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Snacking on Dandelions

post from About.com Gardening on 29 August 2008 09:01:12 PM. © About.com Gardening

I find it curious that as my garden winds down, dandelion are popping back up. What makes the dandelion so special it gets 2 seasons of bloom? I’m...

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Heirloom Coffee

post from Bifurcated Carrots on 29 August 2008 08:36:00 PM. © Bifurcated Carrots

For many of us, especially since the latest spike in oil prices, the priority is to eat local foods and buy local products. Many of us too make an effort to buy as directly from farmers or other producers as possible. Of course there are many important reasons for this, but what about those products that can’t be obtained locally?

For those of us that don’t live in the tropics, coffee is one of these products. Many of the same reasons we look for local products are relevant to coffee.

We all know there’s a load of certification programs for different kinds of coffee. Organic, Fair Trade, Birdsong, you name it. Many of us also realize that most of these labels are just marketing, and there’s not always a lot of added value that goes along with them.

It turns out there are really a lot of important differences in coffee that concern things we care about. Most coffees are grown on large faceless plantations, often producing a very low quality product. Farmers can receive very different levels of compensation, mostly far below what most of us would consider a living wage. There are heirloom and F1 hybrid varieties of coffee. Coffee can be grown in environmentally friendly and sustainable ways or can be destructive to the environment.

You can make a really huge difference in many ways according to the kind of coffee you buy, both for social reasons as well as quality. What’s the secret? The secret first of all is to roast your own coffee, because the market for pre-roasted coffee is tightly controlled and you have access to many more different kinds of beans if you buy them green.

Once roasted, coffee goes stale in about 2 weeks even when vacuum packed. This means if you roast and grind your own coffee, you get a freshness you may not experience any other way. I did a post about this a while ago.

Here in the Netherlands, I purchase green coffee beans from ongebrand.nl.

Until now, I haven’t been able to find a good source for socially responsible green coffee beans elsewhere to reccommend to anyone else, but recently I came across a blog dedicated to exactly this topic! This blog does a much better job explaining all the politics and history of coffee production in the world, and is really worth having a look at, especially if you drink coffee. This blog is mostly focused on the US, so if anyone else knows of other good sources of green coffee beans elsewhere, I hope you will let us know.

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http://www.patnsteph.net/weblog/?p=394

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Bear Claw Tomato: Hannas Tomato Tastings 2008

post from This Garden Is Illegal on 29 August 2008 07:55:05 PM. © This Garden Is Illegal

Part of Hanna’s Tomato Tastings 2008I was thinking when I bought this that the name might have something to do with being as big as a bear claw (which would be a valid observation as they are huge) but now I am thinking that these were named for the fact that every one of them [...]

This is just a part of this article. Visit my site to read the rest of this article and much more.

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A Few Reasons To Eat More Vegetarian Meals

post from Organic Gardening And Green Lifestyle | Garden Mandy Dot Com on 29 August 2008 06:22:24 PM. © Organic Gardening And Green Lifestyle | Garden Mandy Dot Com

There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that suggests eating a vegetarian diet is the healthy way to go. Now you don?t have to completely stop eating meat. Really what matters is that you understand the more plant foods you eat, the healthier you will be.By eating more vegetarian meals you can reduce your [...]

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Farm stand recipe for Labor Day: Corn Chowder

post from Projo Garden Blog on 29 August 2008 05:45:00 PM. © Projo Garden Blog

The corn passed knee-high by the Fourth of July. You eyed the ripening ears and pounced when they were just ready, eating them barely cooked and hardly seasoned. Now, when "native corn" fills farm stands, we're all a bit finickier....

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Check it out Tomorrow if You’re in Town

post from Cactus Blog on 29 August 2008 04:41:00 PM. © Cactus Blog

The 25th annual succulent plants symposium, “A New Century of Succulent Plants,” will be held 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 30 at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road.
The forum will look at the first 100 years of the venue’s Desert Garden and its diverse plant collection. There will also be a discussion of new developments in the world of succulents.

I love that! New developments! Maybe there are new biogenic technologies to help succulents hold onto their water a little longer. That’s what I hope they’re talking about.

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Happy Graduation to my "Brother-Dog", Darby

post from High Desert Cottage Garden on 29 August 2008 04:30:00 PM. © High Desert Cottage Garden

Darby is 12 months old and just earned Top of the class in his obedience school. He was given two toys and a bowl of doggie ice cream. I think the real applause should go to my Mom for rangling this huge puppy through his lessons!

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Friday Whippet Blogging at the Beach

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http://www.cactusjungle.com/blog/2008/08/29/friday-whippet-blogging-at-the-beach/

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Dont eat the apple in the Garden of Eatin

Bad stuff’ll happen….weeds will take over so badly you can’t catch up and all you can hope for it to clear little areas around the still producing plants so they aren’t choked out. Tomatoes will grow so insanely big they’ll all fall over and you were dumb and planted them so close together you can’t [...]

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Contests and give-aways

I’ve thought about doing a contest for months but can’t seem to come up with anything good. I thought about something with photos - maybe best garden photo involving kids? No, that would leave kidless out (or anyone not willing to put their kids photo on the net)…..Maybe have entrants send me their strangest gardening [...]

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