Dee

1. Sweet and sour tofu serves 4 - 6 as a side dish 2 cups bell pepper cut into 3/4" squares (mix the colors) 1 carrot, thinly sliced 3/4 cup scallions, cut on the diagonal into 3/4" long pieces (about 1 bunch) 1 generous teaspoon fresh ginger root, finely minced or grated 2 - 3 teaspoons minced garlic 1 - 8 ounce can unsweetened pineapple chunks with juice 1/2 cup apricot fruit spread (use the fruit only, fruit sweetened kind) 1 cup vegetable stock 1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar or dry sherry 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup dry sherry or water 1 pound firm tofu cut into 1/2 inch cubes. In a large nonstick skillet saute the bell pepper in the balsamic vinegar or dry sherry for about 5 minutes. Add ginger and garlic to skillet, stir for about 2 minutes. Add pineapple chunks with their juice. Add soy sauce, jam, cider vinegar, tofu adn scallions. Stir and simmer gently for 5 - 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the dissolved cornstarch to blend well, return to heat and stir constantly until the sauce thickens. Serve with steamed rice. 2. Krab Kakes This recipe is a real treat for vegetarians who miss the seafood specialties of the U.S. East Coast. But would you look at this: there's almost no fat, little salt, lots of protein, and a heck of a lot of flavor! Best served with salad, you can precede these little expressions of delight with a light tomato soup and serve with a seafood cocktail sauce (check the ingredients first!) or simply with slices of lemon. Ingredients: one aseptic (box) package of very firm tofu 2 cups 1-cm-cube bread crumbs 2 tablespoons fresh, minced onion 1 ripe plantain 2 teaspoons lemon juice and pulp 5 dashes Tabasco sauce 4 tablespoons mayonnaise (see below) 8 teaspoons Old Bay (see below) 1/4 cup or less of chopped dried seaweed of your choice 1 teaspoon fresh parsley, chopped Method: Cut the tofu into pieces roughly 1cm by 1cm by 3cm -- you know, the size of picked crab meat. Gently mix it in a large bowl with the bread crumbs. Add the onion and mix again. Process the plantain with the lemon juice and Tabasco sauce in a food processor or with an electric blender until smooth. Add this blend to the tofu mixture and gently stir. Add the mayonnaise, Old Bay, nori, and parsley, and stir. Cover and chill at least one hour. Dust hands with flour and shape the mixture into 12 or 15 patties or balls. Bake on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees F until brown and heated through (30 or 40 minutes). Serve hot, garnished with parsley and a slice of lemon. Squeeze a lemon over them and/or flavor with Tabasco sauce. Notes: Note about mayonnaise: You can purchase prepared vegan mayonnaise from many natural-food stores, and it can also be made from tofu. I don't have a tofu-mayo recipe; Nasoya's "Nayonaise" works well. Note about Old Bay: This is a blend of spices easily found on the U.S. East Coast. Now that McCormick has bought the original company, it's distributed nationwide and can be found in the fresh fish area or spice aisle of any large supermarket. If you can't find it, any other blend of crab boil should do. Preparation time is about an hour. Yields 12 to 15 krab kakes. When preparing this recipe and any other food you enjoy, please use organically-grown vegetables, fruits, grains, and flavorings. The Earth you save may be your own. 3. Super Soy Burgers Pan spray 1 1/2 cups soybeans -- cooked and mashed 3/4 cup brown rice -- cooked 1 egg 3 tablespoons soy sauce 5 scallion -- minced 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast 1 tablespoon cornstarch 2 tablespoons dijon mustard 2 tablespoons fresh mixed herbs -- chopped salt & pepper -- to taste 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 2. In a large bowl, thoroughly combine all ingredients. Let rest for 15 minutes. 3. Form mixture into 8 patties. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. NOTES : Makes 8 4-ounce patties. 4. MACARONI AND CHEESE WITH SECRET SILKEN TOFU SAUCE 6 to 8 kid-sized servings The same children I tested this on 5 years ago still request this each and every time they come to my house for dinner. This basic macaroni and cheese is rich and comforting. Using pureed silken tofu as a base for the sauce gives the kids a good dose of soy goodness. 10 to 12 ounces elbow macaroni (or other short pasta shape such as cavatappi) 12.3-ounce package silken tofu 2 tablespoons nonhydrogenated margarine 1 1/2 cups firmly packed organic grated cheddar cheese or cheddar-style nondairy cheese Salt to taste Cook the macaroni in plenty of rapidly simmering water until al dente, then drain. Meanwhile, puree the tofu until perfectly smooth in a food processor or blender. Transfer to a medium sauce pan and add the margarine and cheese. Slowly bring to a gentle simmer, stirring often, then cook over low heat until the cheese is thoroughly melted. Combine the cooked macaroni and sauce in a serving container and stir together. Season with salt to taste and serve at once. VARIATION: Bake in a casserole dish at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the top is golden and crusty. 5. SOY DELI HEROES Makes one sandwich This is a good sandwich idea for hungry teens. The array of choices in the soy “deli” have helped expand vegetarian lunch options. This recipe is for one sandwich; increase the quantities as needed if you are making more than one. 6- to 7-inch hero roll Soy mayonnaise Mustard 2 to 3 soy deli slices, “Foney Baloney,” chicken or turkey-style slices, or Canadian “bacon,” cut in halves 1 slice American-style soy cheese or rice cheese, optional Very finely shredded lettuce Very thinly sliced firm plum tomato Dill pickle, optional Split the hero roll lengthwise. Spread one half with soy mayonnaise, and the other with mustard. Line one half with the deli slices and the other with the cheese if it is being used (if not, line both halves with deli slices. Top one half with the lettuce and the other with the tomato slices. Put the halves together and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Wrap up a pickle to go along with the sandwich if desired. 6. MOM'S "TUNA"-NOODLE CASSEROLE Serves: 6 to 8 Avegan version of an old-fashioned casserole. 12 ounces ribbon noodles 1 tablespoon light olive oil 3 medium celery stalks, diced 1 cup sliced mushrooms 2 cups soy or rice milk 1/4 cup unbleached white flour 8-ounce package baked tofu, finely diced 2 to 3 scallions, sliced Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste Wheat germ for topping Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add the noodles and cook until just tender, according to package directions. In the meantime, heat the margarine or oil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the celery dice and saute over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute until the mushrooms are wilted. Pour 1 1/2 cups of the soy or rice milk into the saucepan and bring to a simmer. Combine the remaining milk with the flour in a small bowl and stir until the flour is smoothly dissolved. Slowly pour into the saucepan, stirring constantly. Simmer gently until the sauce has thickened, then remove from the heat. When the noodles are done, drain them, then return them to the pot. Pour in the sauce, then add the baked tofu and scallions and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to an oiled, large shallow casserole dish. Top generously with wheat germ. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and beginning to get crusty. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then cut into squares to serve. 7. Chili Cheese Dog Casserole 1 package (16 oz.) MORNINGSTAR FARMS® AMERICA'S ORIGINAL VEGGIE DOG™ 1 can (22 oz.) chili beans 6 slices American cheese 1 tube (11 oz.) refrigerated breadsticks 1. Split MORNINGSTAR FARMS AMERICA'S ORIGINAL VEGGIE DOGS lengthwise and arrange in bottom of greased 8 x 12-inch (2 quart) baking dish. Spread chili beans evenly over veggie dogs. Top with cheese slices. 2. Unroll breadstick dough keeping a continuous sheet of dough. Carefully place dough on top of cheese allowing dough to conform to shape of pan. 3. Bake at 375° F about 30 minutes or until rolls are lightly brown. 8. Chik Nuggets™ Noodle Casserole 1 cup processed cheese spread 1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup 1/2 cup fat-free milk 1 1/2 cups frozen peas 1 package MORNINGSTAR FARMS® CHIK NUGGETS™ thawed, cut in quarters 2 cups drained, cooked egg noodles 1/8 teaspoon pepper 1/2 cup KELLOGG'S CORN FLAKES® cereal 1. In 4-quart saucepan, heat cheese, soup, milk, and peas, stirring frequently, until hot and combined. Stir in MORNINGSTAR FARMS CHIK NUGGETS, noodles, and pepper. Place in 2-quart casserole coated with vegetable cooking spray. 2. Bake at 350° F about 20 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with potato chips and return to oven about 5 minutes or until chips start to brown. Serve hot. 9. Chik Patties® Parmesan 1/2 cup chopped onion 2 cloves minced garlic 1 tablespoon olive oil 12 ounces tomato paste 2 1/2 cups water 1 1/4 teaspoons dried oregano 1 1/4 teaspoons dried basil 1 teaspoon sugar 1/8 teaspoon pepper 2 cups cooked pasta 1 package (10 oz.) MORNINGSTAR FARMS® CHIK PATTIES® Breaded Veggie Patties 4 ounces shredded low-fat Mozzarella cheese, divided 2 tablespoons parsley flakes 1. In large saucepan, sauté onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add tomato paste, water, oregano, basil, sugar, and pepper. Heat until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. 2. Prepare MORNINGSTAR FARMS CHIK PATTIES Breaded Veggie Patties according to package directions. 3. Pour pasta into 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread 1 cup sauce evenly over pasta. Arrange MORNINGSTAR FARMS CHIK PATTIES Breaded Veggie Patties in dish and top with 1/2 of the cheese. Cover with remaining sauce; sprinkle with remaining cheese and parsley flakes. Bake at 350° F for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately. 10. Blueberry Cheesecake Crust 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs 1 tablespoon sugar Filling 2 pounds low-fat vanilla yogurt 1/2 cup MORNINGSTAR FARMS® BETTER'N EGGS™ 1/2 cup sugar 3 tablespoons cornstarch 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed and drained 1. Drain yogurt over cheesecloth or paper coffee filters in refrigerator for at least 8 hours. 2. Generously spray spring form pan with non-stick cooking spray. Combine crumbs with one tablespoon sugar and spread evenly over bottom of pan. 3. In a mixing bowl, combine drained yogurt, MORNINGSTAR FARMS BETTER'N EGGS, sugar and corn starch. Mix well. Fold in blueberries and pour into pan. 4. Bake at 325º F 1 hour or until center of cake is firm to touch. Breakfast Pizza 1/2 package MORNINGSTAR FARMS® Breakfast Strips 1 package (10 oz.) refrigerated pizza crust 1 cup MORNINGSTAR FARMS® Sausage Style Recipe Crumbles 2 cartons (4 oz. each) MORNINGSTAR FARMS® SCRAMBLERS®, thawed per package directions 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 1. Prepare MORNINGSTAR FARMS Breakfast Strips per package directions. Cut into bite size pieces. 2. Line a 9 x 12-inch glass pan with pizza crust. Pat crust half-way up the side. Spread the breakfast strip pieces evenly on the crust, followed by MORNINGSTAR FARMS Sausage Style Recipe Crumbles. Pour MORNINGSTAR FARMS SCRAMBLERS over mixture in pan. Top with cheese. 3. Bake at 350º F for 25 to 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Left over pizza chips cookies and my soup and jello

Hey Momo I also put kraut on my mashed potatoes when we have pork chops... On top of the Kraut I put corn and then add applesauce around the base of the potatoes... sounds wierd but it has a sweet and sour taste that taste good...

I wanted to post recipes to some edible plants that we may have to look for in the future to feed our families in times of emergency. Here goes: 1. Fried Dandelion Blossoms new blossoms on short stems 1 c. milk 1/2 tsp. salt hot cooking oil 1 egg 1 c. flour pinch of pepper Pick new dandelion blossoms, those on short stems, and rinse well in cool, lightly salted water. Cut off the stem ends close to the flower heads, leaving only enough to hold the petals together, because the stems and greenery are bitter. Roll the dandelion flowers in paper towels to blot up the excess moisture, then dip each one in a batter made of 1 egg, beaten, with 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper. Drop the batter-coated blossoms into deep hot fat (375 degrees) and fry until lightly browned. Drain on absorbent paper; Sprinkle with more salt, if needed, and serve at once as a hot hors d'oeuvre. 2. Dandelion Jelly 1 qt. dandelion flowers 1 qt. water 1 tsp. lemon juice 1 box Sure-Jell Cook together for 3 minutes the flowers and water. Strain and save juice. Follow directions on Sure-Jell box using dandelion water. Bring to a boil, then add 4 1/2 cups sugar and lemon juice. 3. CHESTNUT FISHCAKES At a push these can be made without eggs to bind, and are better when a little thinner than those pictured. Mix chestnut meal [cooked chestnuts simply mashed with a fork] with an equal amount of ground or mashed raw fish. Add 1 egg yolk per cup of the mixture. Season and make into patties. Dust with flour and shallow fry in about ½-inch of oil for 2-3 minutes on each side or until nicely browned. 4. ROSEHIP PURÉE Pureéd rosehips can be used as the basis of a soup, for a sauce to accompany meat, or used as seen above. Remove the stems and burs from the hips then split lengthwise and remove the seeds - a bit of a tedious job best done with a blunt knife. Place the prepared hips in a pan with an equal amount of water. Bring to the boil and then simmer gently until largely softened [top up with water if necessary]. Remove from the heat and allow to cool, then either mash with a fork or run through a blender. Your rosehip purée is ready for use. 4. NETTLE & ROSEHIP FISHBALLS It's the end of the year and you wonder what to do with those old looking nettles which tend to get gritty. One way is to mince the leaves and add them to fishcakes Simply pour boiling water over the picked leaves to destroy the stings, place in a blender [or pulverize between smooth stones], remove any remaining stalk material, then sweat the purée in a little butter for a couple of minutes. Allow to cool, then mix with mashed/ground raw fish [Dace in this case], egg yolk and seasoning [3 parts raw fish to 1 part nettle, and 1 yolk per cup of mixture]. Roll into 1-inch sized balls and dunk in flour. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown. 5. Dandelion Soup Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 2 Tbsps. Butter 2 Tbsps. Flour 2 Cups Milk 2 Cups Dandelion Flowers 1/8 Tsp Celery Seed 1/8 Tsp Thyme 1 Bay Leaf Melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. stir in the flour to make a roux. Stir in the milk a little at a time until smooth. Mix in the dandelions, celery seed, thyme, and bay leaf. Simmer until the flowers are tender, 15-20 minutes. 6.Marigold and Dandelion Eggs Not recommended for people with hay fever or pollen allergies. If you are in doubt, don't make this one and try the variation instead. Also make certain that you obtain your flowers from a pesticide-free source. The marigold is said to be one of the flowers which gives forth small bursts of light, usually near twilight on clear days, like a beacon or flash of insight. In the language of flowers, dandelions are ancient oracles. They are also high in vitamin C. Make certain the flowers you use are pesticide free! Ingredients 4 whole dandelion buds (pesticide free) 2 tablesthingys butter 2 marigold blossoms, chopped (pesticide free) 4 eggs 1/4 cup cream or milk 1/8 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper 1/8 tsp nutmeg Pick the dandelion buds when they are just about to open. Melt the butter in a frying pan over low heat. Saute the dandelions until they open wide. Beat the marigold, eggs, cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg in a small bowl. Pour over the dandelions which will poke through. Cover; cook over low heat until the egg is set and dry on top. Fold in half. Makes 2 servings Variation: For the same magickal results without the flowers, substitue 1 cup dried cashew nuts, 1/4 tsp orange rind, and 1/4 diced, peeled oranges. The best thing to do is go to a local book store and pick up a copy on edible wild plants. I think Euell Gibbons may have this type of book out and like the rest of these types of books have illustrations of what the plants look like. Also a book on herbal remedies is good to have but before you use any remedy from the book ask your doctor if its all right to use the herbs. Some herbs clash with synthetic medicines and can cause major problems and even death if mixed together.

Thanks so much for posting this Darlene! Our servicemen and women give so much for us and never ask for anything in return and if they do they ask for little.

Basic Tomato Pizza (makes 8 servings) 1 10-ounce (300 g) tube refrigerated pizza dough cornmeal 1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil 1 teaspoon (5 ml) crushed dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) crushed dried basil 2 plum tomatoes, 6 ounces (150 g) total, thinly sliced 1/2 cup (60 g) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese Open the dough package and on a lightly floured surface, roll out to roughly form a 10-inch (25 cm) circle. Place the crust on a cookie sheet which has been lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Finish shaping by pulling and stretching the dough. Transfer the crust to the prepared grill (see above) and grill for about 3 minutes, until the top of the dough puffs and the underside is crisp and lightly browned. Using a large metal spatula, turn the crust over. Brush the cooked top with olive oil and sprinkle with oregano and basil. Arrange tomatoes over the crust and top with the shredded cheese. Continue to grill for another 4 to 5 minutes, until the pizza is cooked through, the dough lightly browned, and the cheese melted. To insure even cooking, use tongs to rotate the pizza two or three times during the cooking period, taking care not to knock off the topping. Per serving: 112 calories (24% calories from fat), 5 g protein, 3 g total fat (1.1 g saturated fat), 16 g carbohydrate, 1 g dietary fiber, 4 mg cholesterol, 236 mg sodium Diabetic exchanges: 1/2 lean protein (meat), 1 carbohydrate (bread/starch)

Sauerkraut Dinner (makes 6 servings) 2 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed and sliced 1/4-inch thick 2 medium onions, sliced and separated into rings 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2-inch thick 2 medium ribs celery, sliced 1/4-inch thick 2 large garlic cloves, minced 1 14 1/2-ounce (435 g) can no-salt-added canned tomatoes with juice 1 32-ounce (960 g) jar sauerkraut, drained 1/2 cup (120 ml) unsweetened apple juice 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) caraway seeds 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) freshly ground pepper 1 1/2 pounds (720 g) fully-cooked smoked turkey kielbasa, cut into 6 pieces Put potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, and garlic in a 5-quart (5-liter) or larger crockery slow cooker. Drain juice and reserve juice from tomatoes. Coarsely chop tomatoes and add to slow cooker. Top with sauerkraut. In a glass measuring cup, combine apple juice, reserved tomato juice, caraway seeds, and pepper. Pour over sauerkraut. Do not stir. Top with pieces of turkey kielbasa. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours or on high for 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours. To serve, pile sauerkraut and vegetables onto a large platter. Top with pieces of kielbasa. Serve hot. Per serving: 282 calories (20% calories from fat), 22 g protein, 10 g total fat (2.9 g saturated fat), 29 g carbohydrates, 7 g dietary fiber, 74 mg cholesterol, 1887 mg sodium* Diabetic exchanges: 3 lean protein, 2 carbohydrate (1 bread/starch, 3 vegetable)

Family Swiss Steak (makes 6 servings) 2 tablespoons (18 g) unbleached all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) crushed dried thyme 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml) sweet paprika 1 1/2 pounds (720 g) boneless beef round steak, cut 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Worcestershire sauce canola oil cooking spray 1 large garlic clove, peeled and thinly sliced 2 medium celery ribs, thinly sliced 2 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced 4 medium plum tomatoes, thinly sliced 1/2 cup (120 ml) reduced-sodium canned beef broth In a small bowl, combine flour, thyme, and paprika. Using a pastry brush, brush steak pieces with Worcestershire sauce. Dredge in flour mixture. Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Place on stove over medium-high heat. Add steak pieces and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer steak pieces to a 3-quart (3-liter) or larger crockery slow cook. Top with garlic slices, celery, onions, and tomatoes. Pour beef broth over the top. Do not stir. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours. To serve, transfer steak pieces and vegetables to a heated serving platter. Spoon any pan juices over the top and serve at once. Per serving: 191 calories (21% calories from fat), 28 g protein, 4 g total fat (1.4 g saturated fat), 8 g carbohydrates, 2 g dietary fiber, 71 mg cholesterol, 102 mg sodium Diabetic exchanges: 3 lean protein, 1/2 carbohydrate (1 1/2 vegetable)

Meat and Cheese Subs (makes 6 servings) 1 14 1/2-ounce (435 g) loaf of Italian or Parisian style crusty bread, sliced in half lengthwise with soft inside discarded leaving 3/4-inch (1.9 cm) shell intact 6 ounces (180 g) roasted turkey breast, shaved thin 6 ounces (180 g) low salt, low fat ham, shaved thin 4 ounces (120 g) skim milk Swiss cheese, sliced thin 1 large firm ripe tomato, 1/2 pound (240 g), thinly sliced 1/2 cucumber, 4 ounces (120 g) peeled and thinly sliced 2 cups (110 g) shredded iceberg lettuce Line the bottom half of the bread with turkey, ham, and cheese. Top with tomato and cucumber slices. Spread the lettuce over the top. Top with the second bread half and tightly wrap in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. When ready to serve, slice off and discard the bread ends. Cut the remaining sub into 6 portions. Per serving: 263 calories (15% calories from fat), 22 g protein, 4 g total fat (1.7 g saturated fat), 33 g carbohydrate, 3 g dietary fiber, 31 mg cholesterol, 998 mg sodium Exchanges: 2 very lean meat, 2 carbohydrate (2 bread/starch)

This recipe has a diabetic exchange list at bottom butter flavored cooking spray 1 small onion (4 ounces,120 g)) sliced thin 4 ounces (120 g) mushrooms, sliced thin 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tablespoon (15 ml) low fat, low salt mayonnaise 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml) prepared horseradish 2 teaspoons (10 ml) ketchup 1 teaspoon (5 ml) Worcestershire sauce 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml) Dijon mustard 4 4-ounce (120 g) boneless, skinless chicken breasts 4 multigrain crisp rolls, about 1 ounce (30 g) each, cut in half horizontally Preheat grill or broiler. Coat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Sauté the onions and mushrooms over medium high heat until they are cooked through and begin to brown. Add the garlic and cook for two minutes. Set aside. In a small cup combine the mayonnaise, horseradish, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Set aside. Grill the chicken until done, about 5 minutes per side. Allow to stand for 5 minutes. Cut into thin slices. Heat the rolls on the grill just before assembling the sandwiches. To serve: Place 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of the sauce on the bottom of each roll. Top with chicken slices, onions and mushrooms. Serve warm. Per serving: 238 calories (16% calories from fat), 30 g protein, 4 g total fat (1.5 g saturated fat), 19 g carbohydrates, 2 g dietary fiber, 67 mg cholesterol, 272 mg sodium Diabetic exchanges: 3 very lean protein, 1 carbohydrate (1 bread/starch, 1 vegetable)

Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Books.Fol...lder/Roots.html

1. Broco Beans Ingredients: 1 large onion 3 cloves garlic 3/4 lb mushrooms (I used a mix of oyster and normal) 1 teaspoon vecon (vegetable stock) 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper 1 teaspoon sage 2 medium leeks 1/4 cup soya milk or tofu 1 lb cooked kidney beans 1 lb broccoli Directions: Fry the onion and the garlic in some water until tender. Add the mushrooms, the vegetable stock, the salt, pepper and sage. Leave simmering until the mushrooms have reduced. In a blender combine the chopped broccoli stalks, the kidney beans, the chopped leeks, and the soya milk or tofu. Blend until smooth, adding water if needed. Add the blended mixture to the mushrooms. Add the broccoli florets and any additional water needed to give a creamy consistency. Simmer till the florets have softened. Serve over pasta twirls. On this occasion I used Orgran's 2. Susan's Carrot Roast Ingredients: 1-1/2 cups grated raw carrots 1 cup cooked brown rice 1-1/2 cups 100% natural peanut butter 1 cup milk substitute 2 egg substitutes (must stick like eggs to hold roast together) 1 chopped onion dash of sage dash of salt Directions: This is a recipe which my mom, Susan, made while I was growing up. Mix ingredients together and pour into oiled 8X8 pan. Bake at 325 degrees one hour. Serves: 6-8 Preparation time: 1 hour 15 minutes 3. Vegetable-Seitan Pot Pie Ingredients: two 9" pie crusts (one for the top, one for the bottom) 1 tablespoon margarine 1 small onion, chopped 3 ribs celery, chopped 2 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed 1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed 1 8-ounce package seitan , cut into 1/2-inch pieces 1 envelope vegetarian brown gravy mix 1/2 teaspoon rosemary, ground in a mortar and pestle Directions: (1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. (2) Press one of the pie crusts into a pie pan, flute the edges, poke holes in the bottom and pre-bake for about 10 minutes. (3) Melt the margarine in a medium saucepan, over medium heat. Add the onions, celery and carrots and cook until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes. (If you decide to use oil instead of margarine, sprinkle the vegetables with a pinch of salt while they are cooking.) Add the peas, corn and seitan, stir and remove from the heat. (4) As the vegetables are cooking, prepare the gravy as directed on the package, and add the rosemary. (You might be able to find gravy that already has rosemary in it, which is ideal. You'd obviously not need to add any rosemary to that.) (5) When the gravy is done, pour it over the vegetables and seitan. Pour this mixture into the pie crust. Place the other pie crust atop the pie, cut off any crust that hangs over the edge and press the edge into the edge of the bottom crust. Cut vents in the top crust and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top crust is browned (or until the gravy starts to bubble up). Serves: 6 Preparation time: 1 hour 4. Portobello Wellington Ingredients: 1 1/2 Tbsp soy margarine (or light oil if you prefer for sauteing) 1 shallot, minced 1 large leek or 2 small leeks, minced 3 cloves garlic, minced 3 button mushrooms, finely chopped fresh thyme to taste (I used about 4 sprigs) 5 shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped, without stems* chives and 2 large portobello mushroom caps 1 tsp Dijon mustard 1 sheet vegan puff pastry Directions: Topping: Melt 1 Tbsp soy margarine in a skillet over low heat. Stir in the shallot, leek, and garlic and cook until translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the button mushrooms and about half the thyme. Cook until the mushroom liquid has evaporated and the mixture is just moist (about 10 minutes). Transfer mixture to a bowl. Melt the remaining margarine in the skillet, still over low heat, and add the shittakes. Cook for 5 minutes, then transfer to the bowl with the rest of the mixture. Add chives and black pepper and stir. Next place your Portobello caps on a greased cookie sheet. Brush on the mustard and add the remaining thyme and black pepper. Take your topping mixture and spoon half onto each Portobello cap. Cut two large rounds out of the puff pastry sheet and drape over the Portobellos/topping. You can brush some melted soy margarine on the outside of the pastry if you want to. Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees until the pastry looks done (about 15 minutes in my oven). This dish takes a while to make with all the chopping and sauteeing, but the result is an elegant main dish perfect for a special occasion (for example this would be good to celebrate an anniversary). I serve it with a side of basil green beans and a nice wine. *Note: I use the woody shiitake stems and/or portobello stems when making veggie broth. Serves: 2 Preparation time: about 1 hour 5. Fake Fried Fish Ingredients: regular soft or firm tofu soy sauce nori sheets (seaweed) Tempura batter mix oil for deep frying Directions: During Lent Friday fish frys are big, and as a part vegetarian I don't want to miss out. So I came up with this recipe. It is based on the memory of an appetizer served me once at a wonderful macrobiotic restaurant, called the Cauldron, that once existed on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Cut up the tofu into rectangular chunks of any size desired. I like to use soft tofu because it's never as soft as they advertise and anyway it's slightly gelatinous quality makes a perfect, delicate fish substitute. But you can use firm if you prefer. Blot dry and dab one side with soy sauce. With a scissors cut the toasted nori into appropriate sizes to match the chunks and have ready (but don't place on the tofu yet or the nori gets too soggy and will threaten to slip off while frying). Heat the cooking oil to deep frying temp. Mix tempura batter with cold water as directed on package (or to your liking - thinner is lighter). Adhere the nori pieces, like postage stamps, on to the lightly marinated sides of the tofu chunks (I usually do about 3 or 4 at a time, depending on their size) and dip in tempura batter. Fry until you think they're done (they should puff a little and rise; if they're golden brown, they're overdone). I like to make a simple dipping sauce to accompany the "fried fish". Just blend a little soy sauce with lemon juice and water (you can also add a bit of toasted sesame oil for some extra flavor). This is a great snack or main dish and fairly easy. I love the combination of textures, soft and crispy. And the seaweed not only mimics the fish flavor, but the look of fried fish as well. They are best piping hot fresh, of course, but they can be reheated in an oven. 6. Mock Peking Duck Ingredients: 280g firm tofu 2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder 3 tbsp plum sauce 12 Peking duck-style pancakes vegetable oil, for deep frying 6 tbsp hoisin sauce (Chinese BBQ sauce) 3 spring onions, shredded ¼ small cucumber, cut into matchsticks Directions: Sandwich the tofu between two chopping boards and weigh down. Leave to stand for 15 minutes to press out any excess moisture. Cut the pressed tofu onto very thin strips. Mix the Chinese five-spice powder and plum sauce together in a shallow dish and set aside. Steam the pancakes for 5 minutes, in a sieve lined with greaseproof paper. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pan until a piece of bread turns golden brown in 60 seconds. Deep-fry the tofu, in batches, for 1-2 minutes until crisp and golden. Toss immediately with plum sauce mixture. To serve, spread a spoonful of hoisin sauce on a pancake. Scatter over some tofu, spring onion and cucumber. Roll up and eat immediately with your fingers. 7. Peanut Butter & Banana Spread Ingredients: 1 very ripe banana About a sandwich's worth of peanut butter (: Optional: Raisins never hurt anybody Directions: All of the different methods of creating peanut butter and banana sandwiches gave me an idea one bored afternoon. I plopped a heaping spoonful of peanut butter into a small skillet over a low flame, and let it melt a bit. Meanwhile, I mashed up my banana, ate a small bit of it (couldn't resist..) and tossed it in w/ my melty peanut butter. Let it all warm up and get melty for about 5 minutes and you have a very thick and tasty spread. Throw it on your favorite bread (I toasted mine) and devour. Serves: 1 Preparation time: 5 minutes 8. Portabella Mushroom French Dips Ingredients: 2 large portabello mushroom caps slices thinly 1 box Lipton's Mushroom and Onion Soup mix (2 packets) 7 cups water 1/2 cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos 1/4 red wine vinegar 6 cloves garlic (peeled, 5 minced, one sliced) 1 medium red onion sliced into thin rings 4 Tbsp soy margerine 2 Tbsp olive oil dash of sea salt 1 baguette, preferably covered with poppyseeds, anise, and sesame seeds Directions: In a large stewing pot combine the 7 cups water and the 2 packets of soup mix. Set on high to bring to a boil. Add the Liquid Aminos, red wine vinegar and 4 cloves of minced garlic. Add the mushrooms slowly and allow to simmer on medium high, stiring frequently. In a skillet add one tablespoon margerine, onion rings, remaining garlic, and dash of sea salt. Bring to temperature at medium-high and saute until carmely brown. While they are cooking, slice the baguette in half horizontally, and then vetically on a diagonal to achieve the sandwhich size you desire. At this point check the mushrooms in the simmer pot. If they are soft and pliable reduce heat. If not, continue simmering. Once mushrooms reach desired consistency, strain them from the broth. (I use a large tea strainer for this purpose, but use what you have. Place the mushrooms into the skillet with the onions and let rest over medium high to lightly brown the mushrooms. While this is happening spread the remaining margerine over the bread pieces, following with a rub from the peeled and lightly smashed garlic clove. When lightly browned, remove the mushroom and onion mixture from the skillet to a plate or bowl. You then have a choice: You can broil the bread in the oven or skillet fry it to the desire toastiness. While this is happening, pour the broth into small bowls and place on plates. (This will allow the broth to cool to a palatable temperature.) When the bread is completed, spread as much of the mushroom mixture over the bottom piece of bread as you can. Immediately place the top piece on the sandwhich (otherwise it might all fall off!). A salad would be a great side dish for this entre! (Soup is likely not a good idea, with the Au Jus and all!) Serves 2 for a hearty dinner or 4 for a light lunch. Serves: 2-4 Preparation time: 30 minutes 9. Veggie Stew with Dumplings Ingredients: 2 tsp. vegetable stock concentrate 1 cup boiling water 1 tsp. Herbs de Provence* 1 tsp. Oregano Blend above and set aside. 2 tbsp. olive oil 1 cup turnip, peeled and diced 1 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped 1 cup chopped onion 1 cup diced carrot 1/2 cup sliced celery 1 clove garlic, minced 2 bay leaves 1/2 tsp. rosemary, and basil 2 cups water 5 tsp. tamari 2-3 potatoes, peeled and chopped 1 cup frozen peas 2 tbsp. cornstarch + 2 tbsp. water Directions: Sauté turnip, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves, rosemary, basil, garlic and parsley in oil for 8 minutes. Add water, broth mixture, tamari and potatoes. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add peas, continue cooking another few minutes. Remove bay leaves. Combine cornstarch and water, add to stew, and stir until thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Dumplings 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 cup chopped parsley (or dried herbs) 1/2 cup soy milk 2 tbsp. vegetable oil Sift dry ingredients together then add parsley. Mix milk with oil and add to dry ingredients (just stir until moistened). Drop mixture by tablespoonfuls onto stew. Cover and cook for 15 minutes (Do NOT lift the lid!) *"Herbs de Provence is a French herb blend of rosemary, thyme, marjoram, summer savory, basil, sage & tarragon. Of course you can always just add these individually if your grocery store doesn't carry it. : )" "I should have warned you guys that it (this recipe) has a lot of ingredients and looks lengthy. But I swear it a snap to make!" 10. Lentil "Wedding" Soup Ingredients: 8 cubes of Herbox vegetable boullion 8 cups water 2 stalks of celery, cut into small pieces 1 small onion, cut into small pieces 1/2 cup of carrots, cut 1 cup of mushrooms with each mushroom cut in half 1 large clove garlic, diced However much fresh spinach you like (more is better) 2 teaspoons sage 2 teaspoons olive oil 1 pound of acine de pipi or any pasta that can be used in soup 1 cup cooked lentils Directions: In a large pot, put the 8 boullion cubes in 8 cups of water. Bring water to a boil so that the boullion cubes dissolve. Then reduce heat to simmer. Add fresh spinach leaves, sliced, to the broth. Add pepper (preferably coarsely ground pepper) to the broth to taste. In another pan, add oil, onion, celery, carrot, mushroom, garlic, and sage. Saute vegetables until onion is translucent. Add a little water (too little to measure) to the vegetables, and then add the mixture to the broth. Add lentils to the broth. Cook the pasta, and then add the pasta to the broth. Let simmer for 20 minutes or so. The longer the soup simmers and sits, the more flavor the broth gets. Serves: 9 bowls

A NEW STAPLE FOOD (Bean and three-grain loaf at under 8 cents a pound) The prices quoted are from 1996 by Kurt Saxon Here's a staple food which I concocted which anyone can make and would be a guarantee against hunger. It is a combination of one fourth each of ground pinto beans, corn, wheat and rye. (Grind and mix one pound of each). A Corona grain mill, $50., ordered from us, will last a lifetime and be your best self-sufficiency tool now and in the event of a collapse. At your local seed and feed store you should be able to buy untreated wheat and rye for $4.25 for 50 lb. each. Fifty lb. of whole corn is only $3.00. Prices may vary where you are but not much. My wife bought 20 lb. of pinto beans at Wal-Mart for $5.00 or 25 cents a lb. Our health food store sells 25 lb. for $15.00 or 60 cents a lb. Since the health food store is always higher five lb. bags at your grocer's should be around 35 cents a pound. When you consider that the three pounds of grain costs around 21 cents and 35 cents for beans, you pay about 62 cents for four pounds of meal. At 10 ounces per three pound loaf you get at least six three pound loaves or 18 pounds which amounts to about four cents a pound. Add the cost of electricity and the seasonings, this food would still cost under 8 cents a pound. Say you ate about a pound and a half of this food each day. You would get all the protein and carbohydrates for energy, plus vitamins and minerals your body needs. You could live on it but you can eat it along with whatever other food you have. It is tasty, filling and nutritious. Bean And Three-Grain Loaf 5½ cups water 2 cups (10 oz) meal 2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. poultry seasoning 2 tsp. chili powder 1 tsp. black pepper 3 tsp. onion powder (Or use whatever flavoring you like) This is best cooked in a one-gallon crock pot, which you should have, as it's the cheapest on energy, costs less than $25.00 at Wal-Mart and lasts forever. First, grind one pound each of beans, corn, wheat and rye. For fineness, screen after each grinding to save grinding the fine over and over. Build a simple wood frame, a foot square by six inches deep. Glue or staple a piece of window screen, bought at any hardware store. As you grind each pound you'll be left with maybe 15% husks which just won't grind and will stay in the sieve. The corn husks you discard as they have no value. But the husks of the beans, wheat and rye are good cooked in soups. The other husks, taken in liquid by the heaping teaspoonful, will act as a better laxative than any you can buy. On the other hand, the cooked meal, itself, is excellent roughage, and will clean out your intestinal tract of all the bad bacteria and disease-causing matter and you'll feel better and never get colon cancer. It's a real health food. Mix the meal and measure out two cups and mix in the seasonings. Put 5½ cups of hot water in the crock pot and dribble in the meal, stirring with a fork, as the meal has a tendency to lump. Cook for two hours, stirring every half hour with a fork, especially at the bottom. When done, remove the crock pot and wrap a towel around it so you don't burn yourself. Pour the contents into a greased bread baking pan. (Mine is 5½ inches wide by 9½ inches long by 2½ inches deep on the inside). This recipe makes a three-pound loaf. Put a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the pan of hot meal or an unpleasant crust will form. Put the pan in a cool place overnight. By the next morning it will have become firm. Slide a knife around the ends and sides and turn the loaf out on a platter or such and cover it with plastic wrap. The process of preparing this food doesn't take more than five minutes. To use it, peel back the wrap and cut it into quarter-inch slices and fry it on both sides in a hot skillet. Serve with bacon and eggs or whatever you wish for any meal. You'll never go hungry and will save a lot of money on food.

(ORIGINALLY POSTED BY RECI) A NEW STAPLE FOOD (Bean and three-grain loaf at under 8 cents a pound) The prices quoted are from 1996 by Kurt Saxon Here's a staple food which I concocted which anyone can make and would be a guarantee against hunger. It is a combination of one fourth each of ground pinto beans, corn, wheat and rye. (Grind and mix one pound of each). A Corona grain mill, $50., ordered from us, will last a lifetime and be your best self-sufficiency tool now and in the event of a collapse. At your local seed and feed store you should be able to buy untreated wheat and rye for $4.25 for 50 lb. each. Fifty lb. of whole corn is only $3.00. Prices may vary where you are but not much. My wife bought 20 lb. of pinto beans at Wal-Mart for $5.00 or 25 cents a lb. Our health food store sells 25 lb. for $15.00 or 60 cents a lb. Since the health food store is always higher five lb. bags at your grocer's should be around 35 cents a pound. When you consider that the three pounds of grain costs around 21 cents and 35 cents for beans, you pay about 62 cents for four pounds of meal. At 10 ounces per three pound loaf you get at least six three pound loaves or 18 pounds which amounts to about four cents a pound. Add the cost of electricity and the seasonings, this food would still cost under 8 cents a pound. Say you ate about a pound and a half of this food each day. You would get all the protein and carbohydrates for energy, plus vitamins and minerals your body needs. You could live on it but you can eat it along with whatever other food you have. It is tasty, filling and nutritious. Bean And Three-Grain Loaf 5½ cups water 2 cups (10 oz) meal 2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. poultry seasoning 2 tsp. chili powder 1 tsp. black pepper 3 tsp. onion powder (Or use whatever flavoring you like) This is best cooked in a one-gallon crock pot, which you should have, as it's the cheapest on energy, costs less than $25.00 at Wal-Mart and lasts forever. First, grind one pound each of beans, corn, wheat and rye. For fineness, screen after each grinding to save grinding the fine over and over. Build a simple wood frame, a foot square by six inches deep. Glue or staple a piece of window screen, bought at any hardware store. As you grind each pound you'll be left with maybe 15% husks which just won't grind and will stay in the sieve. The corn husks you discard as they have no value. But the husks of the beans, wheat and rye are good cooked in soups. The other husks, taken in liquid by the heaping teaspoonful, will act as a better laxative than any you can buy. On the other hand, the cooked meal, itself, is excellent roughage, and will clean out your intestinal tract of all the bad bacteria and disease-causing matter and you'll feel better and never get colon cancer. It's a real health food. Mix the meal and measure out two cups and mix in the seasonings. Put 5½ cups of hot water in the crock pot and dribble in the meal, stirring with a fork, as the meal has a tendency to lump. Cook for two hours, stirring every half hour with a fork, especially at the bottom. When done, remove the crock pot and wrap a towel around it so you don't burn yourself. Pour the contents into a greased bread baking pan. (Mine is 5½ inches wide by 9½ inches long by 2½ inches deep on the inside). This recipe makes a three-pound loaf. Put a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the pan of hot meal or an unpleasant crust will form. Put the pan in a cool place overnight. By the next morning it will have become firm. Slide a knife around the ends and sides and turn the loaf out on a platter or such and cover it with plastic wrap. The process of preparing this food doesn't take more than five minutes. To use it, peel back the wrap and cut it into quarter-inch slices and fry it on both sides in a hot skillet. Serve with bacon and eggs or whatever you wish for any meal. You'll never go hungry and will save a lot of money on food. http://www.kurtsaxon.com/foods013.htm

CORN AND BEANS, THE WONDER FOODS by Kurt Saxon Corn and beans have been staple foods for thousands of years. Those American Indians who farmed grew corn, beans and squash as the main elements of their diets. All three are easy to grow, are very productive, filling and nutritious. In fact. one could live on these three foods, and many have had to. While researching this article I talked to many Southerners who remembered corn and beans as their mainstays as children during the Great Depression. Cornbread and cornmeal mush and beans were always there, regardless of their poverty, and they thrived! If you have a supply of corn and beans you'll never hunger. Moreover, they taste good. They can also be mixed with any other food, adding bulk and flavor to the most humble meal. To utilize corn you must buy it in 50 pound sacks for about $3.50 from your local feed and seed store. You'll also need a Corona Grain Mill. I sell them as a convenience to my readers since I make more profit selling only two books and books are so much easier to package and mail. So this is no hard-sell. I'm doing you a favor because I want you to own a mill. The mill will be among your most important survival tools. When you get your corn, transfer it to two liter pop bottles, plastic bags, gallon jars, etc., as weevils will come from all over to eat it. Don't bother trying to sprout the corn as it's most likely hybrid and so only about one grain out of ten will sprout and the rest will only rot. GRINDING CORN With my Corona Grain Mill I can grind a pound of whole corn in five minutes. I put the pound in the hopper and set the screws to a very coarse grind which only cracks the kernels into five or six pieces each. Then I adjust the screws a little tighter to grind the pieces finer. Then again and again and once again. This makes grinding easy. Since most recipes take a pound or less, grinding by the pound insures freshness. Of course, you can grind several pounds at a time but that's work. If you set up your mill permanently in a place of its own. you can grind routinely with no thought of time consumption or hard work. GRINDING SCREEN A way I came up with to make the grinding easier is a box screen. This is a four-sided, bottomless box of 1 by 4 inch wood. Mine is 12 by 12 inches. I used regular nylon window screen as that's as fine as any bread flour or corn-meal needs to be. I simply spread GOOP glue generously on the rim and pressed the screen on. I put a section of newspapers under the grinder head and put the screen on the newspaper and under the grinder head. After each grinding stage I shook the finer meal through the screen onto the newspaper and then transferred it into a bowl. This saved sending the finer meal back through the grinder. You can also use the screen for anything else, as the GOOP gives the screen a permanent and strong bond to the wood. CORNMEAL MUSH Your first project should be cornmeal mush. Consider, as you read, how cheap and simple it is to make. The best way to cook cornmeal mush is in a Crock-Pot. They cost about $20.00 at Wal-Mart or most other stores. They last forever and use only about 10 cents electricity in 24 hours. They cook slowly and will not burn the contents. You can start a batch of whatever before leaving for work and when you get home you'll have a fully-cooked hot meal waiting. The instruction booklet shows you how to do all your cooking in a Crock-Pot, cheaply and great-tasting. Get one! CROCK POT Without a Crock-Pot you need a double boiler. Corn will stick hard over direct heat and so you must not cook it over direct heat. A double boiler is simply two pots, the bottom one filled with water and the top holding whatever you don't want direct heat applied to. You can get double boilers cheaply at Wal-Mart, Sears, etc.. but a Crock-Pot is best. But say you have a Crock-Pot. Put in 5 and half cups of cold water and pour in and stir 2 cups of cornmeal and a tablespoon of salt. You can add whatever spices or herbs you like for flavor or leave it plain. Turn the Crock-Pot on high and put on the lid. Then let it cook for 3 hours. After one hour stir it well with a table knife and scrape off any cornmeal sticking to the sides, as that's where the heating elements usually are. Cornmeal does stick slightly in a Crock-Pot, but it's easily scraped off. After the second hour give it another stir and scrape and let it alone. After the third hour, scrape and stir again and pour the mush out into a greased or Teflon-coated bread baking pan. Let it alone for a few hours or overnight. It will then be set firm and you can turn it out on a plate. Then cut off quarter-inch slices and fry it golden brown and serve it with whatever else you have. It tastes good, is nutritious and filling. Instead of plain cornmeal mush you can make scrapple. That's simply the mush with meat scraps chopped up and mixed with the cornmeal during the cooking. You can't beat the economy of cornmeal mush. At 7 cents a pound for cornmeal ground yourself, 2 cups or 10 ounces costs about 4 cents.. What you get when it sets is just over 3-1/2 pounds of food for about two cents a pound! CORNBREAD Now for cornbread. This is delicious and Southerners love it. It's among the simplest breads to make. It's baked in a greased or teflon-coated pan about two inches deep and 8x10 Inches or round in an iron skillet. It's cut into slabs and the slabs are then cut in half and spread with margarine. Cornbread doesn't hold as firmly as wheat or rye breads so it needs half wheat flour for the gluten to keep it from being too crumbly. Cornbread doesn't lend itself to making sandwiches but it's bread all the same. A favorite dish of mine since childhood is chunks of hot cornbread covered with pinto beans and the bean soup. Delicious! To bake it you get together 2 cups of cornmeal, I cup of wheat flour, 2 tablespoons of bacon grease, cooking oil, melted margarine, etc., 2 teaspoons of salt. I egg, 3 teaspoons of baking powder and 1-1/2 cups of water. To make a lighter loaf, substitute commercial white flour and milk and add another egg. This may taste better to some, but I like the cruder kind just fine. Mix the flours and add the grease or oil and mix some more. Then add the egg and salt and mix some more. Now add the water and mix until smooth. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. and add the baking powder and mix again. Then pour the batch into the baking pan and put it in the oven. Bake It for 45 minutes. When this is baked you'll have 1 pound 7 ounces of extremely rich bread for a total cost of just under 20 cents. It's tasty, nutritious and very filling. You can also make corn pancakes with this recipe. Use 2 cups of water so they'll spread, and fry them in bacon grease, etc., in a hot skillet like regular pancakes. When the bubbles in the middle of the cakes stay open. it's time to turn them. A couple of minutes later they're done. These are heavier than flour pancakes. Spread them with margarine while hot and they taste great with salt and pepper or even syrup if you're into sweets. These are the corn dodgers Rooster Cogburn carried with him as his mainstay while tracking Ruffians. PINTO BEANS A pound of dried pinto beans turns into 3 pounds of cooked beans. At 40 cents a pound, dried, that's a little over 13 cents for a pound of cooked beans. Pinto beans are best cooked in a Crock-Pot as they take quite a while and no one cares with a Crock-Pot, but in a kettle they might be forgotten and burn. Nothing is simpler to cook than beans. If you only want beans but little or no soup, put in 6 cups of water and 2 cups of beans, plus a couple teaspoons of salt, a teaspoon of pepper, chili powder or whatever seasoning suits you. Cook on high for three hours and if they mash easily they're done. Otherwise cook for another hour. Since a Crock-Pot doesn't quite boil, you can't overcook them, so an hour or more doesn't matter. If you want bean soup, use 8 cups of water. I'd like you to make and try everything in this article. You'll find it's ever so easy and you'll be surprised at how much good-tasting, nutritious and filling food you can have for so little cost. You'll not only learn how to cook but you'll realize that you and yours will never go hungry, as will so many who relate to food only as it is processed and prepared by others. You'll then wonder why anyone would be so stupid as to buy commercial "survival food" for $ thousands when you can do better for $ hundreds and learn while doing it. I lose patience with people who see such food as dull and unappetizing. Especially women. You go to a Mexican restaurant, or Chinese, or Italian, pay an arm and a leg for admittedly delicious meals. Yet you fail to see that they are all prepared with simple, inexpensive ingredients, most of which are described in Survivor Vol. 1 or just about any good all-purpose cookbook. Any woman who considers herself a good cook is fully capable of making any simple food taste good. If she can't, she'd better learn. People who are so dependent-minded that they must pay others to prepare their food are in danger of losing everything. Don't you realize that that attitude causes the average family to spend about 30% of Its income on food when they could eat better on about 5%? Your family could eat better and put that 25% savings to building a family business which would make you valuable to your community. You could even afford a greenhouse alongside your home. Succeeding issues will teach you to grow lots of food in a small space and make more from a few hundred square feet of land than you can at most jobs. Also, it will insure your safety, as your neighbors will fight to protect their food supply, which could be you.

(ORIGINALLY POSTED BY RECI) Grow your own veggies no matter where you live: Here is an article from Mother Earth News about garden baskets: a basket garden can be a pretty good way to go! To start one, all you'll need is several containers large enough to hold a sufficient amount of soil to support living vegetation. In our case, we couldn't spend a fortune on over-sized ceramic pots, and we didn't have any good "recyclables" (such as paint buckets or gallon-size plastic milk jugs). So we scouted a local discount store, where we discovered that ordinary clothesbaskets were just fine for our purposes (and inexpensive to boot). The bushel size cost only 57 cents apiece, and the half-bushel just 37 cents ... so we brought home three large and seventeen small baskets for a total price of just $8.00! Next, we lined the containers with plain old "Hefty type" trash bags, and then filled the bottom of each with two inches of coarse gravel for drainage. On top of that we placed a layer of newspaper to keep the soil from washing down into the stones. Then we added the growing medium itself. Gardening books call for a 1:1:1 ratio of peat moss, loam, and sand . . . and advise that rotted manure, leaves, grass clippings, and other well-shredded vegetation can also be mixed in. We, however, simply used three parts slightly sandy (and rocky) soil from an empty field, combined with one part grass clippings. Judging from the way our plants thrived, I'd say just about any reasonably rich blend of natural materials that's light and loose enough to provide good aeration will work OK. Finally, we poked a few small holes in the base of the lined containers to allow extra drainage, and placed stakes in the baskets in which we intended to grow tomatoes and peas. A friend of ours had access to a number of wooden pallets that some local factories wanted to dispose of ... so he gave us two of the skids, from which we constructed a platform that kept our "garden" well above the reach of canine claws, but at just the right height for easy weeding. One of the discards made an "instant tabletop", and a few minutes' work with a crowbar and hammer gave us enough usable lumber from the other to build supporting legs and braces. (Incidentally, homesteaders might take note of the fact that throw-away pallets are a good source of free wood for rough construction. They can be used either disassembled or as whole "prefab" sections in any number of projects.) The final step in establishing our vegetable patch, of course, was the actual planting . . . but before jumping in "seeds first", we referred to three books which were especially helpful: [1] Raise Vegetables Without a Garden by Doc and Katy Abraham (Countryside Books, 1974, $2.95); [2] All About Vegetables edited by Walter Doty (regionally oriented editions, published by Chevron Chemical Company, 1973, $2.95); and [3] The Mother Earth News® Almanac (THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS®, Inc., 1973, $1.95). This information-particularly the guides to natural pest control and companion planting in MOTHER'S Almanac helped us choose the kinds of vegetables and fruits we felt would be most productive and best suited to our own needs and tastes. We put two large-variety tomato plants (such as "Heinz" and "Country Fair") in each bushel basket, and found that a half-bushel container could accommodate either a pair of small tomato vines (such as Burpee's "Early Girl") or four good-size pepper plants. Our remaining baskets were seeded with radishes, onions, carrots, peas, miniature corn, strawberries, and cucumbers. We planted relatively early in the season, kept the containers out in the sun on warm days, and simply carried them back into the house whenever a chill threatened. (My poor ole Dad lost two successive sets of tomatoes to late frosts in his regular garden . . . but our portable vegetables stayed cozy and warm-one/ healthy—the whole time.) Obviously, there's much less moisture-retaining soil in a "container garden" than in a conventional plot, so we did have to give our "babies" frequent waterings. (One possible solution might be to fold the tops of the trash bag liners over the soil, punch holes in the sacks, and then let the plants grow through. We haven't tried it yet, but suspect the plastic would act as a good water-holding, weed-stifling mulch.) We also had to add extra dirt occasionally as the original material settled . . . but aside from those two minor measures and a little careful bug-watching and -squashing, and cultivating (none of which ever required bending our backs) our food practically grew by itself! All that summer and fall, we enjoyed a vast and abundant variety of fresh produce straight from one table (the plants') to another (ours). And we never so much as picked up a rake the whole year! So ... you say supermarket prices are killing your budget, but (moan, groan) you don't have space to grow your own vegetables? Buy a bunch of baskets!

The Back Yard Fish Farm, A Revolutionary New Way To Raise Foods at Home Dr. William 0. McLarney and I are working together to organize the Back Yard Fish Farm research. The project involves a totally revolutionary concept in agriculture. If it should prove successful, fish farming, on a small scale at least, could become a common practice throughout the country. We are proposing that you raise fish in a small pool inside a geodesic dome using intensive culture methods. You will create tiny fish farms which are organic and capable of producing foods of excellent quality. If you have ever enjoyed keeping an aquarium of tropical fishes, then I think you will receive the same pleasure as well as a food crop from the Back Yard Fish Farm. In the November issue of OGF, I described some of the thinking and theoretical concepts which went into our Back Yard Fish Farm prototype. I also outlined the reasons for choosing herbivorous fishes from the tropics and using the dome to create a suitable climate. I think it would be wise to reread that article, as space limitations prevent my repeating it. This research project will use the same methods and fish (tilapia) as we did in our prototype. What I didn't point out in the November article is the necessity for developing organic methods in aquaculfure. It has become clear to us that organic fish products are desperately needed in this country. The area of Cape Cod in which Bill McLamey and I live is dotted by tiny lakes, many of which provide good fishing. Bill, an ardent fisherman, can be seen often casting for pickerel, perch or bluegills. His harvest is an important source of food for a number of us. Since fish are one of the most complete, health-giving foods, we usually jump at the chance to eat them — or at least did, until a pesticide-chemist friend examined our fish. The little pond in the woods, far away from industry and agriculture, is contaminated. The perch we were eating had up to 40 parts per million of DDT in their fatty tissues. This is far above the allowable limit for foods. We already knew that many marine fishes are contaminated with a variety of harmful substances, but the pond was the last straw. We had to start figuring out ways to grow fish organically and cheaply and we had to do it soon. Philosophically, we were committed to small-scale intensive systems, based upon ecological and organic principles. If the fish were to be relatively poison-free, their diet would have to consist of aquatic plants and algae; this would shorten the food chain and make the system more productive while less prone to accumulating harmful substances in the fish. The prototype we developed will act as a model for the initial OGF research project. How To Do It The first task of the experimenters in the Back Yard Fish Farm research will be to build an inexpensive geodesic dome which will house the pool for raising the tilapia. Tilapia are excellent and much revered tropical fish which will primarily eat the algae you grow right inside the pool. In order for the tilapia to grow to an edible size, which is about one-half pound, a growing season that's at least six-months long in water that is normally well above 70 degrees F. will be required. The dome provides these high temperatures by trapping the heat from the sun, which is stored in the pool and transformed into algae growth. The fish will die if the temperature drops much below 60 degrees F. Their vulnerability to cold is one of the reasons we chose this Organic Gardening and Farming - January, 1972 - Page 101 fish. If some careless person ever takes them out of the dome and puts them in a local stream or lake they will not survive the winter to upset the natural ecosystems. This is not true for the Imperial Valley in California, parts of southern Florida and southern Texas. Although tilapia are now found wild in these areas, we do not plan to aggravate the problem of exotics by conducting experiments in these regions where they can survive outside the dome. The dome is a very effective heat trap and the pool is quite an efficient heat retainer. At the time of this writing, which is late October, the water temperature in our prototype Tilapia-Dome is still in the 60s even though the outside temperatures have been dropping near freezing at night. With the addition of a little bit of heat, we have been able to push the temperatures up into the 70s during the cool days of fall. With design improve ments in the dome, we think that even in our climate, the addition of heat will not be necessary in the future. Building the Dome Building a geodesic dome is relatively easy and inexpensive. You should plan on two or three days to complete the task. Some of you living in the more southerly regions of the country will be able to build them for less than $50. More sophisticated structures, incorporating a double skin of clear greenhouse vinyl with an air layer in between to prevent heat loss, will last for a number of years but could run as high as $200 for materials to Feeding time in the tilapia dome. Their main diet will be the algae which grow in the pool, but it should be enhanced with small amounts of insect larvae. complete the task. Some of you living in the more southerly regions of the country will be able to build them for less than $50. More sophisticated structures, incorporating a double skin of clear greenhouse vinyl with an air layer in between to prevent heat loss, will last for a number of years but could run as high as $200 for materials. Our prototype was a dome 18 feet in diameter, although we wished that it had been larger. One problem was that we couldn't move around the 15-by-10-foot pool inside. This was annoying as I had wanted to start some plants growing inside, and to do more insect-culturing research to provide new kinds of supplemental foods for the fish. The optimal size for domes to be used in the Back Yard Fish Farm would be 25 feet in diameter. This size should provide freedom to work inside while allowing a greenhouse area. All of our future research domes will be of the larger size. Costs begin to shoot up drastically when the diameter exceeds 25 feet. Our dome was built by Multi Fassett and Marsha Zilles of Earth House in Cambridge. The plans they used and strongly recommend for the Back Yard Fish Farm research can be obtained from Popular Science magazine, 355 Lexington Organic Gardening and Farming - January, 1972 - Page 104 Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017. (Ask for the Sun-Dome Plans.) The plans and instructions cost $5 and include a license to build it from the inventor, Buckminster Fuller. You should also read Knight Starr's OGF article in the September 1971 issue on the geodesic greenhouse. Although this dome is too small for the fish experiments, he does provide a lot of valuable information. If any of you have access to a cheap supply of window glass, you may be able to build an experimental dome which will last for many years. The Pool The pool can be any type of children's swimming pool, which varies in price from about $40 to $100. We used a 15-by-10-by-4-foot-deep, almost rectangular pool with a 3,400-gallon capacity. We assumed that this shape would be more conducive to breeding fish, but this original supposition was not correct. A 12-to-14-foot-diameter pool, 3 feet deep would do just as well and cost much less. The volume of this pool would be close to that of the prototype since we only filled ours to a depth of three feet. There is an alternative way of constructing a pool which would be less expensive: digging a pond in the ground, about three or four feet deep and 12 to 15 feet in diameter. Since we haven't tried this method, we don't know how well it will work. If your soil is heavy and contains clay, lining the pool to prevent water seepage will not be needed. One problem that we can foresee with the pond-pool is the loss of heat from the water into the surrounding soils. This might be minimized by the use of an inexpensive liner combined with a good insulating material. Fish for the Back Yard Fish Farm Tilapia, a tropical fish native to Africa and the Near East, will be used in the experiment. They eat algae, the microscopic plants that color lakes green. This coloration is especially prevalent in the summer months. Because it is possible to grow algae in huge amounts and at almost no cost, algae-eating fish can be raised quite cheaply. Each of the experimenters participating in the project will receive one pair of tilapia parents from us. The only cost to you will be shipping and handling fees, which might run as high as $25, depending on where you live. However, if they survive and breed, this will be the only investment in tilapia you will ever have to make. Once established, the parents will be capable of producing thousands of young per year. This will supply you with plenty of offspring and you will be able to pass them on to any friends who may be interested in starting their own Back Yard Fish Farm. Place the adults you receive in the dome pond. As soon as the temperature climbs to the low 80s they will start to breed and lay eggs which they care for in their mouths. Don't panic at this stage; they are not eating their young. Tilapia are members of a group of fishes known as mouth-breeders. After the brood is hatched and swimming freely about the pool, the parents will breed again if conditions are right. This process should continue until an optimal population density for your experimental pool is reached. If, after sampling the population, you find that there are more than 500 fish in the pool, you should pull the parents out to prevent overpopulation and stunting of the residents. After the first year's growing season is over, if the conditions have been favorable, you will have an excellent crop of edible fish. These can be frozen or stored live in aerated tanks for eating fresh as needed. The Malayan peoples in the Orient often store their live fish in rain barrels just outside the back door. Fish that are not of edible size can be held over the winter in warm tanks exposed to sunlight, or they can be fed to the chickens or Organic Gardening and Farming - January, 1972 - Page 105 pigs as an excellent high-protein organic feed. The idea of feeding livestock herbivorous fishes is not as crazy as it sounds. At present, we are experimenting with growing tiny herbivorous fish, to be cropped at a small size, as a future source of organic food for poultry — but more about that in a later issue. A small number of fish should be held over the winter. That way you will have brood stock the following spring. Food for the Fish The main diet of the tilapia will be the algae which will grow within the pool. After the pool is filled in the spring, one-gallon samples of water from a number of local ponds should be added. This makes it possible to seed your pool with a variety of algae species. You will also have to provide fertilization. In our prototype we suspended a small burlap bag filled with horse manure. We estimated the algae growth by scooping the water into a tall glass and examining the color. If the water looked green enough, we shook the bag every few days. When the "bloom" began to wane, we replaced the used manure with fresh. Many of you will have cow, chicken or rabbit manure which can be used instead of horse manure. The weight and source of all fertilizer used must be recorded. It is very important not to overfertilize, as too many nutrients could deprive the water of its oxygen. Be careful! Supplemental Feeds Thousands of years ago the Chinese found that the growth and health of plant-eating fishes is enhanced by feeding them small amounts of animal matter in the form of insect larvae. This past season we raised our fish on a variety of insect larvae including mosquitos, midges, rat-tailed maggots and house fly larvae. Each experimenter should culture one or two types of insects or earthworms. The goal should be to produce one-half pound per day of these animals. Two productive and easy insects to culture are the ordinary house fly and the midge. If you have ever opened a garbage can that has rotten meat in it and seen the thousands of larvae or maggots crawling around, you have discovered how easy it is to raise fly larvae! Small garbage cans and a little waste meat might produce the supplemental food your fish need. Midges are cultured on trays in water fertilized with manure. The production of one pound of midges per day on a three-foot-square rearing tray has been achieved by fisheries scientists in Israel and Florida. Apart from the algae and the insect larvae, your system should require few other food inputs. We have tied bunches of carrot tops and grasses to rafts as additional feed in the prototype Tilapia-Dome. Collecting of Scientific Information Intuition and common sense have played a large role in fish farming in the past. Science has hardly penetrated the domain of aquaculture. But scientific data is needed if we are to discover the best possible methods of fish farming. It is essential that the participants in the Readers' Research Program collect basic scientific information. At least half an hour per day should be spent caring for the Tilapia-Dome and collecting information. The first year's data will not be very difficult to collect. We need: 1) Temperature profiles taken twice daily, including air temperature, temperature within the dome and in the water; also, a log of weather conditions. 2) Estimates of the population in the pool made at least twice; once at the end of the month following the first appearance of young fish and once at the end of the season. 3) Measurements of fish growth taken each month from a selected sample of individuals. 4) Production calculations made at the end of the growing season by counting and weighing the total crop. Organic Gardening and Farming - January, 1972 - Page 108 Building the geodexic dome is comparatively simple and inexpensive. It should take two or three days to complete the job. Costs can run from $50 to about $200. (Remember the bucks this article refers to are 1972 dollars!) 5) A description of the food used (worms, insect larvae, etc.) must be given with the amount listed in pounds. 6) A description of the amount of fertilizer and the source must be given, including the length of time between changes. Hopefully we will be able to design a simple colorimetric test for you to estimate algae production on a weekly basis. We do not know how successful the Back Yard Fish Farm idea will be. We have indications from the prototype that it will work. In fact, some of you may produce edible organic fish at less than 20 cents per pound (exclusive of your labor), some may even set still-water fish culture records for this country. All of you will have fun and learn a lot. The experiment is risky . . . you could also end up with fish only large enough to feed to the chickens. This may not make you happy, but your scientific data will tell us what went wrong. Your Tilapia-Dome can be used as a greenhouse the following winter, or if you aie excited by aquaculture, you may decide to trap native fishes and fatten them in the dome in the winter. Thus, the experiment cannot really fail. Bill McLarney wants to start a research project to find out if the dome can be used for two fish crops a year. During the winter he would like to try fattening bluegills, perch, crayfish and clams to be harvested before the tilapia experiments begin again in the spring. The majority of us here want to use the prototype dome for growing kale, spinach, Chinese cabbage and lettuce this winter. I suspect the cooks rather than the fisherman will win the first round. I hope many of you will become involved in the OGF Reader's Research Program. It could become a potent force for a saner agriculture in this country. Organic Gardening and Farming - January, 1972 - Page 109

SAVING MONEY WITH A THERMOS BOTTLE By Kurt Saxon Many subscribers write that they will eventually buy all my books but they can't afford them at this time. Many are students on limited allowances. Some are on Social Security or pensions. Others are on Welfare, as I was after an injury, when I got $86.00 per month in l969. I paid $50.00 for rent and had only $36.00 left for food and incidentals. Even so, I ate better than before. Prices were indeed lower then but, surprisingly, the costs of the more basic foods have hardly changed. For instance, 60 pounds of hard red winter wheat, the highest in protein, minerals and vitamins, averages $8.00 (240 breakfasts at 4 cents each). Brown rice, also higher in nutrition than white, costs $14.00 for 25 pounds. Also 200 servings since rice swells twice as large as wheat. These are bought in bulk at any feed and seed store. Wheat and rice are the staple foods of billions and, if prepared my way, will fill you up, give you boundless energy; and cost nothing, if you consider that the saving in gas or electricity will offset their purchase prices. I do not mean that wheat and rice, plain, is what I am asking you to live on. When is the last time you have eaten a potato plain? I am simply suggesting you process all your food in inexpensive, energy-saving ways and eat better than you ever have for less than $10.00 per week. Then you can not only afford all my books but many other things you have wanted but had to do without because most of your food budget goes to pay others to do what you should learn to do for yourself. The thermos and the dehydrator are first steps in eating better for so much less. As a Survivalist, you will have to understand food preparation or you might as well eat, drink and be merry in the short time you have left. A great factor which makes this practical and easy to understand is that since it is by a man, it is basic, gut-level and moron-simple. You won't even need to open a cookbook. First the thermos. There are three kinds but only one is practical. Forget the cheap, plastic ones lined with Styrofoam. These might cook oatmeal and white rice but do not have the heat holding power you need. Silvered glass thermoses are fine, but a bump will break them. Also, since you are going to do actual cooking and will use a fork to remove the contents, they will not hold up. The only practical cooking thermos is the Aladdin Stanley. It is lined with stainless steel, is well insulated and will keep steaming hot for up to 24 hours and holds a quart. It is also unbreakable, with a lifetime warranty. It costs $22.00 at Wal-Mart or can be ordered through any sporting goods store. It would save you its price in a few days. If you have a family, get two or three. Most foods cook at 180 degrees or more. We are used to boiling, which is 212 degrees, and foods do cook faster, the higher the temperature. But if time is not important, cooking at a lower temperature is even better as most vitamins are not broken down. Thus, if you cook at a minimum heat, you save nutrition. A great factor in thermos cooking is the saving in the cost of energy. Whereas it would take about two hours to cook whole-grain wheat or nearly an hour to cook brown rice. Thermos cookery takes only five minutes to cook anything. So it is indeed possible to save as much in energy as you spend on the food. You can imagine the convenience of thermos cookery in camping, which would save on wood, weight of food carried, and no food odors to alert bears or enemies. Thermos cookery is also an advantage to anyone living where he is not allowed to cook. There are no cooking odors to tip off the landlord. First, you need the thermos. Then you need a heat source. If you are in a non-cooking room, buy a cheap, one burner hot plate from your local Wal-Mart, Target, Sears etc. You will need a one quart saucepan. You will also need a special funnel to quickly pour the pan's contents into the thermos, plus a spoon or fork to help the last of the food into the funnel. To make the funnel, cut off the bottom four inches from a gallon plastic milk container. If you do not buy milk or cannot find an empty container, go to your nearest laundromat. You will find in the trash receptacle, an empty gallon bleach bottle. Use that the same as the milk container but wash it until there is no more bleach odor. The first step in thermos cookery is to fill the thermos with water up to the point reached by the stopper. Empty the water into the saucepan and make a scratch or other indelible mark at the water's surface inside the saucepan. This will allow you to put just enough water in the saucepan, as too much will leave food out and too little will give you less cooking water. Just to test how the cooker works, start with four ounces of wheat. You do not need to buy 60 pounds. You can buy two pounds from your health food store for about $.80 This would give you eight meals at 10 cents each. In the evening, put four ounces in your saucepan, plus a half-teaspoon of salt to prevent flatness, even if you intend to sweeten it. Fill to the mark with water. (If you have hot water, let the tap run until it is hottest. Tests have shown that less energy is used in using hot tap water than in boiling from cold.) Bring the contents to a rolling boil, stirring all the while. This will take from three to five minutes. Then quickly, but carefully, swirl and pour the contents into the funnel and help any lagging matter from the pan to the funnel and into the thermos. Cap firmly but not tightly, shake and lay the thermos on its side, to keep the contents even. Next morning open the thermos and pour its contents into the saucepan. With four ounces of dry wheat, you will now have at least 3/4 pound of cooked wheat and about a pint of vitamin and mineral enriched water. It has a pleasant taste. Drink it. You can now put milk and sweetener on it or margarine, salt and pepper, etc. If you can eat the whole 3/4 of a pound, you will be surprised at how energetic you feel for the next several hours. An added bonus is its high fiber content. Having tried the four ounce portion, you might next use eight ounces. This will absorb most of the water. It is unlikely that you could eat a pound and a half of cooked whole grain wheat. You can either divide it and eat the other half for supper or if you are a family man, make it the family breakfast food to replace the expensive brand. If you have children, get them into the act by fantasizing they are Rangers on a jungle patrol. For lunch, prepare a few ounces of hamburger or other meat chopped finely, plus chopped potatoes and other vegetables the night before. After breakfast, put these and the right amount of water in the saucepan and prepare as usual. At lunchtime you will have a quart of really delicious stew. Since nothing leaves the thermos in cooking, as contrasted to the flavor leaving stew cooking on the stove, you can understand the better tasting, higher vitamin content of thermos stew. Lunch and possibly supper should not cost you more than 25 cents if you study the article on the dehydrator. Jerky and dried vegetable stew is good and costs little. The brown rice dishes could also be either a main course or desert. Brown rice has a much greater swelling factor than wheat so four ounces of rice will pretty much fill the thermos. You can put vegetables and meat in it to cook or try a favorite of mine. It is four ounces of brown rice, 9 cents; one ounce of powdered milk, 10 cents in a large box; two ounces of raisins, 22 cents; one teaspoon of salt; some cinnamon and four saccharine tablets. Cook overnight. This is 46 cents for 1 1/2 pounds of desert. With some experimenting, you can become an expert in thermos cookery. If you are single and live alone, you could, conceivably, eat nothing except what you cooked in a thermos. But if you are married, and especially if you have children, don't push it. Even with the economy of this system, it's not worth alienating your family. If your wife doesn't like it, challenge her to make the food tastier and think up some thermos recipes. You might also tell her the advantages of thermos cookery. For one thing, she would spend much less time in the kitchen. What with the expected brownouts, she could do all the cooking in five, ten, fifteen minutes, depending on how many thermos bottles she used. Another important factor is that, especially during the heat waves, the home would not suffer the added heat from the kitchen. This would also cut down on the air conditioning costs. A tip you may not have known is that the pilot light in a gas stove not only raises the temperature in the kitchen but also accounts for a fourth of all the gas burned in the stove. Matches are much cheaper. Turn the pilot light off. Be sure to get SURVIVOR Vol. 1 for a full course on inexpensive but tasty and nourishing food, plus sprouting for green vegetables, soy milk, tofu, etc.

THE PERFECT 3.3 CENT BREAKFAST By Kurt Saxon A while back some Mormons visited me and told me of a friend who had been suckered into paying $12,000 for a year's supply of "Survival Food" for his family of five. The seller had given him a break by not charging anything for the baby. The only good thing one can say about most commercial survival foods is that they won't taste any worse in ten years than they do now. The worst that can be said for them, aside from their lack of nutrition from over processing, is that they cost an average of three times that of food from your local supermarket. A year's supply of food would be nice and you should go for it. But be practical. Buy what you normally eat and like. Learn basic food processing so you can buy foods cheaply and in bulk. Of course, we all use canned and processed food on a regular basis and they should always be bought by the case. You should figure how much of a certain product you will buy over the next year and buy it all at once by the case from your supermarket. The economy is obvious. First, the supermarket manager will deduct at least 5%, since his people won't have to unpack it and put it on the shelves. Second, since food prices do nothing but rise, you will probably pay at least 25% more for the same products in a few months. You can do even better by trading at the discount food stores like Sam's. Their prices average 10% above dealer's prices on most items. Although food in cans, jars and dried packaged foods easily keep from three to five years if they are stored in a dry place, you can insure freshness by rotating. Say you bought ten cases of canned peas. Just mark the cases from 1 to 10. Use from case 1 and when that is emptied, buy another and label it 11. Then start on case 2, buy another and label it 12 and so on. That way none of the food will ever be less than fresh. When you incorporate grains into your diet you will see your food costs plummet. Buy a hand grain grinder and bake your own bread. You will save several dollars a month. It will also taste better and be more nourishing. You can even sell it to neighbors and even to local health food stores. Grain grinders should be steel-burred, not stone. Stone grinders are a fraud. They are touted as causing less heat than steel. But hand grinding does not create the amount of heat objected to in the commercial milling of grains. So buy the much cheaper and more durable steel-burred grinder. Atlan sells the Corona Grain Mill for $48.00 delivered in the continental United States (foreign please request additional shipping charges). It is the best for the price of any on the market and should last a lifetime. The Survivor Vol 1 and Poor Man's James Bond Strikes Again video tape will give you an excellent grounding on the processing of inexpensive and nutritious foods. Through them you will learn that high food costs, and especially the need for commercial survival foods, are the results of ignorance. You may soon have to abandon the luxury of such ignorance. But now to get to the main subject; the perfect 3.3 cent breakfast. This is just one example of a food which is easy to process, nourishing, energy and health giving and costs practically nothing. It is simply four ounces of wheat, sprouted for 48 hours, cooked overnight in your thermos and put in your blender. This makes a large bowl of breakfast cereal which tastes wonderful and will give you more energy than you can imagine. There are several steps to processing this food but it takes only a few minutes in all as you bustle about in your daily routine. You probably already have most of what you need but you should equip yourself with what you lack. First, look up your local feed and seed store, even in a city, and call them. Ask if they have, or can order, 50 to 60 pounds of hard red winter wheat, untreated (treated seed is strictly for planting). There is no reason they should not be able to provide it. It will cost between $7.00 and $8.00, depending on your location. Say it costs $8.00 for 60 pounds or 13 cents per pound. You will use 4 ounce portions. That is 4 times 60 or 240 breakfasts or 3.3 cents for each breakfast. One thing you will need is a Stanley Aladdin narrow-mouthed thermos bottle. These cost $19.00 at Wal-Mart, are almost unbreakable and will last a lifetime. Don't be tempted to get a wide-mouthed thermos, if you mean to cook in it. It holds 3/4 cup less than you need. Also, the cap has a wider surface, which keeps it from holding the heat of the near boiling water needed for actual cooking. Next you need two quart jars. Mayonnaise jars or similar will do. To cover them get some nylon window screen from the hardware store and cut two six inch by six inch squares. Put four ounces of wheat in each jar. Put the screens over the jars and hold them in place with large rubber bands. Fill one jar one-third with water and set it near the sink overnight. Next morning pour out the soak water and drink it. It is vitamin-rich and a good morning tonic. Upend the jar in the sink to drain. After the first draining, flood the wheat about every four hours before bedtime and drain it. The idea is to keep the wheat moist. At the last flooding the first day, just before bedtime, flood the second jar and let it set overnight like the first. Next day, drink the water and treat the second as the first, flooding both every four hours or so. On the second evening the first jar of wheat will show sprouts protruding from the ends of the grains. Now it is ready. It is part grain and part fresh vegetable. Its protein and vitamin content is higher and it is altogether a more complete food, rich and amazingly nutritious and, again, a complete meal for less than 4 cents. Empty the sprouted grains into a two cup measure and put four more ounces of wheat in the jar, flood and set aside overnight as before. Now you have a perpetual routine taking up no real time and producing a fantastic amount of food for little cost. With the sprouted grain in the two cup measure fill it with water to the two cup mark. Then pour it into a saucepan on the stove and add two more cups of water and a few shakes of salt to keep it from tasting flat. Heat it to a boil, which takes about five minutes. You will need a funnel to pour the water and the grain into the thermos. Take a gallon plastic bottle; milk, bleach, vegetable oil, etc. and cut it in half. Use the top half for the funnel. Fill your thermos with hot water to preheat it and then pour out just before filling with the grain. While the grain is still boiling, empty the pan into the funnel and so into the thermos. You will have to use a spoon to push part of the grain from the funnel into the thermos, as well as some of the grain from the pan. At any rate, do it quickly so you can cap the thermos to contain the heat. Cap then shake the thermos and lay it on its side so its contents don't bunch up, and leave it overnight. Next morning, pour the contents into a blender and pour out part of the liquid into a cup. Drink the liquid as it is rich in vitamins. With just enough liquid to cover the grain, turn on the blender at low. Then increase the speed until the grain is all ground to the consistency of oatmeal. You can add cinnamon or any other flavoring if you like but you will find it has a delicious taste of its own. You do not need much sweetener as the sprouting has created quite a bit of wheat sugar. You can add cream if you like, but I like mine plain. In fact, I just blend the wheat with all the liquid and drink it. You will be surprised at the energy you feel even a few minutes after eating. Not only will it enable you to be more energetic and alert until lunch time but it will also be an excellent weight adjuster. For instance, if you are overweight, that energy will make you more active and you will lose weight. If you are underweight, its carbohydrates will be burned up as energy and that same energy will activate and increase your musculature. There is one possible drawback to this 3.3 cent breakfast. If you are active, no problem. But if you live a sedentary lifestyle and are sluggish, you may get the runs. Not chronic, just loose. However, this would only last a few days. After all, this is whole wheat, with all the bran. People have been eating roughly ground whole wheat for thousands of years. Up until about eighty years ago only the very rich ever ate white bread. Sluggish intestines were a rarity except among the wealthy. Consequently, only the rich got colon cancer. Colon cancer is caused by the buildup of carcinogens on intestinal linings. The rough bran from whole wheat and coarsely ground corn kept the intestines of common folk free from any such buildup. The same goes for oatmeal, which has recently been touted as the perfect bran food. It is a staple of the Scots and is high in protein. But what with the bran craze its price has risen much higher than its nutritive value. So back to the wheat bran and its unsettling effects on the innards of sluggards. This is only temporary. Any radical, even beneficial, change in the diet will cause a reaction. The intestines are not harmed, any more than unused muscles are harmed after a first day of horseback riding. The nether quarters doth protest but they soon get used to it. No need to overdo it to bowleggedness though. So I am not suggesting this to be your whole breakfast permanently or that you make whole wheat your staple food. What I would suggest, however, is that you challenge yourself to make it your whole breakfast for two weeks. You will save money. You will experience fantastic energy. You will lose/gain weight. You will even get cleaned out and regular and will realize that you will never really need a laxative, even Metamucel, from then on if you eat only one serving each day. You will lower you risk of colon cancer. And you will never fear starvation as long as you have sense enough to buy whole grains in bulk. Part 2: MAKING & SELLING TIRE GARDENS By Kurt Saxon Raised beds are the best way to garden, for several reasons. First, the plants are closer together so there is little weeding and greater productivity. Since they are several inches off the ground there is less stooping. The drainage is better. You supply the soil so there are no rocks, and you don't have to dig or plow the garden. Raised beds are usually a series of small garden plots which can be put here and there wherever there is a few square feet of space. The drawback is that they are expensive. Like with railroad ties, which are costly and waste a lot of space in wood. Even 1x10 wooden boards cost a lot and unless specially treated, they rot. Then there is all that sawing and carpentry getting them together. Tires are the answer. A standard P235/75R15 tire has 4 square feet of growing space when you cut out the sides right up to the tread. It gives a bed 8 1/2 inches above the ground. A P215/75R15 is 6 3/4 inches above the ground and has less planting area so the P235/75R15 is your best choice. If you are husky you can use a strong sharp hunting knife to saw around the treads in about five minutes. But first you must use a quarter-inch drill to make the starting hole. Your saber-saw will need a wood cutting blade with 10 teeth to the inch. For faster cutting, grind both sides of the blade, leaving the teeth, but very thin. This will cut through tire rubber like butter. It's fun. Many places selling tires will charge a customer a dollar a piece to dispose of them. They don't want them. They're free. Go to your Tire World or such in most towns, and take your pick from great piles. They'll bless you for taking them away. Any business selling and mounting tires will have a stack in back you can have. Here you can take your pick of truck tires a foot and a half thick with ten square feet of space with the side cut out, to standards and compact tires, on down to little bitty tires from three-wheelers. Compact tires make neat little beds which could be put on decks, porches, along walks, etc. They are perfect for herb gardens. A novel way would be to paint them in pastel colors and letter them "Catnip," "Thyme," "Marjoram," "Parsley," "Chives," etc. Most homeowners seeing them would want a set. A profitable use for tires from three-wheelers would be hanging baskets. These are often expensive but those made from three-wheeler tires would cost almost nothing. To make one, cut out the side at the tread and drill four holes with an eighth inch drill a half inch down the tread. Then cut two strong wires; their length depending on your need. Push the end of one wire from the outside to the inside and back out the next hole. Do the same with the second wire and pull both wires taut. Then bring them together above the tire and twist them into a three-inch strand and bend it into a hook. Cut a circle from one inch chicken wire to fit the bottom inside of the tire. Then layer the bottom with grass, straw or moss and fill the planter with soil. Now put in the plant and hang it up. These would be especially good for growing cherry tomatoes on your patio. But we're mainly interested in real gardens. Say you have a regular garden space. You'd put P235/75R15 tires all around the fence. The spaces between the tires' curves and the fence would be filled with earth to plant more back there. Weeds in front could be dealt with by using any weedeater as the tires would not be harmed and the plants inside would not be in range. Actually, the walks between tires should be spread with wood chips or gravel to eliminate weeds altogether. A good thing about the tires is that they will never disintegrate. So what makes them an environmental nuisance makes them perfect for a multi-lifetime garden. Once these are set up, they are permanent. They will never wear out in your grandchildren's lifetimes and are easy to maintain. Of course, naked tires aren't very pretty. They should be painted, especially if you mean to sell them. I suggest grass-green in water-base exterior house paint. You can buy it cheaply in five-gallon containers. A standard tire will take under a cup if turned inside out. Turning the tires inside-out has five advantages. First is that the deep rooted plants can go deeper without being stopped by the rim. Second is that the tires gain an inch or more in height. third is that they are straight instead of rounded, making for slightly more space. Fourth, they save paint, as the treads take up much more paint than the smooth insides. Fifth, if you are selling tire gardens, you can pile them like rubber bands in you pickup, using up less space. Turning the tires inside-out is easy if you know how. The first step is to step on one side of the tire, pushing it to the ground. Next, reach over and pull the other side of the tire up toward you. Then keeping your right foot in place, step around with your left foot and put it alongside your right foot from the other side. Now, keeping your left foot on the flattened edge of the tire, push the tire over and grasp the underside of the opposite side and pull. The tire will now be turned inside-out. If the tires are laid out against a fence or wall, there will be spaces between the curvatures of the tires and the backdrop. Instead of filling these spaces with something to prevent weeds, it is best to fill them with soil, as each space amounts to about a square foot of growing area. These can be planted with a few onions, carrots, beets, etc. If the backdrop is a wire fence, cardboard or plastic can be put alongside the fence to keep the soil from going through. A ten-tire layout will have four one-foot square spaces between the curvatures. These spaces can also be planted with a pepper plant, an okra plant, an eggplant, etc. Start with a basic ten-tire garden plot. Line them up in two rows with each tire separated a half inch from its neighbor. Fill the spaces between the tires with soil for more plants. You could fill your own garden with these 40 square foot plots and use them as standards for your commercial enterprise. These would produce ever so much more than regular gardens. For instance, one tomato plant, properly supported, fed and watered, would produce over 100 pounds of tomatoes. If you should have 10 such plants, that would be over 1,000 pounds. Sell them for 50 cents a pound and get $500 for some pretty easy part-time work. Tomatoes aren't seasonal, as most people believe. They die from frost. Keep them warm, feed them well and they'll live for years, producing and producing. A single tomato plant grown in a Japanese greenhouse produced 10,000 pounds. For tomatoes, cucumbers and Golden or any other small squash, you should use cages. The reason for the cages is that the most productive tomato plants grow up and if not supported will sprawl and the tomatoes will rot on the ground. The cages allow them to grow upward and you just pick the tomatoes through the wire. The same goes for cucumbers and small squash. For the cages, get a 150 foot, five foot high roll of six-inch concrete reinforcing wire from any building supply store. Cut it into three and one half foot lengths with lineman's pliers. If you don't have strong hands, use a saber-saw with a No. 24 metal cutting blade. Hold the wire so it doesn't shimmy and cut flush with the vertical wire. It should zip through the strands one after another. If you don't have electricity you can use a hacksaw and a metal-cutting blade. Your 150 foot roll with give you 42 cages. I paid $43.00 tax included, which made each cage cost only $l.02 each. A double use for the concrete reinforcing wire is for a portable cold frame over the tires in early spring and late fall. First bend the wire so it covers both sides of the tops of the tires. Then lay plastic over it and weight it on both sides and the ends. Of course, this is for your shorter plants. The other use for the wire is for trellises. The concrete reinforcing wire is as sturdy as any trellis material you will need. Just cut the wire as for a cage. Then bend it slightly so it fits along the inside of the tire and fill the tire with soil. Now plant your beans or any climbing vegetable close to the wire and you have got the best trellis ever. When you get your roll of wire, lay it down so the loose end is on the bottom. Jerk it so you have a few feet to work with. Count across seven squares and cut flush on the far side of the horizontal strand. Now you have three and a half feet and about two inches of vertical wire facing you. Take a 6 inch length of 3/8 inch galvanized pipe and bend one inch of the wire back toward the roll, forming a neat hook. Then bend the whole thing toward the last horizontal strand and connect the hooks all along it. The cage won't be perfectly round and doesn't have to be. But bend it by pressing until it's at least neat. It might take a few minutes to learn to pull a wire here, push a section there, press the cage somewhere else to get it pretty even and to get the hooks to stay in place up and down the horizontal wire. While learning to do this you can practice swearing. Anyway, after about the third cage, you can cut the wire, bend the hooks and make the whole cage in ten minutes or less. This concrete reinforcing wire is rusty. Concrete doesn't stick well to galvanized wire so I don't think you can get it galvanized and fencing wire isn't as strong. In your own garden you may not care, since there's never enough rust to really soil your hands as you pick. However, it looks better painted. Just cleaning your brush on the outside only take a little while and covers most of the rust. You might spray-paint the cages before bending them. After making the hooks, spray-paint the upwardly curved side with the nozzle on the most misty setting. Then put another on top and spray-paint it and so on. When the stack dries there won't be enough rusty spots to notice and certainly not enough to get a customer dirty. With this raised bed system you can also have a greenhouse for each tire. The tire greenhouse is made of 6 ML greenhouse plastic ordered through any hardware store. An 8 x 100 foot roll costs about $20 and makes 16 greenhouses for the caged tires or 32 for those without cages. This mini-greenhouse lets you begin your garden two months before the regular growing season. It also lets you keep growing two months after the first frost. That way you'll get three garden crops a year instead of two. To make these mini-greenhouses, first roll out and cut four 6 foot lengths of plastic. Fold each over sideways and close the top and side with 2 inch wide masking tape, neatly so there is one inch on each side. Then run a hot iron slowly down the tape on the top and side, on both sides of the tape, being careful not to get the iron on the bare plastic. This will melt the plastic so there will be a permanent bond. To be sure, put staples every four inches along the tape. Take your pipe and bend the wires protruding over the tops of the cages inward so they don't poke holes in the plastic. The greenhouse will fit loosely over the cage and then over the tire. It can be raised as high as needed to get at the bed and for picking and performs all the functions of any greenhouse. It is very stable around the cages since they are put in the tires before the soil is added. The plastic is guaranteed for two years on a greenhouse. This is for year-round, all weather. These mini-greenhouses would be used only two months each in early spring and late fall. They wouldn't be subjected to the hot summer sun or the winter snow. Just using them when necessary and storing them in winter and summer, they could last twice as long. Since 100 feet will make 16 six foot greenhouses or 32 four footers, they are indeed inexpensive. That's only $1.25 for the caged tires and $.63 each for the smaller ones. The smaller ones would be supported by two 2 1/2 foot sticks stuck in the sides of the tires. So much for the basic tire garden. Another use for the tires is in making compost. This is simply rotted organic matter such as weeds, garbage, manure and anything else that will break down. Compost is your basic soil conditioner. Gardening magazines show many designs for making composters. They usually involve a lot of wood frames, chicken wire and such and can run into money. With tires, you can make excellent composters at no cost at all. Simply cut six standard tires at the treads, both sides. Put one down on the bare ground, unless you have a cement or board surface. Fill the first tire, then put on another. Keep filling and stacking until you've used up all your organic matter, and if you have more, ready another set of tires. After a couple of weeks, lift off the top tire and lay it down beside the stack. Then shovel what was in the top tire into the one on the ground. Repeat with the next and so on. That's all there is to turning compost. In a few weeks, when it all has an earthy smell, it's ready to mix with soil. Now for the economics of the tire garden. If it's just for yourself and your family, you can just raise all the veggies you can eat and sell the surplus. Just charge 30% less than the stores and you'll sell all you can raise. You could supply every restaurant for miles around. Organically grown fresh garden vegetable taste ever so much better than those trucked in from out-of-state. Tomatoes, alone, grown in real soil, locally, have a taste no industrial tomato factory can match. Organic Gardening has had several articles about people who make a good living growing nothing but tomatoes. Say you have a fairly large garden space of 100x100 feet. For an initial investment of a few hundred dollars, you could lay out a couple of hundred tires which could compete with any wholesale seller of vegetables. I'm not going to teach you how to garden. Your library has dozens of good books covering every step of the art. I might suggest, however, that you specialize in just three or four vegetables, get a reputation for quality and freshness and make an excellent living growing and selling them. But you might rather sell tire gardens themselves. Start with 10 tires, four cages (two for tomatoes, one for cucumbers and one for squash). Add the planting medium. The tires cost nothing. The cages cost $4.08. The planting medium (two parts soil to one part compost) may cost up to $5.00 per tire, or considerably less. Paint, may be a dollar, and your materials cost is under $60.00. Of course, there's labor. But if you have a couple of buddies, or make it a family business and sell the 10 tire complete gardens for $250.00, you'd get about $190.00 profit or more. Aside from processing, delivery and setup shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. Marketing tire gardens is easy. They would sell mainly to older people who couldn't go get the tires, cut them and fill them but would be delighted to plant, care for and harvest them. Most older people would shell out $250.00 in a minute to insure a large portion of their food for the rest of their lives. So even if you don't appreciate this idea, older people will. And there will be a market for all the tire gardens you can produce. But there are a lot of mature young people, too. Not all of them are physical enough to gather the materials for the gardens but would welcome them ready-made. It's no trouble to get soil and compost. Look up "landscaping" in your Yellow Pages. They'll deliver soil at well under 50 cents a cubic foot, compost and whatever you need, by the truckload. If you just want to set up a tire garden for yourself, your local nursery and garden supply can sell you everything you need at a reasonable cost. To run such a business, all you need is the simple, cheap and easily available equipment described in this article. You will also need a standard pickup truck, which you may already have. If you don't have one, get one. If you drive a car, trade it in for a pickup. If you're going into any kind of business involving hauling, you need a pickup, anyway. Now to selling the service. First you set up sample tire gardens, featuring all the ideas in this article and ideas you will come up with. You might even stock a supply of bedding plants, seeds, garden tools, etc., when you've become established. But with your sample gardens, it would be best to have them already started, plants and all. Then contact your local newspaper and they'll be glad to do a feature story. Put an ad in the same issue saying, "Come and see our tire gardens and let us set up one for you! " People will start coming around and you'll have all the business you can handle from then on. Don't be afraid others will compete with you. You'll have the jump on any competition if you do a good job, and people will choose you over the competition. Be sure to order the tire recycling book. It will give you many more ideas for using tires both around your place and to make a good, low-overhead living. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIRE GARDEN UPDATE This short update will appear in THE SURVIVOR (formerly Shoestring Entrepreur) Volume 9, Issue 3 By Kurt Saxon I made a tire garden, as described in my article, "Making And Selling Tire Gardens", issue 2 of Shoestring Entrepreneur. It was very productive and easy to work. However, my advice to leave the bottom side of the tire uncut was unwise. It didn't act as a reservoir. I had some of the tires taken up at the end of the season to replace some of the soil I had mixed improperly. I found the bottom rims root-bound. Also, I had decided to have the tires turned inside-out and this can't be done unless both sides are cut out. Turning the tires inside-out has five advantages. First is that the deep-rooted plants can go deeper without being stopped by the rim. Second is that the tires gain an inch or more in height. Third is that they are straight instead of rounded, making for slightly more space. Fourth, they save paint, as the treads take up much more paint that the smooth insides. Fifth, if you are selling tire gardens, you can pile them like rubber bands in your pickup, using up less space. Turning the tires inside-out is easy if you know how. The first step is to step on one side of the tire, pushing it to the ground. Next, reach over and pull the other side of the tire up toward you. Then, keeping your right foot in place, step around with your left foot and put it alongside your right foot from the other side. Now, keeping your left foot on the flattened edge of the tire, push the tire over and grasp the underside of the opposite side and pull. The tire will now be turned inside-out. If the tires are laid out against a fence or wall, there will be spaces between the curvatures of the tires and the backdrop. Instead of filling these spaces with something to prevent weeds, it is best to fill them with soil, as each space amounts to about a square foot of growing area. These can be planted with a few onions, carrots, beets, etc. If the backdrop is a wire fence, cardboard or plastic can be put alongside the fence to keep the soil from going through. A ten-tire layout will have four one-foot square spaces between the curvatures. These spaces can also be planted with a pepper plant, an okra plant, an eggplant, etc. Rather than use pliers to bend the projections from the tops of the reinforced concrete wire cages and the hooks to connect the sides of the cages, I discovered a better tool. It is simply a six inch length of 3/8 inch outside diameter galvanized pipe from the hardware store. This is perfect. You simply put the pipe over the projection, the length you want, and bend. This is ever so much easier and quicker. In regards to the plastic mini-greenhouses for caged plants, they are practical. However, ironing their edges is too uncertain in bonding the plastic. A better way is to put the masking tape on as instructed, then with a regular stapler, staple the masking tape and plastic about one inch in and three inches apart. This should hold it together in anything less than a tornado. Also, you don't need to space the tires two inches apart to accommodate the bottom of the plastic. Just place any sort of weights, such as rocks, around the bottom, resting on the tire rim. A double use for the concrete reinforcing wire is for a portable cold frame over the tires in early spring and late fall. First bend the wire so it covers both sides of the tops of the tires. Then lay plastic over it and weight it on both sides and the ends. Of course, this is for your shorter plants. The other use for the wire is for trellises. The concrete reinforcing wire is as sturdy as any trellis material you will need. Just cut the wire as for a cage. Then bend it slightly so it fits along the inside of the tire and fill the tire with soil. Now plant your beans or any climbing vegetable close to the wire and you have got the best trellis ever. Be sure to order the tire recycling book. It will give you many more ideas for using tires both around your place and to make a good, low-overhead living.

(ORIGINALLY POSTED BY RECI) The Green Farmacy Returning to our medicinal roots. By James A. Duke, Ph.D. At a time when the entire Western world is looking forward--to a new year, a new century, a new millennium--I'd like to challenge this nation's physicians and pharmacists to do just the opposite: look back. It's my belief that the future of medicine is rooted in the past, before chemists undertook to synthesize synthetic silver bullets for all that ails, and before pharmaceutical companies hitched our collective health to what has become for them a multibillion-dollar wagon. I've spent close to 40 years (most of those in the employ of the United States Department of Agriculture) investigating the medicinal properties of plants, sampling most everything green from the north woods of Maine to the south woods of sweet home Alabama and from Amazonia to Africa, Asia and Australia. What I've learned has convinced me that modern medicine's blind faith in pharmaceutical "smart missiles"--drugs designed to strike narrowly defined disease targets--can oft times be misguided. If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on the herbal alternative to be cheaper, safer and overall better for you than its synthetic counterpart. Trouble is, doctors, drug companies, even the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have so far seemed unwilling to take that bet. Open most any issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and you'll read about comparative head-on trials of various drugs: Hytrin® versus Proscar® for benign prostatic hypertrophy (enlarged prostate), dihydroergotamine versus sumatriptan for acute migraine and so on. Omitted from virtually all of these studies, however, is any consideration of the herbal alternatives, regardless of their potential. The National Cancer Institute is even now funding a comparison of the drugs tamoxifen and raloxifene to see which is the better breast cancer preventative. Never mind that tamoxifen increases a woman's risk for uterine cancer and blood clots. Meanwhile, the American Cancer Society (ACS) continues to insist that there's no proof that any food or diet helps. How can it know? Until tamoxifen and raloxifene are compared to standardized bean soup (40 milligrams of isoflavones per cup) and/or to kudzu (our best source of the natural phyto-estrogen, daidzein) no one knows for sure--not you, me or the ACS. Likewise, we can't know whether or not red beans and kudzu are, as I suspect, effective at warding off osteoporosis (though it's interesting to note that the pharmaceutical alternative, ipriflavone, is converted to daidzen in the stomach). What I do know is that if I exercise enough growing my red beans and picking my kudzu, I just might prevent osteoporosis. I'm also rather convinced that, when it comes to combating migraines, oral feverfew, even with its own potential side effects (i.e., canker sores, gastrointestinal distress), is safer, if not more efficacious--at least at prevention, and prevention is better than cure--than either of the leading, competing pharmaceuticals. Still, it'd be nice to have the clinical data to prove it. A 1996 study, sponsored in part by Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, showed dihydroergotamine (a Sandoz product) to be better than its competitor, sumatriptan. How easy and what good public relations it would have been for Sandoz to include the cheaper herbal alternative, standardized feverfew extract, in its study for the benefit of the more than 43 million uninsured Americans for whom conventional pharmaceuticals are priced out of reach. If feverfew proved safe and even modestly efficacious, Sandoz and America would be all the better off. Five "Ifs" for the New Herbalist In my lectures over the past decade I have stridently campaigned for comparative trials of medicinal herbs and their corresponding pharmaceuticals. It's become one of the main raisons d'etre of my sunrise years. While herbal remedies may not be for everyone, every time, they're well worth considering: If you are one of the nearly 20% of Americans who can't afford prescription drugs--or the doctors who prescribe them. If your last visit to the doctor took less time than your last trip through the car wash. Today's HMO physicians spend on average six minutes with each patient. And, worse still, they don't seem to be listening: One study showed male doctors interrupting patient responses after 14 seconds, while female doctors cut in after 40. If you have reason to doubt your diagnosis. Even with today's advanced diagnostic technologies, some 50% of Lyme disease diagnoses are wrong, while an estimated 20% of adult coughs are believed to be undiagnosed pertussis, or whooping cough. If you have comorbid factors, or more than one thing ailing you (most of us do). If you are deficient in any essential vitamin, mineral or other nutrient (most of us are). If you fit into any or all of the above "iffy" categories, the herbal alternative may be right for you. Herbs are accessible, largely affordable and don't require an expensive visit to your doctor. More important, most every herb contains thousands of biologically active phytochemicals, a few or dozens or hundreds of which will, if purposefully selected and ingested in the right amount, help to prevent, treat or reduce the symptoms of whatever's troubling you, plus alleviate some or all of your comorbid factors, diagnosed or not. And, as an added bonus, the "herbal shotgun" provides many of the nutrients missing from or underrepresented in the average American diet. If it's an essential element, mineral, amino or fatty acid, precursor peptide, enzyme or vitamin you're lacking, a little--and most herbs give you a little, more of most or all of the above--can go a long a way. But perhaps the most compelling reason to turn to herbs is that our genes and the genes of Earth's friendly flora have enjoyed a lengthy history together--a history that began several million years ago near the Great Rift Valley, where our ancestral genes first met the ancestral genes of African composites...some edible, some medicinal, some poisonous. Herbs are nothing if not biologically familiar. They are also biologically complex. What is perhaps one of the simplest herbs, the four-chromosome Arabidopsis, has some 20,000 genes, each coding for a master chemical controlling one or more physiological activity (amazing when you consider humans, in all of our conscious glory, have only about 100,000 genes). Among these tens of thousands of phytochemicals we are likely to find dozens that are beneficial to our health, as well as a few that, in large quantities, could be detrimental. But familiarity breeds discretion. The human body, with its proclivity for homeostasis, has through the ages become adept at sequestering the compounds it needs, and at the proper levels, while filtering out the rest--and with no guidance from you, your doctor or your pharmacist. Conversely, the body hasn't an innate clue how to process the physician's silver bullet, which likely contains one or a few synthetic chemicals never before experienced by you or your ancestors. And even if it is a phytochemical drug--some 25% to 40% of all pharmaceuticals are plant derived--its active compounds may behave very differently outside of their "natural habitat" and in proportions not known in the wild. The human body, exposed to unnatural chemicals or natural chemicals in unnatural concentrations, is too-often stumped, sometimes with dire consequences. When "Cures" Kill A quarter to half of all Americans (depending on whose statistics you believe) rely on herbs or herbal supplements to prevent or treat one affliction or another, or simply to promote good health. Last year some 40 people died from the misuse of herbs, and while that's 40 too many, it does not begin to approach the percentage of casualties caused by HMO-covered physicians and their FDA-approved pharmaceuticals. Even if we assume for argument's sake that 100% of us are taking at least one synthetic drug (even I took seven Aleve pills in 1998 for a trick knee) that would mean that between 80 and 120 deaths a year would put conventional pharmacueticals on a par with the herbal alternatives. Yet, according to two different articles published in JAMA in the last two years, prescription drugs kill nearly a thousand times that many people every year. And we all pay the price, with the estimated costs of drug-related morbidity and mortality in America running close to $150 billion annually. Meanwhile, many HMOs still refuse to cover the costs of "unproven" alternative therapies. What they ignore, and many of their members may not know, is that plenty of modern medical practices also have not been proven to improve prognosis (e.g., angioplasty) and in fact in some cases have been shown to do more harm than good. An estimated 8,000 to 20,000 lives are lost each year to commonly prescribed nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) alone. (NSAIDS, including aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen, are capable pain relievers, but prolonged use can lead to serious and sometimes fatal damage to the stomach, intestines and kidneys.) Moreover, according to one JAMA-published study, 3 of every 1,000 patients admitted to U.S. hospitals die from the medicine they receive there--whether from a hospital-contracted infection, a fatal drug reaction or some other unforeseen iatrogenic injury. How, you ask, can all of this be happening under the ever watchful eye of our assiduous FDA? Surely you've heard the expression: "Only time will tell." Of 198 FDA-approved drugs reviewed between 1976 and 1985, 51.5% were recalled and relabeled to warn against side effects that somehow escaped notice during the seven to twelve years of clinical trials generally required before a drug is made available to you and me. Six were found to be so seriously flawed, they were eventually pulled from the market entirely. More recently, between September 1997 and 1998, five prescription medications--including both halves of that now infamous deadly diet duo fenfluramine and phentermine, or "fen-phen"--were recalled due to unexpected adverse reactions. Now, admittedly, fenfluramine was never intended as a weight-loss drug, nor was it approved for long-term use (its inclusion in fen-phen is what is known as an "off-label" application). But even when taken appropriately, market drugs still rank, according to a recent JAMA-published study, among the top ten causes of death in the United States. A Kinder, Gentler Medicine Faced with skyrocketing health-care costs and uncertain outcomes, Americans are increasingly turning to alternative medicine: In 1990 nonconventional practitioners in the U.S. saw a total 425 million visits--39 million more than did all of the nation's primary care physicians combined. Why are more and more of us paying out of pocket for nontraditional therapies, when our insurers will cover much of the cost of traditional care? Maybe we are getting helped more or hurt less or both. My faith in what I have come to call the "Green Farmacy" is tied to the shared dependence that all of life--human, animal and plant--has on chlorophyll, the molecular powerhouse that drives the process of photosynthesis. Chlorophyll enables plants to turn carbon dioxide and water into life-sustaining sugars, coincidentally ensuring the oxygen we breath, the food we eat and the natural fibers that still clothe many of us. Given that plants provide our very sustenance--that we depend on them to fill our lungs and our stomachs--doesn't it only make sense that this green lifeblood should capably fill our medicine chests too? After all, this dependence is no accident; it is the result of millions of years of co-evolution, during which our genes and plant genes developed a shared chemical language, engaging in many of the same life-giving reactions. By contrast, synthetic medicines have been around for only about 200 years. They are relative strangers (or strange relatives) to our genes and consequently produce more ill and sometimes fatal side effects than the more genetically familiar herbal alternative. Is there a place for conventional pharmaceuticals? Yes. If you suffer from a single ailment that has been correctly diagnosed, the physician's monocompound silver bullet will likely help you and may in fact be the best thing for you. But if your diagnosis is off or other comorbid factors are present, that silver bullet may well miss one or more of its marks. Dr. Duke's Bakers Dozen While I agree in spirit with the age-old adage, in truth it takes more than an apple a day to keep the doctor away. Throw in some regular exercise, about nine more servings of fruits and vegetables and some basic herbs or herbal supplements, and now you've got a recipe for long-lasting good health. At age 70 and still (knock wood) fit as a fiddle, I rely in large part on the following 13 herbs to keep not only the doctor, but also all manner of aches and ailments at bay. Bilberry: A potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, this berry can help to slow or prevent deterioration of the eyes. It can be eaten fresh or dried, or taken as an extract in liquid or pill form. I usually get mine in standardized capsules, but when blueberries are in season, they work too. Celery Seed: I take this common spice daily to help ward off gout and alleviate arthritis pain. With nearly two dozen anti-inflammatory compounds, it packs quite a punch. Add dried seed to soups, stews or tomato sauces, or take two 450 milligram capsules twice a day before meals. Echinacea and Garlic: I rely on this dynamic duo (the first as a supplement, the latter fresh from the garden or produce market when I'm home, in pills on the road) to protect against colds, flu and cancer. Garlic also gets points for lowering blood pressure and reducing "bad" cholesterol. Saw Palmetto: I take this herbal supplement to protect against the prostate trouble that strikes two of every three men over age 65. (German clinical trials have already shown it to be as effective and considerably safer than the leading pharmaceutical alternative.) I also take a small dose of Evening Primrose to work with my saw palmetto at reducing prostatic inflammation. Milk Thistle: I turn to this proven detoxifier to guard against or slow down deterioration of the liver. Take the dosage recommended for standardized extracts. I rely on Ginkgo supplements (standardized extract taken at labeled dosages) to protect and preserve my brain, as well as peripheral circulation. (In patients with Alzheimer's, it may even help to slow the progress of the disease.) When stress gets the upper hand, I lower the book--and my tension level--with a strained tea of Hawaiian Kava, or else I take a standardized extract of kava kava as directed. Never undervalue the ability to relax the body: stress wreaks havoc on the immune system, opening us up to a whole host of health problems. St. John's Wort serves as an immune system- and mood-booster, particularly during the short days and long nights of winter, when, like millions of Americans, I sometimes suffer the mild blues associated with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). On those rare days, if I can't get to the tropics, I find sunshine in the standardized St. John's wort pill. Horse Chestnut helps keep painful varicose veins from forming and helps to prevent swelling of my arthritic joints. While I don't take it daily, I probably should, in standardized extract form as recommended. Turmeric, the zesty root in curry, works like those expensive miracle aspirins (COX-2 inhibitors) for arthritic and other inflammations, only it's much cheaper and possibly much safer. Use as a spice for cooking or take capsule-standardized curcumin (the active compound in turmeric) as directed. * And finally, standardized Hawthorn Extract is my first-choice heart guard--and a must for cardiac-prone people given that heart disease is the number-one killer in America, claiming lives at the rate of about one a minute. Some years ago, I was privy to a conversation among a group of medical researchers who were weighing potential target sites for a new class of arthritis drugs. One argued rather obviously that the drugs should target susceptible receptor sites. "Which one?" countered another, pointing with frustration to the sheer number of potential targets. Someone else used the word "chaos" to describe the hundreds of organic chemicals that can influence the hundreds of physiological reactions that play a role in the many kinds of arthritis. These M.D.s were in search of a pharmaceutical smart missile that would impact just one or a very few of these reactions. Trouble is, it's hard to aim that precisely, and, even if you hit the target, there's no telling what effect the reverberations of that shot will have on neighboring reactions. One of the scientists posed what I found a particularly apt analogy: A drug gunning for a disease target is, he suggested, like a pelican diving for fish. (A school of fish is, in turn, like a well-coordinated group of homeostatic equations, functioning as a unit, yet strengthened by the numbers.) The pelican may come up with one, perhaps a couple, fish, but no one bird will ever get the whole school. The Green Farmacy's synergetic shotgun behaves more like a flock of coordinated pelicans, working in concert to conquer the school. I'd bet that many arthritics would benefit, for instance, by trading in some of their steroids and analgesics for turmeric, a spice rich in curcumin, a natural cyclo-oxygenase (COX-2) inhibitor that seems to be safer than the celebrated new COX-2 inhibiting pharmaceuticals, Celebrex and Vioxx. (COX-2 is an enzyme produced in injured tissue that causes pain and swelling. Drugs designed to inhibit this enzyme burst onto the market in late 1998, beginning with Celebrex. Already this new "miracle aspirin" has had to be relabeled once to warn against unforeseen complications in patients also taking blood thinners such as Warfarin. But that hasn't slowed physicians' pens: By last May, just five months after its approval, 4 million prescriptions of Celebrex had been dispensed nationwide.) While admittedly neither the pharmacy nor "farmacy" has come close to a cure for arthritis and its crippling effects, I'd wager that a complex herbal shotgun like turmeric--with its thousands of life-sustaining chemicals--is going to leave fewer fish in the water than would its synthetic single-shot counterpart. Putting Herbs to the Test After lecturing to more than ten groups of physicians, as well as dozens of times to nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and pharmaceutical firms, I have been joined by several physician colleagues in compiling a tabulation of herbal alternatives for specific ailments that deserve scientific comparison with the generally recommended pharmaceutical. Moreover, I have located sponsors willing to offer a modicum of support, as well as standardized herbal preparations comparable to those now approved in Europe. This support will be offered to physicians who share my belief that until such trials have been performed we cannot be sure the physician's pharmaceutical is the best medicine. (I invite interested physicians to contact me at jimduke@cpcug.org.) I want the best medicine for myself, my family and for America if we can afford it. But today, we don't know which is best. Let's change that. Talk with your physician if you are herbally inclined. Tell him or her you would like to be a guinea pig in the trial of the new millennium, the herbal David versus the pharmaceutical Goliath. She or he might be willing to include you in the herbal half of double-blind placebo-controlled trials comparing the herb with the pharmaceutical. I can even foresee David and Goliath putting down their weapons and reaching a compromise: pharmaceutical firms could team up with herbal firms, sharing in the "green" (in more ways than one) should the herb prove marginally useful or even better than the synthetic drug. If the pharmaceutical firms don't wish to participate, then the National Institutes of Health should step in to perform the comparative trials. This way we might offer affordable herbal help and hope to the impoverished 20% of our population. You may find it entertaining and informative to ask your physician what pharmaceutical he or she would recommend for a given disease included on the chart. Then you can really entertain yourself by asking him or her if there is any proof that the recommended drug is better than the herbal alternative. Since our FDA rarely accepts data from overseas, we will continue to wallow in our own ignorance. Until comparative, U.S. trials have been performed, neither you nor I, nor your nor my physician, nor any pharmacist can say for sure that the pharmaceutical is better than the herbal alternative. My resolution for the New Year (and century and millennium) is to catalyze these comparative head-on trials here in America. And my timing may just be right: I am delighted to report that Duke University (no relation) is involved in a three-year clinical comparison of Zoloft (sertralin) and St. John's wort (hypericum). This is the first big American comparison of a top-selling drug with a top-selling herbal extract. Let me predict the outcome, rightly or wrongly: The herb will prove to be as (or almost as) effective, but will have fewer side effects. That is what German researchers found when comparing saw palmetto with Proscar® (finasteride), the first FDA-approved pharmaceutical for treating enlarged prostate, and that is the prediction I will venture for most of the couplets, the Davids versus the Goliaths. America deserves and needs the best medicines. Until the better herbals have been compared with the better pharmaceuticals, we simply don't know that we have the best drugs. Dr. Duke's (Baker's) Dozen While I agree in spirit with the age-old adage, in truth it takes more than an apple a day to keep the doctor away. Throw in some regular exercise, about nine more servings of fruits and vegetables and some basic herbs or herbal supplements, and now you've got a recipe for long-lasting good health. At age 70 and still (knock wood) fit as a fiddle, I rely in large part on the following 13 herbs to keep not only the doctor, but also all manner of aches and ailments at bay. Bilberry: A potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, this berry can help to slow or prevent deterioration of the eyes. It can be eaten fresh or dried, or taken as an extract in liquid or pill form. I usually get mine in standardized capsules, but when blueberries are in season, they work too. Celery Seed: I take this common spice daily to help ward off gout and alleviate arthritis pain. With nearly two dozen anti-inflammatory compounds, it packs quite a punch. Add dried seed to soups, stews or tomato sauces, or take two 450 milligram capsules twice a day before meals. Echinacea and Garlic: I rely on this dynamic duo (the first as a supplement, the latter fresh from the garden or produce market when I'm home, in pills on the road) to protect against colds, flu and cancer. Garlic also gets points for lowering blood pressure and reducing "bad" cholesterol. Saw Palmetto: I take this herbal supplement to protect against the prostate trouble that strikes two of every three men over age 65. (German clinical trials have already shown it to be as effective and considerably safer than the leading pharmaceutical alternative.) I also take a small dose of Evening Primrose to work with my saw palmetto at reducing prostatic inflammation. Milk Thistle: I turn to this proven detoxifier to guard against or slow down deterioration of the liver. Take the dosage recommended for standardized extracts. I rely on Ginkgo supplements (standardized extract taken at labeled dosages) to protect and preserve my brain, as well as peripheral circulation. (In patients with Alzheimer's, it may even help to slow the progress of the disease.) When stress gets the upper hand, I lower the book--and my tension level--with a strained tea of Hawaiian Kava, or else I take a standardized extract of kava kava as directed. Never undervalue the ability to relax the body: stress wreaks havoc on the immune system, opening us up to a whole host of health problems. St. John's Wort serves as an immune system- and mood-booster, particularly during the short days and long nights of winter, when, like millions of Americans, I sometimes suffer the mild blues associated with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). On those rare days, if I can't get to the tropics, I find sunshine in the standardized St. John's wort pill. Horse Chestnut helps keep painful varicose veins from forming and helps to prevent swelling of my arthritic joints. While I don't take it daily, I probably should, in standardized extract form as recommended. Turmeric, the zesty root in curry, works like those expensive miracle aspirins (COX-2 inhibitors) for arthritic and other inflammations, only it's much cheaper and possibly much safer. Use as a spice for cooking or take capsule-standardized curcumin (the active compound in turmeric) as directed. * And finally, standardized Hawthorn Extract is my first-choice heart guard--and a must for cardiac-prone people given that heart disease is the number-one killer in America, claiming lives at the rate of about one a minute. For more information on the healing properties, dosages and potential side effects (both good and bad) of the above herbs, check out Dr. Duke's new book, Dr. Duke's Essential Herbs (Rodale Press, October 1999). Dr. Duke's Bakers Dozen While I agree in spirit with the age-old adage, in truth it takes more than an apple a day to keep the doctor away. Throw in some regular exercise, about nine more servings of fruits and vegetables and some basic herbs or herbal supplements, and now you've got a recipe for long-lasting good health. At age 70 and still (knock wood) fit as a fiddle, I rely in large part on the following 13 herbs to keep not only the doctor, but also all manner of aches and ailments at bay. Bilberry: A potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, this berry can help to slow or prevent deterioration of the eyes. It can be eaten fresh or dried, or taken as an extract in liquid or pill form. I usually get mine in standardized capsules, but when blueberries are in season, they work too. Celery Seed: I take this common spice daily to help ward off gout and alleviate arthritis pain. With nearly two dozen anti-inflammatory compounds, it packs quite a punch. Add dried seed to soups, stews or tomato sauces, or take two 450 milligram capsules twice a day before meals. Echinacea and Garlic: I rely on this dynamic duo (the first as a supplement, the latter fresh from the garden or produce market when I'm home, in pills on the road) to protect against colds, flu and cancer. Garlic also gets points for lowering blood pressure and reducing "bad" cholesterol. Saw Palmetto: I take this herbal supplement to protect against the prostate trouble that strikes two of every three men over age 65. (German clinical trials have already shown it to be as effective and considerably safer than the leading pharmaceutical alternative.) I also take a small dose of Evening Primrose to work with my saw palmetto at reducing prostatic inflammation. Milk Thistle: I turn to this proven detoxifier to guard against or slow down deterioration of the liver. Take the dosage recommended for standardized extracts. I rely on Ginkgo supplements (standardized extract taken at labeled dosages) to protect and preserve my brain, as well as peripheral circulation. (In patients with Alzheimer's, it may even help to slow the progress of the disease.) When stress gets the upper hand, I lower the book--and my tension level--with a strained tea of Hawaiian Kava, or else I take a standardized extract of kava kava as directed. Never undervalue the ability to relax the body: stress wreaks havoc on the immune system, opening us up to a whole host of health problems. St. John's Wort serves as an immune system- and mood-booster, particularly during the short days and long nights of winter, when, like millions of Americans, I sometimes suffer the mild blues associated with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). On those rare days, if I can't get to the tropics, I find sunshine in the standardized St. John's wort pill. Horse Chestnut helps keep painful varicose veins from forming and helps to prevent swelling of my arthritic joints. While I don't take it daily, I probably should, in standardized extract form as recommended. Turmeric, the zesty root in curry, works like those expensive miracle aspirins (COX-2 inhibitors) for arthritic and other inflammations, only it's much cheaper and possibly much safer. Use as a spice for cooking or take capsule-standardized curcumin (the active compound in turmeric) as directed. * And finally, standardized Hawthorn Extract is my first-choice heart guard--and a must for cardiac-prone people given that heart disease is the number-one killer in America, claiming lives at the rate of about one a minute. http://www.theherbalinsider.com/archives/52

(ORIGINALLY POSTED BY RECI) The Multi-Vitamin Garden Ten unexpected ways to increase your vegetable self-sufficiency. By Susan Glaese Dr. Wright's Book of Nutritional Therapy (Rodale, 1979) makes the point that, though our bodies and their nutritional requirements haven't changed all that much from the time when we were hunter-gatherers, our eating habits have changed dramatically-and recently. The refined foods that most of us subsist on have been around for barely 100 years. That means gardeners don't have to reach so very far back to create a diet superior to that of the average American. Even the act of growing your food provides an essential vitamin-D, from sunshine. And a person can grow enough food to supply the rest of his or her complete nutritional needs for one year in a space of only 1,000 square feet. Yet few of us put any real thought into the nutritional values of the crops we grow. If we did, I imagine we'd be surprised by our discoveries. Indeed, the crops that rate as nutritional "superstars" aren't even raised by most gardeners. To help you boost the health-promoting power of your garden, we've assembled cultivation information on ten of the all-around most healthful plants you can grow. Sunflowers If you read through the vitamin and mineral chart on page 60, you'll see that sunflower seeds are a nutritional powerhouse. They are amazingly health-promoting, but there's a hitch: The nutritious nuggets are packaged quite well. Some folks dehull their seeds by putting them in a blender with water (the chopped hulls float, while the heavier seeds sink)...by rubbing them across a screen box made of hardware cloth...by running them through a hand mill...or by just plain shelling them by hand. In truth, there is no easy way in; build a better home-scale sunflower seed huller and the world will beat a path to your door. Some sources will tell you to plant sunflower seeds in warm weather, but I've seen magnificent volunteers pop up when I was still in long johns. You might try sowing both early and late in the season. Full sun is a sunflower's delight, as is adequately drained soil...though the crop will tolerate less than ideal conditions. With little other care, the golden monarchs will reward you with a burst of colorful bloom and then later with large seed heads. (You may want to tie some sort of netting loosely over these to keep birds from eating your crop.) Sunflowers are a Native American crop-one that was used extensively by the Indians. And based on their food and flavor value, they're still heroes in their own country. Mammoth Russian and Giant Single sunflowers both have particularly high protein contents. Millet The ancient Hunzas and Chinese knew something most of us don't; millet was one of the first grains to be domesticated. And with good reason: Millet contains more of the essential amino acids-and is more easily digested-than wheat, rye, oats, rice or barley. Yet the only time most Americans use millet is to feed caged birds! It's also widely used as a livestock feed (I bought the seed I planted from a local feed-and-seed store). Millet is becoming more popular as food for humans, though, and can now be purchased at food co-ops, health food stores and even some chain groceries. Proso, or broomcorn millet, and pearl millet (which is said to be easy to thresh) are the varieties most used for human consumption. Pearl millet has long, compact seed heads-the plants look a lot like cattails-and has been grown as emergency forage on many a farm when fall was approaching and a quick crop was needed. (Millet will yield good livestock forage in as little as one month.) While millet grows best in fertile ground, it's known for its hardiness in poor soils and under dry conditions. It's also quite disease- and pest-resistant. It can be sowed any time from spring to early fall, depending on the climate. You can broadcast seed onto prepared ground and chop it in about one to three inches deep with a heavy metal rake. Or, in a small garden, you can plant it closely in rows. Harvest the seed heads about three months after sowing. Be sure to get them before they're fully ripe, or foraging birds will leave you nary a one. Tie the heads together and hang them upside down in a dry place-inside a bag or else loose if your storage area is free from mice. (Does such a place exist?) You can grind the seeds finely, hull and all, or flail or winnow them as our forebears did. My main uses for millet have been as a breakfast cereal, mixed with rice in stir-fried dishes and as an extender in bread and fish loaves. There's no shortage of good recipes for this grain in health-oriented and international cookbooks. (And any you don't eat makes great hay or hen feed.) So if you want to take one more step toward nutritional self-sufficiency, try a home plot of millet. Sesame I saw my first sesame plant at the Blue Ridge Institute's Farm Museum in Ferrum, Virginia, and was intrigued even then. But after doing research for this article and discovering sesame's high percentage of niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, vitamin E, calcium, iron, manganese, phosphorus and protein, I decided to grow some myself. Sesame was smuggled into this country by African Americans, who called it benne. It's the basis for the popular Middle Eastern sauce and condiment tahini-which has helped people realize sesame can be used for more than a topping on hamburger buns. Seeds can also be added to cake, cookie and bread recipes to boost their nutritional quality. And there's an old tradition of making benne cakes and candy, with sesame as the principal ingredient. A tender annual, benne requires 70 to 110 days of full sunshine, and good spacing (at least 12 inches) between plants for aeration. The long taproot makes it sensitive to transplanting but also serves as its hedge against drought. In midsummer, the three-foot-tall plants form attractive purple-white flowers...which eventually become small hairy pods loaded with seed. The pods' tendency to ripen unevenly and propel their seed in bursts makes this crop a misfit in the world of industrial agriculture, but a fine orphan child for the home gardener. Dried Beans Stamp collecting is fun, but bean collecting is fun, tasty and nutritious. I'll admit I've been bitten by the bean-collecting bug. How can anyone ignore a crop that's easy to grow, harvest and store, fun to thresh, a nitrogen-fixer and a great source of low-fat protein? Snap and shell beans will dry if you let them, but there are dozens of specific dried bean cultivars. Colors and patterns abound. Names, too: Although most everyone knows about navy, pinto, black, kidney and Great Northern beans, how many people have heard of Lazy Wife, Gramma Walters, Montezuma Red and Mortgage Lifter? You can grow bush or pole varieties of many dried beans. The bush kind take less work, but some folks swear the poles have more flavor. Except for favas, all beans love warm weather. You can also inoculate the seeds with rhizobium bacteria to help the root nodules fix nitrogen in your soil. Presoaking the seeds will sometimes cause them to split, so I give them a head start by rolling them up in damp cloths or paper towels that are then stored in plastic bags. When the root tip (or radical) starts to protrude, plant them tip down one to two inches under the soil, depending on the variety's seed size. Keep an eye out for Mexican bean beetles-you can squash or handpick the bugs, eggs and larvae. Better yet, interplant the beans with potatoes; the two companions tend to repel each other's pests. For best results, the plants should be kept generally free from weeds and well-watered. Still, we've successfully grown several kinds of dried beans in a field that received no irrigation and little cultivation. Their hardiness is impressive. As fall wears on, your beans will dry as they stand-branch, leaf and pod. When your other harvest chores slow a bit, pull the bean plants up and hang them to dry further. There are various home-scale methods of threshing them (separating the beans from their pods); we've put them in a sack and shuffled and clogged all over them! You can freeze the beans for a few days to kill weevils and their eggs. Then dry them some more until you can't dent them with your teeth. That's it. Store them in a lidded glass jar and the colorful seeds will add to your kitchen as well as to your diet. Soybeans Of course, soybeans are the nutritional king of the dried beans-high in protein, calcium and vitamins. Read Peanuts Native to Peru, these nutritional legumes are used to climates with 120 days of frost-free, sunny weather. Now, many of you will read that sentence and want to skip over to the next crop, but wait: There are peanut varieties that do well even in Canada! How so? Because while the nuts need warm soil for germination, the plants can survive light spring and fall frosts without suffering harm. Any peanuts you plant must be raw, with the skin around each seed still intact. You can plant them in or out of the shell. Since soaking them overnight in warm water helps them get off to a quicker start, "shell planters" may want to crack those coverings a bit and then soak their nuts, shell and all. If you live in a warm area, you can sow your crop directly into the garden after your last spring frost date. Folks in cooler climes can try starting peanuts indoors four to six weeks earlier. Use large pots-say, old paper milk cartons-for this; the roots don't like to be disturbed. And space your plants about 18 inches apart. After the plants flower, they'll produce pegs that grow down into the soil and then form the goobers. So be sure to raise your crop in loose soil. (Peanuts don't, however, need a lot of extra soil nutrients.) You can even hill up the soil some around the plants to help the runners meet the ground that much sooner. About 60 to 80 days after the pegs submerge, start checking your hidden nuts. When ripe, they should be deep pink-not pale pink or milky-with well-indented hulls. The plant leaves themselves will start to pale as the crop matures. It's a rare crop that grows up out of the ground only to return to it. Why not match peanuts' novel perseverance yourself? Give goober raising a try! DGLVs Almost all the dark green leafy vegetables (DGLVs) are nutrient-rich. However, spinach, beet greens and Swiss chard are also high in oxalic acid, which inhibits the body's full use of their calcium. For that reason, I'm going to bounce them from the "nutritional superstar" category and focus on four other-perhaps less appreciated-DGLVs: turnip greens, broccoli leaves, kale and parsley. Turnip Greens If you've been harvesting turnip roots and composting the tops, you've been throwing good nutrition away: the leaves are rich in vitamins A, C and calcium. Raising turnips (beets, too) is growing two crops in one I broadcast seed onto a prepared bed, being careful not to oversow. As leaves first appear, I thin them for use in salads, soups and stews. When the roots start crowding, I pull whole plants, often feeding the small globes to rabbits or chickens. Soon the remaining plants stretch their stems and the leaves get to be about six inches across. Then it's a snap to pick enough outer fronds for a meal, while leaving plenty of foliage to feed the plant roots. What could be easier? Broccoli Leaves Seems like most everybody knows how to grow broccoli, but few people realize that, like turnips, it's a multiple-use crop. Peeled and chopped stems are excellent stir-fried, and the leaves make perfectly good cooked greens. Those fronds contain 16,000 IU (international units) of vitamin A per cup (three times the RDA). In fact,they're better for you than the plant heads are! There's certainly more justification for the space broccoli takes in your garden if you use all its parts. Kale Kale's attractive greenery packs over ten times the vitamin A as the same amount of iceberg lettuce, has more vitamin C per weight than orange juice, and provides more calcium than equivalent amounts of cow's milk. It can be grown from Florida to Alaska with very little effort-it seems to thrive on neglect. Like most members of the brassica family, kale is descended from sea cabbage, from whence it got those waxy, moisture-conserving leaves. It's a biennial, storing food the first year to help it produce the next year's seeds (that's why those first-year leaves are so nutritious). And it's quite frost-hardy, lasting through winter in many locations-even under snow-to produce a second growth come spring. To plant kale, prepare your soil, broadcast the seed and chop it in with a heavy metal garden rake. If conditions are particularly dry, you might sprinkle a thin layer of straw on top to conserve moisture. Kale grows best when mixed with organic matter and perhaps some lime in the soil. Plants thrive when thinned to about six inches apart and exposed to cool temperatures. Young tender leaves are a delicacy. I chop them raw in salads or steam them as greens. But they achieve their peak flavor after the first frost. The classic Southern way to serve cooked greens is with chopped onions and a bit of vinegar, a sour-sounding but surprisingly sweet-tasting combination. The widely available Blue Scotch variety is high in vitamin A. Parsley That curled decoration on your dinner plate is actually one of the meal's most nutritious ingredients. If you're smart enough to eat those two sprigs of garnish, you'll be getting your RDA of both vitamins A and C. While parsley can be started indoors, I start mine in April by soaking the seeds overnight in warm water (this slow-starting crop needs all the germinating help it can get!), sowing them directly onto a prepared bed and then sifting a fine layer of good soil over the top. A light covering of straw helps keep the soil moist during that long wait for germination. As the season winds on, that skimpy stand of wispy seedlings becomes a thick patch of deep green beauty. Parsley loves sunshine, but if you're in a climate with intense summer heat, you should grow it under the shade of some taller plants to help it retain moisture. The mature sprigs are quite cold-hardy and-along with sprouts-will bring life and greens to your winter kitchen. So there you have ten health-giving heroes of the garden. Some are a bit exotic; and others have probably already been growing, unappreciated, right under your nose. All can help to make vegetable gardening better for you than it's ever been before. (From Mother Earth News; Jun/Jul2000, Issue 180)

Did you know more of the world's people consume goat milk than cow milk. Goats are hardy animals: They adapt well to heat and cold, productively forage and graze, require little space and are inexpensive to keep. Since mature does (females) usually weigh between 120 to 135 pounds (dwarf breeds can weigh between 35 to 85 pounds), they're much easier to handle than hefty cows, which can weigh 1,000 pounds each. Goats may surprise you in other ways, as well. They're highly intelligent, remarkably friendly creatures. And, since they're active, extremely agile and very curious, their antics can amuse you for hours. With all that in mind, it's easy to see why dairy goats can be the ideal addition to today's family farm or homestead.

Tall Tipis Imagine a circular room, 16 feet across with ceilings 12 feet high; a room, filled with lush, diffused light, that can be built in less than an hour and transported in the back of your pickup. Now imagine this room functions as your sole living space for cooking, sleeping and storage. Many modern tipis include raised wooden floors for the sleeping area. This addition to an otherwise austere interior keeps bedding and clothes free from creepy-crawlies and the inevitable dust and dampness brought in from outside. A fire pit or carefully vented small woodstove in the tipi's center provides heat during winter months or cool mornings and evenings. Living in a tipi is an exercise in simplicity. The simple, graceful lines lend a peaceful aura to the tall, spacious interior. A small fire or kerosene lantern provides adequate light for cooking, reading or guitar playing. Kate Robbins, a counselor from Spokane, Washington, imagines the amber glow of a tipi's interior to be womblike. In his mid-20s, Harry Janicki of Bend, Oregon, lived in a tipi for five years. "Living in a tipi was the best experience of my life," he says. "It taught me patience and what was really important to survive: shelter." When you live in a tipi there aren't 6-inch-thick walls separating you from the elements - just a thin skin of canvas. "You're more in tune with your environment living through all the seasons in a tipi," Janicki says. Prior to the introduction of horses to North America, tipis were small, 8 to 14 feet in diameter, since the poles and buffalo skin coverings were pulled on travois from one encampment to another by dogs or women. Once the American Indian plains people acquired horses, tipi designs expanded into the shape and style we're familiar with today. By the late 1800s, after the near extermination of the buffalo herds, tipi covers made from bolts of canvas provided by the U.S. government replaced the 10 to 14 buffalo skins needed for the earlier style. Tipis are a marvel of engineering simplicity. In about an hour, two people can easily erect a 16-foot-diameter tipi with 22-foot-long poles. The conical shape of the structure makes it stable in the high winds that often blow briskly across the Great Plains, and closable smoke flaps keep driving rains outside. Tipis routinely are transported to powwows, barter fairs and rendezvous on a truck's carrying racks. Tipis are made up of four basic components: the poles, the canvas cover, and the rope and dowels that hold the tipi together. To erect a tipi, three poles are lashed together to form a tripod against which the other poles lean. Next the rope securing the tripod is wound around the intersection of all the poles. No ladder is needed. One person walks three or four times around the outside of the poles, with rope in hand, occasionally snapping the rope to keep it high up at the intersection. The rope is then brought to the inside of the tipi circle and yanked firmly to lock it between two of the tightly-bound poles. To put the canvas on the tipi poles, the cover is laid out on the ground, the lifting pole is laid over the cover's middle and the cover is tied to the pole. After rolling each side of the canvas toward the lifting pole, the pole's end is set in place among the others. If two people are erecting the structure, each takes a side of the tipi cover and pulls it around the poles until the sides meet in the middle on the far side. Dowels are used to "button" the two sides together. Last, two slightly smaller poles are inserted into the smoke-hole flaps on the top front of the cover. These poles allow the smoke flaps to be opened, closed and positioned for better smoke draft. A tipi's basic building technique is easy and can be accomplished (with the exception of the tripod, which requires two people to erect) by even a smallish person without bulging biceps. Depending on the weather and how long the tipi will be left standing, a liner called a dew cloth can be strung inside the tipi. The liner's effect is threefold: It keeps morning dew or heavy rain from dripping on inhabitants, provides some insulation in cold weather and helps create an updraft to pull the smoke straight up and out the smoke hole. Tipi poles are made from lodgepole pine trees, which grow all over the western United States and in some southeastern states. Their toothpicklike appearance and light weight make them the natural choice for tipi poles. The poles are usually harvested in the spring or fall when the sap is moving, making bark-stripping easier. The branches are easily removed with a hatchet or ax. After peeling the bark, the knots where the branches were need to be sanded to a very smooth finish. Even small, sharp protrusions will rip the canvas skin. While there may be only one good type of wood for making tipi poles, there are many manufacturers of canvas covers and accessories. You can purchase a tipi with or without a decorative canvas. Dozens of beautifully rendered, American Indian-inspired designs are available, or you can paint your own with a water-based acrylic paint. YURTS Sturdy Yurts Yurts may not be as familiar to Americans as tipis, but these sturdy, spacious dwellings are equally appealing. Inexpensive, easy-to-assemble and comfortable even in cold weather, yurts suit a variety of housing needs. For eons, nomads following herds of yak and sheep have used flexible saplings, such as willow, as framework for their portable homes, called yurts. The coverings for traditional yurts, known as gers (rhymes with "hairs") in Mongolia, are made of wool felt; as many as eight covers may be piled on top of each other to combat the 50-degrees-below-zero winter weather. Although a yurt has more structural pieces than a tipi and its engineering principles are more complicated, a yurt large enough for a family of four can be transported to the site in a pickup and can be erected in less than a day. The strength of most modern yurt frames comes from a tension cable that encircles the trellislike frame of the walls, holding it to the desired diameter. The roof rafters push down and out on the cable, creating a balance of tensions, which holds the whole structure together. A round compression roof ring attaches to the roof rafters. In a traditional yurt, the framework is covered with felt mats and tied down with hair ropes to prevent the mats from blowing off in stiff winds. A yurt's door can be wooden and attached to the framework, or a hanging felt mat or woven rug. The modern yurt made its North American debut in 1962 when Bill Coperthwaite, a California high-school mathematics teacher, led his class in a study of roof design. (For more about Coperthwaite's Yurt Foundation and the wood-sided yurt building plans they offer, visit www.yurtsource.com.)

Free Hollywood Video rental on birthday! Free Birthday Rental Come in for a FREE Hollywood Film Library™ rental on your birthday! If we don't already know, just tell us when you check out that you're celebrating a birthday. Free birthday rentals extend to everyone else on your membership account, too. Next time you're in, just ask a Guest Service Representative if all members' birth dates are in our computer. * Hollywood Video Free Birthday Rental & Senior Discount http://www.hollywoodvideo.com/specials/default.asp

I have got to try this recipe Lowie. It looks really good and I am a brown rice fanatic. I could eat it everyday with all kinds of spices or just plain butter, salt and pepper. I will put up more posts for you Loggy...