denafoltzrissman
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Help! I am married to an addict and it is affecting our relationship
He warned me when we met, about his addiction. And I noticed the signs. Dozens of house plants that look to have been around for years, a stack of seed catalogs by the bedside, jars of home canned goods in… Continue reading
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A Eulogy for the Butterboy
The garden is officially winding down. The boss man harvested all the green tomatoes off our wilting plants and pulled the last of the corn — oh Butter Boy you served us well, time to put you away until next… Continue reading
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The Tomato Parade
The tomato parade has begun and soon tomatoes in various stages of red will be covering every surface of our kitchen.Tomatoes are the heart of summer, the fruit of hot and humid days that get even hotter when you spend… Continue reading
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The Garlic Harvest
140 pounds of garlic harvested! Now the squash, which is towering above four-feet tall, has room to breathe. This is the deal with harvesting homegrown garlic: The most important thing you need to know about harvesting fresh garlic is: Eat… Continue reading
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Garlic Scapes and Walleye Cheeks
The Upper Peninsula is always a bit behind the times compared to the rest of the country. Just turn on the radio or walk into one of the restaurants along Highway 2 and you’ll think you stepped back into the… Continue reading
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Varmints
“I’m going to have to go Mr McGregor on the rabbits that took out my beets,” a gardener friend recently told me. (In the UP, it is probably more like Elmer Fudd, but I digress.) When I asked him if… Continue reading
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The “F” Word
The possibility of frost strikes fear in gardeners all the way to the tips of their green thumbs. Frost warnings are serious shit. Like tornado warnings for your plants. Batten down the the hatches or risk death. Our head… Continue reading
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Garlic and Dilligence
If you grow garlic, it should be kicking ass about now. And you are probably thinking, When is this stuff going to be ready? (I am not a mind reader, I get this question regularly from our friends/family who’ve started… Continue reading
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Austere Times in the Eden of Garden
Six months ago we packed up the truck with loads of home-grown veggies and canned goods and headed West. A week ago we traveled back across the highline loaded with cases of empty mason jars and crates filled with goodies… Continue reading
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Our Cash Crop
Garlic is our cash crop (not the typical cash crop the Garden Peninsula is known for). It didn’t start out that way. But when the public started getting a hold of our garlic and then coming back for more and… Continue reading
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String Bean Theory
I was going to write about our incredible garlic harvest, but the beans are stressing me out. They tend to overwhelm. Just when I had things under control — peas, broccoli and lettuce — the beans start to appear. If… Continue reading
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The Third Best Farmer’s Market in Michigan
Some of our farmer’s market vendors are threatening to defect. They’ve experienced the greener grass of another farmer’s market, and by “greener” I mean more lucrative, and are feeling under appreciated at our market. They’ve been complaining that the Garden… Continue reading
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Tomato Luv
The first bunches of green tomatoes are starting to appear in our garden, which triggered an immediate Pavlovian response (a la Homer Simpson) — mmmmm, tomatoes. mouthwatering, drool, drool. Then a tinge of fear struck me, what if we get… Continue reading
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Strangers in Paradise
This weekend we celebrated the 25th annual “Portage Bay Invitational” — our weekend-long solstice celebration/golf party and the best way to lure our friends out here to the hinterlands. People come from far and wide to camp, party, and play… Continue reading
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Exactly how much pig would that be?
I was a vegetarian for many years. After a stint as an editor at a cattle breeding magazine, I had learned a little too much about commercial beef production. Then I moved to the U.P., tried an especially tasty venison… Continue reading
Eden of Garden 