FROM SCRATCH CLUB

Editor’s Note: Its that time of year again- Maple Sap running! You can do it- go outside & tap your neighborhood maple trees (with permission from your neighbors of course!) Dianna is back with another (helpful) installment in her How To Maple Syrup Series. If you weren’t with us last year this time, Dianna cranked […]

Editor’s Note: Ohhh I am so excited to share Erika’s project, DIY Deodorant, on FSC! Gah! I can’t wait to try it, I’ve been meaning to for ages as I’ve had Erika’s Professor Funkenstein: Solving a Funky Problem bookmarked for-eva! It was first published on January 14, 2010. She has a few notes just above […]

Coined ‘from scratch holidays‘, we wanted to dedicate most of November & December’s content to various seasonal recipes for your holiday table, edible gifts and reflections on the holiday season as a whole. We have more to come, including radish toasts, DIY coffee creamer, beef jerky, dark chocolate covered candied orange peels, Kahlua marshmallows & […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 should admit that, straightaway, this task was a stretch even for me. In a moment of pure curiosity (lunacy?) and inability to turn down a good deal, or a free deal, I graciously accepted a cooler full of pig fat from a local farmer. Josh from West Wind Acres had a few pigs processed, […]

Garlic is an easy crop and should have a place in every home garden.  The individual cloves are planted in October, lie dormant in the ground all winter, and then are among the first plants to sprout in the spring.  You can buy garlic heads from your local farmers market this fall, break them up […]

FARMERS MARKETS SATURDAY Albany Central Avenue Farmers Market, Parking Lot of The Linda, 339 Central Avenue, Sat 10-2pm. Brunwick Farmers’ Market, Town Office Rd & Rt 7, Brunswich,  9-1pm Glens Falls Farmers Market, South Street Community Park, Glens Falls , 8am – Noon Saratoga Farmers Market: High Rock Park Pavilions, High Rock Avenue. 9-1pm Troy […]

It is May, which means that the community sharecropping season, in which we garden on other people’s former lawns, has begun.  They are the lawn lords, my husband is the fanatic sharecropper, I am his opinionated side kick. We had a cold, late, wet winter, so couldn’t really get into the gardens with equipment until […]

Back in the day when we lived in the country and had milk goats, I used to make different kinds of soft cheese on a regular basis.  The easiest of the cheeses was paneer, an Indian frying cheese used in curries.  I hadn’t made it in years but decided to try it with cow’s milk […]

The day has arrived…Kate Payne’s Hip Girl’s to Homemaking has hit the stores. It was released on Wednesday- hurray! Along with other fabulous blogs, Harper Collins Publishers have graciously provided us one advanced copy to giveaway to one of our readers. To up the “ohhhhh ahhhhhh” factor, our copy will be SIGNED as Kate will […]

Editor’s Note: We are pleased to announce that we’re growing. We’ll be introducing new guest contributors throughout the weeks to come. First up, Brass Snuggles, aka Erika, blogger at Our DIY Life. I’m very excited to bring her aboard; I met her through my new job and I think her point of view and day-to-day […]

Editor’s Note: I’m pleased to announce that Dianna has her name in lights {finally} and that I’m not credited with her wonderful posts any longer. Dianna has her final post on the 2011 maple syruping season. If you missed the “How To” or my photo diaries on: tapping and one their three “big boils”, take […]

We have moved beyond the “tapping sap” stage to the “big boil”. Dianna & Michael are in the midst of their 2011 maple syrup season and had their “big boil” on two separate days this year. I won’t go into the details because Dianna will be writing up a recap of this year’s antics in […]