Hey all!

I’ve recently found a new love.  If you’ve never looked at a Foxfire anthology, you are missing out.  Foxfire was a magazine started by a high school English class in Southern Appalachia in 1966.  The magazine began when high school teacher Elliot Wiggington was almost ready to give up on his first semester teaching.  The students were unruly and uninterested in learning.  But rather than resort to punishments and insults to force the students into obedience, he decided to try something different.  By offering the students the opportunity to choose a project to work on, Wiggington was able to generate interest and give the students the chance to learn what he needed to teach while also learning leadership and other skills.  The Foxfire Project was a smashing success.  You can read the full story of how it got started by clicking here.

Many of the articles in the anthologies are how-tos about lost skills, such as log cabin building, hog butchering, and other things related to self-sufficiency (which is itself a lost art).  But there are also many human interest articles, and these shatter the myth that the people of Appalachia are nothing more than crude, uncivilized, inbred freaks.  Sure, they speak with a different dialect than many of us, they may have less education than some of us, but they are every bit as human, every bit as intelligent, and every bit as compassionate (in some cases, more) as we are.  But most of all, the image gained from these articles are of a people with a rich, deep, though difficult, life spent living close to the land.

I believe these books are relevant to the mission of this site, namely exploring a sustainable, biblically based lifestyle, for several reasons.  First, these books can teach skills that will enable us to make or find many items that we currently purchase, thus saving money and reducing the amount of resources used in manufacturing.  Second, the lifestyle of the people of the region, though difficult, has much to teach us about cooperating to help each other.  Neighbors share food, share work, and share fun times much more than those of us who sit at home each night, glued to our computers or television sets.  Third, the simplicity of their lives has much to teach those of us who are engaged in a quest for more money, more stuff, rather than the truly important things like quality relationships and healthy lives.

So, like I said, I highly recommend these anthologies.  They are available at amazon.com (search for “Foxfire”) which is great because you can purchase books that are used, thus getting more use out of resources and preventing more landfill waste, or you can purchase them directly from the Foxfire Fund (click here for their online storefront), which is great because your purchase supports the Foxfire Fund directly.  Or, you can simply get borrow them from your local library.  Whichever way you choose, I hope you enjoy them, and learn as much from them as I have!

Author’s Note:  Due to the overwhelming reader response (ok, 1 person expressed a preference), I’m changing where I put the captions.  Each caption will now appear above the picture.  Thanks!

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More garden pics!  Yay!

I chose to plant bush beans instead of pole beans.  Next year, I think I will borrow a technique from the Iroquois.  They used to plant their corn, beans, and squash (known as the “Three Sisters”, click the link for a neat article about them at Nativetech.org) all together.  The corn stalk served as a pole for the beans to climb, the beans put nitrogen in the soil for the corn to use, and the squash vines and leaves served as a groundcover, helping to keep moisture in the soil and prevent erosion.  Pretty cool, huh? It makes me sad when I think of how much we could have learned from the Native Americans when the first Europeans came here, but instead they were killed off and forced off their land.  A truly tragic chapter in our history.

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Here is my pride and joy: my quinoa plants!!  Quinoa is a South American grain that is closely related to amaranth and lamb’s quarter (in fact, a gardener friend of mine very dolefully informed me the other day that my quinoa had been overtaken by weeds because she thought the quinoa plants were lamb’s quarter!  I was so relieved she was wrong!).  The Inca used quinoa extensively.  Quinoa isn’t really a grain, because it didn’t derive from a grass.  It is highly nutritous, and contains some amino acids that are usually only found in meats so it is great for vegetarians and Vegans.

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This is a close-up of some quinoa grains.  They’re not ready to harvest until the leaves fall off.  Quinoa grains are coated with a very bitter, waxy substance, so they need to be rinsed extensively before eating.

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These are some freaky beetles I found eating my plants.  I knocked ‘em off and haven’t seen too many since.  If anyone knows what they are, and how to control them without chemicals, I’d appreciate it if you let me know!

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Well, that’s all the pics for now.  I will have more later, though!

Still more garden pics.  We went from none to a plethora!  (When you have your own blog, you can use fun words like plethora).

The neighborhood kids won’t have to buy pumpkins to carve this year!

These are my mom and dad’s three tomato plants.  I only planted them because they asked me to.  I kept bugging dad to bring his cages over, because they were spreading like crazy.  He finally came over with some stakes and string.  In the bottom right you can see my sad cucumber plant.  He sent out a vine to get some sun because the evil tomatoes were choking him.

Here’s my scrawny little cucumber plant.  He’s already doing much better since we rescued him from the Killer Tomatoes.  I have affectionately named him, “Tiny Tim.”

Here is an actual ripe tomato.  There are TONS of green ones, but only three ripe ones so far.  I’m mystified.

Here’s a question:  Would it be better if I put the caption for the photos above the photos instead of below them?

As promised, here are some more pics of my organic garden project!

I had a bunch of leftover crud from when I made my wife’s flowerbeds, so it became my compost pile!

Some of my baby corn plants.  Aren’t they adorable?  :)  I chose to plant them in 12 six-foot rows instead of fewer long rows.  It took a bit more space, but I think they pollinated better.  I mean, most sweet corn doesn’t get this high…

These are some of my baby honeydew melon plants.  This is actually from my second planting.  The first planting didn’t come up for some reason.  Hopefully we have an easy September so I still get some melons!!

This is what my cute baby corn plants look like now.  This photo is two weeks old, though.  They’ve (finally) started to tassle.  I was getting nervous…

I have no shortage of zucchini.  I planted four seeds in this hill.  Holy cow.

As you can see.  I now have seven of these guys on my counter.  Good thing the family campout is this weekend!  I’ll foist some off on my aunts!

Here’s a look at my pumpkin and zucchini vines.  They’re now spreading into the yard.  My wife hits them with the lawnmower because she forgets they’re there.

More pics to come!

If the title to this post doesn’t conjure up memories of Rocky and Bullwinkle, you make me feel old.

Feelings of dread in regards to my rapidly approaching 30th birthday aside, today is a very special day.  Yes, after months of promises….

*insert drum roll here*

I am posting pictures of my organic garden!

*insert applause and cheers here*

Without further ado, The Greener Christian.com presents:  Todd’s Garden!

I wanted to plant an organic garden for several reasons.  First, I wanted to show my dad that it could be done (he used to farm, and is not a big believer in the organic movement).  To be honest, I wasn’t so sure I could pull it off.   My last experience with gardening was when I was 13, and dad made me weed in our garden at home.  Second, I believe that organic food is not only healthier, tastier, and more nutritious than traditionally grown food, I also believe that the methods used to produce organic food are much better for the environment.  Third, I can’t afford to purchase many organic items at the store, since we’re on a limited budget.  Including tools and seeds, this entire garden cost me around $45.

The only time that non-human powered machines were used was in the initial preparation of the ground (see below).  After that, all weeding, cultivating, harvesting, etc. was (is) all done by hand.  No pesticides or herbicides were used, and the only fertilizers used were the remains of the grasses that had grown there before it was tilled (not that there is anything wrong with other, organic fertilizers; I just didn’t want to spend the money).

I had estimated how much space each vegetable I planted required, and laid out my planting design on a piece of graph paper (yes, I’m a nerd.  Sue me.).  This actually worked very well, because I forgot to buy or make markers for where I had planted things.  So I had to use twigs that had blown off the tree in our yard, and they were tough to see.  So until my plants had sprouted, I navigated using my map.

This is what the ground looked like after it had been “prepared”.  I cheated a bit.   Because of the sheer size of the garden, and the fact that it was all grass before I got started, I asked my uncle to come over with his tractor and plow.  I know, I’m terrible.  But look at all the dead grass fibers that are still left!  Can you imagine cutting through that with a spade?  It would have taken me 3 weeks, working in my spare time, and I was already several weeks behind.  Sue me.

This is how it looked just before I planted.  I had gone through the whole thing with a garden fork, a spade, and my hand-tiller.  The first time I used the hand-tiller, it took me two hours to do a 20×30 plot, and I had a total of 11 blisters on my poor, soft, computer-nerd hands.  The soil was a bit wetter than I liked, but I was on a time crunch.

I didn’t have to do all of this alone.  I had several helpers:

My 3-year-old, Luke;

My 5-month-old, Brennan;

My dog, Max (affectionately also known as “Dippy Dog” when he won’t shut up; note the vacant look in his eyes. He’s still available to a good home.  Let me know if you’re interested);

And our kitten, Agnes (yes, I have a kitten.  I know many of you are in shock.  My wife asked me for some good female Anglo-Saxon names.  I suggested Aethelhild, but she thought that was too odd.  And Agnes isn’t?).

In our next post, we’ll get to see pictures of things actually growing in the dirt!

Living a green lifestyle isn’t just about buying green products, it’s also about using our resources wisely.  So for today’s Green Tips, here are some things that my wife and I do to reduce our waste, save money, and  get the most out of the items we have:

Bargain shopping: My wife is an absolute genius when it comes to our weekly grocery trip.  First, she usually doesn’t let me go with her, which keeps “mystery items” (items that mysteriously appear in the cart by themselves, such as cookies or a five-pound log of summer sausage) out of the cart.  Second, she knows exactly what she’s going to buy when she gets there.   Apparently, Walmart will match competitor’s coupons (at least in our area; check your local stores for details).  In our area, “competitors” means Kroger and Meijer.   So every Friday evening, we sit down and plan what meals we will eat and what I will take in my lunch for that week, based on what’s on sale at the various stores.  So by taking 30 minutes and checking, we get the benefits of sales at three stores yet only have to go to one.  This saves a TON of money and time.

In addition, she looks for coupons.  One of her favorite coupon sites is CouponMom.  I’ve never used it myself, but she loves it and she gets lots of coupons.  Another one we both use is Mypoints.  Mypoints is a nifty little site that offers points for various activities, such as signing up for sponsor offers, reading emails, playing games, shopping, etc.  Many major online retailers offer points bonuses for shopping through the Mypoints portal.  Once you have enough points, you can redeem them for gift cards to a lot of different stores,  restaurants, etc.  I highly recommend it.  One word of caution:  you will get a lot of emails.  I usually just open them, click the link, get my five points for reading it, and then delete it.  Quick and easy, and its perfectly safe to use.  They also publish exclusive weekly coupons, which is why I’m mentioning the site here.  If you are interested in signing up for Mypoints, please shoot me an email, because I get points if I refer you, and I assume you want to be nice to me if you read my blog. 

By using coupons, planning our meals, and price-watching, my awesome wife can usually buy all the food that she, Luke and I will eat, and also the vegetables and fruits for Brennan’s baby food (she makes her own baby food in a $15 personal smoothie maker) for less than $70 a week.  In these times of skyrocketing food costs, that’s quite an accomplishment!

Freecycle

Freecycle groups are groups of likeminded people in a geographical area who are committed to reducing waste.  Members can post items they want or need, or items that they no longer use and want to offer to others.  It’s absolutely free to join, and items must be offered for free.  I’ve gotten some great stuff, and some stuff that would normally have gone to a landfill is now being used.  I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in keeping our waste down.

Utilities

Utility costs keep rising, right along with everything else (surprise!).  In addition to high prices digging in to our budgets, utilities are often among the worst pollution offenders.  So to try to offset this, we’ve taken steps to reduce our utility use, saving money and pollution.  Some of the things we do are:

• Only use the air conditioning when we have too.  Our house, even though it’s over 100 years old, is actually very well-insulated.  Unless the outside temperature is over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, we open the windows and use fans to blow the air around.  Much cheaper than a/c!
• Keep the heat turned down.  In the winter, when we’re not home the thermostat is set at 62 degrees Fahrenheit.  Even when we are home, it’s set to 68.  Put on a sweater or a blanket if you’re cold.
• Turn the water off while you’re brushing your teeth.  That wastes a TON of water.
• Cut back your time in the shower.  By showering for a shorter time (please make sure you get clean though.  Ick!) you can save a lot of water.
• Not letting the fridge door hang open while I aimlessly look for a snack.  That’s just common sense.

What are some ways that you conserve resources?

Reading through some prior posts both on this site and my other one, I realized that I had promised some recipes.

I have failed to deliver.

So, here is a great and easy summertime recipe from The Vegan YumYum.  One of the things I like about Vegan recipes is that they are designed not using meat, so its a whole meal that doesn’t feel strange like if you used a regular recipe and just didn’t include the meat.  Our family is trying to cut way back on our meat consumption, for economic, health, and sustainability reasons.  I’m really excited because my quinoa is growing like crazy, and quinoa has tons of protein!  I can’t wait to try it!

I have yet to try this recipe, but the recipes at Vegan YumYum are awesome, so I’m not worried about getting hate mail.  :)  If you try it, drop me a line and let me know what you think.

Hasperat
For Two

2 10″ Wheat Tortillas
1/2 Cup Hummus (Any flavor, plain or horseradish is nice)
1 Small Cucumber, sliced very thin (about 1/2 cup)
1 Carrot, shredded (about 1/3 cup)
1 1/2 Tbs Tamari (or regular soy sauce)
1 1/2 Tbs Rice Vinegar
Black Pepper
2 Small Handfuls Baby Spinach
Hot Chili Sauce/Tabasco, optional

Using a mandoline, or your food processor, or a sharp knife, slice the cucumber very thinly and place in a large bowl. Add the carrot. Add tamari and rice vinegar and toss. Let marinate 5-10 minutes (or longer, if desired).

Warm your tortillas so they’re pliable. You can microwave them for a few seconds with a damp paper towel, heat them in a dry skillet, or (my favorite) hold them directly over the flame of your gas burning stove.

Spread the tortillas with hummus, 3-4 Tbs each, making sure you cover the entire surface. This will help the sandwich stick together. Arrange the cucumber slices in one layer, slightly overlapping. Add carrot, and sprinkle some fresh pepper over the top. Add a layer of baby spinach.

Roll up the wrap, tucking in the ends, and place on a hot grill pan to slightly warm and create pretty grill marks. You can do this in a regular pan if you don’t have a grill pan. Slice and eat immediately.

(picture and recipe is the property of VeganYumYum.com)

Wow, I am truly amazed.

Amazed that I still have six loyal subscribers, even though I haven’t touched this site since April.

Work is now slowing down. Brennan no longer freaks out and pukes constantly. My garden is doing quite well (pictures soon, I promise! Bad news: all of my early pics got wiped out when the SD card for our digital camera died. My fault for procrastinating. Bah!).

Long story short, I should be able to actuall devote a bit of time to this site again.

Thanks for sticking with me!

-Todd

Tired of hearing about climate change? Tired of yuppies wanting you to recycle, or listening to long-haired, whiny, hippie liberals talk about “saving the planet”? Ever wished you could just move to, colonize, and absolutely pillage an entire virgin planet in ways that makes coal companies blowing the tops off of mountains in West Virginia seem like a kid playing in his sandbox? Well, thanks to Google and the Virgin Group, now you can!! Find out all about this exciting opportunity here! But hurry, space is limited! Don’t miss your chance to be part of the first group of humans to get to pillage a planet since the Industrial Revolution!*^

*Well, of course it’s fake! Don’t be stupid.

^Happy April Fools!!

Welcome to The Greener Christian!  We’re still getting things set up, but should have the first real post later today!  Please come back and check it out!