If you’ve ever considered composting your food scraps, I say “What are you waiting for?!?” The above photo represents not even a day’s worth of food scraps generated by my family of four. It almost covered the entire surface of an 11×17 inch cookie sheet. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that approximately 20…
I had never visited the Garfield Park Conservatory so when my friend and fellow writer/plant lover Beth Botts offered a guided tour in the middle of February, my guy and I were Johnny-on-the-spot. A two-acre public greenhouse is good medicine for winter weary souls. Often referred to as “landscape art under glass,” the conservatory is…
It’s hard to say when the gardening bug bit but I think it was more like a culmination of bites that swelled into one enormous green thumb. The result? A pleasant itch that must always be scratched and a plethora of memories that share a common theme. Plants. I was raised on Jefferson Street in…
Hard to believe, but I had big plans for these two little sticks the moment I laid eyes on them at Costco last March. What gardener isn’t hungry to play in the dirt after a long winter? They didn’t look like much but the moment I realized they were Chicago Hardy figs (Ficus carica) I…
For 20 years, I’ve applied my passions for health, gardening and family to stories for regional and national publications including the Chicago Tribune, Elite magazine, Chicagoland Gardening, Make It Better and the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Since 2011, I’ve been a garden field editor for Better Homes and Gardens magazine and their special interest publications…
