Rhubarb Juice

Rubarb season is among us.

Here is how to make and can a refreshing drink concentrate from Rhubarb!

Comes from the book "Putting Food By" by Ruth Hertzberg, Beatrice Vaughan and Janet Greene

This is a really good old resource to have around.

"...it was the main ingredient of a hill-country wedding punch in the olden days..."  

what a lovely thought.  If I have a wedding someday, 

hopefully I remember that I want rhubarb punch!!

"Wash and trim fresh young red rhubarb, but do not peel. Cover the bottom of the kettle with 1/2 inch of water and add rhubarb cut in 1/2 inch pieces. Bring to simmering and cook gently until soft - about 10 minutes. Strain through a jelly bag. Reheat juice adding 1/4 cup sugar to each 4 cups of juice to hold the flavor. Simmer only until sugar is dissolved...

Hot Pack in jars. Pour simmering juice into hot sterilized jars, leaving only 1/8 inch headroom. Cap and seal immediately (option: jars may be given a short boiling water bath to ensure seal)" 

of course you can substitute with other sweeteners, agave would be nice.

I didn't have a jelly bag or cheese cloth, 

which would've been more efficient to use instead of a sieve. 

It is a bit concentrated, so add water to taste when consuming.

Beautyful color!

Good for your teeth.

I didn't make nearly enough!


PS- you don't have to can it if you are not into that kind of thing... 
This batch lasted 3 days!

But it would be handy if you were to make a very large batch.

Herb Walk - CALENDULA

This flower is the Skin's herb.     That's the least you need to know!

 The flower petals are the part that to use, has iodine, magnese and carotene which all promote the regeneration of skin cells.   You can put it in salads, tea, or salves/balms.

I make a calendula salve which a lot of people are really enjoying, including myself!

Here we go:
its anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, lymphatic, astringent, vulnerary, emmenagogue, antimicrobial, cholagogue, antifungal and detoxifying. 
In simpler terms, she is used to treat varicose veins, rashes, sores, cuts, scrapes, burns and bruising of the skin, measles, chickenpox, diaper rash, cradle cap, skin irritation, bee/ wasp stings, insect bites, chapped lips, dry skin, acne, fevers, ulcers, cramps and bronchitis. 
There have been some eczema sufferers who found some relief with the salve.  

 

I really like the salve, use it on everything.  Mostly just as a moisturizer - even on my face!  every day on my pregnant belly...  great for after sun and after gardening!   Smells lovely too.

After learning about how the skin soaks up anything that  you put on it immediately and how toxic all the mainstream lotions are, I am very glad to be using something that is actually GOOD for my skin.

Here's some more info and a downloadable toxin list for your wallet. 

Upon looking into it, you will fast realize that non-toxic skin products can not be found in major pharmacies where EVERYone gets their moisturizers!  crazy. .

you have to do your research and go to the health food store. Or find someone who makes their own...

or MAKE your own!!  Its just another recipe!!

after planting calendula last year, I had a bunch of volunteer plants this year!  

They are not perennial but very self seedy.

Isn't she pretty!

 

Here is my blog entry about making calendula infused oil

squash quinoa soup!

Quinoa is one power food.  Here's a great way to eat it often besides as a side!
In SOUP!  yumm.
It provides a nice nutty crunch to a pureed soup.

Curried Butternut Squash Quinoa Soup
1 butternut squash
1- 2 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 cup dry quinoa
1/2 cup cream or coconut milk
salt + pepper
1 tbsp garam masala  or curry powder
cayanne pepper (to heaten it as much as you like)


Cut Squash in half and roast in the oven till soft.   Peel, cut up and blend, adding water as needed.  Place in a soup pot with the rest of the ingredients.  Bring to a quick boil, then simmer until the quinoa is cooked (about 20 minutes).
You can add a little yogurt, cream or coconut milk just before eating!


Options instead of butternut Squash:
-Sweet Potato
-Carrot
-Tomato- very good also!!

radical homemakers UNITE!!!

Here are some really good books!

First I'm gonna rant about "Radical Homemakers" by Shannon Hayes.

It was just what I needed to read.  Talks about how empowering it can be to turn your home from a place of consumption to a place of production.  Living happily on one income ,

rather than both parents working, kids in daycare and lots of nice things...

Making and growing a lot of your own things and changing views on what you REALLY need in this world (can you drive a 93 VW golf and a bike happily? or Do you need the 2012 edition?).

It is so important to have someone (if not everyone!) at home, making/growing food, sewing clothes, fermenting cabbage, putting up food for winter, fixing things...

In the feudal days, you were powerful middle class if you owned your home and made all you needed because you didn't have to answer to any lords, 

or give them all the grain you grew for a roof over your head.  

This is when the word Husband was made, it comes from  "house bound" Which was a good thing!!

Shannon Hayes does a kind of study, where she interviews around 30 families who live this way.  So there are lots of stories to read and inspiration to gain!

I feel like this is the direction we are headed, if not already mostly there.  

So it was just really nice to read a book about it - to feel glad and empowered. 

Reassured on why we live this way!  Reminded why we don't need all that STUFF.

And Proud that we make a lot of things in this home!

That's where the other books come in!

"Simple Sewing for Baby" by Lotta Jansdotter  is one of the many great sewing instruction books, complete with a pattern pocket at the back.  She's got some cute ideas, including lots of toys!

and then "Earthly Bodies and Heavenly Hair" by Dina Falconi is full of great recipes for skin and hair products.  Nothing too hard, its all quite simple!  

Shampoo, lotions, deodorants, nice things! 

and all good for your skin and well being. 

Rather than toxic, like everything you find in the pharmasave...

I've been ordering books from the library that I work at!

Here's Attie and Molly having a tea party.

My Grandparents!  Living the Radical homemaking dream without knowing another option.

This is the foundation of their barn.

Here's my dad and a friend getting some wood!

Clothes on the line, and a good wagon.

Gramma Dorothy and her two girls. 

I think a lot of the women of yesterday, especially being pregnant.

Gardening, baking bread, making everything your family wore, tools...

Lots of them were possibly a bit enslaved to their homes and constant pregnancies against their will.

Today we have the choice. 

Its hard work AND can be very satisfying, if we think of it that way!

Its the most important job out there.

first spinach salad of the year!!

yes!  I brought it in,

 washed it and

ATE IT!!!

It tasted like the good freshest,  localest,  sun filled, dirt infused food that I have missed all year!

thank the good godess of greenery!

 its on...

This is whats up around here!

The reason the patch is so big already is because it was fall planted. 

I just shook the dried up seedy pods all over the place! 

How well it worked 

:0)

A lettuce mix in this container...

maybe it will be ready for the first harvest in a week or so!

Amish Snap peas!   They are supposed to get really large but still crunchy and tastey.

Our new strawberry patch!

wahooo. we're gonna need some netting to ward off all the birds who ate my strawb's last year.

Of these guys, we were lucky. 

We've been eating fresh tomatoes for a couple months now!

I grew them in the greenhouse that I work at.

Brokenshell Greenhouse.

That is where i have been the last couple months!

Sorry for being a terrible blogger!

I am gonna have more time soon.

and a lot to write about!

WELCOME growing season!





What's Up around your garden or farm???


feel free to leave a link to your post or just a comment!!



I like Trains

by Fred Eaglesmith:

healthy flour options + recipes

As you know,White flour is no good.

Excerpt from the Global Healing Center

"It [white flour] is made by stripping wheat of everything useful, adding synthetic B vitamins, and bleaching it to remove the milled yellow color and increase the amount of gluten the flour can produce."

Basically, it is void of nutrition, added with preservatives and things our bodies can't understand.

I have been slowly weaning our house hold off of it for quite a while.

The problem being that so many recipes just don't turn out the way they would with white.

However, that doesn't  mean they taste bad...

for instance, breads/loaves made with other flours are much denser than with white.

I think its just a matter of getting used to it.

and finding flours that you like.

There are a whole lot of options out there!

Buckwheat, spelt, quinoa, rice, hemp, amaranth, barley, oat, millet, ....

and then I do usually blend it with little organic white.

we get most of our flour from the health food store,

 which gets it locally from the Daybreak Mill 

just outside of Estevan, SK.  

Their grains are all 100% organically grown without any additives! 

they also sell whole grains, flaked grains, cereals...

Breakfast Cereals:
They also have a great selection of wonderful breakfast cereals.  We buy a huge bag of oats and make our own blends with flax, spelt flakes, chia seed, sunflower seed, and so on.  Throw in chopped dates, other dried fruit or raisins and a bit of almond milk and honey.

 Attie loves oatmeal breakfast! I am so glad of this.

I am fond of their:

- Ezekial flour blend: Contains 100% whole wheat, rye, barley, millet, lentils and beans.

- 7 grain mix:  Contains wheat, barley, rye, durum, oats, flax, buckwheat.

Attie had a LOT of fun playing with flour while I was baking and refilling!

blowing on the flour!

elastics and flour.

Grains are a main part of our diet, and so I like to make them full of fiber and goodness!

Pancakes are another common quick breakfast meal here.   
I make a big canister batch of pancake mix for easy prep in the morning:  Buckwheat Pancakes

and here's my sunflower millet Bread making tutorial!

  I encourage you to find a local organic mill and take a visit!