The Redding Farmer’s Market, the first to be certified in California more than 34 years ago, was bustling this morning as my sister and I made our way through the early-bird crowd inspecting potential dinner and dessert ingredients. We thought it best to develop a strategy if we wanted to guarantee we’d leave with peaches...
Summer is in full swing which means canning season officially has begun. A trip to farmer’s market yielded 30 pounds of apricots from R & K Orchards in Corning. (Here’s an article I wrote about Karen, “The Peach Lady,” and her orchard.) Seven hours later, my sister, my mom and I had put up more than...
When I first began blogging on nature-drunk.com, I posted recipes as well as nature related pieces. Then I started a dinner club that brought together my closest foodie friends. We meet once per month to share recipes and wine. To journal our foodie adventures, I began documenting our experiences on my food blog, wineandhoneys.com. Along...
Phyllo pastry stuffed with spinach and cheese dances on my tastebuds. Wine washes it down. Hummingbird song and wing flutter fills my ears. Citrus flower fragrance wafts through the sixty-seven degree spring air and into my nostrils. I am content. Yet, somehow, my brain doesn’t want to shut off like I wish it would. I...
“I think Mother Nature hates us,” grumbled my son as he dropped one more lemon into the metal bucket. He had already sustained several fiery pokes from the Meyer lemon tree, and by the thirty-third puncture, he had had enough. It took six hands, three pairs of clippers and three strong wills to brave the...
For those of you who don’t know, I have another blog, wineandhoneys.com, where I share recipes, write about organic farming and talk about what happens at my monthly dinner club. Recently, I tried my hand at making candied Buddah’s Hand. If you’ve been reading Nature Drunk for awhile, you will remember the couple of posts...
A month or so ago my fellow knitters threw a birthday party for me. Betsy brought a delightful cheese plate, Shannon made a to-die-for vegetarian moussaka, Angie made a fresh garden salad, Lisa provided gourmet bread and Karen baked a decadent Texas sheet cake. As we sat in front of the fireplace, eating and chatting,...
While clipping the oleanders this past weekend, I disturbed a baby praying mantis. Startled, he quickly jumped onto my arm and said, “Hello.” He then went on to say how much he appreciated my refraining from spraying chemicals in the garden. Had I sprayed, not only would I have killed the aphids, his food source,...
It may look like the Grinch flipping you the bird or like the spawn of a lemon that did the naughty with a squid, but it is a citron: Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis or Buddha’s Hand. Each lumpy finger segment is a fruit that can be used for jam, candy, or air freshener. If you...
These past days in Italy have been a whirlwind of fun, beauty, intrigue, and exhaustion (the good kind). We have explored caves, hiked to a city on a hill, toured wineries, braved water slides, and we have eaten and eaten and eaten! Here is a recap of our recent travels across the Tuscan countryside. Enjoy!...
