Articles, Cooking Corner, Family, Fruit, Locavore, Seasonal, Travel
Lemon Tree Very Pretty First appeared in Grainews on March 2020 Articles I’m standing in my auntie’s orchard on a mild afternoon, the temperature about 18 C. In Canada, it’s deep winter, but here in California, the citrus trees have bloomed, and the fruit is ripe.... 
Articles, Cooking Corner, Family, Farm, Friends, Garden, Locavore, Seasonal
Articles In Good Company First appeared in Grainews on 9 April 2019 We arrived for a preliminary visit at the farm in June 2010, a month ahead of our move-in date. Over-anxious? Eager? Yes, both, but mostly we came early to help my aging parents move out – into a... 
Articles, Cooking Corner, Family, Farm, Fruit, Garden, Seasonal
Giving Up the Garden ARTICLES First appeared in Grainews in September 2019 This spring, I stood in Mom’s back yard with a wheelbarrow and a shovel, digging out all the soil in her raised beds. “Take it all,” she urged when I slowed down. “I’m done with it.” “Not even... 
Articles, Beans and Pulses, Cooking Corner, Family, Farm, Locavore, South Asian, Travel
Family Traditions First appeared in Grainews on September 2018 Articles One of the great truisms about food is that by cooking the foods of our forebears, we maintain or re-establish a link with our heritage. My mother’s antecedents were off-Colony Hutterites who... 
Articles, Baking, Cooking Corner, Family, Farm, Friends, Sweets
Articles Reasons for Cooking First appeared in Grainews on 17 July 2018 On a Friday over lunch after our weekly trip to the farmer’s market, I asked Mom what her favourite desserts were. Her 82nd birthday was rolling around soon. I’d already decided on the main course... 
Articles, Cooking Corner, Family, Farm, Seasonal, Travel, Weather
Cold Weather Variety ARTICLES First appeared in Grainews on 9 March 2021 Before the polar vortex returned and the morning thermometer read -40 C, I spent some time splitting birch for the wood stove in the kitchen. We live in a house that’s over one hundred years old,...