One of my most embarrassing middle school memories involves a pumpkin. My mother had rounded up our family for a fun fall jaunt over to a local farm stand to pick out pumpkins for carving or painting. When we arrived, pumpkins…
Bittersweet and rose hips grew wild alongside the driveway of my childhood home. Sometimes, in high school, I would clip some and use it to decorate my bedroom. Imagine that. Fall decor, there for the taking. Having lived in urban or…
Family has long been a touchstone for chef J. Scott Martino of Lancaster-based Cortazzo Foods. When he left his full time job as a chef at The Restaurant at Donecker’s and devoted himself to making pasta sauce, he used his grandmother Marianina Cortazzo’s…
Nothing says fall better than acorn squash. All right, that’s silly, because acorn squashes can’t talk. Also, if food COULD talk, then acorn squashes would get an argument from apples in the fall. (Don’t even get me started on pumpkins.)…
Since opening in the summer of 2015, Hidden River Brewing Company in Douglassville has been sourcing fruit from Weaver’s Orchard for its unique and never-quite-repeated selections of beer. And if you’re wondering about the story behind the business name—a nice…
Warm sunny days here in PA could lull us into thinking summer will stay forever, if not for the increasingly crisp mornings and the crunchy leaves coating my grass. Our fall clothing may still be in the storage bins, but…
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives,” says the writer Annie Dillard. And, since it’s back-to-school time, many parents are spending portions of their days making sandwiches. Whether peanut butter and jelly, egg salad,…
At Weaver’s Orchard, Johnny Appleseed Day comes just once a year. For the past six years, on the Saturday after Labor Day, John Henschel has become John Chapman (a.k.a Johnny Appleseed), to the delight of eager elementary-age kids who come…
When it came time to plant your garden, let me guess? You planted a zucchini plant or maybe two or three. “I love zucchini bread!” you thought. “I’ll grill up zucchini with some chicken and it will be awesome!” you…
HOW TO BUILD A CHEESE/CHARCUTERIE PLATE for 6-8 people You will need a slate board or platter. Start with hard cheeses and some soft. Usually a goat, cow, sheep, blue Theme if you can: Italian, Spanish, local, dessert cheeses. Make…