Dehydrating Carrots

Who doesn't like carrots??? When the end of the world comes and you find yourself without carrots in your food pantry, you will be VERY disappointed with yourself. That would be tragic! Let's get some carrots and start dehydrating! Come on!

1. Peel your carrots. Cut off both ends. Wash.

                                                    

2. Slice your carrots to a uniform size. They will do better in the dehydration process if they are basically the same thickness. 

3. Blanch your carrots for two minutes. We use a wire basket that takes all of the difficulties away and allows you to move from step 3 to step 4 in a single motion. 

4. Immediately plunge into ice cold water and allow to sit until the cooking process has stopped and they are completely cool. 

5. Spray lemon juice generously-and I mean generously over, under and through your carrots making sure they are coated thoroughly. 

6. Spread the carrots in a single layer on your dehydrator tray. Give another few squirts of lemon juice for good measure. Place in dehydrator until done. 

One thing that should be mentioned with carrots (and other more substantial fruits and vegetables) is something called "case hardening". This happens when your heat is too high. I like to dehydrate everything between 115 and 125 degrees. Yes, it takes longer, but I am assured in the slower process, my food will dry from the inside out. If the temperature is too high, you will dry the outer layer which in turn will trap the moisture inside which will in turn make your food rotten and your hard work all for naught. Slow and steady dehydrates the food you love!

Above are the pictures of the carrots when they come out of the dehydrator. From a three pound bag of (free) carrots we yielded 3 cups of dehydrated carrots. That is why it is very important to know how to cook using your food after it has been processed. A little goes a long way! A long, sweet, delicious way! What are you waiting for???

Sprouts- For The Long Term

Not as easy as you think! I am struggling terribly with this. If you have any ideas whatsoever, please help me out!


What I know and what I have done thus far:

The amount of sprouts to have on hand is about one pound of sprouts for each person per month.

If you have not read my two previous blogs about sprouts, please make sure you do when you get a chance. I would love to know what you are doing in the arena of sprouting.

I ordered 2.5 pounds of sprouting seeds from Handy Pantry back in November. The price was $34.95 plus shipping and handling.  As I tested them before writing this blog, I have to say they sprouted with more vigor than anything I have bought from the local natural food store. That was very exciting for me to witness. They will do more with less.

My assortment included; alfalfa, mung bean, broccoli, green lentil, clover and buckwheat. I have never attempted buckwheat. What experience do you have? As you can see from the picture above, there are nine sealed pouches of singular as well as mixed sprouts. The pouches are 4 ounces each.

The reason I ordered this selection (and will order at least ten more assortments this year) is because of their packaging. Sprouting seeds do not lend themselves to long term food storage. They are vitally important and majorly stubborn.

You see, sprouts are living things. Therefore, they need to breathe. They give off carbon dioxide as they sit around and need to be taken care of yearly by pouring them out of their packaging and stirring them. This gives them new oxygen. Otherwise they will die and be of zero use to you.

NEVER put them in a container with an oxygen pack and never seal them in an airtight package.  EEEk...there will be some organization that will come and get you for murder!

Remember, sprouts should never be added to foods as they are cooking. The enzymes will be destroyed with heat. Throw them in just before serving. If you have an overabundance (as I do right now) simply take your sprouted seeds and put them in plastic bags. Seal them and throw them in the freezer for later use. Stir fry, sandwiches, salads, you know!

I need more assistance with storing sprouting seeds for long term. Until I figure it out, Handy Pantry gets my hard earned money.

Happy Sprouting~

Orchard Or Vineyard?

There is a special place on The Farm that (unfortunately) will need to be cut down, turned over and brought back to square one within the next five years. It used to be a chicken pen, a saw mill, and a place where my great grandparents put their trailer when they got old and had to leave their estate in Massachusetts and move up here to Maine in order to be closer to their daughter (my grandmother). It used to be used for so many things that I am totally unaware of. I do know that the existing apple trees are thirty-five years old and need to come down to live in our fireplace. They have served us well, but they are not aging well.

There are so many places on the farm that are near and dear to me. I have been here for nearly 45 years and the trees, the grass and the land beckons me still. This parcel is really special. I am faced with two options. At least I have two options in MY mind. I want to plant another orchard-with assorted fruit trees- or a vineyard. I have been trying to weigh the options and do what is right. My grandparents are very much whispering in my ear and helping me along in this process.

This morning I picked up one of my grandparent's books of poetry. It kind of makes me chuckle, and if you knew my grandparents, you might chuckle as well. Poetry. I opened up to "any page" and began reading. The poem is titled: Trees. (Joyce Kilmer 1886-1918) I think someone is trying to help me make my decision. Enjoy~


                                                      Trees


I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree. 

Meals For Pennies (With Some Planning)

When I talk about "meals" I am talking about one serving for one person. Every other week at our house we have four people eating and the opposite weeks, we have three people. It is a far cry from the seven of us that we started out with when we combined our two families, but that is another story for another time.

I mentioned yesterday that I hit a great sale at a local supermarket. I came home with five family packs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts ($6.00 each), three 3-pound bags of carrots and two 5-pound bags of potatoes (free with the purchase of the chicken). So for $30.00 we make 40 meals of chicken. We packaged them and froze them in packages of one full breast as that is a four person serving size for chicken at our house.

We have no leftovers to throw in the garbage unless leftovers are part of the menu planning. An example of that is the pork roasts I bought at the beginning of January from the same store. Same deal as before- buy one roast and get either a bag of carrots or a bag of potatoes free. $ 10.00 a piece, I bought seven. Cut them in half, that makes 14. Multiply by 2 meals each- we are looking at 28 meals at the very least. The roasts were over six pounds each. That is way too much to cook and the leftovers will eventually dry out and end up in the trash. Cut the roast in half. For our family, there will be leftovers. So, we plan for pork roast and all the yummy fixings that go with it one night and then another night, the pork will be cubed up and added to a curry. This last time there was even enough curry left over for me to take in my lunch. No waste.

The best deal by far is turkeys at Thanksgiving. I scooped up ten turkeys this year that ranged from $6-$7. We cooked one last week and kept track of how many meals we could get out of one bird. Counting the main meal, leftovers the next night, picking, sandwiches and then boiling the carcass and making soup we came up with 44 meals. 28 meals just with the soup, and if you add more liquid, you can stretch it even more. Throw together some biscuits and it is a meal fit for a king-or a queen!

As with any goal you set to reach success, you need a plan. A step by step map as to how you will get there.  I use pen and paper but you might set your goals on your laptop, Smart phone or some other gadget. I urge you to try. Start small. With every success you will gain momentum. You will be so glad you did!

Souper Bowl Prep

***DISCLAIMER***I know that some people go all in (or all out) for the Super Bowl and I, by no means, am attempting to diminish your excitement or the importance of said game. If I happen to insult you, it has nothing to do with you~it all has to do with me and my priorities for the protection and comfort of my family. Let's begin-but only enter if you are willing to have an open mind...


So, I have been bombarded lately with the question- "Where do you find the time to do all of this prepping stuff?" These questions are mostly from those who have gym memberships, play golf, ski, etc. My response to that stems from the fact that my priorities revolve around my family. I can't imagine spending an ounce of my time doing anything but investing in my family and our future security.

Prepping is not something extra in our lives. It is a built in function of how we do things around here. This morning (as an example) was our scheduled menu planning time. We sit down and plan our meals for 2 weeks. This works well for us as I get paid bi-weekly, but if your family enjoys a weekly check do a weekly list. Whatever works for you. So, we came up with our two weeks of meals and then went down through the meals deciding what we need to purchase at the grocery store.

I spent $24.00 this morning on our two week menu. Easy as that? Well, no, not easy, but being in this mind set of storing and stockpiling, when things get a little tight, we don't feel it. I did spend $30.00 at Shaw's yesterday on chicken. They are having the last of their January food and vegetable round up. We bought 5 family packs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and got 3 bags of carrots and 2 bags of carrots-FREE. Into the dehydrator and freezer they go. 40 meals...done.

So...if you are of the mentality of the Taco Bell crowd-who says, "Your friends will secretly hate you."  when you arrive at the big game day toting a veggie platter, go right ahead. It is all about choices and priorities. If anyone brings a veggie platter to your house and you are insulted- bring it over to our house-we will dehydrate it!

As for us, this Sunday will bring a huge dinner of Mongolian BBQ, family, laughter, lots of music and many thanks for the blessings we have been given.

Stay safe, My Consistent Reader

If Life Gives You Lemons (and oranges)...De-hy Them

The next produce which is up at the top of my list (as far as ease of dehydrating) is citrus. Read; oranges, limes and lemons, grapefruit. These fruits have HUGE nutritional benefits and are so easy to prepare and use that you may consider yourself silly if you don't at least give it a try.

The only prep that you have to do in order to dehydrate citrus is to simply slice them, peel the skin off of the slices and put on the dehydrator trays. ( TIP: We have found that it is easier to work with them if they are cold. Not frozen, just cool.)  We purchased a meat slicer for uniform slices of all of our produce. It makes it so much easier, but if you want to just use a knife, feel free. It will make no difference- as long as your slices are fairly consistent so the machine will dehydrate them in the same basic time frame.

Again, you can not dehydrate food for too long. One  manual recommend dehydrating them for 16-24 hours at 130 degrees and another says not to put them in the dehydrator at all. Know that they will not reconstitute back to the slices that you started out with, but you can use them in so many ways. At this point in time, we add them to our water and tea for an extra boost of vitamin C. Any recipe that you have that uses lemons, or any other citrus, these are perfect. Always on hand and ready to go.

What to do with all of those peelings? Put them in the refrigerator until you have space in your dehydrator and then dehydrate them as well. I leave them in whole strips and when a recipe calls for lemon or orange zest, just go to the pantry and pull out a few pieces, throw them in a grinder and grind them into zest. Easy! And there is no wasting the peels!

This link will take you to my guru-mentor. I swear, the smartest food prepper out there! She has taught me about the endless possibilities in the world of dehydration. I am striving to reach her level! This video is a salmon dish that uses dehydrated lemons. Yumminess in action!

www.dehydrate2store.com/videos/?id=23


Enjoy~

3 Little Letters: S-A-D

What do those 3 little letters bring up for you? For me, sad is an emotional response embeded in a natural occurance that I have absolutely NO control over. People make us sad, circumstances make us sad, death makes us sad, the weather makes us sad.

I sat awake for a long time last night looking at those 3 little letters. Thinking. Remembering. Full of self doubt and pity. My response has always been-"use the sad default." When things are wrong and I am asked, "What's wrong?" and I answer, "I am sad." People tend to think,  "Gosh that's too bad." End of story. They go away. When I am sad, I want people to leave me alone. Alone. Alone. I just want to be alone.

When I throw myself a pity party (where everyone is invited and no one shows up) I always start at my first---sad: The death of my brother. How his death affected my parents and the way they raised me, how his death affected the small town I grew up in and how I was treated, and how his death affected me to grow up as an only child. Then I travel down the path of  my father's anurism and the year of his absence from my life for rehabilitation, losing grandparents, losing my father to death, being attacked, by a complete stranger, at knife point, suffering through 2 abusive marriages and subsequently 2 horrific divorces-one in which I almost lost my children and the other one in which I nearly lost my life ~S-A-D.

It is amazing how we are healed by the grace of God. I can sit and think about all of these events, but the varnish has been rubbed away by His hands. Those events don't sting anymore. They make me angry at times. Not sad.  I will go to bed tonight and ask him to wipe the varnish away from my latest- sad. As a Mom, anything that affects my children-affects me. Well, one of my offspring is hurting. I know that I will take the responsibility that is mine.

I won't take anyone else's responsibility for these hurts. For, as God has healed my deepest hurts, He also keeps a level hand on my shoulder and no longer allows me to carry all the sins of the past. He loves me. I love my child. We will get through this all together and come out stronger on the other side.

Love turns "sad" into healing. Dear Lord, Please heal us.

Pick a Peck of Peppers

Well, it's winter in Maine, so there is a zero chance probability that I will be picking any peppers out of "Sarah's Eden" anytime soon, but as of right now, the grocery store has plenty and that is all right with me.

So, I have never been a "pepper" connoisseur before. I had eaten them-mostly green-in salads, spaghetti sauces and on party platters covered in dressing~lots of dressing. Never did I appreciate the taste explosion in these little delights. And they are SO easy to prepare for dehydration. Simply wash them, slice them, remove seeds and stem after slicing, and place them on the trays. There is no need to pre- treat. If you wanted to, you could dice them at this stage, but we just leave them alone. Put them into the dehydrator for about 12 hours. Of course you want to check with your own eyes to determine doneness. Always remember that you can NEVER dehydrate food for too long, but you can ruin all of your hard work if you take it out too early. Go with the longer~the better mentality and you will be successful every time! 

A fun fact to throw out to you is that the color of the pepper is determined as to when it was picked. Peppers start out their lives as green and the longer they are left on the plant, the more they transform; from green to yellow to orange to red to a brown/purple color. As they go through this beautiful dance with the rainbow, their natural sugar content is increased. Choose whatever you fancy. We do all of the colors we can find and mix them together, simply for the visual appeal.

 I have to say that we never ate peppers on a weekly basis. Now, we do. I am treated (every weekend) to a most delicious omelet brunch. When the peppers (and other veggies we will get to) are re hydrated and cooked, they are better than anything in the world. They maintain a crispy, sweet, pop when you bite down and the taste explosion...well, try it and you'll see!

 Other wonderful health benefits of this vegetable are found at the link below. Check it out!
http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/the-nutrition-of-bell-peppers.html#b


As for packaging, there are a million ways in which to preserve all of your hard work. That will be a blog all by itself some day. For us, we have a system. Use it and store it. We don't have our percentages worked out quite yet, but we are working on 1/3 use and 2/3 long term storage. Below is a picture of one of our packages of dehydrated peppers ready to go to long term storage land. We have a Food Saver and we vacuum and seal them adding one100cc oxygen absorber to the package.

I am looking so forward to planting my pepper heirloom seeds so I can grow and dehydrate my very own rainbow. Give it a try-I think you will be happy that you did!

Dream a Little Dream

I often wonder if people dream the way that I do.

I am an avid dreamer. It is an every night event for me. I'm not sure if it is because I get between 8 and 10 hours of sleep a night or if it is because there is an author/director/producer that is secretly taking over my brain as I sleep. I would like to think it the former. I believe I must reach REM sleep faster and stay there longer than I used to, and longer than other people with whom I have discussed this subject.

Allow me to describe what I mean. I don't just dream about those things I have built up in my sub conscience that I am unable to sort through during my waking hours. I have researched dream sites and dream centers to see what sort of information and guidance they give. Hopefully after writing this they won't come to research me!  I do experience those kinds as well, but I am talking about epic adventures and strange tales with all (if not more) details than J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen and (dare I say) Stephen King have given us.

I dream in full color and surround sound and recently I have started referencing past dreams that I have had into my current dreams. Yes, dreaming about dreams. I also seem to be increasing my ability to control the situations that I am in while dreaming. I remember the majority of what I dream as well. I am not talking about waking up and having just enough time to jot them on a pad of paper for further investigation. I can stop right now and remember the most minuscule details of dreams I had years ago. Some are very comforting but some just will not leave.

Some people I have talked to regarding this subject look at me as though I have a few screws loose, but I want to know from you...do you dream like this? Also, if I do look as though I might have a few loose, please be gentle~I don't want to dream about that tonight!

De-hy Made Wicked Easy

There is so much I have to say about my six month love affair with Mr. Excalibur but I really do not want to overwhelm anyone. I am a slow and steady kind of gal and whenever I am learning about something important, I want to take my time and practice, practice, practice. So, here it goes.

Frozen vegetables. Yes, you heard me right, frozen vegetables. I, personally, have never liked them. You take them out of that bag and dump them in a bowl. Stick them in the microwave. Complain that you have made too much-or too little, and they taste nasty. I was a HUGE skeptic when I started researching dehydrating frozen vegetables. I thought to myself, "What a waste of time, energy and money to end up with a nasty product that I will be stuck with for 30-plus years".

Have you ever been wrong? I mean, completely, over the top-wrong? Well, I have. Several times as a matter of fact, but completely wrong in my thinking about dehydrating frozen foods. The process is the simplest of all the dehydrating processes. You buy frozen vegetables, spread them on a tray, stick them in your machine, 12-15 hours later-voila- food.

I don't mean just get-by food. This is all we have- so eat it food... but real food. It tastes at least a million times better than that right out of the freezer. The process frozen food endures before it comes to the store is incredibly close to natural. Imagine dehydrating one bag of corn and recapturing the taste that was meant to be there to start with. Yum. A word of caution: One bag of frozen corn will turn into about one cup. Be careful when re-hydrating that you are planning the correct serving size for your needs. Otherwise, you can wind up with an overabundance of food. Waste not-want not!

Of course, we will discuss reconstitution and meal preparation- with some amazing recipes- soon enough. I want to give you hope and inspiration. Some techniques take a lot of time and prep. some do not. I look out for specials on frozen vegetables. We have nine trays. That equals nine bags of veggies. I found that Shaw's has many "buy 2 get 1 free" That means that I buy 6 and get 3 free. I come away with 9 sides for pennies. Add their frozen hash browns and potatoes for a few more and all you are missing is protein. Another future thought.

I LOVE the sound of Mr. Excalibur running. It is a soothing, satisfying purr. It says, "You are so smart, I can tell how much you want to take care of your family."

Why I De-hy

Catchy name, catchy way to sustain your family's ability to survive the toughest times...Let's get started!

We worked really hard and sold a lot of "things" in order to buy our Excalibur dehydrator. It was an easy decision. The Excalibur has a fan in the back that allows for more air flow than the bottom to top models. It costs us 3-6 cents an hour to run and seeing what the cost of canning and freezing amounts to, this was a no-brainer. Of course I will always can and freeze food, but in this time of uncertainty, dehydrated food is the best bet-for my family.

Please don't think that dehydrated food and freeze dried food are the same thing. They are as different as night and day. We ordered some sample packs of freeze dried food from a very respectable company. We tried it all. After all, we needed immediate food storage for a year-remember my lack of patience? Well, the food would have been fine if it was all that was available, and we have some unopened cans that we will leave sealed up-just in case. I knew we could do better.

What if I told you that dehydrated food is even better than the food you started out with before you put it in the dehydrator? Would you be interested then? A dehydrator uses heat to remove the moisture from food and the fan acts to remove the hot air from the machine, leaving you with produce that has maintained it's nutrients and has intensified it's flavor.

People have been drying food since, well, since there have been people. The beautiful thing about an electric dehydrator is that you can run it 365 days a year. Snow, rain, fog, dead of night will not keep you from your quest to dehydrate more and more food. If you are like me, you will spend your time thinking, "I wonder if I can dehydrate that!"

We now use our dehydrated food on a daily basis as well as put enough aside for long term food storage. There is so much I want to share with you if you are willing to listen. If you want 1 piece of survival advice, buy a dehydrator. An Excalibur if it is within your reach. This is an incredible new world I find myself in, but I am so glad I finally got here! I would love to be that voice to you that I wish I had been able to listen to!

Come on in and let's find out how much fun the end of the world (as you know it) can be!

Spirulina Soap

Does this ever happen to you: You think you are the first person to find out about something and then realize that it is so yesterday? That is what happened with me and my new relationship with spirulina. I hope that I am going to have one person read this that has never heard of this wonderful product.

Spirulina is a blue-green algae that is found in fresh bodies of water. Basically pond scum. I have searched for benefits of adding spirulina to soap and have only found that it has a natural lifting and firming property. I'm not sure I buy that. I wanted to use it for the beautiful hue. If it firms me up, all the better!

I have a friend who raves about this addition to his diet.  The health benefits when adding spirulina to your diet are myriad. Please check out this link to see the benefits of adding spirulina to your diet.      nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/what-is-spirulina.aspx

DISCLAIMER: If you have never made soap, please do not attempt this recipe until you have had a lot of practice with smaller batches. This is an 8 pound batch and it can be rather overwhelming. There are so many places on the web to learn. (My favorite is "Soap Queen")


                                                        Spirulina Soap

1 lb. 3 oz. lye
3 lb. water
4 lb. 8 oz. olive oil
2 lb. Coconut oil
1 lb. 8 oz. Palm oil
8 tbs. Castor oil
2 tbs. spirulina powder

1. Infuse the spirulina powder in 8 oz. olive oil in crock pot for 2 hours. You could add the powder directly but it could be harsh and the color would be spotted instead of smooth and beautiful. Strain the oil in cheesecloth and combine with your other oils.

2. Mix lye and water (SAFETY FIRST)

3. Bring both oil and lye solution to 120 degrees and combine.

4. Bring to medium to thick trace and pour into prepared molds. I did not scent this batch as the spirulina scent went from pond to nature and was rather pleasant. It is totally up to you!

5. Cover mold with plastic and insulate with a towel. Don't peek for 24 hours.

6. Cut bars into desired size. I got mine a little thick this time. They weigh about 6.6 oz. Put on racks to cure for 4-6 weeks.

I am so excited to try these!

Sarah's Favorite Granola

The yummiest granola I have found yet! 

I substituted the brown sugar with 1/2 the amount of date sugar. To make date sugar, you simply buy dried dates and put them in a blender or food processor and turn it on until the dates transform into a substance that looks like sugar- don't add anything- just dates. Using date sugar in place of brown sugar has many benefits. Let me pause here and say I am NOT a sugar snob. I think sugar is one of God's most wonderful gifts and I will use it, always. I just find that the date sugar adds a wonderfully sweet taste and out of this world nutritional value. Who doesn't want that? 

(Of course, if you don't want to make and use the date sugar, use 1/2 cup brown sugar.) 

***For more information on these little power-punchers, here is a link www.nutrition-and-you.com/dates.html

                                                 Sarah's Favorite Granola

8 cups rolled oats                                                  

1 1/2 cups wheat germ

1 1/2 cup oat bran                                                1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup date sugar                                                1/4 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup honey                                                      1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup vegetable oil                                               1 cup finely chopped almonds

1 tbs. ground cinnamon                                       1 cup finely chopped pecans

1 tbs. vanilla extract                                             1 cup finely chopped walnuts

1 cups raisins or sweetened cranberries

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with foil. 

Combine the oats, wheat germ, oat bran, sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans and walnuts in bowl. 

In a saucepan, stir together; salt, date sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil cinnamon and vanilla. Bring to a boil. Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir well, making sure everything is coated. 

Spread mixture onto baking sheets. 

Bake for approximately 1 hour, turning the mixture 2 or 3 times. If your oven runs hot, you may want to back your heat down to 250 degrees. Remove and cool. 

If you have a dehydrator, you may want to place your cooled granola onto your trays and dehydrate for  2 hours. This will allow your granola to become super yummy, crispy, and if stored correctly, could offer you nutritional snacks for 30 years or more. 

Add raisins, cranberries, or anything that floats your boat to the finished product.

Enjoy~

January Thaw

For all of the lounging I have been doing this last two weeks (due to the flu-not laziness) I seemed to have missed those blessed few days of 2013's January thaw. Watching the snow and ice melt and drip off the roof made me pick up my seed catalogues and my current lay out of my garden.

I don't know if it is just me, or if seed catalogues send others into fits of giddiness and dreams. As I looked at my current lay out, I realize that I may be in a bit of a pickle. Not because I have planned on too many cucumbers, but because I think I have run out of room. Five of my raised beds are already planted (onions, red Russian garlic, Egyptian walking onions, asparagus, and rhubarb). That leaves six beds.

My only goal this year is to incorporate heirloom seeds into our garden. I am done relying on any other company-or God help me- the government to take care of those needs. In a growing number of areas, it is becoming illegal to grow food in your own yard for your own consumption. "When pigs fly" is all I have to say about that. I decided that this is the year to grow a wide variety of heirloom seeds and learn how to eat some, preserve some and save some. That is all well and good. I have 12 varieties and am wondering WHERE do I plant them?

I guess it is time to look at ripping up part of the lawn and growing them in an old fashioned garden. Right in the ground-just like Grampy and Grammie did. It is funny the amount of information out there on gardening. So many pins on Pinterest and links on Facebook, but these novel ideas are a lot less novel than you may think. With all of my hours spent in bed, I decided to pick up one of my favorite books of all time.

It is called The "Have More" Plan; Ed Robinson, copyright, 1947. Yes, 1947. My grandparents read this book so much it was all creased up when I got it and I have gone through it so much, some pages are falling out. But I never noticed the first paragraph in chapter 11. It reads: "Even before the victory garden boom there were so many books, articles, pamphlets on gardening that garden writers seemed to be having quite a time of trying to be original. For example, I have in front of me a cute article in one of the "garden and home" magazines explaining how you can have cucumbers climb a fence, use carrots for borders, and make a teepee for children by planting pole beans. Well, maybe garden articles like that appeal to some folks, but what we wanted at our place was somebody to tell us how to raise a lot of vegetables with as little work as possible."

I have to admit, I have been sucked into the container gardening, climbing garden, wagon wheel garden, topsy turvy, milk jugs, rain gutters, etc. Then I look out the kitchen window and think- really? I guess it is time for me to head back to basics. Grass roots gardening. I have the drive-I just hope my back will hold out come spring thaw!  

Fruit Roll Ups

We are very blessed to have blueberries, blackberries and raspberries growing to capacity here on the farm. Their prolific growth allows me to make jams and jellies, to dry and make teas and to share with my family and friends. There is always one issue: there are always leftover berries.

Yes, freeze them. Great idea. Nothing wrong with that. But...is there something else I could do with them to make them last for (almost) ever? Make fruit roll-ups? What a great idea!

So...... All of the hard work is done. Picking in the heat, picking with the bugs, picking with the red ants biting your ankles. Make jelly, give berries away, stick extra in the freezer. Fast forward:January.

You will need; berries, corn syrup, lemon juice. Mix 1 quart of berries, 1 cup corn syrup and 4 tbs. lemon juice into the blender. Liquefy.

Put into a saucepan and bring to a boil. After reaching boiling, time for 3-4 minutes. Allow to cool before transferring onto dehydrator trays. We put ours in the refrigerator overnight.

Place tray liners or use plastic food saver type bags to line trays. 1 quart of berries will yield 2 trays on the Excalibur. Adjust as you need to on your specific unit. Dehydrate for 15- 18 hours. This is longer than just the fruit as you have added corn syrup to it and that will take extra time to dehydrate. Ours will be ready tomorrow. Without the extra sugar, color, additives and preservatives, I'm sure the report will be simple delicious...

In Sickness and In Health

I don't usually think about my health until I am unhealthy. How about you? Taking for granted a clear head, clear lungs, no pain in my joints and no critical illness to face. I received passing grades on my two yearly medical exams. I wasn't called back for a second mammogram (as they so often do)  and the cervical dysplasia I fought three years ago is gone for now. But that leads me to wonder~ Why am I never grateful when I feel terrific? Why do I take it for granted?

Well, I have been attacked by the flu for an entire week. This flu of 2013 has taken over 20 children's lives to this point. This flu is an evil, nasty thing and I am ready for it to be gone. It is interesting to me how the first thing people ask me is, "Did you get the flu shot?" Where I answer, "Not this year. Last year I was sick for 14 days after I got it. No thank you." Then they walk away shaking their heads like I am some sort of nut for not protecting myself. There is so much information out there that it becomes a giant tangle of confusion. I know the CDC says that you can't possibly get sick from having the flu shot. Hmmm.

So, as I am lying in bed, using every ounce of strength that I have to fight off this intruder, I have made a new plan for optimal health. I pledge to take my multi-vitamin every day, research how much vitamin D I need to add to my body, eat more raw and less processed foods, and get back to drinking lots of water. I think that is a wonderful place to start. The balance and harmony of nature is one to be admired as well as emulated. I plan to start.

Take care of you!