Parallel Parking

I think that God must have decided that I needed to learn some patience. My oldest daughter is getting close to taking her driving test to get her license. Before Mary received her driver's permit I was discussing teaching Mary how to drive with some friends. They likened it to the difficult of potty training but being worth the hard work in the end. I have to say I can see the potty training thing in it and am looking forward to the benefits of having another licensed driver in the family.

I have spent the last couple of weeks trying to teach her how to parallel park-a passage all new drivers must go through even though many people never do it again after their test. I am guessing this is because they are so traumatized by learning how to do it. The good news is that Mary is getting closer to being able to consistently do it. The next step is a 3-point turn which involves backing into a driveway then going the other way on the street. Unfortunately, backing skills in general are not her greatest skill so this should be interesting.

I am looking forward to having another driver in the house. It gets hard sometimes shuffling her schedule and Makenzie's busy therapy schedule and getting it all done. We have had some wonderful friends who have helped us with this over the years but it will be nice to have Mary more independent in this area. Besides the above two items, Mary has turned into a good beginner driver. Even after she gets her license she will only be allowed to go to a limited amount of places and gradually increase these as time goes on but it will still be a nice new developmental stage to have obtained.  

Baby Goats

Our friends in Richmond raise Angora and Pygora fiber goats. This past week 3 of their goats had babies. Yesterday we went down to spend the day there. It is always an adventure at their farm. Two of the goat kid's have been rejected by their mothers so my friend is milking one of the goats to get milk to bottle feed them. Makenzie especially loved being able to feed one of them. Because my friend has had to feed them since shortly after birth, they follow her around the yard and "cry" after her when she walks away. It is pretty cute to watch. Two more of her goats are pregnant so we should be seeing a few more babies anytime. 

As I have said before, I am glad that my children get to be close and see farm animals firsthand. Not just visiting them but actually taking care of them both the fun jobs as well as the not so fun jobs. I think they benefit from having to help care for something besides themselves. They have learned some interesting skills over the past few years in our visits. Some they may never use again but will hopefully give them some self-confidence when tackling novels tasks in their lives. Of course, I had to include some pictures especially the one with Makenzie proudly smiling as she bottle feeds one of the goats. 

Bathroom Water Conservation

Besides your kitchen, the bathroom is probably one of the biggest places where water is used. The nice thing about water conservation is you get the side benefit of saving money either on your water bill (city) or electric bill (running pump for well/cistern). Here are some things that we do at our house.

1) Turn off shower water when shampooing hair and soaping body. We have a shower head that keeps the water mix and can be turned off at the shower head which makes it even easier.
2) Take a shower versus a bath. Baths take more water than short showers.
3) Keep actual running time of shower water to 5 minutes.
4) Don't take a shower or bath unless you really need it. Many of us have gotten use to showering everyday. Most people unless they have been physically active or working in dirty jobs don't need to shower daily.
5) Have a place for everyone to hang their towels and wash them all once a week. (this saves on laundry time and water to wash them).
6) Watch toilet for leaks. If you are unsure, there are dye kits available you can use to test this.
7) If remodeling, install a low flush toilet. If you have older toilet, put a bag with water in tank to keep it from filling all the way up each time.
8) When brushing teeth, washing hands, don't let water run if you are not using it at that moment.
9) During growing season, catch water not being used while warming up water, etc with a bucket. Use it to water plants.
10) Install low flow shower head and faucet.

Water Usage

Recently, we all got a shock in the mail when our water bills were increased by 40%. The large rate increase was mostly due to our water company needing to build a long pipeline to pump water to Lexington in the event of a severe drought. I would not have a problem with this increase if it meant essential water would be threatened without it. Mostly, it is meant that we can have the convenience of using as much water as we want without having to be bothered with mandatory conservation efforts during these drought periods. I have to admit that it is hard for me to swallow a large increase so someone can water their lawn as much as they want during the summer.

As I have said before, clean water availability is at a critical level for a large percentage of the world population. According to the April 2010 National Geographic magazine issue, 1.8 billion people will live in a region with severe water scarcity in 15 years. We are fortunate to live in an area with a large amount of fresh water, but it does not give me free reign to use as much water as I want each day. It takes energy to make and pump all of that water. Water conservation is important to all of us. I will give some facts and figures as well as some conservation ideas in future posts.

Chocolate Pudding Disaster

My husband has been craving chocolate pudding. I have not been able to find a fair trade version of this favorite treat of his so I decided to make it from scratch. I have cooked for years and usually can cook about anything from a recipe but have never made pudding or seen it made from scratch. I found a recipe that talked about how easy it was to make with this recipe (should have known better). The recipe had three simple ingredients-whole milk, cornstarch and fair traded hot cocoa mix.

When I opened up the bottle of whole milk, it looked funny. I tasted it and realized that I had picked up buttermilk. Oh well, it can't make that much difference. I boldly went forward. Next, I sifted in the cornstarch (to prevent lumps) and then the hot cocoa mix. It looked like milk with brown specks in it. I cooked and stirred. The directions said not to worry that the chocolate would melt but it also said not to boil it but a few bubbles would be OK. The few bubbles came and it looked like thick milk with brown specks. I thought this must be what it looked like when it melted. I poured it in bowls and covered it with a towel to surprise my husband with after dinner.

We ate dinner and I brought the pudding in to surprise my husband. He looked at it suspiciously. Being an engineer he is always suspicious if it does not look like what he is used to eating. My daughters both took bites and didn't take any more.. They have been taught to not say they don't like something but simply say "No thank-you." Mary told me, "Mom, it tastes good but the texture is a little gritty." and did not take another bite when I asked her if she liked it. Makenzie said, "I'm full (translation-I don't like this.) Chuck took a bite and said it tasted bad and he wouldn't eat it. "You know", he continued to say, they make this great stuff that comes in a box and works everytime." (He is not into the fair trade things if it means giving up a treat he enjoys.)

In the meantime, I had taken one bite and then a couple more to put in a good effort. "OK", I said realizing I had to admit defeat when even I could not eat it, "My first attempt was not a success." Surely there is something that I can make from this. Chuck reminded me that we could just throw it out or feed it to the chickens but I was not ready to waste it and chocolate is not good for most animals so did not want to risk giving it to chickens. We dumped all of our "puddings" in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator.

Last night, I served coffee cake concoction swirled with the pudding. The girls ate it with gusto and loved it. Chuck looked at it suspiciously and ate a few bites. He said he would reserve his judgement until later. Later that night I caught him eating it heartily for a late night snack. "Not too bad when your really hungry."

I have not given up on making homemade pudding though. I'll just try a different recipe next time.

Coventional Chocolate Articles

Here are the last two articles that Mary thought were really good when researching her paper. One is from CNN and the other BBC. It does not talk about slavery as much as the plight of the small conventional cacoa farmer. Most of their children can not attend school and must help on the farm so the family can survive. Again and again when asked what would let them send their children to school, the farmers said a fairer price for their cacoa. Here are the links to the articles.

Chocolate's Bittersweet Economy

Child Cocoa Worker's Still Exploited

Although I have no problem with children helping on the family farm, there is something wrong when they cannot attend school and have to live in such dire poverty because a "living wage" is not payed for their families crop.  

Fair Trade Chocolate Farmers

When looking at all the articles about "slave labor" chocolate your question may be, "Is all chocolate coming from the Ivory Coast or Ghana made by slave labor?" The answer to that question is no. Only a percentage of chocolate comes from slave labor and that number is hard to pinpoint. My personal opinion is that any chance of chocolate coming from the hands of exploited children is too much of a chance. Unfortunately, most of the conventional chocolate produced does come from sources that that do not pay a living wage to the small farmer or employees of larger plantations. That is why fair trade chocolate is also important to the small farmer.

Small farmers are paid about 1/100th of the cost of what the cacoa beans are actually sold to the end user. This does not provide a living wage to the farmer or his family continuing a never ending cycle of poverty. This can all change with Fair Trade certified items. Fair trade organizations work with farmers to provide them a living wage to end the poverty cycle. The current conventional buying system, especially in West Africa, is writhe with scandals, bribery and greed. All of this is at the expense of the small farmer producing the product.

I consider the extra money I have to spend to buy fair trade chocolate a donation to ending the poverty cycle in third world countries. That said, ethically, I cannot willingly support a system that knowingly exploits people and children just so I can have cheap chocolate.

More Fair Trade Chocolate Articles

Here are two articles from the International Labor Rights Forum. This article is an update on major chocolate companies naming their sources of cacoa beans and complying with the Harkin-Engel Cacoa Protocol. Certifying "Blood Chocolate"'

The next article from this same organization is a pdf which lists the "semi-sweet"-those who are starting to take the right step in protecting cacoa workers and the "sweet" list-those who are the most for buying sustainably grown cacoa and protecting the rights of farm workers. Chocolate Company Scorecard 2009

Hope you will take time to read these articles.  

Homeless Shelters

Just wanted to post a quick reminder that if you have extra blankets or warm clothes, take them down to your local homeless shelter. They are usually in high demand this time of the year. 

Snow Blessings

I know for some of you snow is not a good thing but I have to admit I love snow especially new fallen snow. Yesterday afternoon, we had a front move through that laid down about 3 inches of snow. It is so beautiful. This was a wet snow so all the trees and bushes also have snow on them. Snow, for me, signifies cleanliness. A new coat of snow covers all the mud and dirt up, It is clean, bright and fresh. Today, the sun is shining and it is gorgeous to look outside.

Fortunately, for me, I have a warm home to sleep in so the single digit temperatures that the snow brought does not affect me that much except for having to go outside more bundled up than normal. Sometimes, when I am feeling sorry for myself I have to remind myself how truly blessed that I am compared to many other people around the world. I have never been truly hungry due to lack of food, have always been able to go inside to the warmth of a heater and most of all have always had shelter that has protected me from the elements. Yes, I am truly blessed.  

Fair Trade Chocolate Articles

My daughter Mary has been researching the "dark" side of chocolate for her research paper she is doing for English. She has shared with me some great statistics and internet articles. I am going to pass them on to you. Here is the first one. It is from Equal Exchange which sells Fair Trade products. It is from 2008 but Mary's research has shown that there has not been much progress since this article was written.  Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry

One interesting thing that I have noticed in my research and so has Mary that the European companies are far ahead of us in this topic. They have put pressure on the conventional manufacturers and some of them have responded with issuing some chocolate products that are fair trade certified. This shows that our consumer dollars can make a difference. Cadbury (based in Europe) announced that for its United Kingdom and Irish Markets it would convert its number one selling chocolate called Dairy Milk to Fair-Trade certified cocoa by the end of September 2010.

Hope you will take the time to read the article above. It is well written and not very long. 

Fair Trade Chocolate

I have been doing a lot of research to find out companies who make fair trade chocolate or companies who do not use chocolate harvested with child slaves. 75% of the world's chocolate comes from the West Coast of Africa especially the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Both of these countries are known to allow childhood slavery to harvest chocolate. Parents are told that their child will be given a good job where they can send money back home to help the desperately poor families. Once away from their families the children are forced to work long hours 12-14 hours days in very poor conditions. They are exposed to unhealthy doses of insecticides and pesticides. For this, they are not given any wages.

Some companies say they do not use slave chocolate as it is called because they do not buy chocolate from Africa but obtain all their chocolate from South and Central America. Lindt chocolate falls into this category. This chocolate is a little better but is usually made with workers who are not paid a living wage for their families. The only way to guarantee that your chocolate is made from harvests from fair trade farms. Several companies provide this chocolate.

Companies who have fair trade chocolate for sale are Equal Exchange, Whole Foods organic chocolate, Dagoba, Trader Joe's fair trade cocoa and organic chocolate bars, Green and Black's, Endangered Species, Clif bars and Newman's Own. Ben and Jerry's ice cream has some fair trade chocolate brands and is moving to having all of their chocolate come from fair trade sources. This is not an exhaustive list. If you google "slave free chocolate" you can find sights with a more extensive list. Any chocolate that carries the black and white Transfair logo can be guaranteed to be slave free and grown with sustainable measures.

Take some time today and look for some of these brands. They are a little more expensive then everyday chocolate but remember the cheapness of other brands pays a heavy cost in the loss of children's lives.

Speaking Up

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

This quote is borrowed from a friend's facebook post today (Thanks Tina!). It struck a nerve with me. Sometimes I get so wrapped up with day to day happenings that I forget the big picture. Sustainable living is not about saving money or being trendy. It is about doing what is right for the environment and people who we inadvertently exploit in other countries to satisfy our craving for more. It is easy to buy and use conventional chocolate, coffee and cheap things made by people in other countries because we are blind to how these things are made. We do not think about the environmental or economic impact of our culture of more is better because it is easy to hide from the long term results of what and who we are exploiting. I am as guilty as the next person.

It is time to stand up and talk about things that matter but talk does not do much good if we do not follow it with action. It might seem overwhelming but if we are joined together in our actions and prayers, we can make a difference.

Cooked Apples

Tonight, I had some apples that needed to be used so I made cooked apples for supper. This is something that my husband grew up eating so I have had to learn how to make them. It has taken me a while to lighten up the recipe but it has passed the test. I have lightened it up and my husband still likes it. Here is the recipe.

4-5 apples, washed, cored and sliced
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 Tbls brown sugar or Splenda brown sugar

Put all in the pan. Fill pan half way up with water. Bring to a boil then simmer until soft (about 10-15 minutes). Eat and enjoy. This is a great way to use up those apples that have a few bad spots in them or are bruised. My family loves them. Hope you enjoy it!

Gardening Toolbox Classes

This post is for mostly people who live in the Lexington area but keep reading if you are not from here as your local county extension service might offer something similar in your area. The Fayette County Extension Service has posted their gardening toolbox classes for 2011. These are great, inexpensive classes offered at a very reasonable rate of mostly $10 per class. You can even get a 20% discount if you sign up for six or more classes.

Classes cover a broad range of topics including such things as gardening practices, lawn care, tree pruning to making your own Hypertufa Planter or holiday greenery from items in your yard. I can personally vouch for the quality of the classes. This year they are returning some favorites which I have taken in previous years such as Basic Pruning, Beekeeping Basics, Raspberries and Blackberries, Backyard Poultry 101 and Planting the Fall Vegetable Garden. These have all been great classes that offered plenty of new information.

The classes fill up quickly so make sure to check out this link Gardening Toolbox Classes. Click on Gardening Toolbox Classes to get the full list and registration form. They also have informative newsletters. Click on the By The Yard newsletter month you would like to read. They also have information on their Master Gardener Program on this page. Hope to see you at some classes.

Pasture Raised Meat

Last night, Hillside Heritage Farm in Lancaster, KY delivered the whole hog we had ordered from them. I have been buying different cuts of meat from them all summer at the local farmer's market here in Lexington. I really enjoyed the meat we bought from them so this fall I ordered a whole hog. They raise two different kinds of heritage breeds which are known for their lean meat. They also are all pasture raised which also helps with their leanness.

From the research that I have done, pasture raised meat seems to be a good alternative to full vegetarianism for our family. We try to limit our.intake of meat but do enjoy eating it too much to give it up completely. Pasture raised versus coonventionally also raised meat has several benefits for us as well as the enviornment. Here are some of them.

1) Pasture and grass fed meat usually has more omega 3's and are lower in fat and calories than conventionally raised meat. In addition pasture raised pork has a much higher level of vitamin E.

2) Properly pasture raised meat promotes biodiversity and improves soil fertility. Confined feeding operations which raise some conventionally raised meat have many waste-management problems.

3) Pasture-raised animals are allowed to eat what they are naturally inclined to eat. The enjoy clean, spacious environments and are healthier.

4) Farm workers enjoy a healthier environment than those on factory farms. Factory farm workers are exposed to dust, ammonia, and high levels of carbon dioxide which are common problems in confined facilities.

In addition to the above, by buying from Heritage Farms, I am supporting a local farmer who raises heritage breeds. I know that the hogs have been raised humanely. Most of all, I know I am serving my family a better quality meat that is lean and tasty. By buying a whole hog I paid per pound less than I can buy most meat at the grocery store.

In a couple of months as the local markets reopen, check out your local Farmer's Market. If there is someone there selling pasture raised meat or organic meat, give it a try. You will be surprised by the difference in taste. If you like it, think about purchasing a larger quantity. It is a larger outlay of money initially but usually cheaper than you can buy meat per pound in the grocery store.

Better Butter

A while ago, I came across this recipe in The New Laurel's Kitchen, a cookbook encouraging people to return to whole foods. While paging through it, I found a recipe for "Better Butter". It takes butter and combines it with Safflower Oil, a monounsaturated oil, and a good source of Vitamin E. It makes a spreadable butter. Because it has no preservatives, I make the recipe and divide it into smaller containers and freeze all but one. Here is the recipe:

1/2 lb butter (2 sticks)
1 cup safflower or corn oil
2 Tbls water
2 Tbls powdered nonfat milk
1/4 tsp lecithin (can be found at most health food stores)
1/2 tsp salt (optional)(I buy unsalted butter and do not add this to my recipe. Does not need salt.)

Combine all the above ingredients in a food processor. Process until smooth. Pour in containers and put in freezer or refrigerator. Use after butter-oil combination has set. Use as you would margarine or butter.

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Alternative Energy Costs (EROI)

During winter, I always start thinking about alternative energy sources. In this months issue of Mother Earth News, they had an interesting article on the cost effectiveness on developing alternative energies. I think of alternative energy as those coming from things other than coal, oil and natural gas. There are many alternatives to these but some of them are more cost effective to develop and use than others.  Some alternative energy sources are wind, solar, nuclear, hydroelectric, firewood, biodiesel, and geothermic. These are some of the most common. In addition to price there are cons and pros to each of these. For instance, nuclear produces radioactive waste that is hard to find a place to dispose it. Some, such as wind are better in specific geological areas.

The interesting thing about this article is it went in depth about energy return on investment (EROI). The term was coined by Dr. Charles Hall, professor of environmental science and forestry at the State University of New York. The EROI is presented as a ratio of energy produced to the energy consumed during production. The higher an energy source is above the 1:1 ratio the more cost effective it is to make.

Here are some interesting facts from the graph presented in the article. Domestic oil in the 1930's had a ratio of 100:1 which is really good where now it has about a 15:1 ratio. Most of this is because easy to obtain sources of domestic oil are decreasing and our demand for oil has increased tremendously. Of the alternative sources, hydroelectric comes in at 40:1, wind at about 30:1, solar at 10:1 and biodiesel at 5:1. The biggest thing this research shows us which new technologies might be the best to invest our time and energy into.

If you would like to see the whole article along with the graph, you can press on this link: EROI 

Gardening-Light Requirements

Last night, I started researching the light requirements for plants. A large proportion of my yard is shaded. That is one of the reasons we fell in love with our house because of the large, mature shade trees that were already established. Gardens require lots of sun. When we were going to start a garden couple of years ago, there was only one place in our backyard that had enough sun during the day so that is where the garden ended up.

Since our initial garden set-up, I have redesigned our landscaping to include more edible plants. That leaves more space open for actual garden plants within reason. I still want to maintain a nice looking yard so I am careful what I plant in my flower beds. Fortunately, there are many options that are pretty as well as edible. That is why I started looking at light requirements last night.

Sunlight is one of the key ingredients to look at when planning garden and other plantings. Gardens and plants will fail or require a lot more upkeep if planted in the wrong sun area. One other thing I look at each year is there are several northern species of plant I like which can be grown here if they are shielded from our hot afternoon sun. When I am looking at new plants, I first look at the light requirement. I have spent time watching our sun patterns. I know where in our yard gets morning, afternoon or all day sun. I also know when the shade starts to creep over my flower beds and gardens in the afternoon.

This brings me on the first recommendation when you start planning a garden area or new plantings within your landscaping. Gardens need to be planted in the area of the yard that gets that most sun. When planning new plantings or areas of your landscaping, look up the light requirements of the plants that you want to plant. Next, go outside at different times of the day and look where the sunlight is falling. Find the direction and path that the sun takes across the sky. When your trees are leafed out this spring, check the shade patterns of each. This will give you a good idea of how much sun each area of your yard is getting.

Happy planning!

Bread Pudding

Tonight I had some leftover biscuits that needed to be used along with some bread crusts. I decided to make some bread pudding with it. It is a dessert I make frequently when I have extra bread that needs to be used up. Before we had chickens, I would also save my bread crusts in the freezer and when I had enough I would make this recipe. I use my 2-3 quart bowl to bake it in. Here is the recipe.

Bread torn into small pieces to fill up bowl
1 apple chopped into small pieces or 1 cup raisins
2 cups milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tsps vanilla
1/2 cup sugar or Splenda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Put torn bread in bowl. Add raisins or chopped apple. Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over the top. In small mixing bowl, stir together milk, eggs, vanilla and sugar.  Pour over bread mixture. Stir until combined. Let set for 10 minutes to allow bread to absorb milk. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!

Edible Landscaping

A couple of years ago, I decided that I wanted to start growing more of our own food. We started a garden but I also wanted to grow fruit. Growing fruit in the traditional sense would have taken away from my garden space. About that time I found books on edible landscaping, they inspired me to look at our landscaping in a whole new way. I started reading up on growing fruits and looked through tons of catalogs to find dwarf type trees and bushes. I checked with our local extension office which had lists of fruit varieties that grew best in our climate. I realized that growing a lot of our own fruit within our landscaping would be a realistic goal.

The next several months I continued to research growing fruits and looking through catalogs. I, then went outside and started measuring and envisioning a new landscape plan. I set pots out where I wanted to plant trees, measured between them and kept rearranging them until I liked the spacing and look it gave the yard. Next, I looked at fruit bushes that would be good foundation plantings within the landscape. I drew up a plan and we made the transition in stages.

Once I had the trees and bushes planned and in the ground, we started working on other areas. We expanded our herb garden on the side of the house. We left spaces within the beds to put garden plants that also look nice within the beds. Some good examples are squash vines, pepper plants and herbs. Our yard is a little less than a 1/4 acre and we were able to plant apple, peach, pear, plum, apricot, cherries, blueberries, nectarines, grapes, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries, gooseberries and currants. When they are in full development we should at least be able to get enough fruit off of each one to eat fresh in season.

The benefits of this plan is we are able to grow a lot more of our own food. We know that it is organic and is grown in a sustainable way. We also have less grass area to mow and maintain. Last year, was the final step in the fruit planting plan so I will let you know how it goes as time progresses.

I encourage you to do some research on edible landscaping. Look at your current yard, See where you might be able to add some fruit trees or bushes. 

Garden/Landscape Plan

January and February are the time of year that I start working on my gardening and landscaping plan for the coming year. In the past couple of years, I have totally redone our landscaping in stages. I am trying to do more landscaping and have less grass to mow. As I have redone the landscaping, I have turned it more into an edible landscape. We now have fruit trees for our ornamental trees and have used blueberry, gooseberry, currant and blackberry bushes as our foundation plantings. I have left room in the landscape for vegetables and herbs which are ornamental and provide food at the same time.

As I have gotten into gardening, I have expanded the garden each year. I have gone to planting heirloom vegetables. I plant the garden in three stages in order to maximize the vegetables I can get from the garden. I plant a spring, summer and fall garden. One thing I have not done well and am still working on is using coverings to even further extend my vegetable garden. I have been amazed each year how much more I can get from the garden.

As I plan I will try to include some of it in my posts. I will also show you what we have done so far and include pictures as the spring arrives. So, get out those books, measuring tapes and notebooks. Look at your yard and garden, what edibles can you plant this year. Make sure you start small and build on your plan each year. The biggest mistake beginning gardeners make is starting too big and then it becomes overwhelming and you give up on it.

Happy planning!!!

Bag Monster

I was reading through the current Mother Earth News that I had received when I came across the title "Don't Feed the Bag Monster". I have to admit the title intrigued me. It discussed about a demonstration in San Francisco where about 70 people marched through the streets wearing between 500-700 bags (avg number of bags used by an American in a years time) on their bodies. They were doing this to draw awareness to the use of plastic bags. Here are some statistics on plastic bag use here in the US.
1) 100 billion bags are created each year.
2) The average American uses 45,000 bags in a lifetime.
3) At least 12 million barrels of oil are used each year just to make plastic bags.
4) Plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to break down..
5) Less than 5% of plastic bags are recycled.
6) There is now 6 times more plastic debris in the North Pacific Ocean than Zooplankton.
7) Packaging now accounts for 1/3 of all household waste.
8) Over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in America each year, costing retailers an estimated $4 billion. This cost is passed on to the consumer through higher product prices. .

Getting rid of plastic bags is an easy solution. Buy or get canvas bags. I have found several of mine at garage sales and Goodwill. Carry the bags in your car for those last minute stops. If you forget your bags and only have a few items than ask that the object not be placed in a bag, If you do end up with plastic bags, recycle them. Most major store and grocery chains have recycling bins outside of their stores.

Remember DON'T FEED THE BAG MONSTER!!!

Skillet Supper

This is a family favorite during the winter time. It is quick to fix and feeds a lot of people. It also uses vegetables which tend to be more in season during the winter months. Our family of four easily gets 3 meals out of this one recipe. You can omit the meat if you wish but it does add flavoring.

1 lb grass fed local ground beef
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
8 oz mushrooms, sliced (optional)
1 medium head of cabbage, sliced
4-6 carrots, sliced into circles
4-5 potatoes, sliced
2 cups veggie broth
1 tsp basil
1 tsp salt (tends to need this because of the potatoes)
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp pepper

In large pan (I use my 6 quart dutch oven), fry hamburger, onion and garlic until browned. Layer on top of hamburger combination-carrots, potatoes, seasonings, mushrooms and cabbage in that order. Add broth and turn it to slow simmer for about 10-15 minutes with lid on pan. Stir then allow to simmer with lid on pan stirring occasionally until all vegetables are tender. This tastes great served along with a fresh homemade loaf of bread. Enjoy!

I have also browned the ground beef and then put this all together in the crockpot and let it simmer all day. This is also delicious.

Rototiller Chickens

This is the first year that we have had chickens in our backyard. Although I spent time helping my aunt and cousins with thier chickens when I was growing up, I have learned much of what I know by reading books and looking through websites on raising chickens. It has been a fun experience and the fresh eggs are wonderful. I have also been amazed at how much better the texture of our baked goods seem to be.

Over the weekend, we decided to try a new thing and put the chicken coop and run over the garden.. I had already raked some leaves on the garden to be manually churned into the ground later. I have been reading about how good it is to put the chickens on the garden over the winter. They naturally put down their own fertilizer and dig it in themselves. As an added bonus, they eat all the grubs and bugs overwintering in the soil.

Watching the chickens after we moved the coop was like watching two little kids being turned loose in a candy store. They busily scratched and dug for hours. Within 24 hours you could no longer see the leaves because they had so finely chopped them up in their digging. The soil looked like Chuck had gone out and rototilled it himself. Best of all as we leave them there they continue to churn up the soil looking for bugs while they dig in their own donation of fertilizer.

I have decided to leave them in this area of the garden for a while then move them to another part. In the meantime, I am going to be adding leaves to their run. Not only does it provide them entertainment but they can dig them into the soil for me. Who knew that chickens were such good rototillers?

Recycling Holiday Cards

The Christmas season is over and the basket of Christmas cards you have accumulated from friends and family are sitting there. Now, what do you do with them? You can recycle most of them but why not get a second use out of them before throwing them in the recycling bin. Here are some ideas.

1) Cut out pictures that would make good gift tags. I have done this for years. It saves money and natural resources on buying gift tags.

2) Pull the front covers off and use the blank side for recipe cards, notecards, postcards, etc.

3) Cut up the blank areas and use them for scrap note paper.

4) Cut out small rectangles of color and use as bookmarks.

5) Give them to your children to cut up to use in their craft projects.

These are just a few ideas to get you started.  

Happy New Year

Today, we started out the new year by meeting some good friends for breakfast. While we were eating, my friend asked us if we had made any New Year's resolutions. I decided to publish mine to keep me responsible to more than just myself. Here is the list for the year.

1)  Only buy and eat fair trade or organic chocolate.
2) Go through everything in the house and get rid of all excess. Donate items to places that will use them. Organize rest of items so I know what I have.
3) Continue change to a whole foods diet mainly from local sources.

What are your New Year's resolutions?  I would encourage you to take some time and think about them. Share them with a friend who will hold you accountable to them.

Happy New Year!