About The Creekside Cook

Hello – I’m Donalyn Ketchum, and welcome to The Creekside Cook blog!

I started cooking when I was about 10 years old, and I’ve been doing it ever since.  I’m the oldest of 5 siblings and my Mom needed the help, so she started teaching me early. Now in her 90s, my Mom is still a great cook, but these days she would rather enjoy our cooking

My entire family has a tradition of good cooking. This tradition runs from my maternal grandmother’s Southern cooking to my paternal grandparents’ diner in California.  I’m still inspired by the flavors from my childhood and continue to build on them.

In my earlier life, I worked in many area restaurants, in both the front and back of the house.  That is a huge learning experience when it comes to food.  I learned food prep and flavor blending from culinary-trained chefs and I still put that training to work today.

The restaurants I worked in were small, so everyone had to pitch in and help when it got busy.  It was a good way to learn, and for a while, I wanted to open a restaurant of my own.  That is a very chancy business, however so now my love of food and cooking goes into The Creekside Cook.

Over the years of owning this blog, I have partnered with a number of national brands, including Sargento Cheese, McCormick Spices, Oh Nuts!, The Great American Spice Company, The Mushroom Council, QVC and AeroGarden.  My work for brands included recipe development, book reviews, corporate blogging and product reviews.

My husband and I live in rural upstate NY, empty nesters, truly enjoying what we consider to be the “good life”.

On our two acres, we are growing as much of our own food as we can, and this blog is often devoted to the recipes that I come up with, using the fresh ingredients my husband brings in from the garden.  We’re also devoted to supporting local agriculture, and for a number of years, we had a booth at a local Farmer’s Market, where we sold food that we grew, as well as my own culinary creations. We buy locally as much as is practical, but there are also a few  “imports” like shrimp and wine.

My husband and I, as mentioned above are both enthusiastic gardeners.  I sometimes write about my favorite plants, along with the ways we have found to be more successful, both in decorative/landscape gardening and food gardening.

My 15 years of working at a plant nursery is where my passion for growing things began and was nurtured by experts in the field.  I learned a lot from my employers there. They were the 3rd generation to own their plant nursery, and going to work was a joy every day.  They were dear friends as well, and both have now passed on.  I miss them a lot.

Family

In addition, we have two lovely grown daughters [they are very creative too – check out wifestylehustle.com], two fantastic sons-in-law, and six amazing grandkids. Every one of them is fabulous beyond description, and we all spend as much time together as we can manage with the busy lives we all lead. I’m proud to say that both of the girls are excellent cooks in their own right, and they both garden as well. The grandkids are beginning to show an interest in growing what they eat as well, so it’s very gratifying to pass along traditions of self-reliance.

Other stuff

I have a photography blog at donalynketchum.com, though I don’t post there nearly as much as I would like.  It is more or less under construction these days, but there are some nice shots there.

In the past, I have worked from home in many different jobs. These include customer service and tech support. I also work as a freelance writer and editor. You’ll find me available for freelance writing, corporate blogging, and recipe development – just shoot me an email at [email protected].

I hope you enjoy your visit here, and come back often – there is always something new to see!