Archives

Join Robynn @ both of her blogs



Join Janine for her Saturday Posts

Sniffles & Smiles

I am a Food RENEGADE!



Local Food and Local Farms

Find your Farmers Market
spaininiowa.blogspot.com

_________________________

Grow Your Own!

Recommended Books – I own or plan to buy:


Nourishing Traditions by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon
Nourishing Traditions will take you from an unhealthy eating lifestyle to one that is rich in nutrients and back to cooking like our ancestors did before industrialized food came into being.


The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash
Takes you through every vegetable - planting to harvest to preparing each in a variety of ways.
I highly recommend this book!


Putting Food By by Janet Greene, Beatrice Vaughn, and Ruth Hertzburg
Another book I highly recommend for garden harvesting. Canning to Freezing of vegetables, fruits, meats, etc.. It's one of the oldest and best canning books out there. I've had my copy since 1975 and it cost me only $8.95 at that time.


More-with-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre
Another book I purchased years ago when it first was published. Well worn and seen years of use. Never disappointed with the recipes.


Ominvore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan


Real Food by Nina Planck


Eat Fat Lose Fat by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon


Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman


Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz


Mastering the Art of French Cooking
2 Volume Set by Julia Child


American Farmstead Cheese by Paul Kindstedt This book is on my list to purchase. Have it out of the library right now. Excellent - reference book, no recipes but much to learn in the science of cheese making.

Welcome

To “SEEDS OF NUTRITION” where the SEEDS of gardening, organic foods, daily life and Gods Word are planted together.

“To Everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1

Sunday Seeds

Sunday Seeds: Grace! 'tis a charming sound

GRACE! ‘TIS A CHARMING SOUND

1.  Grace! ’tis a charming sound,
Harmonious to the ear;
Heav’n with the echo shall resound,
And all the earth shall hear.

Chorus:

All sufficient grace!
Never powerless!
It is Christ who lives in me,
In His exhaustlessness.

2.  ‘Twas grace that wrote my name
In life’s eternal book;
‘Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb,
Who all my sorrows took.

3.  Grace taught my wandering feet
To tread the pilgrim road;
And new supplies each hour I meet
While pressing on to God.

4.  Grace taught my heart to pray,
And made my eyes o’erflow;
‘Tis grace which kept me to this day,
And will not let me go.

5.  Grace all the work shall crown
Through everlasting days;
It lays in love the topmost stone,
And well deserves the praise.

6.  Oh, let that grace inspire
My heart with strength divine;
May all my powers to Thee aspire,
And all my days be Thine.

Lyrics: Philip Doddridge
[1702-1751]
Augustus Montague Toplady vv. 2-4-6
1740-1778 ]
Music: Ira David Sankey
[1840-1908]

Seeds of the Word:
My GRACE is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” II Corinthians 12: 17
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by GRACE you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding, riches of His GRACE in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by GRACE you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2: 4-10

Share this Posting:
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Kirtsy
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Twitter
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Yahoo! Bookmarks
  • Add to favorites
  • Print
  • email
Raw Milk / Cheese / Butter / Eggs

Fresh Farm Eggs - ask for Unwashed eggs: Why?

There’s nothing better than gathering your own fresh eggs.
A goal were working towards; getting back to doing just that. I still have the basket we bought some 30 years ago for gathering eggs. Our eldest at that time was around 4 -5 years old and it was her job to gather the eggs.
Today she’s raising her own chickens, she even has a broody hen in her house as I write whose eggs will hatch out in just a few days. Her mom in law mentioned the other day to me that we’ll have
GRAND PEEPS anytime! LOL!!

As we await the day we will have our own layers again we purchase eggs from a friends son and daughter in law and our next door neighbor gives us eggs,  can’t beat that price!

It’s best to get eggs from hens that are pastured raised or minimally given grain on the side. Hens that roam freely out in the sunshine are healthy birds and produce a nutritionally richer egg. Living in a winter climate makes it harder to completely pasture raise, though they still need a daily time outside if the weather allows it and you can have complete control on what you supplement their feed with.

Whether you are purchasing eggs from a local farmer or raising your own it is so important not to wash your eggs. You want to be sure that the “Bloom” is left on. What is the “Bloom”? It is a natural antibacterial protective covering that the hen deposits on the egg as she is laying it.
That protective coating protects the egg until it is used. Bacteria has a hard time penetrating a dry shell, but will have a much easier time if the shell is wet because the shell is porous.

Commercially grown eggs are washed and bleached. Not only that; the chickens are cage confined and never see the day of light. And because of these conditions their feed is loaded with antibiotics to keep the chicken healthy. These chickens also have a very short life span. I know this for fact because my now deceased Uncle In Law was an Egg Farmer. I was inside the chicken house once and never went back in again. It was unbearable in smell. I also learned from him that commercially raised eggs never hit the store shelves till 6 weeks later. Now these were the statistics 30 years ago. I don’t know what they are today. But I wager it’s not much different.

“Unwashed Eggs” are eggs that are gathered, brought into the house and lightly wiped off with a dry cloth, paper towel, a loofa pad, or scrubby. Absolutely no water comes in contact. If the hens laying box is kept clean and egg gathering is frequent for the most part the eggs will be clean and no need to deal with feathers, hay stuck on, or chicken poop.

The above photo is of 2 dozen eggs we got from our friends son this week……they don’t represent what eggs can look like at times full of poop stains; it’s not to noticeable in the picture but there is a feather and some stains. Though they do represent good chore cleaning with fresh hay in the nesting boxes.  But they are “Unwashed eggs”. He makes sure eggs are set aside and labeled just for us. And our neighbor across the pasture just lightly wipes off all his eggs to keep the bloom on.

I use raw eggs almost daily making fresh Eggnog with Raw Milk.
I trust a fresh farm raw egg with it’s bloom left on any day of the week over a store bought  commercially raised egg or even local farm raised eggs sold in the stores. If I don’t know the source or the practices of the farm I have to assume they’ve been washed with water, leaving the egg open wide for bacteria.

When it’s time to crack an egg for whatever your needing it for…….then you can wash the egg with warm water. What I do is hold the egg under warm running water and lightly scrub the shell with a scrubby pad.

So if your one that purchases your eggs from a local farmer don’t be afraid to ask if their eggs are unwashed.

I’ve added a Poll on the right side bar just under Facebook. Take part if you would. You can choose up to two boxes. Thanks!

Poll is open to readers World Wide.

I leave you with this cute quote:

“The EGG can be your best friend, if you just give it the right break!” Julia Child from the French Chef TV series before color TV came on the scene.

Seeds of the Word: “I will love you, O Lord my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 18: 1-2

Share this Posting:
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Kirtsy
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Twitter
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Yahoo! Bookmarks
  • Add to favorites
  • Print
  • email
Nourishing Traditions / Real Foods

Today is Kick Off Day!

…………..and no I am not talking about the Super Bowl!

It is ” KICK OFF DAY “ for the

” 28 Day REAL FOOD Challenge ”
to cooking and eating better and to better health.

To read about the Challenge and it’s never to late to start head on over to the

NOURISHED KITCHEN

to read all about it and join in with over 600 other participants to revamp your kitchen cupboards, replace with healthy alternatives and start cooking from scratch with out adulterated, refined, highly processed, zero nutrient foods.

I’ve joined in and it also falls right in line with the challenge I have begun myself to detoxify with healthy foods and no sweeteners.

Seeds of the Word: “The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: Yes, I have loved you with an EVERLASTING LOVE; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” Jeremiah31: 3
The eternal God is your refuge, and UNDERNEATH are the EVERLASTING ARMS;” Deuteronomy 33: 27

Share this Posting:
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Kirtsy
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Twitter
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Yahoo! Bookmarks
  • Add to favorites
  • Print
  • email
Raw Milk / Cheese / Butter / Eggs

A Sweet Cheesy Mistake or was it?

I forget now how I came across the link for the cheese I made today. Though that doesn’t really matter.
What matters is I found a great way to use up excess Raw Milk.
We get 2 gallons of Raw Milk each week, I’m the only one drinking it and using it for other cooking needs, cheese, kefir, etc.. though mainly just drinking lots of milk.
So what’s one person to do with it when it gets out of hand and before it goes bad on you and you end up feeding it to the family cat or pouring it down the drain. Most cheese making is pretty time consuming, with cultures, rennet and timelines in steps. And I wasn’t in the mood for a long session of cheese making today.
I pulled out one of my stock pots, poured in a gallon of raw milk, cream and all and went to town making Indian Paneer Cheese found at

Show Me the Curry!
You can find a video to watch and the recipe for the cheese at this link.

Why have I titled this post……….
“A Sweet Cheesy Mistake or was it?”

It is a sweet cheese that ended up crumbly after I followed their directions with the final pressing with a weight on it. Not the formed cheese to cut into cubes they said it would be. And for me I like the way it turned out because it is really yummy tasting and is perfect for a crumbled cheese to top a salad with. Even for a pizza topping.
And I think you’ll agree with me if you give it a try.
After you listen to the gals video and read the recipe come back here to read what changes I did that probably contributed to give me this sweet cheesy mistake.

First off I doubled the ingredients…..since I am overrun with milk right now I wasn’t going to spend time doing just a 1/2 gallon recipe.

  • They called for pasteurized / homogenized milk from the store.
  • I used – Raw Milk
  • Called for lemon juice though I don’t know what brand they used…guessing Real Lemon brand that’s filled with junk since they used store bought commercial milk.
  • I used Organic Lemon Juice we purchase at Costco. Italian Volcano Lemon Juice made from Sicilian lemons in Italy.
  • Waiting to bring the milk to a boil as it calls for was the longest amount of time spent to make this cheese. They say medium heat but I started out on medium low knowing all to well how fast you can scorch milk. Towards the very end when my cheese thermometer was getting close to 212 degrees ( boiling temp ) I upped it some. As to not have to stand over the milk constantly stirring and waiting I set my kitchen timer at 10 minute intervals for stirring till it got closer to boiling temp. That way I was able to do other things around the house.
  • When I poured in the lemon juice and kept stirring. I stirred for probably a good 5 minutes. Then I let it sit with the burner turned off as called for – for probably a good 15 minutes or so. Longer than just a few minutes as they said.
  • By the way their idea to hang the cheese up inside a water pitcher is a really good one. I let it hang for the 30 minutes they called for.
  • Next on the weighting down I let it sit 20 minutes.
  • When it was time to unwrap and knead in salt that is when I found it to be drier and crumbly. I don’t know if it was due to my extended times or what since theirs seemed to a quite a bit softer. And I did not do any extra squeezing to get out excess whey…so not sure.
  • Any how………I took the mass of cheese broke it up into a bowl and added 1/2 tsp. of Redmond Real Salt to give it a slight salty taste to it.

The result is a lovely sweet tasting cheese, crumbly
and ready to sprinkle on a plate of salad. It has a nice squeaky texture.

Sweet / Tangy / Slightly Salty

They mention that the cheese freezes well, so as I make more that is my plan. And I’ll give a try at adding herbs to it.

** Note /added – 01/29/10** I totally forgot to mention the other day.
Be sure not to pour the whey down the drain. It’s good drinking – especially the whey from this cheese with it’s lemony flavor. Use the whey for bread baking, fermenting, soaking grains, etc..

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.
Hosted this week by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
Please head on over and enjoy all the other Real Food postings being shared.

While your here you might check out related posts listed @ the Comment section.

And if your a CRAFTER of knitting, crocheting, beading and other needle art you might be interested in my recent posting called
A Crafter’s Palette of Colors Adventure!

PLEASE BE SURE TO READ THE COMMENTS – THERE’S ADDED INFO WITH LINKS FOR CHEESE MAKING WITH IN COMMENTS.

Seeds of the Word: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor- it is the gift of God. I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.” Ecclesiastes 3: 11-14

Share this Posting:
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Kirtsy
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Twitter
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Yahoo! Bookmarks
  • Add to favorites
  • Print
  • email
Knitting

A Crafter's Palette of Colors Adventure!

AND, WHAT AN ADVENTURE IT WAS! Have you ever ended up in an unexpected adventure before? I did a week ago. This was a knitter, crocheters dream……….read on!

A week ago we headed to eastern Missouri for a Bible conference and stay on for a couple days extra to spend time visiting with friends of ours south of there. They live out at Turkey Hill Ranch Bible Camp deep in the beautiful and peaceful Ozark Hills. We spent the time with long time friends and relatives of theirs from here. Sunday night found Debi & I and her mom online searching for a local source for a Ozark Hand Spun Yarns. Little did we know the designer of the yarn lived right smack in Jefferson City north of camp. So on Monday afternoon we had an appointment to stop there. Debi and I planned on some thrift store shopping after we stopped with her mom to buy yarn. That is all we thought the time was going to involve there. Look at yarn, buy some and leave. Were we ever wrong!

ENTER:

David Gentzsch
Designer of Ozark Hand Spun Yarns

As we arrived we were greeted by a large over 100 year old brick home with stain glass everywhere. David is talented in making stain glass, it was everywhere through out the house.  Some of the following 6 photos are little off in clarity – they are enlarged from cell phone photos. Thinking Debi and I were going to be on our way shortly I hadn’t even given thought to bringing my camera with since we were just going to go to the thrift stores in town. Thankfully she had her cell phone camera so we did get some pics. Below is a sampling of some of his stain glass.

We ended up with the Gentzch’s for over 2 hours seeing their designs and some of the process to produce the colorful array of beautiful yarns he designs and spins. David left the harder stain glass palette of colors behind  to move over to the softer form palette colors in the wonderful hand spun yarns he creates.  This ended up being the most memorable adventure any of us has had. We three gals were in our element like never before.  David buys his wool locally, through out the state and other states and New Zealand. His yarns are sold nationwide and around the world. And here we found he was a short distance away from where we sat with the laptop looking up a source for his yarns.

After seeing bins of yarns in a vast array of colors and many of his designs that he and his wife have knitted and crocheted up we headed outside.

Above – Here we are whooping it up with some of Davids designs draped on us. ( sorry this pic did not enlarge well so rather grainy ) I think we must have been out at the car looking at and trying on designs for over 1/2 an hour and it was chilly out. But when your having so much fun you don’t realize your fingers are freezing off!  I’m the one on the right in green jacket, next to me are my dear friends from here, then David, next to him Debi -daughter to the couple and who we were visiting. Mine and Debi’s hubbies didn’t come along they stayed on back at camp visiting and snoozing. David had just gotten back from a show and had tons more designs in the trunk that we were going through.

Above – David and Terry – they are a cute couple. Very friendly and fun to visit. You’ll see some of the designs worn above in photos later on in this posting.

Now we move onto the house next door. Where David has part of his workshop in the basement. We didn’t get photos of the wool washing process ( sorry about that ) because we were so busy listening and watching David work. David showed us his process of washing the wool, rinsing, setting the dye with vinegar, etc.. After all that we moved on over to the next room in the basement.

In this next room he had bins of wool dyed in every color of the rainbow, bales of wool and what I was really drawn to was the Raw Silk he had from China. See it above hanging on the wall – the creamy white deliciousness. I had never seen nor felt raw silk before. It’s so luxuriously soft. When done up into a garment, woven or otherwise it’s not as soft as it is in this raw state.

Above & below – here we are having so much fun as we help David shake out the washed hanks of yarn to hang on rods to dry. You’ll notice the bug zapper below in one of the collage photos. He uses them to keep moths away from all his yarns. Works well and you also avoid the smell of moth balls or that other crystal grains of ??? the name evades my brain at the moment…that you would have to have out in the open with so much yarn around. M in the corner photo above has what you call a mane of wool on her shoulder all dyed and ready for your imagination as how to use it. It’s a part of wool sheered  from the sheep that comes off  basically already felted. The one M has draped on her shoulder was so pretty and could be used just as it is by pinning a brooch to it onto a sweater or jacket to dress yourself up.

Our time spent with the Gentzsch’s was delightful. Davids yarns are beautiful. He has a vast rainbow assortment of  colorway choices. The sky’s the limit with your imagination in using his yarns. His designs ( many of his patterns on his website ) are Funky in style – nothing I would wear but others would like them – they are fun. He travels to shops for classes and shows. You can find out where to purchase his yarns on his site linked above.

~ FLORILEGIUM ~

Fast track ahead one week. While at David Gentzsch’s home we heard he was going to be at a shop in a town not to far from me. He was giving a needle felting class on wool scarves, there would be a fashion show with some of his designs and he would have tons of his yarns there. So I joined my friend M just this past Saturday for another adventure. She’s like a mother to me  less than a year older than my own mother) and she’s my knitting buddy who has been teaching knitting at our local yarn shop for years. And whom I have cooked with for years at our churches Bible Day Camp and coordinated and cooked for our bi annual conferences at church each year. How many years? I have totally lost count, but its been a long time.

So what is Florilegium? It’s been a well kept secret from me. I never even knew it existed till this past week.  Florilegium is the knitter, crocheter, needlepointer, ribbon art, hat making, beader, you name it store. It is magical when you enter the front door. The owner Gretchen is amazingly talented. The displays she has created draw you in to just a dreamland of crafts on display, antiques, etc..

I literally took close to 150 photos that day. Just snapping them left and right. No way I could begin to share them all. So I collaged some of my favorites and deleted most all the rest to give you all an idea of the store.

Above M is with David once again. M has on one of his latest ideas to use his yarns to embellish denim jackets. Also the other gal with same jacket we got to know a bit…she’s got 6 kids like I do and is a knitter / crafter. She was there for David’s needle felting class.  There were about a dozen gals involved in the class. We weren’t but we are considering a class that will be in March more along the line of what we like @ Florilegium taught by David.
The basket on the floor is just a glimpse of Davids beautiful yarns.

Below the gal holding up the black fabric with bird on it was part of the class. She brought a boiled wool jacket she bought at Cold Water Creek on sale to embellish it with needle felting with David’s yarn. The front was so pretty with vining and flowers. Then she added the bird to the back.

Below – I picked out my favorite pictures from the fashion show of Davids designs to share with ya’ all. These two young girls were having the time of their life modeling. The felted head band actually is for wearing around your neck but looks classy on the head. David has designers around the country that take his yarns and design other creations for him. The purse was done by a gal I think in Ohio ????, though may be wrong on the state. Knitted & felted purse then punch crocheted into the edge David’s yarn, along with feathers.

If your traveling in the Midwest and are a knitter, crocheter or another type of crafter that likes to seek out stores  for your medium of handcrafting art  FLORILEGIUM would be a great place for a shopping adventure.  It’s located in a quaint old town called Parkville, Missouri along the Missouri River in old North Kansas City. Nestled in the rolling cliffs. Many other fun shops near by that I am going to have to go back to see. I am so glad I discovered this little gem of a store.

As a side note here….Florilegium’s website currently isn’t up to date. You can get on their newsletter mailing list there.

Seeds of the Word: “O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.” Psalm 16: 5-8

Share this Posting:
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Kirtsy
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Twitter
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Yahoo! Bookmarks
  • Add to favorites
  • Print
  • email
Knitting

What I'm working on........

Currently I am in a mode of refocusing how I blog.
I am finding that this sure seems to be a trend of late with many bloggers. If your a blogger or a reader of blogs you more than likely have been seeing this happen at various blogs you read. Many have gone to blogging once a week, some twice a month and others only once a month. And, these were daily posters in the past.
I am looking at giving far more time to a post as to depth and content. As to how often I will post I am not definite on that yet. I’m looking towards once to twice a week. One day devoted to the aspect of Nourishing Foods, the other day to any given subject of everything else I like to blog about. In the mean time I’m giving much thought to all this formulating a plan.

Over the next few days or so I’ll be working on a Knitting post - hint the photo above.  Last Monday I spent over 2 hours with 2 girlfriends at a Yarn Artists home in eastern Missouri, then today at a show near by with this Artist in a shop I never new existed. I took lots of photos that I need to sort through and then a post to write up. If your a knitter, crocheter or crafter the shop I was at is a “must to stop at” and shop if your traveling in the Midwest. And that is all I am going to tell you about the shop for now.
Stay tune for my write up on both days.

Seeds of the Word: “that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2: 2-3

Share this Posting:
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Kirtsy
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Twitter
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Yahoo! Bookmarks
  • Add to favorites
  • Print
  • email