Inspirational Music

For me, this one is not at all to do with card games but rather life


This one's more to do with the song and less about the video


I'll admit, I'm torn. I LOVE Tommy Emmanual but I also REALLY like the original and simpler version of this song by Mason Williams.

Tulip Fields In Holland

My very kind neighbor gave us his collection of bird books before he died and in one of them was this nice quote. "For in the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we're taught" - Baba Dioum

Power of Prayer

The power of this photograph. 100,000 Buddhist monks in prayer for a better world.

Bean Planting + April Farm Activity

The strawberries and garlic (and weeds) are growing with a vengeance.

Our kind neighbor, with a tractor, tilled up about an acre for us without us even asking. So we had to kick butt and get something planted. Having not planned what best to grow, since we're basically farming from afar, we decided to do soil enriching beans and peas. We got varieties suitable for picking dry and growing in bush form since that's likely what will happen and we're not putting in trellis'. Hopefully we'll get at least a couple of fresh batches.

Next year we're DEFINATELY getting an earthway seeder.

We planted the following from Massey Mercantile:

• Pink-Eye Purple-Hull Cow Peas: 49 days.  Heavy yields. Good disease resistance.
• Zipper Cream Cow Peas: 75 days. Good yields of light colored peas. String acts like a zipper to make for easy shelling. AKA southern peas.
• Ford Hook Bush Limas: 70 days. AAS Winner. Finest + largest butter / lima bean. Best yielder.
• Speckled Red Bush Limas: 76 days. Pretty seed. Grows well in hot weather. Very productive.
• Contender Green Bush Beans: 55 days. Extremely early + prolific. Long round oval pods. Resistant to mosaic + powdery mildew.
• Roma II Green Bush Beans: 58 days. Broad flat pods. Very tasty fresh. Disease resistant.  

Might I saw it's shocking what a difference seed cost is when you buy in bulk. In my lack of planning I originally bought all these seeds in 1/4 lb quantities thinking it would be enough. I changed that out for a pound each and it ended up being less than twice as much. 4x the seed for about 1.5x the cost. Weird.

Native American Legend of the Three Sisters

I'm planting this garden and writing this post for my two sweet sisters for National Sibling Appreciation day. The Native American legend of the Three Sisters vary between tribes, but this particular story is from Lois Thomas of Cornwall Island found in "Indian Legends of Eastern Canada".

Three Sisters Garden - Corn, Beans, Squash

The Three Sisters Legend

A long time ago there were three sisters who lived together in a field. These sisters were quite different from one another in their size and way of dressing. The little sister was so young that she could only crawl at first, and she was dressed in green. The second sister wore a bright yellow dress, and she had a way of running off by herself when the sun shone and the soft wind blew in her face. The third was the eldest sister, standing always very straight and tall above the other sisters and trying to protect them. She wore a pale green shawl, and she had long, yellow hair that tossed about her head in the breeze. There was one way the sisters were all alike, though. They loved each other dearly, and they always stayed together. This made them very strong. One day a stranger came to the field of the Three Sisters - a Mohawk boy. He talked to the birds and other animals - this caught the attention of the three sisters. Late that summer, the youngest and smallest sister disappeared. Her sisters were sad. Again the Mohawk boy came to the field to gather reeds at the water's edge. The two sisters who were left watched his moccasin trail, and that night the second sister - the one in the yellow dress - disappeared as well. Now the Elder Sister was the only one left. She continued to stand tall in her field. When the Mohawk boy saw that she missed her sisters, he brought them all back together and they became stronger together, again.

 

The Iroquois Legend of the Three Sisters

Erney, Diana. 1996. Long live the Three Sisters. Organic Gardening. November. p. 37-40. The term “Three Sisters” emerged from the Iroquois creation myth. It was said that the earth began when “Sky Woman” who lived in the upper world peered through a hole in the sky and fell through to an endless sea. The animals saw her coming, so they took the soil from the bottom of the sea and spread it onto the back of a giant turtle to provide a safe place for her to land. This “Turtle Island” is now what we call North America. Sky woman had become pregnant before she fell. When she landed, she gave birth to a daughter. When the daughter grew into a young woman, she also became pregnant (by the West wind). She died while giving birth to twin boys. Sky Woman buried her daughter in the “new earth.” From her grave grew three sacred plants—corn, beans, and squash. These plants provided food for her sons, and later, for all of humanity. These special gifts ensured the survival of the Iroquois people. 

Three Sisters Garden

The Three Sisters Garden is a technique where corn, pole beans, and vining squash are all three grown together on a mound. The three benefit each other where the corn provides a pole for the bean to climb. The bean provides nitrogen for the other plants, and the squash shades the ground later in the season preventing other weed growth and the mound from getting too hot.

Source:
http://www.birdclan.org/threesisters.htm

Easy care bag garden

These simple bag garden plans are from the book Starter Vegetable Gardens. It's a 3 year plan. This idea is pretty genius, I think, as it's minimal effort, really cheap, and creates 3 foot wide rows which I think are ideal.

What I like is that you buy a cheap $2 bag of top soil and grow some shallow rooted veggies for one year and end up with the weeds all smothered beneath without even digging. Stack several side by side and you end up withr a 3 foot wide garden row. Then cover the edges with hay to hide the bags.

Year 1 bag garden plan:

Year 2 bag garden plan:

Year 3 bag garden plan:

Pretty bag garden example (although it doesn't use the top soil bag):

With top soil bag:

DIY Soil Block Maker

In his book, Four Seasons Harvest, Elliot Coleman suggests making soil blocks for starting seeds rather than using containers. Growing them this way ensures the roots don't circle the container. They reach the end of the block and stop. This makes it easier to transplants vegetables normally more sensitive to transplant (squash, pumpkins, etc..). Sounded like a plan to me: less transplant shock, less trash, less costs, less trips to the store... Johnny Seeds sells these soil block makers. Nice as they look, I just couldn't get past the price tag, so here's what I made. Took an Apple Shuffle box, butchered it a bit, added some nuts and bolts, and poof, soil block maker. Left the screw protruding a bit to make the seed hole on top of the soil block. You could easily add another nut or screw the screw in more to make the hole bigger.

DIY Soil Block Maker - From Apple Shuffle Box

Johnny Seeds Soil Block Maker

Soil Blocks

Elliot Coleman's Recipe:

1. 2 Tbsp Green Sand
2. 2 Tbsp Phosphate Rock
3. 2 Tbsp Dried Blood
4. 3 Qt Peat
5. 1 Qt Perlite
6. 3 Qt Compost

My Modified Recipe:

1. 1 Part Compost
2. 1 Part Dollar Tree Peat Moss / Vermiculite mix
3. A little bit of organic fertilizer

Rebirth

Phoenix Rebirth

“My sun sets to rise again.” 
― Robert Browning

Raising Multi-Purpose Sheep

Sheep can be raised for multiple purposes: meat, milk, wool, hides, and grazing service. Below are a few example varieties well suited for multi-purpose sheep farming.

Classification of U.S. sheep breeds by their primary purpose

Wool	Meat	Dual purpose	Minor
Fine wool American Cormo Booroola Merino Delaine-Merino Debouillet Rambouillet Panama	Hair American Blackbelly Barbado California Red Dorper Katahdin Romanov Royal White St. Croix Wiltshire Horn	Wool Columbia Corriedale Finnsheep Polypay Targhee Dairy East Friesian Lacaune fat-tailed Awassi Assaf	Black Welsh Mountain Blueface Leicester Calif. Variegated Mutant Clun Forest Gulf Coast Native Hog Island Icelandic Jacob Karakul Navajo-Churro Scottish Blackface Shetland Soay
Long wool Border Leicester Coopworth Cotswold Leicester Long wool Lincoln Perendale Romney Wensleydale	Wooled Cheviot Dorset Hampshire Montadale North Country Cheviot Oxford Shropshire Southdown Suffolk Texel Tunis

Classification of U.S. sheep breeds by wool or coat type

Fine	Medium (meat)	Long	Specialty
American Cormo Booroola Merino Debouillet Delaine-Merino Rambouillet	Border Cheviot Clun Forest Dorset Gulf Coast Native Hampshire Hog Island Ile-de-France Montadale North Country Cheviot Oxford Shropshire Southdown Suffolk Texel Tunis	Blueface Leicester Border Leicester Coopworth Cotswold Leicester Longwool Lincoln Perendale Romney Wensleydale	Carpet Karakul Scottish Blackface Colored Calif. Variegated Mutant Black Welsh Mountain Double-coated or primitive Navajo-Churro Icelandic Jacob Shetland Soay
Medium (dual purpose)		Hair
Columbia Corriedale East Friesian Finnsheep Panama Polypay Targhee		American Blackbelly Barbados Blackbelly California Red Dorper Katahdin Romanov Royal White St. Croix Wiltshire Horn

Wool

Meat

Dual purpose

Minor

Fine wool
American Cormo
Booroola Merino
Delaine-Merino Debouillet
Rambouillet
Panama

Hair
American Blackbelly Barbado
California Red
Dorper
Katahdin
Romanov
Royal White
St. Croix
Wiltshire Horn

Wool
Columbia
Corriedale
Finnsheep
Polypay
Targhee

Dairy
East Friesian
Lacaune
fat-tailed Awassi Assaf

Black Welsh Mountain
Blueface Leicester
Calif. Variegated Mutant
Clun Forest
Gulf Coast Native
Hog Island
Icelandic
Jacob
Karakul
Navajo-Churro
Scottish Blackface
Shetland
Soay

Long wool
Border Leicester
Coopworth
Cotswold
Leicester Long wool
Lincoln
Perendale
Romney
Wensleydale

Wooled
Cheviot
Dorset
Hampshire
Montadale
North Country Cheviot
Oxford
Shropshire
Southdown
Suffolk
Texel
Tunis

Fine

Medium (meat)

Long

Specialty

American Cormo
Booroola Merino
Debouillet
Delaine-Merino
Rambouillet

Border Cheviot
Clun Forest
Dorset
Gulf Coast Native
Hampshire
Hog Island
Ile-de-France
Montadale
North Country Cheviot
Oxford
Shropshire
Southdown
Suffolk
Texel
Tunis

Blueface Leicester
Border Leicester
Coopworth
Cotswold
Leicester Longwool
Lincoln
Perendale
Romney
Wensleydale

Carpet
Karakul
Scottish Blackface


Colored
Calif. Variegated Mutant
Black Welsh Mountain


Double-coated
or primitive
Navajo-Churro
Icelandic
Jacob
Shetland
Soay

Medium
(dual purpose)

Hair

Columbia
Corriedale
East Friesian
Finnsheep
Panama
Polypay
Targhee

American Blackbelly
Barbados Blackbelly
California Red
Dorper
Katahdin
Romanov
Royal White
St. Croix
Wiltshire Horn

.

Clun Forest Clun Forest Sheep
For looks, this one's my favorite. Sheep grown for wool, traditionally fetch a higher price if the skin and whool are the same color though (despite how pretty this sheep is). This medium-sized 1000 year old breed comes from England but didn’t make it to American until the
70’s. Rams grow to 175-200 lbs and ewes to 130-160 lbs. Clun Forest sheep are adaptable and hardy, yield plenty of
milk, sweet meat, and a creamy white fleece. Twins are typical.  They thrive on just grass,
are disease- and parasite-resistant, and easy to keep. 

Merinos

Multi-Purpose Merinos
Multi-purpose Merinos sheep are from Australia. They produce lean meat, high-quality wool and are
wrinkle-free, making them easy to sheer and to keep clean and bug-free. Since the skin is wrinkle-free, the hides are fine and easy to work with. It’s been compared to
the quality of Moroccan goat skin so the hides would be great for
clothing or for trading.

Icelandic

Icelandic Sheep
Icelandic Sheep are centuries old and have remained unchanged for most of that time. They
were imported to Canada 1985, then to the USA in the 1990’s. Their double-layered coat that consists of an inner layer of soft, fine wool and an outer layer that's water-resistant, longer and courser,
growing as long as 15". The fleece is gray, black,  brown or patterned. The skin is thick enough to use for rugs but fine enough for clothing. The meat is lean and sweet. The milk is gaining popularity for both drinking and cheese-making purposes. They’re short and stocky, with the rams weighing 180-220 lbs and ewes 130-160 lbs. The ewes are easy breeders, good mothers that typically produce hardy twins and sometimes triplets. They're also feed-efficient and generally easy to care for.

Shropshire

Shropshire Sheep
Developed in England in the early 1800’s. Popular for their gentility, wool and hardiness. They can withstand wind, cold, sleet, and snow. The Shropshire sheep came to America in
the late 1800’s. Adult rams weigh 226-250 lbs and ewes 150-180 lbs. The wool is thick and luxurious. The meat is tasty. Ewes birth easily and typically live long lives. Called the "Ideal Farm Sheep," Shropshires were boasted to have "wool from the tip of the nose to the tip of the toes."

Racka

 Racka
The Racka is a unique breed with both ewes and rams possessing long spiral shaped horns. The breed is of the Zackel type and originated in Hungary. The breed is used for milk, wool and meat production. Mature males may have horns as long as two feet or more. The minimum standard length is given as 50 cm (20 inches) for rams and 30 cm (12-15 inches) for ewes.

The cork-screw horns protrude almost straight upward from the top of the head. The Racka has been described as a hardy animal and is often used in crossbreeding due to its ability to pass this survivability to its offspring. The breeds unique appearance and quiet disposition would make it a desirable animal for hobby situations.

Rambouillet

Rambouillet
The Rambouillet is the "backbone" of the American Sheep Industry, forming the foundation of most western range flocks and raised throughout the United States. The Rambouillet descends entirely from the Spanish Merino. In fact, it is the French version of the Merino developed when Louis XVI imported 386 Spanish Merinos in 1786 for his estate at Rambouillet.

Though named for the town in France, the breed owes much of its development to Germany and the United States. The Rambouillet is a dual purpose sheep, producing a desirable carcass and good fine wool. Rambouillets are large sized, rugged and long-lived with a strong flocking instinct. Rambouillet ewes possess many desirable traits which have resulted in their inclusion in crossbreeding programs to improve lamb production.


Source:
http://www.sheep101.info/
http://www.survivopedia.com/survivors-guide-raising-multi-purpose-sheep/

DIY Raised Bed From Door Frame

Garlic Overview + July Farm Activity

It's blueberry harvest time. We sprinkled some organic cotton seed meal for nitrogen slow release fertilizer on the blueberries while we harvested. Was a pitifully small harvest. The bushes are still tiny and they don't really look all that great right now either. Hopefully the fertilizer will spruce things up a bit. We're about to bush hog the property then we'll have a fresh load of hay to sprinkle around all the plants as well.

Although it's pretty late into summer, we planted some sprouted zinnias. Not sure if they'll have time to bloom and go back to seed again, but hopefully so. I'm hoping to establish a nice reseeding zinnia bed. The seed packs were on sale for 10 cents so bought 15 and gave it shot.

Got 5 Kiowa blackberry plants put in the ground, tied to 2 strand trellis fence, and hooked up to 1 gph drippers ($9 per plant).

Bought 3 new types of garlic ($12 / lb):

• Georgian Fire (Porcelian hardneck). Some claim it to be among the hottest of garlics. Averages 5-8 cloves per bulb. Really looking forward to trying this one.
• Siberian (Marbled purple stripe hard-neck). Originally from fishermen trading green leafy vegetables with poor peasants who grew root crops. Averages 5-9 plump cloves per bulb. Good mild flavor. Can make a very large bulb. Siberian is reported to have the highest concentration of allicin compared to other garlic varieties (in general, hardneck garlics have 3x more allicin than softnecks)
• Inchelium Red (Artichoke softneck). Large bulbed vigorous strain with 4-5 layers of cloves (8-20 total cloves). Won top rated soft-neck in 1990 Rodale kitchen taste test. Was discovered on the Colville Indian Reservation in Inchelium, Washington. Mild lingering flavor with a tingle.  This is one we tried last year and it didn't do squat for us, but it's supposed to do well in our area and want to give it one more shot.

Other varieties we already had:

• Chesnok Red  (Purple stripe hardneck)  This one grew best for us last season of about 8 different varieties tried).  It’s said that this is one of the best cooking garlics.  It is very flavorful, having won “best baking garlic” taste tests conducted by Rodale, Sunset Magazine, Martha Stewart and others. It holds its shape and retains flavor well when cooked.  It has large easy to peel cloves.  Originally from Shvelisi, Republic of Georgia.  Averages about 8 cloves per bulb with a fairly large bulb. Can handle some neglect (boo-ya).
• Mother of Pearl (Silverskin softneck). Excellent keeping qualities. Pearly pink/purple blush in heads. Spicy for a softneck. A rare garlic. Didn't grow all that well for us in Alabama but it hung in there so we're going to keep trying with this puppy.
• Martin's Heirloom  (Rocombole). Originated from the garlic farmer, Martin (who else?). It’s been grown in Wisconsin since the early 1980’s and the original source is unknown.  It doesn't grow all that great down in Alabama but holds on. In Wisconsin it's claimed to be a huge and beautiful garlic. Averages about 10 cloves.

Other Varieties we tried but that failed entirely (bummer). 

In the garlics favor, we didn't do everything we could to help the garlic. Although we did treat the garlic before planting and did add alfalfa pellets to the soil at the time of planting (although probably not enough), we never fertilized again, we didn't do a good job of deweeding at all (and there were really weeds everywhere) and it was a very, very wet winter and spring:

• Simonetti (artichoke softneck). Bulb size is supposed to be large with good flavor. Up to 20 cloves. a standard Artichoke that is very mild, very white and very large. If you want large, mild garlics, this is one to try. It usually does well, but some years it doesn’t, especially if there is a very early, very hot spring/summer.
• Inchelium Red (see description above)
• Red Toch (artichoke softneck). Originates from Tochliavri, Republic of Georgia. Averages 7 cloves per bulb.
• Purple Glazer (purple stripe hardneck). Supposedly this one really doesn't like competition from weeds (aha, this was probably our problem). Very good flavor. Originally known as Mchadidzhvari #1 from Republic of Georgia. Averages 10 cloves per bulb.

Varieties We Want to Try

• Metechi (Marbled purple stripe). Big, strong and robust. Harvests in the middle-late part of the harvest season
• Burgundy (Creole silverskin). Deep purple, uniform cloves, delightfully mid-mild taste in a bulb that grows well and stores long. Very hardy and harvests in mid-late season. Ajo Rojo is another Creole similar to Burgundy except that its color is more red than purple and a little stronger. Creole Red is a medium Creole but has only about five cloves per bulb, but they are larger cloves.
• Music (porcelain hardneck) Good flavor, sweet & pungent, very hot raw. Italian variety brought to Canada by Al Music in 80's. Averages 5 huge cloves per bulb and very hardy.
• Romanian Red
• Georgian Crystal
• Thermadrone
• Asian Tempest
• Bogadyr
• Red Rezan

Here's a decent writeup on garlic growing in warmer climates. I have definitely noticed plants described one way up north grow COMPLETELY different here and since there's hardly any garlic farmers in the south, it's sort of a roll of the dice as to what you'll end up with.

http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/wwinter.htm

Online Garlic Southern Growers:
Virginia (Central): http://www.southernexposure.com
Kentucky: http://www.saltrivergarlic.com
Texas: www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com
?: http://greyduckgarlic.com/Buy_Organic_Garlic.html

Harvested Gourmet Garlic

It was garlic harvest time this week. It was a warm winter and cool summer so pests and weeds were a plenty and we didn't do a great job de-weeding or fertilizing and our soil's very acidic, so we didn't really set ourselves up for success, but all in all it wasn't so bad. We harvested all the garlic varieties at once (I know you're not supposed to do that) and layed them out on screens (from old windows) to dry. The soil was wet when we dug it up (I know you're not supposed to do that either), but it's been raining cats and dogs for weeks and almost all the green leaves were brown so figured it was now or never. We had to dry the garlic indoors. Little strange having garlic drying all over the apartment. Anyhow, you dry the garlic with the stalks still in place (I think this draws the moisture out of the center of the cloves a little better). You can tell when the garlic's dry enough b/c the green in the stalk is now totally yellow and dry. Once fully dried, you cut off the stalks and roots & brush off any dirt (unless it's softneck garlic in which case you can braid it if you want). If you didn't let your garlic go too long in the soil, you should have plenty of dry skin and can pull off a layer to clean up the garlic a bit.

We started last fall with 2 lbs of Chesnok Red and a 1 lb mix of  Inchellium Red, Red Toch, Simonetti, Mother of Pearl, Purple Glazer, & Martin's Heirloom. The Chesnok Red seemed to have done the best (biggest cloves, weight increased the most, was still the greenest at harvest time).

When we planted the garlic, we put name tags in the ground but for some reason the rain washed away what we wrote (although we used Sharpies). We remembered where we planted the Martin's Heirloom, Mother of Pearl and Chesnok Red, but not the rest.

Upon digging up the garlic (carelessly) we damaged quite a few cloves. On the bright side, that meant we got to eat them! (the plan was to harvest all the garlic and replant it all to grow our supply). We gave away about a pound of it (to very helpful and kind neighbors).

Anyhow, here are the results:
--0.23 lbs Mother of Pearl
--0.09 lbs Unknown Red/Purple Garlic
--5.31 lbs Chesnok Red
--0.18 lbs Martin's Heirloom

So despite not knowing what the 0.09 lbs of unknown purple / red garlic is, it didn't do all the well anyhow considering we planted Inchellium Red, Red Toch, Simonetti, & Purple Glazer (the rest is accounted for).

Anyhow, the harvested and cut and dried garlic is all bagged up in brown paper bags being stored in a cool dry location until replanting time during the Autumnal Equinox (Sunday, Sept 22).

Homemade Cherry Pop Tart Pops

 Lifted this from this website: http://www.caplanmiller.com/blog/2011/02/28/must-have-monday-poptart-pops/

FOR THE TWO-BITE POPTARTS
1 c. fresh cherries, pitted and diced
3 T. sugar
2 T. cornstarch
2 T. water
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 pkg. prepared pie crusts

FOR THE POPS
wooden popscicle sticks

FOR THE GLAZE
1 c. powdered sugar
1-2 T. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
food coloring and sprinkles (optional)

In a small saucepan, combine cherries, sugar, cornstarch and almond extract. Heat on stove over medium heat until mixture has thickened. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool. Unroll pie crusts and using a pizza cutter to slice them into 1 1/2″x 2″ rectangles (I used a ruler to measure mine into equal sizes. Just use a butter knife to score your pie crust before cutting).

Place a wooden popscicle stick on top of one of the cut rectangles, then spoon a small amount (about 1 1/2 tsp.) of cooled cherry filling into the center of the pie square, taking care not to get it near the edges. Gently lay a second rectangle over the top of the cherry filling. Press the edges of the rectangles together with a fork. Transfer to a baking sheet. Bake poptart pops in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or just until the edges begin to brown.

In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla to make glaze. Tint with food coloring, if desired. Spoon over cooled poptart pops, sprinkle with colored sugar, and allow to the glaze to harden slightly before serving.

Duck vs Chicken for Egg Laying

Duck vs Chicken Egg

I've always loved chickens and ducks, even as a child. My neighbor had both and was kind enough to allow me to try and hatch an egg. It didn't pan out. We lost power and the eggy died. A few months later, mom and dad were kind enough to surprise me with 4 ducklings for Easter. I raised and released them never giving a thought to collecting their eggs for food (that's for chickens, right?....wrong!).  Funny thing is, the ducks I raised were actually bred for egg laying (the Khaki Cambell duck).

Duck vs Chicken Yolk

So what's the benefit of having a duck egg laying flock vs chicken egg laying? My first thought was surely chickens lay a lot more eggs, but nope, the some ducks bred for egg laying can produce just about as much.

Duck vs Chicken Egg Taste
Duck eggs tend to have a larger yolk and lower water content. Supposedly makes cakes and pastries fluffier. It's more difficult to make meringue with duck egg whites. The eggs tend to be firmer, in general, when cooked up. Duck eggs tend to be a fair bit larger (filling up the palm of your hand).

Duck vs Chicken Egg Shelf Life
Due to thicker shell, a duck egg has up to a 6 week shelf life vs ?? for a chicken egg.

Duck vs Chicken Egg Nutritional Difference

• duck eggs are alkaline, chicken eggs are acidic
• 6x the Vitamin D
• 2x the Vitamin A
• 2x the cholesterol
• 75% the Vitamin E
• Morere Vitamin K2
• higher in calories
• higher omega-3 fatty acids
• yolks are darker, yellower, indicating a higher nutrient density
• 100 gm of duck egg = 185 KCal of energy vs 149 KCal for chicken
• slightly  higher amounts of selenium, manganese, zinc, copper, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, calcium and iron
• slightly higher amount of thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, folate, vitamin B6, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin B12 and retinol.
• 100 gm of duck eggs = 3.68 gm of saturated fat vs 3.1 gm in chicken
• 50% higher monounsaturated fat
• slightly higher amino acids: threonine, isoleucine, trytophan, leucine, methionine, lysine, cystine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, valine, serine, glycine, proline, aspartic acid, histidine, alanine, and arginine. 
• 100 gm of duck eggs = 884 mg of cholesterol vs 425 mg in chicken

Good Duck Laying Breeds

• Indian Runners: Skiddish, quiet, small, don't fly, interesting upright posture, not a good meat bird, greenish white egg, don't need water to swim in 

  

  Indian Runner Duck

  
  

  

  Indian Runner Duck Bluish Green Eggs

  

  Indian Runner Ducks

  
  

  

  Indian Runner Ducklings

• Khaki Campbells: Pretty, highest egg production of any duck or chicken breed 

  

  Khaki Cambell Ducks

  
  

  

  Khaki Cambell Ducklings

• Pekin: ideal meat bird that's also pretty good egg layer 

  

  Pekin Duckling

  
  

  

  Pekin Duck

• Black Cayuga: Pretty beetle green bird lays an interesting black egg (100-150 eggs per year)

  

  Black Cayuga Duck Egg

  
  

  

  Black Cayuga Duck

  

  Black Cayuga Duckling

Make Ahead Lunches

Ok, I don't have much to write here. I just love this website though: http://easylunchboxes.smugmug.com/The-Best-Lunchbox-System/Yummy-Lunch-Ideas/10136835_YSuyb#!i=893724942&k=TzNHwQd

Practical wild edible plants in abundance locally

You frequently hear about wild edible plants, you might have even gone through the trouble of reading up on some of them. What you might have noticed is most of them are plants you've never heard of before and/or seen in the wild before.

So what i wanted to know was which plants grow abundantly in my neck of the woods? Here's my list.

• Wild Blackberries
• Mulberry
• Pecan - Nov - Dec
• Muscadine
• Wild Strawberry
• Black Walnut
• Hickory
• Wild Onion
  
• Dandelions - roots, leaves, and flower are edible. Can be harvested year round
  
• White Oak Acorns - Sep - Oct
• Cattails
• Clovers
• Dead Nettle
• Sassafras
• Daylily