Michael Thomas Ford

When your village mascot is a raccoon, and you want something different for holiday cookie making time, you ask your friends at @reannagteine.bsky.social if they can make you something special.

Turning from baking to cooking with local farm-to-table ingredients today, in this instance saltwater shrimp raised right here in Ohio by our friends at Wildcat Ridge Farms.

One of my favorite yard residents, a tiny arrowhead orbweaver.

I love springerle cookies, and have long wanted this unusual mold of St. Nicholas in a Touring Car from Ken Harrison of The Springerle Baker. I finally picked it up and did a test run over the weekend. Santa knows how to deliver presents in style.

Do you dare to greet the King in Yellow? Is the Yellow Sign appearing wherever you look? If so, check out the latest issue of @weirdfictionquarterly.com. Among its 60 stories and poems is my contribution, "Color of the Year."

Who can resist little sour blueberry turbots? Not I.

Sometimes you catch things at exactly the right time. I was refilling a bird feeder and noticed this newly-emerged beauty on a nearby branch.

Every time I look for the queen in a hive I think I won't possibly find her amongst 20,000 or more bees. And when she makes an appearance, it feels like a very special kind of magic. All of this activity because of one little lady.

Is it too early to start testing holiday cookie recipes? No. No, it is not. Especially when they taste like a mug of spiced hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Pan wishes all y'all a bright Lammas as we head into the second half of summer.

Merry summer solstice, y'all!

The 101 Pies project, pie #12. When blueberries fall in love with rhubarb, they make . . . Blubarb? Rhuberry?

The 101 Pies project, pie #11. Mini key lime pies. I'm not saying you SHOULD eat a dozen of these at one time. But you absolutely could.

The 101 Pies project, pie #10. Apple tarte tatin. Who's coming over to try it?

I'll accept most nuts in kind.

The 101 Pies project, pie #9. Strawberry basil galette. In another timeline I have a bakery in a magical wood and make these for forest dwellers who pay with acorns.

The 101 Pies project, pie #8. Mushroom tart.

I took a break from making pies long enough to write a story for the new issue of @weirdfictionquarterly.com. If you think encountering a ghost squid during a visit to a natural history museum would be trippy, you might enjoy my story "Field Trip." The beautiful cover art is by @mutartis.bsky.social

The 101 Pies project, pie #7. Spiced Chai Pumpkin Meringue. I may need to practice it a few more times before one of the big pie-eating holidays, but the first go-around is promising. If you lived here I would give you a piece and rub your belly.

Guess we won't be leaving the village today. (We're all fine. It always floods like this in heavy rain, and will recede shortly.)

The 101 Pies project, pie #6. Raspberry Buttermilk Slab Pie. On Wednesdays, we make pies.

New short story time! Well, in June, when the book comes out. But you can preorder it now on your favorite bookselling sites. Sales benefit the Modern Military Association of America. Thank you to @tundraswanpress.bsky.social and editors @sirrahmedeiros.bsky.social and @vinceliaguno.bsky.social.

Today was all about tiny pies. Blueberry Bourbon hand pie, anyone?

The 101 Pies project, pie #4: Cherry. we're SUPPOSED to let it cool for four hours. Rude.

If you lived here you could request a torta caprese bianca for your birthday and I would attempt to make it for you.

Pan toasts the spring equinox and wishes you all a season of new growth!

I'm only 1/4 Irish, thanks to my paternal grandmother of the Mahoney clan, but I'll always use St. Patrick's Day as an excuse to revisit this childhood favorite.

If you lived in our house, you could have some of this apple pie. Well, once it cools down.

Checking in on the bees to see what they were up to all winter. Apparently the answer is, getting in the mood to fight.

I make pies now. I am a pieman. This one is Lemon-Blueberry Streusel.