We all do it. We plant fruit trees and don’t manage to pick all the fruits as they ripen. We buy produce at the farmer’s market or the supermarket and let some of it go bad — not intentionally — but because we don’t get around to eating as fast as we expected. Or we were r

About Beans… Dried beans are the workhorses of our pantries.  They are high in protein, low in fat, low in cholesterol, and high in complex carbohydrates (the “good” carbs), too. With so many people making the shift to plant-based diets, beans are taking on a bigg

— Nan Sterman When I dine out, my first choice is always farm-to-fork and farm-to-table. When I cook at home, my first choice is my own farm-to-fork. My little “farm” is the vegetable garden where I’ve grown all kinds of edibles, from artichoke to zucchini, for

— Nan Sterman They’re sweet, they’re hot, they’re the coolest things around. I’m talking peppers. Big peppers, small peppers, red, orange, purple, yellow, and of course, green. With so many kinds of peppers on the market, you might be surprised to learn that culinary peppers are

— Nan Sterman On this Father’s day, I am honoring my grandfather, Ed Miller. Grandpa Eddie, as we called him, is the reason I am a gardener. In one of my earliest memories, I am standing in a “forest” of tomato plants. They tower over my head and I smell the musty fragrance of t

By Nan Sterman The story behind Homegrown Hops, Local Flavor for Local Brews starts a few years ago.  My daughter called me just before my husband’s birthday. “Mom,” she said, “Groupon has an offer for a beer brewing kit – we should get that as a gift for Dad.” Of course we shou

— Nan Sterman What if you could grow most of your family’s vegetables and protein in your own backyard and do it with just a fraction of the water and resources that your in-ground garden requires? According to the people you’ll meet in this week’s episode of A Growing Passion,

— Nan Sterman Seeds fascinate me. They look like little pieces of dead wood. But bury them in soil or potting soil, add water, set them where the temperature is just right, and they sprout. Care for them and they grow into plants, many of which we eat. Have you ever seen a tomat

— Nan Sterman Sex is complicated in the plant world. Flowers have male and female parts; some have both, some have one or the other. A male flower part is called a “stamen,” that’s where the pollen is. Pollen is the plant world equivalent of sperm. The female flower part is call

— Nan Sterman How often a gardener sends me a photo, asking me if the bug in the picture is a “good bug” or a “bad bug.” Most people assume  every bug is bad but the truth is, most of the insects in our gardens are “good,” or at least, they aren’t “bad.” In my garden, this is an