Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

When I was dating my soon to be husband, I was introduced to his grandmother.

This woman had survived the depression and lived in several different places while raising three children.

Her married life was full of intrigue and mystery.

Many of those experiences played out like a James Bond movie. As we talked, she introduced me to a vegetable that I had never heard of and being a farm girl I thought I had heard of everything.

So that summer, I was introduced to the sunchoke and one may wonder what in the world is a sunchoke.

I can tell you from experience it is a delightful, perennial vegetable that keeps on giving and giving.

The sunchoke is also known as the Jerusalem artichoke and belongs to the sunflower family. It grows 5 to 10 feet in Read the rest of this entry »

Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

As a child growing up, I learned a valuable lesson in toxic chemicals and how they consume life.

May dad worked for the Board of Health and was responsible for eradicating mosquitoes.

As the habit of day required, DDT was broadcast over areas that had a mosquito problem.

When we had a mosquito problem at home, we treated the situation the same and that was with DDT tablets.

So on a bright summer day, my dad and I went to the creek and through in several handfuls of DDT. Once that was done, it was time to water my horse so down to the creek we went.

Pudd, my beloved horse, quenched his thirst in the flow of water and DDT. No one knew the consequence of this little action but I quickly learned that lesson even before the scientific studies. Pudd got sick several weeks later and Read the rest of this entry »

Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Raising children in an urban environment has many challenges especially since I was raised in the country.

Life in the country was full of everyday wonders and adventures.

I never ran out of things to do, places to explore, and wonders to discover.

Growing things was second nature to me and I was aware of where my food came from because most of the time I helped raise it.

Urban kids, on the other hand, Read the rest of this entry »

Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Growing up as a child, I loved Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin.

It instilled a wonder and amazement of the natural world along with a sprinkling of St. Nick.

I knew where and how pumpkins were grown but often wondered how a “Great Pumpkin” could be created.

The ones I saw growing in the U-Pick It patches seemed to be cast into the field as seeds and left to their own demise.

As I got older, I learned the truth about the “Great Pumpkin” and while he does not leave gifts nor do you leave him a note or cookies, he still does exist through a little hard work and dedication.

Great pumpkins like great works of art take time, effort, planning, and in some situations a little luck. The process of growing a “Great Pumpkin” begins through the soil’s preparation. This begins Read the rest of this entry »

Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day it occurred to me that as we eat healthier our compost should be healthier too and before you say you cannot compost I say shoo…not true.

Everyone can and should compost.

Those living in apartments, condos, high-rises, caves, houses, tents, and any other type of “home” or “house should compost without question or argument.

Living in a cast away society makes compost a hard sell at times. Grocery stores send their bad and unmarketable produce to the dump. Families teach their children to throw everything in the trashcan and then demand more trashcans to hold their growing organic and inorganic trash pile. A simple solution to this growing problem, no pun intended, is to encourage everyone to compost.

The process is pretty simple Read the rest of this entry »