How to Pickle False Dandelion (Cat's Ear)

 

One of the most noxious (according to some ignorant people) weeds in the Pacific Northwest is Cat's ear, also known as False Dandelion. Similar to Dandelion, it belongs to the sunflower, daisy and lettuce family, known as the Asteraceae family. I believe all (but I am not an expert in eating wild vegetables) members of the asteraceae family are edible. Correct me if I am wrong.

Cat's ear is very nutritious, probably more so than lettuce because it has a deeper tap root system than lettuce and it is a perennial, instead of annual, vegetable. It tastes much milder (less bitter) than dandelions. Its texture is not as tender as dandelion, so I normally wouldn't use it for salad. You can saute it, but I prefer to pickle it. After pickling it for more than a week, it will become a bit softer and a little sour because of the acetic acid created by some yeast or bacteria. Acetic acid is a short-chain fatty acid that is beneficial not only to your digestive system, but also to your health. Acetic acid is also a nutrient readily absorbed in your small intestine.

Pickling cat's ear is extremely easy. Get an empty jar. Remove the flowers and flower stems from your cat's ear. (You may also use the flower to create some flower tea!)  Dump the leaves into the empty jar. Add at least one tablespoon of salt to it. Shake well so that each leave is in contact with some salt. Close the lid. Put the jar into the refrigerator and wait for at least 1 week because you want it to turn sour.

You can use the pickled cat's ear for cooking fava beans, mung bean sprout, meat or mushrooms, etc. Before you chop pickled leaves into tiny pieces, you should wash it thoroughly to remove any excessive salt, depending on your taste.

Beside pickling cat's ear, you can also use exactly the same method to pickle daikon leaves, radish leaves, turnip leaves, ... As a matter of fact, to be anything less tender than lettuce or spinach can be pickled. If you want to be a bit sophisticated, you can add some of your favorite spice, such as dill, black pepper, mustard seeds, etc, into your pickling jar.

Happy pickling!

Fresh Roses for Rose Tea

I have two types of fresh roses for making rose tea. They all smell delicious. I am selling them for $1 for a gallon zip loc bag if you bring your own bag. It will be $0.2 more if you want me to provide with a zip loc bag. Or I can give you a Winco bag which is free. I will pick them for you when you come.


Rose tea is easily to make. Just boil it or put it into the microwave for 3 minutes by adding sufficient water to it depending on your taste. Then add honey or just sugar to it. It will taste and smell delicious. Rose tea has diuretic effects and they are loaded with vitamin C, pectin, malic and citric acids, ... They have medicinal uses including treating chest and abdominal pains, menstrual bleeding and digestive issues.

Mammoth sunflowers starters: six-pack for $1.2. Buy two at $2. They grow up to 8 feet tall.

Rutabaga, Daikon, Radish belong to the Brassica Family: The Entire Plant is Edible

A rutabaga volunteer that I harvested in my field

Rutabaga, daikon, and radish belong to the brassica Family. The are the annual relatives of the biennial brassicas, such as collard green, Russian kale, and cabbage.

They are very rich in not only vitamins C and tons of minerals, such as potassium and magnesium. That's only when you consume the root. Most people do not realize that the entire plant of rutabaga, or daikon, or radish is edible. The leaves (greens), stem (heart), and flowers are actually more nutritious in other vitamins, such as vitamin E and K.

I will cut and saute the stem and root using some ginger powder and soy sauce or salt. The leaves are tougher. So, I will ferment them in a glass jar using some salt. As I have mentioned in another post, fermented vegetables may actually not be as nutritious as fresh vegetables, but they have a lot of beneficial effects to your digestive system!

Minimal Energy, No Heavy Machinery, Only Hand Tools and a Lawnmower

        

Natural Farming is sometimes called Zero-cost Farming in some developing countries. Mini Natural Farm tries to use only hand tools, not only as a means to minimize cost, but also as a means to minimize energy consumption. Some people is still in some delusional states by not admitting the fact that our fossil fuel reserve is close to its ending stage. Some scientists have already warned us that cruel oil reserve might not last more than a hundred years, meaning that it can be used only for at more five to ten human generations. Not only that, towards the end of oil production era, the cost of fossil fuel will start to increase exponentially, making most poor people, mainly farmers, unable to afford using it as a source of energy input.

Meat (Even Lean Meat) and Dairy Products are Major Causes of Obesity in the U.S.

Ignoring tiny countries with population smaller than 10 million people (88 countries in total), the U.S. is the #2 most obese country in the world. The worst country is Egypt. [1] Amongst all Aermcians, 47.8% of Blacks, 42.5% Latinos, 32.6% of Whites, and only 10.8% of Asians are obese. [2] I don't believe it is race that matters. Instead, I believe it is the diet they receive.

Asians don't consume at lot of meat or diary, and hence they normally don't have too much animal saturated fat in their diet. In fact, most Asians are lactose intolerant, just like myself, and don't consume too much milk. A major problem with milk is that it is a liquid that contains tons of proteins and fats. Drinking milk won't give you fullness, but gives you too much high energy nutrients. Milk and dairy products have become a major part of human diet, only until recently. Thanks to mainstream medical doctors and nutritionists.

Meat is obviously another culprit. Meat contains not only tons of proteins, but also saturated fat. Some people wrongly believe that proteins (from lean meat) will not lead to obesity. Again, thanks to mainstream medical doctors and nutritionists. Some people believe that eating lean meat will make you lean. This belief is naive and WRONG!

Adults need proteins only for maintenance and production of hormones, enzymes, and immune defense materials. The proteins that are eaten but not used will eventually go through a process called deamination so that they can be safely excreted through our urinary system in the form of urea.

All proteins consist of amino acids. Most amino acids contain more carbon atoms than nitrogen atoms. For instance, tyrosine contains 9 carbon atoms and only 1 nitrogen atom. A urea molecule contains only 1 carbon atom and two nitrogen atoms. If you eat proteins that contain tyrosine, you end up accumulating carbon atoms (in the form of carbohydrates and fat). This is simple accounting.

Eating proteins does not automatically allow you to build muscle (using both carbon and nitrogen atoms) or provide you with energy (by the burning of carbon atoms to exhale as carbon dioxide), unless you do a lot of exercise. An adult who eats a lot of proteins without doing a lot of exercise will end up accumulating carbon and hence fat because humans don't store too much carbohydrates, except for a small amount of glycogen in the liver. Most unused carbohydrates (after the deamination of unused proteins) will be transformed and stored as fat.

References:
1. http://stateofobesity.org/disparities/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Body_Mass_Index_(BMI)

The Hearts of Biennial Members of the Brassica Family

The brassica family is a large family of edible vegetables (European greens and Asian greens), including collard green, kale, broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, Chinese cabbage, daikon, radish, turnip, etc. Whereas some of the members are annual vegetables, others are biennials. Most biennial members of the brassica family are more cold hardy, heat tolerant, and drought tolerant. Perhaps these are their evolutionary adaptions allowing them to survive both heat and cold so that they can live for two years, instead of just one.

Unlike the annual members in the brassica family, biennial members do not bolt even in the hot summer in their first year. Instead, all biennial members of the brassica family, such as cabbage, collard green, and kale, will grow stems and then flowers in their second year. They can start "bolting" (growing stems and flowers) as early as early spring, and all the way to late summer before they finally die off.

Although you can eat cabbage heart raw, I prefer to saute them using a little bit of vegetable oil, soy sauce, and ginger powder. If you haven't tried this before, you have to cause it is just super tender, flavorful, and yummy! They are like no other vegetables that you have ever tried before. BTW, the second year leaves of cabbage that pop up in late winter and early spring are also much more tender, sweeter, and more flavorful than their first year counterparts because of the cold weather. I prefer not to eat them though cause I want to get more hearts out of the plant. You need more leaves to support more hearts!

I don't have enough cabbage hearts for sale this year, so they are mainly for my own consumption. Starting from next year, I will have collard green hearts, kale hearts, daikon heart, and cabbage heart for sale. So, stay tuned.

Quail Eggs (not available now)

Antibiotic-free and hormone-free quail eggs are now available. They are $2 a dozen and $3.5 for 2 dozens. Quail eggs are more nutritious than chicken eggs and they don't have the after taste of chicken eggs. They are softer and hence easier to digest. They can be stored in your fridge for a month.


See my recipe HERE.

Organically Grown Aloe Vera Plants are Available Now!

I have some organically grown aloe vera plants for sale. Large ones are $3.5. Large ones with babies are $4. Medium small ones are $2. Babies for transplants are $0.5 each. They are grown in tree debris and composts. They can tolerate down to 40F without any damage. So, you can grow them in the garage with just some light and water even in the winter. 

Vegetable-based Fermented Food is Good for your Digestive System

Why are fermented vegetables good for your digestive system?

A very recent study of the microorganisms present in Kimchi shows that the fermentation process of Kimchi produces a lot of good bacteria, such as Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Lactobacillus, and also bacteriophages. Leuconostoc mesenteroides has the ability to inhibit the growth of other bacteria. Lactobacillus is a latic acid bacteria which is considered as a probiotic. Bacteriophages are predators of bacteria.

Whereas the beneficial effects of fermented vegetables are not fully understood, their merits cannot be underestimated. Whether you have Native American, African, European, or Asian ancestors, most if not all adopted some kind of diets that have included fermented vegetables in them. Pickled cucumbers or other vegetables, for instance, has been a common food item for almost all Europeans throughout history. Whereas the pickled cucumbers you buy from supermarkets may not be fermented, true pickled cucumbers are.

Apple cider (or other fruit) vinegar is also fermented. Whereas the apple cider vinegar that you buy from the supermarket is filtered (does not contain the mother), true apple cider vinegar containing the mother may be as healthy as Kimchi.

Modern diets and commercialization of fermented vegetables have changed the diet that we have inherited from our ancestors without being noticed. This may be a critical reason why more and more people have digestive system problems, such as SIBO (small intestine bacteria overgrowth) and  IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Making and eating your own fermented vegetables may revert this trend.

Reference:
J Y Jung et al. "Metagenomic Analysis of Kimchi, a Traditional Korean Fermented Food," Appl. Environ. Microbiol. April 2011 vol. 77 no. 7.

We are closed on March 16, 2017 (Thursday)

We are closed on March 16 Thursday and will be open on March 17 Friday. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Cook Using Vegetable Oil, instead of Olive Oil

Many so-called chefs are now using olive oil, instead of corn oil or vegetable oil for stir frying vegetables. They certainly have no knowledge of some of the critical properties of these different types of oil. The following properties of these different types of oil make corn oil and vegetable oil a better choice than olive oil for cooking:

First, olive oil contains saturated fat (in addition to unsaturated fat), such as palmitic acid which is also contained in most meat. So, eating olive oil does not prevent the problems caused by eating animal fat. Saturated fat is considered a possible cause of cardiovascular diseases. Neither corn oil, nor vegetable oil contains any saturated fat.

Second, olive oil becomes part of the diet of many people in the world population until only recently. Most of our ancestors had never used olive oil. It is doubtful that we can adapt to a large quantity of this new item in our diet without having any potential problems.

Third, olive oil has a very low boiling point due to the presence of saturated fats. A low boiling point results in a lot of smoke even at relative low temperature. On the other hand, corn oil and vegetable oil only contain unsaturated fat and hence have much higher boiling points, resulting in much less smoke. Cooking smoke not only makes your kitchen greasy and dirty. A lot of cooking smoke will also have harmful effects to the cook, especially to the lung, in the long-run.

Finally, olive oil is much more expensive. It is just not worth it.

Olive oil is good for salad only because it is thicker, due to its higher viscosity. When it comes to cooking, olive oil is a poor choice!

Vegetable starter tray inserts for sale

606 has 36 cells for each tray, whereas 1206 has 72 cells per tray. They are all extra deep. They are standard sized that can fit into standard starter trays. 

1206 is $1.5 each. If you buy 3 or more, it will be $1.2 each
606 is $1.8 each. If you buy 3 or more, it will be $1.5 each

1206 vegetable starter tray inserts:

 

606 vegetable starter tray inserts

 

New Life, New Meaning

The first quail chick just hatched

Then came the second and third

People are looking for the meaning of life. And yet life itself is the meaning all by itself. It has always been there, no more and no less. The meaning of life cannot be sought; you only need to live your life to realize it. And yet people don't see it.

My new baby quail chicks just hatched last night, making my night sleepless. Well, you can't win. But life is not about winning or losing anyway. The new quail chicks just live with or without knowing the meaning of life cause they realize the meaning of life without knowing or understanding it. They live in the meaning of life, namely, life itself.

Sufficient Amount of Calcium without Drinking Milk

Calcium is not only important for building and maintaining your bone, but also important for many chemical reactions in your body metabolism and immune, and other chemical reactions at the cell level. Even today, many medical doctors and nutritionists suggest that you drink a lot of milk or take calcium supplements.

Unfortunately, many calcium supplements, such as calcium carbonate, are not very effective because of its low water solubility and its alkalinity. A more readily absorbed form of calcium is calcium acetate which is more expensive of course. Calcium acetate can be created by cooking natural ingredients. If you add a little bit of acetic acid (vinegar) to some beef or pork bones, you will obtain calcium acetate in the broth.

If you are a vegan or being lactose intolerant, you can still obtain tons of calcium from your diet without relying on milk or bones at all. The entire family of "Brassica" green vegetables contain tons of calcium. You can obtain more calcium by consuming these vegetables than by drinking milk. Raw collard green, kale, bok choy, Japanese mustard spinach, ... belong to the brassica family and they all contain approximately the same amount of calcium as milk per cup. If you lightly cook your vegetables, you can actually obtain more calcium than by drinking milk. By eating 2 cups of lightly cooked vegetables, you are effectively eating 4-6 cups of raw vegetables which is equivalent to drinking 4-6 cups of milk.

Eating these vegetables also gives you tons of vitamins A, C, E, and K, plus tons of minerals, such as magnesium. The most important thing from eating these vegetables, of course, is fiber that is essential for a healthy digestive system. Milk does not contain vitamin C and it does not give you dietary fiber. Milk also contains too much saturated fat and lactose. 90% of the world population has some degree of lactose intolerance. Drinking milk can mess up your digestive system in the long-run, if not immediately. Commercial milk may also contain lots of hormones and antibiotics that can cause cancer, digestive problems, etc. Last but not least, milk does not give you the sense of fullness, so that you tend to eat more, possibly leading to obesity.

Complete Amino Acid Profile for Protein Intake for Vegans

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins in all living organisms. Humans, like all animals, must obtain amino acids by eating. Most amino acids can be transformed from other amino acids. However, out of the 20 amino acids that are used, there are 10 amino acids that cannot be obtained by humans via transformation and hence must be obtained via eating. They are arginine, histadine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine.

Most vegetable (non-meat, non-egg, non-dairy) proteins do not contain a well-balanced amino-acid profile of the 10 essential amino acids. One can check the amino profile imbalance by simply looking at a food item's protein score and the different essential amino acids contained in it. The only vegetable sources that contain a well-balanced amino acid profile are quinoa and amaranth seeds. Most vegetable proteins may have a deficiency of lysine or methionine or both.

There is a way for you, as a vegan, to obtain sufficient amounts of vegetable based proteins with a well-balanced amino acid profile even if you don't always consume enough quinoa or amaranth seeds. That is, you can complement a vegetable that is deficient in certain essential amino acids by consuming some other vegetables that have an abundance of those essential amino acids.

For example, fava beans have a protein score of 84 which is not too far away from quinoa or even eggs. However, it does not contain enough methionine (a sulfur amino acid). Therefore, you may want to complement fava beans by eating something like walnuts in the same week that you eat fava beans. Whereas walnuts has an abundance of methionine and a deficiency in lysine, fava beans has an abundance of lysine and a deficiency of methionine. Therefore, fava beans and walnuts complement each other.

Another strategy for a vegan to obtain proteins with a well-balanced amino acid profile is simply to diversify the different vegetables that you consume. Do a lot of mix and match everyday and every week.

Notice that the so-called "complete or well-balanced amino-acid profile" is something developed by some nutritionists who compare the amino-acid profile of a food item with that of an egg. There is no reason to believe that eating egg protein is "perfect" for humans. Plus, there is no one single standard for the composition of human body proteins. Humans are all different with different levels of tolerance. So, don't be too concerned if you have a slight deficiency in a certain amino acid in your diet!

You can check the essential amino acid profile of a particular food item by checking websites such as:

www.nutritiondata.self.com

Lightly Cooked Vegetables are Better than Raw

A lot of people wrongly believe that eating raw vegetables is better than eating cooked vegetables. Oftentimes, people argue that heat will destroy the nutrients in vegetables. This argument, however, is only correct when you cook your vegetables with high heat, say by baking or deep frying (e.g., in Tempura). If you lightly cook your vegetables, you not only will not destroy the nutrients, but will also have many advantages over eating your vegetables raw. The following is a list of the advantages of cooking your vegetables lightly:

1. Some chemicals, such as lycopene, in tomatoes, will increase after cooking.
2. Antioxidants may also increase by cooking.
3. Light cooking does not reduce the available amount of vitamin C by too much. In fact, light heating will break down the cell walls of vegetable cells much more effectively than simple chewing, allowing more nutrients to come out. 
4. Light cooking reduces the amount of toxins present in some vegetables, such as phytohaemagglutinin in some beans and ginkgotoxin in ginkgo seeds.
5. Vegetables will shrink and becoming more tender after light cooking allowing you to eat more. Normally, 2-3 cups of raw vegetables will turn into 1 cup of cooked vegetables. So, if you eat 2 cups of cooked vegetables, you are actually eating 4-6 cups of raw vegetables.
6. Most people will add too much salad dressing (mainly oil) to their raw vegetables. You only need less than 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil when lightly cooking your vegetables. Eating too much oil or fat is a reason for the accumulation of low density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) which is a cause of cardiovascular diseases.
7. Cooking vegetables containing vitamins A, D, E, and K with a little bit of vegetable oil allows these vitamins to dissolve in the oil so that they will be readily absorbed by your small intestine.

I will discuss how we can lightly cook our vegetables in an untraditional, but easy and relaxed fashion in another post. Most American (or even Asian) chefs DO NOT know how to cook vegetables properly! I will also discuss why vegetable oil is a better choice than olive oil, opposite to most so-called chefs have been practicing, for cooking vegetables.  

Snow Peas Can be Planted Early

Snow peas are easy to grow. They are very cold hardy and survive at least down to 28F.  They don't need any nitrogen fertilizers because they belong to the legume family, just like fava beans. They have symbiotic relations with nitrogen fixing bacteria in the soil. In fact, they add nitrogen to your soil making it more fertile over time. They will grow happily if you give them some rotting leaves, pine needles, coffee ground or any organic matter. Snow peas can be black walnut tolerant, heat tolerant and drought tolerant. However they need afternoon shade in a hot summer to remain productive. You can grow snow peas on the east side of a deciduous tree or shrub so that they receive full sun in spring and have afternoon shade in summer.

The entire snow pea plant is edible, including leaves, pea pods, and peas. You can eat them raw or lightly cooked (say by stir frying or steaming). Our snow pea starters will start producing pea pods in about 1 1/2 months after transplanting to your soil depending on the weather (if we have enough sun in spring). If you buy it in early March, you can start harvesting in mid or lateApril all the way to July or even August (if you water them well and provide them with good afternoon shade in a hot summer).

Snow peas and sugar snap peas have a protein to carbohydrate ratio of close to 1:1 and hence is good for weight loss. Who can resist the sweat taste of snow peas? However, it is not really reliable as the only source of proteins because its amino acid profile is not as complete as fava beans. To complement snow peas, a vegan needs to eat lima beans and some nuts to obtain more histidine and sulfur amino acids. If you are not a vegan, it is much easier because you can add a little meat, such as beef or pork to your peas to make your protein intake complete. Snow pea pods are a reliable supply of dietary fiber facilitating your digestion and digestive system health. Plus, they also contain a lot of vitamins A, C, K, and a lot of minerals, such as iron and magnesium.

Everbearing Strawberry Plants

These everybearing strawberry plants are grown using native soil and other organic matter, such as Starbucks coffee ground, pine needles and tree leaves. Therefore are organic. They are very cold hardy to at least zone 7b. They are not really heavy feeders. However, if you want a continuous good harvest, you should feed them with good organic matter. They are very drought tolerant. However, if you don't have afternoon shade and you want them to produce fruits in a very hot summer, you need to water them.

If they receive a lot of organic matter, they will be very productive and they will also multiply very quickly. So, give them enough space!

Japanese Mustard Spinach - A Reliable Calcium Source for Vegans

Japanese mustard spinach (also known as "komtsuna") is extremely nutritious. It is a very reliable source of calcium (31% daily required calcium per cup of uncooked vegetable) similar to milk and 300% daily required amount of vitamins A and C per cup. They also contain a lot of fiber and other essential minerals, such as potassium and iron. 

Don't be fooled by its name. Japanese mustard spinach is NOT spicy or bitter at all. They can be lightly cooked or served in salad. Unlike spinach which has a high level of oxalate (bitter after taste), Japanese mustard spinach is much milder in taste (like baby bok choy leaves but crunchier and more tender if you don't use chemical fertilizers) and does not have the bitter after taste of spinach. If you eat 2 cups of lightly cooked Japanese mustard spinach (equivalent to 4-6 cups of uncooked version), you will have more calcium than drinking 4 cups of milk. Plus you won't suffer from the unhealthy saturated fat in milk. 

They are cold hardy, heat tolerant, drought tolerant (but need water in the summer if there is no afternoon shade). Instead of harvesting the entire plant, you can harvest one outer leave at a time and enjoy eating it from spring through summer. They are heavy feeders, so give them a lot of organic matter. 

Fava Beans - A Good Protein and fiber Source

Fava bean starters

Flowering fava bean plant

Fava bean pods

Fava beans

Fava beans are very cold hardy that can survive a hard frost down to 23 F or even lower. They are also heat tolerant, but you need to provide them with some afternoon shade and water in a very hot summer. They are also drought tolerant depending on how much sun they receive. You can harvest fava beans from late May through October. The are pretty much care free and they fix nitrogen making your soil more fertile. 

They tend to sucker giving rise to more than one stem. Each stem will flower. Each flower gives rise to a seed pod with more than one seed in it.

The entire plant is edible. You can eat the leaves, the pods, and the beans. Fava beans are extremely nutritious with a protein score of 84 and contains a very high level of lysine and other essential minerals which will boost your immune system. They have a very high level of fiber which is beneficial to your digestive system. If you also eat their leaves and pods, you also get a lot of vitamins C and K. If you eat some nuts, such as chestnuts, to complement your fava beans, you will be able to receive a complete amino acid profile similar to that of white chicken meat or eggs. So, it is a very reliable protein source for vegetarians or even vegans. 

Tender fava bean pods are very delicious, similar to snow pea, with a nutty but sweet flavor. You can saute fava beans with mushrooms or a little bit of meat to make them more tasty. You can also add some fava bean leaves to your salad. 

Starter Plants and Everbearing Strawberry Plants Ready to Go

We have starters for fava beans, snow peas, Japanese mustard spinach, black seeded Simpsons lettuce, butterhead lettuce, red Russian kale, collard green, and more.

Japanese Mustard Spinach

Fava Beans

Fava Bean Roots

Everbearing Strawberry

Rosemary Leaves

Our gigantic rosemary bush

Fresh rosemary leaves

Rosemary is another beneficial herb that is often used with different kinds of meat. Rosemary leaves have a lot of anti-oxidants and have anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory functions. It is believed to lower the risk of cancer, especially breast cancer.

Eating a lot of oil or grease, especially when you bake or saute meat, may result in a lot of free radicals that are harmful to your body. Adding rosemary and other herbs reduces the risk of oxidation of the cell membrane of your body cells by neutralizing the free radicals.

Rosemary leaves are best consumed when they are fresh. However, if you can't eat them all, you can always dry them naturally by putting them into the fridge for a week or two.

Fresh and Dried Sage Leaves

A full bag of sage leaves

Our gigantic healthy sage bush

Fresh sage leaves

Fresh sage leaves are the best in flavor. But you can't keep sage leaves fresh forever. So, an alternative is to dry some of your unconsumed sage leaves for future consumption. The best way to dry your sage leaves and be able to retain most of their flavor is by putting them in the refrigerator. The low relative humidity in the fridge allows the sage leaves to dry naturally and slowly. Similar, you can dry rosemary, thyme, and other herbs using the same method.

Sage leaves contain a lot of anti-oxidants and have anti-inflammatory functions. Sage is also a memory enhancer and is often used as an herbal medicine against some cerebrovascular diseases in some culture for thousands of years. It may also help in Alzheimer's diseases.

Sage leaves can be cut into very tiny pieces and mix with chicken or pork, together with some soy sauce, salt, and corn starch for stir frying. In fact, you can use sage for cooking any meat.

How to Make Yummy Quail Eggs?

Step 1. Hard boil 2- 3 dozens of quail eggs for 10 minutes or more.

Step 2. Remove the hot water and soak fully cooked quail eggs into cold water until the eggs are TOTALLY cool.

Step 3. Remove all the shells. Wash the eggs in water. Then dry them using paper towels.

Step 4. Put all the eggs into a ziplock bag, then add 1 tea spoon of honey and 1 table spoon of soy sauce. You can also add whatever spice your want, such as sesame oil, ginger powder, thyme, rosemary and so on... (If you don't want to wait, you can boil the deshelled eggs in the ingredients).

Step 5. Seal the bag and remove as much air as possible, then put the bag into the refrigerator.

Step 6. Turn the eggs over a couple of times. Wait for 2 days, then enjoy your eggs!

No Fertilizer, Only Natural Organic Matter

We do not use any fertilizers, chemical or organic, that are imported from outside, except for gypsum and lime (calcium sulfate and calcium carbonate). We often spread organic matter throughout our land, such as Starbucks coffee ground, tree debris from local tree service companies, straw and weed cutting from our own land to increase its fertility.

We also use chicken and quail manure and human urine. For the produce that we sell, we make sure all chicken and quail manure applied to the soil are 100% cured or composted. We stop applying any cured or composted manure at least two month prior to harvesting. Human urine is used for composting straw and will not be applied directly to the soil for growing the produce that we sell.

Manure and urine may be used on soil for growing wheat and sunflowers that are for our own chickens' consumption.