Guest Blog Post from - Debbie at Sapsucker Farms

>> I know this isn't about bees or chickens but I just love maple syrup. Also Debbie has bees so we communicate about bees alot.
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Making Maple Syrup Brings Out the Kid in All of Us

As a kid growing up in Minneapolis, I remember early spring as that time of year when the days were longer, the snow was disappearing, and I was allowed to play outside again all day long. The most fun was getting the huge pack of neighborhood kids organized for softball games, to play “kick the can,” or just ride around on our bikes. With all of these options, it didn’t take much effort to get me outside; in fact it was much more difficult to get me back indoors at the end of the day.

As time went by, that wonderful, playful era passed and I grew up, went to college, joined the ranks of the corporate world, got married, bought a house in the suburbs, and became a serious-minded adult. I retreated to the indoors during the cold months and when the snow receded in the spring, I looked out my window and only saw was an ugly, dirty yard awaiting attention – the kind that I just didn’t want to give it

But the spring-embracing child in me re-emerged after my husband and I moved to our farm in 2000 and a friend of ours who grew up in Vermont took note of all of our sugar maple trees. He gave us a tour of our own property, pointed them out, and asked: “Have you ever thought about tapping these trees?”We decided to give it a try. The first year we put out 35 taps, and constructed a primitive outdoor cooking station. We discovered it was really fun, so the next year put out 100 taps and made some upgrades to the cooker. We were hooked and made the plunge, expanding a little more each year. The next year it was 200 taps -- built a sugar house -- installed a maple syrup evaporator. Then 400 taps -- 500 taps -- more improvements. And now our operation is even certified organic.

For us, the sugaring season begins the first week of March. We organize a pack of neighbors – spanning three generations – to put out the 500 taps, tubes, buckets, and lids. We have a special drill bit that is specifically for tree tapping. My husband goes from tree-to-tree, identifying the sugar maples, then drills a hole, wipes the bit clean with an alcohol-soaked rag before going on to the next tree to ensure that no diseases are spread. Behind him, someone is ready with a tap with tube already attached, and gently raps it in place with a small hammer. The next person comes along with a five-gallon bucket and lid, tucks the tube into the lid hole and securely snaps it shut.

On our farm, we only tap the sugar maple trees because they have the highest sugar content in the sap. But all varieties of maple trees can be tapped: red maple, silver maple, even box elder which are also members of the maple family.

The taps need to be installed just before the sap begins to run, and that is completely dependent on the weather. The conditions need to be right: nights below freezing and days that are warm. Why? The sap needs to be moving in the tree in order for it to drip through the taps. Freezing nights stops the flow, warm days gets it going again. The wrong combination -- warm nights and warm days or cold nights and cold days -- will prevent this process from happening. And it is because of these very specific weather requirements that maple syrup is exclusively made in North America.

When the weather is cooperating, sap is collected every one to three days. And let me tell you, there is no greater joy than tromping through the muddy woods on a beautiful spring day to find the buckets full of pure, crystal clear, pristine maple sap. Bucket-by-bucket, the collecting tank is filled and hauled back to the sugar house to be cooked in our wood-burning maple syrup evaporator. The sap is boiled for several hours, evaporating most of the water to concentrate the sap into luscious, pure maple syrup.

Maple sap has a sugar content of about 2.5 percent and pure maple syrup has a sugar content of about 66 percent. In simple terms, it means that a whole lot of water needs to be boiled off in order to concentrate the sap in syrup. It takes 30 to 40 gallons of sap – depending on the variety of maple trees – to produce one gallon of maple syrup. The plumes of steam billowing out of the chimney as the sap is cooked is quite a sight to behold.

While the length of time the sap flows varies each year, it typically lasts about three to four weeks. On our farm in East Central Minnesota, the sap flow is usually from mid-March to mid-April. When the trees start to bud, the chemistry of the sap changes taking on a disagreeable odor, color, and taste. This is known as “buddy sap” and it is the indicator that the sugaring season has officially ended.

When the taps are pulled, the holes have already dried up and begun to heal. Just like your skin, the tap hole will leave a scar on the tree. When we return next year to tap again, we will find the scar and use it as a map, moving around the trunk to tap in a different spot. Over the years, the tree grows adding more rings to its girth so by the time we work around the tree back to that general area the same area on the tree can be tapped once again.

Making maple syrup is more than just producing a scrumptious treat. It is an experience that brings together people of all generations to enjoy the great outdoors and celebrate the winter thaw. Lifting buckets, hiking in the forest, splitting wood, and staying up late to cook sap is a lot of work. But the effort is easily surpassed by the pleasure of being outside playing all day until you’re completely exhausted, knowing you get to do it again the next day. For me, making pure maple syrup, is pure childhood joy.

Debbie Morrison is an organic farmer living in East Central Minnesota, about 70 miles north of Minneapolis/St. Paul. She and her husband founded Sapsucker Farms in 2000 and have been making maple syrup since 2001. Other organic crops they raise on their farm include apples, plums, and a variety of vegetables. 20 happy egg-laying hens call Sapsucker Farms home, and Debbie also organically manages up to 20 honeybee hives each year.

Jim & Debbie Morrison Sapsucker Farms
sapsuckerfarms@northlc.com
www.sapsuckerfarms.com

(Photo credits: Mitch Kezar, Kezar Photography)

Guest Blog Post from - Alex Jokela: Beekeeping in Minnesota!

Ice crystals around the front door in MN.

It is January in northern Minnesota. This means we have had much snow which is usually followed up with several severe cold days and nights. Night time temperatures, at their coldest, will reach down to -40F without the wind. How does one keep bees in colder climates? For me, it started with planning. My planning started in August while attending the Eastern Apiculture Society's annual conference (held in Boone, NC, last year). I quizzed any master beekeeper who was from a northern state and who would give me a couple minutes of their time. Valuable common sense tidbits that I assembled, in piecemeal fashion, into comprehensive plan.

Moisture Control.

Growing up, while hunting whitetail deer with my father, I learned to pace yourself while hiking in the woods. You did not want sweat. As soon as you stopped to wait for the occasional deer to wander by, you would become cold faster with the moisture on your body.

The same principle of moisture and cold holds true with beehives. Moisture + cold is a perfect equation for ending up with a pile of frozen, dead bees mid-winter. To control excess moisture (remember, bees shiver in the winter to keep the collective warm; lots of moisture is given off with the shivering), a master beekeeper from Maine recommended using homasote board as an inner cover. A piece the length and width of your top super is cut, and then, using a router with a rabbiting bit, a groove is routed out from middle of the piece - roughly halfway through the material - to one edge. This will be your top entrance for the winter.

On top of the homasote, a 2" wood spacer is used. Inside the space, a piece of rigid foam insulation cut to snugly fit. The outer cover is then placed over the spacer with care being taken to not cover the cut-groove in the homasote.


Insulation Wrap.

I picked an insulation-blanket-type wrap. It is covered in a heavy-mil black plastic. The insulation is loose enough to trap air between itself and the hive boxes while the heavy plastic is useful for keeping out drafts. The wrap is pulled up and secured just below the groove in the homasote board.

As a side note, I use screened bottom boards during the warmer months; to prevent updrafts into the hives, I slid a solid piece under the screens. The bottom entrance is still accessible, but gets covered with snow.

It is very important to make sure that the top entrance remains accessible; this will be the bees' link to the outside world while their bottom entrance is in the snow.


Wind Break.

We have a taller fence to the east and north of the hives. These are the predominant directions the winter winds blow from. Even though the hives are wrapped snug and warm with insulation, there is the fence to act as a wind break. The fence, during the warmer season when the bees are active, also forces the bees to enter and leave the hives at a very steep angle - well above the yards of any neighbors.

Depending upon the size of your apiary, it might not be conducive to put up solid fencing; instead it might be enough or more time-economical to have the top entrance facing away from the predominant wind direction.

Lastly, food. This is a tricky one. You want to harvest enough honey for yourself, but you also need to leave enough for your bees for the winter. It gets trickier if you get an extra cold snap that causes the bees to "lock up" and be unable to reach the food stores. A beekeeper friend had this happen last year; in the spring, there was plenty of food stores left, but all his bees frozen out directly under the food.


By day, Alex is a programmer and data analyst for the University of Minnesota Duluth. But, in his off time, he tends bees and gardens. He is also actively involved in basset hound and coonhound rescue - he and his wife, Melissa, own two bassets and two coonhounds. He blogs about bees and gardening at http://snowshoe-farm.com/blog

Guest Blog Post from - Michelle Stern from What’s Cooking

I have a confession to make.

I have wanted backyard chickens for quite some time. The appeal of rich and flavorful eggs with bright orange yolks was too much to resist. And when my 8 year old daughter joined our local 4-H club, my heart leapt when she told me that she was interested in joining the poultry project. My husband wasn’t likely to cave to my chicken cravings. But how could he resist the doe-eyes of our daughter, who was actually learning about chickens?

It has been a win-win. Our whole family has enjoyed the chickens. Amelia and I love watching their silly antics and how they recycle our food scraps into breakfast. Our husband adores watching Amelia learn and puts up with our giggles as we share funny chicken stories. And our son tries to like them. But at the very least, he is proud when his friends come over and he can show them off.

Needless to say, we have been eating a lot of eggs. Egg production has slowed down recently, since our girls are molting and the daylight hours are shorter. (The coop looks a little bit like a feather pillow has exploded…) This recipe is one of my favorites, and will appear in the pages of my new cookbook, due out in April, 2011. The Whole Family Cookbook encourages families to cook together, but also has a big green focus. I can’t seem to quiet my inner environmental science teacher, so the pages contain lots of eco-tips, along with banter about the benefits of eating happy, pastured animals rather than their institutionalized cousins.

Breakfast Burrito
By Michelle Stern, Author of The Whole Family Cookbook (April, 2011) and Owner of What’s Cooking, a certified green cooking school for kids (www.whatscookingwithkids.com)

Ingredients:
1 russet potato
2 teaspoons canola oil
2 chicken apple sausages, (You can also use spicy sausage or chorizo)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 eggs
1 cup black beans
1/3 cup cheddar, feta or queso fresco cheese
4 10-inch whole wheat tortillas
1/4 cup sour cream, optional
1/4 cup salsa, optional
1 handful cilantro or parsley leaves, optional
1 small avocado, optional
2 slices bacon or turkey bacon, crumbled, optional

Directions:
1. Scrub the potato under running water.
2. Prick it all over with a fork and cook it in the microwave for 5-6 minutes, or until tender.
3. Allow it to cool while you prepare the other ingredients.
4. Heat the canola oil in a skillet over a medium-high heat.
5. Meanwhile, slice the sausages into 1/4 inch thick rounds. If you are using uncooked sausages, you will need to squeeze it from its casing.
6. Cook the sausage until it is browned.
7. Crack the eggs into a medium-sized bowl. Beat with a fork or whisk.
8. Measure the cumin and add it to the eggs.
9. Reduce the heat to medium-low and pour in the eggs. Stir them occasionally and break up any large clumps.
10. Cut the potato into 1 inch cubes and add it to the skillet.
11. Drain and rinse the black beans.
12. Measure them and and add them to the skillet so that they can warm through.
13. Season the egg mixture with salt and pepper, to taste and remove the skillet from the heat.
14. Grate or crumble the cheese into a small dish.
15. Spread each tortilla with sour cream and salsa, if desired.
16. Put 1/4 of the potato cubes onto center of the tortilla.
17. Top the potato with 1/4 of the egg, sausage and bean mixture.
18. Sprinkle with cheese.
19. Top with any additional toppings, such as cilantro, diced avocado, crumbled bacon or hot sauce.
20. Fold one side towards the middle. Then fold up the bottom, then the other side, followed by the top.
21. Eat whole or cut the burrito in half, for little hands.









Our broody bantam cochin hatched some orpington chicks – all of which turned out to be roosters. We were very sad…but they all got a great new home and didn’t end up in a soup pot.
















One of the babies…

Michelle Stern is the owner of What’s Cooking, a certified green cooking school for kids in the San Francisco. Her new book, The Whole Family Cookbook, is coming out in April, 2011. For family friendly recipes, tips on cooking with kids, and environmentally friendly suggestions for eating well, go to:
http://whatscookingwithkids.com
@whatscooking and on Facebook

Going Local from Guest Blogger @Fromfarmtotable

The last time I moved to a tiny town I loved, it was from "the big city". Once sleeping quarters were laid down, the next order of business was getting a shoe fixed. This, so I could walk around the downtown; the center of my new foundtown. The sole on my ten year old hiking boot had come loose, a symbol, no doubt, of the journey before landing (back) in Smallville. The internet didn't sub for the yellow pages back then, and a feeling of dread welled up, for a project as large as a boot-mending in a strange town. I asked a new neighbor to recommend the best place to get a boot patched. He chuckled, and promptly gave me directions to the ~only~ place, to get a boot patched. I showed up, was greeted by the owner, and invited to sit down and stay a while.

A few minutes later, I walked out of Jim's shoe repair. Delighted to be only $6 lighter, my hand wrapped around his business card in my pocket, and my mind around the conversation we just shared. Eager to see where my good-as-new hiker might take me, a short walk around the corner revealed the diner Jim recommended, for a meal he said I'd welcome after so much road and fast food. His brother owned a piece of land at the edge of town and provided produce for the eatery. Belly full and feet happy, the feel-good of the day washed over my other soul, for hours. It'd be years before I learned of the essays of Wendell Berry (such as this one on a local economy). But that first afternoon in Local Land felt as comfy to me as any worn shoe. It felt good, tasted great, and looked beautiful.

You don't have to live in a tiny town to reap the benefits of a local economy. Sonoma County is geographically pretty big, but home to many robust communities ever more concerned and active on the "go local" front. Small change can add up to a big difference - check out the 350 Project and see what you think of making small changes in a few spending habits.

As for me and my life, I'll pass on super-sizing it for an extra 50 cents. Heck, I'll take the smaller slice please, even if it costs a little more. And while you're at it, I don't mind if you super-slow it. My hurrying days are behind me.

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/299/

http://sonomacounty.golocal.coop/

http://www.the350project.net/home.html

Kim Ryals
www.fromfarmtotable.com
@fromfarmtotable 

Guest Blog Post from Dan Courtois (Farmer Dan)

Farmer Dan knows about chickens and lives in California

CHICKEN CHOW

Chickens are a “bottomless pit” when it comes to chow. I have seen, on many occasions, chickens with their craws near bursting but continuing to eat voraciously at the feeder or bugs and weeds as if they have not had a meal in days! Their breasts have large swellings from their constant binging and they appear to have a large tumor which almost causes them to list to one side. Chickens will eat just about anything. Even you if you were unfortunate enough to trip and fall in the coup they would eat you up. Remember they are omnivores. Their varied diet includes bugs, feed pellets, scratch, weeds, fruit, vegetables, and sometimes even parts of other chickens. Last Summer I watched, with some amusement, a four foot long gopher snake wandered into the chicken yard thinking he was after a little easy chow. He realized when he had only invaded about two feet of the chicken compound that a hungry hoard was after him in short order. He would try to make it to the nest boxes only to be jumped on by our big rooster. It soon became apparent to me that they wanted to eat him but they just were not able to get a hold on him. He slithered and crawled at a frenzied pace looking for any route of escape with the hens in hot pursuit.

I do not usually feed snake, or any other living or dead animal for that matter, to them as I do not think that is what they need. I like to feed the girls some sort of “laying feed” as this has the appropriate amount of protein, fat, and carbohydrates needed to keep the girls healthy and keep the eggs rolling on out. Laying feed comes in three forms being lay mash, lay crumbles, and lay pellets. I prefer to use lay pellets as the chickens waste less feed when I use them. Crumbles and mash are easily thrown out of the feeder to be trampled and wasted by the girls who are less than frugal eaters. I like lay pellets because I know that even if the hens knock the feed out of the feed trough it will be visible and will more than likely be eaten at some point.

As chicks start to need food, which begins two days after hatching, I like to grind up or wet down lay pellets to feed them. I know that people say that you need to start chicks out on chick starter or else they would have problems later on but I do not agree with that. I just take some pellets and mix them with a little water in the feed bowl and let them have it.

For Calcium supplementation I like to use crushed oyster shells. I am sure that this is not a new idea, using oyster shell with their chicken feed in order to strengthen egg shells and to prevent bone loss from laying eggs. I have read that if you place some oyster shell in the chicken water bowl with some vinegar that will bring the Calcium into solution making it easier for the hen to use. I also like to occasionally give the chickens something called “pigeon grit” which contains some things other than oyster shell. I like pigeon grit as it provides some trace minerals to the chickens to maintain their health.

Scratch is a mixture of several grains and usually a large amount of ground corn. I like to give them scratch as something to compliment the lay pellets in my hen’s diet. The girls like to dig and scratch at the seeds as this is in their nature. As the bags of scratch will tell you, scratch grains are not to be the only source of chicken chow as the grain is not supposed to be a complete diet. I have read several accounts of folks about 100 hundred years ago where they just fed some scratch grains to the hens and left the hens to fend for themselves in the barn yard. Chickens need all of these supplements and feeds because for the most part they are raised in barns or in rather tight coops.
 Chickens need to get out and graze, this is the best way! I let them out when ever I can and they appear to be all the better for it. I know that I will lose the occasional bird to a fox, hawk, or coyote but it is so good for them and they really enjoy it. I see the hens roaming the yard filling their craws with grasses, seeds, and bugs and I realize that their egg yolks will stand up firm and will glow dark orange. I see my feed bill decrease dramatically as I put them out in the yard to free range. My hound dog kind of follows them around the yard slowly herding them in this direction and then another.

There are foods that I will not let my girls into or give them. I cannot go into the all the various things toxic to chickens so I have enclosed a great link at the end of the article. I do know that you should not feed things that are heavily moldy to them or that may contain any questionable materials. Potato sprouts and Night shade leaves are also toxic and celery will upset their digestive tracks. Again for a better list visit the below site as it is much more through. Poultry Help

Guest Blog Post from - JJgonson @EnLocale

JJ Gonson is a mom and a personal chef. Her MA based company, Cuisine en Locale, provides homemade food solutions using locally sourced ingredients. They subscribe to the belief that food produced nearby is healthier, tastes better, and is better for the community we live in. More from JJ and her cohorts at www.cuisineenlocale.com


I think a lot about what kids are eating in public schools

I didn't always. In fact, it is only relatively recently that I've given any thought at all to what people eat in schools, or the military and prisons for that matter.

For me, it started with milk, before I had my first baby. I was hearing so much about artificial hormones and precocious puberty, and about the side effects of unnecessarily used antibiotics, and I became afraid for the development of the child I was going to have. I made arrangements to get dairy from a small, local dairy farm. It came in glass bottles. I felt safer.

When my kids came of school age I took an initial look at the options in their cafeteria and I felt that same fear. But this time it wasn't a simple matter of calling the local dairy truck, and so I tried to convince myself that my kids had good eating habits and that there were things about the lunchroom offerings that were ok.

In point of fact, a lot of good work has been done around food, already, in my district. We are lucky, and owe a great debt to the diligence of a few very dedicated people. Our yogurt is hormone and antibiotic free, as is the milk the kids are offered. In our district we have an occasional vegetarian lunch entree appearing regularly, which is unusual in the US, what with the crazy protein-heavy nutritional guidelines, and we buy local apples that are made available to the kids all year long, whenever they might need a healthy boost. I was so happy when I discovered these things, and so I have let my kids eat at the school cafeteria, and hoped that the choices they made would be good ones. Ones I could feel good about, anyway.

This morning, at the breakfast table, while my kids were eating their oatmeal (made with locally grown oats, maple syrup, butter and milk) I asked what they had for lunch yesterday. "A sandwich", says my son with food in his mouth, "I didn't want to have Fluff, so I had the peanut butter and jelly."

There.

That's where it all breaks down, right there.

Let's rewind.

What was on the menu at our cafeteria yesterday?

It would appear they had the option to eat macaroni and cheese with carrots and peaches. I can get this information any time, from the school district website. This is a fixed menu, all the schools have the same one, so we are looking at a lot of meals. Thousands a day. I would like to think that someone is getting up early in the morning to melt the butter for the roux to start the cheese sauce, but there is no chance of it. That mac and cheese is a product that is made up of a lot of things that are not food. There is sure to be horrible sweeteners in it, and most likely in the peaches as well. The carrots are going to be 'peeled baby carrots' in a little plastic bag. And, even though they are the fibrous core of big carrots cut down, soaked, transported and wrapped in plastic, and they have retained a whopping %20 of their original nutrition, most of which is fiber and beta-carotene, they are possibly the least offensive of those offerings. Not that it matters, because my children (yes, both of them, his younger sister was happy to pipe up with, "I have that everyday!") aren't eating the hot lunch, apparently. My kids are eating good old PB&J.

This is not new to me. I have suspected for a while now that my kids, and a lot of others like them, are most frequently by-passing the hot lunch in favor of the alternate- peanut butter and either jelly or Fluff (yes, seriously, marshmallow cream) on whole wheat bread. Doesn't sound so bad, really. But if we are potentially feeding thousands than that PB&J has to be one the school can afford, so I did a little bit of digging, and I got my hands on the ingredient lists for those three key items. I couldn't get the ingredients for Fluff. No one seems willing to admit that Fluff is still served in the cafeterias here. If it isn't then there is a very enterprising middle-schooler selling it on the side, cuz I don't' think my kids are making it up when they tell me they had it for lunch.

You can probably guess where I am going with this. Yes, there are hydrogenated fats, high fructose corn sweeteners and unnatural colors in this interpretation of that most traditional of simple sandwiches.

No surprises really. If you are reading this kind of writing you might already be activated, yourself, around food-related issues. Perhaps you have also investigated what your kids are eating at school, and are feeling a fear similar to mine. Maybe you are wondering what sorts of evils are being perpetrated on their hormonal development? Obesity is the side effect of eating unhealthful food that we can see. What we cannot see is malnutrition, hormonal disruption, and inability to focus and therefor learn properly.

The meat in our school lunchrooms is tainted with ammonia to kill the bacteria.

The kids are offered sweet drinks instead of water.

And the simplest, most unoffensive sandwich on earth is a transmission device for saturated fats and unpronounceable chemistry.

Now what?
The way I see it there are two very obvious answers.
1- Pack lunch
2- Talk to my kids, keep helping them to make choices that are the least horrifying, and get involved with the system to make change.

Or perhaps even a combination of the two, but it is the second I want to focus on, because I think that most people choose #1, and that is why the problems we have are not going away.

It is not easy to understand what has happened in this country to have created a distribution system that sends the food of the lowest quality to the sprawling, hungry populations in our schools and other public programs. At the end of the day it is about money. In most simplistic terms, the government subsidizes farms, who in turn dump surplus on the government, who then make is available as "commodities" to the aforementioned programs.

What "commodities" really means is "free food". The commodities list is critical to public schools in this country because they have no money to pay for the food to feed the kids. Budgets have been cut so severely that schools have had to turn to their own cafeterias, and their student bodies, to pay for the lunch program. The appearance of soda machines and candy snacks in public schools is completely revenue driven. The money made from selling junk food pays for most of what the kids eat. The rest is "commodities". When soda machines are removed from the school lunchrooms the revenue stream disappears and so does the food services ability to purchase ingredients.

Many schools have rooms for the children to eat in, but no real kitchens in which to cook, in a real sense. Those that are lucky enough to have the facility to cook food often do not have the personnel to do so. Prepared foods come out of big bags made of thick plastic. Chicken, and other meat, is pulverized, fried and frozen to be reheated. Most commonly, little, if anything, is made from 'scratch', and the majority of vegetables are not remotely fresh. The long-suffering district employees who have to order the things that the kids then eat are dealing with a complicated set of offerings and no money to speak of. Where does a parent even begin to attack this monster?

Having put some energy into this when I first encountered these concerns I conscientiously attend meetings where parents have the opportunity to address the food service management directly. I am usually one of a small handful of parents who show up, even though there are twelve public grammar schools in my district. I think I am one of the more concerned and more agitated parents in this area, and I want to make change. I want a forum, and I want to help. One meeting, at 8:30 in the morning, twice a year is the platform I have found thus far.

And that is why I was stunned when I recently learned that there is a federal mandate that each school district has to have a "wellness committee" that oversees school food and suggests a wellness program. I know that our idea of wellness has become rather skewed in the past decade, but I care about what kids are eating and this is something I have never been aware of. Fundamentally, it doesn't matter what we moms think, we are not only not being told what our kids are eating, we are not even being told that we have the right to be concerned.

If you are, like me, agitated by the idea that what kids (as well as soldiers and prisoners) are eating is the worst kind of cheap food you do not have to sit silently by. You can investigate the options in your area. You can join with other concerned people in asking questions, and demanding first answers, and then solutions. Call the schools, ask who is on the mandated wellness committee and what are they doing. Go to the cafeteria and read ingredient lists. If you don't know what something is, look it up. And most importantly, talk to your kids. Talk to your kids friends, and your friends kids. Do you really know what they are eating?

"It's muffin day!" my son reminds his sister as they are eating that super-healthy breakfast. "I'm going to have two!" My daughter puts her spoon down, locavore, organic hot breakfast barely eaten, and announces that she is finished. It's an uphill battle, the fight for good food, made fresh from whole ingredients against the processed, sweetener laden, artificially flavored garbage that is everywhere. It's uphill all the way, and I'm going to keep climbing because I'm too scared to do anything else.

Guest Blog Post from @containergarden!

Kerry Michaels has been an obsessive container enthusiast since moving to Maine seven years ago. She has been a writer and producer of multi-media for 20 years. Her credits include, Country Living Magazine, The Twentieth Century with Mike Wallace and the award winning documentary, River of Steel. On twitter she is @containergarden and may be found at about.com


This may sound ridiculous, but I truly think that everyone should grow plants. There is mounting evidence that growing stuff is good for you psychologically – plants make people happy and more productive, and plants can actually clean chemicals out of indoor air.

I’m particularly fond of growing plants in containers. This is partially due to my extreme aversion to weeding and also because I’m a huge fan of instant gratification. I find immense satisfaction in buying seedlings at a farmers’ market; popping them into a container and watching them grow.

I believe that anyone can grow plants, but also that they are kind of like chickens, or any other living thing - you need to pay attention to them and learn what your plants need – which actually isn’t much.

If you want to grow plants in containers there are only a few things you need to know to get started.

-You can use almost anything for a container. I use everything from juice boxes to colanders to re-usable grocery bags. However, I only use containers that either have, or that I can pound, drill or nail drainage holes into, because most plants will die if their roots sit in water.

-The bigger your container, the better because the bigger your container, the larger your margin of error is for watering. Small containers dry out fast and that can mean that some you will have to water, in the heat of summer, many times in one day – which is just not in my joy spectrum.

-Use potting soil, not garden soil. I use an organic potting soil.

-Most potting soil has no nutrients for your plants and they won’t thrive if you don’t add some food. Mix a slow release fertilizer into your potting soil before you plant anything in it – worm poop is great for this. Then feed your plants regularly with a liquid, diluted plant food. I use a combination of fish emulsion and seaweed.

-Read your plant label and pay attention to what it says in terms of how much sun your plant needs and how much water. That said, most plants want to be in slightly damp soil – not wet, not dry but damp.

To be honest, gardening is a crapshoot and sometimes your plants will die. That said though, there are few greater pleasures than eating something you have grown yourself or watching a flower unfurl. And like chickens, plants can be a pain, but most of the time they are well worth it.

Dahlia

Guest Blog Post from - my friend @redwhiteandgrew, Pamela Price

Pamela Price is an award-winning writer and founder of RedWhiteAndGrew.com, a site dedicated to exploring victory gardens past and present. As a child, she sold her family's extra tomatoes door-to-door on her bike. Today she gardens near San Antonio, Texas with her preschool-aged son, nicknamed "Tater Tot." Join Red, White and Grew on Facebook and on Twitter

Victory Gardens Are Here Again!

"Victory gardening" is an old-fashioned term for what many people are undertaking these days--garden for self-sufficiency and sustainability. The phrase dates all the way back to the 1600s, when a British writer encouraged his fellow citizens to garden to protect themselves from hunger in the face of war. In the early 1900s, the term was embraced in the United States at the end of WWI, when "liberty" or "war gardens" became "victory gardens" after we won the conflict. A couple of decades later found millions of Americans--including children and teens--gardening during the Second World War. Because this was long before YouTube.com and Twitter helped spread ideas, government agencies encouraged gardening (together with recycling, fuel conservation, composting and canning) through colorful poster campaigns. Note that it was at this point--the mid-century mark--that the "victory garden" phrase took deep root in American culture. Later in the twentieth century, PBS started a popular, long-running show called "The Victory Garden," which is still on television.

Today, whether they garden out of need or simply to be good environmental stewards, many young people are rediscovering that fresh food--be it veggies or eggs--simply taste better. That's a fact that Mrs. Obama has decided to emphasize in connecting her First Garden at the White House with her new Let's Move initiative, designed to promote healthy lifestyles for young people.

With spring on the horizon in many parts of the country, now is a great time to start thinking about planting a garden at your house. If this is your first time to raise vegetables, you've got all kinds of options. If you live in an apartment, you can grow tomatoes in pots or hanging planters on your patio. Or, if you've got a bit more space at home or in a community garden plot, you can plant a pizza garden (oregano, tomatoes, basil, onions, and garlic), a Peter Rabbit-themed garden (mint, parsley, thyme, radishes and lettuce) to delight your younger siblings, or even a New Orleans Saints-themed garden (okra, tomatoes, peppers, squash, scallions). The possibilities are endless and limited only by your imagination and creativity. (And, yes, chickens can be a part of your overall plan! The manure makes wonderful organic fertilizer.)

Whichever option you choose for your garden--and whatever you choose to call it (be it kitchen garden, potager, dinner garden, victory garden), my best advice is for you to start small and let your garden grow as you develop and hone skills over time. Gardening is a life skill, which means you won't learn everything overnight. Keeping a calendar, blog or notebook of your progress is a marvelous learning tool, something that you can refer back to year after year to chart your progress and note lessons you've learned about your particular garden. I also suggest that you work with your family to identify successful gardeners in your neighborhood who can tell you which plants and plant varieties will grow best where you live. Farmers at your weekly market (if you're lucky enough to have one!) can be helpful. Your local county extension office can be a big help, too.

Finally, if you're interested in learning more about the role of victory gardens in WWII, I'd recommend that you locate a copy of Lee Kochendorfer's book, "The Victory Garden" (Yearling, 2003). In it, the author tells an engaging fictional story about an 11 year-old girl from Kansas who grows, you guessed it, a victory garden of her own. 

Guest Blog Post from - my friend @sarahnow Sarah Newman

Sarah Newman is Research Manager at Participant Media which produced Food, Inc.  She also regularly blogs for Huffington Post and Take Part

How to be a Cool Kid

I recently returned from a conference in Northern California sponsored by a group called Teens Turning Green. I was a bit apprehensive to attend because I wondered what I could say to teens who probably view me as an older person who isn’t in touch with their generation. Upon entering the conference though, I immediately felt at home. These kids were much the way I was when I was there age. They were activists, questioners and committed to making lifestyle changes for the health of our planet. While I might have been a bit intense, serious and not a “cool kid” when I was a teen, I saw myself in so many of these teens. And, what was even better is that times seemed to have changed because they were also cool!

So many things that were still rather “fringe” elements when I was a kid are commonplace now. It takes thousands -perhaps millions- of people, to push issues so that they are eventually accepted by the broader public. It’s hard to be the person who challenges the status quo, who lives a bit differently and questions the actions of our collective, but it’s also important. Without people’s commitment to living out their beliefs and values, we would not be able to improve our society.

One behavior that I adopted when I was pretty young was becoming a vegetarian. I don’t know exactly how old I was but I think I was about 10. It was a gradual process; I was finally a full vegetarian by about eighth grade after I forsake tuna fish. I didn’t have any other friends (aside from my mom) who were vegetarians at the time but it felt like the right thing for me to do. I realized that I didn’t want to eat animals anymore and I haven’t looked back (25 years later!). Even today, people question my being a vegetarian despite it being pretty commonplace now.

I’m still challenging myself. I only eat eggs that I buy at my farmers market. I’ve tried to be vegan but that didn’t work out. I sometimes think about going vegan again but also try to just limit my dairy consumption to reputable companies with humane animal practices (there aren’t many).

I’m inspired by young people today, like Orren, who are boldly embracing sustainble food practices and helping to make them mainstream. These kids are mentors to their generation and mine. It requires devotion and self-confidence. I know growing up, especially the high school years, can be hard. But, practicing what you believe in, despite all of the possible social norms you might be breaking, is the coolest thing you can do.

Sarah Newman

Guest Blog Post from - my friend @hyperlocavore Liz McLellan

Liz McLellan @hyperlocavore started hyperlocavore.com a free yard sharing community because everyone loves a homegrown tomato! Revive your neighborhood! http://bit.ly/7xqUpB

You like pizza, right? 
Here's a cool project for you and your buds and BFFs to take on this Spring - a pizza garden! There may be no more spaghetti trees left in the world but, you can grow a pizza...kind of!

There are a few things you guys need to know before starting a new garden, so let's start this right. Great gardens depend on gardeners who know what zone they live in and what kind of soil they have. We all live in different zones. A zone is about the kind of weather you have, how early fall frost comes and how late you might get a killing frost in spring. Where I live, it's not a good idea to plant until after Memorial Day. If you plant too early you may lose all your baby plants to a bad night of frost! That is a huge drag so figure this out before you start planning your pizza garden.

 Find your hardiness zone then come back here...

OK got it? Write that down in your garden notebook! It will be important when you are finding seeds. Keeping a garden notebook is useful to you if you keep gardening. You can use it to remember what works best where you live. Now let's learn how to test your soil type. You can start seeds inside way before that though.

It's a good idea to get a jump on the season and have strong teenager plants who can handle the summer much better than the babies.

There are three main types of soil: clay, sand and loam. So go to the area in your yard where you want to plant your pizza garden. Dig down about 2 inches and grab a hand full of soil. Try to roll that hand full into a ball.
 

·        If you have sandy soil you won't be able to form a ball at all, it will just fall apart.

·        If you can make a ball about the size of a big grape you have clay soil.

·        If your ball holds together a bit but, is kind of crumbly and comes apart when you stop squeezing it's loam soil.

Here's a way to fix most soil types - but this fix takes months so you need to plan in advance. Sometimes you need to add a little bit of this or a little bit of that to make the soil ready for planting. If you don't have a lot of time do some research on sustainable and organic methods to correct your soil type. OK, there's no such thing as a pepperoni bush and most of you don't have your own cow to milk to get your mozzerella. But you can grow most of the veggies that make it taste so crazy good! So what do you need to grow in a pizza garden?

Let's make a list: 
 

·        the alliums: onion and garlic

·        herbs: parsley, oregano and basil

·        bell peppers

·        tomatoes

Sounds very doable! Garlic is important and onions as well, even if you don't like them on top, they make the sauce sweet. When you sauté onions they "caramelize" which is a fancy way of saying they become a sugar. When sugar is heated up but not burned it turns to "caramel," which is what those chewy candies actually are - cooked sugar!

Onions and garlic are the more complicated part of the garden. Usually people plant most onion and garlic "sets" in the fall of the previous year, so it's a little late for 2010. Mushrooms are a whole other project. NEVER pick them from your yard. They can be poisonous! Here are some onions you can grow from seed in some zones: Italian Red Onions (Flat of Italy) or Ringmaster Onions (Great for onion rings too!)

Plant them about four feet or more from your tomatoes and herbs. For now you might want to just pick up garlic at the store, unless your parents already know how to grow it. For next year, make a note you will want to find a good seller for garlic "sets," and plant them in October.

You might want to find a organic seed grower that is close to you.
Try Local Harvest for seed sellers near your zip code! 
Most of the links for seeds here are from Botanical Interest.

So where does all that red sauce come from? 
The lycopene in tomatoes makes them red, and it's also really good for you. It's the same stuff that makes carrots orange, and watermelons pink. But it's not in cherries. It helps your cells repair themselves and keeps your eyes strong.

Growing tomatoes is pretty easy and they taste SO much better than the ones you get at the store. There are three types of tomatoes: slicing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and paste tomatoes. Paste tomatoes are the kind you use to make thick yummy spaghetti and pizza sauce.

So here are the top paste tomatoes. San Marzanos are from Italy home of spaghetti and pizza! Amish Paste tomatoes will also work. If you can't find either of those, look for a "paste" type tomato that grows in your hardiness zone.

OK onto the herbs, herbs are a big part of making pizza so tasty. You'll want to grow oregano, parsley and basil. The best oregano for pizza is "True Greek Oregano." It's a perennial which means it comes back every year if you live in zones 4-9.

Basil is an awesome annual. Annuals need to be planted with new seed every year. You can use it in the sauce or on top of the pizza in big whole leafs. A classic real Italian style pizza is just mozzarella, big basil leaves, some great fresh mozzarella, slices or small cherry tomatoes and a little olive oil. A green pizza sauce called "pesto" is made with tons of fresh basil a little olive oil and a cup or so of roasted pine nuts. We grow a lot of basil every year and freeze tons of basil pesto sauce. Just put a ton of basil and a little olive oil in a blender or food processor and blend it up, then put it in small containers in the freezer. Tastes like summer in the middle of winter! YUM!

There are a ton of basil types to grow but, for pizza, you really want one of these types: Genovese or Italian Leaf Basil. Growing tomatoes and basil close together is a classic "companion planting" combo. Basil and tomatoes kind of love each other. Maybe it's a just a serious crush. Who knows really? They are happiest when they are hanging out. Folks see them together all the time! Plant three basil plants for every one tomato plant.

Don't tell basil but, parsley likes tomatoes too! You can plant this in between to your tomato plants, as well. We just hope it's doesn't make basil jealous! There are a few kinds of parsley. One kind usually ends up on the side of the plate to make it pretty and the other kind is the stuff that tastes so good. Parsley also is a good breathe freshener so if ever Uncle "Bad Breath" Bob needs a bit of something to make their breath sweeter, you can sneak him a sprig of parsley without telling them "Hey Dude, you really need a breath mint." - because that's pretty rude.


Bell Peppers are a controversial topic. Some kids love em, some kids hate em. They are easy to grow and love a hot climate. Fire roasted red bell peppers are to delish on pizza. The peppers caramelize like the onions and garlic do and become very sweet! Try that technique ONLY with your parents close by.

If you live in a hot place by the sea you may be able to grow an olive tree and make your own olive oil. That's kind of a long time to wait for pizza though!

Here are some more links to help get you growing!

Seed List (Follow link then scroll down - seeds are low on these pages)
San Marzanos Tomato
Amish Paste
Tomato Cherry Rainbow Mix Seed
Oregano True Greek Seed
Genovese and Italian Leaf Basil
Italian Flat Parsley
Italian Red Onions
Ringmaster Onions

More Helpful Links
Pizza Crust Making Video
Pizza Crust Recipes
Pizza Sauce Recipes
Pizza Stone for the Oven Method
Build a Pizza Oven

No yard? No problem. 
Visit hyperlocavore.com a yard sharing community. We work to hook neighbors and friends up in yard sharing groups - makes gardening more fun and less expensive!

We're here to help you get going. Join us. It's free. Then send an invite out to your friends (with your parents permission of course!) on the site and set up a pizza garden group! You can even post blogs, pictures and videos to show off your pizza garden project!

Happy Digging!
Liz McLellan
hyperlocavore.com a yard sharing community because everyone love a homegrown tomato!