Rishi from TheGrowingHome.net explains a simple way to clean your seeds by using an electric fan to sort the seeds by density and weight.
How to make delicious Potato Bread
Early in December, the LocalBlu team posted a video on how to grow 40 lbs of potatoes in a barrel, starting with just 5 potatoes. Well here is a recipe to get you excited about those potatoes you are growing and the delicious things you can do with them – potato bread!
For my bread, I used store bought yeast. However, if you plan ahead a few days, you can make your own yeast (or sourdough starter), and then keep it going on your kitchen counter or in your fridge! I have yet to experiment with yeast or sourdough starter making from scratch, but found some great recipes that I look forward to trying out. Here is one for yeast that I found. I recently blogged about making sourdough starter on Local to Global Life Works, though I used a store-bought starter packet to get it going. If you want to try making sourdough starter from scratch, here is one recipe, and here’s another.
Posted in Food
Urban Gardening 101: Starting Your Urban Garden
We all know that we could grow our own food if we had lots of space…
…But what if you don’t have any land?
Most of us are apartment dwellers that live in urban areas. These aren’t the most garden friendly locations.
Our apartments barely have enough room for furniture, never mind a garden.
This may make you believe that growing your own food isn’t even an option.
Or is it?
You don’t need lots of land or space to have your own urban garden.
You just have to be smart with the limited space you have in your apartment garden and maximize it.
Posted in Gardens
The Learning Garden’s February schedule at a glance (Venice, Los Angeles)
The Learning Garden in Venice (Los Angeles) is a gem – a lush garden in the middle of an urban jungle. Gardening classes as well as a friendly, weekly potluck are offered each month. A novice or green thumb guru is sure to enjoy this urban, food growing paradise.
See below for February’s schedule of events:
Posted in Community, Events, Gardens, Uncategorized
Pumpkin soup in the raw
Ingredients and Instructions:
4 cups fresh juiced carrot juice
1 cup cubed yam or sweet potato
½ avocado
2 tbs agave nectar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 ½ tsp pumpkin spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove) or to taste
Blend all until well combined and smooth.
Enjoy!
Posted in Food
Seasonal Recipe: Raw Asian Veggie Wrap
This week’s recipe is a throw back to my old raw food days. It’s a solid recipe, and one that fits in perfect with the vegetables that are currently in season. Its a snap to make up and will make a great conversation piece at the dinner table.
Posted in Food
Watch the food documentary ‘Fresh’ online for FREE from now until February 1st!
Fresh is a film that celebrates those who are re-inventing the food system. Featuring some of my favorite activists such as Michael Pollan, Will Allen, and Joel Salatin, this film shows the vision that they are creating for both the short and long term – an alternative to what the industrial complex has to offer. This is more than just a film – it is a call to action.
Three of this film’s ten calls-to-action are: buy local, avoid GMO’s, and to cook. From today until February 1st you can see the whole film at the link below.
You can watch the trailer here. Watch the entire documentary for free at this link.
Bonus: When you sign up to gain access to the film, by clicking on the link above, you receive an exclusive link to purchase your own copy at 50% off the regular price.
Posted in Film
Where can I grow food in a city?
People in cities often say, “I have no space for a garden. Where could I grow food?” But once you start looking around for it, you’ll notice plenty of unused space that will work. The median in front of your house or the narrow strip between your place and your neighbors, empty lots, fire escapes, balconies, alleyways, rooftops, backyards, front yards, against a wall, and decks are all places where you can grow good food. Value the edges and the marginal: once your eyes are open to all the space that could be cultivated, you’ll be amazed you didn’t see it before.
If you don’t have enough space at home, consider the options of community gardens, your neighbor’s yard, and the wide variety of school gardening projects blossoming under the hands of children. The front lawns of municipal buildings, office parks, and other businesses might be ready for an upgrade, especially if you do it on the cheap and commit to taking care of it. The flat roof of your neighborhood movie theater or grocery store might be ready and waiting for a hive of bees and some raised beds.
Try this experiment: Take a walk around the block. Look for places where food could be grown, trees could be planted, or neighbors could be convinced to share their space. Write down all the possibilities. Next day’s experiment: try one of those options.
Rachel Kaplan is the author of the book, “Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living.” Learn more at Urban-Homesteading.org.
salad factory: Supporting local farms and serving up a quality product in Southern California
We’re back! And honored to have been asked to continue contributing to localblu.com with a series of guest posts related to our up-and-coming restaurant, salad factory.
A quick recap in case you missed our debut on localblu – we’re an up-and-coming fast casual restaurant that allows customers to select from a wide array of nourishing and wholesome ingredients to create their own salads, wraps and rice bowls. The venture allows us to draw on our passion for and interest in promoting healthy and sustainable living.
Posted in Businesses & Non-Profits, Food
Recipe: Raw Mustardaise
Ingredients
* 2 cups cashews
* 4 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
* 2 tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos
* 4 tbsp Olive Oil
* 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
* 1 tbsp Black Mustard Seeds
Directions
Put the cashews, vinegar, liquid aminos, and olive oil into the food processor. Once the cashews have visibly ground up a bit, add water slowly until the mixture becomes thick and creamy. The longer you let the food processor go, the more smooth it will become. Add the turmeric and mustard seeds, and let the processor go until the yellow color is even. Finished!
Posted in Food
salad factory: Keeping kids healthy – one school lunch at a time.
As former public school kids, we know we would have loved a little diversity in our school lunch menu (and our parents would have loved to see greens incorporated into the cafeteria offerings).
In this vein, our restaurant – salad factory – which is expected to open in Irvine in June 2012 is partnering with and setting up shop in local public and private schools to encourage healthy eating at an early age. The idea being that making slight modifications in daily menu offerings can generate excitement about food and improve the health and well-being of children.
Posted in Businesses & Non-Profits, Community, Food
How to pick, cut, use, and eat Aloe Vera [video]
Aloe Vera is a highly medicinal plant which has been used for centuries to promote healthy eyes, skin, hair, liver, digestion, and more. You can use it topically or eat it. In this video, I show you how to find the correct Aloe Vera leaf, filet it, and eat it.
Posted in Health
Culture Club 101 creates ‘cultured’ lacto-fermented foods in Pasadena, CA
Culture Club 101 is a Pasadena-based co-op that specializes in providing its members with cultured foods (i.e. foods that contain live probiotic cultures). From lacto-fermented sodas, to pâtés, to thick yogurt, to kombucha, they are able to please their members with biologically active yumminess.
For generations, cultured foods have been a tradition of many cuisines from around the world. Modernization and industrialization of our food system have made this tradition fade.
Inspired by the book “Nourishing Traditions,” Elaina Luther founded Culture Club 101 to preserve the knowledge of cultured foods and to encourage innovative new ‘cultured’ experiments. The co-op holds classes and events such as the Continuous Brew Kombucha Class, the Culturing Vegetables Workshop, and Yogurt Making.
Elaina is a passionate businesswoman and culinary artist. Since its founding, Culture Club 101 has been featured at many food events such as the Altadena Urban Farmers Market and Artisanal LA. She also sponsors the Real Food Symposium, an annual event that features many real food advocates and vendors.
Let me spit some prose to wrap up this post: Support local artisans for they are producers that nourish your local economy. Have a ‘producer attitude’ minimize the ‘consumeristic’ one. Slow the flow of money so it can percolate and its roots will go deeper.
The Learning Garden in Venice offers classes and a weekly potluck (Los Angeles)
Feel lost when it comes to starting a garden? Look no further. The Learning Garden in Venice is a slice of horticulture heaven that offers a basic monthly gardening class as well as a friendly, weekly potluck. A novice or green thumb guru is sure to enjoy this urban, food growing paradise.
The Learning Garden was established in 2001 and is located at VeniceHigh School. It is one of the most successful school gardens in the country. The 60,000-foot space is filled with organic food cultivated by the high school students and medicinal plants for educational purposes. It is also a community garden and houses lots of wonderful treasures.
The COMPLETE Guide to growing Wheatgrass: From Seed to Juice in 10 days [video]
In this video, I explain everything you would possibly need to know about growing and juicing wheatgrass. I guide you through the entire process from soaking, to sprouting, to planting, and finally juicing.
Wheatgrass is beneficial for energy and detoxification. It cleans the blood, increases blood flow, helps digestion, cleanses the body of heavy metals, and is believed to prevent cancers.
Posted in Health
Seasonal Recipe: Indian Style Winter Rice
All of the vegetables used in this recipe are in season. I used the vegetables that we had growing in our garden. Feel free to substitute with vegetables that you can get locally – the spices can remain the same.
Posted in Food
100 Seeds of Change to give away one-thousand fruit trees in areas where nutritious food is needed
Preparation for the 100 Seeds of Change Annual Fruit Tree Giveaway is underway! The event is a collaborative effort by the Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI), TreePeople and Inglewood Unified School District.
Talk about a gift that keeps on giving! On Saturday, January 28 from 10am-4pm, one-thousand fruit trees will be distributed at Morningside High School in Inglewood, California. Health screenings and healthy food preparation demos will be conducted, as well as gardening to prepare for the next planting season.
All that’s needed to receive a tree is to complete an online application. You have the option of an apple, apricot, peach, nectarine or plum tree. How do you like them apples? The objective of this major movement is to provide healthy and low cost food to areas that are void of viable options. In such communities where liquor stores and fast food chains far out number any sort of opportunity for nutrition, the Annual 100 Seeds of Change event is a step in the right direction.
Try Salty Chocolate, Sczechuan Pepper, Honey, and Medlar-flavored ice cream at Mother Moo Creamery near Pasadena
Who doesn’t like ice cream? I know I enjoy it – my new favorite spot is Mother Moo Creamery. I finally had the pleasure of visiting this new artisanal shop in the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley. Karen Klemens, owner of Mother Moo, isn’t new to the art of creating delicious treats. She has won various awards for her preserves and has been teaching folks how to make their own. Now she is more than happy to have you sample her latest frozen creations
This isn’t your average ice cream parlor. Karen is what you would call an ice cream innovator. She pushes herself beyond what she learned at Penn State’s Ice Cream Short Course. Among her unique flavors are Salty Chocolate, Szechuan Pepper, and Honey. She often features local ingredients and uses only organic dairy from California-based Straus Family Creamery . Straus makes a conscious effort to prevent GMO contamination of their dairy supply, and also supports GMO-labeling legislation.
Karen’s latest ice cream headliner is a one-of-its-kind flavor: medlar fruit. Perhaps the only such ice cream in the U.S., this new item is currently on the flavor board and available for $4 a scoop. Don’t forget the waffle cone (made in-house…of course).
Posted in Food
How to build a Mason bee home for increasing pollination in your garden [video]
Rishi from the TheGrowingHome.net explains how to build a Mason bee house. Mason bees pollinate around 20 times more blooms than honey bees do. Building this simple wooden home will attract Mason bees to your garden, which will promote more pollination and more production.
Posted in Gardens
Living Health: The 3/4 Rule – Stop eating when your stomach is about 3/4′s full (and other digestion tips)
Each week we’ll share some tips that we’ve gathered over the years on how to stay healthy naturally.
When it comes to eating, most of us eat with our eyes and not with our stomachs. What do I mean? Well, what I mean is that portionwise, we tend to eat according to how good the food looks and not how hungry we are. Although this fact might not seem like a huge problem, especially for those of us who are at least conscious of what we eat, it can actually have pretty big impacts on our long term health. In Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine), it is said that the digestive system is where all disease begins. This system is where we take in the bulk of the nutrition for our body. When one overeats, the digestive system becomes overburdened, and has to try to process all that food quickly. The result is that although we might be eating highly nutritious food, we are not digesting all of that food properly.
When the digestive system is overburdened like this constantly, the body becomes sluggist, weak, and prone to disease, especially if it leads to constipation. To counter act this problem, many of us resort to digestive aids, laxatives, etc., which can actually make the problem worse (especially if you are using chemical laxatives like ex-lax).
To prevent overeating, I use what I call the 3/4 rule. Its pretty simple: stop eating when your stomach is about 3/4′s full. What does that mean? Well, I’m sure you know what it feels like to be overstuffed. If you’re overstuffed, you have trouble taking deep breaths, feel like you can’t move, and you immediately start feeling a bit tired. Being full is basically the same thing, but to a lesser degree. But 3/4 full is very different. At 3/4 full, you are satisfied, but not hungry. You don’t feel like running, but you’re definitely okay with a brisk walk. And you are comfortable taking deep breaths. That’s 3/4 full.
Posted in Health