September Newsletter

Spiritual Goal: Increase Temple Attendance-“Those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple know that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings. There are never too many miles to travel, too many obstacles to overcome, or too much discomfort to endure. They understand that the saving ordinances received in the temple that permit us to someday return to our Heavenly Father in an eternal family relationship and to be endowed with blessings and power from on high are worth every sacrifice and every effort,” Thomas S Monson, April, 2011.

Physical Goal: Continue good habits. Make a concerted effort to attain and maintain a healthy weight. Drinking lots of water helps with weight loss.  “To a great extent we are physically what we eat. Most of us are acquainted with some of the prohibitions [of the word of Wisdom]...What need additional emphasis are the positive aspects--the need for vegetables, fruits, and grains, particularly wheat. In most cases, the closer these can be, when eaten, to their natural state-- without over-refinement and processing--the healthier we will be. To a significant degree, we are an overfed and undernourished nation digging an early grave with our teeth, and lacking the energy that could be ours because we overindulge in junk foods…We need a generation of young people who, as Daniel, eat in a more healthy manner than to fare on the "king's meat"--and whose countenances show it,” Ezra Taft Benson, March 1979.

Financial Goal:  Retirement savings and insurance-“God gave a natural instinct to the animals he created to preserve their surplus against a time of need. But man has developed the tendency to squander all that he harvests and to leave to chance or to others his satisfaction of future needs. This is contrary to divine law. Frugality is a principle of righteousness. Consumption should never exceed our production. Economic freedom comes from the surpluses we create…insure against our greatest potential loss…our ability to earn is our greatest asset. When the provider insures his life, he is insuring his future income for his family. As husbands, let us not force our wives into the marketplace to be both the provider and homemaker should our lives be cut short by premature adequate health insurance. Medical costs are soaring, and trying to self-insure from personal savings is very risky. During inflation, medical costs increase faster than our savings accumulate,” J. Richard Clark, October 1980

Provident Living Goal: Learn to re-upholster a simple piece of furniture. Review or get a will.

Storage Goal: 25 pounds canned or dried potatoes per person, 50 quarts tomatoes per person Read Root Cellaring by Bubel-“Home storage should consist of a year’s supply of basic food, clothing, and, where possible, fuel. After this goal is reached, emergency and expanded storage is desirable. In all of our storage, quality products, proper containers and storage facilities, proper storage temperature, and regular rotation are important considerations…there is a need for diversification in places of storage and in types of containers. Perhaps not all storage should be concentrated in one area of the house, not all should be stored in tin or plastic containers, not all in glass containers.” Barbara B. Smith, October 1976

Emergency Kit Goal: pup tents, space blanket, mini-back pack stove/fuel, personal hygiene and first aide kit for each kit

Pantry Box Goal: plastic dishpan, towel, rag, soap

Master Soup Recipe

“Learn to eat lentils and you will never have to be subservient to the king.” Diogenes

Although it is fun to try out recipes, they are actually simple guides to be twisted and tweaked by the chef. This master soup recipe will be helpful to anyone seeking to incorporate stored foods, avoid unhealthy ingredients, or elude subservience to the king. Soup is the ultimate peasant king cuisine and certainly shouldn't be reserved for winter. Simply cook it outdoors in a slow-cooker or sun oven in summer. This can be made in any amount.

Soup Base:
1-2 onions or 1-4 leeks (white and a little green parts) pureed
1-4 carrots, chopped or pureed
1-4 celery stocks, chopped or pureed

1-2 c. sliced mushrooms (optional)
1-4 garlic cloves, pressed (optional)
1 green bell pepper, chopped or pureed (optional)

The first three will become your stock. The others are optional and will take your soup in different directions.  Put them in your soup pot over the lowest possible heat and cook until the water is evaporated and the onions begin to turn golden. Or just put them in the bottom of your slow cooker. You will find it is not necessary to buy little bullion cubes, which are really balls of fat, artificial flavorings, and salt. Neither is it necessary to buy canned stocks or broths. Good results can be achieved with these nutritious and inexpensive ingredients. Onions, garlic, peppers, carrots, and celery can be grown in your own backyard for root cellaring or dehydrating. Mushrooms can be grown in the basement.

Body Vegetables:
1. Chopped root vegetables
2. Chopped winter squash
3. Tomatoes, fennel, cabbage
4. Cauliflower, broccoli

Pick one or two of the above categories. Chop several cups of these vegetables into spoon sized pieces. Your choice here will determine the theme or ethnic direction of your soup. If you choose the tomato route, you will probably also choose garlic and peppers. Now add several cups of the cleanest water you have available, distilled when possible. If you have only two people obviously the amounts of vegetables and water will be different than if you are feeding a family of eight.

Flavorings:
Here the palette is wide open. Any and all spices and herbs are available. Thyme, parsley, sage, rosemary, curry powder, red pepper flakes, paprika, chili powder, nutritional yeast, etc. Miso can be added just before serving. Start with a small amount, adding more to gain your perfect taste. Good health advice recommends low-sodium usage. If they are heavy-handed salters, slowly wean them from the habit with citrus zest, spices, and herbs. Have fun playing with this. 

Body:
Here we add soaked lentils, cooked beans and/or cooked grains to give the soup stick to your ribs potential. Precook beans and grains once a week for the fridge or freezer to add to soups and main dishes all week long. The kitchen cupboard can have dozens of varieties of beans and grains. Any amount is fine but start with 1/2 c. beans and 1/4 c. grains per person. Note: lentils go in at the beginning with the body vegetables, while cooked beans and grains are added at the end with greens. If using tomatoes, add them after the lentils are soft. Legumes will not soften properly, when cooked with salt or acid.

Greens:
At the end of cooking, add 2-3 cups finely chopped kale, bok choi, zucchini, green beans, asparagus, parsley, basil, collards, chard, napa cabbage, etc. When adding basil, use ¼-½ c. mixed with one or two of the others. 

Texture:
Some soups are pureed before or after the addition of the greens. A large pot of soup can be eaten intact for one or two meals. As interest wanes, puree it for a different presentation. 

Toppers:
This is where avocados, nuts, and seeds of all kinds come in. Use them as garnishes for added flavor and nutrition but not generally as main ingredients. Nutritional yeast tastes a bit like Parmesan cheese but is a much healthier choice for a 'cheesy' topper. Also colorful spices, minced fresh herbs, sprouts, and micro-greens look fantastic and inviting on soup.

Well there you go. Have a great time testing, twisting and tweaking with your favorite, frugal ingredients for the most satisfying, tasty bowl of soup you can imagine. Set the table nicely and nobody will ever know you are cooking for health and frugality.

Think About A Sun Oven For Preparedness

I love my Sun Oven and use it often. It is so fun to cook without paying for fuel. It's sort of like getting away with something even though it's not.

August Newsletter

Spiritual Goal: Designate one night a week as No-TV, Game/Reading Night-President Gordon B. Hinckley challenged us to create balance in life by attending to four obligations: "one's vocation, one's family, the Church, and to one's self." Speaking of the topic one's self, he advised, "I decry the great waste of time that people put into watching inane television...I believe their lives would be enriched if, instead of sitting on the sofa and watching a game that will be forgotten tomorrow, they would read and think and ponder...You need time to meditate and ponder, to think, to wonder at the great plan of happiness that the Lord has outlined for His children. You need time to read. You need to read the scriptures. You need to read good literature. You need to partake of the great culture, which is available to all of us." Hinckley, Gordon B., Resolve to Keep Balance in Your Lives, address delivered at Logan, Utah, 21 October 1997, Church News, 1 November 1997

Physical Goal: Day hike (or drive if infirm)/picnic weekly this until cold weather hits. "She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms." Proverbs 31:17

Financial Goal: Commit to daily, healthy, family meals. "...save money by attaining the best health of which [you] are capable. Relief Society should provide training to promote physical well-being as the least expensive medical treatment. It doesn’t even cost you the price of aspirin. The illness you avoid costs nothing. Good health habits save money. To promote good health, women need to plan nutritious meals. Most of us could have smaller portions of food and still be healthy, but all of us should eat regular, well-balanced meals each day. Relief Society instruction should be designed to help sisters understand and practice the fundamentals of good nutrition [according to the Word of Wisdom]. We should learn to prepare economical food that will be both nourishing and appealing." Barbara Smith, April 1981

Provident Living Goal: Continue succession planting and canning. Learn to dehydrate excess fruits and veggies. “The best place to have some food set aside is within our homes, together with a little money in savings. The best welfare program is our own welfare program.” Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, November 2002

Storage Goal: 100 quarts fruits/veggies per person, OR 30 lbs. dehydrated fruits and 40 lbs. vegetables per person, Feminine supplies, camping toilet, School supplies + extras for the home. “For the moment we live in a day of peace and prosperity, but it shall not ever be thus.  Great trial lie ahead… and we must prepare ourselves temporally and spiritually…” Bruce R. McConkie

Emergency Kit Goal: 5 packets instant soup, dehydrated refried beans and instant rice per person in 5 separate quart sized, heavy duty, zip lock bags, 5 salsa packets, 5 plastic spoons (add hot water to the bag and it becomes the serving dish)

Pantry Box Goal: 1 pot and 1 sauce pan, wooden spoon, 1 bowl per person, 1 spoon per person

Increasing Self-Sufficiency: Using open-pollinated, heirloom seeds, the gardener can save seeds from year to year, a a rewarding and cost saving practice. However, hybrids are sterile or do not reproduce true to the parent plant, making hybrid seed saving a poor idea. Saving seeds from diseased plants is also folly. Successful seed saving comes from vigorous, flavorful, disease-free plants. Consider size, harvest time and other characteristics. In areas with short growing seasons, choose seeds from the plant whose fruits are the first to appear. Don't pick any fruit from this plant, but tie a piece of red yarn to its stem and cover with bird netting.

After bean, pea, onion, carrot, lettuce and other greens, corn, and herb seeds mature (pod dries out and gets brown/tan), collect the seed. Sometimes the drying process must be completed by spreading pods on a screen in a single layer in a well-ventilated dry location. Tomatoes, melons, squash, and cucumber seeds are saved by scooping the seeds out of the fruit and putting them in a small amount of warm water in a jar. After sitting for two to four days, the seeds ferment, killing viruses and separating seed from pulp. Viable seeds sink to the bottom of the jar, allowing the pulp and undeveloped seed float to the top. Compost the pulp, water, bad seed and mold. Allow good seed to dry. 

Store dried seeds in labeled envelopes in glass jars. After freezing for two days, store in the refrigerator. Although seeds may be stored for up to three years, try to plant a garden with your seeds yearly. Save out a few in case of crop failure. 

July Newsletter

Spiritual Goal: Seek out a family history specialist and learn how to use New Family Search. Spend a little or a lot of time in this pursuit depending on your time of life, but do pursue it a little bit each week.

Physical Goal: Continue...Are you getting 8 hours of sleep, drinking plenty of water, eating vegetables, counting your blessings, and adopting an optimistic attitude? All these things affect physical health and stamina. Study the Word of Wisdom and align your lifestyle to it. Make a goal to eat healthier: less sweets, more fresh fruits and veggies, less meat and animal products, more fiber, less soft drinks and juice, more water, less processed food, more home cooked meals.

Financial Goal: Make a goal to have 6 months expenses in savings for emergencies. Write out a realistic, long-term plan to make it happen.

Provident Living Goal: Your garden should be producing full tilt until first frost, where cover and winter crops will continue until next April. Continue succession planting until just before frost. Begin canning/dehydrating excess. “Ye Latter-day Saints, learn to sustain yourselves, produce everything you need to eat, drink or wear…” President Brigham Young

Storage Goal: 2 lbs. honey and/or maple syrup per person,10- #10 cans dehydrated vegetables per person, 2 toothbrushes, floss, and paste per person, Infant supplies “[They] reserved for themselves provisions, and horses and cattle, and flocks of every kind, that they might subsist for the space of seven years, in the which time they did hope to destroy the robbers from off the face of the land …” 3 Nephi 4:4. Even the Nephites were commanded to have home storage, but they were to store a 7-year supply.

Emergency Kit Goal:: Paper and pencils, Mosquito repellent, $25 cash, Sleeping bags moved to easily accessible place, miniature entertainment: travel games, dolls and balls, books, cards, coloring books, crayons, butane fuel

Pantry Box Goal: indoor/outdoor butane stove

Improve Self-Sufficiency: On the southern Japanese island of Shikoku, Masanobu Fukuoka began his career as an agricultural Customs Official with degrees in microbiology and plant pathology. Because he didn’t like what he saw, he left government employment and bought a farm to raise rice, winter grain, and citrus crops, using the sustainable mulch practices. He experimented and failed and experimented again until he found success. While his yields consistently surpassed those of his neighbors for over 50 years without tilling, other labor-intensive practices, or chemical-dependent methods, Fukuoka’s system completely contradicted modern agricultural techniques, negated scientific ‘knowledge,’ and opposed traditional farming know-how.

A deep mulch system without several large shade trees takes some ingenuity. In fall traveling up and down the streets in search of bags of leaves is sort of a pain. Buying hay and straw at the feed store is pricey. Growing mulch to grow the soil, as did Masanobu Fukuoka, is the answer. Between the beginning of August and mid September in zone 6, plant hull-less oats, alfalfa, and Austrian winter peas. Since these things are planted to feed the soil and not the humans, it is good that they winter-kill in a cold climate. They leave nice mulch to rake back and plant ala Ruth Stout. Decomposing all summer, deep mulch placed last fall or spring is mostly compost. Pull back what is left of the mulch; spread seeds thickly around plants and directly on top of bare soil. Replace mulch lightly on top, fluffing it up a bit. When garden plants are spent, cut down and chop into pieces or leave them standing where they are. If you have lots of trees, mow up the leaves and spread them in between the now tallish hull-less oats, alfalfa, and Austrian winter peas. The leaves are not essential but are a nice addition. In the spring, all the now dead plants make a great mulch. Mow or cut and begin spring planting.

Another bonus of the deep mulch system is the elimination of the compost pile, with all its backbreaking work. When working in the kitchen, put scraps in a bucket under the sink. After meals add all vegetable matter to the bucket. When the day is over, head out to the garden. Move the mulch aside and put it directly on the soil. Choose a new location each day. Recover the spot with mulch. Composting right in the garden is superior to any other method. Of course, when snow and ice prohibit this, the two garbage can method is preferred. Just outside the kitchen door, place a plastic garbage can. Inside this, put an identical one drilled all over with ½ inch holes. The holes provide drainage and air circulation to eliminate anaerobic (aka smelly) decomposition. Dump your kitchen bucket in this and cover with a lid to hold in moisture. Most things from the kitchen are nitrogen rich or green layers. Since carbon or brown is important too, add shredded brown paper, dried shredded leaves, or sawdust occasionally. Yes, it is still a good idea to collect bags and bags of the neighbor’s leaves. Don’t worry about turning the layers in your two-can system. As things freeze and thaw and freeze and thaw all winter, the scraps will break down. By spring it will be pretty nice compost to use as needed.

June Newsletter

No Cannery Date Until September

Spiritual Goal: Add journaling to your daily personal devotions. "A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge; for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power...as evil spirits will have more knowledge...than men who are on the earth." Joseph Smith; "Women who can hear the voice of the Lord and who respond to these promptings become valuable instruments in His hands." M. Russel Ballard, Ensign April 2002

Financial Goal: Invest for retirement and your family’s well being after your passing. Begin saving an additional 5% or more for this purpose. "In spite of the teachings of the Church from its earliest days until today, members sometimes fall victim to many unwise and foolish financial practices. Some continue to spend, thinking that somehow the money will become available. Somehow they will survive. Far too often, the money hoped for does not appear. Remember this: debt is a form of bondage. It is a financial termite. When we make purchases on credit, they give us only an illusion of prosperity. We think we own things, but the reality is, our things own us...Never should we enter into financial bondage through consumer debt without carefully weighing the costs." Joseph B. Wirthlin, April 2004

Physical Goal: Continue walking, stretching, breathing, and strengthening your body. Add gardening. "The condition of the body limits, largely, the expression of the spirit." John A. Widtsoe, A Rational Theology, p. 17

Provident Living Goal: Learn to sew a simple skirt. If you need help, ask Ginger to teach you. On the first of June, plant tomato seedlings along a trellis. Install empty 1 gallon water bottles buried up to their shoulders between plants with a pinhole in the side facing each plant to consistently fertilize with compost tea or kelp water. Place a tall stick in each jug, its top tied with a red bow, which will aid in finding the openings to the jugs once the foliage hides them from view. Fill this once a week. Once the jugs and plants are in place, make a collar of one or two sheets of wet newspaper, place it around the stem, and cover the paper with mulch. Also, plant asparagus roots, jicama, flowers, eggplant, hot peppers, and bell pepper seedlings as well as zucchini seeds. During the second week of June, plant melon, cucumber, sweet potato, and squash seedlings. Begin harvesting spinach and lettuce, replanting in the shade.  In those places, plant bush beans. Whenever one crop reaches maturity and is harvested, add compost, sand (or top soil), peat moss, Azomite, alfalfa meal, and kelp mixture and re-plant to that crop or a fall/winter one. Peas will be finished by June or July and are replaced by leeks. “We will see the day, when we will live on what we produce…” Marian G. Romney

Storage Goal: First Aid Kit and extra supplies, a case of candles, matches, and hurricane holders for safety

72 Hour Kit: Real backpack pack for each family member over 5. Day pack for littles

Pantry Box Goal: Rubbermaid containers with or without wheels 

Increase Self-Sufficiency: Ruth Stout’s no-work, deep-mulch potato planting technique is the ultimate goal. However, most soil is poor and unimproved, when the novice gardener begins working on it. Potatoes are heavy feeders, meaning they need good fertility and humus. The deep mulching technique grows the soil and conserves water at the same time it allows growing beautiful vegetables. However, until beautiful, fertile soil is achieved, adding compost, sand (or top soil), peat moss, Azomite, alfalfa meal, and kelp allows for success in growing potatoes Ruth's no-work way.

What is Ruth’s way? Instead of digging trenches, Ruth learned to lay the seed pieces on top of the ground and cover them gradually with mulch. Since most gardeners haven’t spent 30 years building soil like Ruth,  it is wise to cover the seed pieces with a 2-inch mixture of compost, sand, peat moss, Azomite, alfalfa meal, and kelp the first few years. Gradually build up deep mulch over the little sprouts, as they stick up their tiny heads. It is more work than Ruth advocates, but will result in a better yield. After a few years, the compost layer will be unnecessary. Also, remember to mulch lightly instead of packing mulch densely, allowing potato plants to reach sunlight. Add the light mulch an inch or so at a time until it is about 8 inches deep.
 

Companion planting is always a good idea. Surprisingly, buckwheat is a great companion to most vegetable and berry crops, including: strawberries, broccoli, potatoes and green beans. It attracts beneficial insects, feeds the world’s honeybees, suppresses weeds, and adds nicely to a growing compost pile or mulch. Additionally, to grow indoor greens in the winter, harvest triangular buckwheat seeds. 

In addition to attracting honeybees and other pollinators, research indicates growing buckwheat deters pests. How? Adult hover fly like buckwheat nectar, but their larvae eat aphids and other small, soft-bodied insects. If your potato patch is in the middle of your garden, and you sow buckwheat seeds among them, protective effects should be enough for anything within 20 feet. With an upright, shallow rooted habit and pretty little white flowers, buckwheat plants become the perfect mulch for all vegetables. Just yank and drop, where it stands. Additionally, it looks great in a mixed flowerbed that includes strawberries. Since it can go from seed to bloom in about a month, it is good to seed it every couple of weeks. 

If the heavy mulching method isn’t desired, buckwheat is a great cover crop for smothering weeds and building the green layer in the compost pile. Although plants need about 50 different minerals, phosphorous is among the most important. Similar to beans fixing nitrogen, buckwheat is a star at taking up phosphorus from the soil and making the phosphorus more easily absorbed by other plants. Whether buckwheat is growing next to a garden plant, left to make mulch, or decomposing in the compost pile, it will send its phosphorus gift.

On June 1, plant a square foot of buckwheat in the middle of the garden and interspersed among potatoes. It will do the job whether left to seed or pull up before then. If volunteer buckwheat is found in the garden, treat the tender shoots as bonus salad vegetables before the second set of leaves form. Otherwise, it can be left as a blessed, garden guardian.  

Buy organic buckwheat seeds (unhulled) at the health food store in the sprouting seed section or from most organic gardening or seed companies.

May Newsletter

Spiritual Goal: Share a your testimony. "It is my testimony that we are facing difficult times. We must be courageously obedient. My witness is that we will be called upon to prove our spiritual stamina, for the days ahead will be filled with affliction and difficulty. But with the assuring comfort of a personal relationship with God, we will be given a calming courage. From Divine so near we will receive the quiet assurance," Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, Jan 1999.

Physical Goal: Learn and practice daily deep breathing exercises. "If each of our bodies is a temple, some of us have temples that look as if the maintenance crew retired three years ago; the noble spirits that inhabit them deserve a better place to dwell...we can make our lives better and teach our families valuable habits through regular exercise. We have ample reason to recognize the care of our physical bodies as a spiritual obligation," Ensign, Sept 1990.

Provident Living Goal: During the first week of May, plant peas, leeks, and onions starts outdooors. Start sweet potato slips. Plant soft neck garlic in groups of three to five cloves throughout the flower and vegetable beds for the positive effect garlic has against pests as well as medicinal and culinary delight. Begin to harden off brassicas. Plant fruit trees plus blackberries and raspberries. The second week of May, plant everlasting spinach, Swiss chard, spinach, kale, and turnip seeds plus brassica seedlings as well as potatoes. The third week of May, plant lettuce, beets, carrots, cucumber, melon, and winter squash seeds plus potato starts. Continue to succession plant carrots, spinach, kale, leeks, and lettuce. Be prepared to watch the weather and cover thing up.“Should evil times come, many might wish they had filled all their fruit bottles and cultivated a garden in their backyards and planted a few fruit trees and berry bushes and provided for their own commodity needs. The Lord planned that we would be independent of every creature, but we note many...home owners buy their garden vegetables from the store. And should the trucks fail to fill the shelves of the stores, many would go hungry,” Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Oct. 1974. 

Storage Goal: 100 grains per person, 1 #10 can apple slices per person, 1 #10 can raisins per person, 1 large container cinnamon, 24 rolls toilet paper per person, 2 rolls paper towels per person, canning jars, long-term storage, open pollinated garden seeds "...how many of us would have jeered at the sight of Noah building his ark. Presumably the laughter continued until it began to rain and kept raining! How wet some people must have been before Noah's ark suddenly seemed the only sane act," Elder Neal A. Maxwell, For the Power is in Them, p 20).

Emergency Kit Goal: Battery powered, solar, or hand cranked radio and flashlight, batteries, hurricane lantern and candles, matches“The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah…” Ezra Taft Benson

Increase Self-Sufficiency: "Yams" in North American grocery stores are usually sweet potatoes and belong to the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae). Yams are tropical plants that belong to the Dioscoreaceae family. Traditionally, 'yams' or sweet potatoes are reserved for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Made into a gagging-sweet concoction covered with burned miniature marshmallows, they rarely become culinary friends of the masses. Sweet potatoes can be used in a variety of delicious, savory dishes, which most people enjoy. Along with potatoes, sweet potatoes make a tasty, nourishing staple crops. Therefore, we should grow them. 

Six weeks before your last frost, start sweet potatoes from slips. Grown from a mature sweet potato, slips are easy to start if you have a sweet potato and a few jars. To start your slips, you need one or two healthy, clean, organic sweet potatoes from the health food store. Carefully wash and cut them in large sections or starts. Using toothpicks to hold the sweet potato start, suspend each section half in/half out of a jar of water. Put them on a window ledge or on  a heating pad set on low. Witness one of God’s miracles, as the start covers itself with leafy sprouts on top and roots on the bottom. 

Carefully, cut the slips from the remaining sweet potato and roots with a sharp knife. Compost the now spent sweet potato. Place a piece of plastic wrap or waxed paper tightly over a shallow dish of water. Make a hole for each sprout. Gently push a sprout through, allowing the bottom half of the stem to submerge in the water. Soon roots will emerge from the bottom of each sprout. Now you have sweet potato slips. Let the roots continue to grow until they are about an inch long, when the slips will be ready to plant. During this process, change the water and throw out any slip that doesn’t produce roots or looks unhealthy.

If your location isn’t known for its loose, well-drained soil, you will need to amend it with lots of compost. Since sweet potatoes don’t like to fight too much resistance, loose soil is critical for growing them successfully. If you are growing according to Ruth Stout’s mulch method or Patricia Lanza’s Lasagna method, move the mulch aside until you see the loose soil below. After the danger of frost has passed and soil has warmed up, plant slips 12 inches apart next to a trellis (trellising vines conserves space). With a trowel, push the soil aside, slip in the slip, and let the soil fall back down over the roots, leaving the new leaves is above ground.  Move the mulch back in without letting it actually touch the slip. This cuts down competing weeds and conserves moisture. Plant calendula between them to attract insects beneficial to the sweet potatoes. Also, don’t plant beets, carrots, or potatoes nearby.

Water your sweet potatoes, thoroughly soaking until all of the surrounding dirt is moist. For the first week, water everyday, then every other day during the second week. After that your usual once weekly irrigation should suffice. Since sweet potatoes produce less in dry weather, mulching and regular, weekly watering are insurance during the hottest part of the summer. Do not water during the last 3 to 4 weeks before harvest to protect the developing roots.

All through the growing season, young sweet potato greens can be steamed, sauteed, or stir fried. They are very popular in African and Asian cuisine. I read one study, where many children in Vietnam were dying or growing up mentally/physically impaired with their mono-diet of rice. Malnutrition is a problem, when no vegetables are present in the diet. Usually, a few children in these villages were healthier than the rest of the young population. Upon inquiry, researches found mothers of these children added sweet potato greens to their children's daily rice rations.

Below are only a few of our favorite sweet potato recipes.


Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Toss cubed sweet potatoes with other cut-up root vegetables, onions, garlic, and mushrooms with savory herbs, paprika, salt, and pepper. Roast at 400F for 40 min until tender. 20 minutes before the end of the roasting time, add asparagus or Brussels sprouts. It is not necessary or even desirable to use oil when roasting vegetables. We love to have this along side roasted portabello mushrooms, steamed cabbage, and roasted apples.

Rustic Gallette

1 onion, pureed

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. dried thyme (or 1 T. fresh) (or substitute 1/4 t. garam masala, cumin, and curry powder)
1/4 c. fresh parsley

1 t. powdered, dehydrated, salt-free, vegetable seasoning mix
1/2 c. white beans, pureed
1/2 c. unsweetened plant milk

Salt to taste

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

Paprika
Smoked Paprika

1 bunch kale, rinse well, remove large thick stems and finely chopped

2 medium sweet potato, thinly sliced (1/8 or thinner)

2 medium red potatoes, thinly sliced (1/8 or thinner)

8 oz. mushrooms, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Cook onion, mushrooms, dehydrated vegetables, and garlic over lowest heat until mushrooms begin to turn golden. Meanwhile, puree white beans and plant milk. Add thyme, parsley, kale, and bean mixture to onions. Continue heating until just kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Arrange ½ of the thinly sliced potatoes on the bottom of a 9 inch round cake, overlapping so none of the pan is showing. Spread ½ of the kale mixture over the potatoes. Arrange sweet potatoes over the kale mixture, making sure to overlap. Spread the remaining kale mixture and top with the other ½ of thinly sliced potatoes shingles. Press galette down until compact. Sprinkle with paprika and smoked paprika. Bake in pre-heated oven for 45 minutes until potatoes are tender with crispy edges. Cut galette into wedges and serve with spinach raspberry salad and baked apples.

Chipotle Limas       

2 c. dried lima or butter beans (or black beans or lentils)
½  onions, chopped or puréed
2 cloves garlic, minced
16 oz. tomatoes, puréed
1 orange, zest and juice
1 ***chipotle chili in adobo sauce, puréed with onion
1 t. oregano
1 T. cumin
½ t. salt
¼ t. pepper

1 sweet potato or yam, peeled and cubed
½ c. chopped cilantro, half for garnish reserved

*** Do not use the whole can. Use ¼ -2 chilies.

Soak beans for 24-48 hours. Drain and rinse. Cook on low with just enough distilled water to cover for 6-8 hours. 60 minutes before dinner, steam onion, chilies, and garlic in water until soft in a small sauce pan. Add the remaining ingredients, except reserve to pot. Cook for 40 minutes or until sweet potato is soft. Purée sauce. Stir into beans. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with a large romaine salad and poached pears.

April Newsletter

Cannery Date 25th at 7 PM  

Please, come 10 minutes early. Since the goal is 400 lbs. grains and 60 lbs. legumes per family member this year, going to the cannery each month can help you reach this without too much pain in the pocketbook. 

It's easy to eat an elephant, if you do it one bite at a time.      

 

Spiritual Goal:  Diligently, attend church meetings. "Sacrament meeting is the most important meeting of the week, the one the Lord has commanded us to attend. It’s a time to worship the Savior. What does that mean, to worship? It means to reverently show love and allegiance to him, to think about him, to honor him, to remember his sacrifice for each of us, and to thank him." W. Mack Lawrence, April 1991               

Physical Goal: To get adequate vitamin D and improve mental health spend time outdoors in the fresh air every day of the week. This is easy to do if you have been walking outdoors daily. If that has not been your chosen form of exercise, add 30 minutes of outdoor time to your daily schedule. It will do your spirit and body a tremendous amount of good. "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good..." Genesis 1:3-4           

Financial Goal: Don’t follow the investment herd. If everyone is running toward a investment strategy, turn and walk the other way. Be a smart investor not a simple gambler. Research options like real estate, metals, stocks, and so forth. Buy when prices are low. "Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness." 2 Nephi 9:51              

Provident Living Goal:  On Conference weekend, using heirloom, open-pollinated seed, plant tomatoes, bell peppers, herbs, hot peppers, eggplant, and annual flowers in large disposable cups filled with compost or potting mix. Put in front of a sunny window and don’t forget to water.  You can make each cup a tiny green house by putting a plastic bag over the cup. Two weeks later start brassicas, such as cabbages, Bok Choi, cauliflower, broccoli, etc. seeds similarly. Look through fruit catalogs like willisorchards.com, starkbros.com and raintreenursery.com, make a plan, and place your order to arrive by the 1st of May. (See article below.) "We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard" Spencer W. Kimball, April 1976                

Storage Goal: Spices, condiments, vanilla, 20 pounds peanut butter or nuts per person, deodorant, lotion, etc. Copy can=use pantry or sundry item, replace with two- “We encourage families to have on hand this year’s supply; and we say it over and over and over and repeat over and over the scripture of the Lord where He says, ‘Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?’ [Luke 6:46.]  How empty it is as they put their spirituality, so-called, into action and call him by his important names, but fail to do the things which he says” Spencer W. Kimball, April 1976, 171.                

Pantry Box Goal: Instant polenta and quick cook rice, flour, fettuccine, spaghetti, spiral pasta, dehydrated mushrooms, peppers, celery, and carrot for seasoning         

Emergency Kit Goal: 5-10 granola or energy bars per person, 5-10 sticks beef jerky or bags of nuts per person, butane                 

Increase Self-Sufficiency: Fruit and nut trees, berries, grape, asparagus, perennial everlasting spinach, and rhubarb are known as 100 year crops or self-sufficient food sources that generally outlive the planter with some care. Early settlers knew how to providing for their families. Simply put, 100 year crops includes planting such items as fruit and nut bearing trees, and asparagus, artichoke, perpetual spinach, Good King Henry, seakale, sorrel, Welsh onion, and rhubarb , along with various fruits and berries such as blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, and grapes.                  

Planting a small fruit orchard, you will have a good supply of fresh fruit for sauce, preserves, or dried fruit in a few years. Plan your orchard to have apples, peaches, pears, apricots, berries, cherries, and plums or other things your family enjoys that ripen all throughout the growing season and keepers for fresh eating all year round. We have all seen huge apple and pear trees with rotting fruit all around their base, because nobody wants to climb up to harvest the fruit. In about the same space as 1 or 2 full sized apple trees, consider a postage stamp orchard.  Plant 4-6 ft. tall espalier apple and pear trees around 6-8 ft. tall dwarf fruit trees planted 6-8 ft. apart. This tiny 14X24 orchard can accommodate 6 espaliers-2 pear and 4 apples plus 6 dwarfs-2 peach, 2 cherry, and 2 plum or apricot. With a ground cover of strawberries and lingdon berries, insect attractor bee balm, pest control garlic and calendula, and a nutrient accumulator yarrow, you will have a diminutive orchard guild of multifunctional plants that bring beauty to your yard and clean your air. Within a couple years, you will eat your own fruit. The yield will be larger and more varied than one or two full-sized trees. You might take it one step further with a picket fencing and grape strewn arbor-how cute is that! It's a lot more interesting than mowing and watering useless grass.                  

In part-shade to full-sun, plant a perennial flower/vegetable guild with asparagus, garlic, everlasting spinach, rhubarb, and edible flowers. Guilds mimic the beneficial qualities that ecological diversity and symbiosis have in natural ecosystems. Hire a nice young man with an empty wallet and a strong back to build two 4X8X2 ft. raised bed planters (with drip irrigation if you can afford it). Alternately, ask your strong worker to dig two 2 ft. deep 4X8 beds. After the soil has warmed up to about 50 degrees F, place 24 3-year-old asparagus crowns in the bottom rear 2 ft. of each planter 8 inches apart in two rows and layer peat moss, sand, alfalfa meal, azomite minerals, compost, and dried, shredded leaves for mulch. Plant a few elephant garlic and calendula along the edge of the asparagus to discourage pests. One or two each yarrow and lupine in the asparagus fern attract insects and accumulate nutrients. Carefully, plant a couple compact,  determinant, cherry tomato plants among the ferns for symbiotic protection of both plants: asparagus from asparagus beetle and tomatoes from nematode. In the front 2 ft, alternate everlasting spinach and rhubarb interspersed with edible flowers like johnny jump-ups, bachelor button, primrose, nasturtium, or pansy. The asparagus will be easy to reach, when it comes up next spring and will make an attractive, ferny backdrop for the 'flowers' throughout the summer. In the fall, the ferns and other spent plants except the tomatoes make a great mulch over the perennials. Speaking of mulch; keeping a deep mulch on all beds saves water, and eliminates most weeding as does close planting.                 

Various nut trees, including walnuts, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, butternuts, filberts, and chestnuts provide vitamins, minerals, protein, and fat. Although most are too large to grow on a suburban lot, filberts (hazelnuts) can be maintained at 10 ft. and are hardy enough for zone 5/6.  They make a nice privacy hedge to block the neighbor's porch light from your bedroom window, too.                 

Although many places have small trees, vines, and berry plants, such as local feed stores, greenhouses, Walmart, Home Depot and so forth, they are not often careful to sell varieties hardy or appropriate for OUR zone. Instead many reputable catalog sources sell and guarantee plants suitable for various climates. Using a catalog resource, you can spend time researching the qualities of dozens of varieties before you choose a few favorites. When you learn about ripening times, zone hardiness, size, taste and so forth, you are more likely to be happy and successful. Some excellent choices for small sized fruit trees, espaliers, berries and grapes are willisorchards.com, starkbros.com and raintreenursery.com.