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September 23, 2025
Apples and Marzipan Honey: The Promise of a Sweet and Prosperous Year Ahead By Merrie Witkin As late August rolls into September and the nights become refreshingly cool, the […]
Foragers & Herbalists: Hudson Valley Summer Cherries
June 28, 2024
By Merrie Witkin June 2024 In the Hudson Valley, cherry season is fleetingly short. Sweet cherries begin to appear at farmers markets and farm stands in mid- to late […]
Foragers & Herbalists: Winter on the Apple Farm—a conversation with Tim Dressel of Dressel Farms
February 28, 2023
By Merrie Witkin Tim Dressel is a busy man. It is now late winter at Dressel Farms, the family-owned and operated apple farm located on the southern end of New […]
Foragers & Herbalists: Holiday Cheer at year End: Cocktails with Highbush Cranberries
December 31, 2022
By Merrie Witkin As the year end approached, I was stymied as to what to write about once my garden died back, until Cara Gentry, WLVT’s Coordinator of Land Stewardship […]
Foragers & Herbalists: The Reluctant Assassin – Foraging for Big Game in the Hudson Valley
November 30, 2022
By Mark Eis As a kid in upstate New York, deer hunting was a sort of autumn background noise that I generally ignored, a ritual undertaken by the kids still […]
Foragers & Herbalists: Preserving Your Harvest Part 2
October 31, 2022
By Merrie Witkin Last month’s column discussed ways to preserve fresh herbs. This month we discuss storing and using dried herbs, including in herb mixtures. Over the past few weeks […]
Foragers & Herbalists: Preserving Your Harvest Part 1
September 29, 2022
By Merrie Witkin It has been a tough summer for Hudson Valley gardeners, with high temperatures and the longest drought (at least in Southern Ulster County) I can remember. With […]
Foragers & Herbalists: Fattoush – Middle Eastern herb and bread salad
August 31, 2022
By Merrie Witkin Every culture has its ways of using leftover bread, the sacred staff of life, and summer bread-embellished salads are a popular means of doing so. Panzanella, the Tuscan bread […]
Foragers and Herbalists: Stuffed Wild Grape Leaves
July 29, 2022
The perfect finger food: Stuffed wild grape leaves (dolmades) By Merrie Witkin When John Le Carre coined the phrase “ the constant gardener” as the title for his 2001 political […]
Foragers and Herbalists: When Mint Comes into its Own
June 24, 2022
When mint comes into its own Come June, mint is popping up full force in my garden. That is okay, because it comes in handy for cocktails on the patio […]