Food Matters

In a continuing journey to educate ourselves about nutrition and eat in a healthy manner, we're always reading a book or watching a movie to both educate and motivate. Yesterday we watched a movie called Food Matters by Producer-Directors James Colquhoun and Laurentine ten Bosch. It's about 80 minutes long and is available from the library or their website, FoodMatters.tv 

The main point I got from the movie was the importance of eating the proper food to provide the necessary nutrition our bodies need. By eating natural foods that are full of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients our bodies will perform better. When we suffer malnutrition, our bodies are more susceptible to viruses and diseases. 

There is discussion in the film about the food and health care system. They argue that the medical field gets paid by treating illness and they don't make money by keeping people healthy. There is also a lack of nutrition education among the general population as well as a large number of doctors. They get in the practice of taking a pill for every sickness.

I found the movie to give good information and provide many reasons to take action against the current health system. Eating natural foods that have not been processed or modified feels like common sense to me. Right now the U.S. population spends a smaller percentage of their income on food than ever in history (less than 10%). Meanwhile, we spend more on health care for issues such as diabetes and heart disease. I'd rather spend more on the best food than going to the doctor. I enjoy eating great food and generally dislike going to the hospital. This is not to dis-credit doctors, they are amazing when it comes to surgery, rehabilitation, and saving lives, etc. The movie is just focusing on the nutrition and disease side.

Starting seeds indoors

    Last Thursday we started our first round of vegetable seeds inside. We planted Artichoke, Broccoli, Roma, San Marenzo, and Sweetie Tomatoes and Lettuce. We built a temporary table and installed florescent lights in a room that we don't use very much. We started with two trays that are 22" by 11" and that have a removable plastic cover that is used during germination only. Above the trays are two 4 foot florescent lights that are adjustable. It is best to keep the lights a few inches above the tops of the plants. The table was built with some scrap wood found in the garage. It measures 2.5' by 8'. This gives us plenty of room for planting and the trays.

    The germination time on the seed packets for all of the seeds was between 1-2 weeks. After 3 days we found the broccoli was the first to sprout and the San Marenzo Tomatoes were on day 4. The Artichoke and remaining tomatoes sprouted on the 5th and 6th day. We kept the temperature in the room about 70 degrees and watered about once a day with room temperature water. The lettuce required temperatures between 55 and 60 degrees to germinate, therefore, we kept them in another room. Our florescent lights are on a timer and remain on 16 hours a day.

    We feel good with our germination success. After 1 week:

Above: First Broccoli Sprout, 3 days old

Below: First San Marenzo Tomato 4 days old

Below are our veggies after 1 week

Top Left: Artichoke

Top Right: Broccoli

Bottom Left: San Marenzo Tomatoes

Bottom Right: Lettuce

Baking French Bread

Homemade French Bread is wonderfully delicious! Almost all the homemade breads I've tried have been good, but this French Bread is one I will continue to make and don't feel the need to search for another recipe. The only negatives of making this type of bread is the time (there's longer waiting times for the bread to rise) and the recipe I uses results in two loaves of bread. These two loaves seem like a lot until you put the slices out at a party until you see how quickly they disappear! Believe me, the last time I made this bread I brought it to a party and it was all gone within an hour. I felt so bad thinking I should have made more! I believe people tend to eat more when food is homemade. It isn't the norm to get the opportunity to indulge in homemade bread, so when it's offered, people love it!

Thus far, I've baked this bread to pair with lasagna, macaroni and cheese, soup, and as an appetizer. You can dip it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and spinach dip.

The recipe I used is from my Betty Crocker's cookbook.

Prep: 25 minutes; Proof: 3 Hours; Bake: 30 minutes; Makes 2 loaves, 12 slices each

3 to 3 1/2 cups all purpose or bread flour                 

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 package regular or quick active dry yeast

1 cup very warm water (120 - 130 degrees)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Cornmeal

1 large egg white

1 tablespoon cold water

Poppy seed or sesame seed (if desired)

                                                                            

Instructions:

1. Mix 2 cups of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast in large bowl. Add warm water and oil. Beat with electric mixer on low speed 1 minutes; scraping bowl frequently. Beat on medium speed 1 minute, scarping bowl frequently. Stir in remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to make dough easy to handle (dough will be soft). Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead dough about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

2. Place dough in greased bowl and turn greased side up. Cover and let rise in warm place 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until double. (Rising time is longer than times for traditional breads, which gives the typical French bread texture). Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.

 

The dough, pre-rise. I forgot to take a picture after the rise time.

3. Grease large cookie sheet with shortening; sprinkle with cornmeal.

4. Punch down dough and divide in half. Roll each half into rectangle, 15x8 inches, on lightly floured surface. Roll up tightly, beginning at 15-inch side, to form a loaf. Pinch edge of dough into roll and seal. Roll gently back and forth to taper ends. Place both loaves on cookie sheet.

 

Pre-rise 

5. Cut 1/4-inch-deep slashes across loaves at 2-inch intervals with sharp knife. Brush loaves with cold water. Let rise uncovered in warm place about 1 hour or until double.

 

After rising time

6. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix egg white and 1 tablespoon cold water; brush over loaves. Sprinkle poppy or sesame seed.

7. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.

                                                   After baking for 25-30 minutes, ready to be sliced!

Building a Compost Bin

My favorite project so far is our Compost bin. We throw our kitchen scraps and yard waste into it and will use the finished compost for our vegetable garden. We chose to build a 3-bin system to handle the volume of material. We chose to build it out of cedar because it is naturally resistant to rot. It costs a little more to use cedar, but it will last longer and look better.

We built the 3-bin system shown on the University of Missouri website and the PDF instructions can be downloaded HERE. The instructions are very easy to follow. I did make a few changes such as adding a lid and using 2x2s to hold the slats from falling into the bin. The whole project only took about 2 hours.

My material list was:

Lumber-

4 - 2"x4"x12'

3 - 2"x4"x10'

2 - 2"x6"x8'

3 - 2"x2"x8'

6 - 1"x6"x8'

25'x36" 1/2" fencing

1 box of 2.5" wood screws

1 box of 1" U-nails(attach fencing)

To build the lid(optional):

2 - 4'x8' plywood

6 hinges

1/4" bolts for hinges

 Cheryl watching me struggle and taking a picture before she helps

Almost in place

Finished product with removable slats installed and leveled.

Eating Animals

The latest book I just finished reading was Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. I've watched several movies and read a few books on our food system and how animals are raised, killed, and processed. However, this book has made a bigger impact than everything else to date. Enough that I have changed my opinions and consumption of meat and fish.

This book provided various information about the food production process in American. A few of the main points that stuck out for me was the condition animals are raised in factory farms, the ecological effects of commercial fishing, and the killing process in many slaughter houses.

A great aspect about this book is that while I read it, I felt like Foer was providing the reader with the information to make their own choice about eating meat. He understands that giving up meat and seafood may not be the ideal solution for everyone. He provides awareness of the issues that are present in the current system and uses the term, "Selective Omnivore". This is choosing to to eat meat from animals that were raised naturally and humanly.

I would recommend this book to those who want to learn more about where their food comes from.

Baking Food from Scratch

Baking from scratch has slowly become one of my favorite things to do. Dan and I agree that the food  from scratch tastes so much better than the products from the store. The food is fresh, doesn't have preservatives or extra chemicals, and I'll admit I feel an internal pride after making a recipe. I feel amazed every time my product is finished. I always think, "Wow! I just made that!" I will also admit that not everything looks perfect the first time I make it. Or even the second time. But it takes practice to learn everything. I'm happy as long as it tastes good!

I've regularly started making the following foods: various types of bread, bagels, tortillas, pizza dough, any baked treats like cookies and brownies, granola bars, and Alfredo sauce. I also don't find any of these foods that timely to make. Bread seems like it would take a long time to make, but in reality you actually spend more time waiting for the bread to rise than you do prepping it. You can mix in other chores or activities during rise or baking times. That's what I like to do.

I have an ever-growing list of foods I want to start making from scratch. I need to start writing these items down because I'm always forgetting the next thing I want to try.  Just a few things I want to try are salsa, ricotta cheese, butter, and pasta. I'll be posting some cooking and baking posts in the future.

By the way, another incentive to make things at home is how great your house smells! I'm always so anxious waiting for the foods to finish cooking or baking. I want to taste everything as soon as possible!

Gardening Books

We've spent lots of time this winter learning as much as we can about vegetable gardening. The internet has always been our main resource for learning new things.  (We enjoy do-it-yourself projects and spend time reading about what other people have done before attempting anything ourselves).

We quickly realized that many websites didn't seem as easy to navigate as books. (Or maybe we just haven't found a website that we really like yet). I think that since we are starting from the beginning, we need information organized in different manner. It's so easy to get distracted and jump ahead on a webpage. A book is organized so you can very easily navigate through the whole process and find where you were if do happen to jump ahead.

So far we've been using two main books to guide us through our planning and research.

1. Gardening with Ed Hume: Northwest Gardening Made Easy, written by Ed Hume

This book has been really helpful since the focus is on the region we live in. We're learning what plants might not grow as well here, which plants should grow well, when to plant everything and various other tips. We haven't read this book cover to cover. Whenever we have a question we just flip through to find the answer. (Although, then we usually end up reading extra sections because we think of new questions). This seems to work the best for us right now - it makes the learning process less overwhelming.

2. The Vegetable Gardener's Bible: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D System for All North American Gardening Region, written by Edward C. Smith 

As you can see on the front cover to the left, Ed Smith's W-O-R-D system is an acronym for Wide Rows, Organic Methods, Raised Beds, and Deep Soil. We have noticed that his recommendations for spacing between plants is larger than some of Ed Hume's recommendation or those that we find online. We usually take the average of all the recommendations. It isn't often that the sources recommend the same. We've really enjoyed this book. It's helping us learn the whole process of planning, organizing, and growing a vegetable garden. Information is very easy to find.

Over the weekend we went to a bookstore to browse other gardening books. Here's a small list of the things we like to see in books:

-  Chapters organized in a logical manner (ie, the process of gardening from beginning to end).

-  Pictures. I feel like a child wanting a picture book but I think it's really helpful for the beginning gardener.

-  The average yield from each plant. This is probably the information that has been the most difficult to find! A lot of books recommend X amount of feet of plants per person, but we want to know how much to expect off each of those plants. We plan on keeping track of our yield this year. 

-  Key information boxes for each plant. These boxes allow for the reader to quickly find answers to their questions and are a way to keep important information organized. This box often contains information such as companion planting, spacing between plants, and the required hours of sunlight. 

-  A long-term source. Some of the books were so simplistic we don't think it would be useful after a year or two. While we do admit we're beginners, we also want a book that we can grow with as we gain experience. We don't want to have to purchase a new book every few years. 

What gardening resources do you use? Do you have a website you love? Are there any books you recommend (especially for beginners!)?

Lunchskins - 3 Green Moms

    We're always looking for ways to reduce one time use items, such as cheap plastic baggies or paper towels. We bought a reusable sandwich bag about a year ago and we love it. It has held up very well and the material is not like the heavy plastic ones you see. It is made from a food safe fabric instead of plastic, and is free of the chemicals that should be avoided: lead, BPA and phthalate. It fits a full size sandwich without cramming it in and does well with snacks like cut apples or carrots. Check them out at Lunchskins.com.

Planning our 2010 Vegetable Garden

This is the first year we'll be planting a vegetable garden. Our garden is growing larger every day. We don't expect everything we grow to be successful, but it would be a bonus if it is! We're dreaming of a great summer and fall harvest, where we'll be able to eat most of the food we eat directly from our garden. 

As we read more about gardening, we realize there are more steps than we originally thought. Every time we figure something out, it leads to new questions.

Things we have to think about and plan so far:

1. Starting seeds indoors

   - Just a few of the questions we've had to ask ourselves are: Where are we going to do this? How much space do we need? How much do we plant? What is the cost of the supplies? How do we stay organized? How do we make sure the plants get enough light?

2. Placement of garden outdoors

   - When we bought our house, there was already a vegetable garden in place. It was fenced in and approximately 25 feet by 20 feet. We thought we'd just use that space for our garden. But we realized we need more space for the size of the garden we are planning. So far we've had to think about how much sunlight the area receives, if any trees will be blocking that sunlight, how to keep animals out, the cost of making the garden bigger and how we will arrange the garden beds in this space. 

3. Cost of gardening supplies

   - Our plan is to build garden beds because it will help us get a better harvest. We also like how organized everything looks in raised beds. But this also an additional cost. We have to buy lumber for 9 beds and soil to put in the beds. Thankfully, we're not building this garden as a way to save money. We do think the costs will balance out someday but not the first year. 

4. Placement of plants in the beds

   - We're having to ask ourselves how much food we're wanting to yield from our plants. How many rows of each vegetable/fruit do we want to plant? Every plant has good and bad companions to consider. Does the plant grow tall and will it block the light if there are plants behind it? How much spacing is required between each seed? It the plant okay with some partial shade? Does the plant tend to "takeover" the bed, so should it just have it's own bed?

5. Transfer of plants indoors to the garden beds

    - What is the last frost date for our area? How do we transfer the plants to the outdoors? When do the plants need to be transferred?

6. Pests and diseases
   - What are common pests and diseases in our area? What do we look for to know if our plants are  infected? What natural remedies are there to prevent or get rid of the pests or disease?

One conclusion we've come to is that organization is key! A special gardening calendar and spreadsheets will be our friends while we figure everything out.

Author: Cheryl

Building a Rain Barrel

 

We built our first two rain barrels to see how they work for us and if we like them. It rained the day after we built them and we filled two 55 gallon wine barrels in about 5 hours of constant rain. As soon as we saw they were full, we both got excited about how much rain we could harvest and everything we can do with it. With a new vegetable garden we'll be able to water our plants without worrying about a high water bill. 

We chose used wine barrels for a few reasons. We think they look better than large plastic barrels, especially the blue ones. It's reusing the barrels after they can no longer be used for wine, and the price is reasonable. The barrels costs $60 each, the hardware and fittings are about $10.

We re-routed our down spout to the top of the barrel. There is a 3" hole in the top, with a screen mesh covering it to keep out large debris. The mesh was a piece of screen from a screen door. Next we drilled a 3/4" hole near the bottom and installed the water valve with a rubber washer behind it. There are two screws holding it to the barrel. On the side of the barrel, there is a 90 degree elbow and clear tube attached to measure the level of the water inside the barrel. The final step that is not in the photo is an overflow pipe connected to the top of the barrel on the side and it runs back to the old downspout drain pipe. 

In the future, I'd like to add a "first flush" to the down spout. This allows the water from the first rain of the season to bypass the barrel. This water is usually the dirtiest water and this will divert this water. We as found it is better to use metal fittings when screwing into the wood barrel instead of plastic fittings.

IMPORTANT: Do not connect the overflow tube to the end of the level tube. Once the barrel fills up it will siphon the water out of the level tube and drain about half of the barrel. First I thought it was a leaking barrel, but both barrels were exactly the same.

Author: Dan