It’s been nigh-on two weeks of near-death experiences around here. First we had our sick chicken, Flopsy, who couldn’t seem to stand on her own two feet. Then we had my father, hospitalized with an EKG that looked like one of those seismic meters during an earthquake. Then the cat, who’s become decidedly indoorsy in [...]
1/6 update: The update is that there is no update. Our chicken is in her straw-lined cage, with food and water, and she is exactly the same. She can move around a little, but we don’t know that she’s eaten or drunk anything. A call to local vets revealed that broad-spectrum antibiotics are prescribed only [...]
It’s a banner year for chipmunks. And no wonder. The boneheads who own the property they live on seem finally to have figured out how to create a chipmunk-friendly environment. They scatter cracked corn on the ground for their chickens. They’ve actually managed to grow a few nice tomatoes, just at ground level. And they [...]
Last year, our fig harvest consisted of exactly one fig. Our friend Alison happened to be visiting when it ripened, so we split it three ways. This year, our Brown Turkey fig tree has twelve figs on it. Although we expect to lose some to varmint or mishap, this year’s crop should still be multiples [...]
We’re about a month into our effort to get a weak bee hive, taken from the soffit of a house in Cotuit, strong enough to survive the coming winter. Our friends Claire and Paul have helped us take the heroic measures required: adding two frames of brood and nurse bees, and replacing the lackluster queen. [...]
Killing a queen bee is a strange experience. The queen is the hive. Her eggs populate it. Her pheromones suffuse it. Worker bees attend to her every want, and beekeepers watch to make sure she’s healthy and prolific. When you spot her, and take her between thumb and forefinger, you’ve got the hive’s future in [...]
Our turkey pen is made exclusively of materials designed to contain other kinds of animals. The main structure is made of cattle panels, which are 16-foot sections of galvanized, heavy-gauge fencing. Since cows don’t fit through turkey-sized holes, we had to line the bottom couple of feet with chicken wire. If it can keep in [...]
I’ll eat anything pickled. Take the woodiest, stringiest vegetable – hell, take shoe leather – and soak it in brine for a while, and I’m fine with it. And since we seem to produce a lot of woody, stringy vegetables around here, pickling is the natural solution. First came the beets. While they weren’t the [...]
This year, in planning our garden, we made a mistake. Surprising, eh? We planted a lot of winter squash. We picked two varieties: Delicata, and a giant kind I don’t know the name of but what we call Sasquash. We chose Delicata because it is supposed to taste very good. We chose Sasquash because it [...]
I’ve been a licensed driver for thirty-two years now. In that time, I have owned seven vehicles with a total of fourteen bumpers. I have never put a bumper sticker on any of them. What is it about bumper stickers? There have been political candidates I’ve supported enthusiastically, there have been causes I’ve believed to [...]
Tamar Haspel has been writing about food and health for over a decade. She recently moved from Manhattan to Cape Cod. She’s adjusting well. [Read More …]
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