Make Your Own Granola

With food prices increasing every day, it makes sense to cut corners whenever possible. One way to reduce costs is to make your own granola. You can eat it alone with milk or hot water, on top of other cereals, mixed into yogurt. When you make you own, you are able to control what kind of additives and ingredients go into your food.  

Ingredients:

Oatmeal

1 c. Honey

2 TBLS. Margarine

Fruits

2 cups Flax seed

1 cup nuts

2 cups sunflower seed 

Gather all your ingredients together.

Mix honey and margarine in a saucepan. Heat until almost boiling. 

Mix together sunflower seed...

Add nuts and flax seed...then fill bowl with oats. Pour the honey mixture over the ingredients and gently stir and turn the oat mixture until evenly coated. 

 Prep pans by lining with foil if desired, and spraying with PAM spray. Very important to spray the pans to keep the granola from sticking.

Spread  the oat mixture evenly in two pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Add fruits now, when granola is slightly cool. Gently mix together in pans. 

When fully cooled, finished product should be sealed in an airtight container.

Wormy Delight

This is such great info that I lifted it from the Gardens Alive website located at http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=8815 to share with you.  I can personally attest to the value of adding earthworms to your garden sites. Read on to find out more from Gardens Alive®!  

“Encapsulated Earthworm Cocoons from Gardens Alive!®  are convenient and easy to add to your garden soil. You plant them in garden soil just as you would plant ordinary seeds. They’re especially useful for people switching from conventional to organic gardening. Better soil quality gives your organic seeds the best start. Each cocoon contains 1-10 eggs, depending on the species, and each egg will produce one earthworm. 

Greatest Living Natural Soil Boosters

Gardeners covet earthworms' presence in their plots because:

• their castings boost nitrogen in the soil
• they move deep-soil nutrients closer to plant roots
• their tunnels loosen soil, improving aeration
• their activities help soil particles bond, balancing moisture retention and drainage

Earthworms perform this same magic in compost, speeding the development of nutrient dense, moisture-dispersing humus.”

Shimmering Images of Fall

 When I talk about pictures in my mind I am talking, quite specifically, about images that shimmer round the edges…you just lie low and let them develop. Joan Didion 

 

                                          

Rough cut fields spotted with brown hay bales… smooth rounded gourds in gold, orange and green… sharp smell of mown grass… fat yellow garden spiders weaving stories in their webs…brown crunchy leaves underfoot… Farmer’s market bounty: colorful greens, papery onions, gourds and pumpkins…blue cloudless skies…clever scarecrows in straw hats and overalls…a clump of brittle corn stalks…

Fall is my favorite time of year. The skies are gorgeous, gardens putting forth their last glorious efforts, and the sensory sensations of the season are Nature’s last gifts before the onslaught of winter.

                                                                                                  

Second Planting

Fall planting is a wonderful thing, giving us a chance to enjoy Nature’s bounty up until the holidays. Now until Aug 15th is the time to start sowing the seeds for another crop. And while Fall planting is not easy, with care and attention you can have another bumper crop this year.

Most importantly, choose the right plants for the season. Remember, these plants will be fighting extreme heat, low water, full-grown insects, and those ever-present weeds. Near the end of their season the weather will be cold, perhaps rainy, so you want plants that are meant to grow in those conditions. Broccoli, cabbage, snap beans, collards and other greens and lettuces, radishes and potatoes all perform well when planted late in the season.

Follow the directions on the seed packet or plant insert that direct you when to plant. If you live in Nashville, keep in mind that the first frost date is approximately October 29th and count backward accordingly. If the plant requires 60 days to fruition, you want to plant by August 29th or sooner to beat the frost date.

Plants require nitrogen, and fall plants are no exception. Fertilize your seed with nitrogen. Nitrogen is very mobile in the soil, making it subject to leaching and other types of losses, so it has to be replaced. Urban soils are often lacking in nutrients, especially where organic material such as leaves and grass clippings have been constantly removed and not allowed to return nutrients to the soil. Adding compost, leaf mould, animal manures, seaweed, straw, etc. on a regular basis is the best recipe for plant health. A word of warning though: don't incorporate organic matter deeper than 20cm - it can produce gases around the roots of plants and kill them. Organic mulches are great for water conservation and weed control as well. Organic material does however use up nitrogen as it breaks down. A good way of replacing nitrogen is planting a green manure crop of legumes and digging the crop into the soil. Chemical fertilizers allow you to be more scientific and exact in the way you apply nutrients.

All in all, you can plant fall crops with confidence by following the tips mentioned in this article. I relied heavily on the websites listed below and even used some of their words verbatim. Please visit both sites for more extensive info.

http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/homeGarden/default.asp

http://www.global-garden.com.au/gardenbegin_soil.htm#More%20Good%20Oil%20on%20Soil

Sweet Summer Corn

The key to high quality sweet corn is rapid growth, adequate soil moisture and nutrients, and harvesting the ears at optimum maturity.

When the corn is about 6 inches tall, thin short varieties to two feet apart and tall varieties to three feet apart. Although corn can be grown closer together than this, the roots are then more crowded and more watering and feeding are needed. Corn is a heavy user of nitrogen. Fertilize in the spring, again when the corn is eight inches tall and again when the plants are 18 inches tall. Hill soil around the plant roots to help support the stalks.

Watering is very important. Keep the soil evenly moist. Corn often grows so fast in hot weather that the leaves wilt because the roots can't keep the leaves supplied with moisture. Although corn requires much water, avoid getting water on the tassels. The pollen from the tassels must fall onto the corn silk to produce kernels, and if pollination does not occur, all that will grow is the cob. Weed early and keep the weeds cut back. Remember that corn has shallow roots, and a vigorous attack on the weeds may destroy the crop.

Yummy Recipes from the Cupboard

Yummy Dinners from Food Storage

I’ve been promising to include some recipes from my food storage. Here are a couple of quickies.

Chicken Alfredo with peas
1 jar of Alfredo sauce¼ c. dried peas 1 can white chicken breast meat Spelt
Dried mushrooms Start the water for the spelt. Combine the sauce, peas and chicken in a saucepan. Simmer on low until peas are tender. Boil spelt until tender. Drain and serve with sauce on top.

Cannellini with Dried Shitake and Canned Diced Tomatoes
Cannellini beans, cooked
Shallot or onion
Garlic, thyme, oregano
Dried mushrooms
Cook dried beans according to instructions. In a skillet, melt some high-heat canola oil. Thinly slice some shallot or onion and sauté. At the last minute, add some minced garlic. Stir until garlic starts to turn golden. Add tomatoes with juices. Simmer. Add thyme, Greek oregano, salt and pepper, mushrooms, and beans. Simmer until mushrooms are soft. Serve over noodles.