The City Mouse in the Country

As I write this the temperature is climbing.  We have a window or two open, knowing that soon enough we will be shutting up the house for the next three months or so we can protect ourselves and our cats against the onslaught of winter.   Our wood stove burned overnight to take the chill out of the air and I found myself buying new boots and gloves and driving home with the windows down. This is the nature of autumn in Western Pennsylvania and as I sip on my pumpkin flavored coffee, I cannot help but praise the fruit of the season, and yes it is a fruit, the simple pumpkin. A few things are still growing in our garden, the last of the herbs and tomatoes...a stray pepper or two that needs to be picked.  Yet I find myself interested in growing pumpkins next year after realizing their potential and that they are high in nutritional value.   It's easy to forget in our modern world just how easy we have it as compared to our great grandparents and their grandparents.  For the most part

 I consider myself a researcher.   Meaning that I find something of interest and I have to learn all I can until that research itch is satisfied.   I've actually made a career out of it in some ways.  Hopefully not dressed like this Foraging for food has never really interested me much.  I have a passing interest in it because of my desire to make my yard into a edible lawn.   For example I planted an edible (although non native) dogwood tree.  I'm planting or have planted a variety of native perennial fruits and veggie's.  It is an ongoing process, simply because in the back of my mind some post apocalyptic traveler will come across this and have nourishment for a few days. I have identified and used purslane, sheep and wood sorrel, curly dock and; what I believe is fiddlehead ferns in my yard before.  However not being 100% sure about the fiddlehead fern, it's not made it into a dish or salad yet.   Some ferns look familiar to fiddleheads but they are toxic.  As such

 I'm the first one to admit that I'm pretty useless when it comes to any thing what I have to build or assemble.  For example it took me three days to assemble a closet from Ikea for our previous home in Florida. Although to be honest the instructions were not that clear about what part to begin with, although once we did start it came together pretty quickly and, to the best of my knowledge, still stands today.  My comfort zone has moved somewhat since I've moved out to the country.   I'm not afraid to take on a project knowing that I'll learn from it in some way. We started planning our garden in the last days of fall, although it appears that both Sue and I didn't communicate enough.  I was thinking that we would do a container garden and grow some some simple things like Basil, Brussel Sprouts, Carrots, Cilantro, Cucumbers, Garlic, Onions, Parsley, Parsnip, Peppers, Radish, Strawberries, and Tomatoes.  For a family of 2, we would need a minimum

  I saw a comic recently that describes the month of March perfectly. Two people are standing outside and it starts to rain, one of them comments on that by saying "Oh, it's raining again." The next panel has the other same person saying, " And now it's a mix of snow and ice." The third and final panel has some colored in streaks through the air and the first person asks the question "Is that mud?"   To which the other person simply states "I hate March." Honestly I don't hate March.  Much like September it's a transmission month for me, where I shake off the dust and depression of winter and look forward to longer days, warmer temperatures and a more colorful environment.  This winter was generally mild, with only December bearing snow and unbearably cold temperatures.  Having grown up in Western Pennsylvania, I know that Mother Nature has at least one more ice storm up her sleeve. Even as I write this our yard is cov

Suddenly it's spring!!!  Actually, it's not but with temperatures in the high 40's (7 t0 9 C) it's certainly feeling like it.  We even hit a few days were it was 68 and 70 degrees (20 - 21 C).  The grass is starting to change from its winter brown to a lush and vibrant green; a few trees are even stating signs of early budding.   However as anyone that has ever lived in Western Pennsylvania knows old man winter has at least one more trick up his sleeve and snow as late as April is a real possibility.  We can't count out the old man just yet. If I am serious about wanting to plant a garden and work towards making this yard an edible oasis, then sometime this weekend I need to start planting seeds indoors.  That's the goal.  While we may not a proper garden this year, we have been prepping since last fall.   It's not pretty but it's something. Last year I think we waited too long to plant and didn't have much in the way of cross pollination, or pollina

                   No, I will not apologize for the pun in the title.             Now that it’s February, I can start thinking about what trees I want to plant in the spring.  Last year I received two Kousa Dogwoods from the good folks at Tree Pittsburgh.   Well these were technically not native plants, I’ve always loved dogwood's explosion of white or pink flowers and the fruit of this particular dogwood is edible off the tree.            They are going to get some mulch and fertilizer come spring for sure. Last year I pick up some flower and native grass seeds from the Mercer Country Conservation district although for a variety of different reasons didn't get to plant them last year.   If I am serious about creating an edible landscape for the future, then I want to work with the resources that they and the Macoskey Center provide.  The conservation district is having their annual sale and I’m considering adding a few things to the yard this year.  For example I would lik