Pork chops with a tangy, sweet apricot brandy sauce In this Pork Chops with Apricot Brandy Sauce recipe, you'll learn: Soak dried apricots in brandy to hydrate the apricots and infuse them with flavor Spice combination of ground ginger and cumin adds warmth,...
A lovely reader sent a package of his homegrown star anise spice. Have you ever used star anise before? Normally, when I buy them at the Asian market, they look like they've been picked through - none of the "stars" even resemble stars. Upon opening the bag, there is...
Our new "mail-order" baby chicks are now about 1 month old. For the first couple of weeks, the baby chicks are so adorable and teeny that you just want to keep them in your house and pet them all day! Well, the bigger they get, the more they eat. The more they eat,...
Four and a half years ago, Diane crossed the Mexican border with "contraband" that I had requested via text from Tecate, Mexico. She arrived at my door late at night with a small rolling luggage piece in one hand and a single, red backpack in the other that I...
I'd like to say I'm venture capitalist. Or at least pretend to be one. I've backed just a total of 96 startup projects via Kickstarter and Indiegogo. If you count the additional six projects that I pledged funding to but didn't succeed, that's 105 companies that I've...
Harvest Time! We have been diligently watering our potatoes in a barrel daily, and patiently waiting till it was time to harvest. From what I gather you are supposed to wait till the leaves turn yellow and then harvest. Seems our plants want to keep on growing. They...
The baby chick above is a Blue Silkie Bantam - and will look like this when she grows up: photo from My Pet Chicken Beware of cuteness overload in this video! Baby Chick Hatching Chicken Hatching Equipment This Spring's chicks include: Bantam Blue Silkie (photo...
Hello everyone! I've been "sustainable gardening" for over a year now -- with the aquaponics, hydroponics and microgreens. Some of our experiments are GREAT.... and some....well....let me just show you: Things That Worked Hydroponic Sweet Potatoes (in a barrel) From...
We have been getting a good number of inquiries about microgreens. Seems we have tapped into some curiosity with our original introduction to our microgreens operations. A common question that we get asked frequently is "What is the difference between microgreens,...
Our 5-acre homestead is situated perfect for isolation. To our left is a another 5-acre field that's empty - and beyond that our neighbors have 10 beautiful acres. Behind us is a 40 acre preserve - sort of like a rat's nest of thick prickly pokey Florida bush, palm...
I'm a big coffee nut - years ago I used to buy green beans from Sweet Maria's and roast them myself. One time I even roasted them in a wok that I situated on my outdoor grill! Massive FAIL. Also another fail was the popcorn popper which just made a massive mess that I...
I'm so excited to share with you Scott's latest hobby - actually my FAVORITE hobby of his (the other being Single Malt Scotch - bleh). We've converted an entire room that's located right next to his greenhouse into his Mad Scientist Studio. Here's Scott to tell you...
The Ninja Ultima Blender was sent to us for review. No other bribes were exchanged. All opinions are my own and my kids' 🙂 jaden A few weeks ago we released "First look at the Ninja Ultima Pro Blender" - here's our full video review! This review has been long...
So I posted on Facebook: Andrew is my 10 year old son. I wasn't going to elaborate further on FB, nor did I even intended to bring this up on my blog (it would seem to be somewhat inappropriate for a food blog) but I feel like I must TRY to explain, since I've had 5...
Ever want to compare blenders and see which one does the trick better and for less money? Well, here's a first look comparison of the brand new Ninja Ultima Blender alongside the Vitamix 750. I own both Vitamix and Blendtec blenders but wanted to see how the new Ninja...
Almost exactly a month ago, we ordered 20 fertile duck eggs online and 2 incubators - one for each of the boys' classrooms. For 27 days, the kids took daily measurements of the eggs (weighing each egg over time), monitored growth through a candler, made sure the eggs...
There aren't very many kitchen gadgety-doo-da's that impress both Cheri and me. But let me just get this out upfront. We both were speechless when the chips came out of the microwave - super crispy and crunchy. WHAT???? A microwave does this?? Yup. It did. With no...
Each morning, after breakfast and before school, the kids go out and do their morning chores, which includes feeding the chickens, gathering eggs, watering the garden and feeding the ducks. We started out with 2 ridiculously handsome Pekin ducklings and 1 Khaki...
Garlic Press Review I recently bought the NexTrend GarlicPress and was really impressed with it. I found out later that you can easily smash the garlic with the press to easily take off the peel, and then grind it in the press. A more detailed review of what I...
*** UPDATE *** We are proud to announce the completion of the Steamy Kitchen Palace Chicken Coop Construction Drawings. A 32 Page PDF showing every detail and measurement needed to recreate this chicken coop. It was professionally created by a licensed architect and...
