If anyone should write a book about being a waterman on the Chesapeake Bay, it should be Capt. Larry Simns, who has worked the water for seven decades and has served as president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association for 40 years. His efforts on behalf of commercial watermen, Chesapeake Bay and the seafood industry are all but ­legendary.     “There is no question in my mind that he is the wisest and most effective leader within the U.S. fishing industry,...

Did you remember to plant horseradish? If so, you’re in for a treat.     Horseradish is a hardy herbaceous perennial plant that produces fleshy roots. Now that the tops of horseradish plants have died back to the ground, it is time to dig up the roots and make next year’s supply of ground horseradish.     Some of the roots are carrot-like but most are smooth and slender, averaging one-half to three-quarters-inch in diameter and growing horizontally in...

It’s counter-intuitive during these long, cold nights of winter, but early January brings the earth its closest to the sun in its annual orbit. Wednesday the second marked the actual point of perihelion, when we were two percent closer to the sun than usual. Earth’s orbit is not quite circular but rather egg-shaped, which creates a difference of a little more than 3 million miles from perihelion to aphelion — our farthest point from the sun — in July. That difference,...

Welcome back to the future!         Don’t you love going though the tunnel and coming out on the other side?     I find the exhilaration habit-forming. Fortunately, it’s annual.     I go into the tunnel of year’s end gleefully, but I leave it dragging my feet against the re-emergence.     By Thanksgiving, I’ve got the knack of the fast-aging year that still seems new to me. My three-month-at-a...