Alternatives for gift-giving

It's that season again for people who celebrate Christmas or participate in gift-giving traditions around the time of the solstice... I've been trying for the last seven or eight years to make sure that I support local artisans and stores, especially independent bookstores. Christmas markets and bazaars are one good place to look, but if you want to shop online, sometimes that can be hard to do. Etsy is one obvious place to go looking, but there are other avenues as well.

Just recently my friends and I have been soliciting our friends to post what they make or sell on our timelines. It's a bit of free advertising. I lucked out and got something nice for my daughter. She doesn't read this so I can safely say that she's going to LOVE the crocheted mermaid tail blanket. It's exactly the colours she loves. Score!

I've made a short list of places below for your information and for the sake of interest:

Composting. It's really not that hard!

You don't need anything fancy or expensive to start composting. All you have to do is designate a spot in your yard to let nature do its thing with vegetable matter. As always, don't put any bread, milk-products or meat into your composter. It will smell horribly, not compost very well, attract disease and pests... and just generally make your life difficult. Egg shells are one exception to this rule. I rinse them out and then crush them flat before I put them into the compost container.

The most basic way is a pile. Just a pile. You can hem it in with some sort of fence, but that can be made out of a cylinder of chicken wire, old pallets, or just a pile. People tend to put compost into vertical containers to save space and restrict access for wild animals. Container composting is the most popular for those of us who don't live on a farm or have a large amount of yard. However, in vertical containers there is also restricted air flow, so they need to be turned more often to maintain a good mix of oxygen-dependent bacteria.

The fancy word for this is aerobic. They thrive in oxygen-rich environments, and make your dirt good for for your garden. The other kind, anaerobic (surviving in oxygen-poor environments), aren't as good for plant growth and development, and will take time to clear out once added to your garden so the good kind can move back in. So, in this instance, cheap and lazy isn't a bad thing. Piles are messy, but they work.

Apple peel chips and apple cider vinegar

Apple Peel Chips

• Some apple peels
• Cinnamon and sugar to taste
• 1/2 Tbsp melted butter or other neutral oil
• Pinch of salt

Winding down for the winter

It's quite cold out there. There's something about damp air which ignores layers and insulation. And that lazy wind doesn't bother to go around... it just goes straight through.

But, my lasagne garden has some gorgeous, large worms in it now, and I uncovered a centipede (Chris called it a 'bazillopede' and got a bit squicked) whilst digging around. The soil is improving immensely. These are good signs. I have two composters digesting leaves and a bit of veggie scraps, but I don't want to put out much more than that because we seem to have rats. The green bin is for everything else. Thank goodness for that. I can feel less guilty about it.

Yet more on horehound

Since the horehound seemed to be effective I decided to start looking up *why*. There's been a lot of work lately on ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology and whether traditional folk cures actually work or not. Unsurprisingly, some of them actually are effective to a certain degree. Horehound was amongst some of the best that I have researched so far.

In the study referenced below the essential oil was distilled from the 'aerial parts' (ie. the leaves and stems) of Marrubium vulgare (horehound) and that was tested on various types of bacteria and fungi in vitro (ie. dropped onto culture plates of the bacteria, etc. and then studied). To distill it down to a sound-byte- Yes. It's very effective against two kinds of bacteria that make your throat sore, plus one kind of fungus that makes people feel sick. Plus, it slows down a few other kinds of bacteria. So, without knowledge of the scientific causes of sickness it would have been useful in quite a few instances to alleviate sore throats. I don't know how technical people want me to get with this... I could go into more detail, but I don't want to bore anyone. Basically, horehound was much more effective against gram+ bacteria than gram-. Also, it's a pretty good source of anti-oxidants, and it reduces inflammation and swelling.

Bubble and squeak

Also filed under 'things I can eat'...

To modify this recipe you can use sweet potato instead of white potatoes. You can also veg-ify it by substituting vegetarian/vegan sausages and dairy-free margarine

Bubble and Squeak

• Mashed potatoes
• Left over boiled cabbage, carrots, parsnips, sausages (already cooked and chopped)
• Mushrooms and onion (chopped)
• 1-2 eggs (optional) 
• gravy or ketchup (optional)

Fall goodness- carrot recipes

I don't think I need to re-post all of these. I'll just direct you to the website for the Carrot Museum. It's a fun website with lots of information. And...

http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/recipes.html


Enjoy!