A Home Grown Pantry
Our adventures in vegetable gardening vary from year to year. I’m primarily a flower gardener, Scott has done some wonderful vegetable gardens. But a commercial vineyard and a communications consulting business can keep us pretty busy in the summer. For a regular supply of garden goodness, we sign up for a CSA share each year. As a farmer’s daughter I love the CSA idea because it’s a way to keep farmers on the farm!
We’re fortunate to have a bundle of weekly goodness from our CSA from late April (it started last week and I’m savoring the memory of the taste of today’s spinach salad as I write this) through early December, but there are still some things we grow, like herbs. And because we do battle with a herd of deer and a family of rabbits as well as wire worms in the soil in our garden area, we focus on container growing for anything edible.
But, because these are at best trying times, I thought it was time for me to get out some of the vegetable gardening books I’ve accumulated over the years and refresh my knowledge of both the books and the advice they give.
One of my favorites is Barbara Pleasant’s Home Grown Pantry. One of the reasons I really like this book is how she’s arranged her topics into sections entitled:
Why Grow Your Own Food? In this section Pleasant talks about the drive to provide food, common traits of pantry gardeners, how to use her book, climate information, choosing what to grow, row covers, food preservation management and cooking from the pantry you’ve stored.
Basic Food Preservation Methods. It’s no good to store food if 1) you don’t eat it or 2) you don’t eat it quickly enough. She also talks about basics of food preservation: creating your own cold storage, dry storage, freezing, drying, canning and fermenting (including home wine making.) Pleasant tells you how.
Vegetables for the Homegrown Pantry. This is a great section, especially for those who want to explore all options in growing and preserving from the best types of a vegetable to plant, to what you need to do to grow it well, to harvesting, storing and preserving.
Fruits for the Homegrown Pantry. This section focuses on fruits but gives the same type of information as you find in the vegetables section. As the daughter of a fruit grower I love the sections on apples, grapes and cherries (we grow wine grapes but I may put in a couple juice grapes. As a flavored vinegar lover I appreciate her recipes for fruit infused vinegars to dress a variety of salads.
Herbs for the Homegrown Pantry. Probably my favorite section since I love growing herbs even though I’m not a focused vegetable grower. Herbs are just fun! Fresh herbs add so much to every meal and it’s great to freeze them or dry them for winter use as well. Oh, and to keep at least one small plant of each type in the bay window of our kitchen.
For someone like me who hasn’t done a vegetable garden other than a few herb and tomato pots in years, paging through this book was not just a good refresher, it was inspiration. Flipping to the end of the book I realize that Ms. Pleasant has also done a gardening guide on composting and one on starter vegetable gardens — helpful information for anyone planning their initial garden and wanting to make the most of their vegetable and garden waste. If you’re interested in a home grown pantry for 2020 and beyond, this is a great place to start.
If you’re interested in a Barbara Pleasant’s Home Grown Pantry you can purchase it on Amazon by clicking on the Buy on Amazon button at the bottom of the product picture.
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Creative and targeted programs that make an impact are the hallmark of experienced marketing professional Ruth Steele Walker. Focusing on results that improve the bottom line, she accelerates projects from conception to implementation with a mastery of writing, production, placement, budgeting and coordination.
During more than 25 years with Foremost Corporation of America, the nation's leading insurer of manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, Walker consistently produced effective communications programs that resulted in increased net written premium. Her expertise in crisis communications was a vital part of Foremost's exemplary customer service in the wake of hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Walker specializes in communications targeting the 50+ demographic, with an emphasis in communications for the 65+ segment.
Among other achievements, Walker developed communications for the merger of Foremost and Farmers Insurance, addressing audiences including customers, employees, trade and consumer media. For Foremost's 50th anniversary, she created a celebration program of internal and external promotions, special events, recognition and a 162-page commemorative book.
Earlier in her career, Walker was a newspaper reporter, a TV and radio producer, and worked in national sales and traffic at network TV affiliates. Walker earned a BA in journalism from Michigan State University and an MS in communications from Grand Valley State University.
She and her husband Scott operate a small vineyard in Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula, producing premium vinifera wine grapes. The vineyard has been the largest local supplier for Suttons Bay wine label L. Mawby, recently named one of the world's top producers of sparkling wines.
