If Janie Burns and Amy Hutchinson hadn’t organized the project called “2011: The Year of Idaho Food,” I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to spend the last 12 months sipping gin at 8:30 in the morning (well, once), foraging for stinging nettles in the forests of McCall, riding in a big-ass wheat combine on...
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In the pre-dawn December darkness, Mary Rohlfing nodded toward a familiar silhouette perched in a tree on the edge of her Boise farm. As if on cue, a great horned owl let loose a burst of hoots as Rohlfing pulled on gloves, preparing for her morning chores. “Now that it’s getting a little bit...
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Farmer Marty always says that winter is the best time for gardening. Everything is perfect in your head, the possibilities are endless, and there’s not a bug or a weed to be found. So, let’s get thinking about the gorgeous home garden you are going to have next year. The most important thing that...
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On Saturday, the last farmers’ market of the 2011 season was held in downtown Boise, wrapping up the largest farmers’ market season ever held in Idaho—measured by the sheer number of markets opened this year around the state. Here’s a glimpse at the final days of the Capital City Public Market.
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“I think we got a rainstorm coming in,” Peggy Paul said, pointing to the ominous band of clouds rolling our way on a blustery, mid-November day. She led me into the shelter of her nearby orchard as icy rain began to tick against the dry leaves and bristled burrs that clung to some 500...
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I never used to save seeds from my gardens. For years, I dutifully pulled the bolted plants, wiping the slate clean for the next season. I’d pour over seed catalogues, snuggled up against my heater with a steaming mug of tea, and make my selections. Plucking varieties trucked from here and there across the...
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I hesitate to invoke the famous Marcel Proust time-travel tale one more time, since uncountable references to that story have ricocheted across food literature like pepper-spraying cops across the Internet. But for those whose reading habits haven’t myopically focused on food and culture, I’ll briefly recap: In the novel Remembrance of Things Past by...
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