Category Archives: Kitchen & Gardening

Artist Spotlight — Lynn Karlin Wins Gold with Simply Raw

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September 2015
Press Release Excerpt from the Garden Writers Association:
Lynn Karlin Receives 2015 Gold Award for Best Talent or Product

Simply Raw 2015 wall calendar. Click image to see the 2016 edition.

Lynn Karlin based in Belfast, Maine, received the Garden Writers Association Gold Award for Best Talent or Product in the Photography category for Simply Raw, a vegetable portraits calendar.

This national award recognizes individuals and companies who achieve the highest levels of talent and professionalism in garden communications.

“The Garden Writers Association Media Awards showcase the writers, photographers, editors, publishers, and trade companies that have pursued excellence in gardening communication in print or electronic communications,” says Larry Hodgson, president of GWA. “The Media Award winners have been judged by industry experts and show significant distinction and merits that exemplify exceptional work.” Continue reading →

Autumn Equinox: Harvest Season

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RAW16-11-blog

Image from our Simply Raw 2016 wall calendar featuring vegetable portraits by Lynn Karlin and raw food recipes by Matthew Kenney. Click image to see more.

There are two great feasts that mirror each other across the calendar at the times of the equinoxes. Around spring equinox (with its corresponding holidays of Easter, Passover, and Naw-Ruz), we enjoy the first fruits of the season: fresh greens, eggs, cheese, lamb. At the time of the autumn equinox (with its adjacent festivals of Sukkot and Michaelmas), we enjoy the fruits of the harvest.

This year’s autumn equinox will occur on September 23. Depending on where we live, we might be harvesting the last tomatoes or the first pumpkins, sweet corn or succulent apples, ripe grapes or ripe grain. This is also a time to celebrate the transformation mysteries as fruit, grain, and grapes are transformed into cider, bread, wine, and beer. Continue reading →

Rosh Hashanah

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Hebrew Illuminations 2016 wall calendar

Image from the Hebrew Illuminations 2016 wall calendar featuring artwork by Adam Rhine. Click image to see more.

I love that there are so many New Years in the year and especially when the New Year lines up with what feels like a new beginning for me: the autumn season and the start of the school year. In the Jewish calendar, the New Year is called Rosh Hashanah and begins with the new moon of the seventh month, which usually falls in September. This year, Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown the evening of September 13. Continue reading →

Dirt Makes Us Happy

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Plant the Seeds & They Will Grow journal featuring artwork by Leslie Gignilliat-Day. Perfect for all your gardening notes.

Plant the Seeds & They Will Grow journal featuring artwork by Leslie Gignilliat-Day. Perfect for all your gardening notes!

From the A Year of Healthy Living 2015 wall calendar by Ann Lovejoy — Gardeners often seem to be happy people, and now we know why. Recent research indicates that getting our hands “dirty” gives our brains a boost of serotonin. Mycobacterium vaccae is a soil dweller that offers humans who dabble in dirt a lovely lift. Like so many health advances, the first recognition of mood elevating effects from M. vaccae came about accidentally, when a dose intended to boost immune response serendipitously created an antidepressant effect in advanced cancer patients. Continue reading →

Cool Season Greens

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Photo by Lynn Karlin from the Simply Raw 2015 wall calendar

From The Organic Kitchen Garden 2015 wall calendar by Ann Lovejoy — If you’re still growing old standby greens, expand your usual selection with a few newcomers. Red or green Salanova® lettuces are bred for cut-and-come-back use, so you can start trimming off a few leaves when the plants are 4–5 inches tall. Several flavorful new cool-season crops are hand bred (not genetically engineered) from classic European leafy greens. Purple Peacock broccoli, a cross between regular broccoli and kale, produces frilly foliage and tender florets that are attractively streaked with rose and purple. A similar cross between brussels sprouts and kale is called Petit Posy, which offers tender rosettes with tightly folded centers that are delicious when eaten raw, steamed, or roasted. Continue reading →

We Love Bees!

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Bee Happy 2015 wall calendar

Bee Happy 2015 wall calendar — currently sold out on our website. Please check with your favorite local or online retailer for availability.

Bees are all the buzz. In the past decade, backyard beekeeping has multiplied exponentially in urban areas. Budding apiarists around the world are tending beehives just about everywhere, from suburban patios and rooftop terraces to elementary school gardens. These urban naturalists are preserving a tradition that has been alive for more than 4,000 years. Continue reading →

Eating Your Way to a Healthy Life

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The Organic Kitchen Garden 2015 wall calendar

The Organic Kitchen Garden 2015 wall calendar

From A Year of Healthy Living 2015 wall calendar by Ann Lovejoy — Our culture encourages us to think of treats in terms of eating and spending money. This year, why not explore ways to enrich your life with wholesome treats that increase your health, strength, stamina, and wellbeing? For many of us, this positive path might begin by creating a healthy relationship with food. Continue reading →

Harvest Festival Season

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We’re thrilled to introduce our new contributor Waverly Fitzgerald. We look forward to sharing her wealth of knowledge about holiday and calendar lore with you here on our blog. ~ Amber Lotus Publishing

Beautiful harvest beets photo by Lynn Karlin from The Organic Kitchen Garden 2015 wall calendar.

Beautiful harvest beets photo by Lynn Karlin from The Organic Kitchen Garden 2015 wall calendar.

Most Americans know the semi-mythological story of the first Thanksgiving, how the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony after a successful harvest in 1621 shared a meal with members of the Patuxet people, who had helped them plant their crops. But what many do not realize is that they were both acting out long-standing cultural traditions. The harvest festival, although it is celebrated at different times of the year and with different foodstuffs, is part of every culture around the world. Continue reading →