Bringing Etsy back! I am going to try and list something every day! Funds are needed for upcoming Top Secret vacation. I know my photos need help...but the products are awesome! Oh when will someone invent Sniff-O-Vision?

1 Million Pound Harvest

This growing season I am going to track what we grow (weight wise) and add our meager amount to the Freedom Harvest challenge. Think we can grow 200 pounds of food? Eh. Me either. But it's worth a try! I think last season our harvest was about a pound...
Here's to hoping this season will be better! To learn more about this challenge, and to participate, read about it here.

So far we have baby lettuce sprouts, morning glory (not edible, of course), some cauliflower...and I think that's about it.
Come on Spring!!

Eat Local

The Boy and I are going to sign up for the Los Poblanos Organics CSA. We know that eating with the season's is important, as is supporting local farmers (and business people!). Hey, and they even deliver! How much more simple can it get? According to their web-site, this weeks box (all for only $28.00) contains 4 apples, cherry tomatoes, celery, garlic, bok choi, cilantro, wild carrots, avocados, red pears, baby spinach, and 3 kiwis. Other than the kiwis, it all looks really good! Add in a bag of beans from the Farmers Market and a bag of rice...endless meals! Ok, not endless, but tasty meals if nothing else!
They also offer a work share program! Work 2 1/2 hours a week and you get 50% off the cost. Good to know in case money gets very tight.

"Beans, Bullets, and Band-Aids"

Hard times have some flirting with survivalism. Interesting article. I want to stock up on our beans and rice supply in the very near future. Not because we are extremists. Rather, just to be prepared for any "uh ohs" in the near future. Beans and rice make a myriad of delicious dishes, they are cheap, and they have a very long shelf life. Once we get the garden producing more that just jalapenos, I will feel more confident in the availability of our food at home.
The article mentions SurvivalBlog. I think I will spend my day reading that. Information is power....and all

Purslane

The other day I was taking a gander at one of the local papers here and noticed this article on purslane (Portulaca olearacea). I had seen this "weed" in the backyard growing all over the pathway I put in earlier this summer. I put on my internet searching skills and came up with a lot of very interesting information!

• Purslane contains more Omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid in particular) than any other leafy vegetable plant.
• It also contains vitamins (mainly vitamin A, vitamin C, and some vitamin B and carotenoids), as well as dietary minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron.
• In Greek popular medicine, purslane is used as a remedy for constipation and inflammation of the urinary system.

So we decided to try some on the taco's we made last night instead of lettuce. Oh my! That is one tasty plant! It is very crisp (and stays so even on top of hot beans, unlike lettuces) and has a mild, yet distinct flavor. I can't wait to add this "weed" to other meals! It's hard to beat having a free, healthy plant taking over your yard.

Word of caution:
Please carefully and positively identify any plant before you eat it! There is a sneaky purslane look a like that is toxic. Spurge. As far as I have read an easy way to identify the difference between your friend purslane and the bad spurge is that spurge will release a milky substance from it's stems when broken and purslane doesn't. So milky substance (when identifing purslane) = bad

Related articles:
A Guide to Wild Edible Plants for Parents and Teachers to Use With Children
About.com:Edible Landscaping
Purslane Article
The Joy of Purslane by Susan Weed
New York Times Article

Thinking Not Doing: Week 4

Goals:
1. Plan a garden.
-The Boy planted the bamboo (pictures to come)
-While he was amending the soil for the bamboo I found a cache of more morning glories. I have no idea where they have come from but they have the most beautiful purple flowers.

2. Take a "formal" herbwifery class.
-I brought several Sage Woman and The Essential Herbal magazines that Cory gave me. Both have amazing information and inspiration.

3. Choose a major, and act on that choice.
-The Boy and I have been talking about opening an all vegetarian restaurant. I think that would be a wonderful project, but not one we are ready for at this time.

4. Learn to tie dye.
-I'm really slacking on this goal. All the materials are in a box next to the back door, I just keep putting it off for some reason.

5. Organize the soap lab, and make space for an herbal lab.
-I went on a "cleaning out the cupboards" over the weekend on a couple products I am making for swaps. That helped a bit.

6. Replace our current refrigerator.
-Nope

7. Learn to can and preserve food.
-I made and canned mustard yesterday. I think I must have done something wrong though because it is as thin as water. I took a lot of photos so hopefully I will have them up some time this week.

8. Get 24/7 off the ground.
-Voted on logo colors.

9. Exercise four days a week.
-I'm so embarrassed about this goal. We did yoga for about five minutes on day. I spent some time weeding. That's about it though.

10. Be a vendor for two more shows.
-I still haven't heard from the woman I emailed last week. I think it's safe to assume I didn't get in. I wish she would email me so I would know for sure.

Kombucha

Here are some fun photos from our most recent batch of kombucha.



Here you can see the scoby fell to the bottom and folded over on itself. It looked a bit like a tortilla. Notice the yummy bubbles at the top? This was our best batch of kombucha to date.




And a shot from above. Doesn't that look delicious? Ok, maybe not. But it sure makes a delicious beverage!

Recipes

My name is Brittney. I am a recipe addict. I have piles all over the house of recipes. I can't stop looking for more to print and try.

For this weekend I want to make (and can!!) some salsa and hot mustard. I'm a picky salsa eater, so it will be nice to make it just how I like it! We also go through a lot of mustard at my casa, it will be good if we can make and store our own.

Favorite recipe sites at the moment-
RecipeZaar
VeganDad
Post Punk Kitchen

Menus

I'm a big fan of menus. I love lists in general, but one's that involve food are my favorite.
We live 3.5 miles round trip from a wonderful little Farmer's Market. So the menu I'm making for the next two weeks (we try and cook once every two weeks) is based on additives we can walk to the Farmer's Market for.
Menu:
Pizza- I will make the pizza dough and sauce ahead of time. Freeze. When we want pizza we will simply pull out two balls of dough and enough sauce, walk to the Market to buy our toppings.
Couscous Salad- We have plenty of uncooked couscous (very cheap!). We will walk to the Market to buy veggies and beans to put into our couscous.
Veggie Burgers- Again, make burgers and buns ahead of time. Freeze. Walk to the Market to gets toppings.
Assorted Salads- Walk to the Market and get pretty much whatever strikes our fancy.
A Casserole- Make ahead. Freeze. Walk to the Market if we feel like it, but it's not imperative that we go on these days.

We started to do the Once A Month Cooking (once every two weeks in our case) to cut down on food bills, and with the intent of using the extra time to exercise. I can say that OAMC has cut our food bill in half. But on the exercising front...not so much. I hope that walking to the Market will fill in that exercise bit (and keep supporting our local farmers!) and add some raw veggies to our diet.