Crown of Thorns Journal- Wood Cook Stove Challange

[CrownofThorns]

Freemotion- That link has to be the best article I have seen yet on the "toxicity" of comfrey, thanks a lot! I sent it to an herby friend of mine that has been confused by the information out there as well.

KimnKell- You plan sounds lovely, I am a HUGE fan of LOTS of windows! Our current apartment has only one window, which never gets direct sun and it sometimes depresses me.

We plan to put some sort of sun room/greenhouse in the "big" house, but at the same time I want to build it onto the barn so the plants can benefit from the carbon dioxide from our livestock. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Wait a minute! I just realized we most likely live not too far apart!

4 - 5 hours. And if I'm not mistaken I believe we were on the same farm group on FB until all the squabbling started.

I have some very strong reservations about some of our locals.
I am afraid of what their actual interests really are, when it comes to local food.

 

[kimnkell]

I know what you mean about the windows Laura..... it can be depressing sometimes. Hubby's shop that he has right now doesn't have any window's and it's totally depressing.....

 

[CrownofThorns]

Wait a minute! I just realized we most likely live not too far apart!

4 - 5 hours. And if I'm not mistaken I believe we were on the same farm group on FB until all the squabbling started.

I have some very strong reservations about some of our locals.
I am afraid of what their actual interests really are, when it comes to local food.

I created a group for Goat owners here in AK and now I'm dealing with I think the same issue. I'm not positive as I was on a break from FB when everything happened in the farm group but I know it involves the same people. But I'm definitely dealing with the one side "attacking" the other on my group. I'm bout ready to just shut the whole thing down because one thing I can't stand is strife, and I'm having a rough time figuring out what to do.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

4 - 5 hours. And if I'm not mistaken I believe we were on the same farm group on FB until all the squabbling started.

I have some very strong reservations about some of our locals.
I am afraid of what their actual interests really are, when it comes to local food.

I created a group for Goat owners here in AK and now I'm dealing with I think the same issue. I'm not positive as I was on a break from FB when everything happened in the farm group but I know it involves the same people. But I'm definitely dealing with the one side "attacking" the other on my group. I'm bout ready to just shut the whole thing down because one thing I can't stand is strife, and I'm having a rough time figuring out what to do.

PMing you

 

[freemotion]

http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/
I use the mature leaves.

Thanks for the link. How do you know when the leaves are mature? I've used comfrey a TON but I always bought it.

Once you have a plant, you'll know. They are like any other plant in that the new leaves are lighter in color and smaller, then as they get more mature they darken and flatten out. They are not all that dangerous, anyways. The other site I read previously said something like a daily salad of comfrey wouldn't be too much, and nobody is going to use that much anyways.

 

[CrownofThorns]

My husband, his boss and my brother are preparing for a snowmachine trip into the White Mountains so today I'm making a bunch of meals for them. It's been AGES since I made granola so I thought I would surprise my husband and make some. It's SO good, and since I found a stovetop recipe, it's really easy to make! I thought I'd share the recipe because I just found a new trick to make it melt in your mouth scrumptious! It's pretty healthy.... for granola that is.

Laura's Stovetop Granola

Ingredients:
1 C Coconut Oil, divided
12 C rolled oats (note: next time I'll use 10 C to make it into bars, and 20x more yummy!)
1 C butter
1 1/2 C dehydrated cane juice (if your using regular white sugar you will want to double the amount of sugar since DCJ is sweeter)
5 C (give or take to your tastes) additions of your choice. This time I used about a cup and a quarter raisins, 1 C flax, 1 C crunchy soaked almonds from NT, and 2 C dessicated unsweetened coconut flakes.

Heat 1/2 C oil in a large skillet or stew pot. over medium heat. Add oats, cook, stirring constantly, until the oats are brown and crisp (I don't like them crispy so I just cook them for about 10 min). Remove from heat and spread out on cookie sheet to cool.

Melt butter and rest of coconut oil in same pan over medium heat. Stir in the sugar, and constantly stir. When the sugar carmelizes, and soaks up all the oil, return the oats to the pan. Mix well, add in the additions and mix well again.

Spread mixture on several cookie sheets (line with wax paper if your reducing to 10 C oats) and cool completely. Store in airtight containers.

I have no idea how long this will stay good. It has never lasted more then a week, and that was only if I had managed to hide it from my family.



Well it's finally looking like spring around here! Monday I saw my first patch of ground since November! It would have been even longer but on Thanksgiving week we had a very strange weather pattern where it warmed up and almost all of the snow melted! I was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to melt since it usually starts slowely warming up all through March, which it kinda has, but on Sunday it finally made it to above freezing for most of the day. Ah it's so nice! T-shirt weather for us!

I'm so excited to see the snow melting, and my goats are loving it! I see them sunning themselves all day in the back yard. I finally fixed the gate so I can lock them back up in their pen, but I don't have the heart since their pen only gets a small amount of morning sun, and the kidding house we built in January leave little to no space in the pen.

I had no idea how deep the snow had gotten until I went out to fix the gate yesterday. In order to fix the gate I had to chip out over eight inches of hard packed snow, and I didn't even reach the ground! If I try to walk anywhere off "the beaten path" I'm instantly knee deep in snow. Not that I'm complaining! The last couple of years have been low snow years, and by July you can see the effects of the low snow levels. We really need lots of snow in order to keep the trees that are too little to reach the water table alive.

Well that's it for now!

 

[Marianne]

Were you using the Force or something? I made Cottage Granola a couple days ago. I use the oven to bake it, but I wanted a good, stove top granola recipe! Thanks!

 

[CrownofThorns]

Were you using the Force or something?

Come again?

 

[Marianne]

Were you using the Force or something?

Come again?

You never saw Star Wars? They used 'the force' to help guide them and fight evil. I meant it as a joke, asking if you were psychic. Your timing was perfect with sharing the recipe.