Snacks that Subtract

apple by Aurimas Rimsa

I was poking around on the Internet while waiting for the washing machine to finish filling up. Guess what I found out. Some of my favorite snacks to keep on hand are good for helping you keep off extra weight. I though I would share this list with you.

• Celery - takes more calories to digest than it provides and it will keep you feeling full.

• Berries & apples - will help calm that craving for sugar, fill you up and help you eat less. Berries take more energy to digest than they give you and an apple before each meal will help you eat less.

• Water - I know, duh. Not only do we drink water to help "fill" us up, but water helps our overall digestive process. And if you chiiillll your water, it will help you burn even more calories.

I'm kind of in list mode right now and we'll ride it out. Maybe I'll stumble upon the list to end all lists. Any ideas?

Useful Links

Lettuce & Broccoli bed in the spring.

Here are a handful of links I was looking at today after visiting the Open Air Market.





Preserving Herbs after the Harvest
http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/herbharvest.html





Five Squash Blossom Recipes
http://www.seasonalchef.com/recipe0805b.htm





Fried Green Tomatoes
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001506fried_green_tomatoes.php





Interesting information about Cucumbers plus a couple serving ideas
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=42#descr





Super Carrot Raisin Salad
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=recipe&dbid=164#ingredients





Pickled Peppers - hot &/or sweet
http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic3440.htm





Arthur's Limericks
http://limericks.5gl.net/families/a.htm

Keep on, keep on, keep on.

An Inspirational Note written by Bobbi Decious

My mother just told me yesterday, in speaking of the ~100 acre South central KY farm made up mainly of rocks, clay and sinkholes I grew up on, that they KNEW they couldn't make a living on the farm, but, they were raising children, not really anything else. Everything else was just a bonus. And, she was right, and she is STILL raising children but we all love the farm, with the thistles and ragweeds and whatever else is there.

I lost my father, my mother's best friend of 50+ years and the best dad, we think, in the world last week, so this touches a nerve with me today as I have to make it back to my world, work, etc. Daddy would have admired what you are doing SOOO much, as he was a student of all things agricultural, interested in new advances but loved the old ways too. One of my sister's has a goat herd that breaks her heart, too.

I have a few heirloom yellow tomato plants that I would like for you to have. They make a very large, meaty tomato with a little red on the bottom. These were from seeds saved from the long time, most beloved 4-H agent in Wayne Co, Ky ever. Mr. John Rickett was the 4-H agent there for, I'm sure almost 40 years, and my mother worked with him as the Extension secretary for about 33 yrs. He had these wonderful tomatoes that she always saved seeds from and got starts the next year, of course. Well, I guess this hadn't happened for a few yrs, but this year, the story goes, that "everyone had lost their Rickett tomato seeds" and she found an envelope marked 2000 in her pantry and my dad planted several trays of these seeds, hoping that 5 or 6 would come up. Well, probably 100 came up!! and they are 4-5 or 6 inches tall and I brought some home with me, but I can't keep that many and can't bear to throw them away. The plant is very large at full growth, so it must have room.

It just hit me that Daddy would like for you to have these tomatoes and for you to not give up. The day before his surgery he was out "delivering tomatoes" to several of his buddies at his hang-out places. Ah well, it's off to work, but I hope you can remember that even when the corn isn't growing, your children are, and learning to love the land and all of it's joys and heartaches.

Save Fresh Herns Without Drying

This tip I picked up who-knows-where comes in handy this time of year when herbs are plentiful and fresh. I've used it for chives and it works great.

Cut up, smash up or whatever you need to do to the herb for using in your favorite recipes.

Take a tablespoon or teaspoon of the fresh herb and put it in an empty ice cube tray - in one cube space. (In case you were wondering if you should sprinkle it or dump it).

Fill that space the rest of the way with water. It's easier to keep the herbs in the ice cube tray by pouring water from a cup into the tray.

Let the tray of cubes freeze. You can pop the cubes out and put them in their own freezer bag labelled with what herb it is. I don't know about you, but I have plenty of other mysterious frozen things in my freezer. I don't need anymore surprises.

The herbs should keep three to six months like that. When you are ready to use them, take the necessary cube out of the freezer and let it defrost. Voila! Fresh herbs. If you put some up this week, they will last until January at the latest.

As I sat writing ...

It's hard to know where to start when I sit down to write. A few months ago, a dear reader observed that there seemed to be a lot of bad things happening on the farm this year. So I backed off the wiritng. If you don't have anything nice to say, then you shouldn't say anything at all, right. Well, when you have seven out of eight goats die on you and a five week dry period, you spend your time trying to hold it together and then picking up the pieces. I'm not saying farm life is all hard work and doom and gloom, but sometimes, what you think of as news is not so good. I can say that I know what caused the goat die off. I also have a new perspective on irrigation. I've gotten to watch my daughter grow taller and stay pink. I seen my son get used to having jobs to do and learning how to trim horse feet with my husband. All those are great and good things, but when I sit down to write, I remember the individual goats, the struggle to get time to pull fence, the property line "discussion" the adjoining property owners keep bringing up and so on.

The truth is farming is a quite a bit of hard times punctuated by brilliant flashes of great moments. It IS work. It IS hard and it can be disappointing. But I love it. I would work whether it was at this or something else. And I love this. The quiet moments of picking or weeding. The intense joy of watching a small animal play. and so on. It can sound quite cliched and maybe it is. But perhaps that's because so many people have had a chance to experience this life either through their relatives, TV, books or whatever.

So stick with me. It may be hard but anything worth doing has a price. Besides, the stories may be interesting. I think this farm is absolutely necessary. More small farms are needed. We must concentrate on growing local food for our own survival. Tomatoes, anyone? How about spinach?