FROM SCRATCH CLUB

Our old farm has a fun history. From the reseach I’ve been conducting on the property, here’s what I’ve found: The original farm was started by the Gaige family pre-Revolutionary War (the Gaige family can be traced to our area since the 1730s). The house across the street was built in the early 1800s by [...]

Not long ago, I began a little series on keeping a flock of chickens in your backyard. You can read the first installment here. This week I introduce to you: THE COOP I began dreaming about my chicken coop back in 2005. I was living in New Canaan, CT and working in Tarrytown, NY. One day [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Well, we’ve done it again…we’ve sucked another dynamic woman into the From Scratch Club vortex. Ha! We all met Heather at the very first {public} Saratoga Food Swap back in June and since then we’ve all been smitten. Heather is a quiet force, one that walks & talks with intention. (I wish to [...]

{A View from Hadley Mountain, Summer 2010 Photo by Christina} Some days, life feels like I’m climbing a forty-five degree mountain in our ‘78 Volkswagon Westy, whose maximum level speed is about 65 mph.  Every mile requires more effort coaxed from my engine as my tread hugs the road of human highway, urging me forward…slowly, [...]

September is the biggest harvest month in the community share-cropping gardens.  That means that we have to do something with the perishable stuff we grew all summer.  While I think zucchini make excellent compost, I want to use each and every eggplant, no matter how small.  I have spent years convincing my husband that we [...]

{Liz’s Chicken Coop} LOCAL IRENE FUNDRAISERS OR DONATION CENTERS – We are hosting two fundraisers; For the Farms: Denison Farm & Kilpatrick Family Farm and one for Amanda, a FSC Contributor. Any amount of money donated will qualify you to win one of the many gift baskets we have to offer. I have been bombarded [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Author, blogger and From Scratch Club’s inspirational springboard, Kate Payne, was in town last Wednesday and Thursday for a handful of book tour events. We will be recapping these events over the weekend, but first up, Erika will share a special {FSC Field Trip} to Kilpatrick Family Farm she organized. The FSC ladies [...]

Sure I’m still harvesting (an enjoying) tomatoes from my garden, and I’m still making pickles from the cucumbers I pick every day. But the weather is crisping up around here and it’s time for some comfort food. To me that means it’s time to make my infamous Roasted Root Vegetable Tart. I’ve been making this [...]

Recently I found myself with a box of tomatoes {Farmer Jon’s Produce, Selkirk, NY}, a desire to process them, but no real plan of attack.  I flipped through the pages of the “Better Homes & Gardens: Canning”  issue, and landed on their Tomato-Basil Jam recipe. I wondered how, exactly, could: tomato+basil = the sweet awesomeness [...]

The weather here in New York is surely and swiftly turning more autumn-like every day; cooler nights and crisper mornings have me frantically clinging to summer produce and laid-back dinners. This vegetable fajita recipe requires just a little bit of planning to let your local vegetables marinate and then comes together quickly as a one-skillet [...]

LOCAL IRENE FUNDRAISERS OR DONATION CENTERS – We are hosting two fundraisers; For the Farms: Denison Farm & Kilpatrick Family Farm and one for Amanda, a FSC Contributor. Any amount of money donated will qualify you to win one of the many gift baskets we have to offer. I have been bombarded with generosity; so [...]

When it comes to being a “locavore,” it seems like food gets all the spotlight. People aren’t quite as conscious about what they are drinking. I know that the produce grown on and around my farm are the best anywhere, but sometimes I forget that the delicious beverages that accompany this produce on my table [...]

In the spring of 2009 I decided it was high time I got myself a flock of chickens. For years I had contemplated this endeavor, collected flyers from Agway and Cooperative Extension, and had even gone as far as hoarding old building supplies for a coop, some of which are likely still in my parent’s [...]

I can’t remember where I first saw eggs pickled with beets, but I do recall being struck by the beautiful contrast of the complimentary yellow and purple.  I had made pickled beets before (not knowing what else to do with them) which lead me to discover that I like just about anything pickled.  I know [...]

Even though I write for a food blog, my real passion is prisons.  I worked as a prisoners’ rights attorney for the last seven years.  Before becoming a lawyer, I was an academic administrator and teacher in a prison college program at a men’s maximum-security prison.  Most recently I spent a lot of time hanging [...]