Notes From the Garden
From Our Garden To Yours….
Harvest of the Month: November 2025
Winter squash are a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, also known as the gourd family, along with cucumbers, summer squash (pattypan, zucchini), and watermelon. Originally, winter squash were cultivated for the consumption of their seeds only, as they had minimal, bitter-tasting flesh; over time, fleshier, fruitier varieties were developed. Click here for more information and…
Harvest of the Month: October
Apples need a cold winter to grow well. So, you can grow apples in Vermont, but not in tropical places. Apples are part of the rose family (Rosaceae), along with almonds, cherries, peaches, pears, plums, raspberries, and strawberries. Don’t miss our list of apple-related cookbooks and other info: https://charlotte.kohavt.org/MyAccount/MyList/5067
September Harvest of the Month: Peppers
Peppers are native to Central and South America. They are among the first plants to be cultivated there. Pepper seeds dating back to 5000 B.C. have been discovered in Mexico. Because the pepper plant is very adaptable, many different areas of the world are able to cultivate them. A couple of pepper books to look…
August Harvest of the Month: Berries
Berries have long been cherished as both food and medicine by the Abenaki people. Native to the woodlands, riverbanks, and meadows of the Northeast, berries like strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries have been gathered for generations throughout the growing season. Among them, the first ripe strawberry, known as kō’kwô’m, holds special significance—marking the arrival of summer…
Harvest of the Month: July
It’s Cucumber Month! Cucumbers are easy and delicious! Eat them raw as a snack or throw them on top of a salad, but you can also pickle, sautee, bake, or boil cucumbers. There are many varieties and most taste and look different- try them all!
June Harvest of the Month: Dairy
Dairy LAND For the past 200 years, dairy has shaped Vermont’s agricultural landscape. While the number of dairy farms has been steadily declining since the 1950s, dairy is still Vermont’s largest agricultural product by volume, and dairy farms still utilize about 80% of the farmland in the state. LABOR As of 2016, there are an…
May Harvest of the Month: Eggs
Humans and other predatory animals have been eating eggs for millions of years. Then, about 5,000 years ago, people in Asia domesticated the first wildfowl. It was so successful that the idea spread worldwide. Later, the Egyptians developed a method to incubate eggs in heated caves, freeing up hens to lay more. In the 1940s,…
April: Harvest of the Month
Whole Grains: A grain is the edible seed inside a cereal crop. These grains are comprised of four parts: the husk, the bran, the endosperm and the germ. The husk is inedible and has to be removed before it can be consumed. The bran is a thick inner covering that is made up of several…
March Harvest of the Month: Maple Syrup
Maple syrup comes from sugar maple trees, known as senômozi to the Abenaki. Sugar maple is native across New England, parts of the upper Midwest, and Quebec– a unique bioregion known as Maple Nation. Many thousands of years ago, the Indigenous people of this region devised a way of tapping into that flow of sap,…
February Harvest of the Month: Carrots
Carrots are derived from a Middle Eastern crop called Queen Anne’s Lace. This wild ancestor is also a taproot crop but has a white root. For thousands of years, the carrot was not a popular vegetable because it had a woody texture and was difficult to eat. A subspecies of this plant has been selectively…
Harvest of the Month: January 2025
Beets: They can’t be beat! Beets are native to the shores of North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East; they were first cultivated by the ancient Romans. In the 19th century, when it was found that beets could be converted into sugar, the crop’s commercial value significantly grew. Beets are a member of the Amaranthaceae…
December 2024: Harvest of the Month
Native to Central America, the sweet potato is not related to potatoes but instead is in the same family as morning glory. Sweet potatoes are very popular in the southern United States, and have been grown in that region since the 16th century. Although often mistaken for the yam, sweet potatoes are more flavorful and less…
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