Apples
Apples. Before you head to the garden center, make sure you have a reasonably sunny spot to plant a tree, and take a look around your neighborhood. Are there actually apple trees everywhere now that you’re paying attention? Check the alleys, peek over fences, scan for little red blobs still attached to bare branches. If you’ve got a lot of trees around, you might be able to get away with only planting one tree. Otherwise, apple trees need a mate in order to set fruit. But don’t panic! If you’re short on space, you can plant two trees in the same hole and they’ll grow...
Read MoreSummer. Punch. That is All.
So. Summer is here, more or less, and that means that you need to break out the punches. Not that dreadful stuff made with Sprite and sherbet and the worst possible vodka, but a nicely-made, Victorian-style punch, served in that punchbowl you never get to use, or a repurposed pickle jar, or whatever other sort of urn you happen to have around. If you don’t have the matching glasses that once came with your punchbowl, teacups make a weird and elegant substitute, as do Mason jars. I have been in Portland for a couple months for a writer-in-residency sort of affair with Portland State...
Read MoreIt’s Apple Season, Y’all
Seems like everyone in these parts has an opinion about what Humboldt needs to make it truly great. A railroad. A trail around the bay. A general plan. A Wal-Mart. A Trader Joe’s. One grand, vitally important addition or improvement that would change everything. I agree that Humboldt is lacking in one critical area, but it doesn’t involve railroads or general plans. What Humboldt is missing is locally-made hard cider. Think about it. We are blessed with an extraordinarily long apple season, with the earliest varieties ripening in August and the last flush of ripe fruit still...
Read MoreBooks by Amy Stewart
The Drunken Botanist
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