NEW YORK Graham Kerr is having a group of guests over to his home, so he’s decided to whip up a batch of his Farmhouse Vegetable Soup. It calls for a blended medley of carrots, onions, garlic, parsnips, sweet potato and onion. The recipe is from his groundbreaking “The Graham Kerr Cookbook” and it’s tried-and-true […]

If an apple falls close to a tree, will either of them ever notice? That’s what I’ve been wondering this past week. My husband is one of the smartest people I know, but he is notoriously forgetful. He used to blame this on his military training and something people in uniform like to call “compartmentalization.” […]

How does a school garden grow? It starts when educators who believe in the profound importance of teaching children to garden plant the idea with their students. Together, they water it with garden curriculum, encompassing hands-on digging in the dirt as well as healthy eating and environmental stewardship. The harvest is not only fresh produce […]

Many young international designers are drawing on heritage, folklore and their imaginations to create contemporary textile, ceramic and wall-covering patterns. Some are finding larger audiences through decor retailers and online sites. Others are taking their imaginations outdoors, onto the sides of buildings. At Spoonflower, designer Andrea Lauren creates linocut patterns of woodland animals, flora, even […]

No need to choose between planting either an ornamental or a fruiting bush in your yard. Plant both with a single plant. Many berry bushes are pretty enough to be grown as landscape plants. Let’s foray out into the yard to see which bushes are best at offering these dual pleasures. Beautiful blues Blueberries are […]

Writing is often a lonely profession. As writers, we sit alone at a desk, stare at a computer and type words. It’s a little like talking to yourself. Except, when those words get printed, you usually hear back from other people — the readers — in a quasi-, time-delayed conversation. In this way, the social […]

Grilled fish is the official dish of summer around our house. There is nothing I love to eat more in warm weather than a piece of fresh seasonal fish cooked on the grill — the slightly sweet flesh offset by a tiny bit of char. You can use some fish from your freezer stash in […]

We’re not a huge radish-eating country here in the United States, and I think that’s a mistake. Radishes carry in their little bodies a tremendous variety of vitamins and minerals, so they’re a smart addition to our five-a-day veggie eating, but the spicy flavor can keep many home cooks away. In France, I learned to […]

Coronado in Panama once had pristine beaches and not much else. Today the resort town is a haven for U.S. and Canadian retirees, with strip malls, fast-food joints and a lot of people speaking English. “For all the world, it’s like you’re in a U.S. beach town,” says Kathleen Peddicord, publisher of Live and Invest […]

The first time I came to Maine, it was to look for a house 10 years ago this June. The Navy had just given my husband orders to the Navy Operational Support Center in Bangor, and we were moving from Pensacola, Florida, where the weather is always sunny and blazing hot (until the afternoon thunderstorm […]