• Blueberry Jam Pot
    Preserves

    Blueberry Jam with a Spruce Jelly Boost

    There’s a lot of nightlife here in Fairfax. Per capita, I’d guess that our little town has more bars and music venues than any other in the county. (Marin County doesn’t want…

  • Birds

    National Pigeon Day

    Okay, so it’s not an official national holiday. Banks and government offices are open. But if the New York Bird Club had succeeded in its efforts, this would be a day to…

  • Bowl of Spruce Tips
    Preserves, Travel

    Spruce Tip Jelly

    For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver. ~Martin Luther Our cabin in…

  • Food

    E is for Eggplant Caponata

    Shae is in Alaska for another week, so she asked me — Spike, the guest-blogging porcupine — to handle her monthly veggie challenge post. If you remember, she is working her way…

  • Travel

    Return of the Porcupine

    Hey! Hello. Remember me — Spike, the porcupine? Shae has gone off to Alaska again. She’ll be back the second week in June and she asked me to watch over her blog…

  • Garden

    May in the Garden

    May in the garden means things are getting bloomy. Back in February (seems like just yesterday), I seeded a couple of beds with native wildflowers to reduce soil depletion. So far it…

  • Garden

    Making Way

    One of the first things I did when I moved out of my parents’ home and into a place of my own was buy a few house plants. None of those plants…

  • Preserves

    Meyer Lemon-Strawberry Marmalade

    One of many nice things about spring around here is that Meyer lemons and strawberries share part of the season. We can still pick Meyers when the first local berries are arriving…

  • Birds, Words

    Letting Birds Be Birds

    I’m not in the habit of committing copyright violations, but I had to post this picture I snapped of my favorite postcard. The photograph was taken by Martine Franck in Nepal in…