Posted on 03/23/2008 11:36:40 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny
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Start Your Own Apartment Farm!
I’m a big fan of gardening, especially in the edibles department. The satisfaction I get from starting seeds and raising them into big healthy plants that give me something back in return is immense. And I love a good, fresh salad. And do you know what’s extraordinary about my salads? I grow them all inside my apartment!
You don’t have to have a quarter acre, or even a balcony, to be a garden. I’m a firm believer in gardening where you are.
But where to start? Get yourself a few good seed catalogs. A few of my favorites are Landreth Seed Company, Territorial Seeds, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and Pinetree Seeds (especially affordable— lots for 75 cents!). There are a ton to choose from, so just browse which ones look interesting to you online.
Once you have your catalog in hand, choose your veggies. I think a simple salad garden is the best way to get acquainted with indoor food production— so some lettuce, green onions and cherry tomotoes are good to start. You’ll want to pick varieties that are small in size, and good for container growth. For example, this year I grew Tom Thumb Lettuce (a butterhead the size of a softball), green bunching onions, and Tiny Tim Cherry Tomatoes (the plants grew about 3 1/2 feet tall).
Once you’ve got your seeds, you’ll need containers. I like to grow lettuce in rubber maid flats that are about 6-8 inches deep. You can run two rows of lettuce in one of these. Spread about an inch of pea gravel on the bottom and then top it off with container potting mix, leaving about an inch of room at the top so things don’t get messy when you water. For the tomatoes, a round pot is great— about 8 inches deep and 6-8 inches in diameter. Same concept in setting up the pot— gravel in the bottom for drainage then soil on top. Since the bunching onions are so small, you can put a row in between the lettuce (a practice called intercropping) or put them in a smaller rubber maid flat of their own.
Follow the directions on the seed packs for instructions on how deep to plant the seeds and how far apart. Since the quantity you’re planting is relatively small, you can plant just as many seeds as you want plants right into the containers (as opposed to starting them in smaller containers or seed starting flats). Planting just as many seeds as you want plants also prevents you from having to thin (a tedious, heart-wrenching chore) but you will have to re-seed any spots where the seeds don’t germinate. Once everything has been planted and watered in, put the lids on the rubber maids and a layer of plastic wrap on the tomato containers. This will create a nice greenhouse effect which will help your seeds to germinate.
Once your seeds have germinated and you see a mini field of green, remove the coverings from the containers and let there be light! If your window doesn’t get a steady 8 or so hours of pretty direct light, you should supplement with lamps. Grow lights are fancy (i.e. expensive) and flourescent bulbs will do the trick— get one “cool” and one “warm” and put them in a desk lamp over your containers. You can even get all high-tech and get a timer to plug the lamp into so they will go on and off automatically. Remember to water but not overwater— while the seedlings are young the soil should never dry out, but it shouldn’t be sopping wet either.
So, keep them watered and well-lit and watch your farm flourish! Gardening isn’t hard, and the learning curve is half the fun. For further tips and instruction on the wide world of gardening, a few great books include “You Grow Girl” by Gayla Trail and Rodale’s Guide to Gardening by the Organic Method.
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http://apartmentfarm.wordpress.com
[Link not checked, I did not know about the light bulbs, being different for best growing.
I have ordered from Pinetree Seeds many times, I like the mixed variety packets.
granny]
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Gardening in the Problem Apartment
Very few people have the perfect apartment for gardening—too hot, too cold, too shady, too dry. The problems are numerous, but fortunately so are the solutions! Here are some easy ideas for gardening in your micro-climate:
Too hot/too sunny: Plants that will work the very best are tropicals and heat-lovers, like peppers, tomatoes, rosemary and lemon grass. They won’t mind the sun or the warm spells. To help everything else along, you can put a translucent window shade or film on your windows, so the plants are getting light, just not direct, burning sun. You can also put plants near the windows instead of in them, out of direct light. Keeping air circulating around your plants by cracking a window or running a small fan will help them stay cool, and if it’s overly humid, you can run a dehumidfier or put charcoal in the trays of the pots in order to draw excess moisture out of the air.
Too cold: Hopefully your apartment will never get so cold that you worry that your plants might suffer! But it is possible that your apartment is too cool and/or drafty to get seeds started well. First, you don’t need to stick your newly planted seeds in a drafty window—they won’t need light until they germinate and are pushing their little green selves above the soil. You don’t have to spend cash on one of those seedling heat mats (though they are quite nifty)—there are some opportune spots around the house that are warm enough to get seeds off to a good start. The top of the refrigerator, microwave, computer, or hot-water radiator are all great spots to germinate seeds.
Too shady: Plants that will work the best in shady spots are lettuces and greens. These types of plants bolt in hot weather, so they will thrive in cool, shady locations. To grow plants that want a bit more sun, you can always supplement with grow lights—a warm bulb and a cool bulb together in a florescent shop light will do the trick, and it’s pretty inexpensive to install. Hang it from your window or a shelf with chains so that you can adjust the height as your plants grow.
Too dry: Most plants like a bit of humidity, and indoor air can often be a bit dry, especially during the winter months. A quick fix is set your plant pots on top of a tray filled with pebbles and water. The pebbles will keep the pots elevated over the water so the soil doesn’t remain constantly soaked and your plants drown, and the water will provide a humid microclimate that your plants will love.
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Rooting Boost
Gather young fresh willow twigs. Any willow will do, but you can easily find some scrubby black willows along streams rather than butchering your neighbor’s pussy willow or weeping willow. Snip the twigs up, stripping and discarding any leaves, and place short lengths of one, two, or three inch twigs in the bottom of a bucket. Cover with water. That’s it. You could mash it around a bit, or use warm water, or only make it in the spring of the year. All you really need is willow cambium and water. (Cambium is the inner bark, the pale yellowish or greenish soft layer that is just above the woody part, and just below the bark.)
Soak the twigs over night, and then drain off the liquid into a jar or watering can. Discard/compost the twigs.
This liquid contains two things that are beneficial to rooting plants, cuttings, and encouraging seed sprouting. The salicylates from the willow bark are the precursor to aspirin. They discourage rot, fungus and nematodes, and salicylates make the soil a bit more acid. The other part of the willow water is the major player: Enzymes, baby! Those prevalent enzymes in the bark are fragile but powerful. Water your cuttings or seeds with this enzyme loaded liquid to promote the cell growth for rooting.
Enzymes will break down quickly, so don’t store the water, don’t let the twigs soak for too long, don’t use heavily chlorinated water, don’t expose to the sun. Do make and use willow water only as you need it.
[Why not allow the Pussy Willow buds to form and have a bouquet...granny]
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Source (almost) free plants for your garden or patio- part 1
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We’ve all sprouted apple seeds and avocado pits, haven’t we? Maybe we’ve grown carrot tops and a chunk of sweet potato in water, and taken a slip from Aunt Suzy’s pothos. What else can we grow for free?
Do you have any garlic or shallots or green onions that are going to waste? Pop them in a little seed starter mix and wait. You probably won’t get a fully developed garlic or shallot bulb, but you will get fresh and tender tops sprouting from something you might have thrown out.
There are plenty of things from the grocer’s that can be satisfying plants. And if you were buying that hand of ginger anyway, what’s a knuckle less?
Ginger is easy if you have the warmth and the long season. If you are in a cooler or darker area, you’ll have to supplement those needs if you plan to harvest any ginger. I live in a hot sultry area, and even I don’t grow giant hands of ginger, but I do get marvelous bamboo-looking clumps of dark green lance shaped leaves, tiny yellow orchid like flowers, and tender pink ginger nodes, followed by the fall harvest of a couple of fingers of ginger. I need part sun, but you may need full sun for most of the growing season. Ginger also requires a rich moist soil, well drained but watered frequently.
Lemon grass is fun and cool and will eventually forma large clump, sort of like pampas grass. Also a warm wet area crop needing good drainage. Check out the fresh stalks of lemon grass in your grocery, or an Asian food store. Look at the base of the stalk for the tiny little nubs of roots coming through the base of the outer leaves. Just the tell tale nub is sufficient for rooting. Sometimes they are cut off above that area, though, so check what you buy first. Keep only three or four inches for planting. You don’t want all the energy to go into maintaining the foliage, but into making new roots. Stick your sections in a prepared pot, clustering several together for the best effect.
Malanga, yucca, or other rough looking tropical root vegetables can produce beautiful foliage as well as an edible root. Yucca is often coated with a heavy layer of wax when you buy it. You can scrape off most of the wax. Don’t use hot water or flame because that will kill the cells you need for rooting. Plant sprouting end up if you can tell. These plants grow a large leaf often called an elephant ear. Only a few varieties produce an edible leaf. Most species will have large amounts of oxalic acid in them. Tastes lemony but forms burning crystals in your mouth and digestive system. Don’t eat the leaves unless you know what exactly you have planted and that it’s edible. I grow these for the pretty foliage and for the edible roots.
One more tropical and then I’ll talk about the more temperate stuff available. Chayote! Have you ever tasted chayote? AKA christophene? It has a mild squash flavor, looks like a cross between a pear and a pale avocado, and has an edible large seed. I love it steamed with butter. It is a tropical vining plant, and one good producing plant can feed a family of four all season. Look for a chayote that has a peek into the bellybutton. You’ll know it when you look at it. The blossom end will be puckered like a baby’s behind, but sometimes you can peek between the firm cheeks and see a tiny bit of sprouting leaf. It doesn’t matter if that leaf is dark or pale or dry. If the chayote itself is still plump, you can plant it in shallow well drained soil. The tender vine that sprouts will climb and will eventually take over a trellis or fence section, but that makes it easier to pick the fruits.
There are many more tropical fruits and veggies to grow for foliage or for eating. Boniato, papaya, sugar cane, loquat, all the citrus, guava, pomegranate, et al.
Source (almost) free plants for your garden or patio- part 2
The more temperate fruits are satisfying, and may produce edible fruit. Don’t count on that, though. If you do plant some in your back yard or orchard, make a stake or plant tag identifying the specific fruit, such as Gala apple, Bosc pear, Red Globe grape, or “Chestnut from City Park”. The reason is that five or ten years later, you may not remember exactly what it is supposed to be. If it requires more specialized treatment or is more susceptible to diseases, or is needed to pollinate another tree, you won’t know.
Grapes are variable in taste depending on soil conditions. You can grow grapes of any kind, unless you are in the subtropics or tropics, like me. Fruiting vines take five or ten years to really get established and there is some specialized care if you plan on starting a vineyard. But for fun and some occasional nibbles, growing grapes from seed is easy. Not all grapes will sprout their seeds. Hybridized grapes, or most on the market, can be iffy.
Every time you get a bunch of grapes, every time you get a few on a salad or fruit plate or garnish, every time you pass a fruiting vine overhanging a public right of way, that’s when you grab a few mature grapes. In the wild, they would sprout from the rotting fruit buried in leaf litter. Don’t wait for Mother Nature. Split the grape and pop out the plump seeds, plant and label.
Once a vine is established, you can eat the lemony leaves. They may feel kinda prickly, but you can steam them for a chewier leaf texture. More like cabbage than lettuce, eh?
A lot of perennial plants that produce fruit are grafted onto specific root stock. Your peach pit or apple pips may never give you lush fruit because of that, but the trees are nice to look at and adapt to bonsai and large pot culture as well as providing flowers and shade in the yard.
Most nuts you get in a store have been dried and cured to prevent sprouting. The shells may be waxed and polished and dyed. Still, some nuts in some places will sprout for you. Try pecans from a farmers’ market, or raw peanuts from the grocery store. Chestnuts, beech nuts, black walnuts and others can be found in city parks occasionally. They’ll take a long time to sprout, then a long time to grow into a tree. It could be twenty or more years for some nut trees to produce.
Jerusalem artichokes, a sunflower relative, are also easily grown from grocery tubers. The flower is pretty and they can grow fairly tall. The tubers, while edible, are disagreeably gassy for some people. You can build up tolerance to that. If you only have the one plant, and you dig up what you think are all of the tubers that winter, you will probably still have them growing for the next year. There are always tiny bits left behind. Don’t plant them if you can’t stand policing your adventitious sprouting.
Beans from the dried bean section will grow true, usually. Any of the squash and cucumber seeds from very mature fruits will grow. So a black watermelon seed will grow, but a tan one probably won’t. Cuke seeds that are still green won’t sprout, but the chewy ones that are yellow to tan in a somewhat sour cuke will. If the zucchini is still edible, the seeds are not ripe enough to sprout. Tomatoes and peppers and sometimes overlarge eggplants will have mature seeds. I’ve even seen seeds from them sprouting inside market purchased veggies.
Sometimes sunflower seeds are roasted, but sometimes you can get interesting seeds from a bird seed assortment. Millet and sunflower, thistle, and others. Sesame seeds, like sunflower seeds, are often roasted so they won’t sprout.
Source (almost) free plants for your garden or patio- part 3
How about herbs? You can buy packages of some herbs from some groceries and root cuttings. It will be hit and miss, but with enough slips you may be happy with a few plants. Get the freshest herbs you can, with nodes that don’t look dried or shriveled. Most herbs do not like wet soil, and they don’t like very rich soil.
Stems of rosemary stripped of most of the leaves and all of the leaves on the bottom half will root fairly readily in plain water. Getting them to take transplantation to a pot or the ground is a little trickier some of the time. Rosemary doesn’t like being transplanted for one thing. For my own personal gratification, I put a dozen or more prepared stems in willow water or plain water, and wait for a few days until I can see the barest little translucent white bumps on the lower stems. Then I transplant into peat cells, usually two or three to a cell. I keep them misted, but not dripping. Once they are established and growing a little bit on top, or show fine roots outside of the peat ball, I plant in pots I’ll keep them for a couple of years. They make a nice potted shrub, or in the subtropics you can plant them directly in the well drained ground.
Basil and mint can root from grocery purchased cuttings. Mint is a cinch if you have any trace of the rhizome or whitish fleshy root trailing from the slip. Both like a more moist soil than most herbs. Trim off any funky stem ends, the lower leaves, and then clip the remaining leaves in half. Don’t leave flower buds or very soft new growth on the cuttings. You can root in water or in soil.
Thyme, oregano, marjoram, and even sage can root in soil for you. Chives will not unless you have a substantial bulb bit showing.
Many herb whole seeds from the spice section will root. Some are treated to not sprout, and some may be cured, but fennel, caraway, dill, celery seed, and others will grow readily for you. I’ve scattered dill seed that was six years old on a dry patch of earth, thinking that the scent was gone and maybe the birds or the bugs would eat it. Maybe so, but I also had a surprise crop! I did the same with flaxseed, too.
Source (almost) free plants for your garden or patio- part 4
Sometimes the floral section of markets will have bits you can grow, other than the ubiquitous African Violet. (You do know how to propagate them, right?) You might find some alstroemeria stems with a bit of root attached, or a black berry or tiger lily with fruiting bodies near the flowers. Sometimes the greenery will be rootable woody shrubs. Trim off most of the foliage and any flowers to allow the stem time to grow more substantial roots. The lily bulblets may not grow true to type, but the belamcamda or blackberry lily always has for me. Some of the feathery fillers may have seeds forming that will continue to mature. You can shake them over paper to see if any seeds come out. If you know there are seeds to be harvested, trim the leaves and soft growth, tie the drying stalk in a paper bag and let it sit until it rattles. Things like amaranths or goldenrods will do this.
Outside of grocery and ethnic markets, there are many other places to get free or almost free plants. (Sure you have to pay for the ginger at the market, but growing a new ginger hand and plant is all on you!)
Source (almost) free plants for your garden or patio- part 5
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If you live in suburbia, you will most likely have a yard waste trash pick up day. Cruise or walk around on those days and look for interesting things trimmed from people’s yards. Someone thinning out their daylilies or iris? All you need is a bit of fleshy rhizome to grow them. Branches cut from lilac and crape myrtle, from magnolia and from rhododendron? Try rooting them. Some of them are harder to establish than others, but you may find you have the perfect conditions for growing azaleas from cuttings.
I know I have a green thumb. But I’ve had one yard that rooted crape myrtle and another that couldn’t. Azaleas that rooted on one side of the house, but not another. Try different spots with different soil conditions and different lighting to root your finds.
Some people cruise the curbs on those pick up days just to get compostable material. There’s always something for a gardener.
You won’t likely know the flower color or size of the shrubs you root this way, but that’s part of the charm to my mind. If you plant in pots, you have more latitude in placement when you do discover the traits. Sometimes, if you have a good memory, you may know that your cuttings came from a house with huge standard pink azaleas, or from the church with the rusty colored chrysanthemums. This is another time when attaching a plant stake with that information on it is a good idea.
Occasionally you’ll find bulbs or roots, other than the daylilies. Daylilies are the sluts of the lilies. They’ll spread for anybody and their joy of living is so obvious. I love them. But amaryllis and cannas and crinums (all big southern blooms from bulbs) can outwear their welcome. I don’t know how, but they do get cast off from time to time. Whatever the reason, I scoop them up. You can’t easily tell a large amaryllis from a modest crinum bulb with only a blade of foliage, but you will know that you can eventually get it to rebloom if you feed it with calcium. Bone meal, either purchased or made in your pressure cooker from roast or chicken bones and egg shells, is your stinky friend. People also discard tired caladiums and cannas (which also go to seed: hint, hint) and mounds of ground covers like pachysandra and ajuga. Both of those will root and spread easily in the right conditions.
Around holiday times, even before holiday times, people will toss seasonal plants. Look for azaleas, tulips, poinsettias, chrysanthemums, crotons, Norfolk Island pines, and so much more. Think about it: People buy them sometimes in anticipation of the season, perhaps for a party. They bloom or put on a display and then die back, drop the remaining blossoms, or just seem too seasonal to be kept by a non gardener. So they toss them, and maybe buy another if the season is still ripe.
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This series of articles were written by Lizzy Mahoney
Source (almost) free plants for your garden or patio- part 6
Another very odd place for the conventionally minded to scavenge for plants and cuttings is some cemeteries. You have to check at the cemetery you choose. It’s sometimes very not okay to scrounge, and you always have to be wary of offending any of the bereaved, even if you are just removing some trashed plants.
Very nice memorial gardens of the perpetual flavor will usually have a gardeners shed or work area where the excess of bouquets from interment services will go once or twice a week. They might have a huge pile of blooms tossed willy nilly. Among them will be faded shrubby things and bulbs and perhaps some branches that might be rooted, such as forsythia.
Some really old and not perpetually cared for burial grounds will have a few newer graves or even some from fifty years ago that get floral attention from relatives. In this sort of place, the dumping area is most likely in the wooded areas on the edges of the grounds. You won’t find so many fresh plants there, but could find dried up potted plants that need a lot of TLC. I’ve gotten a few azaleas over many years from such places. The way to tell if there is any life in that old brown scruffy thing with the dead leaves is to bend a few twigs. Dead ones snap. Live ones bend. Trim the tips radically, then soak the pot thoroughly, drain, then wrap in a tent of plastic to hold in the humidity. You will be rewarded with new growth.
I’ve also found that the old neglected cemeteries will have more native plants. Rarely, you might find something in seed or a small offset you can discreetly remove. It’s more likely to be a place for you to see what will flourish in your local climate, as long as the soil is similar to yours. For my area, I can see what wild flowers grow best, what subspecies of pine or oak will tolerate the heat and drought, and how mature specimens will look.
The last source I’ll mention for providing plants to the creative gardener is dumpster diving. Again, not for the squeamish. Garden nurseries are absolutely the best, but in some areas you can go behind the big box stores to their dumpsters for them. Also apartment complexes at the end of the month will often have cast off plants by their dumpsters.
At a chain store or nursery, you’ll find out of season plants and trees. Aside from holiday related things you might find overgrown tomato plants at the end of June or spent bulbs once spring’s rains are past. They might discard a shrub that happened to be beneath a rip in the awning during a sudden rainstorm. So the soil washed away? It’s not like you can’t replace it. These plants will often not be in great shape. If the fix was immediate, they would have done it already, like patting it back into the planter or cutting off the broken twig.
At an apartment complex, expect larger plants especially. Dracaenas and Ficus trees, Scheffleras, palms, monsteras and that sort of plant. Anything people find awkward to move. Small ones are usually tossed into the dumpster, and may not be visible at all. I’d rather get the ficus and leave the Pampers alone, if you know what I mean. Often I’ve had to do the radical trim and then tender loving care to get the plant back in shape, but with some plants that’s only a matter of days. And with the larger plants you can determine that your two months and minimal expense was worth it to get a specimen that could have cost you two days pay.
All of these things are not past usefulness to you, the crafty gardener. You can nourish them and nourish yourself by watching their renewed vigor.
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Several good posts on paper making.
hey punkinpie_prod...I found some very detailed websites for you, with step by step instructions. It’s very easy, so i think lots of people take the recipes for granted when explaining how to make it. Here you go:
http://www.coxes.com/paper/index.html
http://www.pioneerthinking.com/makingpaper.html
http://www.handpapermaking.org/ArticlesforBeginnersIndex.html
I have used both newspaper and brown paper bags, and both turned out really well. With the newspaper, I just tore up a whole bunch, filled up my crafty blender with the paper (just a normal blender), squirted a bunch of elmer’s glue, and just kept adding water until I could get it to move evenly in the blender. I didn’t have any measurements, but those websites should help with that. I also tried adding construction paper for color, but I was using blue, so the pulp turned just a bluer version of grey. But you could experiment. Then I poured it in my mold screen (I just took a piece of window screen and staple gunned it to an old wooden picture frame....worked pretty well), took a spoon and pushed out the water, and let it dry. My ‘paper’ is very thick and stiff (about 1/8”, I think). With the brown paper bags, I mixed newspaper in and while it was drying, I set some fall leaves into the paper....that piece turned out really cool. And I did this all 3 years ago and still have those papers I made, and they are still stiff as boards and all together, so with newspaper, I think as long as you’re making it thick, it will be alright.
Have fun playing around with it!
[Links not checked..granny, who has been to them in the past..]
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One of my favorite gift-as-food ideas was the “Ingredients-in-a-Jar” thing. Find a recipe you really enjoyed (such as a brownie recipe or cookie recipe) and assemble all the dry ingredients and fill a large mason jar.
Decorate the lid with some cute fabric and include the recipe on some cute paper.
Tip: It looks very nice to add the ingredients in even layers.
This was always a very popular gift among my friends and everyone always enjoyed sharing their recipes!
Here is a great cookie recipe to try in a jar:
CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
• ¾ cup butter or margarine (softened)
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• one tsp vanilla extract
• 2 fresh eggs
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 2¼ cups flour
• 2 cups large milk chocolate chips
• one cup walnuts (chopped)
• ½ cup dried shredded coconut
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine sugars, butter, eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, salt, baking soda, and shredded coconut. Add walnuts and chocolate chips. Drop one-inch balls of dough two inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake cookies at 350°F for 12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool.
Hope everyone enjoys!
Healing foods of the Holy Bible - inexpensive way to stay healthy during a Great Depression
October 8, 2008 by derekclontz
Copyright © Derek Clontz./4-Page Media, Inc. Reprint permission is authorized for any non-commercial use but copy cannot be altered or edited in any way, and copyright notice must be left in place. If you would like to use this article in a commercial application, contact 4-Page Media, Inc. Permissions.
THE Holy Bible pointedly refers to dozens of healthful foods that you might want to consider adding to your diet as part of an overall wellness plan.
And here you’ll find 10 of them as referenced in “Hertel’s New Standard Bible” - an 82-year-old “classic” that was published in 1924 and has been passed down through my family for generations.
Hertel’s New Standard contains a comprehensive dictionary that, as the editors themselves put it, “answers all questions pertaining to persons, places and things of the Scripture.”
guaranteed-potency jungle herb for 96 different illnesses will come in handy after economic and social collapse.
Una de Gato: guaranteed-potency jungle herb for 96 different illnesses will come in handy after economic and social collapse.
The dictionary is a rich source of information on foods of the Bible, many of which are recommended by modern nutritionists as good choices for those of us who are concerned with our health.
Don’t forget: If you are seriously ill or think you might be, always consult a doctor before you try to diagnose or treat yourself.
1. Almonds. Almonds are a storehouse of nutrients, including magnesium, arginine and dietary fiber. True believers insist that just three raw almonds a day will keep sickness at bay.
2. Apples. An apple a day, as the saying goes, keeps the doctor away - and it’s easy to see how they got that reputation. Apples are chock full of vitamins - vitamin C especially.
And apple “pectin” - the pulpy part of the fruit next to the peeling - is reputed to help flush environmental toxins from the body, lower cholesterol, help regulate blood sugar levels, and reduce the risk of heart disease.
3. Barley. Believed to be mankind’s oldest cultivated crop, barley is a rich source of calcium and iron and contains essential amino acids, bioflavonoids and enzymes.
4. Beans. Beans are a good source of low-fat protein and more vitamins and minerals than you can shake a stick at. If you are dieting, beans can help. Studies suggest that beans function as appetite suppressants, taking the edge off hunger pangs for four hours or more after you eat them.
5. Coriander. This spice is sometimes referred to as “the healer from heaven.” New studies show that coriander can help reduce the inflammation associated with arthritic joints and it has long been used as an aid to digestion.
6. Figs. Figs have been used in the folk-treatment of constipation, scurvy, hemorrhoids, liver problems, cancers, boils, and also to increase energy, stamina and endurance.
7. Garlic. Garlic is widely used to fight infection, thin blood, reduce blood pressure, guard against heart disease and stimulate the immune system.
8. Honey. Honey kills bacteria, is a disinfectant, and is reputed to relieve symptoms of asthma. It’s an energy booster and - like morphine - it seems to reduce the perception of severe pain, an intriguing study has shown..
9. Olive Oil. Olive oil helps to prevent heart disease and high blood pressure, leading one researcher to call it: “Humanity’s best health oil.” It also is a rich source of vitamin E, an antioxidant that is reputed to protect against cancers, arthritis and diabetes. The oil is excellent for skin. It’s a mainstay of the heart-healthful “Mediterranean Diet.”
10. Onion. The onion can lower elevated cholesterol levels, lower high blood pressure and even ease the sugar “spiking” that plagues diabetics when eaten in moderation.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
* New study confirms it - 8 of 10 workers are smarter than their bosses; read…
* 10 foods that can benefit your health
* How Laughing is Good for You?
* 7 Foods to Keep You Young
[I have not researched the Cats Claw herb, so have no knowledge of its powers, should do so as there is a tree in my yard called Cats Claw.
granny]
BTTT
Phyllis’s Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
... Stringers try it, then buy it.
from Phyllis Fewtrell
Nat and Russ, Kay and JohnA take tentative bites of Phyllis’s chocolate mayonnaise cake. It was excellent.
Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
by Phyllis Fewtrell.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
MIX TOGETHER:
Two cups of mayonnaise
Two cups of water.
quarter-cup (four tablespoons) of grape jelly
Two teaspoons of vanilla.
ADD:
Four cups cake flour
Two cups of sugar
Half cup (8T) of cocoa
Four teaspoons baking soda.
And salt.
Add dry ingredients to liquid, mix thoroughly.
Bake one hour until done, at 350.
Use two nine-inch pans or one baking dish.
FROSTING:
One stick of margarine
One box of 10x confectioners sugar.
Half cup of cocoa.
Quarter cup of milk.
Mix with egg beater until fluffy.
Put on cake when cool.
I received this recipe from Marie Carnella in late 1960. My ex-husband loved it and it was a regular on my baking list.
One day I changed it to do a spice cake and used mint jelly. It came out green. He was teased by the people he worked with.
September 5, 2003
Couple of light recipes for the holidays
... Traditional cranberry salad and a delightful Italian favorite
from Kay McCarte and Ella Letterie
It’s not like we tried to come up with a complete menu for any holiday dinner, but we did try to get a selection of Stringers’ favorites. And who responded? Two of our most dependable members, Kay and Ella.
So here’s a couple of tasty items for your holiday palette:
Nancy Brissette’s CRANBERRY JELLO SALAD
2 3oz. or 1 6oz. Pkg. Raspberry Jello
1 can Cranberry Sauce (jelly)
1/2 cup cut-up Pecan pieces or Walnuts
(not too small)
1 sm. carton Sour Cream
Mix jello with 1 cup of boiling water until fully dissolved.
Mix Cranberry Sauce with 1 cup of hot water until smooth.
Combine into one bowl, add nuts and mix well.
Pour 1/2 into an 8x8 pan, preferably glass or a disposable aluminum one.
Place in freezer until well jelled (1 hour or so)
Remove; cover jelled layer with Sour Cream
(spreads better at room temperature)
Place back in freezer for 20 minutes to 1/2 hour until Sour Cream is hardened.
Pour remaining mixture over Sour Cream and place in refrigerator to jell completely.
Before serving cut into squares - serve simply as squares or place on a bed of green lettuce for a Christmas color presentation.
(Via Stringer Kay McCarte)
Struffoli honey balls
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon butter, softened
½ cup sugar plus 1 teaspoon
2 cups unbleached flour sifted
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup honey
Vegetable oil for deep frying
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, butter, and the 1 teaspoon sugar until foamy.
Sift the flour with the baking powder and stir into the egg mixture. With your hands, work the mixture into a soft dough.
Divide the dough into 4 pieces. On a floured surface, roll each piece into a rope about the width of your index finger and 12 inches long. Cut the rope into 1 inch pieces. Toss the pieces with enough flour to dust them lightly, and shake off the excess flour.
In a deep fryer, heat the oil to 325 F. Fry the struffoli a few handfuls at a time, until puffed up and golden brown. Transfer with a slotted spoon to brown paper to drain.
In a large saucepan, combine the honey and the ½ cup sugar and heat over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the balls a few at a time and turn with a wooden spoon to coat all sides. Transfer the balls to a large plate and mound them into a pyramid shaping it with wet hands.
Break off pieces with your hands to eat.
(Via Stringer Ella Letterie)
December 2, 2005
Lace Cookies
by Kay McCarte
The May Tea at the Milano Senior Center featured a contest for the best homemade cookies and brownies.
And the Winner is -
Evelyn Mallon for her Lace Cookies. She even shared her recipe:
LACE COOKIES
The cookies spread to make very thin wafers.
Set the oven at 375 degrees.
Mix in a bowl
2 1/4 cups oatmeal (use Quick Quaker Oats)AA
2 1/4 cups light brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
Stir in
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
Add
1 egg slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
Blend well.
Arrange by SCANT teaspoonfuls at least 2 inches apart on cookie sheets covered with PARCHMENT paper. Bake until lightly browned (about 7 minutes). As soon as firm enough remove from cookie sheets.
Enjoy
Six-Week Raisin Bran Muffins
... SilverStringers’ Favorite Recipes
by Russ Priestley
Makes six dozen - and will keep for six weeks in the refrigerator. Make one or more at a time, if desired.
Pre-heat oven 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix all:
15oz. Post (or other) Raisin Bran Cereal
5 cups flour.
2 1/2 cups sugar.
5 tsps. baking soda.
2 tsps. salt
Extra raisins optional.
Add to above mixture
1 cup melted shortening or oil.
4 eggs (beaten with fork)
1 quart buttermilk
Mix well.
At this point you may store in covered container in refrigerator — NOT IN THE FREEZER! Do not stir after it is put in container. Then use as needed..
TO COOK: Fill greased tins 2/3rds full. Bake 15 to 20 minutes.
OR
MICROWAVE* in Pyrex custard cups greased lightly.
3 minutes for one, 4 1/2 minutes for two. Remove from cup and let sit for 3 minutes. If using paper cups, 1 1/2 minutes for one, 2 minutes for two and let sit for 3 minutes.
*Note: Times are for 500 watt oven.
P.S. Don’t forget to sit 3 minutes - or you can stand, if you choose. R.P.
The Older I Get, the Better the Pork Stew!
.... a journalist ends up with nine pounds of stew.
SilverStringer Don Norris
The people at the Silver Stringers asked me to provide one of my renown recipes for publication in their electronic newspaper, but I’m rushed and out of time, so here’s a good short one. Keep in mind this is being done by a journalist, not a chef. And I attempt to go thru this procedure step by logical step. Follow along closely please. If you get lost, jes’ stumble along behind me. The stew will turn out all right.
Now we’re southerners, even though we’ve lived in Melrose for most of the last fifty years. But southern cooking usually ain’t too exact, and you kinda have to feel your way along as you go. You know, a pinch a’ this, a snooker from this tin, and a fair handful from that barrel ... I’m sure that you’ll come up with one scrumptious stew if you use these instructions to guide you.
One more thing: I’m male, and I have to write for other males — which means I have to write everything out, step by repetitive step, careful not to assume too much understanding. The women know what I mean.
Don’s Pork Stew Delight
First, line up a whole bunch of big pots and pans - including your pressure cooker - a few big kitchen knives, some cutting boards, lots of plastic mixing spoons, some soupbowls and some olive oil. This is preliminary and required, I discovered. Get lots of high-quality paper towels for cleanup and spills.
Then, read the newspaper ads until you can find a really good buy on those big packages of assorted pork chops — you know, the ones cut too thin, left-over loins and pork stewmeat. They’re the most economical, and frankly, nothing tastes as good as a good cheap meal done well. At this point, if you haven’t been to the supermarket, go now. It might be well to bring along the list of your ingredients, just in case your larder is low.
You need about two or three pounds of that on-sale pork assortment. For goodness sake, don’t buy a roast or anything like that, cause you’ll just have to cut it up to chops anyway. But keep in mind that the bones add real good flavor, but they gotta be removed before eatin’.
The key to pork stew ....
The key to a really fine pork stew is to brown the hell out of the chops before you do anything else — except for lining up your pots and other implements. Take your largest skillet — preferably a 12-incher — fire up a medium-to-high flame, pour in a fair amount of olive oil, and start browning the chops as they fit in the pan, both sides, of course. Supplying pressure with a spatula always helps to enhance the browning. And be prepared to have the oil spit all over the place. You see, cleanup usually takes as much time as cooking, in my way of preparing food. It’s fast and furious.
But get those chops really rich brown. No nambie-pambie browning. Really get aggressive. And for goodness sake, don’t trim the fat — yet. This isn’t a dieter’s dish.
Browning two-three pounds of pork chops properly usually takes about an hour, simply because you have so many of them. Be sure to wear an old and durable apron to protect your midriff area. I got a little scorched by not paying attention to this detail, once.
Now the browning is important because that’s what really makes the essence of the flavor in a good pork stew. You’ll have to renew the olive oil now and again, but don’t skimp. As your chops get nicely and thoroughly browned, simply fork them into your adjacent pressure cooker. This is a necessary step since browning pork chops usually makes then tougher ‘n the hide of a 50-year-old gator. And twelve minutes in a pressure cooker makes ‘em edible again.
You know how your pressure-cooker works, but in mine, I put a half cup of water in the bottom (with the browned chops on top of a spacer), seal ‘em up, and when the pressure builds up proper, cut back the flame to low and let ‘er go for some twelve minutes. And I always let the cooker set on a cold burner for a while before removing the regulator — which time adds to making the chops a little more tender. Tenderer, Grannie used to say.
Grannie said they’re tenderer that way ....
In Grannie’s time — she was born in 1858 ‘n died 93 years later, still cooking on her wood stove — practically every ingredient was provided from the farm, which Grandpa ran as a means to a livelihood. Nowadays rather than going out and picking basil or cilantro, you have it in a handy foil package, or frozen, even canned. Well, here’s one place I count on my mother’s way of making a stew — she used stewed tomatoes from CANS!
Getting back to ingredients, the list is rather simple:
Two to three pounds of pork chops and olive oil to brown them.
Two nice large onions.
Five or six carrots, sliced and diced.
A box (10 oz) of frozen lima beans, either baby or Fordhook. Fresh if you got ‘em.
Frozen (or canned) corn — one package of 10 oz.
One green pepper, finely diced.
Some salt and lots of pepper, to taste.
Minimum of two cans (15-16oz) of good stewed tomatoes (best to have a couple more on hand - I actually used four because I over-did on the other ingredients).
While the chops were browning, I managed to scrape and cut the carrots, chop the two onions, finely dice the pepper, zap the corn in the microwave, and cook both the limas and the carrots also in the microwave — each of which requires about ten minutes. Check out cooking directions on the box.
Even tho I used a splatterscreen on my 12-inch teflon frying pan, the grease splattered everywhere. It’s just something you’ve got to put up with, particularly if you brown the chops on a medium high heat. And as the chops were done, I dumped them directly into the pressure cooker, on top of a spacer disk, which allows melted fat to run off.
The onions were dumped in the same grease from the chops, and so they were browned with the flavor of the pork. This also serves to clean the pan a bit, as if that were some significant matter. The package of pork chops that I bought (99 cents on sale, and actually I bought two packs, one for the freezer) weighed 3.75 pounds. So I used them all, which was too much, so I had to add two more cans of stewed tomatoes and maybe one can of water to provide enough liquid for dunking the Italian bread.
Again I sauteed the finely diced green pepper in the pork/onion pan — all of which provides more flavor.
Ahhh — putting it all together ...
And finally, with my five-quart kettle, I began mixing the ingredients: two cans of stewed tomato, which by the way, I diced first — the carrots and limas, the onions and green pepper. Since there is already a fair amount of salt in the cans of stewed tomatoes, I’d go easy on further salt, at least to the end when you can best judge. In the meantime, I dumped in a mess of black pepper. That’s essential to Southern cookin’.
I also include the liquid that the veggies were cooked in — anything to add to the flavor.
The final step is to hand-strip the pork chops, removing the obvious fat, picking the meat from the bone, and breaking it apart into small, irregular pieces — nothing bigger than a dime. When I got done with my 3.75 pounds of pork, it became obvious that we needed more stewed tomatoes, and more liquid. And so I added two more cans of chopped stewed tomatoes.
Then the kettle went on a burner to simmer for an hour or so.
I ended up with a kettle of really outstanding stew, but it weighed seven or eight pounds and filled the entire 4.5-quart kettle. Well, the next day we went up to visit Brian and Priscilla Simm, former Melrosians who are now retired in Hillsboro, NH, where five of us (including their son Steve) managed to do away with half of my pork stew.
I got a hug and a kiss from Priscilla, a hearty pat on the back from Brian, and a passing wave from Steve as he was on his way out. Young people are always in a rush to go somewhere.
I was amply rewarded for my two-hours of labor. Not only that, but Lorry and I have enough pork stew to last us three more meals.
Just as a footnote, Priscilla had set the table with candlelight, a beautiful flowering gloxinia as a center piece, handsome cloth place mats and her silverware. Wine was a hearty burgundy, but what really enhanced the evening was this magnificent view from their front window — we looked down on a running field of deep snow, bordered by hardwoods and spruce, the Sunapee mountains as a background, all glistening in moonlight. And of course a friendship that dates back more than fifty years. How’s that for the perfect pork stew!
May 19, 1998
Oma’s Yellow Cake
... or, “how Oma caught her man”.
Anna Endter (via Inge)
Oma’s Yellow Cake
2 cups sugar 1 cup milk
1 cup butter 2 2/3 cups flour
4 eggs 3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla or rind of lemon pinch of salt
Mix sugar and butter thoroughly. Add egg yolks one at a time and beat well. Add flavor. Add milk and flour alternately. Fold mixture into whipped egg whites.
Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.
“Don’t forget to put the Baking Powder In!”
October 30, 1998
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