FROM SCRATCH CLUB

Its Earth Day and I get to gush about a book (and host a giveaway) that inspires and educates folks on the ins & outs of putting fruit up, whether that’s in jam-form, syrup-form, frozen-form or or or…the sky is the limit! Growing your own fruit or buying fruit from your local farmers market or […]

Thanksgiving and its attendant leftovers are my favorite things about that holiday. I’m sure my family isn’t alone in that planning the Thanksgiving meal also means planning for maximum leftover efficiency. We all have our favorites – my son is the stuffing king, my daughter hoards the mashed potatoes and gravy, and my husband loves […]

  I have been blessed to find new neighbors who own apple trees this year! Though I am somewhat sheepish to go up to a random person’s house, knock on their door, and ask if they use their apples, I do it anyhow. Both times I’ve done this, the people have responded kindly, and say […]

BLUEBERRY PICKING SEASON I have a deep love for blueberries and celebrate each year when the first berries have ripened on the bush.  Some people have a hard time resisting chocolate brownies or sweets, and I can commiserate with them.  But, for me, the real struggle is blueberries. Laugh if you must, I understand it […]

I had the amazing opportunity to pick sour cherries last week at Liz’s {FSC contributor} childhood house.  Her parents have a large sour cherry tree, full to the brim with red cherries that are just waiting for eager hands to pluck them down. My kids and I met up with Liz on Thursday, then picked […]

I don’t know about you, but I’m nearly up to my eyeballs in strawberries. And that’s saying a lot, considering strawberries didn’t fare so well here in Upstate New York (with a early heat wave and late frost) and that I’m only processing about half of what I usually process each year. From jam, popsicles, […]

I’ve pretty much wrapped up harvesting crops on Silly Goose Farm. Apples are done, tomatoes are done, and all that’s left to put-up is a couple of cabbages, a few rows of rainbow carrots, and a whole bunch of pears. The pear trees on our farm are over 100 years old and positively drip with fruit. […]

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 […]

Hi, I’m Becky. I am a lover of baking who has recently discovered the wonder of preserving. I love reading cookbooks, and if you came to my house you would see a pile of cooking magazines and books on every end table and flat surface. Seriously. A good day for me involves picking fruit or […]

A few weeks ago Christina and I went out to Winney’s Farm to pick blueberries. Liz came to meet us with her adorable kiddos. We only spent an hour there but I was able to get several quarts of blueberries. More recently we took an FSC outing to Fix Brothers Farms to pick peaches. I […]

A few weeks ago, I went on a From Scratch Club field trip peach picking with some of the other AMAZING contributors. And I tell you, did I ever pick peaches. I picked two bushels full, which equates to about 65 pounds of peaches. After blanching, skinning, pitting, slicing, canning, processing, freezing, and other various […]

Ah, two of the most wonderful words in the English lexicon: Dessert and Pizza. Put them together, and it’s pure heaven. While it isn’t a “true” pizza, this Dessert Pizza combines a sauce and lovely toppings on a doughy crust, just as traditional pizza would. Plus (in my opinion), it really isn’t a meal unless you end it […]