Garden from kitchen scraps?

Somewhere in the past year, I've become a Pinterest fanatic. It happened slowly - first a few pins a month, then graduating to several a week, and then finally it became a daily routine. My interests are all over the map: historical fashion from before 1970, handmade cards, sewing and knitting and (of course) cooking. But now that my husband and I have access to a yard, I've started a Pinterest "board" for gardening.

There are a lot of steps involved in gardening, as I knew - I helped my grandfather and then my father plant a garden every year when I was a child. Both men preferred to put seeds directly in the ground and let them align with the rhythm of the earth and its seasons. I've begun to wonder, thanks to many posts on Pinterest, if I should be starting seeds in a bit of potting soil before letting them loose in nature. I don't have all the supplies required, though - and I don't really have the room.

Thankfully Pinterest sent me a compromise - starting garden plants from kitchen scraps. Right now I have the end of a bunch of celery sitting in warm water in a sunny window. The only difference between day 1 and day 2 is that the end looks significantly more brown, but I'm assured by Pinterest that it will sprout within the next week or so. Even if it doesn't, I will only be out a celery bunch end that I would have thrown away anyway, instead of being out seeds and supplies. If this works (or maybe even if it doesn't), I'd like to try garlic next.

Do you garden? What methods do you use to start your garden? Have you tried starting plants from kitchen scraps - and did it work for you? Let me know in the comments!

Tea PAR-TAY!

Welcome to my kitchen! On tap: Ginger-Peach iced tea.



It's summer and I'm thirsty pretty much all the time. If I join a friend for lunch or 'coffee', my order is invariably an iced tea. I was happily surprised by a Pizza Hut in Minnesota, which actually brought me fresh-brewed tea on ice - unsweetened, which is how I drink tea whether it's warm or cold.

I've brewed tea, added ice cubes, and put it in the fridge before. The results never varied: my parnter sniffed, said he thought it smelled ok, and tried a couple of sips from my glass before foresaking my attempt. No Nestea or Lipton's for him, either. He buys Arizona brand green tea, sweet tea, any of their offerings he can find.

Forget that. I'mma make my own.

Today I created an iced tea that both partner and I enjoy. Here's how:

Steep 4 Ginger-Peach Herbal Tea bags in 4 cups of boiling water for 6 minutes. Stir in at least 5 sugar cubes (5 teaspoons of sugar), 2 teaspoons honey, and 3 pieces fresh cut ginger.

In desired pitcher, pour 3 cups cold water and add 6 ice cubes. Let stand until tea has steeped.

Add hot tea and ginger to cold water. Allow to refrigerate for at least 4 hours before drinking.

The same beautiful tea that kept me warm in the winter can keep me cool in the summer. Wonderful =)

Tough Stains Get Tackled

As a last-week-of-classes blog post, I'm going to post a list of some unusual yet useful stain removal tips I've come across. Before you take your clothes to an expensive dry-cleaner's, try these!

1. Lemon juice and baking soda: Supposed to be fantastic for removing discolouration (i.e.: if you washed a blue shirt with a yellow one and parts of the yellow shirt are now green). In my experience, the discoloured parts became fainter but did not entirely disappear.

2. Salt: Sprinkled on a fresh red wine stain, salt is supposed to help remove the stain. Haven't had occasion to try this one yet.

3. The freezer: If you've got gum stuck to your clothes, this trick actually works. Place the soiled item in your freezer for about 15 minutes, remove from freezer, and scrape off the solidified gum.

4. Hairspray: Removing red ink from clothes is a breeze with this trick. Don't wait longer than 24 hours, though.

BONUS:

5. Tea tree oil: This concentrated oil is a natural astringent. It's good for your skin because it clears up acne, but it can also remove nail polish (though this makes a nasty smell) and the goo that always gets left on your skin after you remove a Band-Aid.

I < 3 Canning

Welcome back!

Summer is slowly edging into fall (or not so slowly! Is it just me or are the leaves coming off the trees WAY too soon?), and so begins the season for canning. Inspired by my grandmothers, who spent their lives preserving summer produce in heated glass jars, I feel that fall is the season to 'put by' for winter. (Watch for me knitting lopsided gloves!)

In past years I've helped relatives and neighbours combat bumper crops of northern grapes, rhubarb, and raspberries. This year, I'm fortunate enough to know people wanting to get rid of excess apples, grapes, and rhubarb. Already to my credit: jars and jars of rhubarb chutney, applesauce, instant apple pie filling, and clear apple jelly. Up next will be grape jam, once enough grapes have been harvested - and yes, you can grow grapes in this climate!

If you'd like to try your own canning, here are my favourite secrets for making it cheap as well as fun:

1. Don't buy special jars for it. You CAN use old jam/Cheez Whiz/relish jars, however, you must make sure that they are clean and sterilized. To sterilize them, put them in the oven at about 250F. Keep the lids in a bowl of hot water while you boil your jam or chutney, and when you're ready to jar it, wear thick oven mitts, pull out the hot jars, ladle in your preserves, and get that lid on there fast!

2. Don't buy the fruit and/or veggies if you can help it. If you know someone whose garden is out of control, now's the time to offer some of the finished product in exchange for use of the raw goods. In the case of my neighbour with the apples, she just can't make jam fast enough to keep up with the number of apples, and told me that I'm welcome to help myself! If this isn't an option, I would try farmers' markets before visiting a grocery store. Fresh will always give you better flavour than something off the truck from California.

3. Buy bulk. Vinegar is a staple for chutney, and sugar is a must for jelly. Costco is your friend - if you don't have a membership, try Superstore's no-name brands or the Bulk Barn before approaching Safeway and Sobeys. Don't get me wrong, they're all great chains in their own right - but if you're going to make enough chutney to feed all 60 of your cousins, then you're going to need a lot of inexpensive sugar.

4. Share. That neighbour who lent you her soup tureen for you to can all those peaches? The great-uncle who helped you pick enough raspberries for 20 jars of jam (that's a LOT of berries!)? The father-in-law who doesn't need anything and stumps you every Christmas when you wonder what to get him? The answer is here: canned goods. You made them yourself, and everyone knows that handmade tastes better! Place a square of bright fabric over the lid, tie it on with some hemp/ribbon/an elastic, and voila! Instant gift.

The best part, though, is that I know exactly what went into what I'm eating. And tasting the delicious results of one's own hard work is always rewarding.

Canning tips or questions? Let me know here! If I don't have the answer, I bet I know who does. :)

Buyer Beware...of flimsy coffee tumblers!

A newspaper will take two months to decompose in a landfill. A paper coffee cup? will take 20 years. Add to that a report from Reuters' website that about 28 billion paper cups are discarded every year in the U.S. alone...that cup-a-day sure adds up fast. So what's a student to do?

Students looking for a more durable and/or environmentally friendly solution can turn to a coffee tumbler, but some tumblers don't perform all that much better than the paper counterpart. In a random sampling of 10 students carrying coffee mugs, 70% said they’d like a tumbler that doesn’t leak and keeps coffee hot for a longer period of time. So which tumblers can keep up with the rigours of student life? Erika, Sara, Greg, Mike, and I decided we had to know.

Each group member purchased a coffee tumbler from one of five different locations: Starbucks (Starbucks brand, $21.99), Tim Hortons (Tim Hortons brand, $4.69), Sears (Arcosteel brand, $9.99), Superstore (Home Presence brand. $14.99), and Dollarama (no brand/Dollarama brand, $1.25). We did secondary research to find similar experiments, and designed a series of primary research tests that we thought would mimic the 'everyday life' of a student's coffee tumbler.

The tumblers first went through a series of leak tests, being shaken from side-to-side, upside down, and then in every direction in a "crazy shake" test. This was to simulate what might happen to a tumbler that was put in a backpack, or the water-bottle holder of a bike, or just held while someone was running up stairs or for the bus. The results? Dollarama didn't have a cover for the mouthpiece and leaked; Sears had a cover but was still pretty leaky; Tim Hortons, Superstore, and Starbucks did pretty well, with Superstore the winner (we thought we saw a few drops for the Starbucks and Tim Hortons tumblers).

Second were the temperature tests: freshly boiled water was poured into the tumblers, which were left standing at room temperature. Then the tumblers were emptied, more freshly boiled water was added, and the tumblers were placed in a freezer at a constant temperature of -17 C (-1 F). At the end of each of these tests, only two tumblers remained in Starbucks' acceptable temperature range (150-170 F): the Starbucks tumbler and the Superstore tumbler. We judged the Superstore tumbler to be the winner because a thin layer of ice formed on the Starbucks tumbler - probably not too comfy for cold hands in the winter. (The "safe temperature range" is for health reasons - any lower and bacteria could start to grow if milk products were added; any higher, and the coffee might be too hot to drink safely)

Third were the 'drop' tests - to simulate what would happen to the tumblers if someone slipped on the ice or tripped on the stairs. The first test, from standing height, had surprising results. The Sears tumbler lost its plastic bottom piece and lid; Dollarama lost its lid; Tim Hortons didn't lose its lid but cracked down the side; Superstore's lid partially came off though it lost no water; Starbucks was fine. After the stair test, Dollarama and Sears had the same results, except that Sears' bottom piece cracked in two; Starbucks and Superstore were fine.

The final recommendation? Starbucks keeps the coffee slightly warmer (difference of about 9 degrees), but for $7 less, the Superstore tumbler's results were just as acceptable, and so this is the tumbler we declared the winner. Here is a picture of the winning tumbler, the "Eclipse Travel Mug" from Superstore.

(Unfortunately, some coffee tumblers were harmed over the course of this experiment. However, much fun was had by all group members!)

Stain Removal!

Before we begin, as a shoutout to Kenton Larsen: Get-rich-quick ideas!

Melanie, thanks for helping out a student! Melanie Lee Lockhart, my Public Relations instructor, kindly lent me her copy of Haley's Hints. For anyone who (like me) isn't familiar with Rosemary and Graham Haley, they're the authors of a book (and Graham is the host of a TV series) detailing a wide range of helpful solutions for common problems - all using items many people have on hand at home. I'm jumping into the middle, since stain-removing tips start at about page 94 in the book, but with chapters like "Kitchen Magic" and "Laundry Day Helpers" this book will get revisited! (You can all hold me accountable to return it to Melanie!)

And now...stain removal solutions that work!

P. 111: Remove chewing gum: "Hold an ice cube against the chewing gum until it hardens. Then chip the gum away." If the item can withstand cold temperatures without breaking, cracking or otherwise coming to harm, I can also recommend putting it in the freezer for about 1o minutes (or more if needed and possible) and then chipping the gum away. Works well on clothing.

P. 109: Cleaning Carpets. A diluted solution of vinegar, soap, and water can help remove stains that weren't found immediately. Wet a cloth with the mixture, hold against the stain for several minutes, then blot dry with a dishcloth. Also remember, when dealing with a liquid spill, DO NOT rub the spill. That will push the spilled liquid further into the carpet. Instead, blot with dry cloths.

P. 94: I wish I'd come across this one sooner! Badly stained tubs: use a scrub brush and a mixture of cream of tartar (a baking ingredient!) and hydrogen peroxide. Other bathtub tips: if you get bathtub ring, it can often be minimized by softening the water - so add 1/2 cup of baking soda to your next bath! "Yellow water stains"? Try making a paste of lemon juice and borax (can also work for toilet cleaning!). What's borax? Look HERE. Bathtub mold? Try scrubbing with vinegar and rinsing with clean water. No dice? Place bleach-soaked rags on the mold-affected area and let sit overnight, then wash off with warm water and liquid detergent. (If the problem is very serious, however, I'd recommend consulting with an expert. Molds can be a health issue.)

P. 95: Porcelain sinks? Fill with hot water and drop in 2 denture tablets! Leave for a while for gleaming sinks! I'd like to add that baking soda helps polish sinks and tubs, not to mention any rusty cutlery or sink/tub spouts! Haley's Hints adds that petroleum jelly keeps shower doors from sticking, and shower rods from rusting. Who knew?

P. 106: Chronic nosebleeds? Papercut led to a stain on your favourite reading chair? Haley's Hints recommends treating blood stains with a paste of cornstarch and water - but NOT for velvet or velour upholstery. If the item is easily and safely soaked in boiling water very soon after it is stained, that's the best way I've found. Popcorn grease stains on the couch after movie night? Sprinkle liberally with salt as soon as the stain occurs, then just brush the salt off once it has absorbed the grease.

P. 114: Scuffed linoleum: Use toothpaste on persistent scuff marks, but try using a rubber (gum) eraser first! If you have any of that 'sticky tack' around - the blue gummy stuff for holding posters on walls without harming paint or paper - it works wonders too!

Other interesting tips from the Haleys that I haven't tried, but gladly will if the occasion arises:
**Clean marks from wallpaper with an eraser OR rye bread!
**Cold tea cleans woodwork!
**Shine brass items with Worcestershire sauce! Or toothpaste, or a lemon-juice-and-salt mixture.

We all know baking soda works wonders as a deodorizer: in the fridge, in the microwave, in the oven...but how about vanilla extract? Vegetarian Times' now-defunct Fridge Notes section supplied this tip as well. More fridge-friendly tips from VT’s March 2008 article “10 ways to green your fridge” by Jacqueline R. Renfrow: "a one-to-one solution of white vinegar and water" for dried-on liquid stains or general cleaning; where an abrasive cleaner is needed: "baking soda and a damp sponge."

Commercials train us to trust that only tough anti-bacterial chemicals can save us from evil bacteria and other nasties. But many such industrial-strength chemicals pose serious hazards themselves. Why not try natural cleaners? They've been around much longer, with good track records and no risk to you, or the environment. Plus, since you've probably got vinegar, baking soda, salt, and lemon juice around anyways, they're cheaper!

The last word is for those pesky red-pen stains on clothing: Hairspray. No, I'm not kidding.

DRANO? Why?!

Here's a handy trick that's new to me, but familiar to at least two of my friends. I found it in the January/February 2008 issue of Vegetarian Times, which used to have a one-page section at the back called "Fridge Notes." If you need to UNCLOG A DRAIN, don't purchase all those fancy chemicals. Try this first! Unless your problem requires a plumber, this should work for you. (I have rephrased VT's instructions to reflect my own experience)

1. Pour one cup of baking soda and one cup of salt into the drain. (Key: make sure it actually gets INTO the drain, not just on top of the drain i.e. still in the sink bowl.)

2. Add one cup of vinegar and watch the fireworks! This will bubble and sizzle, perhaps for several minutes depending on how much the drain is clogged.

3. After waiting several minutes, add approximately one cup of boiling water. You may need more, depending how long it takes for what you've added to completely exit the drain.

This not only clears a drain, but also scours it due to the abrasive nature of the baking soda. Your drain will be unclogged, clean, and smell like...well, vinegar and baking soda, but that's not the end of the world! Best of all, you haven't used any dangerous chemicals.

Pass it on! And if you have any additional feedback/tips about this or any other drain-unclogging methods, please comment and share them!