It didn't happen overnight. But one day not long ago I looked down at my cutting board and realized that everything on it -- each ingredient for the soup I was making -- was grown right here on the island; some in my own backyard, some a mile up the...

Problem: The oven is full. The turkey's in there, maybe a pan of stuffing, too. But wait, you've got a second oven! Only you still have to bake the pie -- and the lasagna you always offer along with the turkey. So, um, where will the vegetables go?

Here are...

I've been thinking a lot about simplicity lately. The simpler my life gets, the happier I am. I've had to bang my head around a good deal to get this message through my thick skull, and it hasn't been pretty. But now that I've...

As the author of vegetable cookbooks, I am certainly happy about at least one aspect of the government's new dietary guidelines: the recommendation that we fill half our plates with vegetables. And in general, I applaud the straightforward advice to "Eat Less" and move more. But something has...

Well, I don't know what to think. One minute my hopes are dashed, when I read that Americans are eating less vegetables than ever. (And I was particularly annoyed that I had to find this out from my very favorite New York Times reporter, Kim Severson. I hate...

I've had vegetable gardens in the past, but this is different. This year, I have a market garden, and I'm selling vegetables at a farm stand. It's supposed to be kind of a part-time gig, but that -- as you can imagine -- is a joke. I thought I just...

Last week, I watched a goat give birth. It was maybe the most amazing thing I've seen in my whole life. On Wednesday, I harvested potatoes and peas and arugula from my very own "market" garden -- and made $22 selling them at the farm...

Some days I let gratitude slip away. I forget to be thankful for all the amazing little things in my new life. But most days I pinch myself when I wake up, just to make sure I haven't passed on to another world.

Yeah, I know, I know, you've been good all week. Making dinner every night, bringing your lunch to work; no donut stops (well, almost none). So now it's Friday, the last weekday in The Week of Eating In, and you're probably thinking, well, I kind of deserve to...

Lately I have been stuck (I mean blessed) with massive amounts of turnips, carrots, potatoes and onions. It's that darned (I mean wonderful) winter CSA share I've got. I've also been on deadline, a little short on time...and surprised when dinner hour arrives sooner...

As a food writer and cookbook author, my mission in life is pretty much to encourage people to cook more at home. So I would be really remiss if I didn't post during Eating In week. In fact I'm a little embarrassed that I'm just getting around to...

Where I live, McDonald's is not an option. Nor is Applebee's or Dunkin' Donuts or Pizza Hut. In fact, not only does our one and only local diner close at 7 pm on weeknights this time of year, but unless you wanted to swim six miles, after 9 o'clock at...

I did feel kind of silly--the day after Christmas, instead of standing outside of Target or Bloomingdales like the rest of mankind to rush inside for The Big Sale, I was standing outside my local farm stand waiting to rush inside and buy local meat. The farm stand (I should...

Secretly, I could live on chocolate and coffee. But don't tell anyone, since I make my living writing about vegetables. And my darkest secret is this: My favorite thing in the whole world is (or was) chicken pan drippings. This is the stuff the French call fond, though growing up...

A few weeks ago, I pulled on my muddy boots and trekked around Chappaquiddick Island, following after a character named Russ Cohen with a couple dozen other food crazies. Russ is an expert on foraging for food in the wild, and I figured maybe I'd finally learn to identify the...

Try as I might, some days I feel more like an armchair locavore than the real deal. I've read all the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle-inspired memoirs, and yet still I haven't found my sweet spot for eating a mostly local diet. Really, it's shameful, considering all the trouble I went to...

Thanks to my stupidity and the New York Times website, I contracted a computer bug last weekend. Keeping in mind that it never pays to panic -- even if you are on deadline... and you make your living by meeting deadlines... and you are being assaulted by phantom Trojans every...

The hour I spend picking green beans, sunflowers, and cherry tomatoes at my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is the most blissful hour of the week. I usually arrive at the farm around noontime on Tuesdays. The sun is high and hot, and the little ache in the small of my...

By all accounts, the Obamas are planning a quiet vacation this week on Martha's Vineyard. The Vineyard Gazette reports this morning that the First Family's arrival on the Island on Sunday will be closed to the public, and that the family will spend a lot of private time on...

Eat. More. Fish. Easy for me to say, right? I live on Martha's Vineyard, an island, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. Fish we have. (McDonald's and Wal-Marts, thankfully we do not.) Here on the Rock -- the affectionate name we give our 90-square-mile of glacial moraine -- most year-rounders own...