Home gardening offers ways to trim grocery costs [Survival Today, an on going thread]

http://www.christmas-cookies.com/recipes/recipe313.grandma-sears-soft-molasses-creams.html

Grandma Sears’ Soft Molasses Creams

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 cups molasses
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add egg yolk and molasses.

Stir together baking soda, salt, flour, ginger and nutmeg.

Add vinegar to water.

Gradually stir flour mixture into shortening mixture, alternating with hot water.

Drop by heaping tablespoons onto greased cookie sheet 3” apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Store in an airtight container.

Note: Reviewers, please help us out and note the yield. Thanks!

Reviews of Grandma Sears’ Soft Molasses Creams:
1-5 of 16 reviews Next >>

summer Dec 22, 2007
Would make this again.
I have always wanted to try a recipelike this and always hesitant of how they would turn out. I tried this one today and they are very taste cookies,soft and flavorfull. I cant for friends and family to try, they will love.ty five stars

A cookie baker in Oregon Dec 10, 2006
Would make this again.
Awsome and easy to make five stars

Sandy in Kentucky Dec 7, 2006
Would make this again.
I loved this recipe! Great taste, cake like texture, easy to make. I got about 4 1/2 dozen cookies from this recipe. four stars

A cookie baker in Vancouver, BC Dec 24, 2004
Would make this again.
This cookie tasted awesome! I had to use more than 1/2 cup of water as the mixture seemed too thick but it turned out okay. I also had trouble getting the dough off the spoon so the cookies ended up being huge, but nobody ever complains about cookies being too big. Goes well with Egg Nog (& Rum). five stars

A cookie baker in Archdale, NC Dec 27, 2003
Would make this again.
I will make these again, but not as a Christmas cookie. Too much competition with the other cookies. They were good and brought back childhood memories. Tasted a lot like gingerbread. Would probably be good just dipping in whip cream. four stars

http://www.hallmarkmagazine.com/ProjGiveItCocoa

Make the perfect hot chocolate for your special valentines.

By Amy Palanjian

THERE’S ONLY ONE THING better than chocolate—in all its heavenly rich and creamy variety—and that’s chocolate shared with someone you love. We suggest making that sentiment a part of your Valentine’s Day gifts this year, giving the ones you love an invitation—adoringly created by you, of course!—to join you at different times for a sublime cup of cocoa. Simply whip up the cocoa mix, divide it into batches big enough to make two cups, and personalize each batch with just the right flavor to suit your best friend, a wonderful kid (or kids) and (of course!) the special person in your life. Finally, enclose each batch of cocoa mix in a pretty handmade card that invites the recipient to chat over a sweet mugful. Then smile, knowing that you’ve got at least three great dates to look forward to.

The Invitation
Start by downloading our invitation images here (http://hallmarkmagazine.com/downloads/giveit413.pdf). Print onto regular computer paper and use pinking shears to cut around the edges of the image. Using paper glue, secure the image to the center of the front of a “matchbook” (available at crafts stores or Paper Source, 888-727-3711). Pink the top of the matchbook. Spoon 3 heaping tablespoons of the flavored cocoa mix into a glassine envelope (also available at crafts stores or Paper Source), folding over the top and securing with tape. Repeat to make a second packet. Place both packets of cocoa, overlapping, under the flap of the matchbook so that you can punch two holes through all of the layers at once. Starting from the back of the matchbook, thread -inch ribbon through the holes and tie in a pretty bow. To close, simply tuck the front under the flap, the way you would with a real matchbook.

The Cocoa Mix
Start with this basic mix: Combine of a cup of bittersweet cocoa powder, 1/2 cup of nonfat dry milk powder and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. For each serving, use 3 tbsp of the mix (you will have enough for 6 cups of cocoa) and 8 ounces of hot water. And try adding in one of the flavor variations below for a twist on the classic cocoa.

Sophisticated Citrus
6 tablespoons basic cocoa mix
2 teaspoons dried orange zest
Pinch of ground cinnamon

Treat Time
6 tablespoons basic cocoa mix
2 peppermint tea bags (put one in each serving, steep for a few minutes in the mix after adding water, then remove)
Crushed peppermint candy

Hot & Spicy
6 tablespoons basic cocoa mix
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 vanilla bean, scraped, with pod discarded
Small pinch of cayenne pepper

http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2007/06/report-on-my-new-haybox-cooker-success.html

Report on My New Haybox Cooker - Success!

What’s a ‘haybox cooker’? See
http://www.solarcooking.org/heat%2Dretention/
for a good explanation.

I didn’t want to ask my husband to build a wooden box for me although I would like to have a very pretty, decorative wooden box. But, while my husband does sturdy, he definitely doesn’t do pretty! (He’d be the first to tell you this.)

I wanted something more permanent than cardboard and less subject to being scratched to pieces by our cat who finds cardboard boxes irresistible.

My friend Jan has a stainless steel ‘fireless cooker’. It works very well, and is nice looking. This would be especially nice to take hot food to a church supper or the like.

It’s here:

http://www.totalvac.com/parts/CC4500P2.html?zmam=6843742&zmas=1&zmac=18&zmap=CC4500P2

(You’ll need to cut and paste, sorry, I have not yet figured out how to do URLs to make links in the new version of Blogger.)

or try: http://tinyurl.com/2e2zwu

Jan reports that the stainless steel inner pan is nearly a gallon in size, and that it cooks soups and stews very well, but it is not suitable for cooking dried beans.

But it’s expensive - $99. And I often cook large amounts of soups or stews, then freeze quite a few dinners’ worth for later no-cook nights. One gallon isn’t large enough to cook for the freezer in quantity.

Then I thought of an Igloo (or Igloo type) cooler; the hard-shell coolers. These have obvious advantages in that they are already well-insulated and meant to retain heat or cold. However, all of the coolers that I could find, both locally and online, were narrow rectangles in shape. I don’t
have any pots that are narrow rectangles.

Finally, we came across an Igloo ‘Cube’ cooler in a local drugstore; it’s this one:

http://tinyurl.com/2w6rq5 (if this doesn’t work for you,
just Google on ‘Igloo Cube’ to find one)

It cost us $29.99. I have several pots that fit into it, including one of my pressure cookers and a very large soup pot (separately, not at the same time, although I do have two smaller pots that will fit in it together).

I do not think it would be a good idea to put a hot pot directly on the bottom of the cooler. My husband cut a piece of scrap wood that fits on the bottom, and I put two layers of aluminum foil on top of the scrap wood. A couple of pieces of cardboard, again covered with aluminum foil, could be
used instead of the wood.

Then I scotch-taped aluminum foil to the sides of the cooler. I had meant to use heavy-duty aluminum foil but couldn’t find any (at home; I didn’t go to the store), so I just used regular foil. (And then I found the heavy-duty foil later on, of course. But the regular foil seems to work fine for this purpose.)

None of our quilts would fit in the cooler after putting a pot in it. I don’t want to cut up any of our quilts, so I nestled an afghan into the cooler. An afghan is fairly loosely knit (at least this one is), so it’s not the ideal insulation or air-space filler.

I’ll go to the GoodWill Store soon and buy an old quilt that I can cut up to use in the haybox. Or maybe I’ll buy a really cheap pillow at the Dollar Store and cut that up.

I decided to start out with long-grain brown rice.

I will experiment with using my pressure cooker in the haybox later; but I wanted this first experiment to be accessible to as many people as possible and lots of people don’t have pressure cookers.

I put 3-3/4 cups of water in a heavy pot, and put it on the stove. I brought the water to a boil, then stirred in 1-1/2 cups of long-grain brown rice. (The proportion of water to rice is two to one.) I again brought it to a boil, put the lid on the pot, and put the pot in the haybox cooker/cooler, tucking the afghan in around the pot. Then I closed the cooler.

Four hours later, I opened the cooler, removed the pot, took a look at the rice and tasted it. It was not quite cooked enough so I again brought it to a boil (which only took about two minutes, as it was still quite hot), covered the pot and returned it to the haybox. One hour later I again took it out and the brown rice was perfectly cooked.

Brown rice generally takes about 45 minutes in a pan on the stovetop: so I saved at least 40 minutes of natural gas (stovetop) or about 60 minutes of electricity if I had used my electric vegetable steamer/rice cooker to cook the rice.

I’ll be able to cook lots of soups, stews, chili and other such dishes in it when the weather is cold again (we don’t want them now that it is summer). I believe I can use it to cook dried beans (soaked overnight first), although I may have to re-boil them in the middle of the cooking time.

I am sure that I can cook anything that cooks in a crockpot in the haybox cooker. Obviously, it can also be used for some things that I don’t use a crockpot to cook, such as the brown rice.

Two pots of mine will fit in it, one stacked on top of the other. I would need to turn the cover upside down on the lower pot. But that should be OK.

I will also experiment with incubating yogurt in it: we make two quarts of yogurt at least once per week, sometimes more often.

UPDATE: It works beautifully for incubating yogurt. The yogurt is ready in four hours, just as it would be if I had
used the electric yogurt maker. But the haybox cooker doesn’t use any electricity. I will do it this way from now on.
Complete directions are here: www.meadows.pair.com/makingyogurt.html.

I like this very much because it’s so accessible to so many people. You don’t need any skill to make it; you just buy it. You don’t need carpentry tools. The cost is not exorbitant and will fairly quickly be recouped in saved energy costs. The concept is a cinch to master and it’s easy to cook in it - no burning the food, no watching a pot on a hot stove. It doesn’t heat your house or apartment - a very good thing in summer, not so good in winter.

You don’t need sunshine to use it, although use of a haybox cooker would probably combine well with use of a solar oven. You can live in an apartment and use the haybox cooker.

If you have an elderly parent (or parents) who live nearby, you could prepare a soup or stew, take it to their place, pop it into the haybox cooker, and leave it with them so that they can have a good hot dinner.

The cubic-shaped coolers also come on wheels:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5663765

If I had seen one on wheels, I would probably have bought it instead, although carrying the cooler isn’t a problem for us. But I believe the wheeled version would be better for a frail or elderly person.

And of course, there’s nothing to prevent use of the Igloo cooler as a .... (surprise!) picnic cooler. You could also use it in your car to bring frozen food home from the store if the store is a long distance and the weather is hot.

One tiny step for independence, one smidgen less pollution emitted from our household, one tiny bit less greenhouse gas caused by our household, one step away from corporate control, one little bit less fossil fuel used by our household .... all to the good.

Most of us can only take small steps. But small steps taken by many people add up to something significant.

Peace,
Pat

posted by Pat Meadows @ 9:20 AM 6 comments links to this post
6 Comments:

At Saturday, 23 June, 2007, Anonymous Marion said...

I like your hay box idea and it’s heartwarming to see yet another person who cares about our environment. Indeed, many small steps make one big step.
Cheers

At Wednesday, 28 November, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, Pat.

Any chance you could use newspaper to stuff?

Best,

MEA

At Wednesday, 28 November, 2007, Blogger Pat Meadows said...

I want to answer MEA’s comment - yes, I think newspaper would be OK.
I do not, however, know at what temperature newspaper will catch fire.

I don’t *think* it will catch fire at the temperature of any pot I would put in the haybox cooker; but I don’t actually *know*; and I haven’t tried it.

Pat

At Wednesday, 28 November, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Paper burn at 451 F. (That’s where the title of the book come from.)

Best,

MEA

At Wednesday, 28 November, 2007, Blogger Pat Meadows said...

That should be fine, then. Thanks!

Pat

http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2006/12/enough-protein.html

Enough protein?

I was re-reading (a recent edition of) ‘Diet for a Small Planet’ by Frances Moore Lappe last night. I couldn’t sleep because of pain, as often happens these days, unfortunately.

For a while, I have suspected that pain increases the body’s need for protein because of the way I feel when eating lots of protein contrasted to the way I feel when eating not-so-much protein.

Yes, pain does increase the need for protein. It can increase the body’s need for protein as much as 30%. Wound-healing also increases the need for protein, as do pregnancy and nursing.

Not only that, there’s at least some evidence that (specifically) soy protein can lessen pain under certain conditions.

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00344097

OK, why am I mentioning it?

Those of us who eat a low-meat diet know that recently the perceived wisdom is that a *varied* diet of *whole*, *natural* foods (note the emphasis) will give us enough protein. And so at least some of us have been very relaxed about whether or not we’re getting enough protein.

The Standard American Diet is so meat-heavy that many Americans do have plenty of protein (too much, probably, which can present its own problems).

But this doesn’t apply to a lot of us. For example, I’m not a vegetarian at present, but I eat very little meat - I eat chicken about once a week, beef even less often, and I refuse to eat pork because of the way it’s raised in the USA. Of course, there are many vegetarians too (I’ve been vegetarian at various times in my life). Even being a vegan is no longer unusual. Eating low on the food chain will become even more important as fossil fuels become more and more expensive and in short supply.

I suggest that maybe a bit of cautious attention should be paid to protein requirements. I’m going to pay more attention to it in the future.

Eating lots of protein without getting too many calories and too much fat and cholesterol can be tricky. Eating more meat is often not the best answer because of its fat, calorie, and cholesterol content. And, of course, some of us don’t eat meat at all.

It’s a good idea to use complementary proteins when you can. Here’s a really good brief explanation of complementary proteins:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/courses/bio104/compprot.htm

This isn’t difficult, really, most ethnic food is based on complementary proteins (beans plus grains, for instance). Examples are tortillas and beans, falafel on pita, veggie and tofu stir-fry with brown rice, etc.

You don’t need to get the complementary proteins in the same meal, only within several hours of each other (maybe within a day), but I think it’s much easier and much simpler just to become accustomed to complementing within a meal.

Major complementary protein combinations include:

* Grains (including cereal and pasta) + legumes (beans, peas, lentils)
* Grains + dairy products
* Seeds (sunflower, sesame) + legumes

Other complementary proteins are:

* Grains + seeds
* Dairy products + seeds
* Dairy products + legumes

The grains, of course, must be whole grains (brown rice, whole wheat bread, whole grain pasta or noodles, etc.) for maximum protein plus other health benefits.

If a dinner is shy on protein, it’s a good idea to have a high protein dessert such as custard or one of the low-fat cheesecakes or Banana Cheese Pie (recipe is at the bottom of this post).

Another good tactic: eat some protein, some healthy (that is, unrefined) carbohydrate and some fruits or veggies at every meal. In other words, if you have three meals a day, make them three balanced meals. This also helps keep your blood sugar stable and in a healthy range.

I thought all adults had been taught to do this or had read enough to know that it was wise. But this isn’t the case. To my surprise, I have recently found that some adults do not know this.

You can also add dry skim milk to many baked goods, or to a banana or other smoothie, to raise the protein content. If you make homemade yogurt, you probably already add dry skim milk to make it thicker and more creamy - this also adds to the protein content, of course. Yogurt-making directions:

http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-i-make-yogurt.html

My muesli - served with homemade yogurt made from 1% milk plus a lot of added dry skim milk - has protein complements flying all over the place, and is a very healthy start to the day. Recipe:

http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2006/06/homemade-muesli-spectacularly.html

Cottage cheese, although relatively expensive, is a good low-calorie source of protein. Tofu is another good protein source, as is tempeh.

Soybeans, by themselves, are a complete protein and are the *only* vegetable food that is a complete protein (so far as I know, anyway). The result of this is that soy can both stand alone as a protein and complement anything else (grains, dairy foods, seeds).

Soy grits (soy beans that have been chopped into little pieces) can be added to brown rice - put 2 tablespoons of soy grits in a one-cup measure, then fill it up with brown rice, and cook as you normally would cook one cup of brown rice. The soy grits are not noticeable when you eat the rice, they have almost no taste.

Soy grits:

http://www.barryfarm.com/nutri_info/Brans/soygrits.html .

They are also available at natural food stores.

Soy flour can be used in baked goods too, to replace a little of the other flour. (I haven’t bothered to do this in many years. However, I might start again.) There’s no effect on the taste or texture of the baked goods if you use about 2 tablespoons of soy flour in a cup of whole wheat flour: except that you won’t want to lick the bowl! Soy flour has a nasty taste when raw. This taste disappears when the item is baked.

Soy flour:

http://www.bobsredmill.com/catalog/index.php?action=showdetails&product_ID=355

Or you can cook 1/3 cup of lentils with 2/3 cup of brown rice. This is a very nice combination too - add some steamed or sauteed veggies and some curry powder, top with plain yogurt - and voila! A complete, healthy, and very, very cheap dinner. Lentils can also be added to bulgur or other grains. Green or yellow split peas can similarly be cooked together with brown rice.

You can also add extra egg whites to baked goods - either egg whites themselves or (if you don’t want to waste the yolk and don’t have a dog) you can use egg white powder. I buy and use ‘Just Whites’ - this is sold at regular, normal supermarkets, so it’s very convenient. (It whips up beautifully into lovely meringues, by the way, and eliminates worry about raw egg white and salmonella because it’s pasteurized.)

Just Whites:

http://www.shopnatural.com/html/5618.htm

Barry Farm also sells dried egg whites:

http://www.barryfarm.com/nutri_info/milk/eggwhitepowder.html

I hesitate to recommend soy protein supplements because I believe that eating whole, natural food is better. But sometimes protein supplements may be the only way to get enough protein - I’m thinking especially of frail, elderly people who often don’t want to eat very much; or of very ill people (possibly on chemotherapy).

OK, here’s that Banana Cheese Pie recipe. This is from the original ‘Laurel’s Kitchen’ and they dropped it in the second edition - I cannot imagine why. It’s a nice, easy recipe and a very
light dessert. Even my (fussy) husband likes this! It’s also a good way to use up bananas that are getting overripe.

I use my food processor to make this but if you don’t have a food processor, you can use a blender. In that case, you’ll probably need to mix the ingredients in a bowl first, then blend them in two or three batches. A stick blender could also be used.

BANANA CHEESE PIE

Ingredients

* 2 medium-sized ripe bananas
* 1 cup non-fat or low-fat cottage cheese
* 1 cup plain non-fat or low-fat yogurt
* 2 eggs
* Juice of ½ lemon (1 tablespoon of lemon juice)
* 3 tablespoons honey
* 1/4 cup flour
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch pie pan lightly with cooking spray or oil the pan.

Put all ingredients in a food processor and process until very, very smooth, turning off the processor and scraping down the sides occasionally.

Pour mixture into the pie pan and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool, then refrigerate several hours, at least, or overnight.

posted by Pat Meadows

http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2006/10/book-review-and-discussion-self.html

Book review and discussion: self-watering containers for edible plants

Book Review: ‘Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers’, and some discussion of Self-Watering Containers (SWCs).

Details (from Amazon):

Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers: Using Ed’s Amazing
POTS System
by Edward C. Smith
# Paperback: 272 pages
# Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (January 1, 2006)
# Language: English
# ISBN: 1580175562
# Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches

(There is also a hard-cover edition.)

What is a self-watering container?

A container with a water reservoir (lower chamber) and potting mix (upper chamber). You fill the reservoir, and the plants water themselves from the reservoir (by wicking). SWCs are often called ‘Earthboxes’ (TM), but this is a trademarked name and shouldn’t be used for other SWCs.

My experience-level: I have considerable experience growing vegetables in containers, but no experience with the (so-called) self-watering containers (SWCs). I want to switch over, though, for several reasons.

Why SWCs?

* First and foremost, I’m convinced that the plants grow better when they have access to water, and fertilizer, at all times, as is true when using SWCs.

* Second, you don’t need to water as often, although you may need to water as often as daily in really hot weather, depending on the size of the plants and of the reservoir. But regular containers can need watering several times a day in really hot weather.

* Third, it’s economical of both water and fertilizer, and organic fertilizer can easily be used. Organic fertilizer can be problematic with regular containers; they need watering so often that that (slow-acting) organic fertilizer tends to be washed right out of the soil before the plants can grab enough nourishment from it. You could use organic fertilizer with
every watering, but that’s really wasteful of the fertilizer, and a nuisance besides.

* Fourth, SWCs keep the ground (or the deck or the patio - wherever the plants are) dry. This is a plus too.

On to the book....

This is a large, glossy, paperback (the edition I bought) with many, many beautiful pictures of plants growing in SWCs. The photos are great, and I really enjoyed them all.

The book’s major flaw, in my opinion, is that it does not tell you how to construct a variety of SWCs or, indeed, how to build any SWCs. (Purchased SWCs are very expensive.)

You can find clear directions for building your own SWCs here:
http://www.josho.com/Earthbox.htm

A detailed manual demonstrating how to build a variety of SWCs is here:
http://hometown.aol.com/jmalt31/myhomepage/Earthbox.PDF

And for an SWC with a slightly different twist:
http://www.hgic.umd.edu/_media/documents/HG600Containerveggardening.pdf
(Scroll down to pages 6 and 7.)

Back to the book....

I like this book very much. I’m glad I bought it, and it gives me, I think, a much better idea of what to expect from SWCs. It also makes the whole concept more clear in my mind.

I also learned a few useful tips, which alone are more than worth the price of the book. One is how to modify a watering hose so that it is more suited to SWCs, and another is a way of supporting a trellis used with an SWC. I would not have thought of these myself; and we’ll use both of them.

The author recommends organic fertilizer, and I like this too. He gives instructions for making and using the fertilizer. (You could use many other ingredients instead of the ones he lists, however.)

Very brief instructions for starting seeds are included; and a good general discussion of SWCs too.

But the main part of the book is a directory of vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers, giving growing tips (in SWCs) for each one. Some herbs and flowers don’t like the constant moisture plants experience in an SWC, and Smith tell you which ones not to grow in an SWC. This is very useful information.

I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in container gardening, whether or not you are considering SWCs. It very nicely complements the other excellent edible container gardening book, ‘Bountiful Container’ by McGee and Stuckey. Information on ‘Bountiful Container’ is here:
http://tinyurl.com/y2cwe3 (or can be obtained by entering the title in the search box at Amazon). These are the only two edible container gardening books that I recommend.

For anyone interested in growing food in containers, I have a mailing list on the subject. It’s here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ediblecontainergardens/

My other recommendations for gardening books are on my blog, specifically in the August 19, 2006, post entitled ‘My Recommendations for Gardening Books’.

posted by Pat Meadows

[Note: Pat’s Yahoo group is a good serious group and has several plans for planters in its files....granny]

http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2006/07/really-good-whole-wheat-bread-using.html

Really Good Whole-Wheat Bread Using the Sponge Method

Directions for Making Really Good Wholewheat Bread
Using the Sponge Method

I can’t remember how many times I’ve posted these directions on various newsgroups and mailing lists. I’ve never had
anyone write back and complain that it didn’t work well. A
lot of people have written back saying that it did work
well and that they loved the bread. :)

I’ve been making whole wheat bread for a long time,
about 30 years. I use whole wheat bread flour. BREAD FLOUR: from hard wheat intended for baking bread. This is important. You can buy it at various places online - WaltonFeed, Bulkfoods.com, Barryfarm.com, WheatMontana, others. Natural food stores should also have whole wheat *bread* flour. Best of all is to have a mill and grind it freshly yourself. Really fresh flour makes a very superior bread. I have a grain mill now and I’m grinding the wheat freshly each time I make bread. Luxury! :)

Sometimes I will use some white flour with it, to lighten it
up a bit. I’ve never used high gluten flour when making bread by hand, although I use a little when I make bread with the
bread machine.

I’d recommend a cup or two or unbleached white flour (or
white bread flour) in a recipe which makes two loaves (that
is, a cup or two of white flour to about six to eight cups
of whole wheat flour) at first, until you get used to making
it all whole wheat. Once you’re used to it, you’ll probably
want to drop the white flour.

This recipe assumes that you know how to make bread,
it is *not* complete directions as to how to recognize when
the bread has risen enough, how to knead, etc.

I use the sponge method, I first learned this from the
“Tassajara Bread Book,” and my recipe is basically an
adaptation of one in that book. This method takes a bit
more time, but not more work, and I think the results with
whole wheat flour are *much* better with the sponge method.
This makes two loaves. [Some people have said it makes three
loaves in smaller loaf pans. Or two loaves and some rolls.]

First make the sponge: 3 cups water
1 and 1/3 TBS yeast
1/3 cup honey
4 cups whole wheat bread flour

To make the sponge: mix the yeast with a little of the
water (warmed), and let it bubble up (to make sure it’s OK).
Mix all the above ingredients together and beat about 100
times until it’s very smooth.

Let the sponge rise until about doubled in bulk. 45 - 70
minutes.

Fold in the rest:

* 1/3 cup oil

* 1 tsp salt

* 1 cup cracked or whole millet
(optional but nice, or you can use rolled oats instead, or
just skip the optional ingredient)

* more whole wheat flour (enough to
make dough of the right consistency,
maybe about 3-4 cups more)

Knead very well. Let rise until about doubled in bulk -
again about an hour. Punch down.

Let rise (again! - you’re now at the 3rd rising) for about
45 minutes to an hour, or until about doubled in bulk.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Form into loaves and let rise in the (oiled or Pam’d) bread
pans for about 30 to 45 minutes. Whole grain bread
tends to stick to the pans, so non-stick bread pans are
really, really useful here. I use non-stick bread pans and
spray them lightly with Pam or similar.

You can brush the top with an egg-wash (beaten egg white
with a little water) for a shiny crust, if you want to. Cut
slits or crosses in the top to let steam escape. Bake at
350 degrees F for about 45-70 minutes. Top will be shiny
brown when done, sides and bottoms also golden brown, and
loaf will go “thump” (deep thump) when you tap it on the
bottom (after removing from the pan).

I think the most difficult part of bread-baking (by far) is
knowing when it’s cooked enough, but you get a feel for it.

Sometimes, as mentioned above, I use one or two cups
white flour instead of all whole wheat. If you do
this, use the white flour when you’re making the sponge
(first step) so it can have more time for the gluten to
develop. It’s good either way.

This takes almost all day (really, it does, you’re letting
it rise 4 times counting the sponge!) but you aren’t
actually *doing anything* with it most of the time, most of
the time you can be doing something else. You do have to be
home at intervals, though.

posted by Pat Meadows @

At Thursday, 27 March, 2008, Anonymous Kim said...

Hi Pat, was just wondering what grain mill you like, and whether it’s electric or hand-cranked. I’m getting my my first 50-lb. bag of wheat & I’m shopping for a mill!

Thanks, can’t wait to try this recipe.

At Thursday, 27 March, 2008, Blogger Pat Meadows said...

Hi Kim,

I have a Whisper Mill, they are not made anymore. The ‘Wonder Mill’ is its replacement. Our warranty was voided in the process of the name change, so I’m not wild about this company to say the least, but the mill works well. About $200.

In another life, long ago, I had a Retsel Mill-Rite and I *was* wild about it, I just loved it; but they are $400 (more or less). www.retsel.com

Hand grain mills are really tough to grind flour finely enough for bread. One that many people have recommended is called the Country Living Grain Mill, but it’s about $400 too.

Pleasant Hill Grain
www.pleasanthillgrain sells a variety of mills.

WaltonFeed has reviews of mills somewhere on its site. Somewhere in the ‘Information’ section.

Pat

http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2006/07/basic-directions-for-stir-fry.html

Basic Directions for a Stir-fry

There’s no right way or wrong way to do this: and I’m sure
that all cooks will have slightly different methods and ways
of doing a stir-fry. I can only tell you how I do it... but
please feel free to improvise and change things.

I don’t recommend trying to make a stir-fry for more than
four people on a typical home kitchen gas or electric stove.
You’d need to use two woks, and I can’t picture doing two
stir-fries at once (way too confusing). It would be better,
if you need to feed more than four people, to cook several
other non-stir-fry dishes.

Your stove needs to get good and hot in order for you to
make a decent stir-fry. It the stove won’t get really hot,
you will not be able to achieve the same results, but you
can probably simmer-fry and come out with a passable dinner.

There is only one rule: Do *not* use a non-stick pan. You
need high heat for a stir-fry and non-stick pans can release
toxic gas if used over a high heat. I thought this was just
a rumor until I investigated and found that duPont, the
maker of Teflon, has a warning to this effect on its
website. OK, that’s authoritative enough for me.

Equipment: knife, cutting board, wok or frying pan that
cooks well, cover for the pan, wok tools (ladle and spatula)
or similar. Two wooden spoons can be used instead of the
wok tools; or a wooden spoon and wooden paddle. You can use
whatever will work to turn and toss things.

The basic idea is to have everything ready before you start
to cook. You can do all the preparation far ahead of time,
if you prefer, then refrigerate the ingredients until you
are ready to cook them.

Get out: oil (not olive oil, it won’t cook well at high
temperatures), tamari (a superior form of soy sauce; you can
substitute regular soy sauce if you wish, but the tamari
really is very much better in my opinion), rice wine or dry
sherry. Please don’t buy ‘cooking sherry’ in the grocery
store: it’s full of preservatives and sodium. I buy the
cheapest dry sherry I can find, generally Gallo. (See
Variation #1, below.)

Get out your ‘wok tools’ (or similar) and your wok or frying
pan.

Basics: Cut and peel a piece of fresh gingerroot somewhat
larger than a quarter. Put the flat side of a cleaver or
large knife blade on the ginger and thump it with your fist.
This crushes the ginger. Get out a couple of cloves of
garlic: peel them (using the same method you just used to
crush the ginger: thump them, and the peel falls right
off). Now crush the garlic: put it under the cleaver blade
or knife blade, and thump it with your fist. Now both
ginger and garlic are crushed. (Skip either if you detest
it. But it won’t be the same.....) (See Variation #2,
below.)

Cornstarch: put about a tablespoon of cornstarch in a cup.
Add cold water and stir until it’s all liquid. (See
Variation #3, below.)

Let’s cut the meat now - this can be chicken (we use
boneless, skinless chicken breast bought on sale), beef
(round is especially good for stir-fries), pork (I just cut
up a pork chop or two), or shrimp. To prepare the shrimp,
clean, shell, and butterfly it. (I think that’s how I did
shrimp, but cannot remember for sure. We cannot get good
fresh seafood where we live now, so we don’t buy shrimp
anymore.)

To prepare the other meats: you want to cut them in very
thin strips - this is so that they will cook fast. They
should be short enough thin strips to be bite size. Chicken
and the other meats can be cut into the desired very thin
strips much more easily if they are partly frozen - if
necessary, put them in the freezer for a little while first.
Or if frozen already, you can hopefully catch them just when
they’re not fully defrosted. Cut the meat across the grain.
Put the thin strips of meat in a small dish.

I use around a quarter of a pound of meat for two people;
sometimes a bit more. This is plenty. You’re serving the
stir-fry over rice or noodles, and it has lots of good
veggies - it doesn’t need a lot of meat. A small quantity
of meat adds good flavor but meat is not necessary at all.
All-veggie stir-fries are excellent too, or you can use tofu
instead of meat. Tempeh can also be substituted for meat.

Now get out whatever veggies you want to use - for me, this
always includes an onion (skip the onion if you detest
them). Wash and peel (if necessary) all the veggies.

Cut up all the veggies into bite-size pieces. Put each
separate veggie in a little dish or in a separate little
pile on a large tray. I use a tray because it’s a nuisance
to have a lot of little dishes to wash, dry, and put away.
If you are adding tofu, cut it up into cubes now, and put it
on the tray (or in a little dish).

Admire everything. :) Sit down and have a cup of tea or a
glass of wine (or whatever you enjoy as a pre-dinner drink).
Almost all the work is over now.

Now you are ready to cook the stir-fry.

Put the wok (or frying pan) on the stove and heat it over
high heat. When the wok is hot, drizzle in some oil.
Drizzle it all around the top edge of the pan, so it will
run down and oil the entire pan.

Now drop in your crushed gingerroot and crushed garlic. Toss
them about for a minute or two. Then drop in your meat.
Toss the meat (just pick up, turn over, toss down). Keep
doing this (over high heat). Add more oil if it starts to
stick, or lower the flame a little. But if you are steadily
tossing it, it probably won’t stick.

The meat does not take long to cook - maybe 2 or 3 minutes
if you have cut it nice and thin. Cut into a piece and
taste a piece. If it’s adequately cooked, scoop out all the
meat (or pick up the wok and dump it out) into a clean dish
(not the dish that the raw meat was in, although I’m sure
you wouldn’t do that anyway....). Set it aside. If the
ginger and garlic come out with the meat, I put them back in
the pan.

Why cook the meat separately first? You want it to be
cooked enough, and not raw, but you don’t want it
overcooked. If you overcook meat at high temperatures, it
will become tough, and if you put the meat in with the
veggies, it will be overcooked by the time the veggies are
ready. If you cut the meat thinly and cook it just a few
minutes, it’s *very* tender - even beef round, which tends
to otherwise be tough.

Now you are ready to add the vegetables. Add the hardest
ones first (these will be the ones that take longest to
cook). Toss-and-turn steadily. I put the onions in first,
then I add all the other veggies, in order of hardness, from the hardest working down to the softest: beans sprouts, snow peas, and green leafy vegetables are the last to go in. Keep on stirring, tossing, and turning the vegetables until they are just about ready to eat: their colors will intensify, and they should be still crisp, but not raw. Then you’ll simmer them just a few minutes to finish cooking.

Now drizzle in (or measure and add) the tamari and dry
sherry. I use my wok ladle to measure them roughly. I use
about two parts of sherry to one part of tamari. Add the tofu cubes now if you are using tofu. Put the meat back in at this point.

Lower the flame, and watch until it settles down to a gentle
simmer. Then cover the pot and let it simmer gently for a
minute or two.

The keywords for the veggies are ‘crisp tender’. They don’t
want to be overcooked; not mushy and not even really soft. I
want them to have some crunch, some bite. If they were
pasta, you could say ‘al dente’. (But this is *your*
stir-fry, cook them to your own preferred texture.)

Now you are going to add the cornstarch and water mixture, to thicken the juices. Stir the cornstarch-water mixture, and while the stir-fry simmers gently, stir the cornstarch mixture into the center of the pan. Stir for a few minutes. Just cook long enough now for the cornstarch to turn translucent and to taste ‘cooked’ - taste something to see. :)

Remove the garlic clove and piece of gingerroot if you can
find them, and - if not - warn people that they are there
somewhere.

Serve over rice or any kind of Asian noodles.

Variation #1 - Instead of using tamari and sherry, you can
pre-mix a stir-fry sauce. This is a nice way to do it also,
and there are various recipes for stir-fry sauces.

Variation #2 - Sometimes instead of using the smashed piece
of gingerroot and smashed garlic clove, I chop them both and
use them that way. Then they are not removed, obviously. It
just depends on which way I feel like doing it. Both are
good.

Variation #3 - Thickening the juices with the cornstarch is optional - there’s no *need* to do this. Some people prefer it without the thickener, my husband for one. So we usually do not use cornstarch.

posted by Pat Meadows

http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2006/09/eating-beans-and-rice-i-started.html

When you rely on beans-and-grain dinners, you will find that the use of herbs and spices is very valuable. And just how fresh those herbs and spices are (or aren’t!) is important. I keep my main supply of spices and herbs in the freezer, and I keep a small supply conveniently at hand in the kitchen.
We grow some of our herbs, but aren’t able to grow them all, so I buy my other herbs and spices online, from Penzey’s, and this makes a difference. Penzey’s herbs and spices are as fresh as they come. When you get your spices and herbs fresh in the first place, and keep them frozen, your bean-based dinners are going to have lots of good flavor.

We like our food fairly highly seasoned: I can tell you that I use a lot more herbs and spices than called for in most recipes: a whole lot more, in many cases. But be a little bit careful here. You can always add more chili powder, for example, but you cannot remove it once it’s in the dish. Taste and taste again as you cook.

I do not cook with salt, not ever. (We add it at the table if we want it.) I use tamari instead. Tamari is a superior kind of soy sauce, available in natural food stores and many supermarkets. To me, it has less of a salty (and chemical-ish) taste and more depth of flavor than regular soy sauce. If you don’t have tamari, you can use regular soy sauce or you can add salt to the recipe. (If you do cook with salt, of course feel free to add it. But tamari is salty, so if you use tamari, please taste before adding salt too.)

Equivalencies - Canned to Home-Cooked Beans

14 -16 oz can = 1.5 cups cooked beans
19 oz can = 2.25 cups cooked beans
28 oz can = 3-3.25 cups cooked beans

Dry Bean Yields When Cooked

1 cup dry beans (most kinds) = 2.25 to 2.5 cups cooked beans
Chick peas (garbanzos), great northern beans, and lima beans: 1 cup dry beans = 2.5 to 3 cups cooked beans
Lentils: 1 cup dried lentils = 3 cups cooked

COOKBOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

‘Lean Bean Cuisine’ by Jay Solomon. Many great recipes. With this book and some beans, you’ll never be at a loss for something to make for dinner.

‘Extending the Table’ by Joetta Handrich Schlabach. One of the Mennonite World Community Cookbooks. Lots of international recipes, many containing beans and grains.

‘Easy Beans’ by Trish Ross. Says ‘fast and delicious bean, pea, and lentil recipes’. I haven’t made any of the recipes from this book, but they read well; I think they would be good for the most part. And very easy.

‘Country Beans’ by Rita Bingham. For the ‘advanced bean practitioner’. Contains directions and recipes for grinding beans into bean flour and using them in this way (soups, sauces); also directions and recipes for canning various soups and soup mixes. Badly edited, confusing recipes, some missing ingredients, but the ideas are good. And much of the information covered is not covered anywhere else that I know of.

RECIPES

Indian Beans and Rice Dinner

This is one of my favorite bean dinners. I make no claims as to its authenticity; I just know it’s very good food. If I couldn’t find pigeon peas (also called ‘gandules’ in Spanish), I would use all black-eyed peas. If I couldn’t find them, I’d use black beans. I serve this with some plain yogurt
on top, or with a raita (Indian-style yogurt salad) on the side. Yum. :)

Serving Size : 6

2 tablespoons olive oil (or other oil)
3 onions — thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic — minced
2 tablespoons ginger root — minced
1 green pepper — coarsely chopped
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can black-eyed peas — drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can pigeon peas — drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons raisins
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon sweet curry powder
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Saute onion, garlic, ginger root in oil. Add pepper and spices. Saute a bit longer until the peppers and onions are softened and ‘cooked’.

Add tomatoes and black-eyed peas and pigeon peas, plus a little water.

Add raisins.

Simmer for about 10 minutes, uncovered.

Remove from heat and add lemon juice.

Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Serve over brown rice, with some plain yogurt on top, or with a raita on the side.

Black Bean Soup

Serving Size: 6

10 sun-dried tomato halves (not packed in oil)
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves
2 jalapeno chile peppers (or a little ground chipotle or
cayenne: VERY little)
1 teaspoon cumin
1/3 cup water
3 cups canned tomatoes, undrained
4 cups black beans, cooked (or two 16-oz cans, drained and
rinsed)
1 cup water (approximately)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
More water, as needed
2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate

In a small bowl, cover the sun dried tomatoes with the boiling water, set aside.

In the soup pot, saute onion, garlic and pepper in a little oil until onions are transparent, stirring frequently.

Add the cumin, 1/3 cup water, and canned tomatoes (chop the tomatoes first if whole) and their juice.

Cover, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 5-10 minutes.

Add beans, the cup of water, and the orange juice, and continue to simmer.

Drain and chop the sun-dried tomatoes, add them to the soup, cook an additional five minutes.

Stir in cilantro, and remove from heat.

Puree half the soup in a blender or food processor (or use one of the hand held ‘stick’ blenders, which is much easier).

Serve with corn muffins.

posted by Pat Meadows

May I recommend “Cranberry” beans (also called “borsotti” beans). These are much tastier than Pinto beans.

The easiest way to cook these, and any dried beans is in a slow cooker (crock pot, etc.), overnight.

The disclaimer about flatulence: the fresher the beans, the less gas. Soaking and discarding water, beano, etc. is futile in comparison.

Recipe: cover beans with 2” of water (dried beans absorb a lot). Turn on the slow cooker, and return in 5 - 12 hours (not important how long). You may have to occassionally top off the water. Make sure it always covers the beans. Salt to taste and serve.

Recommended accompanyment: Salsa: Combine tomatos, onions, garlic, and chiles with salt and lime juice. Cilantro if you want... Neither garlic nor cilantro lasts well, so make this fresh.

Regular, store-bought salsa is cooked so it will last (you can cook the above too), but I like it best fresh.

Serve with tortillas.

You will never go back!

At Saturday, 23 September, 2006, Blogger BurdockBoy said...

The black bean soup recipe sounds great, I’ll have to give it a try. I’ve really been into hummus lately-plain or with red peppers.

At Thursday, 19 October, 2006, Blogger Teri said...

I’ve found that the older I get, the harder it is for me to digest beans. We use the pressure cooker and the original batch seems to be okay. When I reheat them, it causes terrible gas. We do use a gluten free flour that contains bean flour. That seems to be okay.

http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2006/11/making-soymilk-and-tofu.html

MAKING SOYMILK AND TOFU

Making your own soymilk and tofu are big money savers, plus the results are very much nicer than anything you can buy. Very much nicer. The tofu is so good, I just eat it plain. My daughter also makes tofu, and she also thinks it is good enough to eat plain. I like the homemade soymilk too, and I never found any commercial soymilk I could stand to drink. When I’m making soymilk for drinking purposes (rather than specifically for cooking), I flavor it with just a tiny bit of maple syrup and vanilla.

Cost figures (not including the cost of the soymilk machine itself, see below, and not including electricity used):

1.5 quarts of soymilk - about $0.11 (not a typo - eleven cents)
2 lbs of very superior and delicious tofu - about $.50 (not a typo - fifty cents)

These prices are figured on the basis of buying 50 lbs of soybeans at a time from Fairview Farms (see below). If you can get soybeans locally, the price should be very, very much less.

Back in Medieval Times when I was young and stronger than I am now, I made soymilk and tofu using a blender. The process is described in ‘The Book of Tofu’ by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi (worth reading for several reasons, I think). I still have a copy. Lovely book.

But the process was a pain in the tail, in my opinion. A lot of hassle.

Now, lovely machines are available that make soymilk automatically. This is the machine I have and I love it:

http://www.soymilkmaker.com

Mine is the SoyaJoy, not the SoyaPower. It cost me (and still costs) $90 (which includes shipping to the contiguous USA). I think it’s an excellent machine, really excellent.

I have been buying Laura soybeans here:

http://www.fairviewfarms.com/laura%20beans.htm

These Laura beans are reputed to be the best soybeans for making tofu and soymilk. I don’t know if this is true or not; various people have said that they use just regular cheap soybeans and they are fine. I would buy locally grown soybeans, but there aren’t any for sale. Buying from Fairview Farms (above) is probably the next best thing - at least I am buying directly from the grower and the beans are *not* GMO.

It takes me about 5 minutes of doing anything to make 1.5 quarts of soymilk. You need to soak the beans overnight or all day first. The 5 minutes is, basically, clean-up time. It takes 15 minutes elapsed time.

Making tofu is more involved, although not excessively so. You need to make four batches of soymilk, then heat them in a big pot, then add solidifier, then scoop out the curds and let them settle in something (the something can be a tofu box, or a cloth-lined colander). I follow the procedure on this page exactly:

http://www.soymilkmaker.com/making_tofu.html

The tofu box can also be used in making semi-soft cheese, by the way. (I’ll write about making soft and semi-soft cheese someday too.) When I bought the tofu box, the cloth they sent wasn’t very generous. I washed an old white pillowcase and added some bleach to the wash water. Then I cut it up and I now have several generous-sized cloths. I wash them with dish towels and dish cloths which always get a little Clorox anyway, so they stay nice and clean.

I use nigari as the solidifier but people concerned that they aren’t getting enough calcium can use food-grade calcium sulfate (gypsum). Both solidifiers are available here (which is a convenience, I had to buy nigari elsewhere because SoyaJoy didn’t sell it; they’ve only recently begun to sell it):

http://www.soymilkmaker.com/order.html

I’d like to repeat that the tofu is really very, very superior to any tofu I have ever bought - and I’ve been buying it for about 35 years in various locations. I think making it is worth my time and effort (besides saving money).

I also know how to make silken tofu, the kind sold by Mori-Nu in little boxes. This posting is too long already, but if anyone wants to know how to make silken tofu, please email me and I’ll let you know how to do it. There’s a trick to it, and the trick is using the proper solidifier which is very difficult to find and buy. It is really very difficult to get hold of. But the process is easy and faster than making regular tofu...if you can get the solidifier.

posted by Pat Meadows @ 10:25 AM 6 comments links to this post
6 Comments:

At Tuesday, 21 November, 2006, Blogger Suzi said...

Hi Pat! Great blog entry again!
Can I ask how you store the 50 lbs. of beans? Do they need any special storage conditions?
I would love to try doing this; we spend $8 a week on soymilk, and I’m not thrilled with the additives in it.

Oh— by the way— you mentioned making cheese— If you would like some kefir grains, let me know, I have some.

Sue Boyer

At Tuesday, 21 November, 2006, Blogger Pat Meadows said...

Hi Suzi,

Thanks. I store the 50 lbs of beans in a 5-gallon bucket - they almost fit, just a few need to be stored in another container. But I don’t do anything special with them, other than to keep them in the bucket.

Thanks but no thanks on the kefir grains. :)

Pat

At Friday, 23 November, 2007, Blogger Beany said...

Hi Pat:

I filed this post away until I was ready to buy. Now that soy milk containers are the bulkiest part of our garbage I decided to purchase the SoyaJoy maker. They have a deal for thanksgiving where I get the Soyajoy for $89.95 including shipping.

Thanks for the recommendation.

At Tuesday, 25 March, 2008, Blogger Jade said...

Hi,
I also use Laura beans to make tofu and sometimes the curds are very small sometimes the curds are large like it’s suppose to be. I am wondering what I am doing wrong, because I can never get it to be consistant. Or, do you also encounter this problem? When the curds are to small I am unable to press all the liquid out. I am starting to get quiet discouraged in tofu making :(

At Tuesday, 25 March, 2008, Blogger Jade said...

Hello again,
I would be very interested in making silken tofu.
Thanks,
Jade

At Tuesday, 25 March, 2008, Blogger Pat Meadows said...

Hi Jade,

1. I would be happy to email you the directions for making silken tofu but I do not know your email address.
Email me: pat@meadows.pair.com and put ‘silken tofu’ in the subject line, OK?

2. If the soymilk is not curding the way it should, reheat it a little bit and add a little more dissolved nigari (or whatever solidifier you are using). I think that will probably help.

I follow the directions here:
http://www.soymilkmaker.com/making_tofu.html

Pat

http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2006/08/my-recommendations-for-gardening-books.html

My Recommendations for Gardening Books

General gardening books that I recommend are listed below. These are not in order of priority, but just listed as they occurred to me:

* For beginners and others: Mel Bartholomew, ‘Square Foot
Gardening’. Very valuable for beginners; I like the older book better than his newer one, which is called ‘The All-New Square Foot Gardening’. If you get the older book, be sure to check his website as well: he has changed some of his recommendations. One change is substantial and makes the whole thing a lot less work, as he used to recommend that you dig down into the ground and now recommends building specially-mixed soil up on top of the ground (much easier): www.squarefootgardening.com

* For container gardening: McGee and Stuckey, ‘Bountiful Container’. If you want to grow edibles in containers, buy this one for sure!

* For season extension: Eliot Coleman, ‘Four Season Harvest’. Indispensable unless you live in a four-season gardening area. It tells you how to harvest fresh veggies through fall and into winter.

* For general knowing what to do and when to do it: ‘The New Victory Garden’, Bob Thomson.

* For starting seeds: Nancy Bubel, ‘The New Seed Starter’s Handbook’. Another indispensable book.

* For the wonderful world of Asian vegetables: Joy Larkcom, ‘Oriental Vegetables’. And yet another indispensable book!

* For growing culinary herbs: Amanda Smith, ‘Your Backyard Herb Garden’. No mystical herb arcana, just how to grow them and how to use them, a very nice book.

* For general knowledge of herbs: ‘Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs’. I do not like this book, I don’t like the way it is written, but I don’t know of any other one that I like better that covers so many herbs.

* For high productivity in a small space: John Jeavons, ‘How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine’. Jeavons advocates biodynamic gardening, which is a very productive method. This is a somewhat technically-written book, probably good for ex-computer people, engineers, etc. I use it too: it has figures on yields that I like.

*Fairly decent book with some good suggestions: Marjorie Hunt and Brenda Bortz, ‘High-Yield Gardening’.

*For people who want to be inspired and love to read about gardening: Sylvia Thompson, ‘The Kitchen Garden’.

*For seed saving plus some growing directions: Suzanne Ashworth, ‘Seed to Seed’. Another indispensable book. Get the second edition, the first edition doesn’t have the growing info.

*For diagnosing and coping with insects and diseases: Roger P. Yepsen, Jr., Editor, ‘The Encyclopedia of Natural Insect and Disease Control’ (published by Rodale Press).

I have all these books, plus quite a few more. But the ones above are the ones I think are really important.

You can buy almost all of them quite cheaply, used of course, and some of them are very cheap now. I use Amazon, or a book search engine: ( http://www.addall.com/used ) to locate the cheapest available copy. I’ve bought some really excellent books for less than a dollar, way less sometimes. I still must pay the shipping, darn it. ‘Seed to Seed’ is probably expensive even used, possibly a few more are expensive too. But mostly these should be very cheap.

Or you can get them on Inter-Library Loan, hopefully, from your public library. I often do this to evaluate a book before I spend money on it; then I can decide if I want to buy it or not.

If you can get hold of copies of the *old* ‘Organic Gardening’ magazine, pre-1990 or thereabouts, they are invaluable. The magazine of today is useless, IMHO. Sometimes sets of old ones are sold on Ebay.

If you want to make a ‘trial run’ at growing all your own food, get some of the pamphlets here: http://www.bountifulgardens.org

Specific recommendations for pamphlets, etc., are on my blog, located here:
http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2006/05/growing-all-ones-food-on-as-little.html

posted by Pat Meadows

http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2008/02/growing-vegetables-in-self-watering.html

Sunday, February 10, 2008
Growing Vegetables in Self-Watering Containers

1. What are Self-Watering Containers (SWCs)?

‘Self-Watering Containers’ is a misnomer, of course. Containers cannot water themselves! SWCs are containers, meant for growing plants (or modified for use as such) usually with a bottom chamber that is a water reservoir, and with a top chamber that contains the potting mix and the roots of the plants. The roots draw up water through a process of osmosis. The plants, thus, always get enough water and never too much. Because of this, vegetables (and some, but not all herbs) grow much better in SWCs than in traditional containers. There are other advantages to growing vegetables in SWCs rather than traditional containers - these advantages are discussed below.

2. Where do you get them?

You can buy them or make them. One popular commercial brand is The Earthbox. (See: http://www.earthbox.com. ) I have seen Earthboxes in a local store; the pictures don’t do them justice. They are quite good-looking.

Gardener’s Supply Company sells a variety of very pretty SWCs. (See: http://www.gardeners.com.)

A Garden Patch also sells them, and theirs are the least expensive full-size SWCs that I have seen. (See http://www.agardenpatch.com/.)

Please note that I do not have personal experience with any of the commercial SWCs; we made our own.

You can find clear directions for building your own SWCs here:

http://www.josho.com/gardening.htm

We used the directions above, changing them only in that we used plastic colanders from a dollar store instead of pond baskets. We used 18-gallon Rubbermaid-style storage tubs for most of our SWCs, and round large tubs with handles for a few of them. Each container cost us about $10 to make.

Once you grasp the principles of this method of construction, you can make SWCs out of many different types of containers, including kitty litter buckets and 5-gallon buckets, which are, of course, smaller than the 18-gallon storage tubs but will serve nicely for a pepper plant, one of the smaller varieties of eggplant, and other plants. If you have a cat, the litter buckets are ‘free’ and people can sometimes get 5-gallon or similar buckets free from delicatessens, supermarket bakery departments, sandwich shops, doughnut shops, etc.

A detailed manual demonstrating how to build a variety of SWCs is found here:

http://www.seattleoil.com/Flyers/Earthbox.pdf

(I recommend that you save these two sets of directions on your own PC if you are interested in making SWCs. URLs for both sets of directions have changed recently and could both change again or be taken down altogether. Both URLs work as of 2/10/08. I will not be updating this page if they change; save them if you think you even might need them.)

And for an SWC with a slightly different twist:

http://www.hgic.umd.edu/_media/documents/HG600Containerveggardening.pdf

(Scroll down to pages 6 and 7.)

Also, see http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-your-own-Earth-Box/. Instructables.com has some other types of SWC as well. You can search Instructables.com on “Earth Box” and on “Self-Watering Container.”

3. Why would I want to use SWCs?

* If you are growing vegetables in containers anyway, then the SWCs make life much easier: you only have to water every few days rather than every day (or even multiple times per day in the case of large plants in traditional containers).

* An even-better reason for using SWCs rather than traditional containers is that the vegetables grow very much better in them. I’d say that - per square foot of container surface - SWCs give you at least twice the yield of traditional containers, and probably even more.

* SWCs also conserve water; little to no water runs off, and very, very little evaporates since you cover the surface with plastic, or other, mulch.

* Using organic fertilizers is problematic in traditional containers; the traditional containers need watering so often that you are usually flushing organic fertilizer (which is slower-acting than chemical fertilizer) out of the soil before the plants can get the nourishment they need from it. But with SWCs, the fertilizer you put in the soil stays there and the plants can fully utilize it.

4. Are there any disadvantages to using SWCs?

Well, obviously, you have to make or buy the SWCs. Each container cost us about $10 - this can be a significant cost when you make a lot of them. When he made the first one, it took my husband about half an hour. He later easily cut that time down to ten minutes per container. If you buy them, they are considerably more expensive. I don’t see any other disadvantages at all (assuming, that is, that you are going to be growing vegetables in containers of some sort rather than in a raised bed in the ground).

SWCs are, so far as I know, suitable for all vegetables. They are not suitable for many herbs and some flowers, which need drier conditions.

5. How do I use SWCs?

For the purposes of this report, I need only say: Read Ed Smith’s book entitled “Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers: Using Ed’s Amazing POTS System” and follow the directions in the book. Amazon has both new and used copies of the book. If you are fortunate enough to have a local bookstore (we aren’t), then you’d probably prefer to buy the book there. Or maybe you’d prefer to read a library copy first to see if you want to buy it.
>p>
The book’s details (from Amazon):

Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers: Using Ed’s Amazing
POTS System, by Edward C. Smith

Paperback: 272 pages, (There is also a hard-cover edition.)

Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (January 1, 2006)

Language: English

ISBN: 1580175562

Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches

Smith discusses potting soil for use in SWCs, means of supporting floating row cover or clear plastic using an SWC, how to easily water them, and a lot of other important aspects of their use. But the main part of the book is a directory of vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers, giving growing tips and instructions for each one.

Some herbs and flowers don’t like the constant moisture plants experience in an SWC, and Smith tell you which ones not to grow in an SWC. This too is very useful information.

Smith does *not* tell you how to build an SWC, but I have given URLs above that cover it.

I had worried that I wouldn’t be able to grow a very large (indeterminate) tomato plant - plus its cage - in an SWC. But we answered that question last summer when we grew six full-sized indeterminate tomatoes in SWCs. We used rebar mesh cages; we just set the cage on top of the soil in the SWC as we would if it were in the ground. I had been apprehensive that they would tip over from the weight of the plants plus cage. The plants reached the roof of our hoophouse (8’ feet from the ground) and started back down. None of them tipped over. All the tomato plants grew very, very well. So this was a non-problem.

We grew many different kinds of vegetables in the SWCs; all did very well indeed. We had 22 SWCs in use last year; we’re making more this year.

I’d like to repeat that my harvests were far greater using SWCs than using traditional containers. The plants just amazed me by how splendidly they grew in SWCs. My vegetable plants were every bit as beautiful and healthy as the plants in the photos on this page: http://www.agardenpatch.com/pages.php?pageid=68

I would have liked to have written a more detailed report of our experiences growing with SWCs, but I have not found enough time yet; so this will have to do for now. I don’t want to delay it any longer Maybe next winter I can get a more detailed report completed - and then I’ll have two seasons’ worth of experiences to write about.

Pat

10 February 2008

Update of 20 July 2008: We’re well into our second year of growing (mainly) in SWCs and I’m even more impressed with them. They are fantastic - if you are growing vegetables in containers, please give them a try. You’ll be happy with them!

Also, there are new and very complete directions on the web for making SWCs from 30-gallon tubs (which are larger - and more expensive - than the ones we made: ours are from 18-gallon tubs). These directions seem a bit unnecessarily fussy to me, but there’s a video and a complete guide. They are intended for TWO tomato plants.

The directions include self-supporting cages. But you know, those are the useless kind of cages. I don’t believe they would support a large tomato plant adequately. We use circles of remesh - the heavy wire mesh used to reinforce concrete construction. These are MUCH stronger than the cages shown in this set of directions.

The directions and video are here: http://www.tomatofest.com/tomato-earthtainer.html

Incidentally, Tomato Fest has an excellent, huge selection of heirloom tomato seeds for sale.

posted by Pat Meadows @ 2:16 PM 4 comments links to this post
4 Comments:

At Sunday, 02 March, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this information. I will be putting this knowledge to good use.

At Wednesday, 05 March, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Pat, I often read your comments on the Yahoo Container Gardening Group also. I cannot tell you how much the imformation you provide has helped me. I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate the time you give to providing it for us. Thanks Linda

At Thursday, 05 June, 2008, Anonymous Bruce F said...

Hi Pat,

Thanks for writing about homemade self-watering containers.

We’re doing something similar that I thought you’d like to see.

A few of us who live in the city of Chicago are growing heirloom vegetables on our rooftops in cheap homemade self-watering containers.

Not selling anything, we’re giving “it” away.

Here’s a we put together that tells our story. Next to the pictures are plenty of links that show how this can be done using commonly available materials and non-specialized skills.

I read that you run a Yahoo group on growing food in containers. I’m not sure how to find that, so I’m doing the next best thing and posting it here.

At Thursday, 05 June, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Bruce, I think your link was already sent to my Edible Container Gardening list, and discussed there.
I hope so, anyway, because the link does NOT appear in your comment here.

I was both very interested and very impressed with your efforts.

The Yahoogroups list is:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ediblecontainergardens/

You would be very welcome to join; there are approximately 1600 list members now. I cannot believe the rate at which people are catching on that gardening is important and that you can grow a significant portion of your vegetables in containers, plus some of your fruits.

If you don’t receive the link to my list, please email me directly: pat@meadows.pair.com

Thanks very much!
Pat

http://entire-of-itself.blogspot.com/2007/07/book-review-perennial-vegetables-by.html

Book Review: “Perennial Vegetables,” by Eric Toensmeier

Book Review: “Perennial Vegetables: From Artichokes to Zuiki Taro, A Gardener’s Guide to Over 100 Delicious and Easy to Grow Edibles” by Eric Toensmeier

* Paperback: 224 pages
* Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing (May 16, 2007)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 1931498407
* ISBN-13: 978-1931498401
* Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
* Price at Amazon.com (new) - $23.10

I very seldom buy new books, and even more seldom buy books as expensive as this. But I had a $25 Amazon gift certificate, so I went ahead and bought it, and I’m very glad I did.

The first section of the book is useful information on growing perennial vegetables (and other perennials, for that matter), and on landscaping using these plants, many of which have great ornamental value.

Part Two is a listing of each of the more than 100 (I didn’t count) perennial vegtables, with information on each species. About half the listed plants have quite extensive growing information, and about half have shorter descriptions. A map is included for each species, showing where it will grow as a perennial and where it can be grown as an annual. Toensmeier has not included plant ‘thugs’ such as kudzu or Japanese knotweed, and warns the reader if any of the other plants may naturalize.

The author’s inclusions of certain species (as vegetables) may be slightly questionable: we are more apt to think of them as fruit or as herbs, for example, rhubarb and lovage. (However, my daughter cooks a lot of Persian food, and uses rhubarb as a vegetable in a meat and vegetable stew.) Also, this book will be of even more use to people who live in a warmer climate than I do (northern Pennsylvania in the mountains, with Zone 4 weather). I actually already grow four of the vegetables in the book: rhubarb, lovage, Good King Henry, and sorrel. I discovered some others that I’ll definitely try - two of which I had never even heard of before. Those who live considerably further south than I will find a wealth of species to try.

The book is well written, and carefully edited. It includes a list of recommended reading, a list of recommended web sites, a list of sources for seeds and plants, a list of sources for garden supplies and equipment, a bibliography, an index by both scientific and common names, and a really valuable list of perennial vegetables that will grow in each of the various climate types in the USA (including Hawaii).

If you’re at all interested in growing perennial vegetables - or in permaculture in general - I think you’ll want to read this book and probably to own it. I think it’s a very useful book and a pleasure to read. I recommend it most highly to all gardeners.

Pat

posted by Pat Meadows @ 12:07 PM 2 comments links to this post
2 Comments:

At Thursday, 26 July, 2007, Blogger Pat Meadows said...

Hi Weaseldog: Yes, I think this would be a good choice of book for your lawn-into-edible landscape project. Living where you do, you would find MANY suitable plants in the book.

Pat

At Saturday, 22 September, 2007, Blogger A Nameless Face in Western MA said...

I love your blog! Its been a great source for me lately as we, as a family rarely eat meat and I struggle to take in enough protien. If you dont mind, I have added your blog to my link list.

http://www.meadows.pair.com/beandinners.html

Recipes to Get You Started

Indian Beans and Rice Dinner

This is one of my favorite bean dinners. I make no claims as to its authenticity; I just know it’s very good food. If I couldn’t find pigeon peas (also called ‘gandules’ in Spanish), I would use all black-eyed peas. If I couldn’t find them, I’d use black beans. I serve this with some plain yogurt on top, or with a raita (Indian-style yogurt salad) on the side. Yum. :)

Serving Size : 6

* 2 tablespoons olive oil (or other oil)
* 3 onions — thinly sliced
* 2 cloves garlic — minced
* 2 tablespoons ginger root — minced
* 1 green pepper — coarsely chopped
* 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
* 1 15 oz can black-eyed peas — drained and rinsed
* 1 15 oz can pigeon peas — drained and rinsed
* 3 tablespoons raisins
* 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
* 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 2 teaspoons cumin powder
* 1 teaspoon sweet curry powder
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Saute onion, garlic, ginger root in oil. Add pepper and spices. Saute a bit longer until the peppers and onions are softened and cooiked. Add tomatoes and black-eyed peas and pigeon peas, plus a little water. Add raisins.

Simmer for about 10 minutes, uncovered.

Remove from heat and add lemon juice.

Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Serve over brown rice, with some plain yogurt on top, or with a raita on the side.

Black Bean Soup

Serving Size: 6

* 10 sun-dried tomato halves (not packed in oil)
* 1 cup boiling water
* 1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
* 3 garlic cloves
* 2 jalapeno chile peppers (or a little ground chipotle or
* cayenne: VERY little)
* 1 teaspoon cumin
* 1/3 cup water
* 3 cups canned tomatoes, undrained
* 4 cups black beans, cooked (or two 16-oz cans, drained and
* rinsed)
* 1 cup water (approximately)
* 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
* More water, as needed
* 2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate

In a small bowl, cover the sun dried tomatoes with the boiling water, set aside.

In the soup pot, saute onion, garlic and pepper in a little oil until onions are transparent, stirring frequently. Add the cumin, 1/3 cup water, and canned tomatoes (chop the tomatoes first if whole) and their juice. Cover, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 5-10 minutes.

Add beans, the cup of water, and the orange juice, and continue to simmer about 15 minutes.

Drain and chop the sun-dried tomatoes, add them to the soup, cook an additional five minutes.

Stir in cilantro, and remove from heat.

Puree half the soup in a blender or food processor (or use one of the hand held ‘stick’ blenders, which is much easier).

Serve with corn muffins.

Pat

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