Cross Pens

I have two cross pens that, once upon a time, I held in high regard. They cost me only twenty dollars each, but they had a good feel for writing and the ink flowed freely. After replacing the cartridge however, they are given to skipping and freezing up. These refills are marked as being official replacements and I never fathomed that they would fail me. But fail me they have, one too many times it seems.

There is nothing more frustrating than having your free slow of ideas interrupted by a uncooperative writing instrument. These things are tools and as such should perform to the top of their ability every time they are used. If the fault lies with whoever is in charge of making the refill cartridges then they should be made aware of their lapse in skill.

Each time I became frustrated with their lack of performance I reached for a cheap pen costing less than one dollar that have never failed me. Now I question the sanity of purchasing any pen above the one dollar price range. I do enjoy the heft of a slightly larger pen and the smooth even uninterrupted flow of ink onto the writing surface is somewhat sensuous. Its just that Cross no longer satisfies me so I have moved on to another. Farewell Cross, I will miss thee but not your treachery and betrayal.

Making My Own Hand Soap

I’m about to test my skill at making hand soap. This is something I have wanted to do for some time now but, to be honest, have been scared to death to get anywhere near the one substance you cannot make hand soap without: lye. Lye is sodium hydroxide. In case you don’t know anything about sodium hydroxide allow me to enlighten you. This stuff is a corrosive alkaline substance that will eat your skin. I hear it is very painful as your skin dissolves away.

It is used in food preparation (as a curing agent), soap making, biodiesel production, as an oven cleaner and a drain opener.

Now that the harsh scary stuff is covered, let’s find out where you can buy it.

We used to be able to buy lye in every hardware store across the country under the product name: Red Devil Lye, a very powerful drain opener, but the product has been discontinued. It is my guess that a few people were misusing it and the government got the ‘smart’ idea to take it completely away from the rest of us instead of educating us.

Anyway, there are still a few places remaining where you can purchase lye, and they are mainly online, such as:

• Camden-Grey essential oils

• Bramble Berry Soap Making Supplies

• The Lye Guy

• Boyer Corporation

• Essential Depot Bio Products Solutions

• AAA Chemical

• Texas Natural Supply

• Snowdrift Farm

• The Original Soap Dish  

• Biodiesel Barn 

I verified all of these links today and they will all take you directly to the order page.

The only place I know of where you can walk in and  buy it today is Loew’s Home Improvement Centers under the brand name Roebic Crystal Drain Opener.

Oddly enough, there is a web site that shows you how to make lye, but seriously, why go through all the trouble when you can buy it?

I already make my own laundry detergent so the logical next step is t make my own hand soap. The process is very simple and while it is somewhat cheaper, that is not the reason I chose to make my own. I wanted to get away from the ‘extras’ that every commercial laundry soap maker is adding . . .  the fragrances . . .  the ‘power boosters’ . . .  the chemicals. I suppose they each have to do something to make their ‘recipe’ unique, but all basic laundry soaps consist of the exact same stuff. I have not regretted my decision once. The clothes come out with that ‘clean’ smell and when I toss a couple of tennis balls in every dryer load they are soft even without the fabric softeners.

Hand Soap

The variety of hand soap you can make is seemingly endless. Essential oils provide any fragrance you can think of from coconut to lavender to pine to citrus. You can make layered soaps, swirled soaps, pressed flower soaps, I even saw a recipe for 3D rock soap, whatever that is. And the shapes you can make soap into is limited only by your imagination.

Once you get the recipe down pat you can make bath fizzies, lip balms, lotions, and lots more.

Many of the websites I have found so far have tutorials so there really is no reason not to jump right in. Go on and check it out for yourself, I can’t recommend any sites in particular because I haven’t tried it yet. But when I do I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Sweet and Sour Cabbage Wedge

Cabbage is a very underrated vegetable. One of the best recipes I have found for it is this one:

Serves 4

Prep time:  5 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

2 T olive oil

1/2 head green cabbage, quartered through the core

1/2 cup cider vinegar

2 T sugar

course salt and ground pepper

Start by putting olive oil in a pan (skillet can be used) over medium heat.

Then add the cabbage and cook it until it’s golden brown. Around 3 minutes per each side.

Then add vinegar, sugar and 1 ½ cups of water. Bring to a simmer.

Cook the cabbage until it is tender.

You can use a chopstick or fork to test it.

Cook about 12 to 15 minutes then serve with salt and pepper.

You can also replace the salt with soy sauce which I do from time to time.

Sun Dried Tomatoes

I make this anytime of the year that I can find good ripe tomatoes. Ideally they come from my garden but alas, I run out of those way too soon.

Collect perfectly ripe tomatoes, any blemished or under-ripened or over-ripened tomato should be used for some other recipe.

Preheat oven to 200° F.

Gently wash & dry the tomatoes, cut into pieces then scoop out the seeds, remove as much liquid as possible.

Oval Tomatoes (Plum): Cut lengthwise; Round Tomatoes: Cut into quarters.

Place the tomato pieces cut side up on a rack or cookie sheet (covered with several layers of tinfoil), do not allow the tomato pieces to touch each other.

Drizzle or brush good extra virgin olive oil (be generous) over them then lightly sprinkle with fresh thyme (including stems) and coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Optional: Season the tomatoes with garlic pepper or fresh slices of garlic. But you really should.

Place in oven and cook 2 ½ to 6 hours (amount of moisture will determine how long) or when done–texture will be leathery and the tomatoes will have shrunk at least 50%.

When the tomatoes are at room temperature, store in a clean mason jar, with fresh thyme layered between the tomatoes. Pour extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes, pushing the tomatoes down to get rid of the air.

Keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Bring the tomatoes to room temperature before using.

Saturday Roundup – Food Security

FARM: shop – East London’s radical experiment in food growing and community building

FARM: shop is many things, but foremost it is a radical experiment in how we feed ourselves and how we use space.

As soon as you enter the building it's clear that every corner has been thoroughly investigated for its growing potential; there are plants everywhere, sprouting from unlikely angles, twisting in the lights, floating on rafts. 'The idea here is to grow the maximum amount of food as efficiently as possible, keeping the labor to minimum', says Paul Smyth, one of the co-founders.

In a hot room upstairs there are chillies and tomatoes, the excess heat from which is piped to other parts of the building.

Chickens live in a coop on the flat roof, two pigs roam between raised beds and a polytunnel in the yard, mushrooms are coming in the basement and kefir bacteria for fermenting fine drinks swarm in jars in the entrance corridor.

The shop is the brainchild of three individuals from diverse backgrounds: Sam is primarily a farmer, Paul is an engineer and designer, third member Andy Merritt an artist.

Read the complete story here

The Future Kitchen is Urban Homesteading

Designers are becoming fascinated with urban farming and developing products including ‘Cultivation Cabinets’ – a cupboard in which young edible plants can be grown – such as the one by Bureau Marije van der Park and Maarten Kolk & Guss Kusters. By placing the process of growth into an interior product designers are encouraging us to bring vegetation back into our daily life.

Read the complete story here

Why We Should Question Walmart’s Latest PR Blitz

Walmart made big news Thursday with a press conference alongside the First Lady to announce new company commitments. Most of the mainstream media coverage of the Walmart announcement seemed to buy the company PR that it was taking valiant steps to improve the affordability and health qualities of the food it sells. Among these commitments, Walmart said it will be working with food suppliers to reduce sodium, sugars, and trans fat in certain products by 2015; developing its own seal to help consumers identify healthier products; and addressing hunger by opening Walmart stores in the nation’s “food deserts.”

Do these Walmart promises really hold big upsides for health and food insecurity?

With the typically little critical coverage in the mainstream media, we are left to ponder the impact of these Walmart commitments ourselves.

Read the complete story here

Eating Liberally: What about those smarmy Monsanto ads?

Now that the Supreme Court has declared that corporations are people, too (happy birthday, Citizens United!), Monsanto is apparently out to put a friendly, slightly weatherbeaten, gently grizzled face on industrial agriculture (see above photo, taken at a DC bus stop just outside USDA headquarters.)

This guy looks an awful lot like Henry Fonda playing Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, which seems only fitting since Agribiz may be helping to create a 21st century Dust Bowl.

After decades of boasting about how fossil-fuel intensive industrial agriculture has made it possible for far fewer farmers to produce way more food, Monsanto is now championing the power of farming to create jobs and preserve land. Does this attempt by a biotech behemoth to wrap itself in populist plaid flannel give you the warm and fuzzies, or just burn you up?

Read the complete story here