Just Passing Through

Dear Loyal Readers and Friends of Darius -

It is with great sadness that I am posting on Darius' behalf. At 10:13am on Wednesday, March 19, 2014, Darius took her last breath and left this world. As you know from following her blog, she was a passionate, multi-talented and multi-faceted woman. I knew her for 30+ years as my beloved Aunt Donna.

There are no words to fill the void that she has left in my heart and in this world. She was always just passing through, soaking in as much experience in this world as she possibly could, and sharing every ounce of her knowledge and perspective with anyone who wanted to partake.

I hope that she has blessed your life as she has mine, from this, her little corner of the world wide web.

Thank you for sharing and supporting my wonderful Aunt.

Shawnee R. 

Guide to Pesticides in Produce

We all worry about what's in or on our foods. This may be a help.
 

The growing concerns about chemical pesticide exposure in our food is exactly why the Environmental Working Group (EWG) developed its annual list of “clean” and “dirty” foods. From EWG’s website (http://www.ewg.org/ )

The Dirty Dozen

    Apples

    Celery

    Strawberries

    Peaches

    Spinach

    Nectarines (imported)

    Grapes (imported)

    Sweet Bell Peppers

    Potatoes

    Blueberries (domestic)

    Lettuce

    Kale/Collard Greens

The Clean Fifteen

    Onions

    Sweet Corn

    Pineapples

    Avocado

    Asparagus

    Sweet Peas

    Mangoes

    Eggplant

    Cantaloupe (domestic)

    Kiwi

    Cabbage

    Watermelon

    Sweet Potatoes

    Grapefruit

    Mushrooms

Preparedness and Disease

If you have followed my blog for long, you know that 2 important factors for me are nutrient-dense (healthy) foods, and being prepared for what may come our way.

I usually have a good stock in my pantry of home-canned foods but with being hospitalized 7 times last year I really cut into the larder without the energy to replace items.

Normally I have enough stored (canned) veggies and meats for as much as a year, enough water filters for several months, a pile of dry firewood in case I have to cook over an open fire or on my wood stove when it's cold, but that has diminished over the last year. I hope this year will be better, and my garden productive.

However, one thing I'm not prepared for is a pandemic. I just have 2 banker's boxes of medical stuff like bandages and antiseptics and 2 good first-aid books with drawings even an idiot should be able to understand.

I watched a show on the history channel last week about the Bubonic Plague and I just cannot wrap my mind around losing half the population... about 100 MILLION people in Europe at the time. Often there were so many deaths in a single day that they could not keep up with burials.

Think about your extended family, add in some friends and neighbors, and then imagine half of them dead in short order of a disease without control. That's scary.

The CDC says there are STILL pockets of the Plague around the world... that's also scary. Plus, the more they adulterate our food supply, the more we become vulnerable to ANY disease that comes along... and the diseases have grown more resistant to our "modern medicines" thanks to feeding antibiotics to the animals grown for us to eat, and the air-carried pollen of GMO's.

I wish I had some suggestions for those kind of preparations but I don't. I DO think eating as healthy as we can is a first line of defense but that may not be enough to avoid a disaster.

If any of you have any good suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Zinc and Colds

I've kept zinc supplements and lozenges on hand for years, taking some whenever I've had a cold coming on, but never looked into exactly how and why it works. I never take it in a daily basis because I think I get enough in my foods.

Scientists at the University of Adelaide, AU have discovered how Zinc interplays with one of the deadliest bacteria, Streptococcus pneumoniae, which kills more than one million people a year by causing pneumonia, meningitis and other serious infectious diseases.

Zinc starves the bacteria that need to feed off manganese (an essential metal), bacteria that can to thrive and attack the body. By blocking this process, Zinc weakens the bacteria and makes the job of the immune system so much easier.

The essential mineral Zinc, is one of the very best anti-bacterial agents.

Food Sources:

Seafood

Beef and Lamb

Pork & Chicken

Wheat Germ

Spinach and Silverbeet (Chard)

Pumpkin and Squash Seeds

Nuts

Cocoa and Chocolate (Cocoa Powder)

Dry Beans or Legumes

Mushrooms

Zinc - An Essential Mineral

Zinc is an essential mineral present in nearly every cell of your body. Zinc stimulates the work of about 100 enzymes that keep your body functioning normally. In addition, your body needs zinc to use nutrients for immunity, for wound healing and for maintaining your senses of taste and smell. Food is the best source of zinc, as supplements have not proven (to date) to be a sufficient source. It is very difficult to get too much zinc in your diet; however, supplements may cause harmful side effects: Lowering of HDL (good) cholesterol levels, weakening of immune response and impairment of copper absorption. Zinc is found in many different foods from both animal and plant sources so you can usually get all you need from a variety of foods.

Foods of animal origin are the best sources: Lean meat, poultry, and some seafood, liver and, in small amounts, milk and eggs. In fact, the body absorbs zinc better from a diet rich in animal protein than from one high in plant protein. You also get zinc from whole-grain foods, nuts, fortified breakfast cereals and some legumes, but phytates in those foods can decrease its rate of absorption.

If you are deficient in zinc, symptoms include reduced immunity, appetite loss, skin changes and impaired growth - and, during pregnancy, birth defects. The causes are poor intake, poor absorption, zinc loss or increased need. Vegetarians may need more since zinc from plant sources is not absorbed as well as zinc from other sources. Fortified cereal may be the best source.

There are some health-conditions linked to poor zinc status: Digestive diseases, alcoholism, inadequate calorie intake and poor infant and childhood growth. The USDA found that high fat, low-carbohydrate diets do not provide an adequate supply of zinc. If you suspect a deficiency, talk to your doctor about your symptoms before trying a supplement. Should you and your doctor decide you need a supplement, read the label's Supplement Facts to help keep your daily zinc intake under the UL.

Pricing Convenience

This is my 1,000th post on this blog, despite not being my original information. I'm looking forward to starting seeds as the weather begins to warm and melt the snow cover, and plan on a larger garden than I intended this due to what I fear is more rising food costs. Growing more food and cooking from scratch also means looking at what others do as short-cuts in convenience.

Today everything is convenient. You cook your meals by pushing a microwave button. Your car shifts itself, and your GPS tells you where to go. If you go to a  public restroom, you don't even have to flush the toilet! This tedious chore is a thing of the past because the toilet now has a small electronic "eye" connected to the Central Restroom Command Post, located deep underground somewhere near Omaha, Neb., where highly trained workers watch you on high-definition TV screens and make the flush decision for you. ("I say we push the button." "Wait, not yet!")

So we have it pretty easy. But we have paid a price for all this convenience: We don't know how to do anything anymore. We're helpless without our technology. Have you ever been standing in line to pay a cashier when something went wrong with the electronic cash register? Suddenly your safe, comfortable, modern world crumbles and you are plunged into a terrifying nightmare postapocalyptic hell where people might have to do math USING ONLY THEIR BRAINS.

Regular American adults are no more capable of doing math than they are of photosynthesis. If you hand a cashier a $20 bill for an item costing $13.47, both you and the cashier are going to look at the cash register to see how much you get back and both of you will unquestioningly accept the cash register's decision. It may say $6.53; it may say $5.89; it may be in a generous mood and say $8.41. But whatever it says, that's how much change you will get because both you and the cashier know the machine is WAY smarter than you.

I tried for several painful minutes to show a neighbor’s granddaughter how to do long division, at which point she gently told me I should go back to watching "Storage Wars" and she would figure out long division on her own. And she did. I don't know where she got the information. Probably from the Internet.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304675504579391143240721978

Affording groceries

With the severity of this winter across much of the US, coming food prices are starting to worry me. I had planned only a small garden this summer due to my health issues but I need to re-think that plan because I NEED to eat healthy foods.

I just paid almost $17 for two grass-fed beef shanks which are usually a cheap cut of meat, and lemons (not even organic) were just barely under a dollar each.

Here are a few sites with information, although I don't agree with some of them that are merely cost-cutting without addressing healthier foods. No doubt bulk fills our stomachs, but does it make or keep us healthy?

Affording groceries duringtimes of rapid price increases

During the past two years alone, the price of some household staples such as bread, milk, and eggs have increased in price by as much as 69%, while the median household income has only increased 1%.

YouTube

Food prices soar as incomes stand still

Soaring Food Prices: CompareCost Increases

Money Saving Tip: Rice, theUltimate Budget Extender

•In Soups and Stews that call for diced potatoes, use uncooked rice instead. Allow half an hour for soup or stew to simmer so rice can cook.

•Use cooked rice in place of oats or bread crumbs in meatloaf and hamburger patties to make them go further.

•This is not food related... BUT keep a rice hot pack around the house for those aches, pains, and headaches that arise from time to time. Take a clean tube sock, fill halfway with rice, and tie a knot in the end. When you need a good hot pack, just heat in the microwave for about a minute or so. Be careful because it gives off a moist heat and can burn skin if too hot when placed directly on it. This is a long lasting heat source that can be made in a jiff!

Junk DNA and Hope

A different kind of post for me... "junk DNA".

We all carry what is called junk DNA, which is our DNA for which no discernible function has been identified.

There have been a few books written in the last few years about Indigo Children, and those traits are very much like the Star Children in a recent history channel story. Star Children, like Indigo Children, are said to possess psychic, spiritual, and other extra sensory abilities to bring about peace and topple corrupt systems. 

Could this just be activation of some of our junk DNA? 

If it's true, does all this indicate Hope for this lovely blue planet we inhabit?

Weather takes its toll

The weather takes its toll... we've gone days/weeks with frozen pipes and loss of electric power, not to mention the apathy that sets in when nothing works.

Here's a couple of links you may find interesting. I know I have posted before about the adulteration of extra virgin olive oil, and here's an update. The second link is good news on the food front.

Extra Virgin Suicide

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/01/24/opinion/food-chains-extra-virgin-suicide.html?_r=1&smid=tw-share

California Legalized Selling Food Made At Home And Created Over A Thousand Local Businesses

http://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2014/01/29/california-legalized-selling-food-made-at-home-and-created-over-a-thousand-local-businesses/

Praising Solar Gain

Most of us have been experincing the arctic polar plunge into the US in the last few weeks, me included. We have had frozen pipes, impassable roads, school closings and more snow and ice that I'd like. 

I have extreme cabin fever.

But, there's a lesson I learned in all of this. I have long been a supporter of passive solar energy but it really has come to the forefront in this awful weather. Usually on cold days, I run out and start my old truck and let it warm up before I try to go anywhere. 

Despite recent temps in the single digits, we have had a couple of days with (cold) sunshine. On those days I try to get out for perishable groceries if the roads are passable. I've discovered that even in 5ºF weather, the cab of my truck is warm and toasty in the sunshine, without any need to warm up the engine, thus proving how solar gain really works even in dreadfully cold weather.

It gives me a great prospective now on designing wit6h passive solar gain in mind.

Growing Micro Greens and Health

Beet and Kale Microgreens, Photo Borrowed from Johnny's Selected Seeds

One of the things I've discovered during my declining health is what my diet is missing from salads. During the summer, I eat enough fresh vegetables (including tomatoes) that I don't notice any deficit, but it has become more apparent lately.

When I was first diagnosed with liver disease, they put me through 6 months of testing all parts of my body to determine if I was healthy enough for a liver transplant. During that time, they pulled all my teeth except 6 teeth in the lower front. Tooth decay had been a life-long problem for me despite throwing many thousands of dollars into my mouth for root canals, crowns and bridges and still losing the teeth.

Medicare will not pay for dentures and I haven't had an extra $5-6,000 sitting around to pay for them myself, but I get by except for the few things I cannot chew easily, notably a steak and most salad greens. I can manage romaine but not the baby greens I so love, and eating only romaine in salads gets old.

Micro greens turn out to be a great alternative that I can actually chew, and interestingly enough, they contain more nutrition than those same greens grown to full size! Over the course of this past summer I have been buying micro greens at the farmer's market but now they are closed for the winter so I ordered seeds and trays to grow my own, inside on a bookshelf under a windowsill.

To start off, I bought a quarter pound each of 2 mixes from Johnny's, one spicy (red and green mustards with various textures) and one a mild mix (Mizuna, Cabbage, Kale, and Kohlrabi). When I get the hang of growing them, I can buy the specific micro greens I prefer (and there are oodles of choices), but I thought this was a good way to start.

After 4 Days

My first try was to sow just a few rows of each in one tray just to see how they grow, although my ordered pack of trays was for 6 trays. I only have enough windowsill for 2 trays, leaving room enough for my cat to lounge in the sun's scant rays.

The first seeds (uncovered) sprouted in 4-5 days and the instructions said 10-15 days to maturity (cutting). I think the first sowing will barely make 1 salad with other additions, so I should get 2-3 servings per full tray and will do continuous sowing as I use them.

After 6-7 Days

I should be able to cut them in another week. 

Update, Dec 23. My micro greens are languishing for lack of enough light on the window sills. They don't even have a true set of leaves yet and are very leggy. My after-Christmas chore will be to hang a grow light (a fluorescent light with one cool-white bulb and one warm-light bulb) over that windowsill before I sow another batch. I have the light fixture, just need bulbs but I'm NOT braving the last-minute Christmas shoppers for them.

Eggs... whole or just whites?

For several months (or maybe more) fast food chains like McD's and Subway have been pushing breakfast items that contain egg whites without any yolks.

I know the egg whites contain protein, but what is in the yolks making them omit them?

Our brains run on fats, but not just any fats. Not canola oil, not corn oil, not soy oil, and not most other processed oils. Our brains need what's in animal fats such as egg yolks and free-range meats. Free-range eggs are a good and inexpensive source of those needed fats.

So, my questions are what's in it for those food chains (and who sold them on that idea, anyway)? Are they trying to dumb us down even more? It has to be a "follow the money" thing. Equally important to me is WHAT are they doing with all those egg yolks they don't use?? Must be millions a week just for McD's.  (Have you ever seen a chicken lay an egg without a yolk?)

Inquiring minds want to know.

China rejects our corn, but we eat it??

Photo from Shuttlestock

Genetically modified strains of corn not authorized for sale in China have been showing up in cargoes exported from the U.S., prompting China to reject them.

And we’re not talking about trifling amounts here. In November and December, the country rejected more than 600,000 tons of American corn that had been genetically modified.

It’s hard to conceptualize that much corn, but it works out to more than a dozen shipments, or nearly a third of the corn shipped from the U.S. to China this year. Another way to think about it: The rejected shipments weighed more than 100,000 elephants.

Source:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25461889

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/18/china-us-corn-idUSL3N0JX1R120131218

Chicken and Superbugs

In case you have just wandered onto this blog on a whim or random Google link, let me be clear about my food choices. I NEVER buy meats from the grocery stores, and not much produce except in winter when there’s no local hoophouse stuff available. I do as much home-grown and/or organic as possible.

My health is not good (stemming from years of work-related causes) but I'd probably be dead already if not for my food choices over the last few years. 

When I say I buy no commercial “no meats” I really mean it, but especially NOT any chicken. Here’s one reason why:

Half Of Supermarket ChickenHarbors Superbugs, Consumer Reports Finds

Tyson chicken houses are everywhere in Virginia, but thankfully none are very near me. They are now making biochar from the Tyson waste and I won’t even buy that for my garden. Yuck. Instead I use the charred bits from my wood stove on my garden.

I buy local organic grass-fed meats despite the higher cost, and I believe (in addition to being tasty) it benefits my health, plus cuts down my health-care costs. I cure my own bacon from domestic hogs that roam our wooded mountain slopes, and make my own butter from local cream that's not ultra-pasteurized. I also make a lot of my own cheese. Occasionally when I get off the mountain to a large city, I look for wild shrimp and fish but those gets harder to find every year. 

If you've tread much about native american and early settler life, you know they ate the organs of meat animals long before they'd eat the muscle meats. That's because the organs contain so much more nutrition that the muscles. We Americans choose less nutritious steak instead of organ meats, sacrificing nutrition for popular belief.

I admit I balk at eating brains, although my dad loved them scrambled with eggs. I eat liver, kidneys, heart, and sweetbreads. Some of the tougher cuts like hearts and kidneys sometimes get ground and used in a mixed country paté loaf. Do NOT even mention chitlins or tripe because I'm not going there!

Hard post to write

I've not posted much this year, having been taken by ambulance to the university hospital down in NC 6 times in 8 months (Feb 1-Oct 3) and then time at home to recuperate. 

My liver disease has finally become worse, after a long 'remission', and recently my doctors have diagnosed the beginnings of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) from high ammonia levels. My liver has quit making enough enzymes to fully digest proteins, and the undigested proteins in the intestines cause ammonia build-up. The ammonia affects the brain.

My plan is to move to Asheville, NC in the spring where good health care isn't a 2-1/2 hour trip each way (I'm going 1-2X a month now), and where there is excellent hospice when I finally need it. I lived in Asheville for years and still have many friends there, so I'll have support and a sense of community. Asheville is very alive, and has half a dozen natural foods grocery stores. The closest ones to me now are 125+ miles away.

I'll have to find shared quarters, and store a lot of stuff I don't sell here first, as the COL in Asheville is high, but the medical trade-off is worth it. Besides I have LOTS of stored foods and hopefully will find a place with room somewhere for my 2 full freezers.

If lucky I may have more than a year... a lot depends on a new med that's $1,000/month. I don't have the med yet as no local pharmacies stock it, but it IS now on order. The med I have to reduce ammonia is disgusting as it causes very abrupt diarrhea, but my ammonia level is slowly coming down. Maybe not enough soon enough, only Time will tell.

I WILL post from time to time, esp. in the dead of winter when I can't do much else except sort and pack (and that gets old quickly, not to mention it's tiring( but it won't be consistent. I have very little energy now and I'm losing weight.

egg whites

I had a long trip down to NC yesterday for medical stuff, and overslept so there was no time to make a proper breakfast.

On the run, I broke one of my rules and went through McD's for an Egg McMuffin. The 'special' offer was an "egg white McMuffin" which I declined.

True, the egg whites are high in protein, but the real value in eggs is the yolk. More so if the eggs are from free-range hens. That means truly free range, like from a local farmer who has a dozen or so hens that are outside all day, not the factories that have a small dorr to allow hundreds of hens access to the cement outside. I never buy nutritionally deficient factory eggs anymore... I'd rather do without.

Almost all of the ever-important nutrients like DHA, folate, choline and the essential vitamins like A, D, E, K-2, B-6, & B-12 live in the yolk rather than the white.

Makes me wonder why the spiel, and what are they doing with all the yolks?

I didn't know this, did you?

I've been using aluminum foil for more years than I care to remember. Great stuff, but sometimes it can be a pain. You know, like when you are in the middle of doing something and you try to pull some foil out and the whole roll comes out of the box.

Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.

Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and looked at the end of the box. And written on the end it said, "Press here to lock end". Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there?

I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too.

I then looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one too!

I can't count the number of times the Saran warp roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up.

Bragging...

One of my good friends entered 2 of my homemade vinegars in the Fair, and I won a Blue ribbon for the Chive Blossom Vinegar, and a 2nd Place Ribbon for the Ruby Basil Vinegar!

I use champagne vinegar as a base, but it's expensive ($40/half gallon with S/H). So over this winter, I plan to buy some inexpensive champagne and make my own champagne vinegar. It takes about 5-6 months for champagne to mature into vinegar, but during that time I have no herbs growing in the garden anyway.

Right now I have some tarragon vinegar brewing, with a touch of garlic in it, and plan some chive (not the pretty pink chive blossom) vinegar later, but before frost.

I did make some fruit vinegars, raspberry, cranberry, and blackberry and still have frozen arils of pomegranate to use. It's amazing what a splash of a fruit vinegar does for meats and vegetables.

Clafouti

This is a repost because I made another one last night, and easier to re-post than write anew. STILL a big favorite!

OhMyGod~... This is one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth!!! YUM! YUM! YUM! 

If you are not familiar with a clafouti, you are not alone... neither was I, except reading the name occasionally on food blogs. This one I made, my very first, blew me away with the taste. I had thought it might be good, but turned out to be one of the best damn desserts I have eaten in my whole life!

According to Wikipedia, a clafouti, or clafoutis, is a baked French dessert of black cherries in a buttered dish, covered with a thick flan-like batter and baked. The clafoutis is dusted with powdered sugar and served lukewarm.

The clafoutis originates in the Limousin region of France... and while black cherries are traditional, there are numerous variations using other fruits. I have fresh cranberries on hand for Thanksgiving, and still a lot of pears in my root cellar, so I decided to adapt a recipe I found for a Cranberry Pear Clafouti. The batter is a Yorkshire pudding style, made with eggs, sugar, cream and a little flour. The result is like a thick, puffy pancake baked over the fruit.

My adaptations were mostly in the method of cooking, although I did substitute half and half for the evaporated milk, and also increased the amount of pears, and flour.

I put about a cup of cranberries and three diced medium-size pears (peeled and cored) in a skillet, along with 1/3 cup of sugar and about 1½ tablespoons of butter. The online recipe called for only 1 pear, no butter, and baking the fruit about 20 minutes until soft. I only have a counter-top convection to work with at the moment, and decided it was easier to pre-cook the fruit in a skillet instead.

The cranberries were fairly quick to burst in the pan, and the cranberries and pears both softened in about 15 minutes on medium heat. The butter kept the sugar and fruit from sticking to the pan until they gave up some of their juices.

Next, drain the juices and set aside. The fruits don't have to be very dry, but not swimming in their juices either. Pre-heat the oven to 375ºF. Notice I used a different pan for baking. I'm using a small countertop convection oven until our oven gets repaired (or we get a new range).

In a bowl, mix 2 large eggs, 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1½ teaspoons vanilla, ⅓ cup half and half, and ¼ cup sugar.

Spread the drained fruit evenly in the bottom of an oven-proof pan (which you have buttered), and pour the batter on top.

Bake in the upper third of an oven until puffed around the edges and set in the center, about 12-15 minutes.

Because this batter puffs when it cooks, it also falls just like a soufflé! The topping deflated in the time it took to find and focus the camera! This is the virgin dish for this little oven, and I also see it heats unevenly. Next time, I'll keep a better eye on it and rotate halfway through.

OhMyGod~...  that's one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth!!! YUM! YUM! YUM! Not too sweet; just enough sweetness to excite my tastebuds dancing around the tart cranberries. The 'pudding' was excellent, a puffy-custard-y texture with lovely vanilla overtones.

Serve warm with the reserved juices (re-warmed) poured on top. Sprinkle with a tad of powdered sugar for looks. Serves 4.

Here's my recipe adaptation:

    * 3 medium pears, peeled, cored and cut into ½ inch dice

    * 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

    * ⅓ cup sugar (for the fruit) plus ¼ cup sugar for the batter

    * 2 large eggs

    * 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

    * 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

    * ⅓ cup half & half (or cream)

    * 1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar

Place oven rack in upper third of oven. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly oil a 9-inch glass pie plate or coat it with cooking spray. (I used a metal pan; can't use glass in this oven)

Combine pear, cranberries and ⅓ cup of the sugar in the baking dish. Bake until the fruit is tender and very juicy, about 20 minutes. (I did mine is a skillet on the stovetop.)

Meanwhile, whisk eggs, flour, vanilla and the remaining ¼ cup sugar in a medium bowl until smooth. Whisk in half and half.

Drain the juices from the baked fruit into a small bowl, holding back the fruit with a metal spatula. Reserve the juices. Redistribute the fruit over the bottom of the dish and pour in the egg mixture. Bake until puffed and set, about 12 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

Serve warm, with the reserved fruit juices spooned over the top. Sprinkle with a tad of powdered sugar.

Micro Greens

 

Beet and Kale microgreens from NPR

Micro greens are something I can actually chew, and love, so salads are finally on my menu again!! 

Not only that, they are 4-6 times more nutrient-dense than larger greens of the same varieties. Microgreens could easily be confused with sprouts, but they're not the same thing. Sprouts are seeds germinated in water just long enough (usually 48 hours) to grow roots, a stem and pale, underdeveloped leaves. Microgreens, on the other hand, need at least 7 days to grow before you can harvest them. Source

Six years ago I went through all the pre-testing for a liver transplant and as part of the process they pulled all of my teeth (except 6 in the lower front). Medicare will NOT pay for dentures (nor hearing aids and eyeglasses) so I'm nearly toothless, making chewing many things a problem. What I've missed the most is salads, because the lettuce leaves are so thin they are difficult to chew, and blenderized salads do NOT appeal to me!

Several weeks ago I bought some micro greens at the farmer's market, and not only can I chew them, the taste is just terrific! They were expensive to buy, so I just ordered 1/4 pound each (minimum order) of mild and spicy mix, great for beginners, from Johnny's Selected Seeds. I can grow them all winter long on a window sill in my LR in a small flat, so it's a Win-Win.

After I see how I do with the beginner mixes, I will branch out to making my own mix of greens and herbs. 

Johnny's has some great information on how to grow them, varieties available, and mixes for beginners. 

"Micro Greens are the leaves of certain vegetables and herbs harvested when quite young, generally at the first-true-leaf stage of growth. In cuisine, micro greens are added to gourmet salads, sprinkled over entreés, or used for garnish. They can be marketed as individual components or in signature blends, combining a number of varieties with different flavors, colors, and textures."

Basics of Growing Micro Greens

Micro Greens Comparison Chart

Herb Varieties for Micro Greens

ps... if you do an internet search for "micro greens recipe" you will find hundreds!

Growing squash in bales

Several years ago I planted vegetables in straw bales as an experiment, and had pretty decent results, and again the next year with potatoes planted in the remains of the bales. What I did NOT like was how much seed was still in the bales and sprouted. I fought them for 2-3 years.

Two years ago I cleared a large area, laid down cardboard, covered it with 6" of alfalfa from some bales I purchased locally, and covered it all with 6" of wood chips. I had 2 bales of alfalfa left over and just stuck them in the barn.

This year I took those 2 aged bales out of the barn and planted winter squash in them. I'm totally astonished at the growth. In the photos, it's hard to see there are actually 2 plants but one is an acorn squash and the other is spaghetti squash.

The acorn squash isn't doing well, but there must be a dozen or so spaghetti squash growing on the other plant!