Homemade “Maple” Syrup

If you’re like me, watching your kids DUMP real maple syrup on their pancakes is like watching them flush gold down the toilet. That stuff is SO expensive! BUT, I also can’t stand to feed them that maple-flavored-high-fructose-corn-syrup JUNK at the store....

Homemade File Powder

I grew up with an abundance of sassafras trees all around me. I don’t know how I knew the leaves were edible because I have eaten them for as long as I can remember. Someone must have told me they were okay to eat, because I doubt I taste-tested all the foliage...

Homemade Sourdough Bread

When I run out of an ingredient or a supply my first thought isn’t necessarily, “Gotta hop in the car and go to the store.” It’s, “Can I make this myself out of stuff lying around the house?” Although I consider myself...

Homegrown Fried Okra

The okra has started coming in. Just a handful, I only have a few plants, but I wanted to show them to you. This is the first year I have grown okra. I love fried okra and remember my grandmother and my mother making it in great quantities. We popped them like...

Oven-Dried Tomatoes

Dear Ivory, I love the chicken house!! And the photo–the wind gently swaying the willow. I feel transported to the–you know, that area of land of low topographic relief supporting grasses and herbs and having a mesic climate–what is it called? Never...