What comes to mind when you think about “Oysters”? Delicate pearls? A luscious dozen nestled in their own tangy juice on a bed of ice with, perhaps, a dab of horse radish, a splash of Tabasco? Champagne? Of course! And while it is true that genus Ostrea has long...
The Romans called it locusta. The Anglo-Saxons knew it as lopystre. Botanists pitched in with Homarus Americanius. The fisher folk of Maine will brook no argument: It’s LOB-stuh, and that’s that. What boasts five pairs of compound eyes on sturdy little stalks? What...
Although our goats are of French Alpine stock, they were born in the Berkshires in a small village. Their accents are more New England than Paris and they are completely at home frolicking in the well-tended fields of their farm. They are short haired goats, medium to...
It was a very cold winter on the Oregon ranch where our sheep live. There was enough snow to have kept the sheep pent up in the barn–a cozy place that can be boring after a long spell. During the cold weather months “baa” sounds like their way of saying “brrr” or,...
The Pistachio tree is subtropical and hardy. It thrives in high desert climates where the summers are long, hot, and dry, and the winters only moderately cold. This summer in California is especially hot and dry. The pistachio most likely originated in Central Asia,...
Most of the wild rice that is available in grocery stores is similar to brown rice grown in rice paddies. It cooks uniformly, and is consistently the same year after year because it is cultivated rice. This type of rice is actually a hybrid developed by the University...
