http://www.whereyat.com/neworleans/articles.sec-9-1-city-sustainability.html I make chips, fries, and pies—I like sweet potatoes sweet or salty. I love them baked when I top them with caramelized onions and blue cheese, and I love them in the fall when I make sweet potato kale bread pudding. At this time of year I prefer not to heat up the house too much, and make sweet potato chili in a slow cooker (recipe below).]]>  I’ve always spent time around animals, but I’ve never had many pets.  I rode horses growing up, and as an adult I worked on farms and ranches with lots of livestock, and I spent a year ]]>  Even though strawberries are available in south Louisiana starting in November, this is the time of year when I really can’t get enough of them.   Back in the fall, when the weather ]]>  I‘m getting married at the end of March and I’ve scoured the internet tirelessly for ways to “DIY” to give the whole affair a more personalized touch.  The problem is that if you wa]]>  This has, so far, been a ridiculously mild winter.  Balmy weather and sunny days gets me dreaming about tomatoes.  I’ve never had good luck with tomatoes in New Orleans, so I’m cer]]>  For is National Garden Mail Order Month.  This is news to me, although I shouldn’t b surprised because, at this time of year, the seed companies take advantage of us indoor-bound gardener]]> For the past two years, my chicken flock has foraged over a large vacant lot, scratching the ground for bugs, eating grass and weeds and being very active. They lay the best eggs I’ve ever tasted. B]]>  If you’re a laissez-farmer like me, you haven’t yet torn out your summer plants and replaced them with the cool season crops like lettuce and healthy greens.  I always feel guilty tearing]]> I cannot cook without garlic. Sometimes I like to think of myself as an artist in the kitchen, with a palette of ingredients laid out in front
]]> I grew up in California. Not just California, but temperate, coastal, California where the summer’s highs will reach into the ‘80s, but only for brief stretches because it takes too much effort for the sun to burn through the summer fog that typically enshrouds the Northern Coast of California.]]> I measure the seasons in what is available to eat, so one of the most exciting things for me about June and July in the South are the blueberries. The delicious berries have been showing up at local f]]> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabla normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.]]> The humble parsnip is one of my favorite root vegetables, but it always generates a mixed response among both gardeners and people who like to eat. The white root vegetable, and close relative of the ]]> I am a lazy farmer at heart – I like to grow things that produce the most with the least input. Maybe I farm and garden with the 80/20 rule in mind, where 80 percent of your productivity comes from 20 percent of your input.]]>