Ridiculously Simple Vegan No-Cook Ramen Salad

Flavorful pasta salad that is easy to make and high in vitamins and fiber is hard to come by. This recipe requires no heating, and the ingredients are inexpensive. Perfect for summer time. Simply put all the ingredients into a large bowl, stir, and serve. Like other pasta salads, more flavor is released when chilled for a few hours before serving.
1 16 ounce bag of coleslaw mix or broccoli mix
1 cup of sunflower seeds, hulled
1 cup of sliced almonds
2 packages of uncooked ramen, throw away the seasoning packets or use them for something else
3/4 cup your choice of oil
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
3 green onions, chopped

Eat Your Sand, beautiful edibles for the front yard

Announcing the official opening of project Eat Your Sand

After two grueling years of college, I have finally emerged. Hopefully the headaches will be over, and I will have more time to do the things that I love to do, like teach the little ones about nature and growing plants. I have also been cultivating a minimalist lifestyle, and this spring I have been potting and propagating, in hopes to find other permits to trade with, or just interested gardeners. Its not about selling plants and rabbits, its about sharing, getting, and producing bounty. Care of people and all.
So this spring I have more growies than I know what to do with. It has inspired me to create a trading page with a listing of everything that I have a lot of success with, including rabbits and premium plants.
Come check it out
EatYourSand
Don't hesitate to shoot me an email or use the form to contact me. I love to trade! Eat Your Sand will be updated frequently with what is currently being offered, and I am willing to travel to trade.

Chrissy Hibiscus'seed?

     As an aside, I am secretly envious of David's home nursery. I definitely have decided I want to do that with some of my not-so-spare time. There needs to be more permaculture nurseries, and I want to grow and maybe market edible plants and their cousins, edible ornamental plants. I'd like to grow it from the roots up, slowly, potting up my extras and offshoots.

     It's just so fun propagating plants, and so useful if the plants can be used as a survival food source. I even have family support on this kind of endeavor.
     And when I think about how much it would cost to turn my tiny yard into a food forest with plants from the big box stores, I shudder in horror. I have no access to that kind of money at the moment, and wouldn't choose to blow that much on plants anyway. Even if a person had the money, there is no place selling all the varieties of edible plants that grow well in this area, a place where freezes do occasionally happen but there are so many plants that can tolerate it. Much more possibilities than up north, even more possibilities than north Florida.
     To be a public figure in the plant world, I would have to specialize. I would make myself known, preferably by propagating and growing out many many hibiscus' and taking them all over the state like Johnny Appleseed. Chrissy Hibiscus'seed? Awesome!  Chrissy the mad hibiscus maven. What would I name my nursery? Maybe Sandy's Edible Yard. or Sandlot Plants. Sandy (the Hibiscus Maven)'s Edible Plants.  Hmmm...

Backyard Green Smoothie Recipe

1 loquat leaf
4 red hibiscus leaves
4 hibiscus leaves
6 lemon leaves
1/2 ginger leaf
rosemary - greens from one sprig 4" long
1-2 cups cold water

optional : canna - no added flavor, no significant nutrition
     lemongrass - tasty but adds a real "grassy" flavor
     mints

     Directions - add all ingredients to blender and blend on high for at least 30 seconds. There should be enough blending that a foam is created on the top, which quickly dissipates. Then pour through a strainer into a large enough jar to hold your smoothie, which should be enjoyed immediately or refrigerated and enjoyed within about 3 days. Take the strained contents to the compost heap, give to the rabbits now, or freeze into cubes for treats for the rabbits later.

Easiest Method for Cleaning a Glass Wine Carbouy

     The easiest way to clean a glass carbouy - get some denture cleaning tabs from the grocery store. They are about $5 for a hundred tabs, may be cheaper at other locations. No specific type is necessary. Then fill up your carbouy with warm water, and add about one tab per gallon size of your jug. Watch impatiently while it fizzes, come back later when the water is clear, and all done. Sediment removed from the top without scrubbing! Rinse thoroughly and reuse your jug for another batch of wine.

Slow Cooker Spoon Bread with Seafood Recipe

Wine and Wine Cooking, 1972. Cookie, Animal Control, 2013.

     This recipe came from another amazing antique cookbook thrift store find. Spoon bread is a somewhat custardy cornbread, which can only very loosely be called a bread. It is supposed to be have the consistency of a quiche or, more accurately, a bread pudding which can be eaten with a spoon. This meal could be a nutritious one for anyone who has trouble chewing. Perhaps the best part about it is that it can be prepared with pantry ingredients on hand, with the exception of butter (maybe substitute oil) and fresh eggs.

Spoon bread with Seafood

For the spoon bread:
1 1/2 cups milk (powdered or fresh)
1 cup corn kernels (frozen, fresh, canned, dehydrated)
2 or 3 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup uncooked yellow corn meal
2 eggs
1/2 cup sauterne (sweet white) wine, or substitute milk

     To prepare the spoon bread - whip the eggs, then add the other liquid ingredients and mix thoroughly. Slowly add the remaining ingredients, mixing well. Line the slow cooker with parchment paper, and slowly pour in the spoon bread batter. Put the lid in place, and turn on the highest setting for at least 1 1/2 hours.
     My delicious variation - We happened to be flat out of corn, so I used frozen mixed gumbo vegetables (okra, peas, etc.). It was a tasty, healthy substitution. I ended up taking the kiddo to the library at this point, and the spoon bread cooked for about 2 1/2 hours in the crock pot without burning. I love that kind of recipe!

For the sauce
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup sifted flour
3/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons chopped green or mild onion (or substitute powdered onion)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 cup sauterne (sweet white) wine, or omit
1 cup vegetables like peas or carrots
1 can of tuna (6 1/2-7 oz), drained

     To prepare the sauce - Mix together all the ingredients sans the tuna slowly in a saucepan on the stove. Bring to a boil, allowing the sauce to thicken. When the sauce has reached your desired thickness, add the tuna and remove from heat.
     My variation - omitted the wine and used frozen yellow squash as the vegetable. Used powdered onion and dry dill. Yum!

Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake

     Meyer lemons are among the easiest to grow lemons here in central Florida. Not only a great source of vitamin C, they offer a unique flavor to baked goods and drinks.

1 (4-ounce) container homemade yogurt or store-bought
1 cup granulated sugar, to taste
3 whole eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or 1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon Meyer lemon zest

For the icing, which is optional
3 tablespoons sour cream, at room temperature. Do not substitute ricotta cheese! Ask me how I know this.
3/4 cup powdered sugar
juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon, to taste

Manure Brewer

How to ghetto-tastically make a manure brewer. (Say that 5 times fast!)

     The first step: Get your hands on a blue barrel. This is probably the hardest part, but they are out there if you really want them. There are many sources,  I ghetto-tastically just asked someone who wasn't using theirs.
     Then, using a saw, slice in half in the middle. This is the best time to clean the inside out really good.
     If it had a cap or plug on the top, take it off. Get a large piece of old screen to more than cover the cap area.
     In the base, drill a hole and install a spigot. This will need to be glued and caulked very well so there are no leakage problems.
 Then invert the top onto the bottom, so the top acts as a cup for the raw manure. It should be open to the air so rain can come in.

This one isn't so attractive. Yours can be better.

     Then fill the whole top with all the rabbit manure, waste hay, other manure, and small bits of kitchen waste, like eggshells. If you find any worms in your garden, add them as well.
     How to use the manure brewer:
Dump water in the open top
Open the spigot and drain manure water into your watering can or bucket.
Take the watering can or bucket to your hungry plants, water slowly so more nutrition is absorbed.

Combating Invasive Plants

     There are so many different views as to what constitutes an invasive plant. The state of Florida would say invasive plants are all non-native plant species that displace natural habitats. My mother would say that all vines are invasive plants that should be removed before the get "out of control." Perhaps she should stick to something that is easier to manage, like Confederate Jasmine.
     Then there are native invasives, like Dog Fennel in pastureland. Florida does not like to be turned into pasture, it likes to turn into scrub forests and swamps, and Dog Fennel is a succession plant that helps with that process. It quickly flowers and reseeds itself over an entire field, ruining it in just one season. (Maybe that's why Florida has no large land herbivores?)
     The agricultural state university 'round here is doing trial testing for releasing a beetle that eats Air Potato. While I'm all for getting rid of Air Potato, a member of the yam family from Africa that may or may not be edible, I'm unsure that the beetle is the way to go. UofF was also responsible for the Lovebugs being introduced here, and look how well that turned out! The Lovebug's only natural predator is... cars driven by humans.
     The extension service agents and the university website will both point out chemical controls for various plants, and how to properly apply them. This technique could be useful for a very small infestation of a particularly noxious plant, like Poison Ivy, but how would it work for an acre of forest covered by Air Potato or a field infested with Dog Fennel? On the other hand, proper land management techniques are generally cheap or free, excepting for time investment.
     Some techniques: controlled burns, agro-forestry, tilling and seeding, over-seeding, frequent rotational grazing, overgrazing and seeding, hand-scything, rotational grazing with multiple species, holistic management. Perhaps really rethinking how agriculture is done here might include something even more drastic, like small-scale, holistic, organic farms that raise key deer and rabbits instead of cattle.

Laundry Detergent Update

     Having made more laundry detergent from this recipe, using home made soap as the main ingredient is beyond compare. Just because people online say it's a good use of leftover bar soap, doesn't mean much until you actually try it, and I have. Home made soap is much better for laundry detergent, I would even put it up over fels-naptha. though fels has a better smell. Also, this last batch,I used more soap and borax than the recipe calls for (about 10% more) and feel it is well worth the additional cost. This batch was made with castille soap.