Will I See You In Dallas?

I admit it. I’m actually a bit nervous. I spend most of my time at home — homeschooling three little ones, working on the Food Renegade site and related projects, and housekeeping. It suits me because I’m an introvert. I enjoy writing, emailing, blogging. I enjoy being with my family. I guess I’m a homebody. I’m the sort of person that goes to hear Joel Salatin speak, but I don’t introduce myself despite the fact that we’ve shared email exchanges and he’s written guest posts for me before.

So, what’s an introvert like me doing going to the 2011 Wise Traditions Conference in Dallas, TX next month? Why am I subjecting myself to a crowd of like-minded people? Rubbing shoulders with folks like Sally Fallon Morell, Mark McAffee, Dr. Mercola, and others? What was I thinking when I agreed to get up in front of an audience and actually speak in public about my experience blogging?

I’ll tell you what I was thinking. I was thinking “Boo-Yah!”

Harvesting And Saving Seeds

Perhaps one of the best advantages to growing your own vegetables and fruits from open-pollinated seeds is that you can save seeds. Harvesting the seeds of your best performing plants and saving them for the next year’s garden not only keeps gardening costs low, but it also ensures that each year your garden produces healthier, more productive plants that are better adapted for your specific soil and growing conditions.

Real Food Link Love

It’s time! Time to share a roundup of some of my favorite Real Food lovin’ links from around the web. Most of these are recipes or are related to cooking somehow, so dig in! Hope you enjoy them all as much as I did.

Scholarship Winner, FREE Lesson, AND Last Day To Save $50

First, let me say this. I was overwhelmed by your stories! To everyone who took the time to nominate a loved one for a scholarship to Jenny’s How To Cook Real Food online cooking class, I say “Thank you!” Each of you shared your need, your desire, your hope. I was quite affected.

Needless to say, there are a lot of reasons to take Jenny’s course. Whether you’re new to the world of cooking Real Food or not, there are a lot of benefits to taking her course. New cooking techniques. Menu planning. Budgeting. Creating your own recipes. Eating seasonally, locally, and ethically. Most of you had health issues which served as wake up calls to healthier, cleaner eating. Many of you simply wanted to get the extra push you needed to make the next few important steps in your journey to eating Real Food all the time. Regardless of your reasons, thanks for sharing your stories.

Win A Scholarship For Online Cooking Lessons

Making the transition to cooking and eating REAL food can be daunting. Many of us thrive on the challenge. Others of us despair. How are we supposed to tackle cooking all these nourishing foods from scratch when we either don’t know how to cook or have always, like the recipes in so many cooking magazines, been dependent on boxed or pre-packaged ingredients? It’s like saying we baked a “homemade” cake when really it was just a cake mix that we added eggs and oil to. Or saying we cooked a casserole when really we just emptied canned veggies into bakeware and mixed in canned cream of mushroom soup and jar of Cheese Whiz. People may compliment us on the food, but we know better.

Our standards have changed, but we’re out of our depths. What do you do when recipes make things sound so easy, but when you follow the directions (exactly!) you get a semi-regular stream of costly kitchen disasters? You are learning from your mistakes, but you would LOVE to just skip right over them and be a better cook already. That way you can get these fabulously healthy foods into your families without them putting up such a huge fight.

How To Create Your Own Recipes

Last year, I took an online cooking class taught by Jenny at Nourished Kitchen that revolutionized my cooking skills. Jenny is a home chef, a fellow Real Food Media blogger, and a farmer’s market manager. She’s also a top-notch teacher who can help you learn all the basics of how to cook nourishing, real foods easily in your own kitchen. What did Jenny do that no other online teacher has ever done for me?

She inspired me. One of the greatest benefits for me of taking her How To Cook Real Food class was actually learning how to not be dependent on recipes. Yes, the course included more than a hundred tried and true recipes that were easy to follow. But it also taught me how to develop my own recipes.

Government Data Proves Raw Milk Safe

Thanks to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease control, we finally have the numbers we need to determine the statistical safety of drinking raw milk. Turns out, raw milk really is safer than just about any other food out there — including spinach, peanut butter, and eggs.

Organic Pest Control Tips For Your Garden

If you’ve committed yourself to an organic garden, you’ve probably heard the stories. They’re legendary. They’re the stories of fellow organic growers whose soil is so healthy, whose plants are so vibrant, whose diversified crops are so varied that they never, ever have any real problems with pests. The idea is that if your garden is truly healthy, it won’t attract pests. Sure, they may come. They may nibble on a few leaves here or there, but they don’t stick around. That’s how the story goes. Only sick plants get eaten by pests. Only sick plants are susceptible to fungus or mold. Only sick plants….

Maybe there’s truth to those stories. After all, I can’t deny the results when I walk through my local community garden. There are some gardeners who’ve taken such good care of their little plot of soil year after year that you can literally see the difference. Nevertheless, when you’re newly starting out, when gardening is not your passion, when your time is limited and you’re a little on the lazy side (like me!), you probably don’t have the soil of legends. You’ve got the soil of the suburban backyard.

So, how are you supposed to keep pests at bay while still sticking to your organic principles?

Easy Grain-Free Lunch Ideas

As a homeschooling mother, I rarely have to pack a lunch for my kids, but I do have to pack a lunch for my husband. Packing tasty, husband-pleasing lunches seems just as difficult as packing kid-pleasing lunches. We finally hit upon a system that seems to work, so I thought I’d share it with all of you. Whether you’re packing your own lunch for the office, a lunch for your kids, or a lunch for your spouse, the same principles can be used to make sure you serve a filling, nutrient-dense meal.

Scientists Create Meat Out Of Feces

You can’t make this stuff up. Japanese scientists have taken proteins found in human feces and engineered edible, artificial steaks out of it. Of course, as with any fake meat, the steaks — which many claim tastes “just like beef” — are pumped full of artificial food dyes and dangerous soy proteins. Why would you possibly want to eat steaks created out of human excrement?