This is So Sad...

This just in:

Headline on the Organic Consumers Association Website:

The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: What Now? 
click here for the entire article

Looks like times are a changing when Whole Foods, Organic Valley and Stoneyfield - the trifecta of organics - decide that they will call a truce with Monsanto and GMO crops, specifically the highly contested alfalfa crop.

Waiting for the Snow to Melt

So while I wait for the snow to melt, or not, before I plant my early spring garden – target date March 19th!

Backyard - January 27, 2011

I really wanted to do it on St Patrick’s day but that’s a Thursday and I’m not planting in the dark – been there and done that! I have decided that I need to detox. So on Tuesday I started with some fruit, a seaweed salad and a juice: Spinach, carrot, apple and ginger. Yesterday more fruits, smoothies and peas and beans made up the day. Today it was smoothies, beans with buckwheat and hopefully something justa as good for dinner. Hopefully I can keep this up – I am looking to cut out caffeine, gluten, soy, added sugar & alcohol. The big toughies will be gluten and alcohol as I love my bread and wine. It's only for a few days this time, if it works it might be my Monday - Friday diet.

In order to help me along this journey I have purchased 2 raw uncook books:

The Complete Book of Raw Food, Second Edition: Healthy, Delicious Vegetarian Cuisine Made with Living Foods (The Complete Book of Raw Food Series) by Julie Rodwell (Editor), Victoria Boutenko (Contributor), Juliano Brotman (Contributor), Nomi Shannon (Contributor), Mary Rydman (Contributor)

AND

Raw Food for Everyone: Essential Techniques and 300 Simple-to-Sophisticated Recipes by Alissa Cohen (Author) & Leah J. Dubois (Author)

I haven’t gotten them yet but am looking forward to trying them out. As soon as I can leave the house, of course.

Well I did it again

Or at least that's what Jared is thinking...

I went ahead and bought not one but two greenhouse. They should be coming in at the end of the week. I ordered them on eBay and can't wait for them to come in!

They are really big, dimensions are: 71"x54"x36" - woo hoo! I plan to use them as cold frames to start my plantings early and to extend the growing season when it gets cold out.

Here's what they look like.

Time to think about the new garden

Yep it's that time of year. Even though I sit in my office freezing my tukhus off at the kid's desk I use, I have my mind on SPRING!

Last year's garden was quite a bust and I will take full responsibility for that. We had a couple of traumatic events and a mini drought without a hose was the icing on the cake.

Well now we are armed with great books thanks to Mom & Dad H.

A great resource for anything veggie gardening related including: planning; composting; pests and a crop guide to all your favorite veggies.

And of course in this day and age gardening on the cheap is definitely a must! This book includes tons (about 400!) of tips on saving money and more importantly, resources while you garden.








One way I am saving money is by saving seeds. Over the past year I have begun saving the seeds of our favorite store bought organic vegetables. If I see something that looks good I will keep the seeds, clean them and let them dry. I will then store them in containers in the fridge.

Right now we have saved seeds from:

Kentucky Wonder Beans
Collards
Patty Pan Squash
Sweet Peppers: Green, Purple & Yellow
Sunflowers - of course!
Decorative Pumpkins that will go in the front yard - yippee!
Calabaza or Edible Pumpkin
Asian Foot Long Beans
Ugly Tomatoes
Oregano
Butternut Squash

 

BUT we still have seeds left over from last season too:

Black Beauty Eggplants
Sweet Banana Peppers
Peas
Tomatoes: Oxheart. Black Krim and Roma
Radicchio
Lettuces: Romaines, Black Seeded and Green Oak
Celery
Cucumbers
Zucchinis
Turnips
Spinach

Seed Drawer

And my ultra-fabulous friends have gifted us organic Cucumber, Tomato and Squash seeds too! They also gave us really cute garden stakes.

The only thing I am missing is Kale - now we have two Kale plants in the house, I am thinking of letting them go to seed so we can plant those. If it doesn't work no biggie, we can get seeds.

Oh boy! I don't know if it's from the cacao nibs in my morning smoothie or thinking about the garden, I am ready to start right now! How exciting!!

Recipe of the Month - Kale Chips

I love Kale Chips. If you want to eat an entire head of kale in a day or one sitting I suggest you make Kale Chips. Next year we will be growing kale and I can't wait to have non-stop kale chips or at least a few garden fresh batches.

And yes I ate the entire dish after this photo was taken...

Start off with some lovely kale, I got this at the farmer's market a few days before Christmas.

Then figure out what spices you will be using, I like to have a lot punch so I include quite a few.




Ingredients 

Kale, 4 cup, chopped
Water, tap, 2 cups
White Miso, 2 tbsp
Red Star Nutritional Yeast, 2 tbsp
Garlic powder, 1 tbsp
Paprika, 1 tbsp
Onion powder, 1 tbsp
Pepper, red or cayenne, 1 tbsp (optional)
Black Pepper (Ground), 1 tsp

 

Directions

Wash the kale and cut the leaves off (you can leave them big or make them into smaller pieces).

In a large bowl (preferably one that is shallow) mix all of the other ingredients. If you are using a dehydrator make sure you are using sheets or parchment paper. If you are using the oven then use a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.



Take a leaf and run it through the liquid mixture then put it on the tray. Once you have filled a tray sprinkle more nutritional yeast and drip a bit of the marinade over the kale.



Let them dehydrate for 3 - 4 hours on 115 if you want them crispier leave longer, I like to have each tray go for about 5 - 6 hours. If you are using a dehydrator without the temp control like mine make sure to rotate the trays every few hours to make sure they are even. If you are using the oven set it at the lowest temperature you have and crack the oven door open.

Number of Servings: 25

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve Metuchen Style