It's Easy Being Green

Homestead Hottie’s pregnancy cravings are ramping up to full-speed these days.  Wait you say, you didn’t announce you were expecting.  You can get filled in on the preps for 2.0 by heading over to Harvest of Daily Life for the details.  As any loving husband should do, I make sure every one or at least most of those cravings are met with attentive detail.  When Momma is happy, everybody is happy!

A couple of days ago Talina got an insane craving for P.F. Changs Chicken Lettuce Wraps.  With her nausea she’s been leaning toward light fare to fill her stomach as anything heavy leaves her feeling like “death” as she says.  Then came the Changs craving and of course, we don’t have one of our favorite restaurants within a quickly drivable radius.  That doesn’t mean I can’t attempt a clone recipe in our own well-equipped kitchen though!

This need for lettuce wraps also spurned a craving for Panda Express Orange Chicken, another one of our family favorites when we “splurge” on eating out.  Loving and cooking Asian food pretty frequently in our household, I’ve been anxiously watching work going on at the new Aihua International Market and so we made a family trip to see if they were open and to round up the necessary supplies for both clone meals and some future Thai cooking.

Aihua International Market just opened on Green River Road just north of the intersection at Lynch. It made for a perfect Sunday afternoon cultural adventure.

Much to our surprise, the parking lot was packed and the store was bristling with customers of several different nationalities all speaking several different languages.  You feel as if you’ve stepped into a completely different country right in little ‘ol Evansville, Indiana.  Walking through the automatic doors, you find yourself staring straight down the cooler case at all sorts of exotic fruits, veggies, herbs and roots neatly stocked and ready for your hot wok.  It’s a lot to look at and easy to get lost in, at least for a foodie like me.

Distracted already but I have to get back to the list: water chestnuts, crushed red chilies, arrowroot, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, Kaffir lime leaves, galangal root and fresh lemongrass.  When it comes to organization, things are a little hard to find at Aihua.  If items are labeled, deciphering the labels is difficult and takes extra time.  Chinese characters stand out above the secondary English printed on many of the packages and it’s nowhere near as simple as grab and dash.  It’s more like hunt and peck, turning over every rock and leaf until you find what you’re looking for.  The rice wine vinegar and red chilies were located without much effort.  The rest required a tour guide and the staff was eager to please.

The first woman I found stocking the shelves couldn’t speak English and apologized profusely that she couldn’t help me.  It was cute and I could tell she felt really bad so that didn’t stop her from flagging down the woman who seemed to be running the ship.  As she determinedly breezed past, dark chin length hair perfectly quaffed and not moving an inch as she headed toward the store room, she quickly whipped her hand to the shelf without even looking and grabbed the only tiny, elusive bottles of sesame oil they had to offer.  That’s anther check off the list.

Now to find those water chestnuts, I flagged down a tall Asian man wandering about the aisles.  He intently tried to understand what a water chestnut was, trying to correlate in his mind the proper translation so he could lead me to the right spot on the shelf.  After a couple minutes he enlisted the help of a pre-teen Asian girl, her white fuzzy ski cap bouncing between aisles crammed with shoppers as she scurried about.  She had the matriarch of the store, now back and standing strong at the register, translate and tell the man where to take me for water chestnuts.  Check!

Realizing the young girl was my lifeline to finding the other unusual ingredients I needed, I quickly tracked her back down and spewed out my laundry list of ingredients.  She led me from one corner to the next, quietly reading my list back out-loud as she pointed and plucked the items from the shelves.  Kaffir lime leaves were tucked away in an unlabeled bag, hidden in the cooler like a treasure only available to those who seek it out.  I felt like I belonged in an underground club as she measured two handfuls of the aromatic glossy green lime leaves into a smaller sandwich bag for me.  Then she grabbed a stalk of fresh lemongrass and finally showed me the galangal roots and let me pick which one I wanted for our soup pot.  Check, check and check.

Now I know to look for my fresh ingredients by sight next time and not by hand-written sign. From top to bottom: glangal root, lemongrass and Kaffir lime leaves

Standing in line at the checkout, a tiny, older Asian woman was purchasing a cardboard box filled with all sorts of noodles and vegetables.  When it came time to pay, out came a credit card.  “You pay with card?  Where you’re cash?” the matriarch demanded.  The customer said something unintelligible to which the owner replied “You know better!  Cash better!  Next time!” as she pulled out a credit card triplicate form and began rubbing an imprint on the counter.  The dread hit me as I only had a dollar bill in my pocket but that was before I spotted a small, hand-written sign that said cash only under $10.  Knowing Homestead Hotties love for Tiger Balm, we quickly grabbed a tube to bring our total above the $10 mark.

Our visit to the international food store gave new meaning to the term "watching carbs", something Everly adored.

Darling Daughter Everly had a blast taking in all the different languages and foreign items displayed throughout the store.  The biggest kick came from a tub of live blue carbs (really crab but that’s how it was spelled) crawling over each other and looking for a way out.  The Asian women adored little miss Everly and her bright red hair and even gifted her with a special magic wand-like lollipop at the check-stand.  Her grin was priceless and so was the fun in finding some real culture here in Evansville.  Oh yeah, the dinner of Chicken Lettuce Wraps and Orange Chicken turned out pretty damn good too, except for the fact that nausea kept my Homestead Hottie from really enjoying it too.  There’s always leftovers!

I would encourage any international foodie to stop by Aihua sometime and don’t forget to bring cash.

Nothing like a magic-wand lollipop to make a girl's day!

Popularity: 15% [?]

Our house here at the Half-Acre Homestead is filled to the brim with houseplants and some outdoor plants that get ushered inside for a little extra protection from Old Man Winter.  From pines to cacti, orchids to lipstick plant and bananas to oranges, we have a full slew of plants to share space with.  Unfortunately, it’s also a draw for the four-legged felines that also grace our home.

This winter I was dead set on growing a box of lettuce and another box of herbs in the windows of our sunroom.  It also serves as our office but gets an abundant amount of winter light thanks to an entire wall of windows and three skylights that grace the vaulted ceiling.  Shortly after planting, some of our gracious gatos insisted on making these planters their new potty place.  It’s a common frustration felt by any feline fancier who also fancies their indoor greens.

We’ve had limited success topping planter boxes or pots with fine-meshed chicken or garden wire.  It will deter for awhile until they get jumped on so much that the plants underneath end up smashed into an oblivion.  A different trick though involves knitting needles.  Yes, those deadly looking devices some knit-wits can use to whip up a shoulder shawl or even better, a classic Christmas sweater, can deter your cats from doing the unthinkable.  Pick knitting needles of a dark color and insert a few of them into the potting soil so they protrude about two to three inches out of the soil.  The dark color will help hide the needles from human eyes but will most definitely keep that precocious critter from squashing your plant just to pop a squat.

These Pot Toppers also make a great long-term solution for warding off your frisky felines

If you’re looking for a more long-term solution (prepare for a shameless family plug now), my father-in-law has come up with an ingenious invention called a Pot Topper.  He custom makes them from cut stone; any color, any size.  Both are great ways to save your plants and your nerves.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Cruising the backroads of western Kentucky and making deliveries these past couple of days after Christmas, I’ve already seen some scattered Christmas trees thrown into the drainage ditches.  Some have been carelessly tossed on the front porch as if waiting for a magic ride to the dump or perhaps waiting for a hitch to the next rural ditch somewhere.  While some could argue this is redneck composting at its finest, this is not the preferred way to recycling your evergreen tree.

Here at the half-acre homestead, we usually keep our tree up until January 2nd, when we are finally all but drained of festive holiday feelings and yearn for the return of our living room.  Well, maybe the return of one, little used corner of the living room but the though is the same nonetheless.  In years where we’ve lived in a house with a fireplace, the Yule Log will get stripped of its branches and be left to dry for burning next year.  The same can be held true for the outdoor firepit.  True the romance isn’t quite the same but the novelty can ring out for all your neighbors to see.  I know what’s coming next because it is by far a Midwestern specialty.  No, I don’t think burn barrels or burn piles qualify for the same appropriate disposal of Ihren Weihnachtsbaum.  For all of you non-Germans in this pro-German area, that’s “your Christmas tree” in deutscher Sprache.

If you don’t have a neighbor handy with a chipper or shredder you can borrow, simply take advantage of one of two drop-off locations on either side of the Ohio.  In Evansville, you can drop your tree off at Newman Park near where the nature trails begins.  The city parks department says there are signs already posted and even some trees which have already been dropped off.  The Christmas trees will be chipped and mulched for use in the local parks.  The last day for drop-off is January 7th.  In Henderson, you can drop off your trees at the Newman Recreational Complex on Sand Lane through January 8th.  Don’t forget to remove as much tinsel and ornaments as possible because those items don’t beautify the forest floor or local tree trunks anymore than that Styrofoam thirst-quencher cup tossed out the window.  Most of all, please don’t ditch your tree in a drainage ditch, farm field or other illegal dump site.

Do you know of another Tri-State Christmas tree recycling drop-off point?  Leave a comment and share with our other readers so the word can spread!  Happy mulching!

Popularity: 14% [?]

It’s Saturday and still dark out which means it’s time for me to gear up and get ready to make my last rounds of deliveries for the week today.  Before I take off, I like to check my email and peruse the scheduled happenings of the day.  One event I’m sad I’m going to miss is the launch of the new Nissan Leaf this afternoon.

In a bid of creative social marketing, the folks at Nissan will be streaming live the delivery of their first electric car to one lucky customer.  What better of a way to build hype around a green product than to involve the rest of the world at the same time.  I’ve followed the Leaf from conception to pre-order and am now excited to see the thing finally hitting the streets of our nation.  Homestead Hottie even has her eye on one now so maybe there will be a Leaf in our near future.

We need more of this kind of ingenuity and excitement around products that will help us maintain a sustainable life here on Mother Earth.  I’m hoping more U.S. companies will get on the wagon and start planning for our future, not only to save our world but to put our workers and our country as a whole back on track to lead the world by example and thus bring back prosperity.

If you’d like to join in the Nissan Leaf Event today (scheduled for 1:30 PST), than click this link.

Popularity: 6% [?]

It’s true.  Just a year after unveiling It’s Easy Being Green 2.0, I decided to make a leap and redesign and upgrade again.  A lot of has to deal with the loss of my job as a TV anchor and reporter and a quest to pursue the things that I am so passionate about in life, one of those of course being my blog.  I will be pouring a lot more time and energy into my site, providing you with new and exciting content including videos.  Stay tuned for the unveiling of that!

In the meantime, subscribe to my feed and peruse what’s already here and don’t forget, it’s easy being green!

Popularity: 3% [?]

Is the price we pay for food really worth the impacts it will have on our life in the future?  I think it’s a question more Americans should be asking themselves as they cue in line for a meal at the drive-thru or pull in to the local convenience store as they nab 44-ounces of carbonated diabetic bliss iced in a Styrofoam cup.

If more Americans took the time to learn about how their food is made they would inevitably make smarter choices.  King Corn, a documentary highlighting the amazing influence corn has on our daily lives, is just another wake up call for people to change the way they think about the means in which they fuel their body.  I’m left wondering why a product that is nutritionally void for humans, deadly to the animals that eat it and is worth next to nothing on the open market is so beloved by our federal government.

As the harvest ramps up here in southwestern Indiana, more and more fields of Number 2 corn are meeting the combine this week.  I’m glad I watched the film King Corn, the brainchild of two college buddies, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis.  It has given me a new perspective on a harvest process that I used to think was quaint and steeped in tradition but now I know is anything but.  According to the Environmental Working Group, more than $50 Billion has been paid to subsidize corn farmers in the past decade. Between 2003 and 2005, 66% of those subsidies only went to 10% of our farmers.

The Global Development and Environmental Institute in a report titled Industrial Livestock Companies’ Gains from Low Feed Prices showed just how far those grain subsidies stretch in our food system.  Between 1997 and 2005, the industrial broiler chicken industry saved $11.25 Billion and the industrial hog industry saved $8.5 Billion from the very farm bill policies that keep corn and soybean prices below the price of production.

King Corn goes on to show the dramatic rise in human consumption of high-fructose corn syrup over the past three decades and the severe health consequences we as Americans now face because of it.  I highly recommend this documentary to anyone interested in learning the impacts brought about by what you might think is just a quaint field of corn.

If you’re interested in purchasing a copy of the DVD:

Popularity: 6% [?]

This past week we had a brief taste of Autumn here in southwest Indiana.  We fell out of our 90 degree temperatures and sticky humidity to land in a string of a few days that left us topping off right around 80 degree during the day and dipped us well into the 50’s at night.  It summoned the first opening of the doors and windows of the season, bringing a halt to the endless whine of the air conditioner for the first time in about three months.

Admittedly the delightfully cool temperatures were a bit of a shock to the system.  My Homestead Hottie bundled up in her fuzzy housecoat and flip-flop slippers morning and night, only breaking free during the afternoon warmth.  I, attentively watching marinated chicken grilling over red hot coals out on the deck, found myself standing as close to the grill as I could get without climbing right in and singeing myself to a crisp.  Darling Daughter has taken to pulling pairs of sweat pants from her dresser and waving them about until we get the message and put them on.

While we were grateful for the change in temperatures and the flirt with Autumn, we’ve found ourselves back in the upper 80’s this week.  The air conditioner has come back on and the windows and doors have found themselves sealed tight, waiting for the next opportunity to let the outdoors in.  The Indian Summer is a good reminder of what is to come and a spur to kick us into gear and hopefully get a good fall crop of vegetables sown before our first frost of the season.

For the past week we’ve been pulling plants ravaged by the long Summer season and sending them to the composter, the beginning of  a re-birth that will find them once again turned back into the soil but in a completely different form than the started.  The open space feels weird.  Sure the garden beds are beginning to look much more clean and tidy but I begin to feel  like I lost a good friend.  I’m missing a plant that produced so much and yet it feels like I just didn’t have enough time together.  The counter tops here at the Half-Acre Homestead tell me otherwise though, filled to the brim with fresh produce and at least two-dozen red, yellow and green hued canning jars preserving the Summer’s bounty.

Some have told us we’re about four weeks away from our first frost.  The long, warm Summer would tell me otherwise and thanks to a quick glance at the Farmer’s Almanac Frost Predictions this week, the good people there predict we’re about 60 days away from our first brush with Old Man Winter.  That means there is plenty of time to reap more goodness from the garden beds before we have to put it away.  Homestead Hottie and I have been busily sowing lettuce, spinach, peas, snow peas, carrots, potatoes, green onions, swiss chard, turnips, beets and radishes.  All are cool-season crops that, in theory, should grant our dinner plates with some more wholesome goodness before we begin dipping into storage.  I’m also experimenting, planting some Butternut squash to see if by chance we can eek out a supply of sweet winter treats.

It is also time for me to dig out a large stack of old, wood-framed windows I picked up thanks to Freecycle.  They will form at least one new cold frame in the square foot garden, hopefully keeping one of the beds warm enough to extend the season for some produce into Winter.  My to-do list once again begins to grow making me feel a bit like the local squirrels beginning their seasonal acrobatics, hop-scotching around to build their nest and food cache before a long Winter’s rest.

Popularity: 9% [?]