I Refuse to Recede

ABC Wednesday Round 10 - B

2012-01-24T23:58:00.003-05:00

ABC Wednesday - Round 10 - A

2012-01-17T10:00:00.000-05:00

A perennial plant, about 16 - 36 inches tall, that is native to the northern and eastern parts of China as well as Mongolia and Korea Astragalus mollissimus is characterized by hairy flower stems; numerous, hairy, small, light green leaflets, usually arching; and long and narrow pink-purple flowers that have a pronounced backward flare at the upper tip of the rather small banner. It blooms profusely in the early spring and where you find one plant you will usually find many. The root is the medicinal part, and is usually harvested from 4-year-old plants.

Astragalus has been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years. It was often combined with other herbs to strengthen the body against disease. Astragalus is called an adaptogen, meaning it is thought to help protect the body against various stresses, including physical, mental, or emotional stress. It is believed to specifically promote immunity in the lungs.

Commonly known as: Goatsthorn, locoweed, bei qi, huang qi, ogi, hwanggi, or milk vetch, among other names.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of culinary use for this herb, it appears to be primarily a medicinal herb and is used both internally and externally. It is high in antioxidants.

Now, as to the fancy high dollar coffees?

I have seen these coffees selling for $1-$3 for a packet of instant coffee, which has some herb in it. The packet comes with a free cup of hot water so you can mix it up and drink it. By selling it that way, the vendor does not have to have a food license, and avoids a lot of paperwork.

They generally contain Astragalus and Ganoderma, a type of mushroom purported to have amazing health benefits.

Why use herbs and botanicals that few of us are familiar with and fewer of us can spell, or even pronounce?

Well, would you buy a cup of coffee that claimed it had garlic in it? Garlic has some incredible health benefits, but we have preconceived notions about it's taste and smell. Whether justified or not, these notions affect our decision to try a new product.

But by using unfamiliar products, the manufacturer avoids any preconceived notions about the herbs and supplements added.

If I tell you I have a glass of sugary lemonade, it sounds mundane. But if I tell you I have some water, infused with the essence of citrus fruit, and gently sweetened with crystals made from the sap of an all natural sustainable cane product grown in Florida, it sounds like I have some exotic new drink that you simply must have!

Well, it works the same way with most products, and especially well with things that sound exotic.

So, next time you hear about a cup of coffee, enriched with powdered mushrooms, and ground roots that are the secrets of ancient Chinese medicine, by all means go ahead and try it. But just remember that the value of any herb does not automatically increase in direct proportion to our inability to pronounce the name.

Herbs are good, they have a lot of health benefits and are part of an effective health regime, when combined with a good diet, active lifestyle and healthy habits.

But there is no "wonder herb" that will magically cure your ills, reverse aging, and make you more attractive all in one capsule.

They just don't work that way.

However, Astragalus certainly seems to be an interesting herb that those serious about herbalism may want to explore more fully.

Criminal Veggies

2011-07-10T18:26:00.006-04:00

Do you have rogue, criminal vegetables in your neighborhood???

With all that has been happening this summer, between selling at six markets a week, working with the high school to maintain their herb gardens, keeping our own herbs in line, and making product to take to the markets, I havent had a lot of time to dedicate to my blog.

But I couldn't, just absolutely couldn't ignore this when I saw the story.

This is a local story... Oak Park Michigan, about 40 miles away from us.

Julie Bass, a homeowner in Oak Park, recently had her front lawn torn up to do some work on a sewer line.

Instead of replacing it with grass, she decided to plant a garden.

What a great idea!

What an opportunity, to instill a love of home gardening in the next generation. To follow the example set for us by the wife of our very own president, Michelle Obama, who planted gardens at the White House.

So, Mrs Bass, called the city and asked if she could plant a garden in her front yard. The helpful employee told her that since nobody had ever asked before the answer was probably not. She called another employee and was told that only "Decorative plantings" were allowed.

Mrs Bass was unable to find any rule or law that prohibited vegetables in the front yard, so the Bass family hired a contractor to build attractive raised beds, landscaped around them, added stones and ornamental elements and planted their vegetables.

Like I said, a great idea!

Unfortunately, the city of Oak Park didn't think it was such a good idea.

They sent her a warning, telling her that her vegetables would have to be moved to the back yard.

Back to City hall she went, seeking the ordinance that prohibited vegetables in the front yard. But alas, there was no ordinance to be found. The city ordinance says that " all unpaved surfaces shall be covered with grass, shrubbery, or suitable live plant material."

Apparantly a code enforement officer had decided that, absent any legal definition, vegetables were not suitable live plant material.

Mrs Bass was cited, and charged with a misdemeanor. She has now been informed that since she requested a jury trial, the city prosecutor intends to ask for the maximum penalty, which could be up to 93 days in jail.

That's right, 3 months in jail for planting a garden.

In her blog, oakparkhatesveggies Julie writes:
"rumor has it that the city will not back down on our case because they are afraid it’s a slippery slope.

i’m not sure what that means, exactly, in the context of our garden. are they afraid someone might decide to grow bigger tomatoes? more aggressive strawberries? i have heard whisperings that they are afraid of… (imagine the most menacing vegetable possible!)- corn. yep. if they give us permission to have a garden, someone might grow corn.

so, i guess based on the need to protect the citizenry from rampant cornstalks, they are probably right to be concerned…

i’m being sarcastic, in case you haven’t read this blog before…"

I spent the last hour reading her blog and shaking my head in amazement.

I have seen some boneheaded things done before, in the name of government, but this one breaks the cake.

When people started to find out about this, letters of encouragement started coming in, prompting Mrs Bass, to discuss with her attorney how people could best help her cause.

It was determined that the best thing those who are not local could do is make sure that their local news agencies get the story. Make sure Oak Park knows that the entire nation is watching with bated breath to see if they will really put a mother in jail for 93 days for planting a garden for her children.

So here you have it. I am officially letting the city of Oak Park know that I and my readers are watching.

Perhaps you can do the same.

You can read the story and watch a newsclip here

ABC 4.2.8 T

2011-05-31T01:20:00.005-04:00

OK, This post has nothing to do with herbs.

For some of you this may be boring, for some it may be interesting, for some it may be a review, but I wanted to share it.

We had to replace the tires on both of our vehicles this week. They have both been riding on a wing and a prayer for several thousand miles. The Original Equipment tires for our F150 were rated for 40,000 miles and we just passed 60,000 on them.

As for the tires on the Ranger, I have no idea how many miles they had, but they were dry rotted so bad that they were starting to leak, and I had to keep adding air to two of them. We put it off long enough. It was time to bite the proverbial bullet and buy new tires.

Some things to keep in mind when buying tires.

When comparing the cost of tires between different dealers, make sure and ask for "out the door" pricing.

Some shops will charge you for mounting, balancing, valve stems, old tire disposal, and anything else they can sneak in, while others will just charge a flat rate for tires. This is important to know when comparing prices.

For example. WalMart sells tires. They charge $5 to mount and balance, $2 for new valve stems, (they won't mount a new tire without a new stem) and $1.50 to throw away your old tire. So there is a minimum of $8.50 per tire added on to the price they quote you. They also do not include sales tax in their quote. So, a tire that they sell for $100 will cost you "out the door" $114.51. That $14.51 doesn't seem like that much until you multiply it by 4.

If a Mom & Pop shop tells you $450.00 out the door, for four tires and Walmart tells you the tires are $100 each, the Mom & Pop shop costs less.

The most important thing to remember however, above anything else, and I cannot stress this enough.
Never, ever let a salesman sell you a tire with a lower service description than your vehicle had originally. Even if they have them on sale, for a really great price, this is never a good deal.

How do you know your service description? It's one of that big string of numbers on the side of the tire. Have you ever looked at all those numbers and wondered what they mean?

Because I delivered tires for years, all those numbers made sense to me, but it occurred to me, as I was tire shopping, that not everyone delivers tires for a living. Before I had that job, those numbers would have all just been a meaningless stream of mumbo jumbo.

So, let's take a minute and explore the number on the side of a tire.

Our F150 Tires are P265/70R17 100S

For those who like secret codes, get your Goodyear Decoder Ring and lets go to work. First let's break the string up a little.

P -- 265 -- 70 -- R -- 17 -- 100 -- S

Now lets go to work:

The first letter indicates the service type, or what the tire is intended to be used for.

P = Passenger tires.
They could also say "LT" for Light Truck.

The difference between Passenger and Light Truck Tires, is the thickness of the rubber in the sidewall of the tire. An LT tire has a thicker sidewall and can hold more air. This allows your truck to carry more weight without damaging your tires. If you haul a lot of weight, if you use your truck for industrial work, or if you pull a fifth wheel trailer, LT tires may be a better choice.

If you use your truck mostly for light hauling, P Metric tires (as they are commonly called) will do the job just as well, and, as they have less rubber in the sidewalls, they will be a little more flexible and therefore will ride a little smoother.

If the first letter is a "T", these are temporary tires, such as an emergency spare, and are not intended for long term use or for highway speeds. (In the tire industry, these Mini spares are often referred to as Donuts)

"ST" indicates a Special Trailer tire, designed for use on a trailer. These tires should never be used on cars or trucks.

There may not be a letter at all. In that case, you probably have a Euro-Metric tire. Although they are used mostly in Europe, a few have found their way here, mostly on mid sized SUVs and mini vans. Euro-Metric tires are comparable to "P" metric tires, with only very minor weight differences.

The next number is the tread width.

265 - Means that the tire is 265 Millimeters across. This is the measurement of the amount of tire that touches the road, and not, as some people believe the width of the tire from sidewall to sidewall.

For those of us non metric people, 300 millimeters is about a foot, so 265 is about 10 inches. Those of you who are perfectionists can figure it our exactly if you want, but for most of us, That's close enough.

The next number is known as the Aspect Ratio.

This is a fancy term for the height of the sidewall, or the distance from the road to the rim. This number is a percentage of the tread width, so 70 means that the sidewalls of my tires are 70% of 10 inches, or about 7 inches tall.

The R indicates that these are Radial tires.

This used to be much more relevant than it is today. Most tires on the road today are radials.

This is a reference to the internal construction of the tire. There are cords, generally steel or fiberglass that run back and forth inside the tire and add strength. Radial tires have those cords running straight across the tire, while Bias ply tires have the cords running diagonal and criss crossing.

Radial tires get better fuel economy, and wear longer, since the cords do not rub back and forth against each other as the tire spins. Bias tires are almost obsolete.

The next number is the rim size.

For whatever reason, tires are measured in millimeters, but rims are measured in inches, so 17 means my rims are 17 inches across.

I was never much of an artist, but this may help:

The final numbers are what is known as the Service Description

The first part is the weight capacity and the second is the speed rating.

There are charts and tables available to break down service description codes, in fact you can find a good one, (and a lot of other helpful tire information) here
Click Me

By looking it up on the chart, I can see that the 100 S on my tires means that each tire can carry up to 1764 pounds and be safe at speeds up to 112 miles per hour.

If I ever decide to drive faster than 112 mph, I will run the risk of overheating my tires. My tires are simply not capable of dissipating heat at speeds higher than 112 mph.

Of course I also run the risk of getting a ticket, losing my license and having my wife take my truck keys away, but those are all insignificant when compared to a blowout at over 100 mph.

So, to recap,

P265/70R17100S Breaks down like this:

P..........Means my tires are designed to be used for standard highway use,
265/70......are about 10 inches wide and about 31 " tall (7+17+7)
R...........are radial tires
17..........Have a 17 inch opening in the center
100......And should be safe carrying a vehicle no more than 7056 lbs (1764 X 4) S ..........at speeds of less than 112 miles per hour.

Now that you understand my tires, you should be able to figure out your own. Armed with a basic understanding of what the numbers mean, you should be better equipped next time you have to go to the tire store. Remember, knowledge is power.

And the most important thing to remember? Above everything else, do not EVER put tires on your vehicle that have a lower service description code than the original tires.

If you do, your tires will not be designed to carry the weight of the car at the speed the car is designed to run.

Putting a lower Service Description tire on a car is like asking for a blowout.

As for the rest of the numbers, be familiar with what they mean on a general basis, but a good rule of thumb is to just buy the same size, and type that the vehicle came with.

You can find more helpful information about tires at these places:

How Stuff Works

Tire Tech, Tire Info.

If you want help with metric conversions, a handy guide can be found here:

Memorial Day 2011

2011-05-29T17:16:00.009-04:00

Some call them veterans, I call them heroes.

The men and women who have answered the call when it came.

Who placed themselves in harms way.

Who wore and wear, our country's uniform.

From those brave colonists who took a stand against the British Government in our revolution, to those who fought side by side against neighbors and brothers in our civil war, to those who answered the call, and fought in WWI and WWII, to those who fought in a series of less and less popular wars in the last 60 years, and all those who wore the uniform in times of peace.

No matter why they wore it, no matter what they were asked to do, they are part of something bigger than themselves.

They are part of the great force that stands between me and the loss of everything I hold dear.

I thank them each for their service, pray for their safety, and dream of the day when their service will not be necessary.

Yeah, he's my brother, yeah, I'm proud of him.

Have a Happy Memorial Day everyone.

ABC.4.2.8 Q Quandary

2011-05-10T16:56:00.007-04:00

Hidden Treasures.

2011-05-05T12:37:00.000-04:00

Today I am going to be joining my very favorite blogger in the whole world, Diann, at The Thrifty Groove, for her recently adopted blog party, Thrifty Things Friday.

While camping this last week, I had to go into town to get a few little things and I stopped at the library, just to see what it was like.

Like we always do when we go to any library, I looked at their used books for sale. I found one I liked, A gardening book, so I took it to the desk to pay for it.

The librarian suggested that I look in the cabinets in the back room, where they had more books that wouldnt fit on the shelf in front. So I did, and I found a treasure trove!

Any one of these books would have been enough to get my attention, but all of them at the same time made my heart all aflutter and my knees weak.

And then, just when I thought it couldnt get anybetter, what did I find???

And to top it off...

And the best part...

Softcover books are 10 cents, hard cover 15 cents, so I paid 15 cents each for these books.

A quick tally of cover price shows these books at right around $195 if I bought all nine of them new.

Now, head on over to The Thrifty Groove, to see the finds, steals, bargains, deals and thrifty escapades of other reades this week.

ABC.4.2.8 P Parade

2011-05-03T00:02:00.011-04:00

ABC 4.2.8 O

2011-04-26T23:46:00.006-04:00

ABC 4.2.8 N (and M revisited)

2011-04-20T20:56:00.005-04:00

ABC 4.2.8 M Mad

2011-04-12T21:50:00.003-04:00

ABC 4.2.8 L - Lots of stuff

2011-04-05T14:00:00.000-04:00

ABC 4.2.8 K

2011-03-30T02:30:00.006-04:00

ABC 4.2.8 J Jot Jalapenos!

2011-03-23T10:52:00.003-04:00

ABC 4.2.8 I ~ Lucky Herbs

2011-03-15T16:20:00.004-04:00

OK, Here it is, ABC Wednesday time again. This is the day to join in the ABC Wednesday Challenge, and share a little bit of our world with friends all over the world, and learn about them as well, one letter at a time. You can participate too, in either the sharing, or the learning, or both, by visiting ABC Wednesday,Where this week, the letter is:

I don’t know why every year I am so surprised when “I” falls on St Patrick’s Day Week.

You would think by now I would do the simple math and realize that there are the same number of weeks in the year and the same number of letters in the alphabet every year, but I’m not necessarily real quick when it comes to that whole thinking stuff.

Anyway, I wanted to address the luck of the Irish this week. First I wanted to get some information on the origin of the phrase “Luck of the Irish”.

I checked with the experts at Google and discovered that there are a lot of different theories, and no real foundation for any of them.

Some claim that the phrase is misused, and that the luck of the Irish was actually bad luck, the Irish being historically an unlucky people. Others claim that the phrase originated in the USA when Irish immigrants, who were deemed to be unskilled and unintelligent by their bigoted neighbors were assumed to be lucky if they were successful.

Having nothing to back up either of these things I checked with Irish scholar Paddy O’Furniture for his insight.

Paddy explained that the Irish people, although faced with adversity, famine and trouble, throughout the years always managed to keep a cheery disposition.

“Tis a truly lucky man,” Paddy explained, “who can smile and be happy in life.”

May we all share in Paddy’s luck, and be happy with life.

And now, In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, and since the Irish are as superstitious as they are lucky, I want to talk about some traditionally lucky herbs and spices.

Chamomile: It is the gambler’s lucky herb. Not long ago, gamblers were known to bathe their hands in chamomile solutions for better luck at gaming (they may be still doing it)

Frankincense: The Magi presented this aromatic herb to the savior. Carrying a small piece is considered lucky

Nutmeg: Long considered a charm for good luck, nutmegs are worn as lockets and bracelets. They are often strung along with star anise.

Sandalwood: Burnt as incense, and used in soaps and talcum powder, sandalwood is a sign of luck and prosperity.

Other herbs for good luck include rosemary, thyme, spearmint.

How does one use herbs so as to get the good luck from them one might ask?

There are several different ways.

You can carry some of the substance on your person. This can be as easy as putting a tiny bit of the herb in a tiny plastic bag and put in your pocket. An easy way is to put a pinch of the herb into a locket, or use a sachet.
You can buy ready made sachets or pouches that you can use for this purpose, but you can also sew a small one using an appropriately colored material. Green and yellow are popular colors associated with prosperity and money one. These sachets are then tucked under the bed or somewhere in the home, worn on a string around the neck, put in a purse or wallet or concealed somewhere in the home.

Some people simply fill a potpourri jar with the appropriate herbs and leave it in a prominent place in the house.

I think I have discussed this before on my blog, but in the very early days of herbal medicine it was believed that everything on earth was composed of one of four elements, Earth, Water, Fire and Air By adjusting or altering those elements in a person, we could influence their health and other aspects of their life.

The simplest “Earth, Water, Air, Fire” ritual is to boil the herb in water.
The Herbs are the earth, the water is in the pot, the air is the steam and the fire is the stove. Occasionally stir the herb in the water while thinking of your magical intention. Strain the plant material from the liquid and sprinkle it around or outside the home.

Often herbs also are burned as incense. However, this should be done with caution. Many herbs are hypnotic or have mild hallucinogenic properties, so you should make sure you know what you are burning.

Traditional culinary herbs are generally safe for this purpose, and both rosemary and sage have a very nice smell when burning, as well as having woody stems which burn longer than some of their leafier cousins.

Finally, from http://www.pioneerthinking.com/ss_prosperity.html here is a list of some traditional lucky herbs and spices.

May the luck of the Irish be with you as you read and should you try to use any of these and have unexpectedly good results, please let me know.

Alfalfa – Known traditionally as the “good luck” herb I recommend tucking a sprig of this in your purse or in a locket. When combined with other money drawing herbs in a sachet it is thought to reinforce the other substance’s powers.
Allspice – Can be carried on the person or burned as incense or sprinkled in the four corners of the house. It is thought to attract business luck or success.
Bayberry – Bayberry can be bought commercially as a candle –“A bayberry candle burned to the socket – brings luck to the home and puts money in the pocket.” It can also be bought as incense.
Basil – Soaking basil leaves in water for three days and then sprinkling the water at your business premises is thought to attract financial success. The leaves can also be carried with you.
Bay Leaves – Bay leaves increase intuition and are good if you are looking for a promotion or a job. Tuck some under your mattress or boil them and sprinkle the water around your home. Hallucinogenic so I do not recommend you burn these.
Chamomile – Washing your hands in chamomile tea is thought to bring gamblers luck. Drinking the tea is thought to bring luck and prosperity.
Cloves – Cloves can be burned on charcoal, tucked in a sachet or put in your purse to draw money. An ancient money and protection ritual is to stick an orange with the heads of cloves stuck on pins and hang it on a ribbon in the kitchen so your cupboards are never bare.
Cinnamon: A very handy kitchen spice that can be used “in a pinch” to bring quick money, it can be bought as incense or burned on charcoal or sprinkled in a cash register or wallet to bring business.
Citronella: The leaves are thought to be good for attracting business and also smell lovely in a potpourri. Citronella is, however, toxic to birds – so avoid burning it in the house if you have feathered friends in your menagerie.
Five-Finger Grass (also known as Cinquefoil): This lemony grass can be burned, hid in a potpourri or carried on your person. It is the standard ingredient in most money drawing incenses.
Grains of Paradise: These little round seeds are carried in the purse or wallet or tucked in a sachet under the pillow to bring luck and guidance in career or money matters.
Honeysuckle: The live and dried flowers are used to attract luck business and prosperity.
Irish Moss: This is seaweed that can be bought in Caribbean stores. It is traditionally used to make a sweet drink. It is also carried in sachets to bring money to the bearer.
Juniper Berries: Associated with Jupiter, the berries of the juniper tree are said to attract luck, good fortune and business success.
Mint: All the mints (spearmint, peppermint) are used to attract good spirits and speed good fortune to the bearer.
Patchouli: Added to prosperity herb mixes to reinforce the manifestation power of your wishes. Can be bought as an incense, it has a commanding component to it.
Strawberry Leaves: Carried on the person and used to draw fortunate circumstances into a person’s life.
Squill Root: If you can find this, it is said to be one of the most powerful roots used to draw money to the bearer.
Tonka Beans: Tonkas are large dried beans that protect against poverty and that are just considered plain lucky. Place a bean in your purse, near your computer or under your phone – anywhere where you need luck in business. Avoid burning these.

Now head on over to ABC Wednesday, to see what everyone else is blogging about today.

ABC 4.2.8 H

2011-03-09T20:20:00.007-05:00

ABC 4.2.8 G Guest, Garden, Game

2011-03-01T00:37:00.005-05:00

ABC 4.2.8 F

2011-02-24T20:13:00.007-05:00

ABC 4.2.8 E Educating Experience

2011-02-16T02:36:00.007-05:00

ABC 4.2.8 D Dips and Dry Rubs

2011-02-08T18:00:00.000-05:00

ABC 4.2.8 C -- The Common Cold.

2011-02-01T02:30:00.001-05:00

One of the oldest COMMON COLD myths concerns the weather's impact on your chances of getting a cold. There is no evidence that you can get a cold from exposure to cold weather -- or from getting chilled or overheated.

However, people are more likely to get colds during the colder months. It is believed that this is because during colder weather, people are inside more and in CLOSER CONTACT with people who might be CONTAGIOUS.

Vitamin C will prevent a cold.

Many people are convinced that when it comes to the common cold, vitamin C in large quantities will prevent colds. To test this common cold myth, several large-scale, controlled studies involving children and adults were conducted. To date, no conclusive data have shown that large doses of vitamin C prevent colds. The vitamin does however seem to reduce the severity or duration of symptoms.

How about Chicken Soup?

For hundreds of years people have believed that CHICKEN soup can treat the common cold and experiments at the University of Nebraska Medical Center seem to prove this. Chicken soup contains several ingredients that act as an anti-inflammatory which may help reduce cold symptoms.

It is important to note that what is being treated in each of the above examples are the symptoms. For the most part once you have a cold, (and the only way to get a cold is by coming in contact with someone else who has one) there is no way to treat the virus itself. All you can do is treat the symptoms and let your body heal itself from the virus.

There are a few more myths floating around out there and I would love to explore them all, but I'm coughing and wheezing, I'm ornery and cranky, I feel like a small woodchuck crawled up my nose and made a nest, and I just want to go to sleep...

However, with Valentine's Day coming up, it is also very important to note this next study:

As strange as it might sound, you aren't more likely to catch a cold by kissing someone who already has the symptoms. Most viruses that cause colds enter our body through the nose and eyes. Volunteers who had colds at the University of Wisconsin Medical school kissed those who were not infected for a minute and a half and out of 16 trials, only one person was infected with the virus.

Now, what I want to know, is, who thought up that study, and how in the world did they talk people into participating?

Anyway, since our whole house seems to have the cold simultaneously, we are all looking for the sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy-head, fever, so you can rest medicine....

C you next week!

ABC 4.2.8 B

2011-01-25T12:01:00.005-05:00

OK, Here it is, ABC Wednesday time again. This is the day to join in the ABC Wednesday Challenge, and share a litle bit of our world with friends all over the world, and learn about them too, one letter at a time. You can participate too, in either the sharing, or the learning, by visiting ABC Wednesday,

This week, our letter is:

B, of course, is for BOOKS,
and BOOKS are what we have a BUNCH of.

BOXES

and BOXES

of BOOKS.

So, BEGINNING this week, we are going to attempt to open a BOOTH at the local indoor flea market and sell BOOKS.

We will have BOOKS to BUY or BARTER, but we prefer you don't just BROWSE and BORROW.

By the BAG, by the BOX, By the BUSHEL. BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS!

Psst.... Hey BUDDY...wanna BUY a BOOK?

What to do, what to do?

2011-01-23T01:44:00.004-05:00

I have been looking around online at some of the cool new things that are out there, that would enhance our herb business, and be a fun addition to our life. I saw several on CSN Stores, so when I was offered a chance to review one of their products, of course I jumped at the opportunity.

For those who don't know, CSN Stores is the equivelant of an online mega mall. With over 200 different stores to choose from, all under one "roof", they sell everything from TV stands for flat screens, to the plant stands for patio planters.

I am excited that they are giving me this chance.

I think I will be reviewing an herb mill.

Although I also had my eye on a compost tool.

or a compost fork

Of course, I could always review a tea set... Valentines Day is coming up quick...

So many choices, so many products... Wonder if my wife would like a compost fork for Valentines Day....?

What should I do???

ABC Wednesday Challenge, Year 4, Part 2, Round 8, A

2011-01-18T00:01:00.001-05:00

I should just title this ABC.4.2.8(A)

Welcome to ABC Wednesday. A blog party that I have been somewhat delinquent in attending regularly.

I have discovered that blogging, and especially weekly parties, is kind of like going to church. The more you skip, the easier it is to keep skipping.

But starting a new round, and starting with A, it's a good time to jump back in.

So A is for Alphabet.

Here is an alphabet meme I found (copied/stole) from another blog recently. I had fun with it, maybe it will give you a glimpse into my world.

A is for Age: I will turn 30 for the 17th time this year. (that's 46 for those who are mathematically impaired.)

B is for Beverage of choice: Orange Juice. I could easily drink over a gallon a day.

C is for Career: C is also for Crash & Burn, which is what my fomrer career as a truck driver did when I got hurt.

D is for favorite Dessert: Cheesecake, but Coconut Cream Pie runs a close second.

E is for Essential item you use everyday: I feel naked without my keys, my wallet, and a pen. My phone is a close runner up.

F is for Favorite song at the moment: Anything with words! I have been listening to wordless "on hold" music for the last 2 hours with this stupid insurance company. Insurance is the bane of humanity!

G is for favorite Game: Probably rabbit...or elk. I'm really more of a fish guy than a game guy.

H is for Home town: Kearns, Utah, USA (Go Cougars!)

I is for Instruments you play: Not sure if I could play any now. but 30 years ago, I played trumpet, baritone, french horn, and tuba.

J is for favorite Juice: Orange... See B is for Beverage...

K is for Kids: I have three grown sons and one grown daughter who live far, far away. We are also raising One rambunctious three year old granddaughter who has enough energy for four kids.

L is for Last kiss: Not sure, see either K, or M.

M is for marriage: April 1, 2000 I married my very best friend, Diann.

N is for Name: Well, Troy is my middle name, my first name is Jonathon, which everyone assumes gives them permission to call me Jon. I have gone by Troy since birth.

O is for Overnight hospital stays:Overnight is a short stay. most of my stays have been at least a week...

P is for phobias: As I get older I fear less. I am still uneasy with heights though, and even more so since I fell and got broke. (pun intended)

Q is for quote:
"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."
..............or.........................
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

both by Martin Luther King, Jr.

R is for biggest Regret: Never going to college.

S is for Sports: I don't play much any more. I used to really enjoy basketball. I love to watch rodeo.

T is for Time you wake up: Usually about every four hours all night, but I generally try to be out of bed about 8 hours after I go to sleep, +/- an hour or two.

U is for color of Underwear: Wow, getting kind of personal aren't we? What if I said fuchsia and satin... would you think any less of me? OK, They were white when they were new, but the washer and dryer take their toll. Probably a dingy grey by now.

V is for Vegetable you love: I love green salad, is that a vegetable?

W is for Worst Habit: W is for, Wish I had any bad habits, so I would have something to write here... oh wait... I do bite my nails...

X is for X-rays you've had: I'm sorry... I can't stop laughing long enough to list them all...
I seriously do not believe there is any part of me that has not been x-rayed at one point or another

Y is for Yummy food you make: I make a mean scallopini sauce, but it has chunks of vegetables in it, so I don't make it at home. Everyone always asks me to make a cheese ball for family parties.

Z is for zodiac sign: Gemini

Now everyone head over to ABC Wednesday, to see what others were inspired to write about this week.

Book Review: Lies the Government Told You, by Andrew Napolitano

2011-01-07T01:31:00.004-05:00

I recently found a site called BookSneeze.com, where bloggers can request and receive free books from the publisher. All that is expected in return is an honest review of the book.

Now I'm not much of a non-fiction reader normally. I read to escape from the real world, not to understand it. I do read cookbooks and gardening books whenever I can get my hands on them. But usually I'm a fiction kind of guy, so I kind of surprised myself with my first choice:

Lies the Government Told You
Myth, Power, and Deception in American History
By Andrew Napolitano

In Lies the Government Told You, the author, a former New Jersey Superior Court Judge, explores the history of dishonesty in US Government. The author discusses the reasons behind some of the lies, the context in which they were told, and the end result.

From the title, I kind of expected this to be either a political commentary, aimed at the current administration, or a conspiracy theory book, aimed at the current crop of nutcases. But I was pleasantly surprised.

Lies the Government Told You plays no favorites. Both modern political parties are discussed, as well as some of the heroes and hallmarks of American History. You may never view the story of George Washington's cherry tree, and the infamous mythical quote "I cannot tell a lie," quite the same again after reading this book.

From Washington to Lincoln, to FDR some of our most notorious presidents are mentioned. The things they said, and the impact that has had on the American People.

We are all familiar with some of the more recent indiscretions. The Watergate scandal, the Monica fiasco, the WMD in Iraq debacle. But some of the less recent scandals and controversies are not as well known. In this book, the author explains how small lies over time have eroded some of our basic freedoms and liberties, and warns us that it will keep getting worse as long as we the people allow it to continue.

He even offers a few suggestion as to how we can break the cycle and begin to restore truth in government.

I found the book to be an interesting reminder that it always pays to know the truth.

After all, who doesn't want truth, justice, and the American way?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not told what to write, but simply asked to write an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I need your input

2011-01-01T18:04:00.002-05:00

I have been asked to do a presentation about Herbs at the library in a few weeks.

I can talk for hours and hours about herbs, and never run out of things to say, although I may bore you to tears first. But I only have 60-90 minutes.

So I need some input.

If you were attending a presentation about herbs at the library, what information would you expect, or want to hear?

What would you like to know?

What would you rather I left out?

I really want to share valuable information with my audience. I need your help deciding which information is of the most value.

Please either leave me a comment, or drop me an email at irfusetorecede@gmail.com and share your thoughts with me.

Thanks a bunch!

Rear View Mirrors

2011-01-01T17:39:00.002-05:00

As a truck driver, I depended on my mirrors. Not necessarily to show me where I had been, but to show me what was sneaking up on me.

Unfortunately, life doesnt give us blind spot mirrors, so we can see where we have been, but seldom see the surprises until they are right there in our lane.

So, a look back at 2010 shows me a whole stretch of highway I'm not sure I want to travel again, but doesnt tell me what may be lurking around the next hairpin turn.

Life is full of surprises.

When I met Diann, that was a surprise. When Bingo entered our life that was a surprise. Some surprises are good.

But life has a way of balancing the good with the bad, I guess so we can appreciate the good a little more. And right now, I'm feeling a bit unbalanced.

So, Dear 2011, please be a bit kinder, a bit gentler, than 2010.

I dont recall breaking any mirrors.

It's time for some GOOD luck.

Don't Take a 3 year old Christmas Shopping

2010-12-16T01:43:00.003-05:00

As we watched TV together last night, I asked...

"What should we get Momma for Christmas."

The answer:

"A red wolf"

(That's one that I bet nobody here has asked for yet...)
"Where would she keep it?"
"Over there"

(As she pointed to a vague corner of the living room.)
"Hmm..." I wondered. "What would it eat?"
"Goats."

(Do we have a lot of feeder goats we need to get rid of???)
"And who would clean up after it?"

"Someone else would do that."

(I should have known...)

I think maybe I should finish up my shopping without her help...

Someone Else

2010-12-06T11:18:00.006-05:00

We have a mysterious person who lives at our house. Her name is Someone Else.

She is sneaky and quiet and I have not seen her, but she spends a lot of time here.

She is responsible for many of the things that happen here.

"Who dumped all these toys in the hallway?"

"Someone Else."

"Who spilled the juice on the table?"

"Someone Else."

"Who's been playing with my computer?"

You guessed it."Someone Else."

Someone Else is very naughty, but I have learned that she IS generous:
"Please clean up your blocks"

"Someone Else will do that."

"Then Someone Else will get a treat."

"And share with me?"

Diann and I are waiting to meet this person.

We think Someone Else should start doing a little more to help out around here. Someone Else should be dusting, vacuuming, and doing laundry.

Someone Else should pay the bills, cook dinner, wash the dishes and perhaps bake a pie from time to time.

I sure wish we knew where to find her, it seems that there is only one person in our home who sees her, and she isn't talking...

Good as new. Who Knew?

2010-12-03T02:22:00.007-05:00

It seems that even at my age, I can learn new things.

Earlier this week I attempted to make a batch of caramels, so Diann could take them with her on her shopping extravaganza this weekend.

I had everything done, and then, just when they got the right temperature, to take off the heat, I dropped my thermometer into the pan, I tried to grab it and got all busy worrying about that, and the caramel continued bubbling merrily away, and gained an extra five degrees or so.

So, when I poured them in the pan, and they set up, rather than the soft chewy caramels I had expected, the ones I have made in the past, I ended up with a whole pan of candies that felt and tasted and looked like Sugar Daddy's.

Now don't get me wrong, I like Sugar Daddy's, but that wasn't what I wanted. I wanted those soft chewy caramel that you buy wrapped in waxed paper at the cash register of truck stops all over the country. The ones that start to melt as soon as they hit your tongue.

I put out a plea for help on Facebook, and got several useful suggestions.

Throw them at people who walk on my grass.

Save them for next Halloween, and pretend like I wanted them that way,

Dip them in melted chocolate and roll them in chopped nuts.

Wrap them in waxed paper and carry them in my pocket.

Wrap them up pretty and give them to people I didn't like.

OK, some suggestions were more useful than others...

But my Aunt Linda, bless her heart, suggested that I put them back in the pan with a little milk or water and heat them until they were smooth, then pour them back out again.

This seemed to go against everything I thought knew about the candy making process. I thought that once sugar had reached the "firm ball" stage, it couldn't be restored to the "soft ball" stage.

But, with little to lose, I took about 1/2 cup of them and tried it.

Of course, instead of milk or water, I used cream, but who wouldn't?

I am happy to report that they turned out absolutely fabulously soft and chewy, and so I did the rest of the pan as well. Now Diann will have about five pound of soft, chewy caramels to share with her shopping cohorts this weekend.

So, for what it's worth, here is my caramel recipe:
.........................................
CARAMELS

2 C Granulated Sugar
1 C Corn Syrup
1/2 t Salt
2 C Heavy Cream
1 Stick Butter (I use salted, even though my recipe calls for unsalted. It seems redundant to use unsalted, when I am adding salt anyway.)

1t Vanilla.
mix Sugar, Corn Syrup and Salt together and heat until the sugar is dissolved, stirring constantly. Once all the grains are gone, add the cream, and keep stirring until it is well blended. Bring it to a boil and add the butter, stir in until the butter is melted and stop stirring.

Heat to 245 degrees, remove from heat, stir in Vanilla and turn out into a buttered glass casserole dish.

Allow to cool and cut into bite sized pieces. Wrap in waxed paper.

*** Note, if the caramels come out too hard the first time, they can be softened by putting them back on medium heat and adding about 1/3 C cream. Stir until smooth and then pour back into a buttered pan.
..........................................

I don't have any pictures, I have discovered that candy making is not something that lends itself well to doing with one hand while taking pictures with the other.

I will be joining Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday with this post

.

Please stop by there and see all the wonderful foods people are whipping up for the holidays.

ABC Wednesday Challenge -- T

2010-12-02T03:55:00.003-05:00

It's ABC Wednesday again, and we are all the way up to:

That's right, T. You would think that would be an easy one for me... I'm TARDY for the party, and am posting my ABC Wednesday post on THURSDAY, Does that count?

Had this been a week earlier, we could have all TALKED about our THANKSGIVING plans. THE TURKEY, the TATERS (sweet and mashed), the TOMATO TORTELLINI, and the THREE TIERED TROPICAL TOAD TORTE... (OK maybe we don't all have the same foods on THANKSGIVING), but alas, THANKSGIVING is done and over with.

Although I have to add here , that those who want to see or read about our THANSGIVING meal can find an excellent review of the meal and the dishes at my favorite bloggers blog: The THRIFTY Groove, where the lovely and TALENTED Diann TELLS all...

It's sad really, that we only have one daya year when we are allowed to be THANKFUL... but who am I to stand in the way of a federal holiday?

I really should at least mention TARRAGON, (French not russian, of course) or THYME, again, I prefer French over German or Common).

But T is so much more than THAT...

T, is for TOMORROW, and also for TODAY, both days that we still have the ability to TAKE control, to do THINGS that need doing...

and of course, T is for TROY....

THANKS for TAKING THE TIME to read this...

Please take some time to check out what others were INSPIRED to blog about this week, at

ABC Wednesday,
and feel free to add your own blog to the list as we work our way through the alphabet.

Winner! Winner! Winner!

2010-11-27T15:48:00.008-05:00

The fine folks of the selection committee at Random.org agreed to hold a special meeting on a holiday weekend, in order to review all eligible candidates and pick a winner for my $35 CSN Stores Holiday Giveaway.

At just minutes after midnight last night, the committee convened.

They cleared the leftover pie and Wild Turkey from the big table in the conference room, and laid out all the applications.

Then, using whatever secret methods they use, they carefully reviewed each application and made their selection.

When I saw multi colored smoke rising from the chimney, I knew they had chosen, so I unlocked the big doors and let them out.

They each filed past me, and as they passed, they each nodded solemnly to indicate that they agreed with the decision. The last one out the doors was the chairman, with a silver tray holding the winners information....

OK, maybe it didn't happen quiet like that, It just sounds so much more official if I say it like that.

Regardless of the actual process though, Random.org has selected a winner:

And the winner is....

Sherry from Country Wings in Phoenix

Sherry has a fun blog, where she shares little glimpses into her life as she works to bring her country roots to her home in the city.

Congratulations Sherry, and thanks to everyone who entered!

What am I thankful for?

2010-11-25T13:24:00.004-05:00

When we were kids, at Thanksgiving dinner, we went around the table, and each of us had to name something we were thankful for.

As kids, we were generally thankful for things like the fact that we didn't have school on Friday, or thankful for pie.

Well, I'm still thankful for pie, and thankful I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow, but for me, as an adult, Thanksgiving is a day to reflect on the things I really have.

I am thankful for my family, and also thankful for my friends, who constantly teach me what being a true friend really means.

I am thankful for my health, but also thankful for my health problems, because they have helped me learn who my true friends are.

I am thankful for the things I have, and also for the things I don't have, my needs have made me stronger and have taught me to accept friendship with grace, and to return it whenever possible.

Most especially, I am thankful for my weaknesses, and shortcomings, because they give me room to improve.

I am thankful for Diann, who puts up with me just the way I am, despite my faults, and for Bingo, who sees right past the faults, giving me something to live up to.

And, if you have nothing else to be thankful for on Thanksgiving, be thankful you aren't a turkey.

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway for a $35 CSN Stores Gift Card.You can read all about it and enter here

ABC Wednesday Challenge -- S

2010-11-24T15:55:00.007-05:00

It's ABC Wednesday again, and we are all the way up to:

That's right. S.

S is for Slacker, and that's what I have been. For the last few letters of ABC Wednesday I've been slacking off.
The last time I participated was M,

I Had NO post for N or O, so that covers those two.

I was PARTIALLY PRESENT for P, because I wrote the intro, but that was it.

And I simply have no excuse for Q or R. I was in fact, QUITE REMISS!

But here we are at S and I am ready to STOP SLACKING.

Today, I joined a site called Smile.ly

At Smile.ly I am supposed to be able to try new products and SHARE my opinions.

Now there is nothing I like better to SHARE than my opinions, so I'm looking forward to it.

If it really works like it is supposed to, I'll keep everyone posted. If it doesn't, well, then I'll let you know that part too. That way you can avoid it.

After all, another word that starts with S that we are all familiar with is SCAM.

So, I am volunteering as the official Scam-filter on this one.

Please take some time to check out what others were INSPIRED to blog about this week, at

ABC Wednesday,
and feel free to add your own blog to the list as we work our way through the alphabet.

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway for a $35 CSN Stores Gift Card.You can read all about it and enter here

Herbs for the Holidays. Turkey

2010-11-23T01:03:00.005-05:00

There are several way to incorporate herbs into your Thanksgiving Turkey.

One of the most common ways is to blend herbs and butter together, then rub that herbed butter on the breast, inside the skin before roasting.

Often, I just layer a bunch of fresh herbs over the bird, then top them with some bacon, so that as the bacon cooks, the fat drives the flavor down into the meat.

But I have been watching a whole lot of the Food Network this week, so I wanted to try the technique that everyone is raving about.

Turkey Brining!

From Rachel Ray, to Bobby Flay all the big names have mentioned it this week, so I wanted to give it a try.

I watched everything I could, then did some reading and independent studying on my own.

I came to the conclusion that there is no set formula, no real rules, and no recipes, per se.

The consensus seems to be that you should use about 1 cup of salt for every gallon of water, and that you should use some herbs and sugar, to offset the salt.

Beyond that I was on my own.

I gathered all the stuff I thought I would need

Chopped up some sage and rosemary,

and set them to steep in boiling water.

Dumped some ice in the bottom of a cooler chest,

Chopped up a couple of onions,

And a few cloves of garlic

By now the herbs had steeped into a nice tea, I added about 3/4 c of honey,

Everyone stressed over and over the importance of using kosher salt, as table salt measures out differently...

I added some lemon juice, Guy Fieri did this on his show, and it just seemed to be the right thing to do.

And finally, dropped in the turkey. Ours is just over 18 pounds.

I topped it with some more ice, threw in the giblet pack, because I wasn't sure what else to do with it,

And put the lid on it.

This is an experiment for me, I have never brined a turkey before, so I am not sure what to expect.

I will be sure to keep everyone posted as to how it turns out. And of course, Diann will have lots of better pictures on her blog than I take for mine.

So tell me. Do you brine your turkey? Are there any trick or secrets I missed?

What is your secret to using the herbs from your garden to make your Turkey special?

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway for a $35 CSN Stores Gift Card.You can read all about it and enter here

Sunday Favorites -- Herbs for the Holidays -- Sweet Potatoes

2010-11-21T08:00:00.002-05:00

It's Sunday and time for Sunday Favorites, where Chari, from Happy to Design allows participants to share an old blog post with readers, while still taking Sunday off, by reposting an old post.

For the last two days I have been reposting some Holiday Recipes with Herbs in them.

Today we will be revisiting my post of November 20, 2009.

My third segment of Herbs for the holidays is dedicated to Sweet Potatoes.
Sweet Potatoes were always a part of my Thanksgiving meal as a child. My mom cooked them in butter and brown sugar, then topped them with marshmallows. I always liked them, but since Diann isn't a big fan of sweet potatoes, they don't play a starring role at our table. I usually manage to sneak some in, but for the most part we try to cook things that we both like.

OK, time out, for Troy's Trivia Tips:

Although people often use the terms "Sweet Potatoes" and "Yams" interchangeably, they are in fact two distinctly different vegetables.

Sweet Potatoes generally come in two varieties, A pale skinned variety, with a light yellow skin, a darker yellow, dry, crumbly flesh, not unlike a russet potato, and a darker skinned variety, with a reddish skin and a moist, sweet, brilliant orange flesh.
Often, when you buy "canned yams" at the local grocery store, you are actually getting dark skinned sweet potatoes.

Just a quick note here. One of my favorite bloggers, Sue from A Corner Garden, in Nebraska, grows ornamental sweet potatoes in her garden, and has done some experimenting with how they taste. You can read about her taste tests this year by clicking here.

Now back to the post...

Yams, native to Africa, Asia, Latin America and The Caribbean, have a dark brown or black skin, similar to tree bark, and generally an off white or reddish purple flesh. They are often sweeter than Sweet Potatoes, and they can grow up to seven feet long. They must be cooked to be eaten safely, as the raw yam can cause illness, and bare skin contact with raw yams can cause skin irritation.

So, now we have that out of the way, lets talk about some recipes that combine sweet potatoes with the herbs we grew this year:

Herbed Sweet Potatoes

4 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed
3 T olive oil
2 t dried thyme leaves
2 t dried marjoram leaves

Preheat oven to 425° F. Lightly oil a sheet pan, large enough to hold the potatoes in one layer. Cut the potatoes into about 1-inch cubes. Place on the sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil . Add the herbs, salt and pepper to taste and; toss well. Bake until tender, about 30 minutes, until tender. Serve immediately or cover lightly with foil to keep warm.
Can be served as is, or mashed together lightly with some butter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Note: The peels add flavor, nutrients and texture, but if you must, go ahead and peel them, just don't blame me when you don't get all the vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Potassium and Copper that you could have otherwise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sweet Potatoes with Bacon and Onion

3 slices thick sliced bacon, diced
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
2 medium onions, cut into 8 wedges
1 t salt
1 t dried thyme
¼ t black pepper

Preheat oven to 375°F. Cook bacon in large, deep skillet until crisp. Remove from heat. Transfer bacon to paper towels; set aside. Add potatoes and onions to drippings in skillet; toss until coated. Stir in salt, thyme and pepper. Spread mixture in single layer in ungreased 15X10-inch jelly-roll pan or shallow roasting pan. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until golden brown and tender. Transfer to serving bowl; sprinkle with bacon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skillet Sweet Potatoes~

2 lbs sweet potatoes
2 t smoked paprika
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Small handful minced fresh sage and thyme, -
Wash the sweet potatoes - don't peel. Cut into a fine, 1/2" dice. Toss with paprika, salt and pepper to taste.
Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Melt the butter and oil. Add half the sweet potatoes. Let cook without stirring for about three minutes, then stir and turn them over. Let cook for another few minutes - until they are quite golden and seared.
Add the other half, along with the garlic, and cook them all until tender. The potatoes you added first will get slightly mushier and soft, while the ones added later should keep their shape with a tender bite.
Just as they get tender stir in the herbs and cook just until wilted and fragrant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, for those who are tired of the same old thing, mix it up a bit by adding a few twists. Instead of just plain old Sweet Potatoes, try serving Sweet Potato Au Gratin

OK, Troy's Trivia Tip #2:

Au Gratin is not a term that refers to a dish made from potatoes, but instead refers to a cooking technique.

Technically Au Gratin means covered in bread crumbs, topped with butter and cheese and baked in the oven. But we have slowly allowed the term to evolve into meaning a creamy potato casserole.

This recipe is more the latter than the former, but as long as you add the "optional" breadcrumbs, it has all the requisite ingredients.

Sweet Potato, Gouda and Herb Au Gratin

4 lb sweet potatoes
1 1/2 t salt
1 C heavy cream
1 C whole milk
3 T unsalted butter, softened
6 oz finely grated five-year aged gouda
2 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 T. chopped fresh sage
4 sprigs thyme, leaves only, stems removed
2 C Bread Crumbs (optional)

Put oven rack in lower third of the oven and preheat 350°F.
Peel potatoes and cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices. You should have enough potatoes for about five layers. Stir together cream, milk and salt.
Spray 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray and dot with half of butter. Pour in 1/3 cup milk and cream mixture.
Place one layer of potatoes in baking dish. Pour 1/3 cup cream mixture and sprinkle one fourth of cheese between layers. On the fourth layer, sprinkle the herbs, before topping with the final layer. Otherwise the herbs will burn if placed on top. You can garnish the top later with a few additional herbs if desired. Easy on the sage.
Pour remaining cream mixture over potatoes and dot with rest of butter. You can optionally sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs, too. But the top layer gets dark golden and crisp, so this is not required.
Bake, uncovered, until potatoes are very tender and top is browned, about 2 hours. Let stand at room temperature 10 minutes before serving.

They all sound good to me, but I don't ever see us having four different kinds of sweet potatoes on the table all at one meal.

Besides, my favorite sweet potato recipe is Sweet Potato Pie. Watch for my segment on desserts for that recipe.

If you liked this post, you may want to read:
Herbs for the Holidays -- Stuffing
Herbs for the Holidays -- Cranberries

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway for a $35 CSN Stores Gift Card.You can read all about it and enter here

Herbs for the Holiday -- Cranberries.

2010-11-20T19:00:00.000-05:00

For todays Herbs for the Holidays post, I will be joining Beth at Beth Fish Reads, for Weekend Cooking. A blog party where those who read, and those who eat are invited to intermingle and discuss food and books, and books about food, or food that's good to eat while reading, or books that are good to read while eating or... well, you get the idea...

Be sure and visit her blog when you are done here, and read all about food.
Remember to enter my Giveaway for a $35 CSN Stores Gift Card.
You can read all about it and enter here

Welcome to the next segment of Herbs for the Holidays.

I recently read an article in one of my favorite bogs about that gelatinous tube of cranberry that was always served by our mothers, glimmering, shimmering and somewhat intimidating.

Over the years I have experimented with various cranberry sauce ideas, without ever finding the one that I absolutely had to have every year. I had some with hot pepper, some with green peppers and celery, one with corn, and a lot of other varieties. One year, my sister's contribution to my mothers Thanksgiving dinner was four different cranberry sauces.

Finally a few years back, Diann made one with mandarin oranges and walnuts that has turned into a keeper.

But I wanted to explore some ways to incorporate herbs into our Holiday meals, so I found some different recipes.

The first one seems more like a gravy and less like traditional cranberry sauces, (which I suppose are more of a relish than a sauce, when it comes right down to it.)

Cranberry Herb Sauce

2 small onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 package (12 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries
2-1/2 cups water
2 cups dry red wine
2/3 cup honey
2 beef bouillon cubes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
4 whole bay leaves
5 drops Worcestershire sauce
Dash rosemary
Dash ground red pepper

Cook and stir onions and garlic in oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until onions are softened. Add cranberries, water, wine, honey, bouillon, thyme, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary and red pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer about I hour or until mixture reduces by half, stirring frequently. Remove and discard bay leaves. Puree sauce in blender or food processor or press through sieve. (The sauce will be the consistency of a thick gravy.)

Serve with poultry, lamb or pork. Also wonderful over dressing or sweet potatoes.

Tip: This sauce freezes well.

This next one sounds good, It has quite a bit of sugar in it, but you could use Splenda, Honey, or whatever substitute you choose.

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Herb-infused, Spiced Cranberry-Orange Relish

1/2 orange with skin on, cut up for ease of blending
1/2 cup orange juice concentrate
1 cinnamon stick (2-1/2 inches)
3 whole cloves
1 sprig fresh rosemary
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water
1/3 cup port (optional but recommended)

2 (12-ounce) bags fresh cranberries

In a food processor or blender blend orange and orange juice concentrate until smooth.
Pour the mixture into a medium pot and add cinnamon, cloves, rosemary or thyme, sugar, water and port.
Bring mixture to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for five minutes.
Add the cranberries and simmer until the cranberries burst and mixture starts to thicken, about 20 to 30 minutes. Stir often to keep from burning.
Place relish into a container and refrigerate.

When chilled, remove the cinnamon stick, rosemary and thyme.

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Here is one of those recipes you can make the day before, in fact, it's better if you do.

I wouldn't suggest it as a healthy alternative to fresh fruit or anything, but it looks interesting.
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Baked Cranberry Sauce.

•1 (12-ounce) bag cranberries, fresh or frozen
•1 1/4 cups brown sugar
•1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch allspice
•1/4 cup bourbon,
•1 T fresh Rosemary, chopped
•1 t fresh Thyme, chopped
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2.Combine the cranberries, sugar, cinnamon, and allspice in a small baking dish and cover.
3.Bake for about 55 minutes.
4.Remove the cover and stir to melt any un-dissolved sugar. Return the dish to the oven and bake for about 5 to 10 more minutes, or until the cranberries are soft and surrounded by a syrupy sauce.
5.Remove the dish from the oven and immediately stir in the bourbon, Rosemary and Thyme. Let the dish cool to room temperature, then chill for at least hour before serving. The sauce will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.

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Troy's Trivia Tidbit:

Allspice is made from the ground dried berries of the Pimento tree, also known as the East Indian Pepper Tree. Incidentally, Pimentos, like the ones found inside green olives, do not come from the pimento tree. Pimentos are just red bell peppers, usually cooked. And also incidentally, most green bell peppers will turn red if left on the vine.

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Some people prefer the traditional approach to cranberries and some opt for the less conventional accents. Sara Foster, owner of Foster's Market in Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, makes two batches of relish: one enhanced with citrus to suit more traditional tastes, and the other with seven-pepper jelly for those who love the spicy flavor.

She says "For best results, use fresh cranberries -- never frozen -- and the best oranges you can find. Presented with the individual tastes of guests in mind, cranberry relish served two ways can be a thoughtful addition to this year's Thanksgiving table".
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Cranberry Relish, served two ways.

1 pound fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
Zest of 1 orange
4 oranges, segmented, pith and membranes removed
1 cup seven-pepper jelly
1 tablespoon fresh herbs, such as rosemary and thyme
Directions
1.In a medium saucepan, bring 1 cup water to a simmer. Add the cranberries, sugar, orange juice and zest. Stir until sugar is dissolved and the cranberries begin to pop, about 15 minutes.
2.Remove from heat. Divide relish in half, reserving half. Add orange segments to half of the cranberries. Stir to combine.
3.Add pepper jelly and fresh herbs to the remaining half. Stir to combine. Serve relishes in separate dishes.

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I have to admit, my favorite way to eat cranberry sauce is to eat it cold, on cold turkey, tucked inside a homemade roll, often eaten after midnight while standing in front of the refrigerator trying to decide whether I want something to eat bad enough to get out all the containers and fix a plate.

So, whether you want the shimmering simplicity of a can of jelly in a cut glass bowl, or you want a cranberry relish that everyone will actually eat, make sure and make enough so that you can enjoy the leftovers.

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway for a $35 CSN Stores Gift Card.
You can read all about it and enter here

Herbs for the Holidays -- Stuffing

2010-11-19T23:48:00.007-05:00

I will be joining Designs by Gollum with this post for Foodie Friday Please stop by and visit that blog for more great recipes than you could possibly make in just one afternoon.

OK, I'm cheating a bit.

Most of this information has already been posted once on my blog, but since most of my readers weren't with me last year, I thought I could get away with a recycling some of that information.

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway for a $35 CSN Stores Gift Card.You can read all about it and enter here

I want to explore some holiday recipes that will allow us to highlight some of the herbs we are all so proud of having grown this year.

I know we all have our traditional family recipes handed down for multiple generations. Some foods are just such standards at our table that it feels disloyal to Grandma Wagstaff, or Great Aunt Golda to serve something else.

But sometimes it's fun to play. And sometimes, it's time to shake things up a little.

So over the next few days I want to highlight some different traditional holiday foods, and explore some new ideas.

So lets's kick it off with stuffings, OK? Stuffings seem almost a no brainer. Most people can't think of stuffing without thinging of sage, and vice versa. But sage is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to herbs for stuffings. My first recipe doesn't even have any sage in it.

Lemon & Herb Stuffing

3 C fresh bread crumbs
1 small onion, finely chopped
¾ cup of chopped fresh parsley
1 T fresh thyme
grated zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
¼ stick melted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Use a fork to avoid the mixture becoming too compacted.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This stuffing is suitable to use to stuff the cavity of an 8 to 10 pound turkey.

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While you can make most turkey stuffing recipes into vegetarian recipes, this one was created especially for vegetarians. As a bonus, this is one of the few turkey stuffing recipes made in the crockpot, freeing up oven space for other things. If you're looking for "turkey" stuffing recipes that veggie and non-veggies guests alike will swoon over (that is, as long as you don't actually stuff the turkey), you've found it.

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Crockpot Vegetarian Stuffing

Ingredients:
3 C coarsely chopped onion
3 C crimini or button mushrooms, chopped
1 1/2 C chopped celery
1/2 C (1 stick) butter
10 C stale bread, in small cubes or crumbled
1/4 C chopped fresh sage
1/3 C chopped fresh parsley
3/4 t salt
3/4 t freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs
1/4 C vegetable broth

In a skillet, melt the butter. Add the onion and celery and cook over medium heat until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes.
Increase heat to medium-high. Add mushrooms. Cook until tender.

Place onion/mushroom mixture in a large mixing bowl.
Add bread and mix well. Add herbs and spices.

Beat eggs in a small bowl and stir into bread mixture.

Place stuffing in a crockpot. Drizzle vegetable broth over the top. Cook, covered, on low heat for 4 hours.

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Fresh Herb Stuffing with Turkey Sausage and Cranberries

1 16 oz loaf whole wheat bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
8 oz spicy or regular bulk turkey sausage
1 T extra-virgin olive oil
4 large stalks celery, very thinly sliced
1 large (10-ounce) red onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
12 large fresh sage leaves, finely chopped (about 3 T)
3 C natural, fat-free chicken broth
1/3 C dried, sweetened cranberries
3 T unsalted butter
3/4 t fine sea salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange bread cubes evenly on two large baking pans. Brown in oven for about 25 minutes.
Brown sausage over medium high heat for 5 minutes, breaking into small pieces as it browns; place in a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add celery, onion, garlic, and sage. Lightly brown, stirring often, about 12 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, simmer broth, cranberries, and butter for about 10 minutes.
Add celery mixture, bread cubes, and cranberry broth to sausage. Stir until broth is absorbed. Season with salt to taste.
Evenly spread stuffing in pan; cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes.

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Walnut Herb & Apple Stuffing

1/3 cup butter
3 medium onions, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
12 cups cubed bread
2 tart apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1 1/2 cups California Walnut pieces
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup fresh sage
1/2 cup fresh rosemary
1/2 cup fresh thyme
3/4 to 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
Salt and pepper, to taste

In non-stick skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add onions and celery; cook 5 minutes or until soft.
In large bowl, mix bread, onion mixture, apples and walnuts. Add parsley, sage rosemary and thyme. Mix in enough chicken stock to moisten bread. Season with salt and pepper.
Loosely fill turkey cavity.

So there are a few ways to add a twist to your stuffing and use some of the herbs you grew this year.

Do you have a favorite stuffing recipe that shows off your herbs? I'd love to hear about it.

Tune in next time, when we explore how to blend Cranberries and herbs...

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway for a $35 CSN Stores Gift Card.You can read all about it and enter here

Holiday Giveaway

2010-11-18T00:01:00.009-05:00

The holidays are coming up, so I want to spend the next few days talking about some good Thanksgiving food.

All summer long at the market, I heard the same thing from people. They would buy herbs, they said, if they only knew how to use them.

So, I want to talk about some ways to use herbs in your holiday foods.

But before I do, the great people at CSN Stores, have generously agreed to give one of my readers a $35 gift certificate. And just in time for the holidays too.

Who couldn't use a pile of money right now?

For those of you who don't know about CSN Stores, they are a group of over 200 different merchants linked together to offer all sorts of merchandise from one central shopping location.

When I was a kid, I remember, even when I wasn't helping, I enjoyed being in the kitchen watching my mom cook. So, in the interest of memories, I want to invite you all to pull up a stool and lets discuss some holiday food.

In fact, to enter the giveaway for the CSN Stores $35 gift certificate, I want you to go, right now, over to the Bar Tables and Stools section at CSN Stores and choose which stool you want to pull up.

Leave me a comment below, telling me which of their stools you would like to sit in to watch someone cook dinner, and you will be entered in the drawing.

Once you have done that, there are four other ways you can enter.

1) Become (or already be) a follower, and leave me a separate comment below.
2) Blog about this giveaway and leave me a separate comment below.
3) "Friend" me on Facebook, , and leave a separate comment below.
4) Mention my giveaway on Facebook, and leave me a separate comment below.

Please make sure I have a way to contact you if you win.

And like all giveaways I have to have some rules at the bottom:
My Giveaway will run from November 18 2010 to 11:59 PM Friday November 26 2010. Open to all residents of the USA and Canada. Winner will be selected by Random.org. Need not be present to win. Winner will be notified by email, and should respond within 5 days of being notified or a new winner may be chosen. CSN Stores has provided the prize for this giveaway. I have no received any other compensation from them. This blog is not affiliated with CSN Stores nor any of the individual merchants in any other way.

New Look. Same Old Me.

2010-11-15T19:54:00.003-05:00

It has been a while since I posted. Real life kind of took over my world for a while, and I have been trying to get everything done.

We finished the Farmers Market Season, and I immediately signed up for the Master Composter Course, taught by the Michigan State University Extension Office.

That was a great course, and I learned a whole bunch of things I never knew before.

I can now tell you more about the sex life of worms than most people have any desire to ever know.

I'm happy to report that the main instructor in that course read over my composting tutorial, and, with a few minor changes, she pronounced it accurate. That was exciting. So much so, that I will probably be printing it off in a hard copy form.

I wanted to give my blog a bit of a face lift, to reflect the new direction it has taken.

I will be bringing my focus back to herbs and gardening, although I will probably throw in some thrifting finds, and dumpster dive finds from time to time.

As we continue to develop our herb business, I will be looking to form a panel of a few readers who are willing to try new products that we develop and give us honest feedback on them.

Our products will range from bath and beauty products to cooking and culinary products. But all of them will have, as a critical component, one of our herbs.

If you think you may be interested in helping us out, by testing a new product, and answering some questions about it, please send me an email to: irefusetorecede@gmail.com

I am also excited because I will be having a giveaway, later this week. Please watch for that.

Please let me know how you like the new look.

Troy

ABC Wednesday Challenge -- M

2010-10-12T20:17:00.005-04:00

It's ABC Wednesday again, and we are all the way up to:

I figured that since the Farmer's MARKET has MONOPOLIZED MY time lately, it was only appropriate to post a MEDLEY, a MOSAIC of MARKET photos.

It's a MINIMASLISTIC post.

Few words.

Please take some time to check out what others were INSPIRED to blog about this week, at

ABC Wednesday,
and feel free to add your own blog to the list as we work our way through the alphabet.

Market Report 10/10/10

2010-10-11T23:45:00.003-04:00

Tuesday Trivia Tie-in is going on vacation.

2010-10-11T20:58:00.003-04:00

Because the Farmers Markets have been taking such a large portion of my time, and the yard and garden are taking the rest, Tuesday Trivia Tie-in is going to be taking a small break. When the markets are over, the yard put to bed for the year, and life has resumed a semblance of order and tranquility, it will be back.

Until then, I will still continue to blog regularly about various topics.

ABC Wednesday Challenge -- L

2010-10-06T23:10:00.006-04:00

It's ABC Wednesday again, and we are all the way up to:

And of course, I'm running LATE!

There were several things I thought about that started with L.

Our Lemon Verbena is really showing signs of all the trimming I have had to do this year to get the leaves I needed for Salt Scrubs and Jelly.

The Lemon Balm is looking nice and healthy, I may have to start using it instead of Lemon Verbena. It doesn't have the same properties, but is has a similar taste and smell, so I could use it in Jelly.

I don't know though. Lemon Balm and Rosemary just doesn't sound as exotic as Lemon Verbena and Rosemary, does it?

Either way the market season is almost over, so it is probably not a real issue.

I started out to take some pictures of leaves today, to tie in with my leaf tie from yesterday.
But the LEAVES here haven't really started to turn yet. They are LATE this year. Give me another month and I can have some LOVELY LEAF pictures.

LUCKILY, the ultimate L picture was one I just happened upon at the grocery store.

Imagine having a shiny red LEXUS and driving around enjoying your midlife crisis. Then imagine what a LOSER you would feel like when you got to the grocery store and discovered that someone there had a LEXUS just like yours!

I LAUGHED when I saw the two LEXUS'S. (What is the plural of LEXUS? LEXI?)

And LAUGHTER, is the most important L word in LIFE!

Please take some time to check out what others were INSPIRED to blog about this week, at

ABC Wednesday,
and feel free to add your own blog to the list as we work our way through the alphabet.

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

Tuesday Trivia Tie-in # 29. Leave Now!

2010-10-04T21:54:00.009-04:00

Weekend Market Report, Oct 3, 2010

2010-10-04T16:09:00.003-04:00

Welcome to the Weekend Market Report.

This regular feature is a joint venture between myself and Diann from The Thrifty Groove.

I share my adventures at the Farmers Market, and Diann shares her adventures at the Flea Market.
Here is Troy's report

Wow! Four Markets in four days plumb wore me out!

I did the Wyandotte Market on Thursday, Lots of people who wanted to look and touch and tell me how lovely everything was, but not a lot of buyers.

The local high school has a stand there and they were selling the neatest flower arrangements, in pumpkins. They grow the flowers and the pumpkins themselves, and do all the work themselves. Check out Diann's Blog here to see the one we got for her.

It is kind of a joint effort between the botany classes the horticulture class, and the FFA club. They have a greenhouse, where one group of kids starts all the plants in the spring, then they have an outdoor garden that volunteer kids take care of all summer. Apparently all summer they had different vegetables from their garden at the market. I thought it was great to see them there and wish more areas had groups like this.

Sales were low, it was a disappointing day.

Friday was my first time at the Taylor Market. It is nice because we can drive our vehicles right in. It makes it much easier if I can tie down my tent to the back of my truck.

I got exposed to a bit of the market politics at this market, and got to hear some of the market gossip. I think that by going to all of the markets each week, I am being accepted as a member of the vendor family. There is a group of about ten vendors who travel around to each of the same markets each week. Now, I'm one of that group.

I had a good day at the Taylor market, definitely selling enough to make it worth going and even worth paying the $10.00 fee.

Saturday was the Flat Rock Market. It was cold and windy, and at 12:45 there had only been 47 customers, so a couple of the vendors decided to pack up and go. The marketmaster officially gave us permission to leave at 2:00, and by 1:55 everyone was gone.

I had two repeat customers who bought some things, so I made enough to buy lunch and pick up some supplies on the way home, and had just enough left over to pay the $10.00 fee at Redford on Sunday. Good thing this market is free, or It wouldn't have been worth going.

Sunday at Redford was windy and cold, but there was enough of an "after church" crowd to at least make a decent day in sales. Not as good as I did at Taylor, but about as much as Wyandotte and Flat Rock combined.

I had an interesting experience with one customer.

She stood and touched and looked at all of my products, then she picked up a salt scrub and slipped it into her purse. she then proceeded to buy about $15 worth of things and pay with a $20. I was in a quandary. I saw her take it, do I call her on it, and lose the sale of the other items? Do I wait until she is all done paying, then demand that she pay for the salt scrub?

The sad thing is, had she told me she would buy the $15 worth of stuff if I threw in a salt scrub I would have done it without hesitation.

I finally just let it go, but made sure and alerted all the other vendors, so they could be aware of what she had done.

I made a little over half what I had hoped to make for the weekend. The vendors who have been doing this for a few years say that October is like that. If it is a warm weekend in October you do well, if it is a cold weekend in October, you don't.

And to top things off, this was the opening weekend of deer season, a high holy holiday for many Michiganders, so attendance was down a bit because of that.

My new product this week was my dry rubs.

I had three types: Farmers Blend, for white meat, Ranchers Blend, for red meat, and Hunters Blend, for wild game. I almost sold out of Farmers Blend, and sold a few packet each of the others.

So I had Bear markets two days and Bull markets two days. Over all the weekend was successful, but not as successful as I had hoped.

Better luck next week!

..................................
AndHere is Diann's Report

I told you that I was just to whupped last night to do a market report. Now I am refreshed so, on with the report!

Okay, I first have to say, the place was huge, the parking lot was full and yours truly found a vacant parking spot 2 cars from the entrance!! Woohoo! I took that as a very good sign! On to Flea market Heaven!

My mom and I took the princess with us and of course a wagon. Even if I didn't have the princess with us, I would still take the wagon! It was a cold and windy day but, the sellers were out in full force as were the shoppers. It is always a good sign to see people walking around with purchases. Makes you think there might be some good deals to be found.

Trying to figure out where to start was the hardest part of this thrifting adventure! This Swap Meet/Flea Market was held at a local race track. The race tract itself had 4 tiers of vendors all the way around. And then next to the race tract was the huge "pit crew area" and a huge field. This entire area was filled to the max with sellers.

We decided to walk all the way to the very back row in the field and work our way up to the race track.

When you go to these huge mega Flea Market special events, you have your budget, mine was $30.00 and you don't want to buy a bunch of things right away because what if there are even better deals to come! Well, I actually bought several things immediately. LOL But, they were Christmas presents and exactly what I was looking for and at a great price!

Some sellers were selling at antique mall prices and others were ready to wheel and deal. And of course, there were all those in between.

Okay, so I have already purchased three items and spent $3.00 of my $30.00. I saw so many gorgeous things but, most of them were out of my price range. Especially the "antique sellers". They offered no wiggle room for haggling. So, I generally just walked right past those sellers.

I really like to stop at the stalls that have bunches of old odds and ends and then look through for little treasures. A lot of these are manned by gentlemen who are there basically to sell there old tools or fishing gear or whatever. But, they often have a few pretties mixed in. They don't really care about these things and just want to get rid of them. They probably bought them in a large lot from somewhere else. These are some of the best places to search and haggle!

I stopped at one such stall. He had lots of old knives, license plates, rifles etc. I spotted these pretty plates.

These little plates were completely dirty and stacked under some old spark plugs. No prices of course. I asked how much for the two plates. He looked at them and said, "I dunno. how about .50 cents for them?" so, I bought both of them for .25 cents each. The purple one was something I was actually looking for to use in our little bathroom. so, here it is now.

A few pretty tea accessories I found at various vendors for under a $1.00 each.

I wish I could make out the makers mark on this piece.

This was just a pretty little set that I wanted for my dresser.

There were these guys, a slew of them working this one huge area and they were too much fun! First off, they had a ton of amazing stuff. antique chairs, tables, lawn items, chandies, lamps, you name it! But, everything was just as they got it. Some stuff was broken and most things needed to be repaired. These guys clean out old houses in Detroit. My nephew did this as a summer job as well. They go into old abandon homes that someone has contracted them for and clear them out. Generally everything goes into a dumpster but, some people are smart and haul it away to resell.

These guys were calling out to people and seriously wheeling and dealing their hearts out! They paid nothing for this stuff and basically brought it straight from the old homes. So, everything was profit for them and they wanted it gone! OMG! If I had room and some more money, I would have easily filled up my truck from these guys!!!

They had milk crates of different type of dishes, glassware and doodads lined up all over the place. I started looking through the various milk crates and started pulling things out that I might want. I asked one of the guys what the prices were. He looked at me and the stuff I was pulling and said, "Oh lucky you! You're just in time for 'pretty lady discount hour'! so, I'm going to let you fill up a milk crate for $15.00. Regardless of what is in it!" I looked at him and said, "Really? Don't you think I am prettier than that?" LOL He just laughed and said, "Now you know I gotta reduce it! You know how to work me don't ya?" So, I got a milk crate crammed with stuff for $10.00 and then the second one for $5.00 crammed full! I bought the bulk of my treasures from these guys.

I haven't had time to go through everything and take pictures yet. But, I did get these things pulled out.

There is actually 6 of these glasses but, one is still in a crate somewhere.

I also got this pretty milkglass lamp. I need to find a hurricane shade for it. I bought it for my dresser.

I will be showing your guys lots more stuff later. We didn't even get to the race track part of this huge sale. I got several other Christmas presents and lots of pretty things. Oh, and I only spent just under $22.00 of my $30.00 budget! Woohoo!!

It started to rain so the vendors were packing stuff up. the wind had really kicked up and so many of the sellers lost tables worth of antiques when the wind literally upended their tables and everything crashed to the ground. I felt so bad for them. They lost a lot of merchandise!

I just started a new giveaway for a $60.00 CSN Stores!! Head over here to enter!

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

Tuesday Trivia Tie-in #28 I'm oK!

2010-09-27T20:35:00.012-04:00

Welcome to Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where I invite and encourage everyone to join, with a post about something they find interesting.

My posts are usually about one of the ties in my collection, but yours can be about anything!I only ask that you include some little known information that relates to your topic.

I'm going to cheat a little this week, and maybe in the next few weeks, and combine my Tuesday Trivia Tie-in post with my ABC Wednesday Post. So make sure and visit ABC Wednesday this week and see what others were inspired to write about regarding the letter K.

I am committed to four Farmers Markets a week now, and I don't see myself having a lot of extra time, at least for the next month, until market season ends.

So, I've missed a couple of weeks, I hope the rest of the ABC Wednesday team doesn't get mad at me, ABC Wednesday is all the way up to:

One of the things that I have tried to make sure doesn't suffer as I get busier with other things, is the time I get to spend with Bingo. And one of our "special times" is at bedtime when I get to read her stories.

One of her favorite books is called: What Do You Do With a Grumpy Kangaroo?, by Jane Belk Moncure. Published in 1988, this book talks about different emotions and Tony, the boy in the book has to deal with a kangaroo who is in turn, Grumpy, Happy, Sad, Glad, Mad, Scared Brave, Sleepy, Fussy and Joyful.

She loves the book and I like to read it to her. Nothing calms you down at night quite like a 2 1/2 year old girl snuggled up against you as you read to her.
and of course she has her stuffed kangaroo to snuggle with both of us as we read.

I must admit, I don't know a lot about kangaroos, except that they come from Australia, which brings me to my tie of the week:

This tie, made of 100% Polyester was made in Australia, probably about the same time the book was published.

It doesn't have a date on it, but it has the look and feel of an 80's tie.

And of course, it is covered with small koala bears.

Here is some stuff about Koala Bears that you may not have known:

The Koala is not a bear at all, but is a marsupial, a relative to the wombat:

Koalas have fingerprints, one of the few mammals, (besides primates) that do. Not only are Koala fingerprints distinct like humans, but they look enough like a human fingerprint that they have been known to fool experts.

Koalas, (like some people I know), spend about 18 hours a day sleeping and three hours eating, leaving them two hours or less for other activities. (This may be why so few koalas have blogs.)

Kangaroos are also marsupials, and strangely enough more closely related to kolas than are bears.

So my tie of the week is my Koala Bear tie, and K is for Kangaroo, Koala Bear, and I was going to throw in Kiwi fruit, but my research say that they are grown more in New Zealand than in Australia, so I guess they will have to wait until I find an emu tie...

OK, now it's your turn. Enter your link to your blog post. Be sure and link to your post and not your main blog:

Please take some time to check out what others were INSPIRED to blog about this week, at

ABC Wednesday,
and feel free to add your own blog to the list as we work our way through the alphabet.

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

Weekend Market Report Sept 26 2010

2010-09-26T21:00:00.005-04:00

Welcome to the Weekend Market Report.

This regular feature is a joint venture between myself and Diann from The Thrifty Groove.

I share my adventures at the Farmers Market, and Diann shares her adventures at the Flea Market.
Here is Troy's report

Well, It was a disappointing day at the Flat Rock market Saturday.

I stayed up late Friday night making jelly, so I would have some of each kind for today's market. I needn't have bothered. I sold one jar, and traded a jar to the egg man for a dozen eggs.

I had a "learning experience" with one batch of applemint jelly. I ran to the store to get pectin, and in my haste I got the kind that is designed for non-sugar sweeteners. I didn't realize it until after I had cooked the jelly, and I was wondering why it wasn't the right texture. It set up with little lumps, almost like tapioca only a bit softer. Important note to self. Use the right kind of pectin when making jelly!

I sold some salt scrub, a bath salt, and some dried herbs, but it was my lowest sales day since I started the salt scrub back in July.

Attendance today was only 156. It started out windy and cool, and didn't get much better. The wind was so bad that I had to take my tent down, even though it was tied down to my truck.

And finally at 2:00 the marketmaster announced that we would all be closing and going home at 3:00.

Not a minute too soon in my book.

I was invited to do two more farmers markets, from now until the end of the season. The regular herb vendor there said he wont be back any more this year, because he is out of product, so I'm hoping to pick up where he left off.

So Saturday was a Bear Market. But Sunday was a better day.

The Redford Township Market is a really nice venue. The building, built in 1962, used to be the library, and when they built a new library it sat vacant, from 2004 until 2008, when it was renovated into an incredible open air building they call the Redford Marquee. The Market there runs from 10-3:00 every Sunday.

The day started off cold and windy, and the crowd was slow, The other vendors were complaining that it was such a slow day, but my sales were almost twice what an average day in Flat Rock is, so if this was a slow day, I can't wait for a busy day!

Jelly continues to be my big seller. I took the cut basil from Saturdays Market, that was too wilted to sell on Sunday, and made a batch of Basil Jelly. It isn't my favorite jelly of the ones we sell, but it isn't bad. I sold three jars of it! four of Applemint, and seven Lemon Verbena and Rosemary.

I sold out of dried Savory. As fast as I can dry it, crush it and bag it, I sell it.

I met a lot of new people, made some new friends, and had a fun day.

Sunday was a Bull Market!

Rocket surgeon that I am, I forgot our camera, so a special thanks to Alex, from All Sisters Bakery, who took some pics with his cell phone and texted them to my e-mail address.

Ain't technology grand?

..................................
AndHere is Diann's Report

Happy Sunday everyone!

Well like I said over on my blog, I had not planned to go thrifting this weekend. But, I did and I was happy I did.

I got the princess 31 pieces of clothing for winter for $3.00! That included a winter coat, pj's, jeans, hoodies, sweatshirts, sweats...you name it. All in great condition! What was really cute was the little girl who's clothes it was, was there. They had this huge dog kennel cage for sale but, she was using it as a playhouse! Complete with cookies, stuffed animals and crayons and coloring book. The princess and the little girl became fast friends and the next thing I know, the princess is in the dog kennel with the little girl coloring! LOL

Besides the clothes, I got her several games and toys. But, I got me stuff too...of course! Well, I got 3 Christmas gifts that won't be shown due to the people who will receive these gifts read this blog. LOL

Let's see what we got beside the princess items. Oh, before I show you my finds, I am using this gorgeous vintage linen...No it is NOT stealable!! I received this as a gift from an amazing bloggy friend. She saw my post on my love of vintage linens and wrote me asking if I would like some linens that she was ready to part with. Once I picked myself off the floor after reading her email and rereading her email, I wrote back as fast as my fingers could type! Of course she would not accept a dime even reimbursement for postage. The generosity of people amaze me everyday! I am such a lucky woman. Thank you again Adrienne! If you haven't visited Adrienne at her blog Adrienne de Pitera, I hope you do soon. She has gorgeous pictures and shares beautiful things with her readers! Oh, and I will be sharing all of the other lovey linens she sent me in time! They are too beautiful not be shared!!

The details are so lovely!

You know I have a couple of other of these pretty china nightlights. I just love them. Since both of my bathrooms have one in them, I am going to use this one in the upstairs hallway. I got it for $1.00

Don't you love pink glass? Even buying one little piece at a time, I just get so excited to find some at a decent price. And this pretty bowl just hopped right into my pile of yard sale finds!

I was happy to find this larger clear chicken dish because I already have the smaller one. And I was thrilled with the price of 50 cents!

I just couldn't pass up this fairly large acorn dish! The little guy on top was just too cute. And I thought it would be perfect for the Fall sitting on the coffee table with secret surprise treats inside. He was $1.00.

With a few more purchases, we left this fun yard sale. The princess gave her new BFF a big hug before we left. I thought we were going home but, nope, there was a big garage sale sign calling to us! So, we stopped and only got a couple of small things.

The woman of the house must have been a "pig" lover because there were all kinds of pig things at this garage sale! And i bought two of them! LOL

Check out this pair of ceramic? china? pig napkin rings! Too cute!

And I liked this set of 4 pewter pig napkin rings as well.

That was pretty much it at that garage sale. On the way back to our house we stopped at a moving sale. And here are some of the fun goodies I got.

4 Halloween small lampshades. I have 4 electric candles to use with them. They were 25 cents each.

This is one of my all time favorite blue and white china patterns. I already have two saucers and two teacups of this pattern but, I just couldn't resist picking up this lonely little saucer.

And another pretty blue and white china piece. It is a small bowl. I just can't leave well enough alone when it comes to blue and white china!

And finally, a pair of clear square acrylic napkin holders. I just thought these would be fun in many different types of tablescapes!

Well, that was my "no thrifting weekend" LOL

Don't forget about.....

My month long “Steal Diann’s Thrift Finds” giveaway!

And we only have a few days left for the giveaway so, any comments left on this post will be an extra bonus entry into my giveaway!!

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

Tuesday Trivia Tie-in #27

2010-09-20T20:00:00.002-04:00

Welcome to Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where I invite and encourage everyone to join, with a post about something they find interesting.

My posts are usually about one of the ties in my collection, but yours can be about anything!I only ask that you include some little known information that relates to your topic.

This post is not going to be about a tie!

We are off on an adventure today, to get away from the city and relax for a while.

One of the things I will be doing while relaxing, is gathering leaves, berries and plants from the Eastern Teaberry, also known as American Wintergreen.

For those of us old enough to remember, Teaberry was the flavor inspiration for Clarks Teabery Gum.

If this venture is successful, I hope to feature Teaberry as an herb of the week in the very near future, so today I want to wander down a different path.

Clark's Teaberry is a brand of chewing gum. It was developed by the D. L. Clark Company and is currently a product of Clark Gum Company in Buffalo, New York and made in Mexico. The gum dates to 1900.

David L. Clark born in Ireland, came to America when he was only eight years old.
Clark entered the candy business working for a small candy manufacturer from New York. After three years as a traveling salesman with a "country wagon"; he bought the peddling wagon, horses, and merchandise and went into business for himself.

The D. L. Clark Company was founded in 1886 when Clark started manufacturing candy in two back rooms of a small house in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, now Pittsburgh's North Side. When David Clark started selling candy in the streets of Pittsburgh, the prospect of becoming a giant in the confectionery industry was far from his thoughts. However, during his lifetime (1864-1939), the D. L. Clark Company became a leading candy manufacturer and the Clark bar emerged as one of the nation's favorite treats.

Clark's business grew steadily and in 1911 the company moved to larger quarters at a cracker factory on Pittsburgh's North Side. The D. L. Clark Company continued to expand and prosper at that location for 75 years, manufacturing some of America's best-known candies. The company experimented with a variety of ingredients that had never been used in candy before. Clark introduced confections filled with coconut, mint and peanut butter and was a leader in marketing candy bars. Three of its best creations were Clark, Zagnut, and Clark Coconut Crunch bar.

Clark scored an important marketing success when it introduced the five-cent-sized Clark bar. Initially, the bar was individually wrapped to facilitate shipment of candy to American troops during World War I. The Clark bar became extremely popular with the soldiers and its popularity carried over to the general public in the years following the war.

By 1920 the D. L. Clark Company was making about 150 different types of candy, including several five-cent bars, specialty items and a bulk candy line. Clark also manufactured chewing gum in a building across the street from his candy factory and in 1921 the Clark Brothers Chewing Gum Company was incorporated as a separate business. The Clark Brothers Chewing Gum Company made Teaberry and Tendermint gum. However, by 1931, the candy bar business had grown so large that Clark decided to specialize exclusively in candy bars and the Clark Brothers Chewing Gum Company was sold and renamed the Clark Gum Company. The result was two Clark companies: The D. L. Clark Company making candy and the Clark Gum Company making gum.

In the early 1920s, the Clark Gum Company used a carpenter's level as the background image for the chewing gum flavor and underneath, the slogan, "Its On The Level." This appeared on packs of both the Teaberry and Tendermint.

As time advanced, the image was slowly "modernized". The carpenter's level steadily became simplified, losing the wood grain and detail until only a bar remains. The slogan was eventually dropped altogether. The berries were kept on the gum wrapper through the 1970's.

What things do you remember from your childhood that aren't around any longer, or are much harder to find?

OK, now it's your turn. Link up with your interesting post. Be sure to link to your actual post and not your main blog.

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

Giveaway winner.

2010-09-19T14:41:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to Heidi at Craft Monkey winner of my Giveaway for the

250 Die Cut Business Cards
2 x 3.5”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.75 x 3.5” (slim card)
Die cutting options available: Rounded Corners, Leaf, Rounded One-Corner, Half-Circle Side, Circle
Paper Type: 14pt Cardstock Gloss, Matte, or High Gloss; 13pt Cardstock Uncoated
Color: 4Color Front, Blank Back; 4Color Front, Black Back; 4Color Both Sides
Limited to US residents only 18 years old and above

Thank you all for entering and especially thanks to the folks at UPrinting for sponsoring this giveaway.

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

Weekend Market Report Sept 17 2010

2010-09-19T12:01:00.015-04:00

Welcome to the Weekend Market Report.

This regular feature is a joint venture between myself and Diann from The Thrifty Groove.

I share my adventures at the Farmers Market, and Diann shares her adventures at the Flea Market.
Here is Troys's report

What a week.

I went to the Wyandotte Farmers Market on Thursday. This is a market that has been going on all summer, (and actually for several years) but this was my first time there.

I was told to get there early, I needed to be all set up by 10:00, because although it didn't officially open until noon, People started coming by about 10.

I was running late, and got there at 9:30. (It usually takes me about 45 minutes to set up.) There was nobody there. maybe I was in the wrong place? I drove around town. No Farmers Market anywhere. I flagged down a police car and asked the officer. Yep, I was right the first time. I got back to the market square around 10. Still nobody. A few minutes later, the market master arrived. She told me I had to wait until the main produce anchor set up, and then I would know where to set up. OK... Waiting... waiting... at 11:30, I finally was given a location and given permission to start setting up. By 12:00, I was almost done setting up, and had made 3 sales. This was what my stand looked like all set up.

I finished setting up at 12:15, and by 1:00, I had sold out of fresh basil. Who would have guessed?

I had several new things this week:

I made some Applemint Jelly and some Lemon Verbena and Rosemary Jelly. I made a Vegi Dip mix, (just add sour cream and mayo), and I made some Bath Salts, both Lavender and Spearmint/Rosemary.

The market was supposed to go from noon to 6:00 pm. But a heavy thunderstorm came in around 3:30. As soon as we heard it was going to rain some people stared taking their stands down, but, I'm really scrambling for every dime at the markets, especially this one since I had to pay for booth space, so I stayed as long as I could, and ended up getting soaked.

Luckily Diann showed up just in time to help me break down, so although she got soaked too, it was nice having her help.

On a brighter note, I made some new friends, including two sweet little ladies who grow herbs because they like the smell.

They started talking to me about how they just cut their basil and arranged it with flowers inside because they like to smell it. They don't cook with herbs much, they just like to grow them and smell them, and they were getting ready to take out their garden. When they take it out for the winter they throw their plants away. I about gasped!

We got to talking and before I knew it they told me they would bring me back a rosemary plant. They showed up in the pouring rain, just as I was deciding to break down and go home, and look what they brought me:

Diann drove home with it in the truck with her, and you should have smelled the inside of the truck when I opened the door!
I did about the same in sales in 3 hours, at this market, as I have been doing in 6 hours at the other market though, So overall, despite the rain, all things considered, I have to consider this a successful market day!

Friday, we checked out another market, we can't go there because they already have an herb vendor, but we checked out what he had to sell... His prices were a bit higher than ours (like twice as much) and his fresh herbs had weeds in them, He had more tomatoes and peppers than he had herbs, but other than that... (No I'm not being spiteful and petty... ...am I?)

Maybe next year we can get into all the local markets if we call early enough in the year.

Saturday, It started raining just as I was setting up, and I was afraid that it would be another rainy day, but it quit shortly after I got all set up. In this picture, you can see the rain on the ground, but the dry ground under my tent. Mario, the chip and Salsa guy is just starting to set his stand up next to me.

The rain stopped right after the market opened, and although the day started off slow attendance picked up and I did really well.

I sold out of all my dried herbs except for a packet of Chives, and one of Oregano.
I only have three jars of jelly left, two 8 oz. Lemon Verbena and Rosemary, and one 4 oz. Applemint.

It was a fun productive day, but before I can go back to the market I need to make more of everything. So, today's Farmers Market was a Bull Market day.

..................................
AndHere is Diann's Report

(Diann's report goes here)

Instead of thrifting this week, Diann has been boxing and bagging things to be donated. She has been thrifting in reverse. Watch for her post on her blog later this week about donating.

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

I think I'm back...

2010-09-17T13:03:00.001-04:00

Wow what a week! Every once in a while it seems like a week like this comes along to remind me that I'm not 21 years old any more, and I can't do the amount of things in the amount of time that I could when I was.

Everything seems to take longer, and there just aren't as many hours in the day as there were back then.

I used to be able to go all night without sleeping, and still function the next day.

Now, I feel like I could stay in bed all day and still manage to sleep that night!

But I think the worst is over, I only got about 1/2 the things done I wanted to get done, but we ae thinking about escaping for a few days to get a new perspective. Hopefully we will get home refreshed and energized.

Peppermint, that's the herb that energizes, bring on the peppermint. Anyone have any mint chocolate chip ice cream? Maybe some mint brownies? Peppermint Schnapps?

Oh well...

Just a reminder, my giveaway ends tonight. For a chance to win:

250 Die Cut Business Cards
2 x 3.5”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.75 x 3.5” (slim card)
Die cutting options available: Rounded Corners, Leaf, Rounded One-Corner, Half-Circle Side, Circle
Paper Type: 14pt Cardstock Gloss, Matte, or High Gloss; 13pt Cardstock Uncoated
Color: 4Color Front, Blank Back; 4Color Front, Black Back; 4Color Both Sides
Limited to US residents only 18 years old and above

Be sure and check out this post and leave a comment.

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

Busier than a bee...

2010-09-14T23:56:00.002-04:00

Wow!

I got hit with a whole bunch of "REAL LIFE" stuff this week, and haven't even had time to sit down and write a blog post.

I've been hopping around like a drop of cold water on a hot skillet.

I'm going to get some stuff all dealt with and be back real soon!

Weekend Market Report 9-11-10

2010-09-11T20:19:00.004-04:00

I Get to do Another Giveaway!

2010-09-10T00:23:00.007-04:00

Hey everyone, guess what?

The folks at UPrinting have generously agreed to let me do a giveaway this month.

UPrinting is an environmentally friendly company. They offer recycled papers where they can, recycle all paper scraps, printing plates and ink wastes, and print using soy-based ink.

I'm not a radical activist or anything, but I do believe that we would all be better off if we each takes a few small steps to help the environment. So I always applaud companies that make an effort to be a little "Greener".

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a selfish guy or anything, but one of the things I like most about UPrinting's giveaways is that when one of my lucky readers wins a prize, I get the same prize, so, this month, both me and one of my readers will receive:

250 Die Cut Business Cards
2 x 3.5”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.75 x 3.5” (slim card)
Die cutting options available: Rounded Corners, Leaf, Rounded One-Corner, Half-Circle Side, Circle
Paper Type: 14pt Cardstock Gloss, Matte, or High Gloss; 13pt Cardstock Uncoated
Color: 4Color Front, Blank Back; 4Color Front, Black Back; 4Color Both Sides
Limited to US residents only 18 years old and above

There are three ways you can enter:

1)Check out UPrinting's unique business cards and leave me a comment telling me what type of cards you would get.

2) Be a follower of this blog, and leave me a comment letting me know that you are a follower.

3) Link up on Tuesday September 14 for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in.

So, you can have up to three separate chances to win. The giveaway will end at 11:59 PM Eastern time, Friday, Sept. 17. A winner will be selected by Random.org, and will be announced Saturday Sept. 18.

There are so many different uses for business cards in today's world, especially when you have a small in home business. It's going to be tough for me to decide what kind to order for myself.

Good luck to everybody, and again, special thanks to the people at UPrinting for this fun opportunity.

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

ABC Wednesday Challenge - H

2010-09-07T22:09:00.005-04:00

It's ABC Wednesday again, and we are all the way up to H.

Since I'm not home, I don't have my fancy letter chart today, It's on our desktop, and when we are camping we use the laptop, but I'll have my chart back next week.

H, of course, is for HERBS, and HARVEST. Although you have probably been snipping a few leaves from your HERBS all summer, it is getting time to start thinking about doing a big HARVEST

Depending on your climate, if you cut now, you may still get one more good sized HARVEST before everything freezes. We generally get a small harvest in June, a big one now, and a medium harvest right around Thanksgiving.

Since I am not at my regular computer, I am going to cheat a bit and repost a post from my HARVEST last year.
Here it is, just the way it appeared on my blog last year, only with the spelling errors corrected:

A few weeks ago, I went through the garden and moved some herbs inside. We have Rosemary, Basil, Thyme, Savory, Chives, and Oregano in a big windowsill planter that should give us fresh herbs through the winter. I just need to figure out where to put them now. I was going to put them in the kitchen window, but the box is too wide for the sill, so I need to figure something else out. I'm not sure how long I can get away with leaving them on the kitchen table.

I cut quite a few herbs then, and we dried them. I got them all put away the last couple of days and so today was the day to do one final harvest.

Now, I confess, some of the herbs were not at their very best at this point. The frost has tipped a few leaves, and I had some deadhead blooms clinging to a few, but I figured I would cut them, bring them in and sort through them, to see what I could use.

First, a quick review on harvesting herbs.

Most herbs can be cut to within 6" of the ground throughout the season and will still produce health, happy plants. Perennials can be cut to within 2" of the ground at the end of the season, and it is recommended that you then top dress the root base with some kind of mulch to protect the roots from freezing.

Since our ground freezes solid as a rock, I'm not sure how effective that will be, but perhaps it will at least give the roots a chance to recover from the shock of being shorn before they freeze.

Most herbs like to be pruned and clipped, and will produce bushier plants if harvested regularly.

It is best to harvest herbs early in the day, on a sunny day. I always wondered about this, so I did some research, to find out why. I'm just a curious kind of guy, I always want to know why...

The essential oils in herbs are strongest in the plant when the temperature is cooler, and as the day gets hot, the moisture leaves the leaves, allowing them to wilt slightly. If you can pick your herbs before they wilt, they will have more of the oils in them, giving you a better taste, and a more effective herbs for medicinal use.

However, if you are going to dry your herbs, it is important to get as much moisture off of them as possible, so they don't mold, so a sunny day allows for the dew to dry before you pick them.

So, armed with my herb harvesting knowledge, I went out to cut herbs.

Today was overcast, and it started to rain just as I went outside, but it was nice and cold, and in Michigan, this time of year any time it starts to rain, it's entirely possible that it will end up snowing, so I figured it was now or never.

I started cutting and bringing things in, and before I realized it, I had a lot more herbs than I realized were still out there.

The kitchen table was pretty full, between craft projects, and a big planter box of herbs, so I just started setting things down where I could find room and going out for more.

Pretty soon the whole couch was covered with herbs.

If you click on the photo, you can see it full sized and read the tags, but if you don't feel like doing that, I got Thyme, Sage, Apple Mint, Tarragon, Fennel, Peppermint, Marjoram and Oregano.

This was our first time harvesting this Thyme plant. It was a new addition to the garden this year, so I was letting it grow and get good and healthy. I had plucked a few sprigs to cook with off and on during the summer, but mostly I was just letting it grow. It stayed small until the end of the summer, then took off around Labor Day, so I decided it was strong enough to cut some before I put the garden to bed for the year.

This was the second harvest of the Sage, and I was mostly just pruning it back so the snow wouldn't break any of the branches.

I picked most of the Apple Mint earlier this fall, but there was just enough new growth and a few old branches that still had some healthy leaves on them, that I just couldn't let them go to waste.

The Tarragon was our surprise plant this year. I thought it was dead when it didn't come back last year, but it surprised us by coming back this spring. I picked a little bit to cook with during the summer, but mostly I was just letting it get healthy and strong too.

The Fennel was mostly new seedlings that had come from the original plants when they bolted, I generally wouldn't cut such small plants, but they would have frozen within the next week or so anyway.

Our Peppermint was one of three mints we planted this year. I bought a single plant of each and we put each one in a separate oaken barrel, with some flowers. Next spring we will be hard pressed to find room for flowers. They all grew and spread very quickly. I'm glad we used the barrels. I have been cutting this regularly to make herbal teas, so there wasn't a lot left, but there was enough to cut.

This was the second cutting for the Marjoram. I cut it once early in the year, and then, when it started to bloom I just decided to let it go. This was what was left after the flowers all died off. I didn't realize there would be so much.

Many experts say that flowering will make your herbs taste bitter, so I tasted it. It tastes good.

And finally our Oregano. I have divided this plant several times and will be dividing it again in the spring. It just keeps growing like crazy. This was the third harvest for the year. I have used it fresh all year, I froze quite a bit and all of this will get dried.

If you look close you can see our little princess in the corner. I'm sure it would have gone faster without her help. She discovered that the plants all have different smells, so she kept picking up a sprig of something and smelling it, then putting it back into whatever basket or tray was closest.

It's hard to get mad when she just looks so sincere and fascinated, but I was sure glad when nap time rolled around.

I spent all day sorting, cleaning off the dead and damaged leaves and bundling them into bunches to hang dry. I bagged up the smaller bits and pieces in paper sacks to dry.

I usually dry herbs in my truck, but with no sun, and no prospect of sun, it would take a while to dry, and I'm not sure where I would fit all of those anyway, so I opted for alternate drying methods.

This is probably silly of me, but I get excited about some of the littlest things. When we bought our Fennel, it was in a mixed planter with several other herbs. As soon as I planted it, it bolted, and never really did much this year. This had me unsure of what I had. I didn't know if I had one of the decorative annuals, grown mainly for their seed, or Florence Fennel, a sweet perennial which forms the swollen base we call a bulb. Well, I had some seedlings come up from the first bunch that seeded off, and lo and behold, even though they are tiny, I could see them starting to form the infamous bulb, so now I know that I have Florence Fennel, and I am looking forward to seeing it in our garden next year. I was so excited that I had to take a picture of one of the tiny plants.

I use fishing line to tie bundles, as I can tie them fairly tight, and not worry too much about them slipping when the herbs shrink.
I use the same technique I learned in Cub Scouts when I was 8 years old to whip the end of a rope. For those of you who weren't in Cub Scouts, or who don't know how to whip a rope, here's a quick demo,

I know, I'm no Pablo Picasso, but this may give you an idea

Gather 8-12 stems in a bunch, hold the stems tight.

Make a loop in the fishing line, (I loop it around my finger to hold it in place.)

Lay the loop along the bunch of herbs. Make sure the end sticks out past the end of the stems.

Wind the line from the spool tightly around the stems of the herbs. This will also wind back around the base of your loop, that's OK, that's supposed to happen.

Once you have at least 8-10 winds around the stems, and your bundle feels tight and secure, cut the line, about 8" from the stems, so you have enough to work with.

Tuck the end you just cut into your loop.

Now, pull the other end of the line. This will tighten your loop. Pull it all the way tight, trapping the first end inside. Keep pulling until it is very tight. The windings you made will probably all kind of slide together at this point, if they weren't tight together before. That's OK.

Take your two ends and tie several double overhand knots.
For those who aren't Knot people, the knot you use when you tie your shoes, before you make the tree and the bunny that runs around it is an overhand knot.
A double overhand knot just means you cross your strings one more time before you pull them tight. Fishing line is very slippery, and doesn't have anything to create friction and hold the knot tight, so you need to make several loops in the knot to hold it tight.
Go ahead and tie as many knots as you think you need so it won't slip. If you know a fisherman, (fisherwoman? fisherperson?) have them show you the neat fishing knots they know. They will work just as well on herbs.

Finally, you can either trim your loose ends, or you can make them into a fancy loop to hang the bundle to dry. At this point I also suggest making some kind of tag or label and tying it on, because spearmint, peppermint, oregano, lemon balm,and catnip all look the same after they are dried, but they are hardly interchangeable in recipes.

You may end up with something like this:

Please take some time to check out what others were INSPIRED to blog about this week, at

ABC Wednesday,
and feel free to add your own blog to the list as we work our way through the alphabet.

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

Tuesday Trivia Tie-in #26 Bountiful Harvest

2010-09-06T21:55:00.007-04:00

I'm a Guest Blogger

2010-09-06T11:07:00.005-04:00

I was recently invited to be a guest blogger on a blog called Our Frugal Future. In this blog, Melissa discusses ways to enrich our lives by saving money. She posts deals, bargains, freebies, and tips on how to live frugally.

I got to write a post about how growing your own herbs can be frugal, and fun. It posted today as the featured guest blogger of the week.

You can read my guest post here.

Thank you, Melissa, for letting me share my love of herbs with your readers.

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

Sunday Favorites -- Herbs Are Not Just For Cooking

2010-09-04T19:44:00.004-04:00

It's Sunday and time for Sunday Favorites, where Chari, from Happy to Design allows participants to share an old blog post with readers, while still taking Sunday off, by reposting an old post.

This post appeared on my blog just over a year ago, but with herb harvest time in full swing, I thought now was a good time to repost it.

I think everyone has their favorite herb. The one they add to everything they cook. We all understand that a bit of herb here or there can make a dish really stand out.

But herbs are not just for cooking.

In my weekly exploration of herbs, I have touched on some medicinal uses and some magical uses for herbs. But there are so many things that go beyond even those uses.
Herbs, or herb oils are often used in making soaps and cosmetics, paints, fuel oil, and other manufacturing.

One would think, that with such useful plants growing right in our own garden, we would be using them for pert’near everything, yet so many of us have barely even touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to using our herbs to benefit and enrich our lives.

So, I wanted to explore some uses for herbs that don’t involve cooking (per se) nor do they rely on folklore, magic or superstition.

Here are the directions for a day of head to toe herbal pampering:

First, treat yourself to a

Facial Sauna.
For cleansing and purifying one's complexion. this pleasant herbal steam penetrates deeply and cleanses every pore.

Simply boil three cups water and add 1 heaping tablespoon each of:
chamomile,
lavender,
fennel,
lemon balm,
sage,
rosemary.

Simmer for 15 minutes; turn off the heat. Pour into a metal bowl.
Pull back your hair away from your forehead and bend over the bowl, keeping your head at least 15 inches away so you don't scald your skin. Drape a thick towel over your head to confine the vapors. Inhale the herbal mist for 5 to 15 minutes, then splash cold water onto your face and neck to close the pores. Your skin will be soothed and your complexion will have a healthy, rosy glow.

Then, soak away sore feet with an

Herbal Foot Bath.
This steamy herb combination will stimulate your foot circulation, soothe your foot muscles, and soften the skin.
Combine 1/2 cup of each of :
chamomile,
comfrey,
lavender,
rosemary.
Infuse the herbs in a quart of warm water and pour into a foot basin partially filled with warm water. Wrap some of the herbs in cheesecloth to form a compress. Gently apply or massage this compress into any sore spot while soaking.

Next, hop into your bathtub for a soothing, cleansing

Herbal Soak.
You can prepare an herbal infusion on the stove or make up bath bags to have ready in a basket sitting beside your bathtub.

To make an infusion: pour boiling water over a handful each of
rosemary,
mint,
thyme,
lemon balm,
lavender flowers.
Let steep for about 20 minutes. Add to your bath water and soak for 5 to 15 minutes.

An herbal bath helps you in two ways: first, your skin absorbs the essential oils from the herbs through the hot water, and then the steam makes the volatile herb oils vaporize in the air and release their fragrances.
Some herbs stimulate your circulation, some soothe and calm you down, while others provide deep cleaning. It's the combination that provides the harmonizing effect that makes herbal baths so pleasurable.

Bath bags are easily made out of unbleached muslin, tied with twine. Using pinking shears, cut the muslin into 8-inch squares.

Mix together 1/2 cup each of dried
hibiscus flowers
chopped lemon balm,
mint,
chamomile,
lavender flowers,
rosemary leaves.

Place about 2 tablespoons in the center of each cloth square. Gather the muslin tightly around the herbs and tie with twine, first making a double knot and then a bow.
Several minutes before getting into your bath, swish one of the herbal bath bags round in the hot bath water. It'll scent the water and the room, soothing your skin as you soak.
Keep the bags in a pretty basket near your tub to have ready for the next time. They'll scent the bathroom at the same time.

Now the herbs have worked their magic on your body, treat yourself to an
herbal nightcap,

Tranquil Herbal Tea.
Mix together
2 ounces dried peppermint leaves (nature's digestive),
2 tablespoons dried rosemary leaves (nature's tranquilizer),
2 teaspoons dried sage leaves (nature's sleep producer).

Mix and store in a tightly closed glass jar. Add 1 heaping teaspoon of the herb mixture to a cup of boiling water. Let steep for 1 minute. Strain. Sweeten to taste with
Honey, splenda, stevia, or the sweetener of your choice, and sip slowly.
Enjoy a wonderful, restful sleep.

So, now I want to know.

Besides cooking, what do YOU use herbs for

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

Thrifting With My Wife

2010-09-03T21:54:00.008-04:00

OK, everybody, It's time to join Debbie, at Debbiedoos, I Love Livin in the Carolinas for Garage Salen
Where people are encouraged to show off their thrift store/garage sale/estate sale/rummage sale/junk sale/flea market/swap meet finds.

I had the privilege of going thrifting with Diann today. We set off to go to town, but only made it about 100 yards before we passed the first garage sale. We got another 25 yards before we had turned around and were parked.

First of all, this was a very cool garage sale. I see lots of garage sales where people have all the junk they they don't want, but they don't want to haul it all off to the dump, so they spread it out on tables put a sign on it that says, "Vintage Collectibles" and try to pass it off as valuable merchandise.

This wasn't one of those. They had things I could have used, and prices I was willing to pay. I actually walked away from some things I kind of wanted and kind of thought was a good deal, just because I knew we wouldn't fit it all in the back of our truck.

But I did pick up a few fun things. Most of them are still in the back of the truck, and it is raining right now, and quite frankly, I just don't feel like getting wet, but I did bring in a couple of things to play with, so I thought I'd show them off.

First I have to tell you, Bingo has an eagle eye, she can spot a penny from halfway across the parking lot, every time we go shopping, she finds at least one and some days she hits the jackpot and gets a whole handful.

When we get home, she is very serious about getting them all into her piggy bank, post haste!

She had a small pile of coins she had found, here at the camper, and we had been looking for a cheap bank for her to use here. I was amazed that they didn't have one at the dollar store. But I guess kids today are more interested in getting a cell phone than they are in saving their pennies...

Well, when we got to the first garage sale, the lady pointed out the "free" table, and of course that was where I headed first. I have two bags of free stuff in the truck, but this was on the free table,

and Bingo loves it.

I'm not sure if I dare tell her that she has a Vintage 1960 Raimond Silver Co. Silver Plated ABC Baby's Bank.

And although she put a handful of coins in it, even without the money inside, it currently has a fair market somewhere between $15-20.

Not a bad deal, for free, I thought.

And to think, I actually paid money for the bank I got for myself...

I have no idea how old this is, although my instinct is telling me based on the fact that it is all metal except for the combination lock dial, that it is an early 1970's bank.

Much earlier and it would have been all metal, and much later and it would have been all plastic. It is from the days when banks still tried to get customers, not like the trend today where they expect you to pay for the privilege of letting them use your money... but I digress...

Bank of Alma was bought out by Firstbank in 1985, so I know it is at least that old.

The combination lock works, and until some little two year old fingers got hold of it, it still had the combination on a sticker on the bottom.

Luckily I noticed what it was before our little sticker-picker got hold it.

This was on a table marked, "Everything this table 2 for $1 unless otherwise marked"

So, for 50 cents, I got two cool banks, and now Bingo and I each have a place to keep our spare change.

Stop by Debbiedoos to see what bargains everyone else got this week!

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

ABC Wednesday Challenge - G

2010-08-31T20:30:00.002-04:00

It's ABC Wednesday again, and we are all the way up to:

My tie yesterday was my Ungaro tie featuring flowers.

We have a small flower GARDEN. This is the first year that I have taken an active role in our flower GARDEN, usually I let Diann do the flowers, but this year I wanted to play too.

What better G word can there be than GARDENING? I love to GARDEN, it is a relaxing way to spend some time, and an economical way to produce food for the table.

The rewards of GROWING your own food, tending it, caring for it, and finally picking it and eating it, are incredible.

I dream of the day when we have at least an acre of garden, and I can plant as much of anything as I want, without having to worry about space.

I like to follow any blogs I find that can help me with planting my GARDEN, or using the things that I GROW. There are GARDENING blogs GALORE, a GAZILLION of them out there, but I am always looking for the reaaly GOOD ones!

Every once in a while, I see a blog that really catches my attention.
Sometimes it is because of the pictures, sometimes it is funny, and sometimes it is a blog filled with GREAT information.

I have recently been closely following a blog that falls into the latter category.

Alea, at Premeditated Leftovers has been writing some posts about how to use the herbs that she grows.

Alea always has a lot of recipes, that I read and think, "Oh, I'll have to try that some day."

But when she started posting about herbs it really caught my eye.

A while back, she posted about how to dry herbs in a bag, an informative post, with pictures, so that even a beginner can easily see what she is talking about. Her method is a great way to dry herbs, and her post is very clear and easy to understand.

Now, more recently she posted about how to grind Coriander, (which most of us know is the seed from the Cilantro Plant.

Alea has some GREAT tips for GARDENERS, and I GUARANTEE you, that they are easy to understand and follow. You should take a minute and check out her blog. By GEORGE, You will be GLAD you did!

Please take some time to check out what others were INSPIRED to blog about this week, at

ABC Wednesday,
and feel free to add your own blog to the list as we work our way through the alphabet.
Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

Tuesday Trivias Tie-in #25 Ungaro Flowers.

2010-08-30T19:30:00.007-04:00

Weekend Market Report August 28 2010

2010-08-27T19:24:00.008-04:00

Welcome to the Weekend Market Report.

This regular feature is a joint venture between myself and Diann from The Thrifty Groove.

I share my adventures at the Farmers Market, and Diann shares her adventures at the Flea Market.
Here is Troys's report

Well, I managed to make it back to the Farmers Market this week. I was not sure how it would go, I haven't been feeling up to doing a lot, but I hated missing out on the potential sales.

I felt like a drug dealer this week, as I sat at the table, measuring dried herbs out into little baggies, and weighing them. I just knew any minute the door was going to fly open and Starsky and Hutch were going to come flying in and confiscate all my herbs.

But I managed to make up some packages of Savory, Sage, Marjoram, Dill, Oregano and Chives.

The Market master told me I could come late and leave early if I had to, but I know that most of the sales in this market are in the first two hours, so I wanted to get there on time.

Good thing I did. I had a repeat customer there waiting for me, and before I even had my booth set up she had made one of the biggest purchases of the day. She loved the salt scrub and came back for more, and since I was running a "3 for" special she bought 3! Then, since she was there, she bought some dried herbs too. Only problem was, she paid with a $50 bill and so I was running tight on change for a while.

One of my next customers introduced herself, and I am glad I watched the news recently, because when she told me her name, I was able to identify who she was, our local State Representative. We talked a bit about herbs she bought some dried herbs to cook with, and she invited me to her next Coffee Meeting, where they discuss local issues.

It was fun to be able to give her one of my cards when she gave me hers. Something about having a business card just makes you feel more legit.

I didn't set up the tea table this week. It was all I could do to just set up one table. But I sold a little bit of everything I had: Dried herbs, fresh herbs, salt scrub, milk bath, and bottled water. I made a few dollars more than last time, making this my best week so far.

The produce guy hasn't shown up the last two weeks, and the dog food guy wasn't there, so I was kind of on my own way down on the end. This hurt business a little bit, because a lot of people would walk down the main row, then look over at my single both standing out there and decide they didn't want to walk all the way over there for one booth.

The crowd started off good, but by 1:00 it was down to a few stragglers, and at 2:30 when I decided to go ahead and start packing up, I hadn't had a customer for over 30 minutes.

I did one final sale at 2:45, just as I was getting everything packed up, and when I left at 3:00 there was nobody there but vendors, no customers.

It was a good day, and although I was sore when I got home, it was good to be able to go and feel like I was making one more step back to normal life.

..................................

Diann has been so busy trying to take care of me and Bingo, that she ran out of time and didn't make it to the flea market this week. But she will be back soon, I promise!

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

ABC Wednesday Challenge - F

2010-08-24T15:33:00.010-04:00

It's ABC Wednesday again, and we are all the way up to:

My tie this week was a revisit of a past tie, my wrench tie.
I'm still not up to sitting very long, but I just want to share a few thoughts.

I have a brother who can FIX just about anything, Diann has a brother just like that.
If they can't FIX it, it ain't broke.

Give them a wrench a screwdriver, a hammer, and some duct tape, and they can rule the world.

My FATHER was like that. He would pick something up, turn it around a couple of times, and know how it worked. Then, he could take it apart, FIX the broken part, and put it back together.

I have never been that mechanically inclined myself, although I can FUMBLE through basic repairs on most common things. I can change my own brakes, or put a new cord on a lamp, but many things are just beyond my skills.

I'm ok with that. I know my strengths and my weaknesses.

A few months back, Dianns parents were doing some work on their house. They had an unused room where Bingo kept some toys, and they decided to turn it into a guest room.

When Bingo saw the room, with bare sheetrock and tools spread all over, she declared it "Broken" and proclaimed that Grandpa would FIX it. He did, and she decided that Grandpa could FIX anything.

At a restaurant, she saw a burned out lightbulb, and told the waitress that Grandpa would fix it. At home anything that broke, any time, she would tell us, "That's OK, Grandpa will FIX it.

Much like the girl in It's a Wonderful Life, she had absolute FAITH that he could, and would FIX anything.

It's always amazing to see the FAITH of a child. There is no wavering, no hesitation, no doubt.

When times get tough, when we are down, when we feel broken, sometimes it is easy to forget that we all have a FATHER who can FIX everything. I wish I had that unwavering, childlike FAITH.

So, this week, for me, F is for FIXING, and for FATHERS, but most of all, for FAITH.

Please take some time to check out what others were INSPIRED to blog about this week, at

ABC Wednesday,
and feel free to add your own blog to the list as we work our way through the alphabet.

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here

Tuesday Trivia Tie-in #24

2010-08-23T20:20:00.008-04:00

My first featured tie is one of my favorites, in fact the first one that caught my eye when I walked past the stand.

Officially called “Going Nuts” this tie was designed by Vicky Davis of New York. It features a Crescent Wrench and a nut/bolt, on a vivid red background. Vicky Davis Ties are made in the USA and are 100% silk. You can see lots of other Vicky Davis patterns here.

From the front the nut/bolt looks like a tie tac. But it’s actually just an ornamental rivet.

My pictures show not only my tie, but my cool pliers tie bar that Diann got me for Christmas.
Those that follow her blog may remember seeing her talk about it here.

And for those who can’t help but notice the wrinkles in the shirt, I am not actually wearing this shirt. It is one that has not been ironed, I just grabbed it as a backdrop for the tie.

So, that is my "Going Nuts" Tie, the first tie featured in the Troy's Tuesday Tie Trivia series.

And now for some basic “wrench” trivia.

*A wrench is a tool made for tightening or loosening bolts, nuts or anything that needs to turn. Solymon Merrick patented the first wrench in 1835.

*Charles Moncky invented the monkey wrench around 1858.

*Crescent wrench is actually a brand name for an adjustable wrench which features a sliding jaw. The Crescent Tool Company’s version was so widely used that it became the common name of the tool for many situations.

*When someone twists a knee, ankle wrist or shoulder, suddenly and violently, resulting in a sprain, it is often said that they “wrenched” that particular joint.

OK, now it's your turn. Write a post about something you enjoy, be sure to include some interesting, little known information and then add your link to the list.

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures. Read all about it here