Blackberry Sauce

  Things have been more insane here in Tennessee than they have been in a long time. We’ve got some really great news, a new job, and a huge 2nd Annual 4th Shindig on the 3rd. So I bring you a re-post from my own blog. Since it’s blackberry season here in the South, I [...]

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Matriarch

What makes a matriarch? Is a matriarch the oldest female in the family, or the wisest, or simply the one who usurps the role? We often conflate age and wisdom in our society, possibly because no one ever feels quite “wise,” but it seems safe to assume that age confers wisdom. I think my own [...]

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Photos, round up and a look ahead

We got real clean, and rounded up some real men (in our own backyards!) and now I think everyone’s back to gardening. Because of the cold, wet spring, everything in Chicago is two weeks behind, and some early summer harvests simply never happened- peas, greens, chard lost to the floods of rain, the cold nights [...]

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Leaving the Farm

We all need a break from our daily lives, now and then. Each summer we try to get away from the daily grind for at least a couple of days before the madness that is summer-horse-camp-season begins. I run a small day camp for several weeks each summer and its intense demands tend to break [...]

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How to Survive a Cookout when You’re a REAL Foodie

Summer is the season of cookouts. You can spend almost every weekend at a cookout if you want to. It’s a danger zone for those of us that are REAL foodies though, all that CAFO meat and heavily processed food. How’s a REAL foodie to survive the cookout season without looking like a food snob, [...]

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Sun Flowers

The Solstice is a year-marker. The longest day, the shortest night; the day when the god believes in his supremacy and his triumph over the world. He shines high and strong and hot and proclaims the summer. The Sun flowers are primary- daisy, petunia, primrose, tickweed. But though the god sleeps through the winter, the [...]

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REAL men round up- gardening with the menfolk

It’s been great meeting all the men, and their cheerful willingness to be exploited. All that fresh food must have gone to their heads. *** The week did NOT start auspiciously. I (Xan) was having trouble firing up the lawn mower (a 30 year old dinosaur of a gas mower, way out of proportion to [...]

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Hi there…

Why hello! I am Emily’s husband, Jeremy.  You might’ve seen pictures of me doing various farmy type stuff.  I like to be very supportive towards any and all of Emily’s flora and fauna vices.  I love animals and I like to eat vegetables, but I’m really whiny when it comes to physical labor. I’m really [...]

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Obligatory Title

Not Dabbling has been on my daily browsing list for quite some time now. I will admit that I am a lurker. Always reading – Never posting. I grew up in rural Tennessee on a 150 acre farm. In the late 80’s I ran a small poultry operation. I used a recycled box truck bed [...]

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From the distaff side

I’ve been asked to write something for this blog, and I have to say that it’s been a long time since I’ve done any creative writing. Memos? Sure, all the time; love my email. But not so much writing on a topic, particularly an assigned one. Especially gardening. In spite of its major role in [...]

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