Yuuuuuummmmmmm! I need to get me an ice cream maker. Or find a friend willing to lend one to me.... plot plot plot!

yum!!!!! thanks for this. We like whipped cream better than custard here. Custard isn’t bad, just whipped cream is lighter, dreamier!

Our chicken ritual has become this. We buy a 4-5lb organic chicken at the begining of the week. We cook it on our vertical chicken roaster, rubbed with some salt, we catch the chicken grease,( which we may start to use after the post on fat,) Then through the week my husband just trims the bits he desires for our 3 meals from that chicken. He loves the dark greasy meat in the indian dishes we make, the lighter chicken meat in our italian, thai and mexican meals. Then I make the weekly stock for cooking broth or soup that we have through the week. Sometimes if I am organized enough I make something from the remainder of the chicken bits from the stock. If not, the dog and cat get bits for treats (and the dog loves loves loves the soft veggies) So let’s see, 4 meals & chicken stock for the week and sometimes one more meal. Now what to do with the bones? hmmmmmm.

We just returned triumphant from the U-pick strawberry fields with 20 lbs of strawberries. If we could have stored them we would have picked more. I took 4 lbs for our family of 2, my sister took 16 for her family of 4, and we were thrilled. strawberry shortcake and fresh, NEVER cooked and NEVER mixed with rhubarb, thank you. Rhubarb and Strawberries together takes the shine off the other. Separate and Equal.
People, if you can, get out there and get some! The pleasure of picking only adds to the strawberry joy.

Hi, I am wondering what an insectary mix might be? Love this post. Thank you.

may I ask what the benefit was? Do you just plant in a straw bale? I am curious. I don’t have a garden, so I did not take that class, but I may have a little space in a food/not lawns project starting up, and this might be something applicable to the rough gardening conditions of a brand new reclaimed lot.

may I ask what the benefit was? Do you just plant in a straw bale? I am curious. I don’t have a garden, so I did not take that class, but I may have a little space in a food/not lawns project starting up, and this might be something applicable to the rough gardening conditions of a brand new reclaimed lot.

oh! good for you. There is a house with dark plums around the corner, they always litter the ground in the late summer. I might ask them if they want help harvesting this year if I see that happening again this year.

May I ask you who you volunteered with to do the gleaning last year? did you go through a group? I have tried to contact one of the more prominent groups and they have NEVER responded. I would love to help with an organized group.

yes congratulations. The change must be profound. Do you still have cherry blossoms or are they gone til next year?

Thanks for this break down. I have the honey, the agave, the maple syrup and the brown rice syrup. Because of my nieces allergies to cane sugar I will now look for the barley malt syrup because I think it will give a deeper flavor to some of my breads and that would be cool.

going to try to make this this week. Started soaking the beans today. I am going to make it meat light...I will be using ham hock, but no sausage.

Our favorite items are the nice quality knife and our two iron skillets,
while I do use and love our salad spinner and our bagel guillotine....
the lovely kitchen aid mixer sits unused, as I knead bread by hand, the food processor rarely comes out on the counter, the espresso maker maybe once a year, and the stove top food smoker ( a gift I really appreciated) has been used twice. I think I fall back on things that are easy to clean. yup. Easy. not hard.

my sister makes an amazing chickpea polenta which she grills on and tops with a sweetish tomato garlic chutney. She and her daughters are allergic to Corn and so have sought out and invented many alternative recipes which continue to delight us. I am going to try to make the flatbread recipe above and I will also be making a chickpea dal this week. Thanks.

Hooray! I am happy to hear that the Obama administration is listening to the rumblings from a nation ready for a return to growing our own, knowing our sources and devoting ourselves to things that take time and are nourishing to the community. Plus, if they get chickens they can raise their own eggs for the White House Easter Egg hunt!

The more we purchase items that are not packaged in plastic the better. the toxins are just one aspect. The production of petroleum based products along with their lifespan in the wastestream. It is really daunting to try to eliminate them from ones life. Thanks for the articile.