From Scratch spring 2016
The Spring Issue
It’s time to get dirty
Train your Chickens dandelions for food and health
Grow your own Superfoods
Grubs & Herbs *Enjoy 10% off at: scratchandpeck.com* Coupon code: FromScratch10
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Contributors CHRIS MCLAUGHLIN GARDENING EDITOR LAUGHING CROW COMPANY
JANET GARMAN CHICKEN EDITOR TIMBER CREEK FARM
KAREN DURAND THOMPSON LIL’ SUBURBAN HOMESTEAD
STEVEN AND MELISSA JONES, CO-FOUNDERS
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Hello Spring from scratch magazine •
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Letter from the Publisher
S
pring is here! The time when it is perfectly acceptable to have dirt underneath your fingernails.
2016 has already been an exciting and life changing year. We have moved onto our new homestead. There is nothing dearer to a homesteader’s heart then being able to work their own land. Improving the soil that is under our feet and improving the lives that our families lead.
Spring is the time when those dreams become lists and those lists become realities. I spent a lot of time reading this past winter. Reading about people who faced tremendous challenges. People who had no control over the future. Those stories gave me a new found vigour. A renewed commitment to living a life of purpose.
We have an amazing This is the time where we get opportunity to live the life of our dreams. Not the dream to implement all of the plans we have been dreaming about of society or of other family members but our own heart during the winter months. driven path. The dreams have been allconsuming. What vegetables Homesteaders, let’s makes those dreams come true. Let’s are we going to plant? What be the modern pioneers we flowers do we want to grow? are and forge a new path. What new animals are we going to add?
Melissa Jones 14 • from scratch magazine
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Reader Photos We love seeing all of the things that you are doing on your homesteads!
A beautiful Rose by Anna Nemeth
Seedlings by Judi Middleton
Sunflower by Anna Nemeth
Butterfly by Anna Nemeth 16 • from scratch magazine
Wire tree by Beth Jordan
The Easter Bunny
The Bible makes no mention of a flippity- floppoty bunny rabbit who delivers decorated eggs and candy to well-behaved children on Easter Sunday. But still the Easter bunny has become a prominent symbol of Christianity’s most important holiday. The exact origins of this mythical mammal are not clear, but rabbits, known to be animals that produce a lot of offspring, are an ancient symbol of fertility and new life. According to some sources, the Easter bunny first arrived in America in the 1700s. German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania brought their tradition of an egg-laying hare called “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws.” Their children made nests in which this creature could lay its colored eggs. Eventually, the custom spread across the United States and the Osterhase’s Easter morning deliveries expanded to include chocolate and other types of candy and gifts, while decorated baskets replaced nests.
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The Herbal Hom Enroll for free herbal and visit www.theherbalhomestead.com for information on how natural solutions can change your life.
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mestead University essential oil education
Schedule a call with Melissa from The herbal homestead to discuss how essential oils can help you in your life and receive a free book and sample
Click here for your free sample and book from scratch magazine •
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IN THIS ISSUE
grow your own superfoods
Dandelions for food and medicine
Chicken parasites 20 • from scratch magazine
kimbap
making mozzarella
lizzy lou’s farm diy manure compost tea
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Melissa’s Picks LET’S GO BIRDWATCHING
In the woods with my Binoculars and surrounded by nature is where I want to be.
Audubon Bird Call Amazon - $7
Sibley Backyard Birding Flashcards - Amazon - $12
Hummingbird Hand Feeding Kit Amazon - $14 22 • from scratch magazine
Teapot Feeder - Amazon - $24
Audubon Bird Call - Amazon - $7
Binoculars - Amazon - $38
Kingbird Highway: The Biggest Year in the Life of an Extreme Birder- Amazon - $12
Optics Binocular Harness Strap - Amazon - $21
Audubon Bird JournalAmazon - $13 Sorel Women’s Slimboot Amazon - $97
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Let’s get Started
It’s time to get some seeds started!
Coco Fiber Seed Pots- Amazon - $45
8-Outlet Power Strip with 24 Hour Timer- Amazon - $26
Tool Belt- Amazon - $20
Seedling Propagation Starter Heating Pad - Amazon- $18 Mini 4 Soil Blocker- Amazon - $30 24 • from scratch magazine
Seed Starting Tool KitAmazon - $15
Seed to Seed- Amazon-$19 Indoor Grow Light, 3-Tier Stand - Amazon - $599
Work Bench- Amazon - $111
Soil Cube Tool- Amazon - $25 from scratch magazine •
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what is in season This Spring The best eating. The freshest produce is seasonal. Use this guide to purchase the best the season has to offer.
asparagus Recipe: An easy side dish that goes well with anything INGREDIENTS: About a pound young asparagus 2 tablespoons melted butter 3 cloves minced garlic Salt and ground black pepper to your liking
INSTRUCTIONS: Cut the bottoms of the asparagus
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stems, about 1/2 inch. Heat up a pan on medium heat and add melted butter. SautĂŠ garlic until slightly browned. Add the asparagus. combine well with the garlic. Add salt and ground black pepper. Once the asparagus is tender (about 5-10 minutes, turn often) and just cooked, remove from heat and serve immediately.
avocado
Recipe: avocado chicken salad; adds a new twist to a classic
INGREDIENTS: 2 cups shredded chicken
INSTRUCTIONS: Add chicken, avocado and cilantro into
1 large avocado, cored & chopped
a bowl and mash together with a fork.
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Serve on croissants or toasted
Salt & pepper to your liking
sour-dough bread.
INGREDIENTS: 3 1/2 cups broccoli 1/2 hummus Black pepper and lemon juice
INSTRUCTIONS:
broccoli
Steam, boil, roast or grill your broccoli. Coat the broccoli with hummus. Serve warm or chilled.
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cabbage One of my favorite vegetables INGREDIENTS:
INSTRUCTIONS:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Heat a skillet with olive oil over medium heat.
1 chopped onion
Add onion and cook until onion is softened, add
2 cloves minced garlic
garlic and stir. Turn heat up to mediumÂhigh
1 medium head green cabbage,
heat, add cabbage. Stir. Leave cabbage start to
sliced into thick slices
brown, turn the cabbage over and let other side
2 Tablespoons butter
brown slightly. Season lightly with butter and a
Salt and pepper to taste
dash of salt.
INGREDIENTS: 12 medium radishes 2 tbsp. butter Salt and Black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS: Cut the ends off the radishes, then halve and put a pad of butter on each one. Spread them out on a baking tray
radishes 28 • from scratch magazine
in a single layer, and add half the butter in small pieces. Add salt pepper. Roast the radishes for about 40 minutes, Turning once and adding the other half of butter.
leeks INGREDIENTS:
Use large pan over a medium heat,
4 cups leeks 4 tbsp. butter Thyme leaves
add the butter and let it melt. Add the
INSTRUCTIONS:
down to low, cover the pan and cook
The day before, cut the leeks from top to
the leeks gently for about 15 minutes,
root and wash. Thinly slice them on the diagonal and put into plastic bags and chill until ready to cook.
leeks and plenty of seasoning and stir to coat in the butter. Turn the heat
stirring half way through until they are tender. Serve with extra butter and a sprinkling of thyme leaves.
INGREDIENTS: 2 lbs parsnips 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 1/2 tsp favorite herb mix 1 tsp kosher salt
INSTRUCTIONS: Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Parsnips
Peel parsnips and cut into one inch chunks. Toss with oil, herbs and salt. Spread out on baking sheet. Cook 25-30 minutes. from scratch magazine •
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No Money. No Land. No Problem. Earn $50.000 a Year SPIN Farming
Want to know more? Are you curious? ABOUT LINDA BORGHI & ABUNDANT LIFE FARM
In 2009 Linda spoke at Food, Famine & the Future of Food Technology at the United Nations. As a champion of self-sufficiency & pure healthy food, her goal is introducing over 1,000 new farmers to the art of creating real food to remove barriers to great food and improve access in food deserts. Linda has students throughout the U.S. and works online with students in other countries including Africa. With experience as both a producer and vendor of food, Linda has managed four-star restaurants in Manhattan and farmed on Block Island, RI where she established Abundant Life Farm. She learned biodynamic agriculture at the Pfeiffer Center Garden, and since has practiced SPINFarming & pioneered the Eat Local Virtual Farm Stand as a direct distribution channel from farmer to eater. www.abundantlifefarm.com global & Beaufort, SC 845-545-0952 • lborghi@abundantlifefarm.com • www.growfoodearnmoney.com
Join Linda Borghi SPIN Farming Trainer Free Conference call Every Wednesday 6:30-7:00 pm EST Call 712-432-1212 ENTER CODE 758-655-565# 30 • from scratch magazine
click here to pre-order your cookbook now from scratch magazine •
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Chicken Parasites ADVICE FROM OUR CHICKEN EXPERT AND CHICKEN EDITOR, JANET GARMAN
A recently released study revealed that free-range chickens are more likely to suffer from parasite infections than their industrially raised brethren. The study found the most likely reason for this difference is the factory raised birds are usually kept confined, which prevents them from coming into prolonged contact with each other, which can spread disease. Of course, for many backyard farmers, this confinement is actually one of the reasons they raise chickens in a free range style environment, as that confinement raises ethical concerns for many fans of eggs. So, how big a deal are parasites for free-range and
backyard birds? And what can you do about it? We decided to ask Janet Garman, author of Chickens From Scratch and our resident chicken expert. HOW MUCH TROUBLE DO PARASITES ACTUALLY CAUSE CHICKENS? Parasites in chickens can vary in intensity. It can range from a “carrier” type status to a full blown infestation of the intestinal tract, and kill the chicken. The key is knowing what to look for and not letting things progress to that stage. Keeping the coop reasonably clean of poop, removing any spilled water, cleaning the bowls and waterers used all from scratch magazine •
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Natural ways to keep your chickens healthy and more resistant to parasites include apple cider vinegar in the WHAT KINDS OF PARASITES water at a dilution of 1 tablespoon per gallon of ARE FREE RANGE water. CHICKENS SUSCEPTIBLE TOO? Pumpkin, including the seeds, has some benefits and is rich Tapeworms, gapeworms and roundworms along with cocci in the super-food nutrients. (coccidiosis from the parasite) Plain yogurt, kefir and garlic are the most likely. are also beneficial to a healthy intestinal tract (use dairy Some people worm every sparingly as this can lead to year. I have only wormed if I see symptoms of illness, such digestive upset too). as bloody droppings, loose feces in many members of the Quite a few studies have been done using fresh or dried flock or sudden death in the oregano in the chickens food flock. as a natural anti-parasite Birds that look like they aren’t procedure. preening and grooming Treating a chicken with a themselves might have a parasite load and not using a parasite load making them worming medication or feel yucky. (technical term) prescription drug can be WHAT ARE SOME ORGANIC very successful if the parasite problem is caught METHODS TO PREVENT early enough. CHICKENS FROM BEING AFFLICTED WITH In my experience, once a PARASITES? help to control parasites and flies which are often the intermediate host.
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chicken has progressed to the non-eating stage, has lost weight and stopped interacting with the flock, you have a hard road of nursing the chicken back to health. Often, at this point, you may want to call in a Vet to get a stronger anti-parasitic medicine. Keeping your chickens healthy all the time by using natural probiotic foods and herbs that make the intestinal tract unattractive to parasites is the best way to raise the chickens DID I FORGET TO ASK SOMETHING? No, but I will add my advice:
eating less, drinking less, then the acid balance in the gut is thrown off. This leads to a more hospitable welcome for the parasites. I do not think that free ranging actually leads to a higher incidence of parasites in chickens. In fact the opposite should be true. The chickens free ranging are eating a more natural diet and pecking and scratching in a larger area with less fecal load than in the chicken house or run. They should not be coming in contact with as much fecal matter. Best case scenario of course.
The biggest threat to free Keeping your chickens in good health is the best way to ranging is predators, not parasites. prevent a parasite problem. Parasites are opportunistic organisms. IF the bird is weakened,
JANET GARMAN IS THE FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE CHICKEN EDITOR. SHE’S THE AUTHOR OF CHICKENS FROM SCRATCH. SHE ALSO WRITES FOR HER BLOG, TIMBER CREEK FARM. FIND OUT MORE HERE. from scratch magazine •
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Training Chickens BY: KRISTINA SELESHANKO
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Recently, my husband’s grandmother visited our house, took a look at our hens, and said, shaking her head:
Plymouth Rocks, for example, seem a lot smarter than our Silver Wyandottes. And I hear that chickens raised for meat have even smaller IQs.
“How do you get them to do what you want them to do?”
But the fact remains that all are trainable -- with a little patience and some know-how.
She couldn’t imagine how we got them in and out of the garden, or kept them out of our favorite plants, or put them “to bed” at night. But my answer to her was straightforward: “We train ‘em.” While chickens don’t exactly have a reputation for being Einsteins, they are easy to train. It’s simply a matter of understanding them a bit. As my husband says, “Chickens aren’t stupid. They’re just simple.” It’s true some breeds seem smarter than others. Our 38 • from scratch magazine
GETTING CHICKENS LOCKED UP Even if your chickens free range all day, you must lock them up in a coop at night to protect them from predators. But anyone who has tried to lure chickens into a hen house knows it’s not easily done. Chasing them doesn’t work, either. (Even if one or two run into the coop, while you’re out chasing the others, the two that were in the coop will dash out.) My husband and I think a visual cue is the best method. We began by using a toy plastic hoe in a bright shade
of blue to herd the hens into the coop at night. We placed the hoe where the hens could see it (a foot or so from their faces), then placed it behind them, coaxing them in the direction of their coop without actually touching them.
Nowadays, usually all we have to do is lift the hoe up and most of the hens will run into their coop. With the less submissive birds sometimes need extra coaxing with the hoe. We also have one hen who automatically goes into a crouching position when we from scratch magazine •
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get the hoe out. (This is what submissive hens do around roosters.) Sometimes we have to pick her up and gently place her in the coop. Remember, this doesn’t mean you have to go out and buy a blue plastic hoe. Any physical item that’s easy for the birds to see will work fine. PICKING UP HENS It’s a good idea to inspect your birds once in a while, to check for signs of pests or disease. And the more you hold them, the more friendly and less skittish the birds are with humans. Most hens will automatically go into a crouching position (head down, wings slightly out) if you place a flat hand over -- but not touching -their bodies. Again, this is the position hens get into when a rooster is around. To pick up the hen, slowly and gently pick her up with both hands 40 • from scratch magazine
- one hand over each of her wings. She’ll be most comfortable and is less likely to flail if you then tuck her under one arm, snug to your body. CALLING BY NAME Most hens can learn to come when you call them by name. Begin by holding the hen and talking to her softly, using her name often. Next, place her the ground and call her name, offering her a favorite food until she comes close to you. Eventually, she will come every time you call; reward her frequently with food treats. KEEPING CHICKENS OUT OF THE GARDEN We can’t fence our veggie garden; there’s too little space and it would cast too much shade. But our chickens mostly leave the garden alone. The trick is to baby-sit them. We keep
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our hens in their run when we aren’t in the backyard, but whenever we go outside, we let them free range. Our presence is usually enough to keep them out of the garden. (But if we go inside just for a minute, you can bet the birds will be naughty while we’re away.) We’ve trained them with water. For about the first month, whenever the hens went into the garden, we sprayed them with a garden hose. Chickens hate water, and they very quickly learned to avoid the vegetable bed. Now they rarely go into the garden, but we do keep the hose on (with a spray nozzle attachment on it so water isn’t constantly flowing) while we’re outside - just in case we have to remind the hens to be good. An alternative to this is a
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special sprinkler with a sensor; these are commonly sold for deterring wildlife from the garden. Whenever the sprinkler senses movement, it sprays water. The only trouble with these is that they don’t know chickens from children or adults, for that matter. Also, if you water your garden with a sprinkler, be sure to time the waterings so they coincide with free ranging. The sprinkler will keep the chickens away without any special effort on your part. OTHER TRICKS These are really the only “tricks” your hens need to know to live happily in your yard, but if you want to learn some silly tricks that will amuse your children, search You Tube for “chicken tricks.” Chickens can safely be taught to momentarily sleep, jump through a hula hoop, and so on.
Click here to read now! read it
The ultimate guide to raising chickens from scratch magazine •
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MAKE YOUR OWN
Manure Tea BY: JORDAN CHARBONNEAU
Here at Rabbit Ridge Farm our space is limited. With only 1.25 acres total every square inch gets used. This often means that we plant much more into an area than is normally done so we have to work hard to ensure all of our plant are getting proper TO MAKE OUR MANURE TEA WE USE THE FOLLOWING:
nutrients. Recently we’ve had a few crops looking a little yellow, meaning they’re nitrogen deficient. One of the easiest methods we’ve found to quickly help this is to water with manure tea.
eggshells or more if you have them. 3. Then fill the bucket the rest of the way with water. 4. We have found this mixture • A five gallon bucket works best if it is allowed to • Water steep for a couple of days • Rabbit manure (you could use before using. You should stir other manure this is what we it really well initially and then have) occasionally while it’s steep• Egg shells ing. 5. To use it just water any plants 1. Fill your five gallon bucket that could use some fertilizer. 1/4 to 1/2 full of manure. You I think we usually do about 2 want it to be mostly manure cups per plant but you could but it’s okay if there is some use more or less depending hay or shaving mixed in. on your situation. 2. Add about 1/2 cup of crushed 44 • from scratch magazine
Let’s make some tea! FILL 5 GALLON BUCKET WITH 1/4 TO 1/2 OF MANURE
AT LEAST 1/2 CUP CRUSHED EGGSHELLS
FILL THE BUCKET THE REST OF THE WAY WITH WATER LET MIXTURE STEEP FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS IN THE 5 GALLON BUCKET BEFORE USING.
JUST AN ADDITIONAL FYI: IT SMELLS PRETTY BAD SO TRY NOT TO SPILL IT ALL OVER YOURSELF LIKE I OFTEN DO. from scratch magazine •
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Introducing the Mason Bottle BY: STEVEN JONES
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T
he Mason Bottle was a recent Kickstarter project started by Laura Belmar and her business partners.
The concept is simple and genius. For parents that do not want to use plastic baby bottles, with all the risks of exposing children to harmful plastics, the Mason Bottle provides a low-cost alternative.
COULD YOU GIVE ME A BRIEF HISTORY OF YOUR COMPANY? The idea for our first product came to us about a year and a half ago. We were expecting our first child, and we were determined to use glass bottles because new research is always exposing more harmful chemicals in plastic.
We also wanted to save space and keep a light footprint on Unlike commercial, glass baby the Earth. Making a mason jar baby bottle seemed like bottles, Mason Bottles are an obvious way to meet our a kit that includes needs. Since then, as our son adapters allowing parents has grown and so has the to use Mason jars (one of business, we’ve come up with the two greatest pieces of technology on a homestead, many more ideas for sustainable family products, the other being the 5-gallon which we are developing for bucket) as baby bottles. future product lines. The kits even include a YOU RECENTLY non-toxic silicone sleeve to prevent breakage. We talked COMPLETED A KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN. to Laura about her company and what the future WHY DID YOU PURSUE A CROWDSOURCE METHOD holds for this unique, and OF FUNDING, VERSUS quite frankly, adorable idea. from scratch magazine •
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SOME OF OUR READERS MENTIONED THAT GLASS BOTTLES HAVE We chose to launch the EXISTED FOR DECADES Mason Bottle on Kickstarter AND ARE AVAILABLE NOW. for so many reasons. WHAT SEPARATES MASON BOTTLES FROM OTHER Crowdfunding not only allowed us to retain our equity GLASS BABY BOTTLES? in the company, but it also kept us from going deep into When we looked at the market for glass bottles, we debt. saw that parents weren’t just It also gave us the opportunity looking for a non-toxic baby bottle, they also wanted all of to really listen to our future the other features you can find customers and learn from in the high-end and plastic them. categories. Specifically, they wanted a bottle with a wide During the first two weeks of breast-like nipple, a the Kickstarter, parents gave ventilation system that us creative ideas about how prevents gas and colic, and to sell the product, and their simplicity — no hard to clean feedback helped us increase spaces and no extra pieces. sales dramatically during the second half of the campaign. We found that the glass bottles on the market had one or two of these features but Being on Kickstarter also never all three, especially on made us a first page search result almost overnight. Suffice the low end of the price spectrum. to say that the benefits of crowdsourcing go far beyond We believe healthy doesn’t the financial, and we would have to be high end, which is recommend it to anyone! why we tried to combine all of TRADITIONAL METHODS?
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jars full of milk in the freezer, and then just turn them into bottles as needed by adding a nipple. Up until now, But more than anything, I plastic pumping bags have been pretty much the only think what really sets the Mason Bottle apart is the alternative for milk storage. convenience of being able They’re an additional cost for to use the same jar to store, families, prone to leaking, and single-use, so when it comes heat, and serve milk. to milk storage, using the So many breast-feeding moms Mason Bottle is easier on have told us that they love families and the environment. being able to stack up mason these features into the Mason Bottle while also keeping the product affordable.
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ARE YOU CURRENTLY IN PRODUCTION NOW? IF SO, WHERE CAN PEOPLE BUY MASON BOTTLES? IF NOT, WHEN DO YOU EXPECT TO BE SELLING THE KITS?
TO KNOW ABOUT?
We’ve been getting a lot of requests for a sippy cup top, so that is coming down the pipeline. Even though we started with Mason Bottle We are tooling up for and will build out some more production as we speak. You mason jar-related goods, our family brand Kinetika will be can pre-order the product releasing other products for right now on masonbottle. com. Orders will start shipping kids and adults too! by April at the latest. WHO DESIGNED YOUR DO YOU HAVE ANY FUTURE NIPPLES AND WHAT PLANS YOU’D LIKE PEOPLE MAKES THEM UNIQUE? 50 • from scratch magazine
We did a lot of research on how to design the nipple, and then we went out and interviewed a lot of parents. Over and over again we heard that parents wanted bottles that vented really well and prevented gas, but they hated when those ventilation systems included easy-to-lose or hard-to-clean extra pieces.
Since then BPA has been removed from many (but far from all) food and beverage containers. However, what most people don’t know is that there are still plenty of other chemicals in plastic that have never even been tested for health impacts because they don’t have to be.
So we developed a fool-proof ventilation feature built right into the Mason Bottle’s silicone nipple. Then a colleague connected us with an experienced engineer who helped us perfect the design.
In fact, research revealed just last year that BPS, the chemical that replaced BPA, is also linked to problems with neurological development.
Rather than wait for the chemical industry to get it’s act together or for the results WHY ARE GLASS BOTTLES of longitudinal studies to BETTER THAN PLASTIC? come out, we’d rather just In 2008, research first revealed stick with glass because we know exactly what’s in it and the harmful effects that the we know it’s completely safe chemical BPA has on and non-toxic. neurological development. BPA was so common in CAN YOU PROVIDE ME plastics, and when these WITH YOUR FULL NAME, studies started to come out, POSITION IN THE they really raised awareness COMPANY AND A BRIEF among the general public. BIOGRAPHY? from scratch magazine •
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My full name is Laura Palm Belmar and I’m the co-founder and CEO of Kinetika Inc. Mason Bottle is Kinetika’s first product and
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we’ll be launching other lines in the future. I grew up in Oklahoma and come from a family of
farmers and teachers. I began my career with Teach for America and spent many years in the classroom (and in the garden). After traveling abroad and marrying a Chilean, we had a son and became entrepreneurs to create healthier products and a better life for our family. When we aren’t working, we enjoy being outdoors and figuring out how to raise a bilingual baby. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD? We are officially going to be manufacturing in the US! It took more than a year and lots of “No”s to get to this point. But if there’s anything I learned from being a teacher, it’s that “Impossible is Nothing,” so we kept searching until we found a factory that was innovative enough to produce at
competitive prices. We are passionate about supporting our local economy, but we are also trying to make a product that is affordable to families at all income levels. We now have a manufacturing partner that will allow us to do both! And here’s a fun fact: We moved to San Francisco when I was seven months pregnant so my husband could pursue a career change. We knew it was the right thing for our family, but we didn’t know where we would live or how long it would take for him to get a job. The only thing we did know is that he’d still be in school when the baby was born. We rented a one bedroom apartment and put the baby’s crib in the (very wellventilated) closest. Being short on space and on money helped inspire the Mason Bottle. We still live in this same apartment and are big fans of living in small spaces and keeping things simple. from scratch magazine •
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IT’S TIME FOR YOUR
Grow Up VEGETABLES TO
BY: CHRIS MCLAUGHLIN
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WHEN LESS IS ACTUALLY MORE It’s obvious that growing vegetables up instead of out saves space, which opens gardening doors for almost everybody. Lack of space is certainly a great reason to start thinking vertically and that may be the road that led you to consider growing things vertically. However, a small space is only one reason on a long list of great reasons to grow vertically. Even if you have plenty of gardening room, you may want to add vertical components in order to take advantage of the other compelling reasons to grow up.
LESS TIME AND WORK This reason alone is enough to keep my interest. Between raising kids, working, keeping house and garden,
cooking meals, livestock care, and volunteering, I lead a very full life. My guess is that you do, too! Gardening and growing fresh food is something that I strongly believe in and have no intentions of cutting out. The question is, how many things can I grow? Most of us keep up a busy daily pace just to stay afloat, so it may feel like one potted pepper plant is all you can manage. This is the beauty of growing vertically the time commitment is very little compared to what’s considered a horizontal garden bed. Of course, how much time depends on how many vertical gardens you’re tending. I should point out that even if you choose to have a large garden of vertical veggies, you’ll still get twice as much done for your vertical plants as you would their horizontally grown counterparts. This is from scratch magazine •
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because there’s very little soil for you to deal with, especially if your veggies are in a container.
growing plants vertically will save you money on purchasing soil because you won’t need to build large rectangular beds. In fact, Less soil means less time you’ll be able to get away with watering for those of you who obtaining just enough soil for are hand-watering. Pruning the roots of the plants. When plants such as berry canes, you garden with large horitomato plants, or fruit trees zontal gardens, you’re providis easier. And harvesting? ing fresh soil for the vines that Harvesting is a quick endeavor simply rest on the soil as they when fruit is at eye level and sprawl; soil that’s basically can be easily seen and picked. wasted. In short, your back and knees will thank you for adopting an The same principle applies upward gardening plan! Each to compost. Compost is the of these factors also make best thing you can do for vertical gardening the perfect your garden and whether you method for those with physical have your own compost piles limitations, as well. Gardeners going or plan to purchase this in wheelchairs or with other important amendment. It’ll physical challenges find that go a lot farther when you’re growing veggies up makes adding it only to the area that their hobby much easier[md]or really needs it -- the plant perhaps even possible. roots. I believe that no single thing benefits plants more than rich, crumbly, nutritional LESS MONEY compost. Personally, this is a deal-maker for me. It’s a tough economy, The building materials used for the upright right? If you intend to climbing structures may be create raised garden beds, 56 • from scratch magazine
the area where most of your dollars go. However, this isn’t necessarily so. With a little imagination you can recycle and upcycle discarded items for the vertical garden that otherwise have been discarded.
Fewer Weeds, Pests and Diseases One of the best vertical gardening perks is that you’ll
have very few weeds sprouting up. Even when they do rear their ugly heads, they can all be tugged out in minutes. On the other hand, with horizontal beds you’re also weeding all of the bare soil areas in-between the plants so that they don’t take over the garden as they mature. Vertical gardening has you working with much less soil surface and many times you’re starting with bagged soils that are weed-free from the outset. Plants grown vertically enjoy
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exceptional air circulation -much more than most of their ground-dwelling counterparts. More air circulation around plant foliage means less trouble with pests and disease, which means a stronger plant and that will produce more unblemished fruit. And much, much less food waste due to rotting.
By allowing plants to grow up instead of out, you also limit their physical contact to neighboring plants. This is a major plus as plant diseases are readily transmitted through physical foliage contact. Crops grown on a support also have much fewer problems with rot, and therefore, waste.
When plants are grown horizontally, their leaves often cover the soil leaving it damp and warm which can expose plants to soil-borne diseases.
MORE PRODUCE
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If the above advantages aren’t enough to have you scrambling for fencing and
ALL OF THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO START YOUR OWN VERTICAL GARDEN , FROM SCRATCH! CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE! from scratch magazine •
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trellises, this one just might push you over the edge: a bigger bounty. That’s right, gardening vertically can actually increase your vegetable production. This increase in production is due to the plants and veggies receiving better air circulation and sunlight, which help maintain healthy foliage. Healthy plants with fewer pests and disease offer bigger yields, yet in a smaller space. Ripe veggies that are grown vertically also have a much better chance of being spotted by the gardener.
or two of the fruits ends up left on the vine and becomes overripe. At that point, as far as the plant is concerned, it has met its goal. It has now produced some fruit that contains mature seeds that will be part of the next generation of cucumbers. Thus, production comes to a full stop. When vegetables are harvested ready for the kitchen (but not fully mature), the plant keeps trying by maintaining vegetable production.
Chris McLaughlin has been gardening and studying plants for over thirty-five years. She’s There are a couple of reasons the author of six books: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to that this is important. One Composting (Alpha Books), is that you won’t pass up a perfectly ripe fruit that’s ready The Complete Idiot’s Guide for the kitchen. But the other to Heirloom Vegetables (Alpha Books), Hobby Farms: reason it’s important to keep ripe fruit picked from the vine Small-Space Rabbit Keeping (BowTie Press), The Complete is that for many plants an overripe fruit is a signal to halt Idiot’s Guide to Small-Space Gardening (Alpha Books), production. Vertical Vegetable Gardening Cucumbers, for example, will (Alpha Books), and A Garden to Dye For (St. Lynn’s Press). produce like mad until one 60 • from scratch magazine
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Dandelions FOR FOOD AND MEDICINE BY: KRISTINA SELESHANKO
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W
hole industries have been created to combat them. Gardening books and magazines are filled with ideas for eradicating them. Homeowners everywhere scorn them. But dandelions persist and thrive – and thank goodness, because they are actually one of the world’s most nutritious foods – and good medicine, besides!
find them in gourmet restaurants, high end grocery stores, and farmer’s markets throughout the U.S. But most of us have plenty of dandelions growing nearby, free for use, ready for the taking. HOW TO IDENTIFY DANDELIONS
There are a few wild plants that look similar to dandelions – and while they aren’t dangerous to eat, it pays to notice these important Turns out, dandelions aren’t native to North America. The dandelion traits: • Tooth-shaped, hairless prolific weeds with bright leaves. yellow flowers were actually • Leaves and stems growing brought here by European directly from the rootstalk in immigrants who valued the soil. dandelions as a super food • One flower per stem. and medicine. • Stems without branches on them. Literally, dandelions have kept • A milky white sap when a colonists and pioneers alive, stem is broken. and were highly valued • A thick root, looking rather during the Great Depression like a thin parsnip. and WWII. • Growing off this main root may be smaller, hair-like Today, dandelions are making roots. a culinary comeback. You’ll from scratch magazine •
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collards, and spinach. And if you pick the leaves before stems and flowers appear, they are less bitter than many salad greens. (If you pick them later in the season, one easy way to remove their bitterness is to bring a pot of water DANDELION LEAVES to a boil, then add the leaves. Simmer until tender; taste. Nutritionally, dandelion leaves If the leaves still seem bitare right up there with – and ter, repeat, using fresh water. sometimes supersede – kale, Repeat as often as necessary.) For safety’s sake, don’t harvest dandelions near roadways (where the plants soak up fumes) or from any location where chemical sprays, such as weed killers, may be used.
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DANDELION
Recipes
DANDELION NOODLES If you like spinach noodles, you’ll likely enjoy dandelion leaf noodles, too. Eat them simply, with a little butter and freshly grated Parmesan cheese, or try them with your favorite pasta sauce. Ingredients
cool for several minutes. Add the egg and a pinch of salt. 2. Puree the mixture in a blender or food processor. 3. Pour the leaf mixture into a large mixing bowl and stir in 1 cup of flour. If the dough is still soft, add a little more flour and mix again, repeating until the dough is stiff.
4. Turn out the dough on a lightly • 1 1/4 – 2 cups dandelion leaves floured surface. Knead for about 1 min(depending upon how much flavor is ute. Roll the dough very thin. Let it sit desired) for 20 • 2 tablespoons water minutes. • 1 egg • Fine sea salt 5. Loosely roll the dough into a cigar • 1 ¼ + cups all purpose flour shape. Use a sharp knife to cut strips ¼ inch wide. Unroll and cut into noodles Directions of whatever length you desire. Cook the noodles in boiling water. 1. Place the dandelion leaves and water in a saucepan. Cover and cook Serves 2 - 4. until the leaves are tender. Allow to
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EASY DANDELION SAUTÉ If dandelion leaves are new to you, this is a simple and easy first recipe to try. Ingredients • • • •
1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt 1 tablespoon olive oil 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 1/2 lbs. dandelion leaves, chopped coarsely • Pepper
Directions
1. In a small bowl, combine the garlic and salt. 2. Place a skillet over medium high heat and add the oil. Once warmed, add the garlic mixture, sautéing for a few seconds. 3. Add the dandelion leaves and season with pepper. Cook and stir often until the leaves are bright green and wilted. Serves 2.
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Variation: Cook a few strips of bacon in the skillet; drain on paper towels. Add the garlic and salt mixture, then the leaves. When the leaves are wilted, remove from the stove and crumble the bacon on top.
DANDELION ENCHILADAS Serve this and no one will know they are eating a common weed – unless you tell them! Ingredients: • 28 oz. enchilada sauce • 1 ½ cups dandelion leaves, cooked • 3 greens onions (scallions), chopped • 1/3 cup sour cream • 1 1/2 cups shredded Co-Jack cheese • ½ lb. cooked ground beef or cooked, shredded chicken breast • About 8 (7 inch) tortillas • Sliced black olives (optional)
Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, combine ½ cup enchilada sauce, dandelion leaves, onions, sour cream, and 1 cup cheese. 2. Spoon about ½ cup of enchilada sauce onto the bottom of an 11 x 7 inch baking dish. 3. Spoon about ¼ cup of the dandelion leaf mixture into a tortilla and roll up. Place, seam side down, in the baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas. 4. Spoon the remaining enchilada sauce over the rolled tortillas. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top. If using, scatter sliced black olives over the top. Bake until cheese is melted and filling is bubbly, about 20 minutes. Serves 6 – 8. from scratch magazine •
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DANDELION JELLY 3. Put another bowl in the sink. Place the strainer over it. Put enough coffee filters inside the strainer to cover it’s entire surface. Carefully pour the strained dandelion liquid through the strainer again. 4. Clean the pot. With a clean meaIngredients suring cup, measure out 3 cups of the dandelion liquid and pour it into • 4 cups dandelion petals the pot. Add the lemon juice, vanilla • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed extract, and pectin. Bring to a full rolllemon juice ing boil that can’t be stirred down with • 4 cups granulated sugar a spoon. Add the sugar and stir until • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract dissolved. • 6 tablespoons powdered pectin 5. Bring the mixture to a full boil and, stirring constantly, boil hard for 1 minDirections ute. Remove the pot from the stove. 6. Ladle the jelly into the jelly jars, leav1. Dump the dandelion petals in a stainless steel pot. Add 8 cups of water ing 1/4 inch headspace. Process jars and turn the heat to medium high. Boil for 10 minutes in a boiling bath canner. for 10 minutes. Every 3 cups of petal liquid fills about 2. Place a bowl in the sink and set a 4- 5 jelly jars. fine strainer over it. Carefully pour the dandelion petal mixture through the strainer. Press down on the petals with Note: Any remaining dandelion petal the back of a spoon in order to extract liquid can be refrigerated for use in teas. Or, pour into ice cube trays and as much of the golden liquid as posfreeze for a sweet addition to iced tea. sible. Discard the petals. Thoroughly clean the strainer.
Here’s a superb introduction to eating dandelions. The resulting jelly tastes very much like honey.
KRISTINA SELESHANKO IS THE AUTHOR OF THE ULTIMATE DANDELION COOKBOOK – 148 RECIPES FOR DANDELION LEAVES, STEMS, BUDS, FLOWERS, AND ROOTS. SHE ALSO BLOGS ABOUT HOMESTEADING, FORAGING, COOKING FROM SCRATCH, AND MORE AT WWW.PROVERBSTHIRTYONEWOMAN.BLOGSPOT. COM.
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DANDELION FLOWER TEA This is a refreshing tea that may be served hot or cold. It also acts as a diuretic, reducing swelling and bloating. Ingredients • About 8 dandelion flower heads* • Water Directions 1. Pour water into a small saucepan and place over high heat.
2. Pack the flower heads into a tea ball. Close ball and place in a cup. Once the water boils, pour it over the tea ball. Steep for 10 – 15 minutes with a saucer placed over the cup.
DANDELION FLOWER OIL This oil can be used in any recipe calling for olive oil. Ingredients 1 cup dandelion petals ¾ cup olive oil
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Directions 1. Pour oil into a saucepan placed over low heat. Add the petals. Simmer for 25 - 30 minutes. Remove from stove and allow to cool completely. 2. Strain through a sieve lined in coffee filters. Pour into a glass jar with a well-fitting, non-metallic lid. Use within 3 weeks.
SIMPLE DANDELION FLOWER FRITTERS When I first served these to my family, they were very skeptical. In fact, I had a hard time getting them to taste even one. But once they did, they were hooked! Ingredients • • • • • •
Olive oil A couple of handfuls of dandelion flower heads 1 egg 1 cup milk 1 cup all purpose flour
Directions 1. Place a skillet over medium
high heat and add enough oil to come up the sides of the pan just a little. 2. In a bowl, whisk the egg. Add the milk and flour, stirring until well blended. 3. Dip a flower in the batter, coating completely, and place it flower side down in the hot oil. Repeat until the skillet is full of flower heads. Cook until the batter is crispy, then turn the flowers over with tongs and cook the opposite side. As each flower finishes cooking, transfer to paper towels to drain.
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DANDELION ROOT
Coffee
THIS DRINK TASTES LIKE INSTANT COFFEE – BUT IT’S MUCH MORE NUTRITIOUS AND HAS NO CAFFEINE. INGREDIENTS: SCRUBBED DANDELION ROOTS WATER
DIRECTIONS: 1. PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 250 DEGREES F. 2. PLACE SOME SCRUBBED DANDELION ROOTS IN A SINGLE LAYER ON A RIMMED BAKING SHEET. PLACE IN THE PREHEATED OVEN WITH THE DOOR LEFT AJAR. STIR EVERY 15 MINUTES UNTIL ROOTS SHRINK, AND ARE GOLDEN AND WITHOUT MOISTURE, ABOUT 2 – 3 HOURS. STORE COOLED ROOTS IN AN AIR TIGHT CONTAINER IN A DARK LOCATION UNTIL READY TO USE. 3. WHEN READY FOR “COFFEE,” FILL A SMALL SAUCEPAN WITH WATER AND PLACE OVER MEDIUM HIGH HEAT. BRING TO A BOIL. 4. GRIND THE ROOTS IN A COFFEE GRINDER UNTIL THEY FORM A POWER. ADD THE POWDER TO THE BOILING WATER, REDUCE THE HEAT AND SIMMER FOR 10 – 15 MINUTES. STRAIN.
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DANDELION ROOT
Cake
DANDELION ROOTS ADD COFFEE FLAVOR, MINUS THE CAFFEINE, PLUS LOTS OF NUTRIENTS, TO THIS CAKE. INGREDIENTS: 1 CUP QUICK-COOKING TAPIOCA 1 CUP HAZELNUTS, ROASTED AND GROUND IN A FOOD PROCESSOR OR COFFEE GRINDER 1 CUP ALMOND MEAL 1 1/2 TEASPOON BAKING POWDER 1/2 TEASPOON BAKING SODA 1/2 TEASPOON SALT 1 TEASPOON CREAM OF TARTAR 1 CUP MILK 3 TABLESPOONS CHOPPED, ROASTED DANDELION ROOTS 2 EGGS 1 CUP PURE MAPLE SYRUP 1/2 CUP COCONUT OR OLIVE OIL 2 TEASPOONS PURE VANILLA
DIRECTIONS:
1. PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 350 DEGREES F. GREASE A 9 INCH CAKE PAN. 2. IN A MIXING BOWL, STIR TOGETHER THE
TAPIOCA, HAZELNUTS, ALMOND MEAL, BAKING POWDER, BAKING SODA, SALT, AND CREAM OF TARTAR. 3. IN A SMALL SAUCEPAN PLACED OVER MEDIUM HIGH HEAT, POUR THE MILK AND THE DANDELION ROOTS. BRING TO A BOIL. TURN OFF THE HEAT AND ALLOW THE MIXTURE TO SIT FOR 10 MINUTES. STRAIN. 4. BEAT THE EGGS IN ANOTHER MIXING BOWL. ADD THE MILK, SYRUP, OIL, AND VANILLA AND MIX WELL. THE BATTER WILL BE THINNER THAN AVERAGE CAKE BATTER. 5. BAKE IN THE PREHEATED OVEN UNTIL A KNIFE INSERTED IN THE CENTER COMES OUT CLEAN, ABOUT 40 MINUTES. MAKES ONE 9 INCH CAKE.
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DANDELION ROOT
Tea
THIS MEDICINAL TEA IS A GREAT WAY TO REAP THE BENEFITS OF DANDELION ROOT. IT IS A BIT BITTER; IF DESIRED, ADD A LITTLE HONEY, OR SOME DRIED RED RASPBERRY LEAF. INGREDIENTS: • DANDELION ROOTS • WATER
DIRECTIONS: 1. SCRUB DANDELION ROOTS AND CHOP. FAT 74 • from scratch magazine
PIECES OF ROOTS SHOULD BE CUT IN HALVES OR QUARTERS FOR EASIER DRYING AND GRINDING. 2. PLACE ROOTS ON THE TRAY OF A DEHYDRATOR SET AT 135 DEGREES F. DRY UNTIL THE ROOTS ARE HARD AND NO TRACE OF MOISTURE IS LEFT IN THEM. STORE COOLED ROOTS IN AN AIR TIGHT CONTAINER IN A DARK LOCATION. 3. GRIND A SMALL NUMBER OF ROOTS IN A COFFEE GRINDER. POUR INTO A TEA BALL. COVER TEA BALL WITH BOILING WATER. COVER CUP WITH A SAUCER. STEEP FOR AT LEAST 10 MINUTES.
EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH
Dandelions VINEGAR; COVER AND LET SIT IN • USE DANDELION LEAVES IN PLACE OF OTHER GREENS, LIKE SPINACH A DARK LOCATION FOR 6 WEEKS AND KALE, FOR MAKING QUICHE, BEFORE STRAINING AND USING. OMELETTES, A PIZZA TOPPING, ALSO, TRY PICKLING THE FLOWER ETC. YOU CAN EVEN USE THEM IN BUDS, PICKING THEM WHILE STILL PLACE OF BASIL WHEN MAKING TIGHTLY CLOSED. THE FLOWER STEMS ARE EDIBLE, TOO, THOUGH PESTO. FOR LONG TERM STORAGE, QUITE BITTER. TRY CHOPPING DEHYDRATE THE LEAVES IN THE THEM INTO A SALAD. YOU MAY LATE WINTER OR EARLY SPRING; WISH TO BOIL THEM FIRST. CRUMBLE THE DRIED LEAVES INTO SOUPS, STEWS, AND OTHER • DEHYDRATED AND GROUND DISHES. DANDELION ROOT CAN ALSO BE • DANDELION PETAL LIQUID CAN BE ADDED TO WATER, JUICE, OR SMOOTHIES FOR A NUTRITIONAL REFRIGERATED FOR USE IN TEAS. BOOST. ADDED TO ORANGE JUICE, OR, POUR INTO ICE CUBE TRAYS IT IS TASTELESS. AND FREEZE FOR A SWEET ADDITION TO ICED TEA. • GRIND ROASTED DANDELION ROOTS AND USE THEM TO ADD • ADD FRESH DANDELION FLOWER COFFEE FLAVOR TO HOMEMADE PETALS TO YOUR FAVORITE MUFFIN OR OATMEAL COOKIE ICE CREAM OR BAKED GOODS, OR USE THEM AS PART OF A MEAT RECIPE OR YOUR FAVORITE SALAD. RUB. TRY PICKLING ROOTS • MAKE DANDELION FLOWER HARVESTED BEFORE STEMS VINEGAR BY STUFFING A GLASS GROW ON THE PLANT. JAR WITH THE FLOWERS (GREEN PARTS REMOVED) AND COVERING WITH APPLE CIDER
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KIMBAP BY: STEVEN JONES
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R
ecently, we had a chance to eat a Kimbap, a Korean restaurant in Raleigh, NC, where we enjoyed one of the best meals we’ve ever had.
food, some of it coming from as close as a few miles from the business. We interviewed Kim after eating bimibap (see the recipe later in the article). Here’s that conversation:
Founded by Kim three years ago, the restaurant serves traditional Korean food, influ- CAN YOU GIVE ME A enced by local, seasonal crops BRIEF HISTORY OF KIMBAP? in North Carolina. I always knew I wanted to dedicate my life to working This approach allows the restaurant to use up to 75 with food. I was born in South Korea and adopted when I percent of locally produced
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was one year old, and my parents did their best to expose me to Korean food and culture in a working-class suburb near Detroit. The Korean food they prepared for birthdays and celebrations gave me a sense of connection to South Korea, but I also had the influence of the Midwest through my parents and surroundings. Later, as an adult, I began selling dumplings at farmers’ markets, and that expanded my love of fresh, local food.
vegetables and protein in seaweed and then slicing it into rolls. If you saw it, you’d think it looks a lot like sushi, and in fact kimbap is derived from the Japanese style of sushi called norimaki. There are some delicious and important differences, like the use of sesame oil and (usually) cooked proteins, like egg and beef, in kimbap. We serve our kimbap at dinner time, with gochujang, a delicious Korean pepper sauce.
In 2013, we opened the doors at Kimbap with a commitment I UNDERSTAND YOU to seasonal ingredients and a PURCHASE A LOT OF YOUR FOOD LOCALLY. Korean-inspired menu. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO YOU AND YOUR WHAT IS KIMBAP RESTAURANT? COULD (THE FOOD)? YOU GIVE EXAMPLES? Kimbap (or gimbap, but given It’s important to me to buy that my name is Kim, I locally for many reasons: prefer the first spelling!) literally means seaweed (kim/ because I’ve developed relationships with so many gim) rice (bap). farmers in the area, because I really believe the best and It’s made by wrapping rice, 78 • from scratch magazine
freshest food comes from local farms, and because I know I’m doing good things in my community by supporting local farmers. I feel like my chef James Hahn really says it best here: “From farm to fork is a journey all in itself, and mostly deals with people. Most importantly it carries with it a huge sense of community. From the families and lives of farmers, packers and drivers to the lifeblood of
the restaurant. From the dishwasher to prep, garde mange, chefs and servers. A lot of work is put into the quality of the ingredients, preparation, and the quality of each dish. All of this trickles down to the lives of the families that come in to enjoy our food. So always cherish each bite, drink up, and enjoy.” WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR RECIPES FROM?
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I’ve spent an enormous amount of time researching Korean food and choosing recipes that reflect the tradition of Korean cuisine but also allow me to incorporate seasonal North Carolina ingredients. WHAT LIMITS YOUR ABILITY TO SERVE AND PURCHASE LOCAL FOOD AND DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS ON HOW THAT COULD BE ADDRESSED? Cost is always a limitation. Local food is more expensive than industrially farmed food, as it should be. There are a number of answers: We need more small farms, and we need farmers working together, and we need to continue to educate consumers on the cost of local food so they’re willing to pay fair prices to everyone in the food chain. 80 • from scratch magazine
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE OF KIMBAP? As we go into our third year, we are focused on constantly improving our food and our service. We have a good thing going here, and we want to perfect it before we do anything else! IS THERE ANYTHING I’VE FORGOTTEN TO ASK? I just want to reiterate how important the community is to my business. Our farmers and suppliers drop in for lunch all the time, and we have a dedicated crowd of loyal customers who feel like family. Our employees work tirelessly to honor the food and the love our community provides for us, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.
Here is my recipe for bibimbap, which means “mixed rice bowl.” It’s a great way to use small amounts of vegetables you’ve got that don’t otherwise make a whole meal, so use your imagination instead of following this recipe exactly. INGREDIENTS: • 2 cup cooked rice, • preferably short grain • Half a pound of beef, • chicken, tofu, or pork • 1 cup julienned carrot • 1 cup julienned sweet potato • 1 cup julienned turnip or rutabaga • 1 cup greens such as spinach or collards, chopped • 1 cup mushrooms, sliced thin • 1 clove garlic, minced
• • • •
soy sauce vegetable oil sesame oil store-bought gochujang
DIRECTIONS: In a large saute pan, heat about 2 tbs of vegetable oil. Saute your protein (chicken, beef, tofu or pork) with 1 tsp garlic until cooked through, then set aside. Next lightly saute each of your vegetables separately, adding more oil when necessary, and setting each aside. Assemble the bibimbap with 1/2 cup of rice in each bowl, then top with protein and vegetables. Season with soy sauce, sesame oil, and store-bought gochujang. Enjoy! from scratch magazine •
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GROW YOUR OWN
Superfoods BY: KAREN LYNN LIL’ SUBURBAN HOMESTEAD
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rowing power foods in your backyard, your window sill, or on a patio in containers is one of the healthiest decisions you can make for you and or your family. There is nothing more inspiring than a potpourri of color when you glance out your window to your garden and its shades of red, green, yellow and purple fragments of color inviting you to harvest and eat
its abundance. Gardening inspires us to eat out of the garden which kindles a fire to create a variety of recipes and so the edible garden journey begins. THE SIX POWER FOODS THAT ARE EASY TO GROW AT HOME OR IN YOUR BACKYARD ARE BASIL, BROCCOLI SPROUTS, ONIONS, PEPPERS, SPINACH AND TOMATOES.
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I
t sounds so simple doesn’t it? All you have to do is grow some vegetables and they will make you well. The truth is, they will help you be a better you! Here’s why all of these easy to grow vegetables have their own “Superpower” if you will. All of these vegetables are incredibly easy to add to your
diet; as a result you can easily incorporate “Superpowered” foods all the time. Add tomatoes, onions, peppers and spinach to your morning eggs or stuff some peppers for lunch with rice, peppers, tomatoes, basil and garnish both with some fresh broccoli sprouts.
Basil
B
asil’s superpower is that it is an “Anti Bacterial” fighter! How many vegetables can say this? Basil is loaded with volatile oils which restrict the growth of bacteria. A bonus of basil is that it is also a good source of 84 • from scratch magazine
magnesium which promotes cardiovascular health. Basil has such a pleasing aroma and can be used cooked or raw and a favorite dish is the Caprese salad that combines tomatoes, basil and mozzarella and not only is it delicious but it’s a super salad too.
Broccoli Sprouts
B
roccoli Sprouts definitely wins the vote for being the “Cancer Fighter” and is becoming a staple in homes everywhere.
benefits of its cancer fighting super powers.
Sprouts are so easy to grow and you can constantly start another jar and they are easily added raw to sandwiches, Broccoli sprouts have an salads and are even fun soup advantage in providing cancer toppers! Your imagination is the limit with sprouts. protection for you because you can eat a lot of fewer of them and still receive the from scratch magazine •
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Peppers
P
eppers are the “Heart Diseaseâ€? fighting champions! Peppers are loaded with Vitamin C and Vitamin A. Vitamin A specifically includes properties that in particular neutralizes free radicals. Peppers are extremely easy to grow in mild climates. 86 • from scratch magazine
There are so many varieties to choose from and the sweet and mild peppers can be added to a variety of dishes such as stuffed peppers, pepper poppers, or chopped up and tossed in salads, rice, or soup.
Onions
O
nions are in their own right a natural health remedy they are better known as “Natures Antibiotic” aren’t you glad you ate your onions today? Or yesterday? If not, what are you waiting for? Onions are loaded with quercetin which has antiinflammatory and anti allergic properties.
Onions are easily added to salads and there is such a wonderful variety; red, white and yellow and that is just what is at your local supermarket. When you go to the farmers market or your favorite seed catalogue a whole world of variety opens up to you it’s a rather exciting prospect. from scratch magazine •
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Spinach
S
pinach is the unsung “Anti Inflammatory” hero that will serve up so nicely on your plate next to a delicious piece of wild salmon or fresh local organic chicken. Spinach in certain zones can grow almost 88 • from scratch magazine
year round and you can also extend your growing season with spinach by growing it in hoop houses or in a greenhouse but if space is an issue spinach will grow nicely in containers.
Tomatoes T
omatoes are the “Anti Aging” super food and that’s a good thing and fresh home grown tomatoes are loaded with lycopene and actually the more you eat the better. Lycopene is considered to be by many experts the most powerful antioxidant so the evidence is clear that tomatoes should be included in your “Superpower Foods” arsenal. Tomatoes have been
known to fight cancer, with prostate being one of the cancers it’s been shown to be extremely beneficial with. Homemade salsa fresh from the garden is not only delicious but healthy for you too; you can incorporate tomatoes, peppers and onions all from your backyard and know that while you are pairing it with chips you are having your arteries scrubbed, you are getting younger and you are fighting heart disease.
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Broccoli Sprouts can be grown right in your kitchen so no soil is necessary, believe it or not. All you need is a canning jar and a sprouting lid. Directions are included with your sprout seeds. They can easily be obtained online at your favorite shopping site. The other five of these
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“Superpower” vegetables can all be grown on a window sill in your household, or in containers. They can also be placed in your backyard, large containers or in raised beds or a traditional garden but fair warning you may just grow an abundance of them. Whether you are new to gardening or a seasoned gar-
dener these vegetables/seed assist and then you can grow with confidence. sprouts are all readily available and your “Superpower” Karen Lynn blogged about “Why Vegetable garden can be Super Salads Are Our New Thing” at underway by spring. The Lil’ Suburban Homestead because of secret to any garden is know- their belief at her homestead in these Superpower foods. Visit her website to ing your soil so it’s always a read more. good idea before you get started gardening is to contact Disclaimer: This article is not intended to be medical advice. Always seek health advice from your local Agriculture depart- your medical practitioner. ment and have your soil tested they are usually happy to from scratch magazine •
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CALCIUM CHLORIDE AND MAKING
Making Mozzarella BY: ANNA PAIGE FROM HOMESTEADER’S SUPPLY
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Lately, online cheesemaking forums have been abuzz with controversy over the question of whether calcium chloride should be used when making mozzarella. Some folks insist that calcium chloride is necessary for proper curd formation, and others argue that it prevents the curds from stretching.
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So, who’s right? To get to the bottom of this controversy, we turned to world-renown cheesemaker Margaret Morris, author of The Cheesemaker’s Manual, 2015 winner of First Prize at the American Cheese Society (ACS) Society, and 2013 winner of the top award at the Global Cheese Making Competition in Somerset, UK.
Here’s what we learned. TWO DIFFERENT METHODS You can make mozzarella the traditional, old fashioned way, or you can use a method that takes much less time. The chief difference between these two methods is the process you use to lower the pH of the milk. Lowering the pH creates the acidic environment needed to form curd.
This is similar to the process most commercial cheesemakers use. You can use citric acid to make mozzarella at home, too, but we don’t recommend it if you are looking for wonderful flavors. WHEN TO USE CALCIUM CHLORIDE
With the traditional method, rennet and cheese culture work in tandem to lower the pH of the milk, provided that adequate calcium is present. The traditional method uses Calcium availability becomes rennet and cheesemaking an issue when using cultures. These natural commercial brands of ingredients lower the pH of store-bought milk that have the milk gently and slowly, been pasteurized (or ultrawhich imparts better flavor and other finer qualities in the pasteurized). finished cheese. Pasteurization not only kills potentially harmful bacteria, By contrast, with the fast but also damages the method, the pH of the milk vitamins, minerals and other is lowered very rapidly. This nutrients originally contained method circumvents the need for cheese cultures and in the milk, which renders the natural calcium unavailable for instead uses citric acid in making curds. combination with the rennet. from scratch magazine •
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So, when using store-bought milk, you need to supplement your milk by adding calcium chloride. Doing so ensures that adequate calcium is available for natural curd formation to occur. On the other hand, raw milk has not been damaged by pasteurization and retains all its original nutrients. Because raw milk already contains plenty of available calcium naturally, there’s no need to add calcium chloride to encourage curd formation. Unlike the traditional method, which uses cheese cultures, the fast method relies on citric acid to work with the rennet. It takes much less time to make mozzarella this way because citric acid causes an instant, sharp drop in the pH of the milk. This forces curds to form very rapidly, regardless of what type of milk you’re using— pasteurized or unpasteurized. 96 • from scratch magazine
If you were to add calcium chloride at this point, the pH would drop even lower—far below the level necessary to form curds. When the milk becomes too acidic, curds lose moisture. And when curds dry out, they tend to crumble instead of stretching. So now you see why there’s been so much confusion about calcium chloride on the cheesemaking forums. Folks are getting different results because they’re using different methods to make their mozzarella. And those who claim that adding calcium chloride prevents curds from stretching are experiencing this problem because they’re using it in combination with citric acid. THREE SIMPLE RULES If you follow these simple rules, your mozzarella will stretch every time: 1. Add calcium chloride when using rennet and cheese
culture with store-bought (pas- A wide variety of cheese cultures are used in teurized) milk. cheesemaking. Each recipe 2. DO NOT add calcium chlo- calls for a particular type of culture, as well as specific ride when using rennet and temperatures and timing. cheese culture with raw milk. Together, these factors 3. DO NOT add calcium chlo- determine the flavor and ride when using citric acid and texture of each cheese. any type of milk. Using cheese culture does increase the cost of making THE PROS AND CONS cheese a bit, but part of the OF EACH METHOD fun is trying a variety of cultures to see which kind you It can take a couple of hours prefer. to make mozzarella the natural, old-fashioned way; At Homesteader’s Supply, we however, the result is an exceptional cheese that’s well offer an Italian Mozzarella Kit that contains cheese cultures worth the time spent. imported from Italy, and we give you an authentic recipe. Mozzarella made this way So when you use our kit, you tastes better because the get a real Italian mozzarella cheese cultures impart with real “Old World” flavor! superior flavor and texture. Cheese cultures are a special collection of freeze-dried, healthpromoting bacteria strains that you add to the milk when making cheese.
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You pay less because citric acid is much less expensive than cheese cultures. But, keep in mind that only a tiny amount of cheese culture is needed for each batch. So when you buy a cheesemaking kit from us, such as our Italian Mozzarella Kit, you get enough cheese culture to last you quite a while—and you can use it to make other types of cheeses, and even butter! By the way, with the fast method, you could get a similar result by substituting a different kind of acid for the citric acid. For example, you could use vinegar or lemon juice. But, know that these types of additives leave their mark on the cheese. And you can taste the difference. That’s why commercial cheesemakers often use salt and other flavor enhancing additives.
LAST WORDS We’ve shown you two different ways of making cheese. Technically, both methods produce mozzarella, but it should be obvious by now that not all mozzarella is created equal. Cheese is like life in that there are no shortcuts to success. Sure, the fast method will save you time—but the flavor and quality of the cheese will be compromised. For a superior product, make your mozzarella the old fashioned way. Natural cheeses made with rennet and cheese cultures have incomparable flavor, age better, and last longer. You’ll never regret the extra time it took to create a truly superb cheese.
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Lizzy Lou’s Farm BY: STEVEN JONES
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Randall Hewitt and Elizabeth Wescott-Hewitt are the proprietors of Lizzy Lou’s Family Farm, located just outside of Wilmington, NC. The farm, an organic operation specializing in heritage pork and grass-fed cattle, has been in operation since Sept. 2013. Elizabeth said they jumped right into farming. She said while she’s had a big garden all her life and Randall’s spent a lot of time working a horse farm, neither had much experience in the type of farming she was interested in doing. But that didn’t stop either of them. When her father approached her about raising cattle on family property, she jumped at the chance. Since then, they’ve got a thriving farm with bees, cows, goats, pigs, chickens and more, all within the short span of 3 years.
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Recently, we had a chance to visit Elizabeth and Randall at the farm -- along with their niece, Farmer Ava, who may be one of the cutest little farmers in the world -- and spent some time playing with the cows and helping feed the animals. We interviewed Elizabeth about the operation and what their plans for the future are. Here it is: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING TO GROW? I like growing the CSA because I can grow everything. I really, really like to grow pretty flowers. They’re beneficial for me anyway, I might as well be cutting them and putting them into the basket (for the CSA). I was under a lot of stress and was in desperate need to having something to walk out to that looked beautiful that I
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helped make beautiful Part of what attracts me, I can plant so much better when it’s (the property) pretty to me -it comes together and it does something good spiritually
yourself to be healthy, you’re going to have to produce a mix.
YOUR OPERATION HAS A GREATER EMPHASIS ON ANIMALS THAN IT DOES VEGETABLE PRODUCTION. WHY?
Expanding vegetable production. In the next two months, build a frame house. I want to do eggs.
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WISHED YOU KNEW BEFORE YOU STARTED FARMING?
It comes from being more self-sustaining for ourselves. The main goal for us, is to eventually be able to produce An internship probably could our own food, I do not see a have helped. It would have small farm working without probably helped to have some both. training before. (But), I’m a kinetic learner anyway. My chickens help spread the manure from the cows. Their Not having that experience eggs help feed my pigs. prepared me for the ups and I don’t see a small farm that’s downs of what real farming is -- if I didn’t grow anything I intended to be a sustainable haven’t killed before I homestead working probably wouldn’t have anywithout a mix of vegetable thing in the garden. I think it’s production and animal taught me a lot about life. production. To produce enough food for
Find out more about Lizzy Lou’s Family
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