This recipe took several attempts. I think it was about 4, and we ate all the failures. It was worth it. I consider it my sacrifice for science.

Although these cookies are probably about 6gm of carbs each, all the ingredients are very low glycemic index, and things like butter and peanut butter have “zero” glycemic load so they should not spike your blood sugar [Disclaimer: HighlyUncivilized does not offer medical advice. Always consult a qualified doctor for questions on blood sugar or any other healthcare advice]. They are also gluten free. One note, we had different results with different brands of peanut butter. Trader Joe’s Peanut Butter is my favorite to eat, but it was too oily to get good, consistent cookie results. We finally settled on Whole Foods 365 Organics and that was much better.

You may also need to experiment a little with your oven temp or bake them a ~little~ longer than we did.  Adding a second egg and increasing the baking time made them less crumbly.  If you let them sit over night, if they make it that long, they won’t be crumbly at all – but still nice and soft.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup natural peanut butter (no added sugar)
• ½ unsalted butter at room temp
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1¼ cups almond flour
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place peanut butter and butter in mixing bowl and mix until well blended. Add coconut sugar and mix until blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until blended. Set aside.

In a separate bowl combine almond flour, salt and baking soda.
Add almond mixture to peanut butter mixture and mix just until combined.

Refrigerate dough to firm it up a bit. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Dip a fork into coconut sugar and press into each cookie making a crisscross pattern.

Bake for 11-12 minutes & move to cooling rack.

For reference, the complete picture set is here on Facebook.

Allow to cool & enjoy! ☺

5 million farmers are suing Monsanto for having to make ongoing “royalty” payments.  Monsanto regularly sues small farmers and wins, but the uniqueness of this lawsuit is that the business process for Monsanto appears to be in violation of a specific Brazilian law, the Brazilian Cultivars Act (No. 9-456/97).

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/international-business/Five-million-Brazilian-farmers-take-on-biotech-giant-Monsanto/articleshow/14059443.cms

VIdeo coverage on RT.

And in the most recent update, the Brazilian court has awarded 2 billion to the farmers, which Monsanto has appealed.  A ruling is expected in 2014.

http://healthimpactnews.com/2012/five-million-brazilian-farmers-sue-monsanto-and-win-2-billion/

I finally added my kumbucha video to Youtube, and a short follow up video of what the new culture looked like about a week later.

If you’re not familiar with kombucha, it’s a fermented beverage you can make at home, with just a few simple ingredients and a kombucha culture.  It’s been made for thousands of years and is reported to be a health tonic, whatever that means.  I drink it because it should reasonably be expected to have the same type of health benefits as apple cider vinegar and other fermented foods.  The basic ingredients of kombucha are black tea, water, white sugar, and a kombucha culture, or “scoby” (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast).  The kumbucha culture eats the sugar, leaving behind an acidic tea, similar to a very mild apple cider vinegar type of drink, and can be made naturally carbonated.

As usual, please google kombucha and read for yourself the pro’s and con’s.  Here’s a negative article from someone at the Mayo Clinic demonstrating exactly why so much information from sites like their site can be completely useless when doing your own research.  In the short article, the writer notes that since kombucha is generally made at home, it is subject to contamination and should be avoided.  He doesn’t mention store bought kombucha, or that really any food made at home is subject to contamination, or really any food made anywhere is subject to contamination.  You would expect a doctor to have more common sense, or at least expect us to have some.

I have never been sick from my homemade kombucha in the many, many years we’ve made it at home, nor have I gotten sick from any store bought kombucha.  However I have gotten food poisoning several times from restaurants that are regulated by the government, and the Mayo Clinic is not recommending against my eating out at restaurants.  Again, it is wise to review a wide variety of sources and make your own decision.

On the pro side, the wiki has a more detailed report on what is actually IN a finished batch of kombucha, so you can research for yourself the asserted health benefits of B vitamins, active enzymes, amino acids and beneficial bacteria.  Wiki also notes that kombucha may have even been referenced as far back as 220 BCE in the Chinese Qin Dynasty, where it was reported as, “a beverage with magical powers enabling people to live forever.”

I don’t believe my kombucha has any magical powers, but it can be magically delicious.  That’s a fact.

Some precautionary thoughts:  To avoid contamination you should use the same kind of hygienic process you use for other food.  If you often get sick from eating food you prepare yourself, you may want to avoid making your own kombucha, or simply learn better cooking skills.  You should clean everything that will come in contact with your kombucha.  I clean my equipment with white vinegar and a paper towel.  The tea in the kombucha changes the pH of the water, making it less susceptible to pathogenic (bad) bacteria while the kumbucha culture is taking over the new batch of tea.  This is also one of the reasons to include some finished kombucha from a previous batch as a “starter” since this immediately lowers the pH of the tea.  When you buy a new culture online they often ship with a small amount of starter liquid, which you should not discard, but use as a starter.  Finished tea can have a pH of around 3, which is good for kombucha, but inhibits the growth of mold and pathogenic bacteria.

Also make sure that the culture does not rise too far out of the liquid during fermentation or you may get mold growing on the culture, making it unfit for consumption (DO NOT KEEP A MOLDY CULTURE OR KOMBUCHA MADE WITH A MOLDY CULTURE).  The culture can sometimes lift out of the liquid when large gas bubbles are trapped under it.  Simply push it back down with a clean finger to let the gas escape.  Make sure your brew is always covered so dust and fruit flies can’t get on the culture.  As you can see in my video, I use a coffee filter with a rubber band to secure the top of my sun tea jar.  Keep your kombucha in a ventilated area.  I made the mistake once of keeping 4 bowls of kombucha in a small, closed cabinet for two weeks, and the inside door hinges turned from silver to green (yes I have pictures).  I’m not sure of the science behind what happened there, but remember that acidic liquids like vinegar have an effect on metal, like using vinegar to clean a copper penny.

You will need a kombucha culture, also called a Scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast).  There are many sources to buy them online but I haven’t bought one in many years so I can’t recommend any.  If you’d like to recommend a good online source please post it in the comments section.  You can also get one from a friend, because bacteria is a gift that keeps on giving.  In my video I show splitting a scoby into two for a second batch.

The basic How To:

Ingredients

• 1 gallon of distilled water, or water with as little chlorine as possible
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 6 tea bags, for beginners use black tea like good old Lipton’s Tea
• Kombucha scoby
• About a 1/2 cup to a full cup of kombucha as a starter
• Something like a Sun Tea container
• A coffee filter, or other breathable cover for your container
• A rubber band, or something to secure the cover

Making kombucha is just about as simple as brewing a pot of tea.

To start, brew a pot of tea using the six tea bags.  Pour the tea into a (heat safe) glass bowl, stir in the cup of white sugar, and let the tea cool to room temperature.

Next, pour the tea into your glass sun tea container that you’re using to brew.  Add the 1/2 cup of starter kombucha, then add the scoby.  Add distilled water to fill up the remainder of the gallon container, leaving a couple of inches of space at the top.

Seal of the top with your high-tech coffee filter and rubber band lid, and wait.  In my video, you’ll see that I have a brown paper bag “tube” that I slide over the sun tea jar.  This is to block out sunlight, which is generally something that will inhibit the growth of the culture.

Side note:  The old scoby will usually sink to the bottom of the container, and over the next couple of days, a new scoby will form on the surface of the tea at the top of the container.

When you check on your kombucha over the next couple of days you will see bubbles forming inside the container, and within a week, you should see the thin film of a new culture starting on the surface of the tea.  If a large amount of bubbles become trapped under the culture, to the point where they are pushing the culture up out of the fluid, just push the culture down gently with a clean finger, back to the surface of the tea.

Kombucha can be ready in as little as 7 days, depending on the temperature where you are brewing – it will brew faster in warmer temps, slower in colder temps.  The longer it brews, the less sugar will remain and the more like vinegar it will taste.  If you leave it for too long, the kombucha will run out of food and eventually die.  I’ve left mine for a long as 4 weeks.  I don’t want the sugar in the drink, but after 4 weeks it’s very strong.  You can dilute the drink with water, pour some over ice, or just drink it straight.

Sometimes I will do a “second ferment” by adding a little more sugar into a finished batch, and transferring the kombucha to some old Grolsch bottles.  After several weeks it will become naturally carbonated.  Here is a good kombucha recipe that shows how they do a second ferment with fruit juice.

If fermenting projects sound a little scary, or you’re unsure of what kind of personal commitment you’re making, checkout some youtube videos before you start.  I have one on Kombucha if you’d like to watch mine.  I try to make them absolutely as short as possible so you can see the basics.

Happy fermenting!

How to video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNHd2_3JKb4

What the new culture looks like one week later video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxGISZlmVMk

I wanted to wait to discuss this until after I went to a talk by Michael Pollan about the aftermath of Prop. 37.

While the votes are still being counted Proposition 37 – the Right to Know initiative that would have labeled GMOs in our food – has been called as defeated. We can hold out hope but we still need a lot of votes headed our way to change the looming outcome.

But just because it might be defeated doesn’t mean that we stop fighting. It means we need to fight more but maybe we need to change our direction, become more unified and make changes in our own lives. My friend Pam, from Peaceful Valley Farm, and I discussed an idea that I think people might be interested in doing with us.

As you may know, my family went a year without going to the grocery store starting back in October 2010 and which we are still continuing with today to a slightly lesser extent. That was just a challenge that we did here and documented but it wasn’t a team challenge.

What Pam and I are proposing is a team effort. We want to help others take on a challenge with us. The challenge we are proposing is to live a month without GMOs starting January 1st 2013. While Pam and I will be making this a forever-and-a-day challenge we would like you to join us for the first month. Learn with us and exchange information.

The next post will be about what GMOs are and how to somewhat spot them even though they aren’t labeled.

By Rachel at Dog Island Farm.  Reprinted with permission.

The original article and more Dog Island wisdom is here.

The Facebook page for the GMO Challenge is here, please LIKE it and join the discussion.

I was originally just going to call this Awesome Soup, because it’s so AWESOME, but I didn’t think people would try it if they didn’t know what was in it.  It tastes meaty, buttery, and creamy. Need I go on? I CAN’T STOP EATING IT!  You won’t believe it’s healthy, gluten free, low carb, and vegan (but NOT fat free).  I made this with whatever I had in my fridge & pantry, and I made it up as I went along.

Soup doesn’t need to be an exact science, so my directions and measurements are intentionally vague.

STEP 1: IN LARGE POT, SAUTE TILL ONIONS ARE SOFT
1-2 Tbsp Olive oil
1-2 onions, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
4 carrots, chopped
2 turnips, chopped
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
1-2 tsp dried dill
1-2 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp onion powder
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne powder

STEP 2: ADD TO SAUTE AND BRING TO BOIL, THEN SIMMER
6-8 cups of water

STEP 3: IN A MEDIUM SAUCE PAN, JUST COVER WITH WATER, BOIL, COVER & SIMMER TILL VERY SOFT, THEN PUREE
1-2 zucchini or yellow squash, chunked
1 head of cauliflower, no leaves, chunked

STEP 4: ADD TO SOUP ALONG WITH PUREE
2 bunches of kale, torn – leaves only, soaked and rinsed well
5-7 fresh parsley stems, leaves only
1 can Coconut Milk, unsweetened
Salt, to taste

STEP 5: IN A SMALL SKILLET, MAKE A MED-LIGHT RUE, STIR 2TBSP OF BROTH INTO RUE, THEN ADD TO SOUP
2 Tbsp rice flour, or whichever kind you use
1-2 Tbsp Olive oil

Bon Appetite!

When not being an artist, photographer, teacher, and wanna-be wit, Bethany can be found writing her blog, The Intolerant Foodie

http://intolerantfoodie.blogspot.com/

NOTE:  this is a reprint by permission of a blog from Paul Wheaton (jedi knight of permaculture), as per the note in his email here.  ”For those of you that have blogs and want to use this as a “guest blog” on your blog, you are welcome to use any of the blogs here:  http://paulwheaton12.wordpress.com/

I’m Paul Wheaton. Treehugger.com calls me “hardcore green”. I feel the need to mention this because I am, as an environmentalist, about to make a stand against …. “environmentalists”. Not environmentalists. But all “environmentalists”.

I think that being an environmentalist is really about being a good neighbor. About not pooping in your neighbor’s drinking water. About being against pollution. About clean air, clean water, clean food and clean soil for yourself and all your neighbors.

Being an “environmentalist” is either parroting what the greenwashing tells you, or … even worse, actually believing the greenwashing, then standing up and fighting for “green” that isn’t green at all.

The object propelling the greatest greenwashing scheme of all time, is the CFL. The greenwashing is so thorough, that many people will call themselves an “environmentalist” for no reason other than the fact that they have, indeed, purchased CFLs.

At this point, I wish to point out that the whole CFL thing is really not my crusade. On the other hand, so many people want me to carry their pro-CFL propaganda, and they won’t listen to my alternative position, that I’ve felt compelled to write something. As I’ve personally witnessed so many people put such large portions of their well intentioned energy into defending the CFL, I’ve felt compelled to put more effort into getting my writing on this topic published. And when the national news reports that “environmentalists” are defending CFLs, I feel slighted and feel the need to shout from the rooftops that, at the very least, environmentalists are divided on this. I need to get this CFL thing behind me so I can focus on far more important things. And I would like to see people that care about what is good for all of us to stop defending something so awful.

A very large book can be written about all the lies, spin and shenanigans that have gone on surrounding the CFL, but I’m going to try to just make a quick summary.

1) If a CFL is used for three or more hours every time, then the lifespan of the light would probably be close to what is written on the box. For that same CFL to be used somewhere where the light would be on for an average of 30 seconds (like in a closet or a hallway), the lifepan is shortened by about 99%. Sometimes even more. So a CFL that is labeled to last 10,000 hours would actually last only about 100 hours. A lot of lightbulb use in the house is for a few minutes (bathroom or bedroom) and it is a minority of lightbulbs in the house are on for more than three hours at a time. Of course, this assumes a house where the people turn off lights that are not in use. For a house where all of the lightbulbs in the house are CFLs, I predict that the average lifespan would be less than 1000 hours.

2) All CFL bulbs contain mercury. This is the pollutant that leads the FDA to suggest not eating tuna more than once a week. In 2008, the EPA released a data sheet explaining how the amount of mercury pollution from the CFL paled in comparison to the amount of mercury pollution caused by the extra energy use of incandescent lights from coal power plants. But when you explore the details of the report, you can see where the numbers were fiddled with in several ways. Most notably, the 4mg (average) per CFL was reduced to 0.6mg because only one type of pollution was considered. Further, the comparison was for 8000 hours of lighting time with the claim that the incandescent generated 5.8mg mercury pollution due to coal power plants exuding that level of pollution into the air for the amount of power. If we do nothing more than put the real number back, it comes out to be about the same for both CFL and incandescent. Replace the coal plant with wind energy and the incandescent instantly drops to zero. And if we say the lifespan of the CFL is 800 hours, then CFL on wind power is is 40mg. When I unravelled a few other shenanigans, I came out with 67.4 for the CFLs – 112 times dirtier than claimed.

3) Each light bulb package now lists the number of lumens (a measurement of light) that each light bulbs puts off. For incandescent, this is pretty straightfoward since the amount of light put out is very consistant. What is printed on the CFL box is the highest amount of light given at the optimal point of light use. Two things that a lot of people don’t know about CFLs is:

3.1) they start off 40% to 65% dimmer and reach their highest brightness in one to three minutes of each use.

3.2) as the CFLs get older, they lose brightness. Usually, they lose about 20% of their brightness about 10% into their lifespan, and will have lost about 30% of their brighness near the end of their lifespan.

4) Many people are getting sick when they are in the same room as a “properly functioning” CFL. And I’m not talking about just a few. My research suggests that about 35% of the population will be sick near a CFL. The most common symtoms are headaches, skin problems and lack of concentration. Most people feel sick and don’t know it is the CFL that is causing it. I wonder how many “environmentalists” are currently seriously ill from the CFLs that they protect. If you have been feeling poorly, or have been having a hard time concentrating, try switching to incandescent lights for a week and see if you feel better and more productive.

5) CFLs are subsidized by many different government offices and even by the power companies. So the price for the CFL appears to be low because everybody is being forced to pay for it with higher taxes and higher utility bills. They claim to be doing it in the name of conservation. But if that were true, I think they would subsidize clothes lines – you can save far more money in a year with a clothes line than the amount you could possibly save with CFLs even if they worked as well as claimed. Before incandescent bulbs were banned in Australia, CFLs were typically $1.50 per bulb. As the subsidies are being taken away, the price has now risen to $8 per bulb and is still rising. Predictions are that it will stop at about $12 per bulb.

When it comes to saving household energy, the amount I spend on electricity for lighting is already well under a dollar per month. And that’s with incandescent lights. Three times more than everything else combined is heating people. Focus there for the biggest energy savings. For that, I present: cutting 87% off of the electric heat bill using micro electric heaters; rocket stove mass heater; wofati eco building.

There is much more to this issue. It is a massive topic made into a gut wrenching topic – because good people believed the greenwashing that was printed on the box. For more information, please see my full article on light bulbs.

As the son of an extension agent, I have access to some figures that just can’t be found anywhere else except the mind of my father. For instance: how many farms are there in Cabarrus county? The answer: about 400. And of those 400, how many are certified organic? One.

Does that strike you as a little odd? Did you think the number would be higher? It appears that many of the shoppers at our farmers market believe so since I have had the following conversation more times than I’d like to admit.

“Are these peaches local?” they ask.

“Yes,” we reply happily.

“But are they organic?”

“No,” we explain glumly.

It’s a dialogue repeated by most of the farmers on the market regardless of their produce — usually with a tinge of guilt for not having precisely what you want to buy. But a question looms in the background: why aren’t there many organic local farmers?

In the simplest terms, the regulations prevent many farmers from becoming certified organic. Specifically the requirement by the National Organic Program that all land used by organic farms can not have utilized conventional pesticides and other prohibited materials within the past 3 years.

This particular requirement is the one that vexes our small farmers that want to make the switch to organics more than anything else. It leaves them with two options: 1) They can sell their farm and buy another one that meets the requirements, or 2) they can absorb the cost of organic pesticides for 3 years without being reimbursed at market for the additional cost. Both of these options are really unachievable by the small farmer.
With regards to the first option, small farmers tend to have a great attachment to their land—who could blame them? As for the second option, the cost of organic pesticides can make that route untenable.

But as with most government programs, which the National Organic Program certainly is, there are many more hoops to jump through than this. My father tells me that the one organic farm in Cabarrus County requires about 40 man hours to handle the required paperwork necessary for maintaining its certification. And then there’s the cost of certification.

Between the regulations and the cost there are a great many obstacles that prohibits the average small farmer from getting into the organic game.

But does this really matter? Stay tuned for my next article and find out.

From the Farm,
John Goforth

John Goforth is our friend from the east coast who has been involved in agriculture most of his life. He is the son of David Goforth (M.S. in Horticulture and Cabarrus County’s agricultural extension agent) and grew up on the family farm in Rockwell, NC. At age 13, with his father and brother, he started selling produce at the Piedmont Farmer’s Market which eventually evolved into Goforth’s Garden. Today, they raise peaches, blueberries, and an assortment of other fruits and vegetables to be sold at local markets and through their CSA. John’s other interest include writing, whittling, and woodworking.

I haven’t published any of my rants on Highly Uncivilized up until now. Unfortunately, the following story relates so closely to my previous post on eating roses that I could not resist.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at this situation in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Denise Morrison filled her yard with edible and medicinal plants only to have them ripped up by code enforcement officials. It’s a situation that absolutely outrages me.

Everyday we hear about the virtues behind protecting our environment, conserving resources, and going green. Here is someone that has done precisely that only to be punished.  From every perspective she is trying to preserve resources while endeavoring to be independent and self-sufficient. She planted food, herbs, and medicine in her front yard to feed herself and heal herself. Am I wrong in thinking that what she attempted to do was the embodiment of the American dream? Why would Tulsa Code Enforcement try to oppose that?

Because her neighbor didn’t like the looks of it.

At the end of the day that’s the problem:  the results of a genuinely environmentally friendly lifestyle aren’t always appealing in the eyes of others. Being environmentally friendly is more than just a freshly waxed Toyota Prius parked in the driveway; it’s more than buying CFL light bulbs and trendy reusable shopping bags. Being environmentally friendly means taking steps to ensure that the resources you have are utilized to their fullest extent. Being unemployed, Denise Morrison’s only resource was her home, more specifically her yard.

Admittedly, a yard that is maximizing its potential may look wild to the untrained eye, but is that justification to destroy it? Some families may not have the thousands of dollars it takes to make a yard look “respectable” but if they have so much as a single seed isn’t the world better off if they plant it? In my opinion, they should; even the smallest step in the right direction is a benefit to our world.

I implore those of you that live in Tulsa and the surrounding area to speak out against this. Even if you don’t live in Tulsa, please consider investigating your own city’s codes to make sure they’re in line with actions that will ultimately build a better planet, just as Denise Morrison tried to do.

Thank you,
John Goforth

John Goforth is our very angry friend from the east coast who has been involved in agriculture most of his life. He is the son of David Goforth (M.S. in Horticulture and Cabarrus County’s agricultural extension agent) and grew up on the family farm in Rockwell, NC. At age 13, with his father and brother, he started selling produce at the Piedmont Farmer’s Market which eventually evolved into Goforth’s Garden. Today, they raise peaches, blueberries, and an assortment of other fruits and vegetables to be sold at local markets and through their CSA. John’s other interest include writing, whittling, and woodworking.

So you’ve planted your organic strawberries, tended them with care, looking forward to harvest.  Wait!  How many quarts did that patch produce?  What am I going to do with all these strawberries?  Make jam.  Check.  Strawberry shortcake?  Done.  Strawberry puree for desserts?  Finished.  Flash froze whole berries for smoothies?  Yep.  Dehydrated berries and stems for tea?  Of course.

Now what?  Ahh, yes, strawberry wine!   Lots and lots of strawberry wine!

Never made wine at home?  Until now, I hadn’t either, but I couldn’t bear to see those beautiful berries go to waste — and I do enjoy wine from time to time.  Besides it was really quite simple.    I recommend purchasing a wine making kit – one that includes everything you need to get started.  I purchased mine online from a wine and beer supply company.   You’ll need fruit, sugar, a fermenting container , air-lock, fermentation bag, hydrometer, siphoning hose, a container for racking, wine yeast, pectic enzyme, acid blend, yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, wine tannin, campden tablets , water and a cleaning solution for your equipment and containers to get started.

Wine making takes some time but it’s a fairly simple process. 

In the first stage, you’ll wash and prepare your strawberries by gently crushing them either in a fruit press or with a potato masher – BY HAND (don’t use a food processor to do this step – it can cut the tiny seeds which can cause your wine to be bitter).   Once you have mashed your fruit, you’ll put it into a mesh fermenting bag inside your fermenting container and add  in all the winemaking ingredients except the yeast.   You will add water to submerge your bag of  fruit and then add crushed campden tablets to the container.  Next, simply cover  the fermenter  with a thin, clean towel for the next 24 hours.

Once the first 24 hours have elapsed, it’s time to add the wine yeast to the mix.  No need to stir, just add to the surface of your juice, cover with your thin, clean towel and wait.  Lots of activity will begin in this stage – bubbling and foaming will generally occur for the next week or so..  You may give the mix a quick stir once a day with a wooden spoon during this time.  In a week to 10 days, you may remove the pulp bag from the container and discard (you’ll be surprised how little pulp remains from what you started with).

Allow the juice to settle a bit so sediment falls to the bottom of the container before siphoning your wine base into another sterilized container.  When siphoning, be careful not to stir the sediment up but get as much liquid as possible  (it’s ok if a little sediment makes its way into your new container).  If you need to add water back, you may do so now.

Your wine will now continue to ferment for the next 4-6 weeks in a stable temperature environment between 70-75 degrees F.   It may take a little longer but this is fine.  You are waiting for the wine to become completely clear.   It’s best to attach an air-lock half filled with water to your container to allow the gases to escape during the fermentation process.  This may or may not come with a kit, so be sure to check before you get to this stage.  The airlock keeps tiny pests from getting into your wine, while allowing the gases to escape during fermentation.   After 4-6 weeks, you may check the specific gravity of your wine using a hydrometer.  Once the reading is between .990 and .998, you are ready to begin the bottling process.

Your wine will be dry at the end of the fermentation process.  It’s at this time you may decide to sweeten your wine using sugar, honey,  or another sweetener of your choice.  Be sure to check your recipe for any additional additives you may need (to prevent re-fermentation after adding sweetener).  Once bottled, you’ll want to allow plenty of time for your wine to mellow.  The recipe I followed  yields 5 gallons of wine which is approximately 25 – 750ml bottles.

Strawberry wine is best after about a year in the bottle!  I can’t wait for next summer! 

Stephanie is a wife and mother currently living in northeast Oklahoma. A former stock broker turned country girl, she and her family live on a micro-farm learning where food really comes from first-hand. She and her husband produce organic beef from grass-fed cattle and also raise free range chickens for farm fresh eggs. When two-thirds of her children became teenagers, she became more interested in wine-making and now dabbles in fruit wine and vinification. Many parents of teenagers will understand this motivation.

I like beautiful plants as much as the next person. Walking past my rose garden always brings me joy on a daily basis. However, it’s easy to forget the utility of something when we are overwhelmed by its splendor.  This is one of the symptoms we experience as a culture being so far removed from the prospects of starvation and want: We’ve forgotten that many beautiful things are indeed useful!

Take my roses for example.  Did you know that roses are edible?

Eating rose petals is an ancient tradition that can be traced back to the Roman Empire. In those days, rose petals would be sprinkled on food to celebrate victories in the battlefield.  The petals themselves vary in flavor; lightly colored petals are sweeter and dark petals tend to have a more perfumed quality. For the best results, you should remove the very bottom of the petals when you use them as they can be very bitter. So the next time you have a salad, try adding a few rose petals. You may find it’s a meal fit for Caesar.

But the petals are not the only edible part of rosebushes, nor are the Romans the only culture to have practiced the eating of roses. The Northern Plains Indians have traditionally incorporated roses into their diet, specifically rosehips.

Rosehips are the red or red-orange fruit left over after the roses finish blooming. Just like apple blossoms turn into apples, rose blossoms turn into rosehips. Many people are unfamiliar with rosehips because decorative rosebushes are generally deadheaded before the fruits have time to develop. Adding to their obscurity is the fact that they can be very small. In hybrid tea varieties, the hips can be the size of a dime; in some wild roses they’re even smaller.

Despite their size, rosehips pack a nutritious wallop. Just one ounce of them contains 199% of the daily recommended value of Vitamin C. That’s the same amount as six limes, four lemons, or two oranges.  One ounce of rosehips also contains 24% of suggested daily Vitamin A, 27% of suggested daily dietary fiber requirement, and is considered a good source of Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Calcium, Magnesium, and Manganese. All of this for just 45 calories provided you can bear the taste without sugar.

Roses are just one example of edible flowers. Hibiscus, Hollyhocks, and Chrysanthemums have edible parts as do many other flowers, yet because of our abundance and their beauty we rarely consider eating them. However, if you truly want to be a good steward of all your resources — including your flower beds — then you should consider what extra value can be derived from each and every plant in your garden. With a little creativity a great deal of useful, edible, and beautiful plants can be incorporated into space that would otherwise be wasted.

Until next time, “waste not, want not.”

From the farm,
John Goforth

John Goforth is our friend from the east coast who has been involved in agriculture most of his life. He is the son of David Goforth (M.S. in Horticulture and Cabarrus County’s agricultural extension agent) and grew up on the family farm in Rockwell, NC. At age 13, with his father and brother, he started selling produce at the Piedmont Farmer’s Market which eventually evolved into Goforth’s Garden. Today, they raise peaches, blueberries, and an assortment of other fruits and vegetables to be sold at local markets and through their CSA. John’s other interest include writing, whittling, and woodworking.