“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...
Read More »
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...
Read More »
As we roared downstream through the River of No Return Wilderness via jet boat, skipping off rapids and dodging just-submerged boulders, I decided my imaginary movie version of this adventure should be titled Indiana Appleseed in the Canyon of Lost Treasure. Naturally it would be packed with whitewater action, pioneer spirit, hungry black bears...
Read More »
Jan Huskey, a big man with a kind smile and soft voice, greeted me in his Meridian yard, garden hose in hand. Behind him stood an unruly forest of fruit trees. “I’m just a common home gardener that happened to run into a friend that knew about pawpaws,” Huskey said by way of introduction....
Read More »
If you’ve ever driven down Orchard Avenue in Caldwell, you’ve seen the two Treasure Valleys side by side. The tired, old patchwork—square swaths of farmland in tidy, monocultured rows—hemming in the pseudo-slick subdivisions cordoned off with vinyl fences. Orchard Avenue is a visual testament to the struggles of family farmers who one by one...
Read More »
To any child growing up in the small town of Shelley, Idaho, there was always the knowledge that there would be plenty of candy coming their way during the three “major holidays”, known as Christmas, Halloween and, of course, Spud Day. Some of the greatest memories of my childhood and teenage years involve the...
Read More »
Stepping into the Family Foods supermarket in Plummer, 34 miles south of Coeur d’Alene, is not unlike stepping into a supermarket anywhere in rural America. A case full of day-glow donuts and thickly frosted cakes grab the eye the instant a shopper walks through its door. The deli counter is stacked in crisp brown...
Read More »
