Can Hurt or Help the Environment Fragile describes Florida’s environment and habitat. It would be that way even without the influx of twenty million plus people inhabiting it year-round then add in the tourists who flock here each year for days, weeks, or even months at a time. And of those millions of

THERAPY – BRAIDING GARLIC

I spent my Sunday handling the garlic crop, which loves our mountain garden. My husband plants bulbs in the ground in the fall then we leave the mountains for the winter. By the time we return in late spring, the crop is ready for harvesting. Several years ago, I discovered how to braid the bulbs

PROTECTING THE GARDEN AND STILL BE ORGANIC

Pests can ruin your vegetable crop, but they can be controlled if caught early enough. Here is an excerpt from From Seed to Table on dealing with them while still remaining as organic as possible. The definitions on organic gardening differ. At its most basic level, it means gardening with native plants, using natural fertilizers

THE ART OF COMPOSTING

Here’s something you can start at home without much effort. You might have all the ingredients right at your fingertips. We start with either a plastic or metal garbage can for the outdoors bin. But for the kitchen I’ve used many different containers with a air-tight lid, until recently. When visiting a friend, I spotted

#GARDENING TIPS AND RECIPES TO SUSTAIN AND FEED OUR BODY AND SOULS

New Recipes and Updated Gardening Tips I wrote From Seed to Table in 2013 while we lived in southwestern Pennsylvania. In 2015, we bought a cabin for summers in the Smoky Mountains of southwestern North Carolina, while returning to my north Florida home in north Florida. Since then, my husband has been learning to garden

How To Attract Hummingbirds To Your Garden | Garden Variety

Hello – I’ve been remiss in posting. Life has a way of interrupting things sometimes. But I came across this blog post today and thought it was cheerful and hopeful as winter continues to blast many regions in North America. I love my hummingbirds and believe this is the best way to get these little

GARDEN NEWS – IT’S ONLY BEGINNING!

  Last year, our Smoky Mountain garden saw very little rain. The whole region suffered from a drought. But this spring and now into June, the rains have been frequent and steady. We left on our trip to Michigan hoping the rain would continue so our friend didn’t have to come over every other day

FLORIDA GARDENING

    We’ve been in Florida since November. The time has flown as we’ve been taking back a house that had been a rental property for six years. We tore out the kitchen and replaced it with new cupboards, counters, and appliances. We painted most rooms and had renovations done in the bathrooms. And then

There’s Gold in that there Yard

Hello – I published this post four years ago when I realized that so many of my neighbors were raking leaves and then giving them to the waste collector. Where they went from there, I had no idea. And now that I’m back in Florida for the winter, my waste management collector reminded me about