Photo Credit: Tomatoes by Ruthie Hansen used under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

As prices go up, people are always looking for ways to save on their food budget.

Some will resort to extreme couponing while others will look toward bulk buying as a way of dealing with this challenging economic time.

But the best way to save money on your food budget is simple and that is to create nature’s grocery store.

It is always open, there is never a recall on your product and it is very convenient.

Below are my top 10 reasons why I garden.

Hopefully, if you are not gardening, these reasons will inspire you to start. If you are an avid gardener, let me know why you garden.

1. I have control over when my produce is picked and how. No more bruised or underripe produce.
2. I can design what I want to eat verses what a traditional store or farmers market has available.
3. I can control what treatments are administered such as fertilizer and pesticide. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: Bulgarian Carrot Peppers by tacobel_canon used under CC BY 2.0

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Oh, how the spring and summer of 2012 has taken a toll on many crops.

In many areas, corn is dried up and food prices are showing the distant relationship between global warming and failing crops.

While it has been projected, that due to this relationship the consumer will be paying 30 to 40% higher food prices this winter, not all is bleak when it comes to a drought.

This type of environment mimics the native country that many of our fruits and vegetables come from and includes Mexico and the Middle East. In doing so, the fruits and vegetables grown in the 2012 drought have more of a native flavor.

Vegetables that like it hot are really thriving and one of these vegetables is the simple pepper. In past seasons, when the rains came at a normal or above Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: Bad Weeds by Firas Wehbe used under CC BY-SA 2.0

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

I have been in some unique situations in my life but one of the most unique ones recently appeared on my doorstep.

On this bright and sunny day, my doorbell rang and low and behold it was my neighbor down the street.

He was looking for something to do with his girlfriend.

I suggested a movie, dinner, swimming, hiking and many other things that I thought they both would enjoy.

Nothing I suggested seemed to be unique enough for this date and I wondered why this date was soooooo special. After a little prodding I got to the truth. He wanted a special date that would mark a special time in their life. As you can guess, he wanted to ask the big question.

I threw out some additional ideas but nothing seemed to hit the mark. Time was ticking away at this point and I said excuse me but I was going to have to leave. My friend’s puzzled look was priceless but I informed him that it was a Tuesday and that meant the community garden. As soon as I said that, his face lit up and he said that is it. I said what is it and the answer was simple, the community garden.

As I was going to the garden, I asked him why Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: Harvest Moon by Paula Steele used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

I have always loved history and the history of one of the oldest occupations is not an exception.

The occupation I am referring to is not one that is associated with natural desires but instead deals with one of the necessities of life.

This necessity is food and the occupation is farming or agriculture.

Before modernization, farmers planted fields by hand. If they were luck and I mean really luck, they would have horse and plow or tractor by which they could plow their land. In the early spring and fall, daylight was a problem.

Most farming cultures got up early so that they could make the most out of the amount of sunlight available during the day. As the days became longer, more could be done since there were more hours with sunlight. But, as the season went on, the number of hours with sunlight began to fade. At the same time, crops were beginning to ripen and the need to harvest quickly was paramount.

As Mother Nature would have it, she Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: Beat Generation by Steve Mohundro used under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day, I was reading an article about the “new superfood.”

This superfood is neither spinach nor kale but instead a beautiful burgundy globe of nutritional delight.

With the most fanfare possible that can be drummed up for a vegetable, I would like to introduce you to the beat and not the beat you are hearing on the radio right now but instead the dual-purpose root vegetable loving called the beet.

Beets have a duality that many people are not aware of. First, young beets or beet sprouts can be enjoyed on salads way before they begin to form their lovely globe-shaped roots. This is a great use for those plucked seedling that you do not know what to do with when you thin out the crop.

Beyond sprouts, the beet’s harvest can consist of the greens or leaves above the root and/or the root itself. I have had many salads that combined sautéed beet greens with roasted beet roots.

Now that we have the base uses for beets, lets learn how to Read the rest of this entry »