Preppy Prepping

In my continued search for high protein foods to add to my Stores, I ran across another unique piece of information. A common pond plant, known as duckweed, is currently being researched and is quickly moving into the position of our newest “superfood”. It’s packed with protein, far more by volume than almost ANY other protein source, doubles in volume every 24 hours (making it very plentiful), and can be eaten fresh alone, added to other foods such as salads or sandwiches, or dried and made into a powder to be sprinkled on eggs or any other food to add extra protein. It also can be fed to ducks, as it’s name suggests. I was fascinated! Since we have a backyard pond, I did more research. Turns out, it won’t work on our pond, which has a waterfall. It doesn’t like moving water. But it will grow in any nutrient-rich standing water. It reproduces asexually, like cloning, so it typically doesn’t seed. Some studies seem to indicate that, while it dies off at first frost, some particles drop...

All of us are interested in projects we can accomplish for free. One of the best things you can do for your family is to begin composting. Instead of throwing out vegetable peels and scraps, add them to your compost pile. Over time, these scraps will break down and provide lovely organic fertilizer for your gardens. It will cost you nothing, as opposed to store-bought fertilizer, and will decrease trash going to the landfill. What can you compost? No meat and no dairy. But any vegetable or fruit scraps and egg shells can all go in your pile. Think potato, squash, and carrot peels, onion skins, the ends of your celery bunches, pineapple cores, crown (spiky parts on top), and rind, apple cores (unless you save them to make vinegar), orange and grapefruit peels, old salad, and nearly anything you’re putting down the disposal or throwing in the trash except . . . meat and dairy. You can also add grass clippings, leaves, and anything that will decay over time. I started composting a long ti...

The neighborhood where I live was originally built in a pecan orchard. The trees are getting pretty old and are beginning to die out. I grew up five doors down from the home where my husband and I live and have raised our children. I bought this home as a single woman, desiring to raise children some day in my awesome neighborhood and just down the street from my parents. When I married, my husband agreed to live here, mainly because of the amount of equity I had accumulated already in this home.  When I first bought this house, there was a poor, sad, neglected apple tree in the backyard. It took me years, but I fertilized, pruned, watered, nurtured, talked to, and even sang to this little tree.  Within a few years, it began paying me back for my attention and producing beautiful apples. After I had children, my daughter and I would go out about every two weeks in the Fall and pick a bowl full of apples.  We’d peel them, core them, slice them, season them, and make a coup...