Companion Planting and IPM

For my Conway community garden friends (and anyone else interested in organic vegetable gardening!) here are some links to sites with great info on Companion Planting and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques for sustainable vegetable gardening.

Followed by links about vermiculture (worm composting).
And thank you for allowing me to participate in your great gardening adventure!

IFAS UFL Extension service documents

A great 75 page PDF of Organic Vegetable Gardening IPM

National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service

EarthEasy website direct to "Guides"

Vermicomposting - worms!

Stop Buying Water in Plastic Bottles! Heck, Stop BUYING Drinking Water!

I have a post called "I Hate Gas" where I discuss how much more important our water is to our auto fuel. It was back in the days of the great gas price increases. This is so much more important. Why? Why? Why? Seriously, why do we buy water in plastic bottles? Even environmental groups have these at their meetings sometimes! It must stop! Most the time our tap water is better tasting and safer than what profit-hungry corporations (unregulated for the most part) put into plastic bottles. This video is well done. Please watch. And stop buying bottled water!

The Mighty Tabbouleh

I love tabbouleh. I make it using quinoa instead of bulgar for nutrient purposes, but the big ingredient, the thing that makes it taste so fresh, is parsley.

I brought home some parsley the other day and it tasted terrible. Really bitter. Here's the cure: snip the stems and put into a mug of water. Just as if this were a bouquet of fresh flowers. Change out the water after you notice the parsley perk up. The fresh water will improve the taste as well as keep the parsley fresh for up to a week! Change out the water every 2 days to keep it clean.

This also works for celery. Is it just me or do these veggies taste bad these days? I may just be getting old. My son says it's my "old taste buds", but I think something is up. Especially when the taste improves after putting the celery or parsley into water. For the celery, just do the same thing, cut the bottom off and put it into a tall jar of water. You can put the whole thing into the fridge if you want.
And don't get me started on the lousy taste of tomatoes and bell peppers!! If I figure out how to make these taste fresher and less bitter or in the case of the tomatoes, less like cardboard!; I'll post it!

Now go make up a batch of tabbouleh! It's so good and so good for you!


Recipe: Tabbouleh
Serves 4-6

1 cup cooked quinoa -
3/4 cup minced parsley*
1/2 cup finely chopped green onion
1 tomato, diced
1 cucumber, seeded and diced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice, or to taste
1 tsp. sea salt, or to taste
Pinch allspice (really, add this! You'll be surprised at how good it is!)

Combine the quinoa and the chopped vegetables and toss to mix. Combine oil, lemon juice, salt, and allspice. Add to quinoa mixture and mix well. Chill. Serve and enjoy.

* Some recipes call for 1/4 c. mint and 1/2 c. parsley. I prefer the all parsley.
I've also made this with millet and it's just as good. Millet is a great grain, but go easy if you are hypothyroid!
Also, I often make the Tabbouleh without the grain. I store the grain separately and mix when ready to eat. This way I can use the Tabbouleh as a topping for a tofu burger or hummus sandwich!

Almond Milk - The Easiest Food I've Ever Made!

Surfing the web as I do, I came across a great blog:  http://sogoodandtasty.blogspot.com/2010/02/homemade-almond-milk.html

Basically it's this:
1 cup almonds
4-6 cups water (I used 4.5 C. since my blender is small)
Soak almonds in water overnight.
Pour it all into a blender and blend until pieces are as tiny as your blender will get them.
Pour it all through a fine mesh strainer, using a spoon to get as much liquid out as possible.

My twist, one teaspoon of vanilla and about 2 tablespoons of honey mixed in.
I also saved the pulp, one small container with cinnamon and honey in it and one container plain.

Place the milk into a clean, well sealed jar and refrigerate. 

The first thing I did was make my usual morning oatmeal. I cooked it in the almond milk instead of water and it was much richer, mellower tasting. Then I added about 4 spoonsful of the pulp and it was really good! I'm sure the extra almond pulp added a nice protein boost!

The plain almond milk was good to drink. I like the extra oomph of the vanilla and honey, but taste it first! You might just prefer it plain! My next batch will be plain and I'll experiment with mashed potatoes. 

As much as I've always loved cow products, they do create mucus and if you have sinus issues or use your voice a lot, you know dairy products are not good for you.  Many people love soy milk, as did I until I had some issues with it.  Rice Milk is also good, but not nearly as many great benefits as almonds! The protein and B vitamins in almonds are much higher than in rice.  Also, with 3 pounds (about 9.5 cups) of almonds costing under $10 at BJs, it's less expensive to make my own almond milk than to buy any other product.  A huge plus is that the ingredients are known and controlled by you! So you know it's pure!

I hope you try it! And stop by the So Good and Tasty blog! Jacqui has  many more interesting recipes shared there!

Teach Every Child about Food: Jamie Oliver's TED Prize Wish!

This is something every human, and especially every US human should consider. It reminds me a little of the UK television show "You Are What You Eat". But it all comes back to toxicity. Chemicals are ingested where they need not be. As one person put it, "If it came from a plant, eat it! If it's MADE in a plant DON'T!" We Americans need to use some form of chemical control on everything from our food to our yards to our medications. We really took the 1950's slogan "Better living through chemistry" to heart. And we are now an obese, heart & kidney disease-ridden population. The idea that our children will live lives 10 years shorter than ours just because we've drugged them with sugar, fat and salt is pathetic. We have brains! We can do better.

This video is 21 minutes long, but the time passes too fast. Please watch it and pass it on. Consider it every time you start to plan your grocery shopping or a meal.

Basic Hummus Recipe and Variations

Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at 5:46pm

The main reason I'm posting this here, in my pond blog, is because foods like hummus are part of a sustainable living solution. Less of the pork/chicken and beef meals that use more resources than the amount of food they supply means more sustainable. Don't get me wrong, I like a good steak every now and then. But I rarely buy it to make at home. At home I try to eat more earth-friendly. Smoothies, fresh fruit and vegetable juices, whole grains and hummus all contribute to my personal meal planning. I hope you try it! Enjoy!

I've put a link at the bottom. It's to a site that has lot's of recipes of hummus as well as some history. It's where I got my courage! Once you've made it, you'll be making it all the time! Shoot, a 4 oz container from a health food store costs about $4! This makes about 8x that for less! Enjoy!

Basic:
2 cans Garbanzo beans (or Chick peas - same thing)
2 Tbs of the following:
Garlic
Lemon Juice
Yogurt
Olive Oil

Put all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. That's it. Fresh, fast, inexpensive and really healthy.

You can add almost anything you like to make it special, I do the following combos:

3-4 Tbs of Sun dried tomatoes

1/2 Jar of roasted red peppers and 1/2 can black olives or do each as a separate flavor.

Or use different beans! It is standard to use the chick peas, but try some black beans or lentils. Different flavors but all good fiber and protein.

http://mideastfood.about.com/od/middleeasternfood101/a/hummus101.htm