If you have never eaten a pawpaw, try this tasty, fall fruit. While the pawpaw, Asimina triloba, is the largest tree fruit native to the United States. It is...
A Chinese proverb says, "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now." This is so true, and fall is a particularly good time to plant a tree!
Although there are some exceptions, (aren't there always?) September to mid- October is considered to be the perfect time to...
One-pot meals have been my favorite cooking method lately. Put it all in – protein, whole grains or starchy veggies, and non-starchy veggies – and dinner is served!
I try to make one-pot recipes that are full meals in themselves. Occasionally, I decide to make one-pot dishes and add some crackers...
Discover and celebrate the power of pollinators and the monarch butterfly as they migrate across Central Illinois next month at the third-annual Monarch Madness co-sponsored by the Macon County Master Gardeners and Rock Springs Nature Center! Be a part of this family friendly and hands-on...
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been getting many phone calls from people describing giant wasps in their yards. These have turned out to be the Eastern Cicada Killer (Sphecius speciosus), which is a mild mannered wasp. The stinger on the female wasp is used to paralyze cicadas and the male...
Parents, teachers, and students: welcome back to school! Along with education, social engagement, and student personal growth, food is a major part of school culture. Consider the different times foods can pop up during the school day: Breakfast – at home, on-the-go to school, or a school-...
Aggressive and invasive are terms commonly used by gardeners to describe those garden perennials that tend to overtake their intended areas. It all starts with good intentions. Usually, a garden friend who wants to share a division of a plant they have an abundance of or a gorgeous plant at the...
Soil health is getting a lot of attention and it well deserved. Do you know why? First, the most well-known and essential benefit of healthy soil is food production. Healthy soil is full of organisms that turn dead matter and minerals into vital plant nutrients. President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
Don't we all wish we could capture the beauty of summer, with its lush growth of greens, yellows, purples and pinks? Recently, University of Illinois Piatt County Master Gardner Kristi Pyatt shared a different way to preserve those colors and shapes of growing plants; Eco-Dying!
A small group of...
Salsa in the summer? Yes please! I like salsa as part of my lunch during summer as a way of getting vegetables in my diet in a different way from my usual bell pepper slices. My trouble with jarred salsa I buy is that the sodium amount is higher than I would like. I also prefer my salsa less...
