Raising Seedlings in the Cold

The last several years Josh and I have an excess of sweet potatoes. I had to figure out a way to cook them that everyone enjoyed including TJ, our almost two year old. I invented the following recipe, and everyone in my family loves it. I hope yours does too! It is low calorie and very healthy! Sweet and Spicy Roasted Sweet Potatoes or Sweet Potato Chips 3-4 Medium to small sized sweet potatoes, sliced thin 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice (or a combo of ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon) 1 tsp of cumin 1 tsp chili powder 2 Tbsp of Honey 2-3 Tbsp of Olive Oil Preheat oven to 425. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Spread on a cookie sheet, try not to overlap pieces. Bake for 15 minutes, you may want to do longer if your pieces are not very thin. Take them out at this point if you want roasted sweet potatoes. If you want chips turn on the broiler and place the cookie sheet on the top most level of your oven. Broil 2 minutes then turn, broil another two and they should nice

DIY: Pacifier Clip  So for the last 4 months I have been kicking myself for buying a pacifier clip for Jack. Especially after I got mine in the mail. It is made of approx. $1 worth of material, and I paid $8  for a really cute one. I felt taken and just a little envious of the company I bought from for being able to convince someone like me to hand them 800% profit on an item. Sigh.... So I decided to do something about it. I examined my pacifier clip I purchased and designed the following tutorial.  1. Gather the following materials:  Scissors Sewing Machine 6in of 1/8in wide braided elastic 10-12 inches of ribbon ( I recommend 100% polyester) 1 Suspender clip (usually come in packages of 2, approx. $2 a package)  2. On one end of your ribbon take one inch and pull toward the other end. In the loop you just made add your suspender clip. There should be a place to look fabric through on the clip. Pin through both sides of the material as

The greenhouse from the outside  A Greenhouse Update      The greenhouse has now been covered for just over one month, so it is time for an update on the progress so far.  I began planting inside the hoophouse on February 20th, and planted lettuce spinach, radish and turnip.  Some lettuce and spinach survived the winter, and began growing as     soon as the greenhouse was covered.  The locations of the raised beds to be built were marked with string before serious planting began.  To   the right you can see plywood walkway placed to avoid compressing    soil around the overwintered greens.  Deeper into the greenhouse          hardwood mulch was added to the future walkways, as this breaks       down it will be added to the growing beds as compost, and the mulch    replaced                                                                                                   Soon after the greenhouse was covered plants were started inside the lean-to greenhouse so that they w

This is the most appropriate forum I could find for what I need to say. The HHS Mandate What I think: 1. PREGNANCY IS NOT A DISEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! End of story. Stop treating it like one. It has been stated over and over again that this is a women's health issue and about providing affordable care. It is a women's health issue, and no one knows better than a woman that pregnancy is not a disease but a state of being for 9 months, that yes is uncomfortable, but it is also joyous. A disease does not end in the joyful delivery of a blessing to the world.  A diseases IS something to be treated, a pregnancy is not. It is also more expensive than not being pregnant, but if the expense is something you can not handle guess what? You have the choice to not have sex. People do not choose to have a disease, such as cancer, but people do choose to be pregnant, by choosing to have sex (there are very few exceptions to this rule) 2. This is not a matter of public opinion. So what

I made a new recipe! Its delicious! Twice Baked Potato Casserole 4 medium sized potatoes 1/2 cup mayo 4 oz cream cheese 2 cups of cheese (cheddar or jack) reserve a 1/2 cup for topping. diced Green onion 5 pieces of  cooked bacon crumbled (Reserve some for topping) 1. Preheat oven to 400. Shred your potatoes using a grater or potato ricer. 2. Mix the potatoes with the remaining ingredients. 3. Place casserole in greased 8X8 pan.. 4. Add remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and crumbled bacon. 5. Bake for 20 minutes until bubbly. 6. Broil for 5 minutes until the top is browned. 7. Enjoy!

Josh and I decided to can our own ham and bean soup one cold Sunday when we had some left over ham. It turned out great! Here is the recipe we used. We also used a pressure cooker to do this recipe as well. This is a great way to prepare food because now you will have bean soup any time you want it. There will be no thawing from the freezer, or sniffing the bowl in the fridge. Just open and eat! If you would like to prepare this recipe without a pressure cooker, prepare your beans according to package directions or if these are home-grown soak over night, rinse, and place in a NEW pot of water, then add the following ingredients to the pot, and simmer until tasty! 1. Add to each quart canning jar : 1/2 cup of dry beans UNCOOKED (Northern, Pinto, or Soup Bean Mix) 1/2 cup ham pieces 1/2 cup carrot 1/2 cup celery 1/4 cup onion 1tsp minced garlic 1 chicken bullion cube Spice mix: 1/4 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp chili powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 1 tsp dijon mustard 2

March 7th 2012  Some costs for the construction of the greenhouse are as follows. Plywood                    16 sheets of 3/8"              @ $10  each           $160 Insulation Board           7 sheets of 2" R14.3       @ $3 each (used)   $  21 General Lumber                                                                 approx    $  25 General Hardware                                                              approx    $ 50 Paint                            3 gallons of grey               @ $5 each (reject) $ 15                                     2 gallons or brown           @ $22 each           $ 44 Plastic fittings and snap clamps                                                           $ 80 Conduit                      32 sticks of 1" x10'-0" length  @ $2.20            $ 71 Plastic Sheet               23' long x 42' wide                                         $ 127 Door                              FREE           

Building an Economical Greenhouse. March 01 2012        First, I think it would be valuable to have a little background on just how it is that I became interested in greenhouse gardening.  Going way back to the beginning briefly may provide some interesting perspective.  So, childhood; I grew up in a large, thrifty family and gardening was a large part of my childhood.  All of my siblings helped out in the garden which was roughly one-half of an acre in size, but somewhere along the line I took a special shine to it.  During high school I even did a little truck crop gardening.  I grew roughly one acre of crops, mostly your average Midwestern garden fare, which I sold at a weekly farmers market in town.  In hindsight my methods were pretty crude, and the amount of work I put in was pretty huge for the amount of rewards I reaped.  After college I moved here to Rock Island, Illinois, and bought a small house on a small lot, and along with my wife we quickly began a small(er) fa