Recommended: Fresh Food From Small Spaces

If you ache to move to the country so you can grow your own food and raise your own chickens, you might find that you can start right where you are.  Anyone can grow food, even if you live in a tiny apartment!

"Fresh Food From Small Spaces" by R.J. Rupenthal shows you how to make the most from small spaces.  Anyone can sprout seeds on a kitchen counter to add nutrition to their meals.  A sunny window sill is all it takes to get things started.  Even a small balcony can be enough space to grow a few pounds of tomatoes or peppers and other delicious foods.

Although I do not have a tiny space, this book was exciting to me.  I lived in apartments and condos with nothing more than a small patio or balcony for outdoor space for the first nine years of my married life.  If I had only known what I discovered in this book!!

In this book, you will learn what to use for planting containers, how to use vertical space and reflected light, how to start transplants and grow fruit and berries.  You'll also learn how to do some amazing things in your own kitchen, such as sprouting, making kefir, yogurt and fermented foods, and cultivating mushrooms.  You might even live in a situation where you can eke out enough space to raise chickens and honeybees!  In addition, you will discover how to make compost using worms and how to prepare for survival in the case of food shortages.

In my own backyard, I've been thinking in terms of square-foot gardening.  This book focuses on square-inch gardening to make the most out of tiny spaces.  This is the only book of its kind that I've been able to find.  No other book gives such great detail about "farming" from your apartment!

So if you've been daydreaming of the day you will have your own "farm", even if it's just a large backyard, then dream no more.  Start where you are!

Joplin Relief

My heart goes out to all who have been affected in our country this year by tornadoes and flooding. Looking at the photos of the complete devastation is overwhelming to my senses. I can’t even imagine what it is like to be one of those impacted by the destruction.

In times like this, I often feel like I’m at a loss to know how to help. I’d love to just go there and offer my physical assistance. But that’s not always appropriate or safe to do with my children. In the case of the Joplin relief efforts, they have actually been turning away volunteers because they have more than they can coordinate with.

For most of us, financial assistance is the best tangible help we can give. Yet there again I feel like I’m at a loss. There are many organizations and groups who are soliciting for financial donations to help the victims. But how can one KNOW that they can trust what is being done with their money? It is not unusual for a charity organization to use up to 40% of donations for administrative costs and fund-raising campaigns. When a disaster like this strikes, most people want ALL of the money they give to help those in need.

There is a church in Joplin, Missouri, that is a hub for helping those devastated in their community. The youth were gathered for Bible study when the tornado warning came. They prayed that their lives and their building would be spared. Although they were in the path of the tornado, it literally jumped over their building and touched back down on the other side of the highway. Joplin Family Worship Center has become a hub of outreach to their shell-shocked community. They’ve been busy distributing food, water, shelter, clothing, infant formula and hygiene items. They’re also providing lunch and dinner for community and emergency workers, as well as grief and trauma counseling.

If you visit the Joplin Family Worship Center website, you can see a list of items that are needed for distribution or things you can do if you are physically there to help. There is also a link on their website where you can donate to their relief efforts.  Check this site frequently, as they are always updating the list of items needed for donation.

While there are many legitimate organizations and agencies working in these devastated parts of our country, I appreciate an opportunity to give to people who live right there and are helping their own neighbors. These are the people that I feel will have a lasting impact in their communities because they will still be their after the dust settles.

Modest Swimwear

I am all about modesty when it comes to swimwear.  I feel embarrassed when I see a woman wearing a bikini.  I feel especially upset about it when I have my children with me.

Here are a couple of websites that have darling swimsuits that are much more modest than the horrible things offered by the truckload at most stores.

Divinita Sole has gorgeous swimsuits that are wonderfully modest.  They help you to find the right kind of suit for your body type.

Lime Ricki also offers cute, yet modest, swimsuits.  They also offer maternity suits and suits for little girls.  They will soon be offering a line for men as well.

Local Purchasing

It is truly amazing to walk into a large store to do your shopping.  Not only can you get most of your shopping done in one place, but there is such a wide variety to choose from of almost every item.  We tend to favor these businesses for their convenience and for their lower prices.

But what does that REALLY cost us?

How many items do you suppose you own that were made in China?  Or Mexico, Sri Lanka, Vietnam?  I would wager that the majority of your possessions were made overseas.  These convenient superstores are able to sell to you at such a low price because of their conglomerate-sized buying power, and because they get their products from third-world countries or China.

I think about the husband and wife who own a chocolate shop down the street from my house.  They make all their own candies and cakes and sell ice cream from a vendor in the next town over.  Yet I rarely stop there because I can buy candy when I stop at Target for the fifteen other things on my list.  Then there is the Christian woman who owns a candle shop in my town.  She makes the most amazing candles you've ever seen or smelled.  She has a quaint little shop that is quite fun to visit.  But once again, I usually drive right past her on my way to Target to get candles.  Both of these local businesses sell products that are far superior than anything I would dream of buying in Target.

I have been trying to change the way I think about the purchases that I make.  I realize that these giant discount stores have robbed us of something very special.  They rob us of the unique creativity of our local business people.  They rob us of high quality items.  They rob us of getting to know business people who are passionate about what they do or sell.  When you go into Target or Wal-Mart, the employees are there only to facilitate your purchase .  A local business person is eager to talk about their products.  They know everything about it: the raw materials used, where they came from, how it was made, how long ago it was made.  They enjoy talking about techniques and secrets of their trade.  They also enjoy talking about the things they know about the community because they are in touch with the people who live there.

Here are some examples of shopping locally:

After the homeschool Fine Arts Fair and graduation last week, my husband and I decided to treat our kids to ice cream.  My first thought was, "Let's just get them a cone at McDonald's because they are really cheap."  My next thought was, "We should go to the gelato shop that is owned by a single woman who homeschooled all her grown kids."

We chose the gelato shop.  Yes, it was much more expensive.  But we came away from her shop with a much richer experience than if we had gone to McDonald's.  She spent nearly an hour talking with us.  She encouraged us in our homeschooling efforts, told us about her joint venture with her siblings to start a large farm in another part of our state, and told us what it was like to grow up in communist Vietnam with the daily threat of not teaching her children about God.  She told us how the government would shove chopsticks into children's ears to destroy their eardrums and blind them so that they could no longer be taught about God by their parents.  She talked about how much she relished her freedoms here in America and how we should never allow anyone to take our freedom from us.  I went home with much to think about.  That would never have happened in McDonald's.

The candle lady has told me stories of her antique-finding expeditions for decorating her darling shop, and stories of items that her grandmother used to use that are now part of the antique look in her shop.  No one in Target has ever talked to me about the way they decorate the store... not that I would care at a place like that!

Most people have felt economic woes happening in our country in one way or another.  That tends to drive people to seek the cheapest product to fill their need.  But lately, I've felt compelled to rethink what my needs really are and, if necessary, to buy fewer things so I can spend my money at a local business.  I'd rather see my neighbor's store stay open during these more difficult times.

The same goes for restaurants.  My husband is a pizza lover.  I've come to despise chain restaurant pizzas.  The don't even taste like real food to me anymore.  We recently ate at a fabulous local eatery with the best pizza I'd eaten in years.  We also ate at another restaurant where I was able to chat with the owners.  I discovered that they were from Albania, a country that I visited for two months while they transitioned from communism to freedom.  We had quite an interesting conversation about Albania and their lives there.

So when you make your shopping list, ask yourself if you are able to buy some of those things from a local business instead of a conglomerate superstore.  Do you have a farmer's market?  Do you have a locally owned restaurant or candy shop?  They will appreciate your business, and you might make a new friend.  

Homeschool Groups

I apologize for the temporary hiatus over the last couple of weeks.  We have been winding down another year of homeschool, but this year has ended in a far more exciting way than any other.  This was the first year that our family joined our local homeschool group, and they concluded with a graduation and Fine Arts Fair.  My children have learned to play the violin with two of their friends, so the four of them did a performance together.

Before this school year, I never felt a need to join a homeschool group.  My children were still quite young, and our involvement with church provided them with all the friendship interaction they needed.  They saw their friends twice a week at church, and there were usually at least two play dates a month along with a birthday party or two.

Our circumstances began to change, however, with some of their friends moving out of state and an enormous transition in our church that reduced the number of families who had children to three.  It was an emotionally difficult time, but they were grateful to have their closest friends (who also homeschool) still part of their lives.  My children were getting older, and I began to see a need in them to have a few more friends.  My son seemed to have a need for boys who wanted to run and compete with him, who would challenge him physically with all the energy he had in his growing body.  My daughter seemed to have a need for girls who were the same age as her as she approached her teen years.  My daughter's body was beginning to change, and I could tell that she thought differently about things than she had before because she was beginning to transition away from being a little girl.

I sought out my local homeschool group and asked if we could participate in their first P.E. gathering as a trial visit.  Everything changed that day.  Not only did my kids get to play soccer for the first time, but the other kids eagerly befriended my own within minutes of our arrival.  This entire school year was one of great anticipation of Thursdays, the day they would go to P.E. to play sports and see their new friends.  We also participated in most of their field trips throughout the year.  We invited some of the families to our home for play dates, and my children were invited to their homes for play dates.

A couple of months ago, my son said, "This has been the best year of my life!"  Those words were music to my ears, considering what a difficult year they had the previous year.

I believe that as homeschooling parents, we need to listen to the promptings God speaks to our hearts.  We need to be in tune with the needs of our children.  We need to use wisdom in our decisions from year to year and from month to month.  Our children are constantly growing and changing.  It's important that we never allow ourselves to become so busy with the logistics of homeschooling that we fail to take notice of what is going on in their hearts.

If you homeschool and are not currently a member of a local homeschool group, I would encourage you to look for one and see if this is the right time for you to join.  You might be surprised to know that not only will your children benefit from this, but so will you.  It has been an enormous encouragement to me to be able to talk through struggles in homeschooling with other people who understand, and to have a place to meet new friends for me, too.

Health 101: Produce

A few weeks ago I began a series that I called “Health 101”, beginning with a discussion about meat and dairy. Today we will continue this series with a discussion on produce.

There once was a time when people primarily lived off of the food they grew themselves and buying what they hadn’t grown themselves from their neighbors or someone who lived in their village or community. Americans seem to “romanticize” the rural Italian villages and towns where the residents visit the local outdoor market several times a week to purchase their food from a fresh, local source. Although farmer’s markets are a growing trend in America, there aren’t nearly enough of them to be accessible to everybody.

Purchasing produce in America has become anything but natural. It all starts with the seed. Seeds used to be acquired from the last season’s crop. However, modern technology and greedy corporate conglomerates no longer allow that. Instead, farmers are required to purchase new seed every year. And the seeds made available to them have been genetically modified with the goal of producing larger fruits and vegetables, and an enormous quantity per acre.

I have a friend who used to be a corn farmer in Colorado. Every year, the huge seed company would roll into town to sell corn seed. They brought several varieties for the farmers to choose from. One was engineered to withstand certain pests. Another was engineered to produce a higher yield. Another was engineered to be more drought-resistant. However, they were all engineered in a laboratory.

In recent years, we have heard more and more about the tampering that has gone on with our food supply, particularly beginning with these genetically modified seeds. Some seeds have even been engineered to contain pesticides within the seed itself so that the crops don’t have to be sprayed later! Worse yet, many seeds have even been injected with human and animal DNA! For example, a number of years ago, there was an experiment to inject DNA from flounder (fish) into tomatoes. Flounder produces its own anti-freeze to enable it to swim in Arctic waters. Bioengineers captured that anti-freeze component from the flounder and introduced it to tomato seeds to see if they could produce a tomato that could freeze and then thaw without turning mushy. Apparently the experiment failed, however, there are many similar experiments that did NOT fail and are now in our food system.

When purchasing conventional produce from the supermarket, here are some things that you must understand about those beautiful fruits and vegetables that are uniform in size and color, that are larger than they were fifty years ago, and that are enticingly shiny.

1. If it is not certified organic, it is overwhelmingly likely that it has been genetically modified. GMO’s introduce increased cancer risk, increased food allergies, and dramatically decreased nutritional value, just to name a few.

2. If it’s super shiny, it has been coated with a wax that contains pesticides and fungicides. (Some supermarkets that sell organic produce will coat their organic products with vegetable oil to make them shiny, but they feel oily, not waxy, and are not glossy.)

3. If it has a beautiful color, the chances are pretty high that it was injected with dye. Many conventional fruits and vegetables are harvested before they are ripe and they never develop the color expected of their ripe counterparts. In order to give them eye appeal, they are injected with dye.

4. Because so much of the produce is harvested before ripening, they are gassed with highly toxic substances in order to ripen them. Some conventional produce has been known to last for weeks at room temperature without rotting due to these gassing agents. Certified organic produce goes bad within a week or so, just as God designed.

5. Let’s not forget all the pesticides, herbicides and fungicides that are applied to these crops while they are still growing! Massive crops of one fruit or one vegetable also mean massive pest problems. These are routinely treated with toxic chemicals that are absorbed into the plant and into the fruit itself.

Another problem that has developed in our food system has to do with the number of miles your food has traveled before reaching you. It has been determined that the average American meal has traveled 1,400 miles to get to your table. We have been conditioned to want our produce year-round. If apples are not in season in America, we have them shipped to us from New Zealand. If grapes are not in season in America, they are delivered to our supermarkets from Chile. Tomatoes from Florida are shipped all over our country when they cannot be found locally. When produce has to be shipped that far, it must be harvested before ripening and gassed to make it edible. Have you ever noticed how apples purchased out of season are not very appetizing? And tomatoes that have been gassed to ripen are mushy and tasteless?

When a person wants to begin healthier eating habits, often the first thing they think of is eating more fruits and vegetables. But it is vital that we understand that we are slowly being poisoned through the conventional produce we eat, even though we think we are “eating healthy”. What can we do about it?

1. Eat organic. Organic foods is another topic that needs to be discussed so you can understand what this word means in our American food system. However, you are much better off if you purchase organic. This means no pesticides, no gassing, no genetic modification.

2. Eat in season. This really takes some planning on our part. Just because it’s available in your supermarket doesn’t mean that it is in season here. Get to know the natural growing seasons for your fruits and vegetables. Say “no” to apples in the summer and grapes in the winter.

3. Eat local. Depending on where you live, this might really be challenging. But it is worth the effort for your health if you do your best to find a local source for your food. In eating local, you can meet the person who is growing your food, you can see where and how they are growing it, and you can guarantee that it is in season!

4. Grow your own food. It is much easier than most people think, it is much less expensive, and you know every aspect of that food. You know what variety, what kind of seeds, what was put in the soil, and when it was harvested. And the satisfaction of eating something you grew from seed is enormous!

Many people balk at the cost of purchasing organic food. But considering the cost of health care and medication to treat the poisonous state of our bodies that creates a breeding ground for disease, the cost is quite worthwhile. We can eat cheaply now and suffer sickness and disease and the associated costs for treating ourselves, or we can spend a little more now and enjoy good health and good nutrition all our lives.

Here are some tips to help you get started on your quest to eat more organic foods.

THE DIRTY DOZEN: These are the foods that should never be eaten unless you know they are organic, for they contain the highest levels of toxic substances:

Celery
Peaches
Strawberries
Apples
Blueberries
Nectarines
Sweet bell peppers
Spinach, kale and collard greens
Cherries
Potatoes
Grapes
Lettuce

FIFTEEN THAT ARE MORE CLEAN: These are conventional foods that can be eaten if you cannot find them in organic form. They contain little to no pesticides:

Onions
Avocados
Sweet corn
Pineapples
Mango
Sweet peas
Asparagus
Kiwi fruit
Cabbage
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Grapefruit
Sweet potatoes
Sweet onions

Grow Your Own Fruit

A couple of months ago, I walked into Trader Joe's (where I do my primary grocery shopping), and saw this in the produce section:

Pummelo (also known as pomelo) for $1.49 each.  I happen to have a pomelo tree in my backyard, and they are MUCH larger than the ones at Trader Joe's.  This year we harvested roughly 100 of these from our tree, but mine were organic.  At Trader Joe's prices, that's $149 in fruit that I got for free.

I also have a tangerine tree.  These sell for about $0.60 each.  Our tree produces about 300 pieces of fruit, which means that we harvested about $180 in free food from that tree.

Consider planting some fruit trees in your yard.  They provide excellent shade, decrease the cooling costs for your home, improve the air quality around your home, and are an amazing source of organic food for your family.  Talk to someone from your local nursery to find out what the best varieties are for your region and when and how to plant them.

Solar Oven

The first time I heard of a solar oven was an article my mom gave to me about women in Africa whose lives were being saved by solar ovens.  Sudanese women living in refugee camps in Chad would have to venture out of the camp every day to scrounge up wood so they could build fires for cooking.  Leaving the camp put them in danger.  Women were often raped and even killed as they searched for wood.

An organization came to the rescue by introducing these women to solar ovens made with cardboard boxes and aluminum foil.  75% of the women in one particular camp stopped their daily search for wood and used the solar ovens.  This also gave them more time to care for their families, and even time to learn how to read!  In some places in Africa, the women have begun to construct these simple solar ovens in order to sell them to their neighbors, thus producing income for their impoverished families.

Being that I live in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, I figured this would be a fabulous introduction for my family to the use of solar energy.  I could probably produce all the solar energy I needed for my entire home if my roof was covered with solar panels.  I'm quite disappointed at the cost to do so, however.  But a solar oven built from a cardboard box... there's no reason I could't give that a try!

I turned this into a homeschool project with my children.  They really enjoyed following all the steps for building it.  There is a huge variety of solar ovens, starting with something as simple as a pizza box.

Watch this short video to learn how to make an incredibly simple pizza box solar oven:

If you want something a little more substantial so that you can cook something larger in size, you can build a small cardboard box oven, like the one our family made.  CLICK HERE for the directions.

Want something a little more permanent and long lasting?  CLICK HERE for instructions to make one out of wood instead of cardboard.

If you prefer to purchase a manufactured solar oven and have the money to do so, the Urban Homestead Supply offers three varieties.

Have you ever wondered how you would cook food if you had no electricity for an extended period of time?  It might be a good idea to learn how right now when there is no pressure to figure it out.  This could simplify your life if an emergency arose that eliminated your access to electrical power.  Give it a try.  Start with the simple pizza box.  It's a miniscule investment of time and money.  You just might enjoy it.

Raw Food Bar

I spent several hours in town with my mom recently while we did errands and went grocery shopping.  She handed me a little snack called Raw Rev 100.  It was a very small "organic live food bar".  It was super yummy and gave me the energy to finish all the running around we had to do.

I'm not one for energy bars or meal replacement bars.  There is nothing real about them.  But this was different.  I looked at the ingredients and was surprised: cashews, dates, agave nectar, sprouted flax.  That was it!  But as you can imagine, that little 0.8 ounces of snack was a bit pricey.  I thought, "I could make these." I'm not really one for inventing my own recipes very often, but I scored on my first try with these.

Here's how I made mine:

4 dates
5 dried figs
10 dried apricots
3/4 cup almonds
1 cup cashews
1 1/2 Tblsp. sesame seeds

1.  Pour boiling water over figs and apricots until they are soft, about 10-15 minutes.

2.  Grind the nuts and sesame seeds.  I did this in my Blendtec blender.  I liked it a little chunky, so make sure you don't turn it into a nut butter.  Set aside.

3.  Blend together fruit.  It will be very sticky.  It doesn't have to be completely smooth.

4.  Stir or knead the nuts and fruit together.  It will be very sticky and thick.

5.  Place between two pieces of wax paper and roll out to desired thickness (1/4 to 1/2 inch thick).

6.  Cut into small pieces (about 1 1/2 inches by 2 or 2/12 inches).

7.  Optional: Coat lightly with unsweetened shredded dry coconut.  This makes them a little less sticky when eating.

8.  Wrap individually in small squares of plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Obviously these are not a low-calorie snack.  The idea is to have something healthy that is a whole food to give you an energy pick-up.  They are quite satisfying in small amounts.

Homegrown Revolution

Last week I shared my favorite website for urban homesteading, Path to Freedom's Little Homestead in the City.  Here is a ten-minute "documentary" called Homegrown Revolution that gives you a little tour around their property.  It will inspire you like crazy!