The last ear of summer corn ... the last zucchini ... the last beautiful red pepper… the last summer cucumber ... the last tomato... Through modern transportation, we have these veggies year-round, shipped from farms in California. But they don’t taste the same. They’re not picked ...

Winter squash is a favorite autumn treat — and one of the most popular is the acorn. Cucurbita pepo L. var. turbinata has a very hard, ridged shell with a pointed bottom — in the shape of a giant acorn. They’re fairly round — between 5 and 8 inches long and 4 or 5 inches across — ...

It’s October. Summer squash has disappeared from farmers’ markets. But winter squashes — summer squash’s robust cousins — are just getting into their prime. One of the earliest to mature from the winter squash family is the spaghetti squash. When roasted, it forms strands (hence ...

Tomatillos (toe-mah-TEE-ohs) are the lesser known, tangy cousin of the tomato. These small fruits (a little bigger than a cherry tomato) enclosed in loose, papery, brown or green husks are to the tomato what the lime is to the orange. Though a warm-weather crop, they can grow in our ...

The trees are turning; the winds are picking up; change is in the air. The autumn equinox is almost here, and fall is upon us. The past week brought not one but four nights below freezing. The tender harvest — tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, eggplant, beans — had to be gathered ...

Have you made your new year’s resolutions yet? Too early, you say? True, the Western new year is still months away. But later this week, Rosh Hashanah marks the Jewish new year 5781, which begins at sundown on Friday, Sept. 18. The celebration and feasting concludes at sundown on ...

September brings the waning days of summer. It also brings lots of veggies: plentiful tomatoes and peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, corn. These veggies make great salads. When most people picture salads, they think lettuce — or maybe spinach or kale. But summer vegetables like peppers, ...

Chile rellenos translates to “stuffed peppers.” To make them, poblano peppers are first roasted, after which the skin is peeled. The peppers are stuffed with Oxaca cheese, coated with flour and egg, deep fried until golden brown, then covered with a rich salsa roja. This dish, common in ...

Aromatic, tender, juicy and sweet, fresh peaches are a summer treat. The fragrance and flavor of fruit harvested nearby are irresistible as the juice trickles down your chin. True, our peaches aren’t really local — because peaches don’t grow in the cool Adirondack climate or even in ...

Whether bright green or waxy yellow, fresh beans are a midsummer treat - glorious proof that summer is truly in full swing. Easy to grow and quick to mature, fresh beans are not always green — they come in an array of colors, shapes, and sizes. There are yellow (wax), purple and maroon ...

It’s August. And it’s been the strangest summer I’ve ever lived through. We’re in the midst of a pandemic. Yes, things are slowly re-opening, but many activities are still canceled. For the rest, there is social distancing and mask-wearing, The farmers’ market is going strong, ...

This time of year gardeners find themselves flooded with these smooth, thin-skinned, cylindrical dark green squashes — though new varieties come in many shades of green and yellow, and some are speckled or striped. They’re plentiful and cheap at farmers’ markets because they’re easy to ...

We’re still in the middle of the pandemic. Schools are closed. So are summer camps. Restaurants are beginning to re-open with limited capacity — but many people are still avoiding eating out. As a result of the COVID-19 statewide shutdown, farmers were dumping milk and produce because ...

This traditional Provencal dish is made with the season’s abundance of tomatoes, eggplant, and summer squash, along with onions, garlic, peppers and herbs. It is usually seasoned with Herbes de Provence, a mix of basil, thyme, savory and fennel, but other herbs can be used too. Other veggies ...

How better to celebrate summer than with fresh peas from our local farmers? Sweet and tender, peas are one of the finest treats of our Adirondack summer (and spring in the rest of the country). All three varieties — the English shell peas, asian pod peas, and sturdy sugar snaps —are ...

Once upon a time, beets were lonely outcasts, humble and reviled. Swiss chard was unknown. But times have changed. Today, these two veggies are considered superfoods. The number of beet and chard dishes on restaurant menus keeps rising. Chard and beet greens are botanical cousins — and ...

Days are long. Nights are short. Farmers’ markets and farm stands are in full swing, open in spite of the pandemic. They are busting with summer’s first fruits — fragrant, red, juicy and oh so sweet! Strawberries are the first of the summer berry crop to ripen. Sure, you can buy ...

It’s officially summer — and it feels like it! The weather’s warm, school’s out, and the pandemic is still among us. While Mother’s Day was unseasonably cool, Father’s Day was unseasonably hot. Summer is the time to play on the water, in the water and in the woods. It’s also ...

Sunday morning it was 36 degrees. Is it spring? Summer? Or winter? This year the weather has been playing havoc —with snow in May for Mother’s Day, then really hot weather … It seems like it is either 40 or 90. Our poor asparagus came up in June rather than May. We thought we had lost ...

Gardens and farmers’ markets abound with fresh greens — lettuce, spinach, pea shoots, arugula. It’s salad time! Salads of fresh, tender greens are a special seasonal treat. They’re easy to put together, light, healthy, and make delicious eating. At this time of global pandemic, ...