jsolomon

Don't forget, there is the other other method of organic farming that works great on a small scale. You can control bugs and some plants with various animals such as ducks, turkeys, chickens, and geese. However, this is only feasible on the scale of a large garden, perhaps up to a few tens of acres (yeah, so that's a really darn big garden). Fifi's right. Even here in Nebraska, it's damned hard to keep the grasshoppers down. We just got a few days of subzero weather, and those SOB's with still be back next year. Okay, I just read the regs, and as a chemist, I'm on a bit of a soapbox next. Read at your own risk. There are sections in the regs from National Organic Program that really chap my ass. If we start at page 427, section 205.601 where they have the sythetic substances and following that, the nonsynthetic substances allowed. Can someone please give me a lucid argument why you can only use glycerin of non-synthetic origin? Glycerin is glycerin. It doesn't matter whether it came from olive oil, avocadoes, cows, or a factory. The stuff is still 3 carbon atoms 6 hydrogen atoms, and 3 oxygen atoms. There is no difference in how any of them act chemically or physically. Not one iota or epsilon. There is bad science and much NIMBY (not in my backyard fear) wrong-headedness that I see from reading those recommendations. I am disappointed in this program. It should be overhauled or scuttled. These regulations are shit. [/soapbox]

docsconz, is this something you are going to promote with your wine-prescription?

Clifford, I would suspect that if you backed off the time to 3.5 or 4 minutes, you will have better luck. As an aside question, do you use a blade or a burr grinder? I use a blade grinder, and I find that press-pot coffee is slightly inferior to filtered coffee because the nature of grinding with a blade creates a lot of small schmutz which makes the coffee bitter before its time. Best of luck!

Wow, I go for 18 grams in a 12-ounce cup. I must like my coffee super-strong. Funny thing is, even my non-coffee-appreciating friends really like my coffee. I blame having a close personal relationship with day-out-of-the-roaster coffee FWIW, I use a melitta cone. I also have noticed that water temperature is a very difficult thing to control, but yields the most variance in a cup.

:drool: Methinks we need a new emoticon to go with that opening espresso maker on Schielke's link!

Ack! Now I've got pink poisoning! Thank G*d I'm wearing green today. Wait. Aw crap. That means I'll be eating MRE's. Someone want my jalapeno cheese spread? I'm keepin' the cracker.

Hmm... are either of you looking for a young-ish bachelor with an appetite?

problem is - in general - i reaaallly need to take a vacation. and please, stop rubbing it in - i can almost taste that corn - doesn't even need butter - right? Weeellllllllll, that depends on the quality of the butter. However, for people who have never experienced, I think I can pass an open invite to small groups. Provided they want to travel to central Nebraska. I can very nearly guarantee you the best sweet corn, tomatoes, beef, and pork you've had in your life when you visit. But, the presentation might not be 3-star level. We are farmers.... central Nebraska And for a photo tour... Clickety Edit to add: Current Weather

[sHOCK!] I have been so spoiled by good sweet corn that I only eat it for 1 week a year... when the stuff is ripe. Then, we take a day and put up a bunch of sweet corn as a family. You definitely need to take a vacation somewhere to where there is real sweet corn that you can eat 10 minutes from the plant.

I'm not too old to cut the mustard; I just can't get the jar open by myself.

Burpee's has a quite interesting section of uniquely colored tomatoes. I forgot to put one more thing in my previous posts. Toasted marshmallows. These are infinitely superior to plain. Don't even speak to me about marshmallow cream. There is a special place in heck reserved for people who purvey that stuff.

Hrm... I usually eat close to 21 meals from scratch every week. Breakfasts are usually a boiled egg and coffee. My definition of homecooked does not include reheating something packacked at a store, with the exception of high-quality frozen vegetation. Usually even that gets seasoned and a kiss from a screeching hot pan or the broiler with some lemon juice. I spend a lot of time grilling, broiling, and sauteing. However, I recently found steamed squash and blanched spinach as wonderful mealtime companions. Also, the grill is WONDERFUL for roasting marshmallows to have afterwards with the beer still left in the 6-pack.

As a follow up to Meat Grinders I would like some recipes for sausages. The things I have easy access to are beef and pork and chicken. My inclination would be for beef and/or pork sausage. Cased or not. Thanks in advance!

Have you noticed how many of the large meat packers have been consolidating lately?

Docsconz, in the current Placebo Journal there is an account of a doctor who wrote a script for a one-way trip to Puerto Rico for a young lady, so perhaps marketing your own "Tincture of Wine, USP" for $250+ per bottle would be a good gimmick

They're always hiring. Just get a job there for a few days and you'll have more than enough access

Anna, I think the grinder knife you are interested in would look something like this. Clickety clack clack

JAZ, if you still have them, why not use them with molten sugar? Then you would not have the cold problem, and they would still be edible. And, for those really nasty annoying low-tipping codgers, you could get them one that's still hot enough to boil out all the booze

I've always found that growing your own tomatoes makes you find that most of the crispy supermarket variety are lacking in an utterly stronger sense of the term lacking. Who heard of a crispy pink tomato being appetizing anyway? Also, salady things. Fresh lettuce, herbs, and other greens has made me appreciate the bitter flavors that Americans don't seem to appreciate as much as sweet and salty. But... the ultimate thing that has ruined me, besides fresh-roasted coffee, is homemade hot cocoa. Even with Hershey's cocoa, which I doubt is at the top of the heap, it's dead simple, quick, and satisfying like comfort food ought to be. It has the added benefit of, if you serve it on a date and your date isn't weird, you score major points! My current S.O. is weird. How disappointing.

I forgot the most important thing: convince my S.O. that I will not allow a smooth glass-topped range in my kitchen, no matter how "pretty" it looks. I've burned myself too many G.D. times at my brother's house. Also, I grew up cooking with gas and have no intention of changing from it.

How quickly does one of those come up to grilling temperature after you dump in hot charcoal from a chimney? I am thinking of pointing an uncle the Kamado/Big Green Egg way, and don't want him to think he was told about a Super Ultra Flame Jet 3 and instead purchased the Kitty Crapper 5000 [again]

East side.... I live in Nebraska, hence the signature.

Mine would have to be activated charcoal. Definitely wacky.

Yes, but these are mountains on the east side of the range. This being so, the wind has already dropped its moisture on the west side, so there's not a whole lot of precip to support much growth. Also, cattle are not mountain goats. Cattle do well on hills, to be sure. But, cattle do not do well on rocks, high rises, and low-quality grass. The reason a lot of this ground is still under the BLM is because it would literally cost more to sell the land than it would to lease. You should really look at some of this land. It's pretty, yes, but, it is dry, desolate, and well-nigh uninhabitable. This is no hand-out they are getting from the US of A. This is just as bad as a company town. They earn just enough to stay in debt. I am certain that Mabelline has seen this sort of thing. It's quite sobering.

I think you're taking me out of context. I put a lot of faith in the FDA. I work in the medical field giving drugs to poor saps who come under my care, and I have spent time researching drugs as well. I think there are a good many times that the FDA has come through for Americans. Granted, I can think of at least as many ways in which their oversight has kept beneficial drugs from coming to the pharmacopeia. But, a lot of my criticism of the FDA is a social argument and a satiric commentary on our current society. Be that as it may, allergic reactions can be very serious life threats at times. I applaud you for listening to your body. However, since I don't hold that foodstuffs such as peanuts which have a higher incidence of serious allergy should have a warning lable or be pulled from the shelves, I don't think that aspartame should be pulled because of a handful of isolated allergies. At some point the consumer has to take responsibility for the foods they put in their mouths, just as the consumer, not the producer is responsible when some poor shlub chokes to death in a steak house because he couldn't chew his well-done piece of leather. That's why I get mine seared and warm, and not much else