Friday, October 21, 2011

Roasted Salmon with Lemongrass and Kaffir Lime

Colors on my morning walk.

Every fall as the leaves turn and the landscape is ablaze with orange, red and yellow I bring in my two potted kaffir lime trees and dig up the clumps of lemongrass that I grow as an annual. Both are tropical herbs not meant to withstand the New England north winds. The lime trees will spend the winter in a sunny window giving us fresh leaves for winter soups and stews
Kaffir Lime

Monday, October 10, 2011

Harvesting Grapes in New Hampshire

Each October my Wayback friends (yes, we go way back) and I get together and volunteer for the grape harvest at Barnett Hill Vineyard in Walpole, NH. I'm just in awe of what it takes to run a vineyard...planting, trellising, pruning, tying, harvesting etc, not to mention the winemaking parts about crushing, tasting, bottling, aging and selling.

So about five years ago, when the call came seeking volunteers to help pick grapes, we didn't need much convincing and it has become our annual fall ritual.
Nylon netting over the grapes protect them from birds and wild turkeys.
Netting is removed just before we start picking.