Thirty five years ago, I brewed several batches of beer, with mixed results. I recall sleeping upstairs, being awakened to exploding bottles downstairs after one of these batches was made. Fast forward thirty five years, and I'm back in touch with my inner bootlegger. When we harvested thornless blackberries a couple of months ago, I put three cups of them in a quart size Mason jar, and added sugar and vodka. I shook the jar daily. Today the berries got strained out, and strained again a couple of times more, and it was time to sample: I'm very pleased. Very nice blackberry flavor, but also very potently alcoholic, without it being intensely sweet. We may have the technology to all kinds of things, but berries ripen at a certain time.They ripen when they're ready. Last night Diane and I stopped in at the Lowercase Brewery in the South Park neighborhood of Seattle, a fabulous neighborhood community gathering spot. They don't have a kitchen so there are only a few foods...

Recently, livability.com came up with their hundred top small to midsize cities in the US, and six of those cities are in the Seattle area. This list is different than a lot of these kinds of lists because it includes things like housing affordability. Most of the "best" lists are looking primarily at test scores in the schools, education level of the population,median household income, etc., but not some things that just make a place interesting. http://livability.com/best-places/top-100/2015 Renton, Washington is on the list, to just about everybody's surprise. I live there. I was surprised,too, even though I like living here a lot. I'm a native of New Jersey. New Yorkers regard New Jersey as Seattle regards Renton. Uncultured. Working class. But like New Jersey( which had zero cities on this best list, and that's a shame because NJ has some wonderful places), Renton is vastly underappreciated, and a way nicer place than it's slowly changing image. Anyway, ...

Most people would say that trying to grow melons in Seattle is an act of futility. To grow melons successfully, the soil must be warm, and there needs to be a lot of hot, sunny days. Seattle is more known for cool, cloudy days. Still, I make the attempt every year, and not just stick the plants in the ground. I start them from seed in the City of Renton's public greenhouse, which is a commercial greenhouse with heat and ventilation. Then, when I put them in the ground, it's in plastic covered soil with drip irrigation, lots of compost, organic fertilizer, water, and energy devoted to their success. Still, it's Seattle. And even though the backyard gets all kinds of southern and western exposure, my batting average isn't that high. Last year was phenomenal. 17 melons. This year, it looks more like 4. Many years, I get nothing, or melons the size of marbles. Every year we get a bumper crop of tomatoes, Diane's making salsa, I made pizza sauce, we've given a bunc...

You've seen aronia berries but haven't given them any thought, right? They grow on big bushes,often wild, and they're very tart if you eat them right off the bush. But if you cook them? And add sugar? Yum. We planted a couple of small aronia bushes a few years ago, mostly for their decorative and screening value. Didn't really think about eating them, especially after tasting one off the vine. But this year? They're so prolific. The branches are just teeming with these berries that look something like a purplish blueberry. I looked up recipes. We made aronia berry pie. We made cookies: I will shortly be making some aronia berry liqueur. They are also the highest source of antioxidants of any berry, even significantly higher than the superfood blueberry. That aronia liqueur I'll be drinking? It's for my health. I've read that they were a part of the regular diet of Native Americans hundreds of years ago, and that they grow prolifically in Wale...