Agriculture

These Shelby County women didn’t have EZ Bake Ovens when they were kids, Most of them learned to cook using the “grown up” oven and by observing and helping their mothers. Evidently, they were good students.

For they are among the state’s best cookers and bakers and, along with dozens of other Shelby Countians, stars of the 2010 Kentucky State Fair.

Q: Is there anything I can "do" over a lateral (septic) field? A large section of my back yard is such, and I would like to be able to reclaim some of this lawn. If it matters, it has been in place and problem free for 12 years. I know I could do some container planting, but can I do anything more permanent? Could I put in gravel pathways? Raised beds, perhaps?

You know all the jokes about people having bumper crops of summer squash? Squash shows up in people’s cars or in public spaces because there is so much that the gardener can’t even give it away.

Well, some years are better then others, and this year I don’t seem to have an over abundance.

This year the squash vine borer and blossom end rot dominate. Last year it was squash bugs and mildew.

I have long understood that purslane could be used in salads or soups but have never made much of an effort to harvest and devise a kitchen plan until know.

I had this fabulous stand of the weed in my kitchen garden after I pulled the old greens that bolted from the summer heat. It made perfect sense to let it grow and flourish because no lettuce seed would be germinating in this heat, and I knew that this garden was free from any herbicides.