Lupus Food

Dear Farm,

I've been suffering from Lupus for a few years. During flareups, I take some heavy duty steriods. When not experiencing flareups, I struggle with extreme fatigue and am worn out very easily. For the most part, I work 2 or 3 days a week, and that wipes me out. I go jogging an hour each day, and that helps some. Cutting out sugars, sodas and such. Hoping that The Farm might have some recommendations for foods that are known to increase the body's energy levels?

Thank you!

A New Fan of The Farm

Dear Fan,

Great question! My first instinct was to suggest a well-balanced diet focusing on lots of fresh organic fruits and vegetables. For hunch verification, I went straight to my favorite hot-spot for all things nutrition- the World's Healthiest Foods website.*

Your reasons for fatigue are clearly related to your lupus, but eating habits can also contribute to that run-down feeling. Before we start with the energy foods, here are some energy zappers:

Caffeine and other quick-fix stimulants cause a rush of stimulation, but leave your body tapping into it's own stored energy reserves to make up for it later. Hence that early afternoon crash in those of us tapping the coffee pot all morning.

Alcohol is especially taxing on your liver, requiring lots of energy to process. It is also dehydrating, making it a double energy no-no. Brings new meaning to "think before you drink"

Food Sensitivities can aggravate inflammation and interfere with nutrient absorption. Talk to your doctor or nutritionist. They might be able to suggest an allergy avoidance diet to help root out problem foods.

Yucky Chemicals can come from all over. Pesticide residue can be found on food, lawns, and flowers. And who the heck knows what those preservatives, hydrogenated fats and colors are in prepackaged junk foods. All of these things trigger free radical production internally, which can break down your body's energy-making machinery.

So, now that the bad guys have been called out, let's bring in our heroes:

Slow Down and savor your food. This gives your body an easier time digesting food, which in-turn can help to free up some energy. Many spices can increase both flavor and digestibility, so season away!

Low-Glycemic Foods don't cause a spike (and later slump) in blood sugar. Good choices are root crops like sweet potatoes, turnips, celery and jerusalem artichokes. Whole-grain breads and bread products are also low glycemic. Coincidentally, all of the above will be available for purchase at our farm store over the course of the season-look for sweet potatoes and celery in late summer and the rest of the roots in the fall. Whole wheat and Multigrain breads are available all season.

Fats and Proteins in the Morning will provide your body with long-lasting energy. Eggs, nuts and seeds are all great choices.

Antioxidize! Food sources rich in antioxidants like Vitamin C are critical in the battle to rope in those free radicals doing damage. Broccoli, kale, red peppers, strawberries, kiwi and papaya fruits are all some excellent sources. Warning: Vitamin C content decreases rapidly once picked. Cooking also destroys it. Your best bet? Veggies straight from the farm!

All of these suggestions for increasing energy sound like sage advice for anyone looking to maximize their health. With a disease already comprimizing your body's functions, it seems especially pertinant that you eat as fresh and healthy as possible. Good Luck!

*You can read their in-depth article all about your body and energy here.

Freezer Burn

Dear Farm,
I have cement sidewalks in front of my house with garden on one side and grass on the other. What is the safest thing I can use to melt ice in the winter? I'm worried I'm going to kill the plants.

Jim in Allentown PA

Dear Jim,
Great question! Melting ice is quite the conundrum. Here are a few tips to help increase the safety of pedestrians while decreasing the risk to your plants:

An Ounce of Prevention. Pre-treating your sidewalks when a winter storm is imminent is a great way to lower the needed amount of any deicer. Sprinkling a small even amount of your chosen deicer helps prevent any ice from forming in the first place. If you're just treating a small area, like your front steps, try weighting down a tarp just as the storm starts. Once it's over, simply brush off and remove the tarp and presto-no ice, no chemicals, no worries!

Pick Your Poison. There are many different brands of deicer out there. The most common chemicals are Magnesium, Calcium, Sodium (salt) and Potassium Chloride. Each has its own list of pros and cons. The good folks at The University of Maryland Cooperative Extension office have a very nice article, including a great comparison chart. (It can be found here.) They warn that salt and calcium chloride are both not recommended for newly poured concrete, brick or stone surfaces. They also warn that using fertilizer pellets may seem like a fine idea, but creates polluted runoff that is extremely hazardous for the environment.

Easy On the Hard Stuff. Contrary to the beliefs of many a fanatical salt or Qik Joe sprinkler, a little goes a long way. Too much deicer and your chances of runoff damaging your plants increases dramatically. It can also cost you more than grass seed- many deicers are corrosive and can cause damage to your car, your siding, and they can even take years off the life of your sidewalk. Yikes! Use just enough deicer to create a light, even coating over the icy area.

Just Add Water! Deicers really do their magic much more efficiently in a liquid state. For faster melting, sprinkle your deicer, then dust off your watering can, fill it with some warm water, and pour a bit on the ice. Don't go overboard-just enough to moisten the pellets so they can do their thing.

Need Some Instant Grip? Sand, cinders and kitty litter (regular non-clumping) all work great to minimize slippage while you wait for warmer weather.

If you have a question for the farm, please send it to: wegrowveggies@msn.com with Ask The Farm in the subject line.

Apologies to Kathleen

I strive to let no farm question go unanswered. However, sometimes s...ecurity happens. An Ask the Farm question was sent to us from Kathleen O' Donnell, but unfortunately, in it's zest to be aggressively safe, our email program tagged it 'unsafe' and blasted it into a cybergrave before we could open it. Now how offers for magic pills and debt loans slip into my inbox, yet a genuine email gets busted, I do not know. But Dear Kathleen, wherever you are, if you would be so kind as to re-send your question, I will happily answer.

-Sara

Maples and Me

Dear Farm,
I have some woods behind my house with several large maple trees. Can I tap them to make my own maple syrup this winter, or are we too far south? What do I need to get started?

D.L.
Tamaqua PA

Dear D.L.,

Great question! Yes, here in PA you can have your syrup and eat it too. Here's how to get started:

Select the right trees. There are many varieties of maple, but few that are suitable for tapping. The most popular are the sugar maple (acer saccharum) and the black maple (acer nigrum). Red and silver maples and box elders can also be tapped as well, but their lower sugar content means it will take more sap to make syrup. In a small backyard operation where the number of trees is limited, it may be a good idea to tap as many different varieties as you can. Here at the farm, we tap mostly silver maples because that's what we have. Important: All trees for tapping need to be at least 10 inches in diameter to avoid damaging or killing the trees.


Timing is everything. There are only a few weeks during the year that you can tap. The weather needs to be above freezing during the day , but below at night for the sap to run. This usually happens sometime in early March, though with the crazy weather lately, it's anyone's guess. Keep your eye on the weather and assemble all your supplies so you're ready when it comes.

Get ready to tap. To tap trees, you need a cordless drill or brace with a sharp 7/16" bit for a standard size spout (called a spile). You can buy spiles from maple supply companies One catered to the home tapper is the yankee grocery. Of course, there is always Ebay. You can also make your own by cutting a copper pipe into 3-4 inch sections. Choose a spot at least two feet from any old tap holes and drill a hole about 2 inches in, on a slight upward angle. Take your spile and tap it in with a rubber mallet or hammer. Make sure you get it in nice and tight, but be careful not to split the wood!

Attach Your Bucket. You can purchase special galvanized buckets with lids or use hoses that attach to the spiles and run to a bucket or collection device located in a central location. Any plastic bucket will work as well as long as it has a cover to keep debris out of the sap and a good length of rope to attach it to the tree. Untying the ropes every time you empty your bucket is time consuming, but doable if you only have a small number of trees. At the farm, we used empty gallon milk jugs with ropes. It worked great two years ago, but last year we had animals chew holes in the bottoms and drink our sap. We'll have to get something a little more heavy duty for our next round of tapping. Keep all your sap in a cold place until you are ready to boil- it can spoil quickly! Please remember to remove the taps from the trees when you are done collecting.

Boil it Down. Once you have enough sap, get yourself a large pot and an outdoor fire or gas burner. The ones made for deep frying turkeys work great, and you may be able to find them on sale this time of year. Indoor boiling is not recommended-the process of evaporation creates a whole lot of moisture in the air which can cause your wallpaper and paint to peel.

Wait. And Wait. The boiling process takes a very long time. If you have a lot of sap, be careful to keep the level a few inches below the pot's edge or it may boil over. An old trick is to rub vegetable oil along the rim-that will help keep it from spilling out. As the level goes down, pour more sap in. Eventually, the sap will get thicker and sweeter. The temperature needs to reach 7 degrees above boiling. A candy thermometer is very helpful with this. In comercial maple syrup production, the goal is to get the sugar content between 66 and 67%. Any higher and the sugar crystallizes. Any lower and there is a chance the syrup can spoil. You can test yours with a hydrometer, or you can keep your syrup refrigerated and trust that it will be used up before it ever gets a chance to spoil. While the syrup is still hot, pour it though cheesecloth (To filter out debris) into sterilized jars or bottles. Congratulations, you just made yourself some maple syrup! Now for the pancakes to drizzle it over:

Sara's Pancakes
serves 3-5, depending on appetites

• 1 cup flour (whole wheat, buckwheat, masa harina, rye, oats ground up in the blender, any kind at all will work)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (heaping if you are using a heavy flour)
• 1 egg (2 if you want more protein)
• 1 cup milk, buttermilk, or yogurt (you may need to add more to get correct consistency)
• butter
• optional ingredients: vanilla extract, almond extract (a little goes a long way!) cinnamon, molasses and ginger (a little bit of molasses and the ginger and cinnamon make delicious gingerbread pancakes. mmmm!)

Mix dry ingredients first. Add in the liquids and the spices and whisk until all lumps are removed. I keep my batter on the thicker side, about the same as cake batter. Use a ladle to pour batter into a well-buttered skillet on medium heat. It is better to make three or so 2" diameter pancakes than one big one. When bubbles start to show through, flip the pancakes. Cook em all up, pour on your new maple syrup, and enjoy!

Flaming Fall Foilage

Dear Farm,
Several doom sayers have told me the warm weather we had this fall is going to make it a bad year for the trees and they won't be as pretty. Is this true?

Fall Color Lover in Tamaqua, PA

Dear Fall Color Lover,
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, there are three main things that affect fall leaf color: leaf pigments, longer nights, and weather.

Leaf Pigments: There are three pigments in leaves-chlorophyll (green), carotenoids (orange, yellow, brown), and anthocyanins (reds). In Spring and Summer, chlorophyll is the most dominant, which is why leaves are green. This is the pigment that enables trees to convert sunlight into food. Carotenoids are also present, but hidden beneath the green of chlorophyll. Anthocyanins aren't produced until the bright light and excess plant sugars are present in fall. In the fall, plants slow and eventually stop production of chlorophyll, revealing the yellows, browns, reds, and oranges we all love.

Longer Nights: As the days become shorter, the trees are taking it as a sign to pack it in for the winter. The amount of daylight a tree receives is a stronger indicator to the tree that it's time to lose the chlorophyll more than the weather. Of course, less sun usually means cooler nighttime temperatures, so it may be a "which came first, the chicken or the egg" sort of thing.

Weather: Temperature and moisture both have a big impact on just how bright the leaves will be in any given year. It is the temperatures before and during chlorophyll production that mostly affect the leaves. The best-case scenario for the best possible colors? A warm and wet Spring, a summer with an average rainfall amount, and sunny days with cool nights in the fall.

So will the record-breaking heat have an affect on the leaves? Probably not more than anything else. I'm sure the trees will be stunning, just as they seem to be every year.

*Here's a bonus tree fact- Trees drop their leaves to prevent the build-up of snow on them, which would cause the branches to break under the weight. Evergreens are designed with needles, conical shapes and flexible branches, enabling the snow to cascade down to the ground without damaging the tree.

Winter Seed Reads

Dear Farm,

Each winter we get a huge stack of seed catalogs in the mail. With all the talk about GMOs and seed company take-overs, how do we know what kind of company we're supporting? What is the best source for organic seed, and what does it mean when it says open-pollinated?

Concerned in PA

Dear Concerned,

There are an amazing number of seed catalogs out there, and it can be a chore to sort out who owns what company and where they stand on GMO seeds. Start by reading the fine print inside the cover. If you can't find answers in the catalog, don't hesitate to call and ask them. If you find that you are buried in catalogs that you do not want to support, please consider calling them to get off the mailing list. The Direct Marketing Association has a great website to help get off unwanted mail, telephone, and email lists. No sense in wasting resources for junk mail! Here is a list with some of our favorite catalogs:

J. L. Hudson, Seedsman
Box 337
La Honda, CA
94020-0337 USA
http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net

A public access seed bank dedicated to the preservation of botanical diversity. They have an incredible selection of seeds of every kind from around the world.

Seed Savers Exchange
3094 North Winn Road
Decorah, Iowa 52101
Ph: (563) 382-5990
Fax: (563) 382-5872
http://www.seedsavers.org/

Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of heirloom seeds. They are a great resource for learning how to save your own seeds.

Fedco Seeds
PO Box 520
Waterville, ME 04903
(207) 873-7333
http://fedcoseeds.com/

Fedco is a great seed co-op out of Maine. Their catalog contains a section filled with resources on saving seeds, alternative organic certifications, and various organizations. Their detailed descriptions and fun artwork brighten up a dark winter day!

Seeds of Change
1-888-762-7333

http://www.seedsofchange.com

Seeds of Change has over 600 varieties of certified organic seed including seed collections. They also have a nice selection of fun garden gadgets.

Johnny's Selected Seeds
955 Benton Avenue
Winslow, Maine 04901
877-564-6697
https://www.johnnyseeds.com

Johnny’s is a very popular seed company and a favorite of many folks we know. Their photo-filled catalog makes a great resource for any gardener.

Richtor’s Herb Specialists
Goodwood, ON L0C 1A0 Canada
Tel. +1.905.640.6677
Fax. +1.905.640.6641
http://www.richters.com/

As the name implies, Richtor’s is the best source for everything herbal. Their selection of herb seeds and starter plugs is quite impressive.

Now on to your next question. Plants that are open pollinated are simply plants doing what they naturally do, with little interference from man. Varieties are planted far enough away from plants in the same family so there is no cross-contamination, but left to pollinate themselves. Hybrids are the opposite, where man takes deliberate steps to make sure two different varieties will pollinate. It is a very scientific process. Here is a nice article explaining the difference between the two. Then there are the genetically modified seeds, which are an entirely different being, quite literally. Genes from other plants or even complete other species like bacterias and even fish (!) are injected into a plant, forming a whole new plant capable of such feats as withstanding liberally sprayed herbicides or killing certain caterpillars. All this would make for a fascinating discussion over dinner, but not something I would not like in my dinner.

The Dirt on Ph

Dear Farm,
A friend of mine was telling me I should have the pH of my soil tested. How necessary is this to have a healthy garden?

Backyard Gardener in Emmaus PA

Dear Backyard Gardener,
Good question! Let's start with explaining what pH is: simply put, it is a system of measuring the acidity or alkalinity of something. Here is a handy chart courtesy of Boulder's Water Monitoring authority:




In soil, the pH directly effects how easily plants can absorb nutrients. Nearly all plants require soil that is slightly acidic. Anything above a pH of 6.5 makes it difficult for the plant to get what it needs to survive (with the exception of some trees).

Some plants love acidity and thrive with a lower pH. Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Laurels, Blueberries, and Rasperries all do better eating the brown acid (couldn't resist!). On our side of the Blue Mountain here in Pennsylvania, it is easy to determine our soil is acidic, since these plants are very common throughout the forest. For an excellent listing of which plants prefer which acidity, check out the Colorado State Cooperative Extension Office's list.


As far as having your own soil tested, it can be a handy thing to know, but if you are adding a good amount of compost to your soil each year and your plants are all doing well, feel free to follow the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" motto.

If your plants are not doing a nice as you'd like them to, having the soil tested might be just the information you need to get them really thriving. There are several testers on the market. We really have no preference for one over another. This Electronic Soil Tester seems like quite a fancy doo-dad. Your local Cooperative Extension Office offers low-priced soil testing as well as great advice targeted to your area. The Lehigh County office's website takes a bit of time to navigate, so here is the direct link to the soil test.

If it is determined that your soil is too acid, pulverized limestone can help raise the pH level. If your soil is too alkaline, adding large amounts of rich organic matter can help to lower it. This is an area where your Cooperative Extension Office can be helpful in suggesting the proper amounts of soil ammendments for you. Good Luck!

If you have a question for the farm, email us at wegrowveggies@msn.com with "Ask the Farm" in the subject line.