There’s a craze sweeping the countryside that combines two of the things we love most:
food and friends …
and not necessarily in that order.
The brain-child of five food-lovin’ ladies, Food Swap Network is a growing work of gustatory genius.
So … what’s a food swap?
Say it isn’t so …
Haven’t we been taught that foods sold in the U.S. are basically, for-the-most-part, kinda, somewhat safe?
I mean, that’s what the FDA is for, right?
Hmmm … not exactly.
“For numerous suspicious and disturbing reasons, the U.S. has allowed foods that are banned in many other developed countries into our food supply,” warns nutritionist Mira Calton, who co-authored the new book, Rich Food, Poor Food.
Calton and her husband spent six years traveling the seven continents to investigate food additives and ingredients. From their research, they compiled a list of dubious products that, although forbidden by foreign governments for health reasons, are permitted in foods sold here in the U.S.
Here are the top 13 offenders:
Would you rent a pair of jeans?
Bert van Son is betting that you would.
Bert van who?
He’s a Dutch fellow who owns a trendy clothing company in the Netherlands called Mud Jeans.
Since his website is written in his native tongue, I’ll do my best to translate.
(No, I don’t actually speak Dutch. Fortunately, the grapevine is an English-speaking establishment).
The Lease a Jeans program is designed to help eliminate wasteful clothing production (and wasteful spending).
The gist: instead of owning a pair of jeans indefinitely, you can just keep it for a year before you send it back and move on to something new …
or, at least, new to you.
Image by C. H. Trotter via Wikimedia Commons
The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,882 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—6,641 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ
Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …
For the continuation of this week’s Stitching and Crafting/Basketry Merit Badge, I straightened my shoulders, cracked my knuckles, and dove right back in where I left off: weaving my own willow wicker basket. Just in time for Easter, my little peeps!
To recap, I had begun with soft willow branches. I chose eight of the pluckiest looking branches and used a sharp knife to make a slit in the center of half of them. I then inserted the remaining four (and you thought I wasn’t good at math—HA!) through, centering them. Capisci? Sometimes I channel my inner Italian lady when crafting; don’t mind me.
Calling all fans of fermented and cultured food! I received an email recently from our 2009 Farmgirl of the Year, Carrie Williams, telling me that her first attempt to create Kombucha was a huge success. That got me to thinking …
Do you savor sauerkraut,
crave kombucha,
yearn for yogurt,
hanker for true sourdough bread?
If so, you’ve probably considered creating your own cultured cuisine.
Maybe you’ve already given it a whirl.
Whether you’ve just begun a foray into fermentation or are itching to try it, lingering March cold weather can prove challenging to the unseasoned culturist.
Why?
And today we’re ready to pick the winners of the Saverine Creek Heirlooms Jewelry! So Karina reaches into a basket of heirloom popcorn grown here at the farm last summer …
Our winner for the necklace is Cris Cantin! Congratulations!
Cris Cantin said:
I grow many varieties of heirloom vegetables and fruits on my 1/4 acre farmlette: Green Deer Tongue lettuce, Brandywine and Amish Paste tomatoes, Strawberry Popcorn, Duchess apples and Blue Prune plums, to name just a few. This year, I’m trying some new tomato varieties I found through Seed Savers Exchange, and I just ordered some lovely italian-variety zuchinni seeds from Baker Creek-I love that company so much, I bought all my sisters-in-law gift certificates to their catalog this year, and we’re hoping to make a group trip to their gardens and historical village in the summer. I can’t wait to get into the garden, but I suppose I’ll need to be patient until all this snow melts away!
And our winner for the bracelet is Julia Hayes! Congratulations!
Julia Hayes said:
Last year I planted heirloom tomatoes..an early girl variety and heirloom squash. I bought them from Tolstoy farm at the Spokane Farmer’s market. I have a glorious seed germinating shelving unit that Doc made for me years ago. I haven’t germinated my own seeds in a few years. The most predominant reason is that I tend to over plant the darn trays and then I have plants coming out my ears! Seriously, hundreds of tomato plants…2 years ago, I brought the unit out of the barn, cleaned it off and for the entire time one is supposed to sprout seeds, that unit sat in my dining room becoming yet another catch-all for markers, stickers, school work, etc. etc. The kids are super excited about the garden this year so I may haul that thing out again for them to get involved. Selling the extra plants at the farmstand might just be the ticket. Last year the kids pulled in a whopping $51.3 golf balls! It was FUNtastic!!
Cris and Julia, keep your eyes on your inbox for an email from the farm shortly. Thank you to all who entered. We LOVED the comments on this giveaway!!!
And here’s the original GIVEAWAY post dated March 9, 2013:
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
