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Kefir Recipes

Before we get started, let’s take a moment to study pronunciation.
I started pronouncing Kefir “KEH-fear”.
Some USA-based friends of mine pronounced it “KEY-fur”, so I followed in their footsteps.
After some investigation, I find that the correct pronunciation in Russia and Turkey (where Kefir is alleged to have originated, depending on which story you follow) would be keh-FEAR (or k’fear if that makes more sense).
Now … onto this post.

Yeast isn’t expensive, but it can cause internal complications/irritations such as the dreaded yeast infection/candida.

Kathryn over at http://www.shaklee.net/gemsoffire mentioned the possibility of making bread from Kefir when I offloaded a bunch of grains earlier this year.
When Eliza had a bout with a UTI (not yeast-related), I fully delved into the topic of making bread from this alternative.

I later discovered that Kefir can be used as a replacement for yeast in beverages too.

Continue reading “Kefir Recipes”

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Buzzing towards Bees

It started out as an idea which Frank threw into the air “I’d like to have a beehive some day”.
This year, as I’ve been reading up on trying to get our tomatoes to produce earlier than others in the vicinity, the subject of bees popped up again.
We were going to build a “Langstroth” hive, but as we were watching various YouTube videos on the subject of beehive building, we came across the Top Bar Beehive, which Frank ended up building in a weekend from cabinet grade ply that we had laying around.

See this example of a Top Bar Beehive plan.

A relative of mine mentioned having lost two colonies to mites, but I read that menthol or neem can be used twice a year in combat against the various mites which afflict bees.

Two links which were a great resource of information on caring for bees:
http://www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com/honey-plants.html
Lists  flowers which bees love:
Various types of clover (sweet and/or white), aster, goldenrod, sunflowers, fruit trees, dandelions, snap dragons, honeysuckle,
http://www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com/bee-keeping.html
Gives good general information on caring for bees, along with the recommendation of using Neem as a combat against mites.

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Preparations for Garden 2012

Placed an order for potatoes on Feb 1 (expected to ship around Feb 15th) from http://www.irisheyesgardenseeds.com/.
I asked if they’d extend the 25lb per-pound rates to me in light of me buying 35lbs of potatoes, but they wouldn’t.

The price per pound of the regular potatoes was $2.40
The French Fingerlings were $5.50
10 lbs Desiree
10 lbs Early Ohio
10 lbs Cal White
5 lbs French Fingerling

 

We have a fair number of seeds left over from last year, but I’ll be placing an order today or tomorrow for the shortfall.

 

I’ve planned the garden to follow a 7-yr crop rotation as follows:

Potato

Squash

Roots
(non-potato)

Legume

Nightshade

Brassica & Green

Corn