The war is here!

My husband and I have been growing container vegetable and herb gardens for a few years now. During that time, we've been introduced to tomato hornworms and the right growing spots for the various plants.

This year we planted a small garden on the side of our house using a variety of containers ranging from one gallon milk jugs to City Picker Patio Garden Kits, and finally 5-gallon HDPE food-grade buckets. As we lease our home, we are unable to plant in the ground, or we could be fined for "improvements on the property."

We planted strawberries and marigolds in one gallon milk jugs and mounted them to our privacy fence. We planted basil, peppermint, dill, and cilantro in window boxes mounted on our fence. Then we planted tomato, marigold, lemon thyme, squash, nasturtium, bush beans, tomato, bush beans, jalapeno, and cucumbers. Of course all of those were in different containers in a line. We made sure we drilled appropriate drainage holes in the containers, and none of our containers sit on the ground (because what would be the point of drilling holes if you're going to cover them with the ground?)

We planted a bit later this year as last year, mid-April, we had a FREEZE...not a frost but a FREEZE here in Georgia that quickly killed our plants (even though they were covered and insulated.)

And the war is here against pests.

Thus far, we have already encountered (in four weeks) spotted cucumber beetles, striped cucumber beetles, ants, leafhoppers, Japanese beetles, dogsbane leaf beetles, and unidentified caterpillars (I haven't found them yet, and the wild birds have been snatching them off our plants for us when they find them.) We've done everything we were supposed to do for pest control, and now we have to kick it up a notch. Last year I read about flattening a piece of aluminum foil around the base of a cucumber plant to prevent cucumber beetles. The cucumber beetles laughed at that. We tried planting highly fragrant marigolds nearby (as in directly next to them) - again, the cucumber beetles laughed. This year, we've continued with the tried and true method of eradication (nitrile gloves and trapping them when we see them.)

Then I remembered that my work uses food-grade diatomaceous earth for one of our products. Not only do we use it, but a few months ago we got some 50 lbs sample bags in of various particle size to test, and there they sit - partially used on our shelf. What's diatomaceous earth? Well, it's basically a powder made up of pulverized fossilized diatoms. Remember the diatoms we saw in slides in school? The little wheels and cylinders that look like glass? Yes, those diatoms. Diatomaceous earth, however, is a respiratory irritant so you should use a mask and safety goggles when applying.

Let's see how this works...

Milk, not milk.

Today, we try something new. While not severe, we have minor lactose intolerance issues. It doesn't matter if we drink factory-farmed cow's milk or organic, small farm cow's milk - it's the same response.

I had tried soy milk in the past, and the flavor was..."okay." Okay as in not awesome, and okay as in not terrible. It sort of tasted like the adhesive on the back of older postage stamps. It was that sort of okay. 

I've seen the commercials advertising coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk, cashew milk, etc., and as I happen to really enjoy almond (read that as - baked goods go from vanilla extract to almond extract in their recipes) I decided to try Silk's Almond Milk. It was on sale for $2.99/half gallon at Publix, and I had clipped a $0.75/off one half-gallon coupon a few weeks ago. My total investment would be $2.24 (plus tax) so I figured - why not? It's one of the least expensive "let's try this" moments I've had. 

Let's get the nitty gritty about almond milk out of the way before I talk about my review on it:

* 60 calories per serving, 118 calories per serving for 1% cow's milk

* 50% more calcium than dairy milk, (cow's milk - 35% calcium; almond milk - 45% : daily values)
* Vitamin E source, no vitamin E in cow's milk

* Cholesterol and saturated fat free, 10 mg cholesterol for cow's milk and 2 g saturated fat

* Free of dairy, soy, lactose, gluten, casein, egg, and MSG (cow's milk - you do the math)
* Non-GMO almonds, some cow's milk may be from cows fed GMO grains (we aren't anti GMO nuts, but it's worth mentioning for those who are concerned about GMO)

Other nutrition breakdown:
60 calories
2.5 g total fat

0 cholesterol

160 mg sodium

35 mg potassium

8 g carbohydrates

1 g protein

10% vitamin A

45% calcium

4% riboflavin

0% vitamin C

2% iron

20% vitamin E

4% magnesium

Milk nutrition breakdown (1%) :
118 calories

3 g total fat

10 mg cholesterol

143 mg sodium

0 potassium

14 g carbohydrates

10 g protein

10% vitamin A
35% calcium

5% vitamin C

1% iron

The one thing cow's milk has going for it that almond milk does not is protein. Everything else? Almond milk wins in my book. 

My review:

The commercials boast almond milk as being silky and smooth "just like real milk" and a "good milk substitute." I poured myself a glass (see the photo above?) Immediately you can see that it is creamy and smooth and somewhat resembles dairy milk. If I showed you the above picture without identifying it, you might say it is dairy milk, but it's not. 

I purchased the original flavor (I didn't want to be biased.) It has a mild almond flavor, and it is a creamy consistency, but it's not the heavy creamy consistency that sits on your tongue like dairy milk. It's creamy, and then it's gone. It is okay - I could drink it.

However, when you do more research into commercial almond milk, you'll quickly find that all of the good stuff from almonds gets lost when it becomes commercialized almond milk (like protein.) If I was to continue to drink almond milk, I'd probably look at recipes for making my own. 

I made fire!

Okay, no. I did not actually make fire. Andrew and I took the last weekend in April off from work, and we traveled to Western North Carolina. First, we drove up to Asheville along the scenic route as Andrew had never been in that area before. We stopped for a driving break along the Nantahala and watched two rafts with paddlers float by us. The weather was amazing: sunny. Spring was popping up with green leaves and a nice breeze. Needless to say, it was the perfect drive.

We arrived in Asheville around 1pm, and we headed to the Biltmore Estate (I already had tickets.) Again, it was another spot that Andrew had never been, and the last time I visited it was 2004. My how much it has changed. I love the architecture of the Biltmore, and I love the iron chandelier hanging four stories with a cantilevered staircase surrounding it. However, it has become much more touristy. First of all, Fridays are not the days to visit. It was packed with school tours of disrespectful kids cussing and pushing people around. It made walking through the house incredibly difficult. Second, the Biltmore herds you into a "chute" between the banquet room and breakfast room for a required picture. It would be nice if this picture had the same conservatory back drop as what is behind you, but it's one of the "pick this up at the end of your tour" pictures in which you are pasted into the back drop of the Biltmore. After walking through the house (and trying to avoid the school tours,) we continued down to the gardens. Sadly, the only thing in bloom at that time were the Azalea bushes in a separate location. Here are some of the photos we snapped at the Biltmore (you are not allowed to take any photos, recordings, or sketches of the inside of the Biltmore. This sucked because I wanted a photo of the kitchen!)

After the Biltmore and checking into our hotel (Holiday Inn at Biltmore Mall - WOULD stay there again!) we headed to downtown Asheville. After making several loops before settling on a parking deck, we began our conquest to find food. Of course we were in sensory overload, but we managed to settle on Carmel's Restaurant. I am glad we did. Our server, Jay, was amazing, and the food was just as good. We chose to sit outside and people watch before finishing our meals and heading to Kilwin's just around the corner to get some ice cream before our trek back to our car. We were so tired or we would have spent much more time walking around Asheville.

The next morning our friends Silvia, Nona, and Mark drove up from Atlanta so we could all head to Fire on the Mountain Blacksmith Festival in Spruce Pine, NC. It is about an hour from Asheville, and it is a quaint and unique town. The majority of smiths and booths there were hosted by Penland School of Crafts in Burnsville, NC (nearby.)

We met up with our friend, Lo, who had been attending Penland for a few weeks. She was participating in a "snake-off" (forging a snake in a designated amount of time.) Unfortunately, she couldn't get a good heat as the propane tanks were freezing, but here she is in action:

We were able to see some awesome demos including one by Elizabeth Brim. You may notice she wears a pearl necklace. She does this because when she started smithing someone told her it wasn't ladylike to blacksmith so she started wearing a pearl necklace.

The festival was so much fun. We ended up spending five or six hours there before heading up to Penland for a pig roast and a tour of Lo's shop. After climbing the winding drive to the school, it was as if the mists parted, and here was this wonderful world called Penland. 

Some of the awesome sights seen around the shop:

And of course, Mark had to get in on some fun, too. Andrew and I were outside standing near the awesome forged gate (seen above) when we heard a hammer ringing on metal in the shop. I said, "I recognize those hammer blows. That's Mark." Sure enough when we walked in, Mark was forging his own snake at Lo's coal-burning (awesome) forge. Andrew said to me, "give it a few minutes, and Mark will have a crowd." Sure enough - he did. Also at the festival and Penland we met Jamie Rogers of Big Giant Swords. She had recognized Mark from an event while we were at the festival, and we had the chance to meet her while we were watching Elizabeth Brim's demo.

By the time we came down off the mountain, it was time to call it a night. After breakfast the next morning, we all headed our ways. Andrew and I stopped at Spring Ridge Creamery in Otto, NC for some milk, cheese, and ice cream, and then we stopped in at a flea market in Mountain City, GA before picking up the dogs and heading home.

It was an awesome weekend, and we can't wait to move up there in about three years.