So as we are approaching the time of the year when the weather doesn't know what it is supposed to be doing, from appearances, but in reality, it does, so all is well, even though it drives us insane. But the good thing about it is that it gives us a little more time to get up and ready for our gardening project.

So what does a Balanced Diet have to do with the soil in the garden? What you need to do is consider the soil to be as you are, you need a balanced diet to be healthy and to function. The reason why we are looking at the soil in the garden area in this light is that the soil is full of all kinds of living organisms that require a balanced diet, much as we have the same requirement. So when we feed the soil we are actually feeding all of those little creepy crawly things that we might be able to see, not only them but untold numbers of little tiny ones that we can't see. They require all kinds of diets. Many of them depend on other creepy-crawly ones for their diet. I don't...

Leiann asked me to do a write-up for all of you with this particular item that you received.

   Neroli water, as we will call it from here on out, is one of the more widely used distillate waters of all of the ones that are used. Neroli water is used in a number of different food products as an aromatizer. For the most part, it is used in a number of North African cuisines as well as a few Middle eastern areas for an ingredient in their cuisines.  It is also used in Mexican Wedding Cakes and some specialized foods in the US. Since I am not much of a cook, I can't give you any real unique ways and amounts to use in your cooking. But I am sure that most of you are very good at making creative dishes, so I think you can cover that aspect. It is also used as a freshener for people's hands before dining at some high-end facilities in some countries. But that practice is sort of going by the wayside.

   Neroli water is also used as a medicine in some...

A few weeks ago I mentioned here that Leiann and I were going to a Farm and Food Conference. It was held in Cedar City, Utah and we have been in attendance for the past 3 days. I was asked to post here after each day's activities that went on that day. But as things happened, it moved a little faster than I could keep up with, so I didn't do it. So tonight I wanted to make mention of it and make note of a few highlights.

The First day I was supposed to attend a certification class that was related to the FSMA, aka; Food Safety Modernization Act. I have made mention of this Federal Level series of "policies" that have been signed in to law. This is a massive overhaul of the laws regarding food production in the US. I mean this is massive and has far-reaching effects on many aspects of food production and even the serving and selling of food. Our friends in the great white north also have their version of this law with similar far-reaching effects. Anyway, the people that were doing...

Lime oil is not an oil that is just one type of "Lime" oil. There are several types out there. Many times the Lime will carry a qualifier such as Persian, Mexican, etc. This is not in reference to the country that they are sourced from, but rather the type of Lime oil.  I don't want to go into a lot of comparing and contrasting of the types, so we will only make passing references to the other types and focus on the type that we do use. The type we use is the Mexican type, aka Key Lime oil. But the Key lime is sourced from the peel after the fruit has ripened and turned yellow. It is usually steam distilled. The one we typically use is the same Mexican type, but obtained by using the green fruit, before ripening, and the method of extraction is from Cold Pressing or also known as Expressed. The label of cold-pressed is the more common name and that is the name we use. The various types of Lime oil and from the 2 main methods of obtaining the oils will all come in with similar...

Today we are going to discuss some aspects of our gardening endeavors. This won't require a whole lot of physical work but will require some thought to guide your actions later on.  One of the greatest obstacles to a successful garden is the people that are doing the gardening and this is derived from faulty ideas built on myths that no one understands the origins of. Well, I guess we can have some ideas on where they came from and that is from the chemical modeling of farming, and adapting those chemical farming ideas to our gardening.  I have labeled this as part #1, as it will take several parts to discuss the various ideas that you need to get your head around. This part will deal mostly with Nitrogen management. What will be discussed can have a slight variation based on the Carbon Pathway followed, as in the C-3, C-4, and CAM types of plants, but the variation isn't much and the ideas apply just the same, for purposes of this discussion.

When working with...