Claudia Shimkus

Sometimes bacon, and sometimes smoke sausage
Either added along with the recipe at the top
Bay leaf
And biscuits or dumplings

Philly Cheese steaks

I grew up in southern AZ, so it's Mexican for me
Tortilla soup
Taco salad
Salpicon tostados
machaca
calabasitas
chilequiles

Fresh fried corn tortilla chips are the best if you can get good thin organic corn tortillas
I can send recipes if interested

what a great idea

I will buy a dozen - I bought a dozen of he "Building a Better World" books and i will buy a dozen of these

i will buy 12 books and i would pay even more

we have about 10 acres of deciduous woods.  I'm spending lots of time looking up plants and their uses, it's amazing the abundance in any ecosystem.  Not always the tastes we are used to.  It's interesting the thought of developing a food forest in an existing forest, whether coniferous or deciduous.  I always thought of a food forest as a purposefully developed forest with common food plants.  so this is a whole new world of possibility - using our existing woods and either intensify my efforts to find edible products there and/or start planting some shade tolerant plants and see what happens.  

my favorite joke:
Old Indian word for Bad Hunter:  Vegetarian

the late, Great, Toby Hemenway, discusses "lasagna" or layering compost that is a no turn system, in his book "Gaia's Garden."  I have tried this as well as turning, vermicompost and the chicken method.  for my chicken workers, I used an 8'X8' area surrounded by straw bales and I just threw all manner of compostable material in there which they happily turned for me while looking for edibles and worms.  I still have the best luck with turning.  I have taken Dr. Elaine Ingham's class, so I have the advantage of being able to use the microscope to check my end product.  I collect materials in a static pile for about 6 months.  At the end of about 6 months, when the pile is full,  I turn it daily for about 1-2 weeks.  This method has  always had the most beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes, by far.  It is a 4'X4' pile.  Takes about 45 minutes to turn with a small 4 tine potato fork.  It is good exercise.  I turn the pile that has collected in spring and fall.  I think it is worth it.  This isn't exactly what Dr. Ingham teaches, but I don't put in any manure or anything with seeds that I don't want, so I don't need temperature to kill pathogens or weed seeds.  So far, I have not seen any pathogens in my samples, which could have been present on the materials in the pile.  I also find, that a lot of the seeds in the pile sprout at some point so I don't get a lot of volunteers after I spread the compost.  I highly recommend taking Dr. Ingham's class.  it opened a whole new world to me and helped me understand so much more about soil and plants.  (P.S. - I am not affiliated in any way)

I was concerned when I read Charlotte's quote of Elaine Ingham. I sent it to Elaine for review, and the following is her reply:

"It was brought to my attention that the following appears in a Victory Garden post. It is a mis-quiote. It isn't what I would say. Would it be possible to either remove my name, or change this so it reflects what I would say? 'Elaine Ingham recommends making a microbe tea from compost that can include the weeds, grasses and other other green plant materials growing in situ.'

Please remove this part, because I don't recommend this either: 'This according to what i know about permaculture would be the best method. I have not actually done this but her recommendations are to make compost, using the plant materials gather the weeds, put in a barrel or bucket, cover with water and let ferment for 21 days. she says to stir it twice every day'
If green plant materials are pushed into a bucket, and covered with water, the infusion will become anaerobic pretty rapidly. Even if stirred twice a day. and that infusion won't be beneficial to soil life or roots of plants.

What I do recommend is IF PROTOZOA ARE LACKING IN THE SOIL, cover the bottom of the bucket with barely enough grass, weed, etc plant material, fill the bucket half full, and incubate for 48 HOURS. Bacteria
from the plant material surfaces will start to grow, and then protozoa from cysts on the plant material surfaces will grow, eating the bacteria. This can be a good way to re-establish nutrient cycling in the soil.

Elaine R. Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc. Soil Life Consultant"

I have taken Elaine's online class and learned how to use a microscope to check what microbes are in any preparation I make such as compost, compost extract, compost tea, protozoa infusion, etc. it is the only way to know if what you are using has beneficial organisms. It is amazing how quickly things can become anaerobic, waking up organisms that live in low oxygen conditions and produce plant toxins. The cost of the class was well worth it. to be able to actually see these little critters and make sure I have the beneficials.

for older people, maybe gardener's clubs, botanical garden members, or other such organizations
for younger people, maybe students at colleges, or even in high school, taking botany, agriculture, microbiology, etc. type classes