Do you dream of a lush edible garden right outside the door, brimming with your favorite fruits and vegetables? It’s so fulfilling to pluck from your own vines of fresh grapes; trees full of apples, plums, cherries, and peaches; and vessels of veggies and herbs. Of course, it’s not all roses. Each year, we run into gardening challenges. A freeze kills the fruit tree blooms, birds eat the grapes, squirrels find the snap peas, and insects (especially those pesky aphids) decimate the rest.
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Each spring and summer, we plan, plant, watch, weed, net, spray neem oil, and hope to harvest before the animals nab or destroy all the food. It’s a constant battle but well worth it if we can yield some yummy results. There’s nothing like the satisfaction and taste of food you grow yourself.
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To help you (and me) prepare an edible food garden this year, this issue presents several stories packed with inspiration. How about planting some unusual produce? Have you heard of serviceberries or clove currants? How about kohlrabi, dragon’s egg cucumber, or lemon balm? Learn about them and other edible flora that grow well in our cover story.
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In another feature, learn timing and techniques for local seed-sowing. Discover which plants grow well together, and get the lowdown on herbs that thrive in the Reno-Tahoe area.
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Last year, buried inside a local newsletter, I saw a few lines about eating snails from the backyard. I was intrigued, so we looked into it and discovered that you can, in fact, eat these garden intruders. Imagine enjoying your own homegrown escargot!
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I’ve always fantasized about installing a small greenhouse in the backyard to grow year-round. Our neighbor provided motivation when he let us tour his model this winter. Readers can learn more about the endeavor in our story, “Going Greenhouse.”
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Goat is one of the most popular meats in the world, but it’s not popular in the United States. Gloria Montero of Montero Goat Farm in Lovelock shares how she hopes to shatter the stereotypes.
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Spring is about rebirth and renewal; one symbol of that is the egg. Thus, we have a bit of an egg theme in this issue, with stories on Easter beer pairings, Passover dishes, deviled eggs, and a poem in The Last Bite.
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All of this this and much more is in this edition. We hope you enjoy it.
