A Farm For The Future (BBC Documentary)

Full length bbc documentary "A farm for the future" 

Farmhouse Kitchen Recipes [Kindle Edition]

Farmhouse Kitchen Recipes: Slow Cooking Heaven: Top Recipes From The Slow Cooking, Healthy Eating Cookbook [Kindle Edition]

Pesticide/Poison On Our Food Is Safe!?

The food powers that be are reporting that foods sprayed with chemicals and pesticides are safe to eat.
They say they need to do more testing to see whether or not it affects growing brains in a negative way.
I will continue trying to eat without having the poisons on my foods.
Nothing about the spraying sounds yummy or safe to eat.

We live in a fishbowl.  Everything is connected.
Stop poisoning yourselves, more especially stop poisoning me.

"The milk price is good, but expenses are terrible,"

Milk prices are likely to rise if feed prices continue to rise.

There was a safety net for dairy farmers but it has recently died. dairy-farm-safety-net-dies.  All of us should be praying for rain as the recent droughts have been causing feed prices to rise. 

68% of U.S. winter wheat crop is in drought

Often they are left with more cost then profit, resulting in small dairy farmers having to file for bankruptcy.

Another day at the farmers market

We went out for a ride.  On the way home I decided we should check out the weekend farmers market.  We ended up seeing a vendor who deals in solar cooking appliances.  During the interview she told us that she saves 30% on her electric bill.  She had a few portable units and she sells the plans as well.  The one in the lower left pictured is just foil and cardboard.  I should make one of these to make my coffee when I am out and about.  With just a few minutes and some sunlight you can cook.

http://www.mainstreamsolarcooking.com/

This is her home versions which she cooks with regularly.  

BullHead

Some guys having fun making music for all to enjoy for free.

Fresher, bigger and nicer looking then what you can get at the grocery store.

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Bacon Twists

Bacon Twists  Season regularly then twist them up. Then bake.  

Droughts in Russia and The US have driven up pig feed costs mostly corn.  The price of corn will continue to rise also due to the forced production of ethanol regardless of its disappointing performance as a cheap fuel alternative.    It is hard to say whether the price of feed in Russia will affect US prices.

Some think it could rise at least 7%.  Farmers, as a result will be  forced to thin their herds to lessen the expense of feed their stock.  Might want to consider some long term storage to get the most out of the low prices we have now.  

Maximizing space to grow food.

C:  I really love how he incorporates the trickle down strawberry watering system into this setup of his.  Can certainly see the benefits of building upward instead of outward when space is limited.

Something like this is my dream.

I would love to get a small house somewhere and have a backyard farm with solar power as they have in this video.  Would perhaps take it a few steps further with aquaponics. That is raising fish in series with the plants.

Day trip to the Farmers Market

We found this gem here in Raleigh NC.  We spent a good  2 hours browsing and shopping in the late afternoon.  The sellers still had plenty to offer us.  All of the food was fresh and locally grown.  The available selection often depends on what is in season.

C:  I found them to have a nice selection of pork products and farm cheeses that would typically be found in a country town.  Nice to see some products that have minimal processing.

D: I thought there was a nice supply and everything looked fresh.

 C:  I enjoyed the selection of canned vegetables, relishes and sauces.

D: Not shown in this picture was a large stock of dehydrated fruits and home made candies.  They had every sort of fruit that you could want.  We bought some dehydrated kiwi, trail mix, bananas and pomegranate.  All of which were reasonably priced.  Will be back again to get more.

C:  Seen this at one of the vendors counters. Think this "good health recipe"  was a type of snake oil that is a gimmick.  Doubt this stuff works.

D:  We didn't stop to eat that day. Although, the tables looked clean and well maintained.  Nice spot for the locals to bring their families for a light healthy lunch.

C: There was plenty of parking available right near the vendors. Can easily drive by to see if something catches your eye.

 C:  Someone had a fantastic looking arrangement of cacti and succulents.

 C:  Maybe a few of these will keep the kids out of my yard. :)

D:  They also offer some fruit bearing trees for sale.

D: It is a large open air market with many vendors which result in competitive pricing and that equals lower price for the customer.

C:  There were barely any lines at all. Step right up and tell them what you want, pay and take your purchase.

D:  Bought some blueberries and zucchini.  All was clean and fresh.

C: The best looking strawberries I have ever seen.

C:  Hope to find this guy again the next time we go to the farmers market.  Will pick up a few containers from him.  The stuff they sell in the grocery store is not real honey, most of has additives and is watered down.  Real honey like this is a real treat.

D:  That's fresh, beautiful garlic.  Have not seen bulbs this size before.  Anyone doing real Italian cooking knows that the freshest garlic makes the difference.








Raleigh Farmers Market
We went in late afternoon. It is an open air market for locals to buy locally. We bought some dehydrated fruit and some vegetables.  Everything was offered at a low price. The presentation was pleasant and there was plenty to choose from.  We both enjoyed the food. There was no wait time. The staff and management were friendly and helpful, over all service was good. Was very clean and maintained.
highs and lows: Could have had more places to sit down. Offered good quality products for great prices.
Would give it a rating of 4 stars.

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