
Memorial Weekend starts the picnic and grilling season for most of us. From hamburgers to steaks to chicken or ribs, nothing is safe from the flames. But we need to do it right to keep it safe for everyone. Wash your hands That goes without saying, you have to keep clean around food and that […]

This phrase was the Republican campaign slogan in the late 1920’s but its origin goes back to France in the 16th century. Henri IV had “supposedly wished” that every peasant, no matter how poor, could have chicken every Sunday. Chicken? Why chicken? Why not a nice juicy Angus T-bone steak? Until the 1940’s chickens and […]

I was always intrigued by fruit flavored wines. Yes, I know, grapes are fruit. But, I gravitated to the cherry – preferably spiced – raspberry, or other fruit flavors that I could find at the store. It was only natural, then, when we started making wine to make fruit wines rather than fruit-flavored grape wines. […]

Now that winter is here, it’s time for us to make sure that our strawberry plants are properly bedded for the cold. Timing is critical. We need to wait until the plants have gone dormant for the winter. Bedding too early can smother the plant, too late and the crowns of the plants will be […]

Over the past 30 years we’ve heard comments about how we live a rural lifestyle. Some people envy what they consider a “simpler” lifestyle, others wonder if by increasing the number of businesses will detract from the ruralness that we experience. Mostly it depends on how a person defines rural versus what rural really means. […]