May 2011 Blog Posts (39)

Roasted beet salad, fresh local spinach and scallions sound like menu details from an upscale restaurant. They're what's new this spring at the cafeteria of Takoma Regional Hospital in Greeneville, Tennessee. Chef Mary Goldman is excited to include some fresh, local produce for the first time this year. A chef getting a say over wholesale food orders for her…

I've had a few people ask me how to cold stratify seeds, such as purple coneflower (echinacea). This blog post by Mr. Brown Thumb offers a great explanation, complete with pictures, too! EASY!

http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com/2011/05/seed-scarification-seed-stratification.html

Happy Gardening~

Kristie

I'm so excited to have found a source for GLUTEN FREE HULLESS OATS. I sprout and dehydrate and make my own raw, living oat flour. This is one of the many wonderful ingredients in some of my treats.  Yummmy!

The Cafe is Open....

 …

Seeds do carry on their basic life processes even while in the dormant stage, just at a very slow rate.  The…

In our specialized fleet, we run in to a vast spectrum of emotions from the people we meet while hauling these Windmill Blades. We see everything from "The Bird" to the Thumb's Up. The opinions of these incredible machines varies from person to person. The biggest complaint we hear is that the Towers block up the natural beauty.  The…

What a fantastic first year of meeting farm and gardening experts who've shared what's happening in their corners of the green economy!  Here are a few that stood out in 2010 and early 2011:

Free-range farm life: …

**cross-posted from my blog, Semi-Farmed Kind of Life. If you enjoy reading it, please follow me on Blogger and help me hit my goal of 25 followers by June!**

I went to the opening day of the Farmer's Market near our town.  I loved it I was so excited about the up coming growing season it really motivated me.  I came home and weeded for about and hour this was during my 1 yr old's nap.  Then I encouraged my husband to bring home some straw so we could mulch the garden.  My seedlings are just babies but I am awaiting their growth into full fledged plants.  My oldest son has even started his own seedlings and are waiting to plant them into the…

I had a Blog all ready in my head that I was going to write. I have a routine of reading the News on Yahoo while I drink my morning coffee. When I am Home (either Vancouver, Washington or Flint, Texas), I don't get on line as much as when I am on the Truck. So, I didn't see the headlines until I got  on the computer this morning. More…

As much as I wish I could contribute pictures of our garden or some how-to-do-it information, I just really don't have it to offer. I am here gathering information to help us further our learning. So, the best I can do it to offer what I do have... I have recipes. Lots of recipes. Some that we have learned, some…

**cross-posted from my blog, Semi-Farmed Kind of Life. Please visit me there and say hello!**

After a full ten days of blissed out hanging out, it's almost time to head back to the world of deadlines, meetings, and paperwork. Toady has been mostly about putting the homestead back in order so we can function around here for the next four days with all the rush that goes along with work and school days.…

Honestly, I don't know if I can keep up two!

Better hit posts up at:

http://aftertheecstasythelaundry.wordpress.com

Thanks!

As I have said before, I was born and raised in the wonderfully green State of Washington.  I lived there until I was 22. During that time, I explored the area up around Mt.St.Helens. I splunked in the never ending and forever winding Ape Caves. If you have ever wonder how dark *DARK* really is, go visit the Ape…

There are days, out here on the road, that you just really want to be doing something else. Now, don't get me wrong... I truly love it out here. The places we go, the things we see, and the people we meet. Most of the people that we know, we wouldn't have met if it wasn't for driving…

Yes, you got that right, the SWAT team! We sure had an interesting day picking our first harvest at the Boone Street community garden and urban farm!



Here I am with our first vegetable harvest of white and red radishes. That's Lolita, one of the neighbors and frequent garden visitor standing next to me.

So there we were, giddily snapping pictures…

Those of us with dairy animals are used to an abundance of milk once our animals freshen in the spring. A wonderful thing to do with all that extra is to make yogurt.

Yogurt is a dairy product created by fermenting milk with a Lactobacillus culture. Making your own yogurt is fun and easy. And, it is a healthful snack that children love.

To make your own yogurt, start with fresh milk. Powdered or skim milk work but produce a…

When I was a kid, I lived in the country and was raised "country style". We didn't have PSP, Wii, or computers. We grew up without cable TV, surviving the Friday night Hee-Haw episodes.  We drank water out of garden hoses, rode our bikes without a helmet, and dug our bare toes into the tar bubbles on our old county road.  We played…