Mountain Valley Water and P. Allen Smith Sweepstakes

July 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I just wanted to pass along a great sweepstakes.  Mountain Valley Spring Water and P. Allen Smith have come together to offer a truly wonderful, relaxing weekend.  I have had the wonderful opportunity to tour P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home and meet Mr. Smith.  He is one of the most interesting, genuine, and funny gentlemen on television.

Trust me, go over to the promo website and enter this sweepstakes now!

Filed Under: Blogging, Gardening, Giveaways

The Inaugural Bean2Blog Event

May 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

>I was invited to attend the Inaugural Bean2Blog Event sponsored by the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board at P. Allen Smith‘s Moss Mountain Farm.  Wow, what a day.  The weather was perfect and the Moss Mountain Farm was a beautiful setting to learn about the miracle bean.

We started the day with a personal tour of P. Allen’s home and garden.

Jim Carroll, an actual farmer and member of the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board and United Soybean Board, gave us insight into the life of a farm family and the business of farming in the state of Arkansas.

We were provided an awesome lunch.

After refueling, we made our way to the vegetable garden where we learned how to grow our own soybean plants and actually planted a few seeds in P. Allen Smith’s vegetable garden!

The speakers and presentations have inspired several blog posts to follow, but in this first general post I would like to pass along what I think is the most important fact I learned: when you choose a soy product, you are helping our hard working farmers and strengthening our economy!

Last year, Arkansas was ranked 10th in the nation in soybean production.  We produced ONE BILLION DOLLARS worth of soybeans in our great state.  As a nation, soy is the number 1 agricultural export, valued at $21 billion in 2010.  And just incase you don’t know, about 98% of U.S. farms are family owned and operated.

I want you to start choosing more soy products.  We all know that edamame and tofu are great, but there are so many more awesome soy products that you could be using.  Go to the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board’s interactive Soy Product Guide and look at all the possibilities.

The rest of this week is going to be dedicated to the Bean2Blog event, so get ready. Tomorrow I will highlight LockStars Soy Candles of Lonoke, AR.  Friday will be dedicated to a simple seed germination test that Kimberly Cochran, a Ph.D student in the Plant Physiology department at the University of Arkansas, taught us. And finally on Saturday, I will provide links to all the great soy recipes that were prepared for us, and trust me, they are yummy!

One more thing! CountryOutfitter.com provided all of the lovely bloggers with our choice of Ariat cowboy boots!  I picked the Ariat Fatbaby Original Boot in Black Deertan and you can read more about my experience wearing the boots in a post I wrote last night called, Happy Feet.

While you are in the soybean mood:
You can relive the Bean2Blog event on Twitter, just search #Bean2Blog, you will be able to see many more (and much better quality) photos and comments from the other ladies.  Also, like the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board on Facebook and follow them on Twitter!  You can also connect with P. Allen Smith on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+!
Filed Under: Food, Gardening, Going Green, My Life

Epazote – Dysphania ambrosioides

May 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

We often have a Hispanic family over for cookouts and I always learn new easy cooking tips, but this one floored me.  We were having a BBQ, but Rosa wanted to cook a freshly caught catfish that Aaron had just brought home from the lake.

She proceded to gut the fish and make several slices into it’s skin and started walking in the woods.  I have learned to never ask her what I am eating and to just enjoy the truly authentic taste (I once ate ram lungs), but this time I followed her. I was curious.
She stopped and started picking what I thought were weeds, brought them back and packed them on the catfish.  She tucked the leaves into the skin, rubbed it with garlic, placed lemon slices over the top side, and wrapped it with foil.  It was quite tasty.
The plant was epazote (the e is silent).  It is a herb from Central and South America, that just happens to grow very well on our farm.  She told me that Mexicans use this herb when they cook black beans to prevent gas and also make a tea out the leaves for a natural wormer and to help with female problems. A wormer? She often reminds me of just how poor her situation was before she came to America.
The herb has a very different smell. Kind of citrusy, piney, camphory smelling. Very different.  Here is what it looks like growing in the wild:
And here is a close up of the leaves:
Mexican people from the south use this herb mostly in quesadillas, mole, chilaquiles, and certain types of tamales.  I think it is neat that something I thought was just a random weed is such a staple part of another cultures food seasoning.
Filed Under: Food, Gardening, Outdoors

Garden Planning Time!

March 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

>In Arkansas, the average last freeze is on March 22.  We always wait until the first weekend in April to plant our live plants, so you haven’t waited too late, es.

If you have never planted a garden, but want to, there are many, many resources available to you.  Every state has a cooperative extension that is completely full of facts and advice.  The state of Arkansas has a great site that has a home and garden section.

I also love P. Allen Smith.  His garden home is here in Arkansas, so I am able to follow his blog and try to copy a few of his ideas around my farm.  Imitation is the best form of flattery, right?  There are also a lot of crafty things on his site, decorating ideas, and most importantly garden tips.

When planning your garden, consult the hardiness zone map and plant what you like to eat.  Get the kids involved and they will really want to eat what they have grown.  Even if you just have a flower bed, you have enough room to plant a few veggies.

If you have any questions, just leave them in the comment section below, I will try to answer them for you!

ALSO, when you plant, allow a few extra plants for a family in need.  A fresh basket of veggies goes a long way in feeding a family and they won’t feel like a charity case if you brag about how good your garden is doing and that you couldn’t possibly eat everything before it ruins.

Filed Under: Food, Gardening