As someone that enjoys cooking and baking, I am always searching for ways to improve the quality of the food and the cost of the preparation. With skyrocketing food costs, seasonings and spices are increasingly priced at a premium.

One way that I have found to reduce costs is to make my own vanilla extract. Of course, my daughter would patiently explain that it wasn't really an extract since I don't actually squeeze vanilla juice out of the beans. Instead it is a tincture...blah, blah, blah. I'm sure she's right. Well, whatever you want to call it, I find that I am now free to use as much of the resulting liquid in any recipe that I want, yielding a far richer flavor. Baked goods made with homemade vanilla are never bland. This is so simple, that I usually only make up a batch once per year. Today happens to be that day!

The steps are simple:

1.) Order vanilla beans. (I find my beans on Ebay)

2.) Make lengthwise slits in the beans

3.) Fill a pint-sized canning jar with either vodka or rum

4.) Add 4 or 5 slitted vanilla beans to each jar

5.) Place jar in a dark place for 3 months to allow the vanilla to
flavor the liquor

6.) Once a week or so, give the jar a little shake

7.) Once the vanilla is aged to perfection, you can pour it from the canning jar into an easy to pour bottle. We like to reuse glass maple syrup bottles for this purpose. Do not store the vanilla in a plastic container, as it could cause the chemicals in the plastic to leach into the liquid and alter the flavor.

8.) Add to any recipe that calls for vanilla extract & enjoy!

They say that you can surmise a lot about someone by the things that they discard in their trash. Our trash collector will probably think we threw a wild party based upon the empty liquor bottles in the recycling bin. I'll be expecting the faithful readers at GRIT to vouch for my character and explain that the only wild thing around here is this groundhog in the backyard!

I spotted this little joker yesterday. Why didn't someone tell me that it was Groundhog Day? I hope this isn't a bad omen for the 2012 garden. 

As a kid, I remember working out behind the barn. I was tasked with the removal of the stinging nettles that grew there. Despite the long pants and rubber gloves that I wore, I always managed to get stung by them somewhere…usually on my upper arms or at my ankles as they were increasingly exposed as I went through a growth spurt. It is kind of ironic that almost 30 years later, I actually want to plant and cultivate nettles for their food value. It is hard to believe that a plant that can cause you to feel that you’ve been poked by tiny needles can also be a protein-packed powerhouse of a green loaded with vitamins A and D. Long used as a medicinal in medieval Europe, nettles were used to treat joint pain and as a diuretic to rid the body of excess water.

In order to be able to prepare them for eating, the plants are harvested and allowed to wilt. Once wilted, they no longer have the ability to sting and gloves are no longer necessary for handling. Treat the greens like spinach after washing them and they make a tasty side dish. Many people actually prefer the taste of nettles to that of spinach. I just don’t notice much of a difference. For me the beauty of growing nettles is that I can sow them virtually anywhere and they will take care of themselves. I won’t have to weed them and they will re-seed themselves each year. Yes, my secret is out. I am indeed a lazy gardener!

While doing the research about growing nettles, I was struck by the vast amount of information available on the internet. It seemed that every article stressed that the plants prefer a phosphorus rich environment and are one of the few plants that can actually thrive in soil that has been enriched with poultry droppings. Raising quail, we have plenty of that!

The most helpful information that I found was a list of things that can ease the pain once you've been stung. It seems that the cures for the irritation can often be found growing in close proximity to an outcropping of nettle. The common dock plant (Rumex) or jewelweed (Impatiens Pallida & Impatience Capensis) can provide relief when crushed and rubbed on the affected area.

 Now that I'm older, I now recognize both of those plants as being the other weeds that I was tasked with removing as a child. Who would have guessed that the cure was so close at hand?

My mailbox has been filling up in recent weeks. While a part of me hates to think of the number of trees that have been sacrificed to produce this year's crop of seed catalogs, another part of me is jumping up and down with glee.

 It is finally time to begin planning the 2012 garden. That's right! Regardless of whether or not the world ends on December 21st (as predicted by the Mayans)we still want fresh veggies to enjoy throughout the summer and fall.

 I always approach the garden with such optimism. The plan usually includes some innovative design plot that I've seen over the years at nearby Cornell University. When I'm in garden planning mode, weeds drought and garden pests don't exist. Instead, every vegetable is envisioned in a blemish free state and is the epitome of perfection.

Despite all of the choices offered by the seed companies, we actually buy very little. We have lots of commercially packaged seed from prior gardening years. We are also fairly good seed savers with much of the saved seed coming from heirloom & non-hybrid vegetable varieties. This means that we will see fairly consistent results from the seeds that we collect each year.

Last year, we grew groundcherries for the first time. Related to the tomato, the plants were started in the greenhouse and did very well in our soil. Those seeds were the result of a particularly wonderful seed swap that we do with an internet friend in Wyoming.

We have seeds to grow the things that we like to eat & some for things that we don't!  Unloved seeds, like okra and rutabaga, are traded away to people that actually (shudder) like to eat them. Seed swaps are an excellent way to taste test new veggies and to see if they will do well in your type of soil.

Each year, we decide to try a few new varieties of something but we try to spend exactly $26. Why $26? Because many of the seed companies offer free shipping or discount coupons redeemable on purchases over $25. A good portion of that $26 is spent on permaculture. Things that we can plant once and reap the harvest from for a number of years. Though I love to garden, I really don't like to work so hard at it!