I have a confession to make: I added soil amendments last week without first getting my soil tested. I teach gardening, and the first thing I say about soil is to get it tested before you do anything. But winter is coming, and I have a good idea what a soil test would tell me. […]

When there are so many things that need to get in the oven for your holiday dinner, why not do most of the main dish on the stovetop? That’s what we do with this ham — which, of course, frees up the oven for equally important things, such as pies. It also produces a more […]

SAVANNAH, Ga. J ason Shaw says his first fall harvest yielded fruit for no more than 500 bottles, just enough to sell at select tastings and to share with restaurant chefs in hopes of priming their palates for more. Friends suggested Shaw sell his limited batch for $100 a bottle, like a fine wine. After […]

WASHINGTON A surge in apartment construction gave home builders more work in November. And permits, a gauge of future construction rose, spurred by a jump in apartment permits. The rise in permits provides hope for the housing market, though 2011 is still shaping up as one of the worst years in history for homebuilders. The […]

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — The supermarket chain Winn- Dixie is being sold in a deal valued at $560 million to Bi-Lo LLC, the companies said Monday, creating a huge grocery operator in the South. Shares of Winn-Dixie, which has more than twice the number of stores of its buyer, jumped more than 70 percent Monday. […]

Kim Jong Il body displayed in palace PYONGYANG, North Korea ( AP) — The body of North Korea’s longtime ruler Kim Jong Il was laid out in a memorial palace today as weeping mourners filled public plazas and state media fed a budding personality cult around his third son, hailing him as “born of heaven.” […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Deloris Gillespie was a fun- loving, fast-talking mother of four who helped anyone she could in her Brooklyn neighborhood and at the post office where she worked for years. Suddenly, in a few fiery moments in an elevator — her life was snuffed out. On Monday, with a suspect behind bars […]

WICHITA, Kan. ( AP) — Fierce winds and snow that caused fatal accidents and shuttered highways in five states crawled deeper into the Great Plains early today, with forecasters warning that preholiday travel would be difficult if not impossible across the region. Hotels were filling up quickly along major roadways from eastern New Mexico to […]

White Christmas odds grow in northern N.E. GRAY (AP) — The National Weather Service says the latest outlook opens the door to a sliver of hope for a white Christmas in northern New England. Meteorologist Stacie Hanes says the forecast calls for a low-pressure system to develop off the coast, bringing the possibility of rain […]

NEWARK, N. J. ( AP) — Paroled American Lori Berenson, who stirred international controversy after being convicted of aiding Peruvian guerrillas, was due to arrive in the United States today for her first visit back home since Peruvian authorities arrested her in 1995. The 42-year-old boarded a Continental Airlines flight at Lima’s main airport under […]