We really enjoy zucchini at our house. It can me made into a tasty dessert, deliscious dinner, lunch or breakfast, frozen, dried, or canned for latter use. So versitile! 

This past week I've tried two new zucchini recipes and both were big hits. The one I;'m going to be sharing today almost even beat homemade doughnuts according to my 7 year old daughter. 

it went like this:

Daughter- " This is the best breakfast I've ever had in my life!"

Dad- " It's really good. How can you go wrong with zucchini and sausage, but what about doughnuts?"

Daughter- " ok, maybe not better than donughnut, but it's gooood!"

Just so you know zucchini is my husbands fav veggie. Still, can anything beat fresh homemade doughnuts? I don't think so. Ok, I'm absolutely positive! So you know that when something almost does it has to be dang good!

The other great thing about this breakfast is that it is super easy. You know we all can appreciate some easy in our lives! 

I hand cut all the little pieces of zucchini. Your probably thinking " hey Jaci, that doesn't sound easy." But it was, However, you can use the shredding attachment on your food proccessoor if you would like. If not, here is how I easily and quickly cut the zuchini into little shreds.
​

I cut the zucchini in half then cut each half in half length wise. Now there is a nice flat surface to rest on the cutting board. From here, cut each quarter of your zucchini length wise in strips about 1/8 in apart. 1/8 inch is what you should aim for but it's no big deal if it is little bigger or smaller. Keep all the little strips together as you cut as shown in the picture. Now you cut across your little zucchini strips perpendicular to your first cuts, about 1/8 inch apart. It uses a lot of words to explain, too many. I'm sure you probably took one look at the picture and knew what to do. Easy. And it is kinda fun too I have to admit.

​

Next, put all your little shreds into a collander placed in a bowl. My collander has little handles that stick out and allow it to sort of hang in the bowl. This is very helpful for the next step. Add some salt, 1-2 tsp, to draw out some of the water in the zucchini and mix into your shreds. The water will drain through the collander and into the bowl. 

I leave my zucchini in the collander even while I'm cooking and the water continues to drain. Your zucchini will decrease to half the volume. Then it decreases more when you cook it so be sure to consider this.

For my family of nine I used just 1 1/4 large zucchinis. They were about 16-18 in long and 5- 6in in diameter. They shrink a lot. 

​

Like I said we really enjoy zucchini so of course we freeze it and can it so we can enjoy it in the cooler months as well. Now this is my first time trying what I'm about to share with you but I'm pretty confident that it is going work well. The leftover zucchini shreds that I didn't cook, the other 3/4 of the second zucchini, plus I did three more, I'm  giving the salt treatment to drain the water then freezing. Zucchini hash browns for this winter! 

​

Please don't just put them all in a bag and freeze. You have to freeze them on a cookie sheet first, then you can put them in a bag or freezer safe container (better than single use plastic!).

Make sure that you freeze one thin layer at a time. The objective is to not have it freeze in one giant lump that needs an ice pick to break apart. Kinda important. Freeze in an uncrowded thin layer. Once frozen, place in your container and use as needed. 
​

"Why?" you ask, "are you so sure that it is going to work?" Well, I noticed that once the shreds have been tossed in the salt and the water has been drained they have a very similar appearance as when they are blanched. You see, if you freeze fresh zucchini or any other vegetables the texture becomes weird and in some cases stringy. Not what we want. 

Zucchini isn't quite as persnickety as say carrots, but they still do better with some attention. These little shreds open up more recipe options from our preserved zucchini. Big win!

Once the water is drained add pepper, garlic and a touch of cayenne to the shreds and mix. You shouldn't need much salt seeing as they have been soaking in it. Give it a try before you add anymore.

To cook the hash browns pour a Tbsp. of oil in a heavy bottomed frying pan. Add about 2 cups for a large frying pan. You don't want to crowd the zucchini or it will not brown very well. I spread it out, let it cook for a bit then flip it all over and repeat until there is lots of golden brown.

Continue coking in batches. Serve warm topped with sausage ( recipes below) and enjoy!

Let us know what you think about this recipe. Maybe you've thought of another way to use these zucchini hash browns. Please share in the comments below. 

​Happy clean eating!
​

​Ingredients

For the Zucchini Hashbrowns
1 large zucchini
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Cayenne
Oil for frying​​

​Cut Zucchini into shreds or shred in food processor. Place shreds in a colander place over a bowl. Add slat to zucchini and mix. Let sit for 10 minutes to allow water to drain. Press the zucchini to expel as much remaining water as possible. Add salt, pepper , and garlic to taste. Remember, you may not need any additional salt. Taste it to be sure. Add a little oil to a heavy bottom frying pan and heat to medium heat. Once the pan is heated up add 2 cups for a large frying pan. Spread the shreds out into a thin layer. Let cook for several minutes or until they start to brown. Turn them over and repeat. Repeat this process until all of the zucchini is nicely browned and slightly crispy.

For the Sausage
1 lb. grass finished beef or lamb
2 Tbsp maple syrup or brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground sage or several fresh sage leaves finely chopped
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cayenne
oil for cooking

Heat up the pan and add several Tbsps of olive oil. While the pan is heating up combine all the other ingredients in a bowl. Transfer to the pan and cook until slightly browned adding more oil as needed.


To serve place zucchini hashbrowns in center of plate and top with sausage. Garnish with sage leaves. Dig in!
​

Hey there, I enjoyed sharing this recipe with you and hanging out! I'm sure this feeling is mutual so sign up below for our monthly newsletter. This way you will be informed of great new blog post simlar to this one and any special happenings going on here at the farm. See you there and thank you for your support!

Salads are such an easy meal for summer time and a great way to get all our greens (7 cups a day!). Some people are intimidated by growing lettuce and shy away from it but there's no need, it easy!. Today I'm going to give you my best tips for growing lettuce so that you can have a continuous supply for quick and easy summer time meals that don't heat up the house. 

​

Above is one of our early harvest for the gardens we used to make a salad. F.Y.I. raw kohlrabi goes great in salad.

After you have watched the video be sure to check below for all of our favorite varieties and 3 super easy and super tasty salad dressing.

​​

• Little Gem - A heat tolerant mini romaine
• Buttercrunch- a classic butterhead type
• Lollo Rosa- the red frilly lettuce in the video
• Rouge de Hiver - a red romaine from France

We grow all four of these every year and then try some new ones out as well. These are some new varieties we are trying this year.

• May Queen - European Butterhead type
• Speckled -Green with red/ purple splashes
• Butter King - A slower to bolt butterhead type

To get the your best lettuce crop it is important that you read the description for each variety when choosing your lettuce. In general letuce is a cooler weather crop but there are some that tolorate heat and humidity better. There are also some that tolorate cold better. You want to find a variety that is best for your growing conditions.

​

​To make the dressings put all the ingredients in a jar and shake until combined. That's it! You're done. Now enjoy your salad.

Asian
1/2 cup olive oil
11/2 tsp peanut oil
1/2 cup tamari
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3-4 tbsp honey or brown sugar
dash of cayenne

Italian
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp thyme
* Instead of the oregano, basil, and thyme, you can use 1 tsp Italian dressing.

Creamy Italian
Make the same as Italian but add:
1/2 cup vegenaise (or mayonnaise)
1/4 tsp ground mustard
a dash or cayenne

This is a little plot of lettuce my 2 year old "planted." It grew so well I decided to let it be. We've got a gardener in the making people!

Do you have any favorite lettuce varieties that you would like to share with us? Or how about some tasty salad dressing? Please leave your comments below!


Happy gardening to you!

​

​
​Thinking about starting your own garden? Maybe you have just started a garden. For a simple yet complete guide to gardening check out my new book, "Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Garden". Remember that I'm here for you every step of the way. Your emails and questions are always welcome!

​You guys I am loving our terraced pollinator garden! It still has a way to go but it has been so much fun and we are making a lot of progress.

​

As you can see, we did some work to the steps. Before they were just steps cut into the soil. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.  Well we have these red brick things that were here when we moved in, I decided to put them at the edge of the steps to hold everything in place and finiash things off. It turned out pretty nice!

Of course they have dirt all over them because my little helpers thought that they should soak the dirt sections and turn them into a mud hole. I tried to wash them off but it was so muddy it only made things worse. LOL.

So this is the bottom of the terrace pollinator garden. Don't you love the pink blooms of the sedum? I really like how it is starting to hang over the rocks. Just today my husband and I saw a native bee visiting these flowers.
​

I thought it would be cool if the sedum was growing in between the rocks as well so I've added lots of starts. Did you know you can just break a piece off and stick it in the dirt and it will grow? So easy and it grows so well. It will give it a more natural feel when the plants are creeping into the path a bit.
​
​

​The Bachelor Buttons (all the little blue flowers) are growing really well but I think they are a bit too tall. I would like to see more of the terraces behind them. I definitely want them in the garden because the bees are loving them but I have a new plan for them that will take place next year. I'll show you where they are going to go in a minute.

​

I planted the top and third terrace with a wild flower mix this spring. Then the chickens got in the garden and scratched it all up. Out of the 4 terraces they only scratched in the two I had planted with the wild flower seeds! It always seems to work that way doesn't it.

Well to my deligth plenty of them still came up. There are California poppies as well as another kind of poppy, the Bachelor Buttons, Toad flax, Sweet William, Larkspur, Blanket Flower, Black Eyed Susan, and a few that I don't know the names of but I totaly love.

​

I have one Echanaciea that I planted the first year that is really starting to get big plus several others I planted this year. There are chives of course cause the bees and us love them, anise hysup (bees like pretty much all herbs), Chinese motherwort, Lupine, and Butterflyweed as well as some others. My next post will go into detail about the different plants I chose for the pollinators including ones that I put in the other gardens.

​

​This is the view from the top. You can see the Bachelor Buttons better in this picture.

The top two terraces are not as full at the moment but I have planted more seeds and the wild flower seeds are still popping up!

I really like how the path turned out with the red bricks. I like how it curves around. I'd like to do something in the dirt section behind the brick but I'm not sure what yet.

I thought about filling that space with pea gravel, concrete, or planting it all with creeping thyme. What do you think? For the paths that run in between the terraces I could do the same.

I won't be doing any more to the paths this year so I have some time to think about it. Maybe I'll get a better idea. Maybe even from you!!

​

Do you remember how this space to the side of the terraces had plastic on it last year to kill the grass? Well we added about 4-6 inches of compost and added two apple trees that we moved from our orchard. It's no longer and orchard because we moved all the trees into our gardens where they will get more attention. 

I've spread wild flower seeds as well as some others here. This is my plan for the Bachelor Buttons. They can go here with other wild flowers. I'm going to let the whole space be filled with wild flowers and use more perrenials in the terraces.

​The bushes you see are choke cherries? I can't remember! Tasty little treats anyhow!

​

Earlier this year the goats got into the orchard and chowed down on our trees. Yikes! They  look pretty pathetic now but they are coming out of it. Just one more reason to move them into the gardens. When these trees get bigger they will provide shade for the animals in the pasture that is on the other side of the fence.

​​

Say hello to our goaties! The sheep are busy mowing the yard for us but these goats are in the pasture now. It is so handy, we just throw all the weeds we pick over the fence. Weeds are actually better for the goats than grass and they devour them.

​

This is the entrance to the terraced pollinator garden from the back garden. We had been using all these old cutting blades for a dozer? My husband knows exactly but I may not  be remembering right. Anyways, we had been using them to hold down the plastic. So when I was putting the brick in the steps there they were. I thought it would be fun to use them as edging.

This is what we came up with. All that soil has been planted with seeds and that's more sedum in the little bottom section.

You can't see it well in this picture but these steps turn. I always like turns and curves in my gardens. I think it makes them more interesting. You can see how the steps above turn a bit as well.

​

Now to give you a good ol laugh, here is a picture of me after I worked on putting all these steps in with the North Dakota wind blowing like it always does and my bandanas in the laundry. Scary looking but happy to have accomplished that work!

I hope you guys enjoyed this little update. Now please tell me your ideas for the area of the steps behind the bricks, what should I do there?

Happy gardening!


​

Thinking about starting your own garden? Maybe you have just started a garden. For a simple yet complete guide to gardening check out my new book, "Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Garden". Remember that I'm here for you every step of the way. Your emails and questions are always welcome!

 I love to garden. I always have and always will I'm sure. I've done it since I was a small child with my mother and sometimes my dad as well. I can't think of a time when I didn't garden. Even in high school I helped here and there. My first apartment balcony was filled with flower pots, and as soon as spring hit, the side of the steps of my first house was adorned with flowers. 

It started with flowers then I incorporated garden vegetables and now I have the best of both  worlds in this little paradise of a farm we are so blessed to live on! The best part about it is that my kids are right there next to me. And they actually enjoy it! They are just as excited about growing as me! Even about eating all those tasty vegetables!

I'm telling ya people, garden with your children. It can bring them a lifetime of healthy eating habits and endless memories of spending quality time learning something new with YOU!

To get you started I have made a list of the best plants for gardening with kids. The criteria to make this list includes ease of planting, ease of care, kids preference to the flavor, and the abundance of fun it is to grow. This is just a starting point. I hope that once you get going you venture into new things. 

*I've included links to the varieties we use. I am in no way affiliated with rareseeds.com or Baker Creek (same company). I just truly love the variety and quality of their seeds! I know they are just as  much against GMO's as me which gives me a piece of mind when ordering from them. I'm sure you will love them too!
​

1. Peas
Peas are easy for even the smallest of hands to plant. They are one of the first things I let the kids help me plant. They are spaced 1-2 inches apart which is great for excited little ones. It isn't a big deal if they are planted to close or a whole pile gets planted in one spot. They are very forgiving. Be sure to provide some kind of trellis for them.

​I recommend doing several plantings about 2 weeks apart each. Once these plantings start to fade mid summer you can plant another crop, right in the same spot, for fall. The pods are very easy for little ones to harvest. Pick a sweet variety  over the snow or garden pea type. They are best for fresh eating and your kids will enjoy them more.

You can easily save mature pods to collect seeds for the next year. Let the pods dry then remove the peas and store in a paper bag.

To Plant
1. dig a trench that is several inches deep along your trellis.
2. place the seeds in the trench 1-2" apart.
3. Cover with 1" of dirt and water well.. Some seeds might pop up, be sure to get them back down in the soil. 
4. Keep them moist until several inches tall then water regularly.

Our Favorites
​Sugar Snap Pea
Sugar Ann

​

2. Giant Sunflowers
These babies can grow to be over 6 feet tall! They grow so quick that I think you can measure their growth by the day. That would be a fun experiment to try with the kids. We like to plant them in a way to form walls. Some friends of our are going to plant two rows then tie the heads together (with string) to form a tunnel. You can plant them in a circle and tie the top together to for a teepee. Or try planting them in a spiral for a cool affect.

Once they bloom they attract bees but they are tall enough that they shouldn't cause any problems. We have never had any stings. Not from bees visiting the sunflowers that is. However several of my children have thought it to be a good idea to catch a bee. They learned it wasn't real quick. I remember doing the same thing in kindergarten.

​It's that silly song, Do you know it? "I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee. won't my mommy be so proud of me." It does continue to say "ouch, it bit me!" So why do we still go and catch a bee? I have no idea! Maybe don't teach your little one that song but do grow sunflowers with them.

When the seeds mature in the fall cut off the heads and let them dry. Then remove the seeds. Save some to plant next year and roast the rest for a tasty treat. 

This is how you do it. Soak the seeds in salted water over night. It should taste salty but not too salty. Drain the water and spread in a thin layer on a cookie sheet. cook them in the oven at 350 degrees F until they are dry and slightly browned, stirring them periodically.

My kids eat them raw or cooked. They are like little mice.

To Plant
1. Poke you finger into the soil about 3/4 of an inch. 
2. Place a seed in the whole and cover with soil.
3. Water thoroughly keeping moist until sprouts appear.
4. Water as needed or until several feet high. At this point they are pretty drought tolerant and will do just fine in most places if left un-watered.

Our Favorite
Mammoth Grey

​

3. Lettuce
Lettuce is and easy and fast crop to grow. Kids like seeing quick results. The seeds are a little small but still doable for a child. We plant ours fairly close and use a cut and come again method to harvest them. This means is grows 4+ inches in height. We cut it back, but not to the ground, then come back in a week or so and it is ready to harvest again.

Densely seeding works well for tis and helps keep the ground covered making it harder for weeds to grow and keeping the ground moist. Lettuce doesn't like the heat of the summer. It must be grown in spring/early summer or fall. You can get away with growing it in shade during the hottest parts of the summer.

It grows quickly. Plant a small patch every week for a continuous supply of lettuce. Be sure to plant multiple varieties for nutrition and color in your salad.

​I also suggest planting each variety in a different spot. Lettuce can get aphids. If one patch does get aphids then perhaps the other patches, planted in different locations will not. Can't put all your eggs in one basket!

My kids will sit in the garden and eat lettuce all day long. Have picky eaters who don't want to eat their veggies? It seems to change their perspective when they know they were a part of growing them, they were picked fresh from their garden. All of a sudden they like veggies!

To Plant
1. Form small trenches 3-4 inches apart.
2. Gently sprinkle the seeds into the trench.
3. Cover lightly and water gently so you do not wash away the seeds.

Our Favorites
Little Gem
Buttercrunch
​Lollo Rossa
Rouge De Hiver
Forellenschuluss

​

4. Dwarf Pak Choi
Dwarf Pak Choi is and Asian cabbage that grows to be just several inches tall. It only takes a few weeks for it to reach maturity. Then it will from blossoms that look like miniature broccoli heads and taste just about the same as they look.

We eat them even when they get to the flowering stage because we love the broccoli taste. Broccoli can be tricky to grow because of cabbage worms. Dwarf Pak Choi is a great alternative.

​Let some go to seed to save for next year. They form long skinny pods after flowering. Allow them to dry out then collect them into a paper bag. Now you are all set for next year or even a fall planting.

To Plant.
Make a shallow trench and sprinkle seeds inside. Cover with about 1/4" of garden soil and keep moist until sprouted and established. Then water as needed, never letting the soil become too dry.

Our Favorite
Extra Dwarf Pak Choi

​

5. Cherry or Pear Tomatoes
Cherry and Pear tomatoes are another quick and prolific producer. They come in all different varieties and colors. They are just the right size for little hands and snacking.
Your kids will be popping them in their mouth like candy just like my kids!

To Plant
1. Start seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost date. 
2. Once they have at least 2 true leaves pot up into a 4" pot. Barry the stem all the way up to the leaves. The stem will actually grow roots. This form a nice strong root system to support the plant.
3. Fertilize with fish emulsion at half strength at 5 weeks for best results.
4. You may need to pot up once more before planting out. Are there roots coming out the bottom of the pot? If so, and you are still a few weeks off from planting, Pot up into a bigger pot. 
5. About a week and a half before your last frost date start hardening off your plants. Put them out in the morning sun for about twenty minutes. Increasing the length each day by 5-10 minutes until it is time to plant them out. 

* This may sound like a lot reading this but really it isn't. Just give it a try. You and your little one will be so happy with the results. Taking care of the plants is a good chore for little ones and another way to get them involved.

Our Favorites
Fox Cherry- these were not listed at the writing of this post. I bet they are just out at the moment. Keep checking, they're fabulous! They are on the same site as the other tomatoes.
Yellow Pear 
Black Vernissage
​

6. Pole Beans
There are two type of beans, pole and bush. Pole take slightly longer to produce but are typically more prolific. I have found that both my children and I tend to snap bush bean plants off at the base when harvesting. They seem to be somewhat fragile. Now we just grow pole beans for the most part. They grow well and we don't have to worry about killing the plant when we harvest. We enjoy the beans straight of the vine as well as cooked into our favorite dishes.

There are so many different types of beans. They all vary in color, length, stringless, not stringless… You can even grow yard long beans! Now tell me that won't excite a small child. They are like nothing they've ever seen before.

Pole beans are another crop that are fun to make living walls with. Tie 6 poles together to make a teepee and plant several beans at the base of each pole. Your kids will have a living fort, a special little place to escape the summer sun and enjoy a fresh picked snack from the garden. Your earning some major brownie points and they are learning to love their veggies!

To Plant
1. Soak the seeds in water for 1 hour to aid germination. If you forget this step it's ok but you will have better result if you include it.
2. Poke a whole 3/4" deep or make a trench that is several inches deep.
3. Place you seed (bean) in the whole or along the trench. The seeds should be about 4-6" apart.
4. Cover with about 1" of dirt.
5. Water thoroughly and keep moist until seeds have sprouted and plants are several inches tall. then water regularly.

Our Favorites
Purple Podded Pole Bean
Chinese Red Noodle Bean

​

7. Cantaloupe
How do you think your kids would feel about their own personal size cantaloupe? Sweet and juicy dripping down their cheeks. Your thinking you want in on that too I know.  We started growing these mini versions of cantaloupe and they are crazy good. It can be difficult to find melons that will have a long enough growing season up here in North Dakota, but then we found the Minnesota midget.. Oh, they are so good and we are so looking forward to them this year! 

To plant 
1. A week after last frost date, form a hill several feet in diameter and make a little crater in the center. You want it to be able to hold water so the water doesn't run down the sides when watering.
2. Plant your seed about 1" deep and cover with soil.
3. Water thoroughly and keep moist until sprouted then water regularly.

Our Favorite
Minnesota Midget- These were not listed on Rare seeds at the writing of this blog. Check back in, they will restock.

8. Carrots
Sweet crunchy carrots from the garden, mmmm yummy! Did you know that they come in all different sizes and shapes? Off the top of my head you can get, white, orange, yellow, red, purple and black.  You can get small round ones, long and slender, more traditional ones, or stumpy and fat 1 pounders! Some varieties take awhile while other take only 55 days.

Try several different kinds for a colorful snack and salad. You don't have to wait for them to reach their full size to start harvesting. We start harvesting them once they are about 1/2 their expected size. This is how we thin them out and make room for the others to reach their full size. No little baby carrots are wasted this way.

To Plant
1. Form a trench 1-2" deep.
2. Gently sprinkle the seeds along the trench.
3. Lightly cover the seeds.
4. Gently water and keep moist until several inches tall then water regularly.

Our Favorites
Perisienne -small and round
Cosmic Purple- purple skin with orange center
Ox Heart- squatty and thick, can weight up to 1 pound
Little Finger- small, sweet, and quick to mature

​

What are you planting in your garden this year? Are you trying anything new? Is there anything particular that you like growing with small children? Please share in the comments.

Happy gardening!
​

Thinking about starting your own garden? Maybe you have just started a garden. For a simple yet complete guide to gardening check out my new book, "Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Garden". Remember that I'm here for you every step of the way. Your emails and questions are always welcome!

Hello Everyone! Today I have a special guest post from Daniel Sherwin of dadsolo.com. Daniel is a single dad of two helping other single parents overcome their struggles by sharing his experiences and giving encouragement. Even if you aren't a single parent, his blog has some very helpful ideas.

​Thank you Daniel for hanging out with us and sharing you tips on kids and kitchen safety!
​

 
What goes on in the kitchen is a source of fascination to most children. It’s where all that tasty food comes from, emerging fresh and hot from the stove, oven, or microwave. It’s an irresistible place full of fascinating, shiny instruments that can be very dangerous to an inquisitive little one. In fact, no room in your house is more fraught with dangers than the kitchen. That’s why it’s so important to begin teaching your children about kitchen safety at a young age. It’s a lesson you can impart while you’re showing them how to whip up some scrambled eggs or make a grilled cheese sandwich.

No burns
One of the easiest safety lessons to teach a child is the danger of being burned around the stove or picking up a plate that’s just come out of the microwave. Install safety knobs on your stove controls and keep protective objects nearby, taking care to demonstrate how to pick up a plate or bowl using an oven mitt. Always keep heated pans and plates away from the edge of your countertops or table. And make sure your child understands that steam can also be a dangerous source of burns, and to keep hands and arms away from a pan or serving dish that’s emitting steam. Cover electrical outlets and unplug the toaster so there’s no risk of electrocution.

Sharp Objects
If there’s a greater danger in the kitchen than burns, it’s sharp objects like knives or tin can tops. A young child can reach up and grab a sharp kitchen knife very quickly if you’re not paying careful attention. Keep knives put away and out of reach of your kids, and apply magnetic locks to kitchen drawers and lower cabinets, another easily accessible source of danger for little ones. If you want to teach your kids how to slice food for cooking, have them practice with a special, kid-friendly knife, or plastic knife. 
 
Shelving
Many people have shelving they use for overflow items, things they need to get their hands on quickly and use frequently. If you have kids and a freestanding shelf, be sure it’s securely anchored to the wall. A wobbly, rickety shelf is a real danger to kids, especially little ones who may decide they want to go for a climb if they see an enticing object up there.

Food Safety
When kids see food, they don’t think about bacteria or germs. If you’re teaching an aspiring young cook how to prepare chicken, fish or meat, for example, explain how easily bacteria can become a danger to everyone’s health. Hygiene is the first step, so make sure your kids understand the importance of washing their hands with soap and warm water before and after handling food, especially raw foods. The same goes with knives, which may have germs that can be transferred into a loaf of bread, for example, or some other food item.

Fire Safety
A fire can flare up at any time in the kitchen, which is why it’s so important to keep a functional fire extinguisher nearby. They’re an important safety feature in the event a grease fire gets out of control or if something catches on fire inside the oven. If your kids are old enough, make sure they know how to operate a fire extinguisher in case of fire.
Kitchen safety should be the first lesson your kids learn as they begin to learn how to cook. Explain why sharp knives and fire are so dangerous and why they need to be careful. You don’t need to scare them, just make sure they’re aware of what can happen.
​

​Thank you again to Daniel for sharing. French toast is one of my favorites and such a good recipe for letting the kids help.  Eggs were the first thing I remember learning to cook and one of the first things I've let my kids cook on their own.

I hope everyone enjoyed this guest post from Daniel. Be sure to check out his blog at www.dadsolo.com.

Have a wonderful day,
​

Gardening season is upon us and we are here to guide you! Many of you may know that I've been working on a gardening book, "Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Garden."  It's done! It will be released on Tuesday May 14th and available for purchase here on our website and on Amazon

To kick off it's launch I thought I would do  book giveaway! Yeah! To be entered into the giveaway is all you have to do is leave a comment below telling me what excites you most about gardening. Simple! That's how we like it and that theme carries through to my book. A simple guide that won't confuse you or give you a bunch of unnecessary tasks. Yuck! My book outlines everything you need to do so you can have a garden THIS YEAR! Yes please! 

There are numerous book on the market about grading-so many that it can be overwhelming for someone who is just starting out. Where are you to begin?
​

As many of you know, I started an organic children's clothing line , Coco & Leelee. I also have a blog on that website. Because my audience here has a lot of the same concerns as my audience over at Coco & Leelee, I will be sharing some blog posts on both blogs. I can't help myself. While I'm typing certain post, like this one on GMO cotton, I think about how my other audience, in this case you, would appreciate it as well.  So you may find some post that are on both sites. Now you know why. Gotta share the love!

And now to GMO cotton.

Cotton is everywhere; our clothes, cotton balls, swabs and pads, feminine products, dish and bath towels, curtains, yarn, place-mats, hats, bedding, quilts.....and on and on.  Cotton is a versatile and useful product. It's easy to care for and the softness, can't forget that. GMO cotton, however, has a some scary secrets.

94% of the cotton grown in the US is genetically modified. Worldwide it is grown on over 70 million acres! What kind of affect does this have on the farmers?

In India, the second largest producer of cotton, farmers are committing suicide at alarming rates. 200, 000 thousand farmers have committed suicide since 1997. The problem began when the World Bank forced India to open up their seed sector. Farmers had always saved their seeds, bred them using traditional methods. Saving the seeds, improving their qualities each year. When the seed sector opened up and giant agri businesses like Monsanto and Cargill came in they were promised higher yields and more profit.

What Monsanto and the other companies didn't tell the farmers is that they would need to use expensive fertilizers and pesticides. Because these new seeds are patented they can not be saved.Each year they have to be purchased from the giant agri companies. The higher cost to produce the crop resulted in large debt for the farmers as stated by Dr. Vandana Shiva, a well know activist for pure-food and seed sovereignty:

"Corporations prevent seed savings through patents and by engineering seeds with non-renewable traits. As a result, poor peasants have to buy new seeds for every planting season and what was traditionally a free resource, available by putting aside a small portion of the crop, becomes a commodity. This new expense increases poverty and leads to indebtness."

The promises of higher yields were nothing but promises. Farmers are actually experiencing less profit.

"The region in India with the highest level of farmers suicides is the Vidharbha region in Maharashtra — 4000 suicides per year, 10 per day. This is also the region with the highest acreage of Monsanto’s GMO Bt cotton. Monsanto’s GM seeds create a suicide economy by transforming seed from a renewable resource to a non-renewable input which must be bought every year at high prices. " Dr. Vandana Shiva

It is the stress of indebtedness that is believed to be leading so many farmer to commit suicide. They feel trapped. Not only are they in debt but the insecticide and pesticides destroy the farmland and make it nearly impossible to go back their traditional way of farming. The soils is now dead and infertile. Hardly anything will grow without the use of synthetic fertilizers produced by the same companies selling the GM seed. It is a viscous cycle. Which leads to my next point.

P.S. Just in case you are wondering, corn and soy are the other two top genetically modified crops.

Why are seeds genetically modified in the first place- to be able to be sprayed with glyphosate and other chemicals without dying. If they weren't genetically modified they would shrivel up and die once theses chemicals made contact with them. And they want us to eat this and cover our bodies in it. Doesn't that seem a bit insane?

Glyphosate is the chemical of choice for GM cotton. Not only is it a insecticide but it is also an herbicide. It is systemic meaning that it isn't merely on the outside layer of the plant which would be bad enough, but it is taken up into the plant and is then in every cell of the plant. There is no washing this stuff off people.  Which makes it of no surprise that it is showing up in breast milk and urine samples.

'Glyphosate, the most used herbicide in the world, has been found in the urine of 93 percent of the American public during a unique testing project that started in 2015" Organic Consumers Association

In 2015 the World Health Organization declared glyphosate a probable carcinogen and last year California went a step further and labeled it not as a probable carcinogen, but  as an outright  carcinogen.

Glyphosate has been linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma ( there is an on-going lawsuit against Monsanto with over 800 complainants and gowing) as well a a host of other issues such as, birth defects, allergies, tumors, heart disease, autism, celiac disease, Parkinson, reproductive/ pregnancy problems, and colitis to name a few.

The use of GM crops has increased mono-culture farming practices and is depleting soil fertility. This is a scary problem. Vast tracts of mono-culture crops set the stage to easily  plow and plant in a timely fashion. Farm equipment is getting bigger and bigger to cover more area quicker but all that tilling is killing the soil.

"According to an article in Time World5, soil erosion and degradation rates suggest we have only about 60 remaining years of topsoil. Forty percent of the world's agricultural soil is now classified as either degraded or seriously degraded; the latter means that 70 percent of the topsoil is gone. Our soil is being lost at 10 to 40 times the rate it can be replenished, and our food production systems are to blame, which epitomizes the term "unsustainable." It takes decades or even centuries to regenerate significant levels of soil." Dr Mercola

Furthermore,  vector DNA, which are present in all GE plants, are responsible for allowing different microorganism species to mate, crossing the specie barrier that God put in place. This in turn reduces the diversity of soil microbes which are the foundation of soil fertility.

I'm sure, if you have spent anytime around an organic farmer, or asked a few questions at a farmers market, they would tell you that microbial diversity in the soil is key to productive plant growth and higher nutrient contents of the crop. As an organic farmer myself, we totally forgo tilling in order to preserve this diversity and work to build upon it by adding compost (which is filled with microbes).

Soil diversity enables the soil to hold more water and allows plants to reach nutrient it would otherwise  not be able to reach through symbiotic relationships between the plants and soil microbes.

"Soil degradation is projected to cause 30 percent loss in food production over the next 20 to 50 years—while our global food demands are expected to increase by 50 percent over this span of time." Dr Mercola

By weight, 60% of what is harvested from cotton ends up in the food chain. There are several ways this happens. The first is through vegetable oil. Cotton seed oil is used as is, or added to other vegetables oils. Sold simple as vegetable oil on the grocery store shelves or used to fry food. This includes packaged foods such as chip and also food in restaurants. Have you ever read a label to find "vegetable oil" ? It doesn't tell you exactly what kind, just vegetable oil. Most likely there is some cotton seed, and perhaps corn, soy or canola oil. Notice all of these are within the top 5 genetically modified crops. The cheapest oils to produce, but as you know, that comes at a price as mentioned above.

The second way that GM cotton enters the food system is through dairy feed. Cotton gin trash is used as feed in dairy cows. The pesticides in the cotton accumulate in the fatty tissue of the cow.  The pesticides are then passed on to the consumer through the milk and other dairy products.

It use to be that everyone had a garden. Our ancestors saved their seeds and passed them on to the next generation. Crops were improved by selecting seeds from the best performing plants. This practiced continued with commercial farmers into the 20th century. It wasn't until Monsanto started patenting seeds that there was a major decline in this practice.

Monsanto convinced farmers that their new patented seeds were going to save the world, end hunger, and increase their profits. Farmers weren't going to have to deal with weeds and pests anymore, Mosanto had solved all of that with there GM seeds.

Farmers weren't the only one to buy into these lies. Consumers hopped on the band wagon because of course, they support the American farmers and want to end world hunger.

It's been several decades since the first GM food product, Flavr Savr tomatoes, were introduced to grocery store shelves. Since then we have learned that Monsanto has been lying to us about the effects of glyphosate as revealed in leaked emails between Monsanto and EPA officials leading thousands to fall ill, developing cancers, food allergies and other ailments. Their patented seeds have contaminated countless farms which Monsanto turned around and sued, bringing the farmers to financial ruin when it was there farm that was contaminated by Monsanto's seeds. They didn't plant them, they were spread from trucks carrying the seed which blew onto their farmland as it past. We can't forget what they have done to the farmers in India. They have infiltrated the government getting their long time lawyer Micheal Taylor,  placed as Deputy Commissioner for Foods at the FDA. Millions of acres of crops have been destroyed by the use of Monsanto's Dicamba and wind drift. American exports are being turned away from foreign countries because they are testing positive for GMOs. This is only a brief summary. The rat hole is deep!

GMO crops are banned in 38 countries. What is America waiting for? We may not be able to match the wallets of Monsanto and it's cronies at the ballot box but we can sure do it when we are shopping. Whether you are at the grocery store or picking out a new top choose organic. Then choose organic again, and again. Tell your friends and educate your children.

Thanks for choosing organic!

Jaci




Sources

• Vandana Shiva
• Organic Consumers Association
• Entropy Review - Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome
• Dr. Mercola

We like to grow things here at Rolling Hills Farm. any thing we eat that has a seed my kids and I try and grow. MY kids are just as eager if not more than me to see what we can grow. We are still trying to figure out the pineapple thing. Supposedly it's easy but we have tried a handful of times with no success. Now mangoes, that is a different story. We have no problem sprouting them, we just have lots of litter fingers that have snapped of a little sproutling more than once. Poor little sproutlings.

We have also had great success with apple seeds, tangerines, avocados, and pomegranate,  Every time something sprout we are excited. This thing called life is amazing and it is fascinating to watch this seemingly dead seed come to life and turn into something wonderful! Certainly not a chance chemical reaction! There is some incredible design work going on here. 

Our part in facilitating this miracle is pretty easy. It only take four steps.

1. ​Eat a delicious ripe mango.
2. Take the seed out of the pit.
3. Plant the seed in an extra pot.
   
4. Water

​ So why do you need this how to post? Well, to encourage you to do it first of all. Second, I'm going to give you a few pointers and things to look out for to increase you chance of success. 

At first I thought this wasn't going to be a good seed because the shell didn't look full. The seed was small but still full and plump although the shape is a little odd. Despite the funny shape, you can see that it has already sprouted which isn't entirely uncommon with mango seeds.

Your mango should sprout anywhere between 1 -3 weeks.  I dug one of ours up to show you what it look like when it starts to spout. See the little bulge on the side. This is where the little sprout will come up.

​If you find that it doesn't sprout, dig out the seed and look it. If it is all black and soft you probably watered it too much. Keep this in mind next time you try and keep trying! The picture below is of one of our mangoes about 1 month after we planted it.

Are you gong to try this? Let me know how it goes for you or if you have had success sprouting something that I haven't mentioned. We'd love some new ideas. 

Happy planting!

​Jaci

 I use several different types of oils and butters  and the each add something unique. Let's take a look at what each one has to offer. ​

We have heard over and over again how good antioxidants are for us.  Antioxidants are what helps our bodies neutralize free radicals.  Cocoa butter has several fatty acid antioxidants, oleic acid, palmitic acid, and steric acid. Because these antioxidants reduce the amount of oxidative stress, it reduces signs of aging  like wrinkles.

​These benefits are sounding pretty good for us mamas too right. I actually used this body butter first and then realized, wait a minute, I should use it on my babies too!

​Cocoa butter also forms a protective layer over the skin  while it moisturizes, blocking it from the harsh conditions of cold temps and drying wind. ​

With all these great qualities, many that are unique to ourselves (antiaging goodness), combined with the fact that it is easy to make and all the ingredients are easy to find, it's a no brainer. Just make it, I know you will love it! ​

6. Put your fabulous body butter into containers of your choice. I like to use small canning jars. The shorter half pint, or 1/4 pint  jars work good because they aren't very deep so the body butter is easy to get to even when it is almost gone. This also keeps them fresh. Store extra containers in the freezer. ​

Doesn't it look good enough to eat? Even without any essential oils added, it smells that good too. ​

 We always wanted to be able to test our cows with a simple pee test. Something similar to what us humans use to see if we are pregnant. We looked before but could never find one and were told they don't exist... Then we found the P-TEST from Emlab Genetics. And not only does it test for pregnancy in cattle but also goats, sheep, llamas, alpacas, bison, elk or deer. How many of you out there are raising deer or elk? So cool that it works for such and array of animals.

As of this writing, there is a notice at the top of the website that states the site will soon be unavailable. This is due to the fact that it was created using Office 365 Share point program that is set to be discontinued. I'm sure they probably have another website ready to go but I wanted to let you know in case the above link becomes broken due to this fact. If so just google them.

Now back to the test. It is used very much like a home pregnancy test. However you don't hold any stick or wand in the urine stream but instead must catch the urine and insert it with a syringe into a vile like the one in the pictures above.

The question is, how do you go about catching cow urine (glad we don't have bison!)? I noticed when I went to the Emlab website to get the link for you that they had a video on collecting cow urine. That would have been very helpful if only we had seen it before we did the test!

The most comical part of this test I failed to take pictures of. I'm sorry. I'm sure some pictures or even a short video of the trials we went through running behind our cows and heifers would have worked up a nice belly chuckle for you. You see, we thought we could just be sly and sneak up behind them once they started peeing and collect some pee in a pint jar. Yeah, that didn't work out so well.

Despite the fact that it was bitter cold I decided one morning when going out to milk the cow and to do the morning chores with the kids that "today was the day" we were going to collect the pee and see if our Vondi was pregnant. We were sure she was/is because we could see the baby kicking around in there. This is really amazing thing to see and there is no denying a kick from a baby calf.

So we go out to do our chores. I walk out behind the barn to call Pippy in so we can milk her. Walking over to her at the feeder I start to look at Vondi and then ask my daughter to go get the extra jar we had been keeping in the milking parlor just for this purpose. Would you like to catch the pee of a cow in a pint jar? I don't know what we were thinking! Cows have large streams of pee. LARGE. And they pee, and pee, and pee. I wanted to tell you just how much they pee in one pee but I couldn't find the answer. Google your slacking.

However, when I did my Google search the first thing that came up was "Do cows pee milk?" What? I'm sorry people if you are one of whats seems to be the many who don't know that cows do not pee milk nor do they pee from their udder which was the number one search suggestion at the bottom of the page. No offense to you, but wow, we have lost touch with where our food comes from! In my search I also found that you can buy cow urine from Amazon. Apparently it is used as a supplement. So grateful that we eat a healthy, non-gmo, organic, whole food diet so we don't need any cow urine supplements!

Back to the story, cows pee large quantities of pee. I can't tell you exactly how much, but trust me, it is a lot! My eldest daughter and son were each holding a pint jar as we were waiting for one of our cows to pee. Any other day they all would have peed 4 times each by now. OK, may be only 2. But really, any other day they seem to be peeing all the time. I guess on this day they knew what we were up to.

As we were watching Vondi my daughter Elly realized that Crawford was peeing. Elly ran over there as fast as she could in her boots and coveralls trying not to trip over frozen cow pies. As soon as she got there Crawford stopped. Oh, she was not done peeing, but she stopped. No, she was not going to let us get any of her pee.

It was at this point that it occurred to me how foolish it was to try and catch the pee with a pint jar. Elly now had pee all over her glove. So off my son Carter went for a bucket. In the meantime the steer peed, then the calf peed, then the other calf peed but no heifer or cows peed,

By now I was getting pretty cold and we still needed to finish the chores and milk Pippy. Caleb stayed out with the new found bucket while Elly, Carter and I went back in to the barn. It was well below zero and we had spent the last half an hour to 45 minutes trying to catch cow pee. My desire to catch this cow pee for the test had completely diminished. I just wanted to get inside and stand in front of the fire and Caleb, although one of our heifers peed, was unsuccessful in catching any. I guess cows aren't comfortable having a bucket placed under there parts while they pee because as soon as the bucket arrives they stop peeing. It's the darnedest thing.

I am soooo grateful that we are able to have milk cows. We do not and will not buy milk from the store, not even organic. It is just not the same and not as healthy as fresh raw milk and I just know to much about the truth of store bought milk. So if we do not have a cow in milk we do not have milk or butter or yogurt, or cream. I love cream :).  That being said, it can be challenging, to say the least, when it is negative 40 degrees outside. The cups for the milking machine are stainless steel and they get pretty darn cold so my hands are pretty freezing after milking in these weather conditions. You just can not hold on to them the same with gloves on. I've tried and I've failed. So after I'm done milking I'm not interested in lolly gagging and I was certainly not interested in trying to catch cow pee any longer. I was going in.

Fortunately for me and the pee test I have a son who is very determined. Carter loves taking on challenges like this. If we need to catch a sheep or calf he is the one to we call on. He will assert himself whole heartily to meet the goal. Man that boy can hang on to a calf. They might seem little but they are STRONG. With this same determination he decided to stay out there and get the job done. He said he wasn't coming in until he got the pee. We helped him get Vondi into the milking stanchion (what a novel idea!) so he wouldn't have to follow her around to collect the sample, then we went inside.

Low and behold right about the time I was done washing the milker here he comes with a pint of cow pee! Carter saves the day again!

Now let me go back to the video I mentioned earlier that I didn't watch until just now. Apparently you can get a cow to pee whenever you want. Yeah, just like that! You simply massage the area from the top of the cows udder to just below their vulva. No, you don't have to touch that. Sure enough, the man in the video did this and within a minute or two the cow peed. The video cuts off before it gets to a full stream but just like that it started to pee. That would have been nice to know the morning we went out to do the pee test! .

The process is very simple once you have your urine sample. Use the syringe to inject 1.5mm of pee into the little vile. Then wait ten minutes. There is a little pellet at the bottom of the vile. Gently invert the vile several times until the pellet is dissolved. If the cow is pregnant you will see it start to change colors right away. The cool thing about the test is that it also tells you in what general term of pregnancy the cow is in. The darker the color  the further along in pregnancy the cow is.

Amber indicates not pregnant, light green-very early term, green- early term, blue green-mid term, dark blue- late term. The colors are shown on the package and in the directions.

Is Vondi pregnant? YES! And it seems as though she is late term. Yeah!

We still have two heifers to test but we will not be following them around with a pint jar or bucket. We will be bringing them into the milk stanchion and massaging that area above their udders with one hand and a bucket in the other. So grateful to have found that video.

Have you ever tried using a P-TEST with any of your livestock? What did you think about the process? Are we the only ones that made fools out of ourselves chasing our cows around trying to get a pee sample in a pint jar? Did you all know the secret get any cow to pee technique? Please do share!

Have a blessed day and may it be free of cow pee and buckets!

Jaci