Our Missouri Life

from kk_ct

Why Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day? Literally five minutes of effort. Throw the ingredients together, mix, pop the dough into a bucket and then into the fridge. After a couple hours of rising, I have enough for three big loaves. The dough keeps very well in the refrigerator for a couple weeks (and tastes noticeably better the longer it’s been sitting, though mine rarely makes it that long). When I want fresh bread I pull out a bit of dough, get the oven heated up and bake away. There are plenty of no-knead recipes about, but Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois perfected a process that works for me.

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
by Jeff Hertzberg, Zoe Francois
2007, 242 pages
$15
Available from Amazon

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day
Jeff Hertzberg,Zoe Francois
2009, 336 pages
$15
Available from Amazon

The video is *not* for the squeamish!

How to book:

DING DING!

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publications/tomatoproblemsolver/

This might be a good way to get rid of extra veg either for trade or sale…

http://www.veggietrader.com/index.php

Peanut Butter Recall – Complete List of Recalled Peanut Butter Crackers, Ice Cream, and Other Products – thedailygreen.com

I often get asked what type of things do I read. What do I read as far as articles for work, articles for our property, ideas for the home and land, gardening, cooking and etc.

It dawned on me that since I use Google Reader I can actually share them with anyone who’s interested.

So now you can click here: Articles Rick Shared and see what I’ve tagged for future reading or to save.

As a follow up to other food related posts, check out this video from Ann Cooper. She’s bang on the money as to our kids diets, who controls the food supply and who allows it to be contaminated and destroyed. All the more reason for a move to controlling your own food. Grow it yourself!

Her website is: http://www.lunchlessons.org/

Quite a few thought provoking talks on TED…

I was sitting here this morning thinking about the garden and it hit me – all these folks (farmers, ranchers and other small vegetable producers) have pissed and moaned about the government wanting to implement various tracking systems for livestock and foods on “their dime” and saying things like “it’s unnecessary”, are also part of the people who are all up in arms about the latest breakout of salmonella.

Had a tracking system been in place for our food stocks, which was turned down by corporate interests and our current government, we could’ve tracked the outbreak back to it’s source.

There is an AP report that confirms this, at least in part, to be accurate. While I believe their rejection was due to the “interference” of the government in their business, their business becomes our business when it’s an item to be consumed by the general populous.

I often hear folks bitching about how much food costs and that measures like this would increase those costs. Bottom line is they’re calling for simple record keeping (not much beyond what farmers already do). Note that I’m not talking about the much contested NAIS. But the principle is the same – if it’s grown for mass consumption or resale it should be documented for purposes of tracking illness and disease – period.

How do you get around this? Grow your own food! You then know exactly what’s in it, who grew it, what the conditions were and you have the pride of having stocked your own table.

We are still guilty of consumption of market foods, but as time goes on we will be reducing our consumption of these foods as we grow and raise more and more of our own food.