Healthy Living
Chives
Grow Your Own Health Food
Garlic Chive is a vegetable related to the onion family and is a wonderful aromatic that is often underutilized in cooking. Chives are a perennial seed - pictured above is mine that is part of an heirloom plant that has been growing since the 1940's. The flavor is a cross between a mild garlic and chive but is a bit more like garlic. The plant grows thin stalks that can be cut fresh with kitchen scissors, then chopped for toppings in soup, potatoes, eggs, stir fry, dumplings, sauces, vegetable pancakes & casseroles or dried to be used later as seasoning. The more you use the plant, the more it will grow and be forever productive. When the chive goes to seed you can use the seeds as tiny bursts of flavor in dishes, raw or cooked, or you can dry them on a paper towel and store them for planting later.
Our favorite soups at the first sign of a cold coming on is made by adding cuttings from chives, a couple of whole cloves of garlic, a handful of spinach or chopped kale and chopped onion brought to a boil in water and sea salt and simmered in 2 quart sauce pan for 30 minutes. There is no certain recipe just season to taste. This soup is healing and also reminds you not to kiss someone and spread germs when you might be getting sick!
Article & Photo provided by Stephanie Lewis
Green Living
Simple Tips
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Green living tips that you can do to help lessen your carbon footprint. Even if you live in a major metropolitan area in an apartment, there are things that you can do to make a difference.
These are all simply things that can have a big impact overall on the earth. Try recycling and composting both are great help in reducing litter and pollution.
Leave your car home as often as possible; try riding your bike or public transportation if it is offered in your area. This helps to reduce greenhouse emissions, every car not the road makes a differences. Try combining your errands into a single trip; this will also eliminate the amount of cars on the road.
Watch the amount of water that you use when showering or brushing your teeth. Also makes sure you don't have any toilets running. A running toilet can use over 200 gallons a day. Washing clothes in cold water can reduce the amount energy used as well.
Save energy in your home by keeping your entire filter clean and good shape. Use florescent bulbs they use 2/3 the energy of regular light bulbs. Set your thermostat at a constant temperature. Turn off your light and unplug appliances when they are not in use. These are all simple tips for easy things that you can do to reduce your impact
on the earth.
Oklahoma Organic Produce
Where to shop
Living green is living healthy and Oklahoma has lots of food products that are organic foods. Where ever you live in Oklahoma there are lots of options for your organic grocery shopping. Localharvest.org lists growers all over the country, they list the products that each grower has for sale and has contact information for each one. This means that if you are looking for a certain product, you can do a search for that product in your area.
Farmers markets are always a good place to shop for locally grown organic foods. Today, several health and organic stores carry many types of organic food items. Several specialize in carrying locally grown products. You will notice that even some larger grocery chains offer a variety of organic grown produce and some even make arrangements with local growers to offer their products in a larger retail market.
Baloncici / 123RF Stock Photo
