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George McGovern, prairie politician

Senator George McGovern, one of the first politicians I covered as a reporter, has died. We last saw him just weeks ago at his 90th birthday party, a celebration at the Newseum that was an ode to a...

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Herbs, a love affair

Watching the tall trees in our backyard sway in the 60 mph winds of Hurricane Sandy (love the name, not the destruction) was a lesson in the laws of nature. As gardeners and horticulturists, we are at...

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The sweetest thing

Two “firsts” for December. 1) My beautiful pink clematis is still blooming on the lamp post in the front yard. 2) We pulled the last carrots from the garden. The carrots, planted in late August,...

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Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, to the fiscal cliff

There isn’t much holiday cheer in Washington these days. Just endless talk about the fiscal cliff. The knuckleheads who run your government, from one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other, are doing...

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Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, to the fiscal cliff

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, to the fiscal cliff.

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6 things you need to know about guns in the USA

Keep it simple stupid: Here are six things you need to know about guns in the USA, with sources: There are 310 million guns in private hands in the US, almost one for every American. (Congressional...

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Gurney’s, Jung, Territorial, Etc.

The seed catalogs began to arrive with the winter solstice. Never mind the wind and cold, I’ll curl up with the seed catalogs and daydream about the 2013 garden. Pick just one out of the pile. The...

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A lesson in labeling

Keeping two young carnivores happy can be a challenge. So I stocked up on protein before my sons came home for the holidays. Tonight I pulled out four gorgeous New York strip steaks from WholeFoods, a...

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Borscht!

Carole and I had the best intentions. We were going to work up a sweat power-walking around the National Arboretum, admiring the early spring daffodils and hyacinths. We were thwarted outside the...

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A generational shift

“Sold!” The auctioneer’s voice boomed. Land that had been in my family for 70 years changed hands last week, from three generations of Johnsons to the new owner, a Peterson who grew up down the road....

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You can take the boy off the farm…

We never had much luck growing seedlings. Wrong equipment, wrong soil, wrong timing, whatever. For Christmas I bought CRR a 4-foot-long grow light contraption. Our furnace room hasn’t looked the same...

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The Long Wait Begins

Oh my aching back. That’s a sure sign that Garden 2013 is underway. The Black Seeded Simpson and Mesclun lettuce went in first, along with Teton spinach. The first lettuce should be on our dinner...

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A Gardening Competition

Do you remember the fairy tale “Jack and the Beanstalk”? It was running in the back of my brain as we planted our Super Vegetables. I don’t think our grafted tomatoes and peppers will grow sky-high,...

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A New Chapter

Guest post from CRR, aka Charles Raasch, on a change in scenery: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven” – Ecclesiastes 3:1  So, this is that time. I’ve decided to...

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Horseradish: Love It or Hate It, or Both

It started out innocently. On the weekend of our son’s graduation from Penn State two years ago, we moseyed around a native plant sale on the outskirts of the university. I picked up a 4-inch pot of...

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The Best Darned Pie in the World

I was headed for Capitol Hill, in a rush, as is everyone who has business with Congress. As I walked up the escalator (like I said, everyone is in a faux-hurry in Washington), I almost tumbled into the...

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WWJD (What Would Jefferson Do?)

When Thomas Jefferson first visited England, a British nobleman sniffed that TJ looked like “a tall large-boned farmer.” Which is exactly what he was. As a young man, Jefferson carved Monticello out of...

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Memorial Day: We Must Never Forget

Sixteen million Americans served in World War II. My father was one of them, plucked fresh out of high school into the Navy. The Navy liked boys from the wide-open prairie because they weren’t bothered...

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Salad Days

My two sons circled the garden, sampling a leaf of lettuce here, a bit of spinach there. They plucked every pea from the vines, eating them on the spot. Savoring produce picked straight from the earth...

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Mystery Plant Revealed (what is this thing?)

UPDATE: Here is the mystery plant. If you can guess what it is, we’ll share whatever…”it”…produces this summer! mystery veg Previous: I hadn’t visited the garden in about 10 days. CRR was there every...

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