Why Keeping Bees Might Be the Best Thing You Ever Did for Your Garden

On Keeping Bees…

I was absolutely petrified of bees as a child — like, running away, screaming, and waving my arms petrified. It wasn’t until I attended a local lavender festival a few years ago that I changed my mind about our little striped friends. As I snipped branches of culinary lavender and placed it in my basket, I noticed the honey bees swarming the flowers had absolutely no interest in my activities. They didn’t dive bomb me, nor did they sting me.

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Delicious Wedding Ideas for Traditional Texas Food

Meet our guest blogger at the end of this article! Thanks Calvin, for sharing this delicious, traditional Texas food with us–for all of our special occasions!

Texas is a fantastic state with a great culture all of its own. Whether you yourself are from Texas and want to return there for a traditional Texan style wedding (complete with Texas food), or you live in the lone star state and are having your wedding locally, then you’ll find it is an amazing place to get married. Of course, you can have any style of wedding you like in Texas, especially in major cities like Dallas and Houston, and there are some wonderful places to check out like the award winning wedding venue in Houston, Chateau Polonez (plan your Houston wedding here). However, it can really make your day memorable if you incorporate at least some traditionally Texan elements into your day – allowing you to bring some of that famous Texas hospitality to your guests and make a real celebration.

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Gardening Like a Ninja: Giveaway, Free Course, & Interview

The secrets to food production in landscaping are here! You’ve got a front row seat. I’ll wait while you go get a cup of tea.

We’ve got a fantastic giveaway and a huge announcement about how you can take an edible landscaping course for free. So stick with me. But to truly understand how far you can still come on your journey to food production, you just must read this interview!

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Does Food Storage Have to be Unhealthy? Healthy Food Storage Tips

Food Storage. Healthy Eating.

People are sometimes surprised at how Pantry Paratus emphasizes both things, being under the misconception that a full pantry and a healthy one are paradoxical. I’m going to prove that wrong, and teach you how to switch to healthy food storage.

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Canning Chicken Noodle Soup (sans Noodles)

There is only so much freezer space. There is also the portability factor–it’s far simpler to take canned goods than frozen ones on a camping trip. Don’t forget the ability to gift nourishing meals to others–a jar gives the recipient flexibility to use it on a bad day. Enter stage right: Canning Chicken Noodle Soup.

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Oxygen Absorbers: What You Need to Know

Have you ever used oxygen absorbers at home, or are they just the thing you chuck from the bottom of the beef jerky bag? There seems to be some confusion about the point of oxygen absorbers, whether you need to use them, or under what circumstances. But your friendly kitchen self-sufficiency expert is going to help you out <waving—that’s me!>.

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What is BTHQ, BHT & BHA? –Food-Safe (Just Ask the FDA)

Everyone must make their own decisions about the allowable level of toxins permitted into their home and I am not one to preach. The Toxin Police coming into my home will see a scented candle, a small container of coffee, and even a bottle of carpet cleaner. The journey to a fully healthy and sustainable home is far from complete for me, as I am sure it is still a work in progress for most of my readers. So no judgments here.

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Pucker Up: Incorporating Garlic Nutrition in Your Diet

My husband and I have a dinner rule about garlic and onions: if one of us eats them, we both have to eat them. It’s because we really enjoy kissing, but only if the garlic breath is mutual.

Oh, and did I mention that garlic was traditionally considered to be an aphrodisiac?

Not lost on hubby.

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Announcement: Truffle Photo Contest

Remember when I introduced Ernie & Erica’s Truffle Recipes? Best truffles EVER, and you can get the step-by-step to make them that way.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, too!

Mouth-watering decadence. Treat yourself. Treat someone you love.

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Meet the Chocolatiers: Ernie & Erica (and meet their truffle recipe, too)

Instant friendship. With both the truffle and the chocolatier behind it.

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How to Make Crepes, Sweet or Savory

Crepe mit Nutella.

If you are planning a trip to Europe, that’s really the only language lesson you need, right there. Just use it on any street vendor.

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Chicken & (Buttermilk) Biscuit Casserole

Biscuits made from Frontier Powdered Buttermilk

Chicken and Biscuit Casserole

A recipe using what you already have (including leftovers)

I’m deceiving you. That is because although I usually use chicken, I actually used leftover frozen turkey in the picture you see above. This is one of those recipes that begs you to play, using a pinch-of-this and anything left over lurking in the fridge. It’s the quintessential makeover meal. You are really looking at my leftovers in that picture.

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5 Things You Didn’t Know Before Reading This Blog

This blog is a shameless plug for my favorite winter pastime–snuggling up in fuzz gear with my favorite tea and a good read. Now, I’m not much of a fiction reader, although I do enjoy a good classic now and again. The truth is that my time is shredded in 10 different directions on any given day, and I have to make the most of my reading indulgence during the winter so that I am better equipped for summertime food production, preparation, and preservation.

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Kid Food Choices: Will They Make the Right Ones?

Growing up, the garden was somewhat family-cultural; it was an overflow of the psychological “make-do or do-without” mindset of both my parents, who came from poor, Midwestern backgrounds. It wasn’t because it was healthy; it was just a past-time and the way to secure access to green tomatoes for frying. Still, my favorite childhood food memories were the watermelon seed-spitting contests off the porch, stealing strawberries straight from the patch, measuring my height against the corn, and the fresh onions we kept in a glass of water on the table for any passerby to grab and munch.

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