Good Things by David

A spring house is not a season-specific home one occupies like a summer or winter home.  In fact, it isn't really a house at all.  Before modern electricity made refrigeration possible for the homeowner, farmers relied on shed-like structures built directly on top of natural springs or on one situated near the bank of a creek to store their perishables.  The  house was usually made of stone (at least here in the Delaware Valley that seems to be the case) and was no larger than a small room.  If the farmer was lucky, he would have built the spring house against a hill to take advantage of its insulating properties. Depending on the design & how elaborate the land owner wanted it to be, a small channel was usually built along the inside walls to direct the flow of water around the structure.  This allowed the spring house to maintain a cool internal temperature (somewhere in the mid 50 ° F range), making it possible to keep dairy products, me...

Is it just me or are the dogwood trees blooming early this year?  I was amazed a few weeks ago to notice our dogwoods, as well as those of my neighbors, with beautiful blooms on them.  Truly & honestly I love trees of all types and it is my belief that one can never have too many of them.  Recently, a dear cousin of mine in California told me that she's always liked dogwoods & would love to have one on her property.  Her yearly visits to Yosemite National Park leave her appreciating these trees even more, so I've urged her to plant one in the near future.  The Pacific dogwood trees found in California are Cornus nuttallii , not to be confused with our Eastern dogwoods,  Cornus florida .  Knowing how much pride she takes in her gardening & landscaping endeavors, I'm almost certain a dogwood will soon grace her home. I've written about the dogwoods around our home in a previous post, but I've never shown you...

Quiches get baked several times a year at my house, because they are tasty and very easy to create.  The only difficult part when assembling one (and I say this lightly) is the tart crust itself.  It's well worth the effort to make your  pâte brisée from scratch, which to my mind, makes or breaks any quiche; your tart or pie will only be as good as its crust.  Imagine a buttery crust that is flaky, tender & delicious holding together a smooth, creamy custard that just dissolves in your mouth.  If, however, you happen to have a gluten intolerance simply omit the crust & bake the quiche in a glass pie dish.  A crustless quiche is just as good.  The fillings vary depending on my mood or what I find at the market whenever I set out to make this savory tart.  Asparagus quiche is always delicious during the spring, as is the famous French Quiche aux Poireaux (leek quiche), but I also like tomato, goat cheese o...

Have you been to a library recently?  It happens to be National Library Week at the moment, but for me, it seems like an ongoing event.  I enjoy coming to the library several times a week to see what's new, to rediscover an old book I may have read but never bought, to get lost between the stacks looking at something interesting and to peruse the magazines and DVDs.  There is always something to check out to take home and pore over during the week or weekend.  I know that many of you have begun to edit your book collections because of the popularity of e-book readers & tablets, but personally I'm not so sure I'll ever be comfortable making that switch entirely.  In the meantime, I will continue to patron my local library.  Being only a mile or so away from the house, it's always a pleasure taking long strolls to the library if the weather is gorgeous.  Our town has no sidewalks (this is by choice), so I...

Matteuccia struthiopteris or ostrich ferns, are beginning to show their glory at our house right now and it always seems like they magically appear overnight.  For me it's a dramatic event every spring when the first fiddleheads pop out of the ground and continue to grow for about a 3-4 week period into enormous, broad ferns.  This type of fern, which is deciduous, does well in zones 3 through 7 and prefers areas that receive partial shade to full shade.  The ferns will spread if given ideal growing conditions, so they're perfect for covering large patches of ground.  Here in the woodland around the house, there are several swaths of ground that have ostrich ferns and I absolutely love them.  In the wild, these ferns can grow up to 6 feet in height, but if cultivated at home, they will more than likely grow between 2-4 feet.  This clump-forming fern grows vertically with a beautiful, somewhat trumpet shape to it.  ...