Archive for the ‘Food’ Category

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Being Right

7 December 2009

Finally, and for the first time in a long time, I feel as if my understanding of the world is correct and that it’s time for everyone else to come around to what I think instead of the other way around. Specifically:

  • We cannot continue spending money we don’t have, as individuals, as states, or as a nation.
  • Farming is one of the most important activities anyone can engage in, and being a farmer who takes care of his land and everything else under his care is one of the most honorable things anyone can do.
  • We all need to grow as much of our own food as possible.
  • We all need to be responsible for our own health to the greatest extent possible. That means exercising every day, not eating trashfood, and not burning the candle at both ends.
  • We all need to be independent, both as individuals and as families. You only rely on others when you absolutely have to. That does not diminish the importance of community.
  • Debt is bad.
  • Engaging in foreign wars should be avoided at all costs.

Posted in Corporate Control, Family, Financial Meltdown, Food, Gardening, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Wheat Sprouts

3 December 2009

I added half a cup of our stored wheat berries to a quart jar, got them wet, drained off the excess water and put them on a windowsill. A couple of days later, most of them were sprouting. I ate some for lunch today, and they’re really good.

Seeds of any kind never fail to amaze me, but seeing the hard, dry wheat that we’ve been grinding into flour turn into little plants is practically miraculous.

Posted in Food, Gardening | Leave a Comment »

No Acorns Today

14 November 2009

I took the boys down to MSF to collect more acorns today, but the ground was completely covered with oak leaves and it was impossible to see the acorns. If you’re going to collect them, you have to do it before the leaves fall.

Harvested more collards today and cooked them up with a few carrots, a small onion (both from the garden), and some turkey spam. It was divine.

Posted in Food, Foraging | Leave a Comment »

Planting Filberts & Getting Ready

17 October 2009

I’m having a hard time believing that in only a few weeks, it’s going to be damn cold. We’ve had several frosts now, and mostly cloudy, wet weather for the last few weeks, but I still can’t get it into my head that big, bad Winter is about to arrive. The grass is still green and most trees still have green leaves on them.

Planted my three new filbert trees (bushes?) today on the East side of the yard between the privacy fence and the road. They are 3′-4′ trees, typical bare-root stock from Willis Orchards of Berlin, Georgia (poor little trees, moving from Georgia to Wisconsin). They looked to be adequately packed and in good condition.

I’m continuing to clear the brush from that Northeast corner of the yard and will have to keep after it for…ever. Mowing would be the easiest solution, but the grass whip or a scythe would be the fossil-fuel free option. No matter what, I’m going to have to put some effort into keeping that area brush-free, especially next Spring and Summer, if the filberts are going to have a chance.

After planting them, I dumped half a wheelbarrow of leaf compost under each and watered each with about 4 gallons of water. There’s rain in the forecast and it’s been quite wet, so I shouldn’t have to water them again for a while. I also wrapped them in green snow fencing to protect them from the hungry rabbits of March.

Also put half a wheelbarrow of leaf compost under the three plum/pear trees. They’re looking good — we planted them about a year ago.

Posted in Food, Gardening | Leave a Comment »

Pumpkin Seeds and Acorns

11 October 2009

Today G and D and I separated pumpkin seeds from the guts of the two pumpkins (one home-grown, one grocery-store pumpkin) we carved for jack o lanterns. They’d been in the refrigerator since last weekend. The boys were into it and quite helpful.

I had saved about 25 seeds from D’s pumpkin that he grew from seed, and G wanted to do the same for the bought pumpkin, so I saved an additional 20 or so seeds from that. (Wash them, put them on top of the refrigerator for a week to dry them, then bring them down into the cool and dark of the basement.) So we’ll have lots of pumpkins in the garden next year, which is fine. I don’t have that much experience with eating them, but I know I like them.

I washed the rest of the seeds, put them on a large flat pan with some salt and coconut oil, and put them in the oven for 40 minutes at 300F. Stirred them every ten minutes. They came out good, above average for pumpkin seeds.

At the same time, also baked the acorn meats we collected last weekend for 30 minutes at 300F. Those had been in water in a quart jar in the refrigerator for the last week. I changed the water every day in an effort to remove some of the tannins. I tasted them this morning, and they were still too bitter to eat. So I thought I would bake them and see if that improved them — it was either that or the compost pile.

And baking did improve them — they were within shouting distance of edibility. I figured they would be okay in something, maybe especially something sweet, so G and I made some molasses-banana bread with some on-the-edge bananas. It’s in the oven now — I’ll update later with results.

The banana bread came out great. G gave it two thumbs-up, which is high praise. The only trace of the acorns is a distant bitter aftertaste that doesn’t detract from the bread at all. So although it involved a lot of steps, I’m happy that we identified another wild food source and learned how to prepare it.

Posted in Cooking, Food, Foraging, Gardening | Leave a Comment »

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