By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Growing up as a child, my dad and I planted hundreds of trees.

Some of these were for pure beauty and some shared their beauty outside and in the kitchen.

One of my favorite trees that fell into this culinary category was the chestnut tree.

American Chestnut trees have had a torrid past with chestnut blight.

This fungus was brought into New York by way of some Asian nursery stock in the 1900. This blight spread everywhere by wind, rain, birds and other animals. Once it was placed on the bark of a tree, it made its way into the tree through cracks in the bark.

After it entered the bark, it would cause Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

I have always looked toward nature as my predictor of the weather.

Learning the weather patterns of ones local area is very beneficial to gardeners.

It can help the gardener decide when to put the cold or cool season crops in and can provide some guidance as to fall and winter crops.

The key to this technique is knowing what to look for, when to look for it, and understanding what you see.

WOOLY WORM

Wooly worms are famous as bad winter predictors. It is believed that if the caterpillar is solid black, the whole winter will be abnormally bad. On the other end of the spectrum, it is believed that if the caterpillar is brown or light brown this is an indication of a mild winter. Wooly worms have 13 sections and each section represents one week of the winter season. If the wooly worm is in bands of black and brown, this is an indication of a winter that is going to have a lot of changes.

SQUIRRELS

In the fall, squirrels are busy collecting food for the winter. Some believe that Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Growing up as a child, cauliflower was only consumed as a treat.

It seemed to me that this vegetable was like royalty.

The white head was like a crown of delightfulness but when I moved out on my own I learned the truth about cauliflower.

Cauliflower can be an easy vegetable to grow with or without land.

he keys to remember when growing this vegetable are numerous. One, this vegetable is a cole or cool season crop and does not do well in hot weather. Two, this vegetable likes a firm, fertile soil that has a pH of 6.5 to 7.0. Three, avoid disturbing the firm soil whenever possible and create firm soil around the plant whenever possible.

Cauliflower plants can be Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

My childhood was like a country song by Barbara Mandrell.

Her saying “I was country when country wasn’t cool” completely describes my life.

My first five years of life were spent in a large city in Kentucky.

But social turmoil was going on and my dad did not want me involved in it when I started school so we moved to the country in Indiana.

At first it seemed I was the odd girl out. I started first grade at 5 years old and was just overly different then my classmates. I am part Native American and my appearance did not match the German ancestors that were in my classes. As time went on, I became more and more a tomboy, naturalist, environmentalist and when agriculture classes opened up for girls an agriculturist.

My dad always depended on me to take care of the farm. As a matter of fact, I was Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day, I was in a superstore scanning the markdown items and noticed a unique item.

This item I was sure was placed in the wrong department.

I was in the gardening department not the cooking so what was a meat thermometer doing here.

As I examined this strange looking cooking utensil I noticed a picture of plants on the package. Again, I was going what? No pictures of roasts, turkeys or chickens.

So, being curious and not willing to admit I had no idea what I was holding, I flipped over the package and read the directions.

The directions on this odd product were quite clear but again I could not believe my eyes and I could not believe that someone felt they needed this product. Being a science person and a little nerd, I decided I would buy the product. I knew I carried one around with me everywhere I went and I was certain that this one worked just fine and was just as accurate but I just had to have this Read the rest of this entry »