garden inn

Growing up, I always looked forward to my grandma’s squash pie during the holidays. My grandma makes really good pie, and her squash pie was always my favorite. I thought of it as “pumpkin” pie, even though it wasn’t made with pumpkins, it was made with squash. This year I decided to make some of my grandma’s squash pie with winter squash from the garden. I dug through my recipes until I found the recipe card, in her dear handwriting. I wanted to share the recipe with you here. Squash Pie Recipe from: Grandma Jensen Serves: 3 pies 4 cups squash (baked and put through food mill) 3 cups milk (she uses evaporated skim) 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 5 eggs 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. ginger 1/8 tsp. cloves Mix sugars and spices- then beat all ingredients until smooth. Pour into three 9″ or two deep dish 10″ prepared pie crusts. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees or 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees. *Done when knife inserted in center comes out clean. ….. I h...

This holiday season, I have been thinking about loved ones a lot. The ones who are still in my life, and the ones who have passed away. Remembering random, and funny memories from my childhood. Appreciating how each person’s unique spirit has shaped my life and left a lasting effect. Every ornament we put up holds a memory. I look at each one and remember, before hanging it on the tree. I love watching the twinkling tree at night. When the world is dark outside, and the winter cold is in the air, simply being inside in the warmth and looking at the tree feels so cozy. I know the holiday season can be bittersweet for many. It can hold so much joy and love, and time spent with people we cherish. It can also be a sad time for those who are missing loved ones. I want to acknowledge that part too. Tears of joy, and tears of sadness, can go hand in hand sometimes. When I think of the loved ones I miss, it makes me look around and appreciate all the people who are in my life rig...

Happy Solstice! We felt like celebrating as elven folk this year. Thank you to our friend for sharing this picture with us- “the mystical elf overlooking the wild sea” -and for creating such a fun and festive Solstice celebration each year.

Registration is open for a Grafting Workshop on February 1, 2025, and a Seed Swap at Durham Co-Op Market on January 11. Additional events also listed.

The Durham County Master Gardener blog writers share what brought them gardening joy in 2024--new plants, new methods, and new ways of seeing and connecting. Read about their discoveries and delights in their own gardening journeys.

Jeannie Arnts, a North Carolina Extension Master Gardener volunteer, tells us about how beloved non-native plants can become invasive in our landscapes. She identifies many common plants in this category and outlines their impact on ecosystems. Arnts emphasizes the importance of managing such plants to preserve local biodiversity and ecology.

There are some things we grow in the garden every year. The garden “staples”, the things we eat a lot of, the things that grow well here, and the things that we preserve for the winter. Then there are some experiments in the garden each year. Things that we grow because we’re curious. They are sometimes things that don’t necessarily grow the best where we are, but we want to try them anyway. Things like sweet potatoes, for instance, and watermelon (we haven’t given up on that yet.) Growing corn was not really an “experiment”, we’ve grown it in the garden plenty of times before. We don’t grow it every year, though, because we have limited space and limited sun, so we usually devote that growing space to other things. Honestly, corn doesn’t grow the best in our little garden spot, but we like to grow it from time to time anyway. These pictures were from corn that we grew in last year’s garden. Jeff and B saw so many beautiful, colorful varieties and wanted to give them a try. Th...

Do you love mushrooms? Would you like to grow some in your yard, and gather your own mushrooms right outside your door? I told you how much we enjoyed growing oyster mushrooms in the garden over the summer, and shared with you our process of growing them vertically in straw in a laundry basket. If you would like to learn more about that, be sure to check out that post . Oyster mushrooms are not the only mushrooms we’ve been growing around here, there is another mushroom we grow in our yard that is by far the easiest mushroom we’ve grown. That’s the one I came to tell you about here today, and it goes by the name of Wine Cap Mushroom . ( Stropharia rugosoannulata ) If you are new to growing mushrooms, and would like to start with something easy, wine cap mushrooms can be grown in the yard in woodchips. It’s a great mushroom to grow for beginners! Wine Cap Mushrooms are also known as Garden Giants or King Stropharia. The name wine cap comes from the color of their caps. They are...

Years ago we learned about dipping leaves in beeswax from a friend, where it was a fall tradition at their local Waldorf School. Since then, it has become a fall tradition in our home as well. We have a crockpot dedicated to beeswax, and every fall we melt the wax, and dip leaves in the melted beeswax. I love that we are able to preserve, and enjoy the gorgeous colors of fall for awhile longer. And I love infusing the house with the smell of beeswax! Many years we have dipped leaves with friends. I’ve brought our beeswax crockpot to homeschool gatherings, and nearby farms, and it’s been fun to share the magic of beeswax leaves with others. All the colorful leaves in the pictures above were from last year’s leaf dipping, when we had an autumn celebration with friends. There were so many different colors and kinds of leaves that people brought, it was really beautiful! This year it wasn’t meant to be to dip leaves with friends, but we carried on the tradition in our home. We ...

In December, gardening tasks slow as plants rest; community volunteering and holiday enjoyment provide fulfillment. Read Gary Crispell's much anticipated post. Best wishes for a joyful holiday season!