If there was a power outage in your neighborhood for the length of a day, how much of your household appliances and gadgets would be useless?
After a few good outages the past few years, I’ve grown to dislike the electrically powered appliances and tools we own. These include both small and large items such as, a sewing machine, a hot water heater, a grain grinder, an oven, a washer and dryer etc. It’s not that I don’t appreciate electricity. I don’t doubt how wonderful the invention of electrical current is. However, I think that independent solar/wind/water generated power is the ideal situation.
But we do not live in an ideal world. Many are unable to attain independent homemade power because of cost and lack of knowledge and resources. But because of the days in which we live, I believe it is foolish to rely on our local power plants. One small step at a time we should move closer to owning and using non-electric tools and appliances around the house. I also must make mention that I do not just want to make do with the products we find at Wal-Mart. It is essential that we find items that will last a lifetime.
My own list of ideas include:
Learn to enjoy sewing by hand, become very proficient at stitching fast and very well. I’ve heard stories that our great-grandmothers sewed beautiful small perfect stitches that created durable clothing, quilts and crafts.
Use a clothesline during warmer months, and a indoor drying racks throughout the year.
Use dry land farming irrigation techniques for garden instead of relying on well water being pumped.
Make lots of homemade candles and invest in an Aladdin lamp or other non-electric lighting
Learn to work with leather, investing in a few essential leather tools.
Eventually invest in all the expensive items such as, a wood burning stove for heating and cooking, non-carpeted floors dismissing the need for a vacuum, a hand-pump for the water well and a gas fridge and a well designed root cellar.
More thoughts to come. Please share anything you have found or thought of.
Here in NW Montana, many refer to this time of year as Dandelion season. Our back pasture as well as every other patch of ground around town is overflowing with bright yellow Dandies. Ani and I spent some time this week collecting several plants along with their roots in order to dry and make tinctures. Regarding the health properties of Dandelions, About.com puts it simply: Dandelions are a great dietary source of calcium, vitamins A and K, plus the antioxidant lutein, which is important for healthy vision. Dandelions are natural diuretics and detoxifiers.
Thankfully my friend sent me a recent page from one of her books that depicts the “right” Dandelions to pick. See image below to be sure of what you are picking. Don’t let those “weeds” go to waste. Happy collecting!
My friend just sent this neat link my way and I thought it was worthy of sharing. www.Gardeners.com has provided a free garden planner tool on their site. Check it out:Free Virtual Garden Planner
Did you know that Native Americans use to place a dead fish on every corn seed they planted for fertilizing the ground? The results were amazing to say the least. The Plymouth settlers were awestruck by the Native methods, how could rotting fish encourage the harvest to become so plentiful? There are several reasons why fish is good for the ground, plants and in turn the consumers.
While the fish is decomposing, millions of microbes are flourishing, protecting the environment from fungus, harmful bacteria and irritating insects. It is almost as though you are equipping your plants with an immune system! Fish also provides vitamins, amino acids, and enzymes. Fish as fertilizer in general is not only preserving the healthy soil but it is also feeding your plants, making them strong and even more nutrient dense. Give your garden a feast this spring and go fishing! Here is a recipe for making your own fish fertilizer:
You can use fresh fish parts or any cheap canned fish. The juices, sauces, or oils in the can can be used to breed beneficial microbes and supply extra proteins in the tea, so use it.
(NOTE: If you use canned fish products, you may want to let it decompose mixed with some finished compost, good garden soil, etc. in a separate closable container for a few days before using. Since most canned meat products contain preservatives, this will guarantee that the good microbes in the tea will not be killed off or harmed in brew making.)
You can use any fresh or dried seaweed. Fresh seaweed has more N in it, but that really isn’t important for seaweed teas. You can buy fresh or dried seaweed at most oriental grocery stores. Seaweed decomposes better if chopped up or liquefied first in water before brewing.
If you are using fresh fish, you need to compost it separately in a 5 gallon closable bucket. Fill bucket 1/2 full with extra browns like sawdust, leaves, or straw. You can add molasses to the fishy mixture in order to build up microbes in order to speed up decomposition. The sugars will also help control odors too. Open the bucket and stir the fishy paste daily or every other day in order to get air in the mix for better decomposition and better aerobic microbial growth in the emulsion. Let this paste rot for at least 1-2 weeks. The browns help control offensive odors and absorb organic nitrogen from the fish so that it is not leached out or evaporated.
Since commercial fish emulsions contain sulfur in the form of sulfuric acid, if you like you could add 1-2 tblsp of Epsom salt to the mix for extra magnesium and sulfur. Or to mimic the acidity of sulfuric acid and add extra trace elements you could add 1-2 tblsp of apple cider vinegar to the mix. NOTE: Recent studies have shown that unsulfured molasses or dry molasses powder is best for faster microbial growth in tea brewing.
You can now safely take the decomposed fish paste from the 5 gallon bucket and add it to your regular hot composting piles or add it to your special compost tea recipes. The more vegetable or fruity organic matter that you add to fishy compost the better you remove the offensive smells and the more trace elements you add to your compost and teas. This of course is optional.
You can add molasses or brown sugar to your teas also. Sugars are high carbon substances that not only can cause speedy microbial growth, but also sugars are an excellent natural deodorizer.
At this point you may want to decide whether you want to make a simple tea or an aerobic aerated tea for your needs.
When you make fishy tea, you need to add the seaweed at brewing time. Let it brew for at least 1 week, stirring every few days. If you decide to brew it aerobically with an air pump, try up to 3 days, or until the brew has a “yeasty” smell, or has a foamy top layer on the tea.
You can apply this fish/seaweed emulsion at a dilution rate from 1:1 to 1:5 ratio (5 gallons of tea to 25 gallons of water).
If you like, you can add a few drops of mild liquid soap per gallon as a wetting agent to get better coverage as a foliar feed at application time. (NOTE: If you are concerned that using soaps may harm the beneficial microbes in your teas, you may want to just use liquid molasses, dry molasses powder, fish oil, or yucca extract as a spreader-sticker.)
You can use this tea as a foliar feed or as a soil drench or both. Soil drenches are best for building up the soil microbial activities and supplying lots of beneficial soluble NPK to the plant’s root system and the topsoil texture. Foliar feeds are best for quick fixes of trace elements and small portions of other soluble nutrients into the plant through its leaves. Foliar feeds are also good for plant disease control. Foliar feeds work best when used with soil drenches or with lots of organic mulches around plants. You can poke holes in the soil around crop roots with your spade fork, to get more oxygen in the soil to further increase organic matter decomposition and increase microbial activity in the soil.
I recently heard a man call in to the nightly news program in regards to the failing economy. He mentioned that he lost his job and currently eats mainly lentils while his budget is tight. First of all I think it is sad and wrong that anyone in the world should have to be hungry. It just plain makes me frustrated and mournful thinking about it. But can someone really eat a semi healthy diet while living in a state of poverty? Yes, they can!
Try eating lentils, considered poor mans meat in many countries, with brown rice, creating a complete protein. But be sure to eat them with some type of good fat (tallow, coconut oil, butter) and just as importantly eat them with a raw fermented food. Fermenting veggies such a cabbage, garlic, beets, pickles is unbelievably cheap but so rewarding. Not only are you getting an increased amount of vitamins (espeically Vit. C) but also enzymes to help assist in good digestion and good bacteria for a healthy immune system. If for a time you could not afford meat, buy beef bones that are a few bucks or ask your grocery clerk if he has any fish bones (usually available at asian markets), make stock and cook your rice and lentils in it for cheap but very necessary minerals. Save the tallow fat that rises to the top of the stock, this is very stable healthy fat!
I highly recommend not eating in this manner long term, only during desperate times. But think about it, buying ramen noodles or store bought canned foods are cheap and void of all nutrients and life. For about the same price you can buy or grow veggies to ferment, stock up with a bulk amount of lentils and brown rice and do not forget the oils, whether you spend your shillings on good quality cod liver oil, butter, tallow or coconut oil, spend it on the fats, do not limit your fats!! Also consider sprouting any grains you have on hand instead of buying allot of produce. Sprouts are easy on the digestive tract, full of protein, vitamins and enzymes.
Alpine Strawberries are the answer to the traditional strawberry fuss in the garden. They do not grow runners as regular strawberries do, preventing a tangled mess. There are white varieties (often called yellow, that have a hint of pineapple) that are just as tasty but are left untouched by the birds. Alpine Strawberries are as small as an M&M but fully loaded with intense juicy flavor. The best part about these tiny berries, other than their flavor and scent are that they are perennials that will give you fruit through the three seasons of spring, summer and autumn.
They are best grown from seed even though they are notorious for being a little sketchy with germination. It is best to plant them in a flat that can allow the seeds to be watered from the bottom. Cover to keep moisture in and then plant outdoors in early spring after frost date. The first year they will grow to a healthy plant but only produce a few berries, just wait til next year and you’ll enjoy handfuls of them! The plants prefer full sun to partial shade.
The roots, leaves, and fruits of the Alpine Strawberry, Fragaria Vesca, were used as a digestive aid and skin tonic. The berry was prescribed for diarrhea and digestive upset, while the leaves and roots were supposed to relievie gout. The berry itself was rubbed on the skin to ease the pain of sunburn and to relieve blemishes. The juice of the strawberry has its own special prescription–it brightened discolored teeth. Taken From: Vegetarians in Paradise
Best Varieties: Alexandria, Charles V, Pineapple Crush, Yellow Wonder and Mignonette (tastiest, but bad producer).
While it is still snowing and raining this March, I’m thinking about my garden by drawing out planting plans and building up my compost pile. Here are some things you can put in your pile as well as some things that are not so safe. Remember that your compost should be about 30 parts carbon (browns) to 1 part nitrogen (greens). I’ve noted the browns below but generally any fully dried out plant stalk, stem of leaves are considered browns. Fresh or wilted plants are considered greens.
Herbivore droppings, manure. Do not add carnivore droppings
Wood ashes, not coal
Cabbage and Broccoli stalks and leaves but not roots
Citrus Rinds
Coffee Grounds, many espresso cafes will give you coffee grounds, and your garden will love you for it!
Tea leaves and bags
Kelp
Lettuce
Melon rinds
Fruit Peels
Vegetable peels, stalk and leaves
Flowers
Eggshells
Grass clippings, without toxic pesticides
Weeds, that have not yet gone to seed
Peat Moss
Cornstalks
Sod
Straw (Browns, carbon)
Saw dust (Browns, carbon)
Leaves (Browns, carbon)
Hay (Browns, carbon)
Pine needles (Browns, carbon)
Note: Remember that your compost pile loves oxygen so make sure to give it some mixing and ventilation.
Last year while living in the city, I said a little prayer asking for an older woman friend who would be a good influence and teach me all the “old ways”. Somone who I could look up to and glean important wisdom from.
Today, I think my prayer was answered. I met Grams. She is wonderful, her heart is precious, her mind is full of experience and her hands are gentle with years of crocheting, sewing, gardening, cooking laced within them. She experienced a strock a few years back but it really didn’t cling to her because she is a doll as far as I’m concerned. She said she will teach me how to crochet rugs, butcher roosters, how to can meat and vegetables and how to grow anything! Oh thank you Abba for giving me an older wiser mentor. Little one enjoyed her as well, especially the fact that she has dogs, cats, fish, horses, goats, chickens, geese, and ducks, oh my!
Last year was my first attempt at a garden. Though we harvested some yummy healthy treats, I have a better idea this year what to plant and what not to plant. I have made my list in consideration of what we eat, our zone 5 region and which vegetables are more expensive when buying from the store.
Got Tomatoes?
Cherry Tomatoes, these are expensive from the store (especially organic).
Regular Tomatoes, for making raw, fermented salsa
Cabbage, for making Kimchi with, our natural enzyme supplement.
Sweet Squash, yummy winter snack when baked and eaten with butter!
Pumpkin, pumpkin pie all winter long!!
Cucumbers, Little One’s favorite food
Beans, another of Little One’s favorites.
Shell Peas, yummy to nibble on
Asparagus
Sage, Oregano, Basil and Cilantro
I would have liked to have garlic this year but since I got a late start, I’ll have to wait to plant the bulbs this fall. We already have several mature apple trees and two cherry trees, but depending on how long we live here I’d like to plant raspberry and blueberry bushes. Do pomegranates grow in Montana? I wish!!
Recent Comments