Nourashing traditions and such

Recently my wife and I have started to read the book nourishing traditions and taking recipes out of it. So far this is the start of Ginger beer. It takes 1 1/2 cups of water, 2 tbs of ground ginger and 2 tbs of white sugar. Here is the start, in about a month we will find out how it all goes.

The last couple of weeks

The last couple of weeks my wife and I have been growing peppers and tomatoes. More pepper then tomatoes, cause most of the tomatoes decided to do die. I am also growing Parsley and Basil, although the Basil is more for myself. The plants are growing well even though there is not alot of sunlight on my porch.

Baking and my shots at it

It's funny I have rarely if ever baked and in the last week I have done it twice. I cook a pan of brownies which turned out awesomely, sure it was out of a packet but hey there plenty of people who could and would botch this. Check out the photo of my awesome Duncan Hines brownies!
The second baking I did was a chicken, which I salted, peppered and stuffed with 2 lemons which I didn't cut. I rubbed salt and pepper on the inside and it was delicious! My wife was seriously impressed and that takes a lot to do.

Doom and Gloom post

Recently I have started reading OF TWO MINDS, the man who blogs on it is an economist who writes about the state of the economy and where things are headed. He pointed out a very scary statistic today and some thing that we should honestly be appauled at, over the course of an average american''s public school career there will be roughly 70,000 - 150,000 dollars spent on them. So assuming that the kid starts school at age 6 and they go till they they are 18, that is 12 years, so lets say the average is about 100,000 dollars that is a little under 9,000 dollars per year. That is alot of money, however does this get the kids ready to go to college...well many kids take remedial math and english when they get there. Also are they ready to take on the rest of the industrial world, no. In fact it is so bad, that many of these kids are doing jobs that immigrants of third world country do.

I don't know if there is a solution but seriously, this has to stop. We are competing with third world countries here and all the low skill, good wage factory jobs are gone so there are no jobs like that. This is a very scary scenario, we are the United States of America, we put people on the moon, we invented the nuclear bomb and the list goes on and on. Can there be a brighter future? Possibly but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Strawberry picking

My wife and I went out to pick 40 lbs of strawberries. It was awesome. The Farm is called Miller Farm in Locust Grove, VA. Right now they strawberries, in July there will be Black berries pick you own.

Here are the photos.

From start to finish.

New Domino's Pizza

I ate the new Domino's pizza with the new crust and garlic sauce. It was awesome. I highly recommend it. Domino's has a special deal on it right now.

and Oh the difference to me...

My wife's grandmother past away last Saturday. Completely unexpected, she was spring cleaning. Her work ethic was that of an ox, she would pick up sticks around the house, mow the 2 acres, clean the house, power wash the outside, clean gutters, rake/blow leaves and the list goes on and on. On top of that she would come back into the house and cook dinner for her husband. This was an extraordinary woman. Whose devotion to family was second to none. If she had the money she would give it to who needed it. I think about a 1/4 of my sons clothes and toys were given to him by her. I don't know where this work ethic came from but I imagine it was cultivated through out the years.

I only knew her for about 4 and a half years but she began to mean so much to me. It will take many years to work through this. This is the poem I would like to leave you with.

She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love.

A Violet by a mossy stone
Half-hidden from the Eye!
---Fair, as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky!

She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her Grave, and, Oh!
The difference to me.


Published, Lyrical Ballads, 1800