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Heather Wood

Heather Wood's Blog (14)

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Where did I hear that?

Recently the New York Times carried a fascinating piece called "Your Brain Lies to You." The authors, a professor of neuroscience and an editor of a neuroscience journal, point out that the brain does not merely gather and stockpile information. Instead, the information is stored, repeatedly recalled, re-encoded with each recall incident, and gradually moves from immediate storage in the hippocampus to long-term storage in the cortex. Along the way it is removed from its source and context, a pr… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on July 20, 2008 at 6:49pm — 2 Comments

My Cretan diet

As a doctor with a strong interest in nutrition, I follow research work done on the Cretan diet with great interest. As a gardener, though, I'm interested in it for quite different reasons: I need to use up a helluva lot of green stuff. It's almost inconceivable to me how much leafy stuff is out there right now. I neaten up the garden and pick a three gallon pail of greens, and the next day things look a little shaggy again, and two or three days later I'm back where I started. Yesterday, out of… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on June 16, 2008 at 2:00pm — 9 Comments

A fertile time

There's a wonderful freshness about my garden right now; it's lush and green and producing like crazy, and the maladies of fierce heat and tall weeds haven't set in yet. Perfect! It's a healthy young child of a garden, and the inevitable adolescence to come is easily forgotten. For me, this is the Year of the Potato. Potatoes aren't supposed to grow well in our area, because our alkaline soil reduces yields and gives them scab. Since plants can be contrary, potatoes have decided to flourish in m… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on May 22, 2008 at 3:57pm — 1 Comment

through a veil of righteousness

Lately I've been thinking about how people use morality and ethics as tools against other people, and how this applies to gardening and eating. Taking it as a given that we all want to live as morally and ethically as possible, and do the best we can most of the time, how do we manage to irritate each other so frequently about exactly these issues? My own failings in this line were brought home to me rather sharply this spring when a longtime friend asked me what we had eaten for Easter dinner.… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on May 9, 2008 at 5:27pm — 5 Comments

burgeoning and foraging

We're moving into a season of exuberant growth, in which every time I turn around something has changed. The changes are clear in the slad bowl, which is now overflowing nearly every night and has some unusual occupants, like savoy tatsoi, a small wrinkly deep green asian leaf which, when coated with a little vinaigrette, looks like it was carved out of jade. Little foraged "shamrocks" of wood sorrel lend a tart lemony note, spinach and several kinds of lettuce give bulk and sweetness, and every… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on April 29, 2008 at 9:00pm — No Comments

poaching

Late-spring flowers are in bloom in my area, and the lilac, wisteria, and mahonia fragrances follow me on my walks. The other night I went out for a walk in the full moon (the "pink moon" according to my lunar-phase calendar, whatever that means), and passed an exquisite spill of wisteria over a wall onto the sidewalk, pouring out perfume. Under some dark influence I stole two racemes of bloom and hurried home to see what could be done with them. I was already aware that the flowers are not pois… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on April 21, 2008 at 10:30am — 1 Comment

irritable about restaurants

Foodspeak circa 2008, American southwest The following terms represent the current restaurant fashion in our area: 1. Bronzed. Something must be bronzed in something else, ie duck bronzed in a cognac glaze or shallots bronzed in cassis. If bronzed in hot air alone, as in a hot oven or under a broiler, it is referred to as "gilded." Under no circumstances is it "browned." We didn't come to town on a load of turnips, after all. 2. Sustainably. This must be used early and often. It is important, ho… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on April 4, 2008 at 2:09pm — 1 Comment

local food

It seems that local food has achieved middle-class fad status. People are asking for it in Walmart, a somewhat oxymoronic behavior. The farmer/director of our local (and excellent) CSA is being indignanty told off by members for "importing" food from California during the winter. As he points out, he needs to keep his customers over the winter in order to stay in business, and to stay entirely local he would have to supply boxes of carrots, turnips, rutabagas, cabbage, and kale every week for ab… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on March 30, 2008 at 2:03pm — No Comments

further growth

My next-door neighbor informs me that we can't grow potatoes in our area. Hmm. I have volunteer potatoes poking out of all the spots where I grew potatoes last year, as well as new ones in the areas I planted this year. I usually put a seed potato in each of the large planters and pots, let the vines hang down over the edge for the summer, and harvest the potatoes after everything else is finished. I've also started planting them under other things, like spinach, which will be harvested early. I… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on March 29, 2008 at 10:52am — No Comments

random musings on nutrition

My medical journals are full of the news that the low-fat dietary guidelines promoted heavily by the USDA (and, unfortunately, several medical organizations) for the last 25 or so years actually did more harm than good, and contributed to the current epidemics of obesity and diabetes. No surprise to anyone who actually tried them out. When I was an undergraduate I had a nutrition professor who evangelized about the life-prolonging possibilities of a nearly fat-free diet, and added that we would… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on March 25, 2008 at 9:49am — No Comments

Easter dinner

Two good friends came over to share dinner with us. We started with a lively salad garnished with softly boiled eggs, then went on to a baked ham from a farm that raises a heritage breed of pig humanely and cures the meat themselves. Buttermilk cornbread, cream and gooseberry gravy, new potatoes, and broccoli rounded out the meal. My friend said that he kept thinking "This ham tastes great, it tastes nothing like ham" until he realized that it was the vapid water-injected supermarket product tha… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on March 23, 2008 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Oops

I'm putting in dwarf fruit trees around the periphery of my back yard, leaving the center open for canine scrimmaging. Today I planted the first two to arrive, a dwarf sweet cherry and a dwarf apricot. I pruned them hard, congratulating myself for being so brave, then noted that the nursery instructions said not to prune them. Hmm. I choose to believe that they'll be okay, because last year I did the same thing to a dwarf pie cherry, and it's growing beautifully. I had one square-off wih my husk… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on March 22, 2008 at 6:30pm — No Comments

more growth, less time

Things are really bursting out of the ground now, and I'm having a pretty strenuous inpatient week with very little time to admire the outside world, but I cut the first narcissus to bloom and brought it to work so that I can smell something lovely and real as I do my charting. In a bed beside our front door, I planted potato onions last fall, and put crocus and tulip bulbs among them. Currently the onion foliage can barely be seen among the flowers, but healthy onion bulbs seem to be forming. I… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on March 20, 2008 at 8:48pm — 1 Comment

windstorm day

Today began as a beautiful day, but now we're having one of our spring windstorms. I had to stop planting onions halfway through the job and come inside out of the flying dust, so instead of planting I'm thinking about my garden goals. The main one is simple; I want to have a lot of fun and, in the process, produce more food from my city lot than I did last year. I have a head start in one respect: my tomatoes yielded so heavily last year that I still have two shelves of roasted tomatoes, tomato… Continue

Added by Heather Wood on March 16, 2008 at 5:30pm — 2 Comments

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2008

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Latest Activity

Everett McDonald added a blog post
My father-in-law Fred Pond died ten years ago. He loved his garden and I still miss him a lot especially at this time of year when the seed catalogues start arriving. The Pond family lived on a seven acre homestead of sorts in Westford Massachuset...
7 minutes ago
Mary Riekert joined Joy Williams's group
Tomatoes
I think this might need it's own category, don't you? Tomatoes are one of the most popular things to grow and we've been placing them in all kinds of groups, but the fact is we almost all grow them, and they have specific needs.
43 minutes ago
david e kelley replied to Penelope's discussion 'Feeling Stuck'
The cooking shows are entertaining, but that's all. Some of my favorite recipes started with notes handed down from family. They're still as good as ever. James Beard, Joy of cooking, and Professional Chefs Manural are good references. I have over...
1 hour ago
Mary Riekert left a comment for Amanda Williams
2 hours ago
Mary Riekert left a comment for Sally Parrot
2 hours ago
Sally Parrot left a comment for Mary Riekert
2 hours ago
Maggie left a comment for Helen Pereira
4 hours ago
Cielce commented on andy Petro's group 'Ontario Gardeners'
Greetings everyone :D Sice we've been having such odd weather this year, I decided to try getting my garlic in the ground this past weekend. Now I hope that it'll all grow nicely.
5 hours ago
Amanda Williams and Maggie are now friends
6 hours ago
Strumelia commented on Joy Williams's group 'BeeKeeping'
Donald you lucky to live in an area where you can start a new hive at any time during the year! In New York one could never start a new package in December! =8-o We'd love to see pix of your current hive. :)
8 hours ago
marion stewart added a blog post
Red osier dogwood is just the best plant for this time of year – cut down some branches – you can find them in fields and ditches and then place them in garden pots or containers. Fill the over-season containers with soil to hold the stems. Attach...
8 hours ago
Donald commented on Joy Williams's group 'BeeKeeping'
Hi Everyone: I am new to kitchen gardeners and I currently have one bee hive and I am planning on buying one four pound package of bees and a queen in December. If my luck is strong I will also capture a swarm and end up with three total hives goi...
8 hours ago
Donald joined Joy Williams's group
BeeKeeping
Bees! How they benefit us, how to keep them, how to maintain them! Experts invited, and welcome.
8 hours ago
Donald replied to Valerianella's discussion 'Honeybees Face Towering Threat From Cell Phones'
I had not heard of this new link of cell phone towers to CCD, but I believe that CCD is caused by a number of different things and is mostly limited to large scale professional beekeepers that put their bees on large semi-trucks and haul them all ...
9 hours ago
Donald updated their profile
9 hours ago
Maya replied to Penelope's discussion 'Feeling Stuck'
Oi! Penelope! The cooking shows are designed to make people who've grown up eating processed foods and without a Fannie Farmer in the house want to go to a restaurant and be demanding, or buy expensive, exotic ingredients that they'll mostly never...
9 hours ago
Salma Kamal left a comment for Muhammad Nadeem Iqbal
9 hours ago
Salma Kamal commented on Muhammad Nadeem Iqbal's photo 'SUNFLOWER WITH SUN'
Yes! Sun flowers .I went there yesterday. The site of sun flowers is spactacular.But flowers seem smaller then big variety which I have seen growing their previously.
10 hours ago
laurent barbier, Helen Pereira, Sara Lim and 3 more joined Kitchen Gardeners
12 hours ago
Amanda Williams left a comment for Maggie
16 hours ago

From the KGI Main Site

Gardeners Have the Power!

Braised brussels sprouts with pine nuts

Garden Q & A: extending the salad season

New White House kitchen garden videos

KGI is going to the White House (and we want to take you with us)

Optimal timing for your garlic harvest

Garden Q & A: Harvesting tomatoloons

Roasted potatoes with basil vinaigrette

Garden Q & A: Organic pest controls

Paella with tomatoes

Notes

HOW TO - ADD A LINK

Several people have experienced difficulty putting working links into comments and blogs etc and I know it is clumsy.... so here is how you do it.....

First type the text you want to appear....  ie  IAN'S PAGE

Then go back and highlight the link text.

Then hit the hyperlink button...a pictogram of a chain link.

Your browser may intervene and request permission to allow temporary scripting or some similar message.   Allow it and go back and highlight the text again

… Continue

Created by Ian Jun 7, 2009 at 7:28pm. Last updated by Ian Jun 8.

Forum Policy

Hi, I'm starting to put together a few guidlines on using the discussion forum on here.

I would be happy to hear any comments you may have.  This is very much a work in progress so plese feel free to ask me to add anything you think is needed.

I don't want to make our community hide bound by rules and regulations but I think that, as the community has grown, some explanation of what is expected is needed.

Administration

You can refer any que

… Continue

Created by Ian May 23, 2009 at 1:55am. Last updated by Ian May 25.

Climate maps

Hi following recent discussion I have put climate maps of the USA, Australia and Europe on here for reference..

 Climate map of the USA

Climate map of Australia

Climate map of Europe

 

… Continue

Created by Ian Sep 12, 2008 at 6:20pm. Last updated by Ian Apr 14.

Recipes, Recipes, Recipes

Hi Everyone,  I've started to collect together recipes from various posts on the site and put them all together here.

If you have a recipe you want to add on here, just post it on the site and leave a comment on my page telling me where it is and I'll go and fetch it back here.

They are organised in Contributor Order but I'm open to better suggestions!

BEVA'S RECIPES

… Continue

Created by Ian Jun 2, 2008 at 9:54am. Last updated by Ian Apr 13.

US STATES ABBREVIATIONS

 

US STATE ABBREVIATIONS

AK - Alaska               AL - Alabama              AR - Arkansas
AZ - Arizona              CA - California           CO - Colorado
CT - Connecticut          DC - Dist of Columbia *   DE - Delaware
FL - Florida              GA - Georgia              GU

… Continue

Created by Ian Jan 27, 2009 at 4:27pm. Last updated by Ian Jan 27.

HOW TO - MAKE COMPOST

Recently there was an excellent discussion about composting. I’ve pulled together all the various comments here. You can also watch KGI's video on composting here.

 

 

KATE’S ADVICE

I used to have a tumbler that we made from a wine-barrel but

1 you have to fill it up all at once

2. it seemed mostly

… Continue

Created by Ian May 30, 2008 at 5:29am. Last updated by Roger Jan 15.

Notes Home

Welcome to Notes.

To view notes that are in the system hit the "all notes" button above.

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Created by Ian May 28, 2008 at 12:10pm. Last updated by Ian May. 30, 2008.

A Note about Notes

I have just written this note so that I can see what we can achieve by using this new feature.

If you read this and have any suggestions then please leave a comment on my page or email me.

Ian

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Created by Ian May 28, 2008 at 6:19pm. Last updated by Ian May. 28, 2008.

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