Gardening For Groceries

Growing delicious and nutritious food for your family to eat is one of the oldest and most cherished of human traditions. It is so easy to start a small garden in your home that some people even do it by accident. All that you need to do is to save the seeds from some of your favorite fruits and vegetables, plant them in an appropriate place, water them, and wait.

Many plants are enthusiastic "volunteers" for your home garden. Cantaloupes and potatoes are two great examples of fruits and vegetables that will take root almost anywhere. With just a little bit of knowledge and work you will find your patience rewarded with the freshest produce imaginable. Tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, radishes, and a wide variety of herbs and spices can be yours with practically no effort. Composting your organic waste will replenish the earth, keeping your garden fertile and productive.

After your garden has had six months to a year to establish itself you will begin to notice a decline in your weekly grocery bill. It is not unusual to harvest five or ten dollars worth of fresh produce a day from a well-functioning garden. The best part is that you will not even have to go to the store. Simply step outside and pick what you want when you are hungry. Your food will be as fresh and nutritious as it can possibly be.

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How To Garden Like a Pro

To garden like a pro you will need to understand the soil, drainage, zone, and sunlight requirements of your garden. Ignoring them can lead to disappointing results and struggling garden plants.

Some plants are very particular about their soil requirements. A basic soil test will tell you the level of pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium components in your soil and determine whether additional fertilizers are necessary. When testing soil also take notice of the drainage. Determine if your soil is dry, average, or wet just by digging about a foot into the ground. Dry soil is often powdery, average should crumble somewhat, while wet soil will stay in a clump when rolled into a ball.

When purchasing a plant notice the zones and sunlight requirements listed on the tag. All zones are determined by the area's climate and are broken down into zones 1 (harsh) through 10 (tropical). The plant tag will also tell you if the plant requires full sun, partial, or full shade. Plants requiring full sun may never flower in a shady spot.

Determining these four components about your garden will help you to understand its needs and lead you to garden like a pro.   

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Gardening Made Simple

Planning and planting a garden need not be a Herculean task. In fact, it may prove to be one of the simplest pleasures you'll ever experience. Here are few tips to keep it simple and streamlined.


Plant In the Zone

While many plants may tolerate a growing zone that is radically different from their indigenous environs, they'll need more pampering to protect them in an unfamiliar climate with unfamiliar pests. A tiny bit of research can save you money and effort--grow plants that thrive in your climate. 

 

It can also be a cinch to find indigenous plants and cultivars that are especially acclimated to your regional climate--these will be hardier, healthier, and bounce back more easily if you get unseasonable rains, droughts early frosts.


Start Small and Simple

Keep your plots manageable. Especially for new gardeners, overextending your capabilities is easy, which means none of your plants get all the attention they need. Keel your designs and the selection of plants manageable. If you can only garden an hour a week, high maintenance plants and design schemes should be avoided. You can always expand your beds later.

Gardening can be easy, whether you have land or a balcony. Just remember to plan, and budget, realistically. 

    

Wheat belly

With the increasing awareness of the health issues associated with gluten, more people are discovering that removing wheat, or even all grains, from their diet has greatly improved their well-being. Whether from breeding of “super-gluten” wheat, or simply the increasing amounts of grain in most people’s diets, grain and wheat have become a source of trouble for many people. As more people remove grain from their diets, they are discovering that there are improvements in their health that they never thought possible.

One of the many things wheat can do to a person’s body is make them bloated and feeling slightly unwell. The bloat comes from the digestive system being unable to cope with the protein in the grain and allowing it to pass through, irritating the digestive tract as it goes. An important side effect of an irritated intestine is that absorption of essential vitamins and other nutrients is slowed. This lack of sufficient nutrition can lead to a variety of effects.

Often people with grain intolerance are assumed to be excessively thin, but this isn’t always the case. One effect of insufficient nutrition is the feeling of being hungry. Many people remove grain from their diet and find that their desire to overeat goes away. The effect of the grain free diet on weight is then two-fold; the person loses weight and also loses the bloated belly.

There are other unexpected results from a grain-free lifestyle as well. It is not uncommon to find that hypertension is resolved after changing the diet. The reasons for this are unclear, but may involve returning to a normal weight, removing the whole-body inflammation that comes from grain-intolerance or the return of energy that encourages a person to move around more. High blood pressure is nothing to fool around with. Any individual that changes their diet to treat hypertension should stay on any medication and consult their doctor before changing the dosage.

The most unexpected and delightful result for me from adopting a grain free lifestyle was the end of insomnia. This has been reported by others as well when they discovered that changing their diet allowed them to sleep through the night. For some it was a complete cure, while others still experienced some bad nights. There’s no definable reason for this, unless it is that some bodies in poor health simply can’t relax enough to sleep. A grain-free lifestyle may not cure every person’s insomnia, but it is certainly worth a try.

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Beauty Detox Foods

  

The best thing you can do to enhance your beauty is eat healthy foods. Eating the right foods can help to detox your skin, which will make your body and complexion look fabulous. Here are the top beauty detox foods for looking your best. If you like Herbs, you also can also buy plants to detox with. 

Watercress

Boost your liver with the cleansing benefits of watercress. Watercress is known for helping to release enzymes in the liver that will clean it out and eliminate toxic buildup. It also cleanses your tissue for increased blood flow and glowing skin.

Kale

Kale will help to flush out your kidneys, which is crucial in the detoxing process. It is also full of many antioxidants, vitamins and anti-inflammatory properties needed for glowing skin.

Cabbage

Cabbage is high in fiber and vitamin C. It has the compound sulforaphane, which activates and accelerates the anti-aging antioxidants in your body for a more youthful look.

Pumpkin Seeds

Eating handfuls of pumpkin seeds will enhance your overall beauty. Pumpkin seeds are rich in vitamin B and biotin, which are nutrients essential in strengthening your hair and nails.

Cucumbers

Cucumbers are rich in hydrating enzyme-filled water. Hydration is essential for a youthful look and healthy skin. They also have anti-inflammatory properties, which is why sliced cucumbers is a beauty treatment used for puffy eyes.

Apples

Apples are rich in soluble fiber pectin, which aids in the removal of food chemicals and heavy metal from your body. The removing of these toxins will help with inflammation and bloating giving your skin a smoother look.

Beets

Beets help to break down the toxins in your gallbladder and liver. They aid in the flushing of your lymphatic system, which will enhance and brighten your eyes. Beets also have a special fiber that is wonderful for digestion and removal. There are minerals and vitamins in beets that will give you a glowing complexion.

Carrots

Carrots have unusual fiber that will help to detox your body by binding the toxins and getting rid of them. Carrots are also known for boosting the digestive tract and lowering overall inflammation. The high level of beta-carotene in carrots will help to slow down the aging of your cells.  

 

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Herbal Remedies and Hot Toddies

I believe that beyond the usual hops and barley of beer, the juniper berries in gin, and the celery which serves as a garnish in a Bloody Mary, that the casual imbiber has little to no knowledge of the variety of other drink ingredients which come from nature. One such classification I'd like to discuss today would be herbs. Just these plants alone can provide a tantalizing array of intriguing flavors and earthen accents to one's drink, giving yet another purpose and reason to start an herb garden.Garden Plants Help with the additive

Starter Herbs for the Earthen Drinking Enthusiast

It merits caution to personal brewers that just because something is "natural" does not mean that it is harmless to humans. The list below covers a variety of notable and useful herbs spices, and berries to consider in sampling herbal alcoholic drinks, as well as distilling them yourself, as well as their scientific name and any notable drinks which make use of the item.

• Allspice berries (Pimenta Diorica Merr.) is even in the name of Jamaican Allspice Dram.
• Cinnamon bark (Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Bl.) is used in amaro, as well as some recipes for Vermouth, Trappestine, and White Chartreuse.
• Fennel (Foeniculum Vulgare Mill.) is used in amaro, grappa, and both Yellow and Grand Chartreuse.
• Gentian root (Gentea Lutiana L.) is used in amaro, vermouth, and Highland bitters.
• Hyssop (Hyssopus Officinalis L.) is used in Benedictine and most varieties of Chartreuse.
• Oregano (Origarum Vulgare Mill.) is used in amaro.
• Peppermint (Menthax Piperata L.) is used in bitters, Benedictine, and some varieties of Chartreuse.
• Seeds from both anise and its cousin star anise (Pimpanella Anisum L. and Illicum Verum Hook, respectively) appear in a variety of drinks, including Absinthe, Krambambuli, Spanish herb liqueur, and Alchermes.

While some recipes require raw components, such as leaves or bark (common with recipes involving cinnamon and/or cassia), others simply call for an essential liqueur. Preparing a liqueur is relatively easy. Most contain roughly 30% sugar, composed of a pound of sugar, a cup of water, and a quarter teaspoon of acid (used to initiate the fermentation process). The syrupy liqueur is added in, with the resulting mixture becoming drink after enough time.   

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The Botanist That Gets Drunk Adding Flowers and Herbs

How Do Flowers and Berries Make a Brew Better?

Anyone who has ever spent more than a passing glance at ingredients for alcoholic drinks knows that beer requires plants such as hops and barley. However, some of those same people might also have stumbled upon the occasional wine or spirit whose description included  garden plants and flowers like roses and violets (see Creme Yvette or the Italian Rosolio for examples) or berries (it should be noted that most chili peppers are technically berries and have lead to a handful of rather...[fire] alarming concoctions). Considering that some drinks even make use of honey, a substance which requires the pollen of flowers to create, it's no wonder or small step for an enterprising individual to make use of the very sources of pollen in one's distillation methods.


Anyone curious about, or adventurous enough to actually try, using flowers and berries in their home distillation should quickly figure out how he or she wishes to extract their vital flavor, also called an "essence." There are actually three methods for utilizing plant essence in one's drink-making.

• Water Extraction. This method distills whatever essences are planned with simple water. More accurately, the essences-to-be are left to soak in water contained within a miniature still for a time. When enough time has passed, tubing is then inserted into the top of the essence vessel and then utilized to extract the essence via distillation.
• Alcohol Extraction. This follows a process similar to the method employed when extracting essence by water. However, the culinary term for steeping fruits, berries, and other would-be essences in a liquid for the purpose of augmenting its flavor is referred to as macerating (as well as a cousin to the more commonly known as "marinating," used when accenting the flavor of meat).
• Steam Extraction. This is a method used only for working with herbs, but I mention it here for the sake of being thorough and complete. Steam extraction involves placing your herbs within a wire basket and suspending said basket over a pot of boiling water. As the steam rises up through the wire basket, the distiller then collects the condensed herbal extracts and allows it to condense for use in whatever particular drink the distiller plans on producing.

Regardless of the method employed, once the essences are properly distilled and collected, they can then be used in whatever recipe the distiller is working toward.

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How To Make Wild Blackberry Wine

Every wine lover knows that the best type of wine is made with the freshest ingredients. Use wild blackberries for the best you've ever tested.One way to ensure that you are getting the very best fresh ingredients is to make the wine yourself. And wine drinkers everywhere can agree that it just does not get better than homemade.

To make blackberry wine with fresh blackberries, you will need:

2.5 pounds of sugar
7 pints of water
1 package of Red Wine yeast
4.5 pounds of fresh blackberries

To prepare your wine, you will need a sterile bucket. You will then need to crush the berries by hand inside the bucket. Add 2 pints of cool distilled water to the berries, mix, and then let it sit for 2 hours. You will also need to boil 3 pints of distilled water with one third of the sugar for 60 seconds. This syrup needs to cool and then 4 oz. of water. Let the syrup sit for 10 minutes. Make sure the mixture is cooled completely before adding the yeast, and then mix the syrup in with the berry mixture. Let this sit for one week with a clean towel covering the bucket.

 

After a week, strain the mixture and throw out the pulp. Pour the liquid into a gallon jug. Boil another one third of the sugar and 3 pints of water and allow it to cool before putting it in the jug. You will then plug the jug with cotton, and then place a balloon that has been pricked with a pin over the neck of the jug. Then the wine must sit for 10 days.

 

After 10 days, you will need to siphon the wine from the jug into a container. You will need to sterilize the jug and then return the wine afterwards. Boil the last sugar as you have done before. Let it cool, and then add it in. Plug the jug with the cotton and balloon as you did previously. Keep it plugged until the wine has stopped bubbling. This means that the fermentation is through.

Siphon the wine and sterilize the jug as you did before. Also sterilize the wine bottles you would like to use. Add a funnel to the bottles and then pour the wine into them. You can then cork and store them.

And there you have it, a simple way to make organic blackberry wine with fresh blackberries. 

 

 

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