This is how we know it’s fall in Los Angeles: pumpkin flavoring (whatever that is) infuses all processed foods and the cheap plastic Christmas decor is already on sale.
Saturday Tweets: Bulbs, Bees and Basil
The Internet of Bees: Adding Sensors to Monitor Hive Health | Make: – #beekeeping http://t.co/boSZ3QVZOJ
— Eric Rochow (@GardenForkTV) October 9, 2015
How to plant bulbs creatively, with Chanticleer’s Jonathan Wright | A Way To Garden | http://t.co/Ti4weRC83Z pic.twitter.com/kM15EghPEO
— Timber Press (@timberpress) October 10, 2015
The Carbon Footprint of Eating Out http://t.co/3R2HUE4Kp1 via @themadfeed
— Root Simple (@rootsimple) October 10, 2015
Dyeing with the sun: Song of Ice and Fire and Microwaves http://t.co/Xlt8m6RS8K via @wordpressdotcom
— Root Simple (@rootsimple) October 9, 2015
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on the pope’s encyclical: https://t.co/vl8yudowa9
— Root Simple (@rootsimple) October 8, 2015
Michael Pollan on Plant Neurobiology – Commentary – The New Yorker https://t.co/ngNkCP6U9T via @YouTube
— Root Simple (@rootsimple) October 7, 2015
4 new varieties of #basil vs 4 favorites! http://t.co/G8jOO9rvze #gardenchat #mygarden pic.twitter.com/pVu4YUKKMn
— Gardenerd (@gardenerd1) October 6, 2015
Sauerkraut crocks are for holding umbrellas: http://t.co/S6KjECPPp4
— Root Simple (@rootsimple) October 10, 2015
Free Webinar on Making and Using Compost Teas
One of the most contentious topics in gardening and agriculture is compost tea. I’m still sorting out what I think of the practice, which is why I’m excited about an upcoming free webinar from the folks at eXtension (sic). Here’s the 411:
About the Webinar
This webinar is aimed at a general audience, gardeners, farmers, and ag professionals. Viewers will learn how to make consistent and safe compost teas for gardening and agricultural use. We will discuss how compost teas are viewed and regulated by the National Organic Program and Environmental Protection Agency. Viewers will leave with an improved understanding of compost teas and how they can be beneficially used.
About the Presenters
Dr. Lynne Carpenter-Boggs is an Associate Professor of Sustainable and Organic Agriculture at Washington State University. Her work aims to improve global health and sustainability through biological and appropriate technologies for agriculture.
Catherine (CeCe) Crosby is a Ph.D. candidate in Soil Science at Washington State University. CeCe has led hundreds of pre-nursing students through chemistry and environmental science courses, and currently is researching the feasibility of composting for new uses in society.
Easy Scandinavian-Style Bread
I really like the dense, hearty whole grain loaves which are popular in Germany and Scandinavia and other points north, but which are difficult to find in the U.S. I’ve come to like these better than the airy kind of bread, as a matter of fact. Fluffy bread doesn’t really seem like real food to me anymore, and white fluffy bread tastes like cotton candy.
Of course, I’m spoiled because Erik is a baker, so he makes me delicious, black hole-dense loaves of sourdough rye. Or at least, he used to. Now he’s on crutches, trying to recover from a bad case of Plantar fasciitis. This means he’s not doing anything in the kitchen anymore, and my bread supply is gone.
Sure, I could wake up his sourdough starter, take on the mantle (or apron?) of Household Baker, and start making these loaves myself, but I’m already taking on extra chores with him off his feet, so I’m not inclined to take up this one as well. Yet we can’t live two months without good bread. What to do?
Fortunately, I’ve found a solution to our bread crisis: a perfectly good yeasted recipe which makes a dense whole grain loaf with minimal effort. No starter. No kneading. No rise time, even. It’s a quick bread, essentially. It takes 5 minutes to mix up, then you plop it into a loaf pan and put it in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. That’s it.
It lacks the sour flavor and chewiness you get from developed loaves, true, as well as the health benefits/improved digestibility that comes from the fermentation process. But you know, it’s still very good. And it’s 100% whole grain and packed with healthful seeds. And for a yeasted bread, it keeps well. Our loaves have been lasting at least three days on the counter top, unwrapped.
This isn’t a bread for soaking up sauce, or making fancy sandwiches, because it’s not springy. Instead, it’s a bread for layering with cheese or lox or slices of cucumber and salt. It’s also great toasted. But mostly I’ve just been eating it slathered with that fancy cultured butter that Trader Joe’s has started selling lately.
Now that I’ve got you all excited, I’m not going to write the recipe here, because I’m using it exactly as I found it on The Transplanted Baker. I have nothing to add or change, or any excuse at all to claim it as my own. She calls her version of this recipe (which originated with Nigella Lawson) “Lazy Man’s Bread.” I’ll have to call this blog entry “Lazy Man’s Post.”
064 One Straw Revolutionary Larry Korn
On the podcast this week we interview Larry Korn, author of One-Straw Revolutionary and translator and editor of Masanobu Fukuoka’s The One-Straw Revolution and Sowing Seeds in the Desert. We talk about Larry’s experience living on Fukuoka’s farm and we delve deep into Fukuoka’s natural farming philosophy. During the discussion we cover how natural farming is similar to indigenous agriculture and how it’s different than permaculture. We also talk about the mystical experience that changed Fukuoka’s life. Larry’s website is onestrawrevolution.net.
If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. The theme music is by Dr. Frankenstein. A downloadable version of this podcast is here.