Can Whole Wheat Solve the Wheat Allergy Problem?

...inds at the supermarket are made with flour that has had most of the best parts of the wheat kernel removed. Millers then throw in vitamins to make up what they’ve taken out. The flours Ponsford works with are what are called high-extraction–they contain most or all of the parts of the kernel. Ponsford claims that many people who have wheat allergies have been able to eat his baked goods due to the use of whole wheat flours. Ponsford, through his...

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An update on Phoebe

...That’s a really good run for a cat born with a ridiculous handbag for a heart. We can’t hope for too much more. It is possible that her heart simply can’t function well enough any more to sustain her, but we’re hoping that an adjustment of her meds will buy her a few more good months, and we’ll be able to bring her home tomorrow night. We won’t know until tomorrow. It’s hard to leave a pet behind in a vet’s office, even such a good vet. Poor Phoe...

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Maintaining a Worm Bin

...bove you can see the left side of the bin, the new working side, full of fluffy, moist, leafy material. On the right is the new resting side. The worms are going to be much happier with all the breathing room in the new space. I’ll start adding food on left side–a bit more conservatively than usual, since there isn’t a big worm population over there yet. The worms living on the right side will start moving over pretty soon, leaving the pure castin...

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Eight Things to Consider When Saving Vegetable Seeds

The directions for seed saving in our last book, Making It, almost got cut. Perhaps we should have just changed those directions to “Why it’s OK to buy seeds.” The fact is that it’s not easy to save the seeds of many vegetables thanks to the hard work of our bee friends. That being said, Shannon Carmody of Seed Saver’s Exchange gave a lecture at this year’s Heirloom Exposition with some tips for ambitious gardeners who want to take up seed saving...

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