From apple muffins to rooftop gardens

To our website visitors----what follows is the most recent email sent out to those on the email list. Now we can widen the circle by sharing it with you! Please feel free to register. sign-in and join the conversation!
Hello All,
A recent visit from Margaret, and an abundance of apples falling in our yard, led me to try this Apple Walnut Spice Muffin recipe. It was a great success, dense and flavorful:
Apple Walnut Spice Muffins

And here is a tip on making homemade almond butter, from Christel in Germany:

Do you make almond butter on your own? I did it recently, nearly damaged the food-processor, but then I had a successful idea:
For one package of whole almonds ( 200g ) I added 2 - 3 tablespoons of almond butter ( bought ) and then
it worked fine to produce a butter-like ( but more firm then the bought one ) spread of almonds.

Lyn in Portland sent a kind note of appreciation for our project, including these words:
...The way you have created a framework and a weaving of light and joy has emerged is wonderful and so needed these days. I have a very large garden this year and managed to get quite a few residents of our Town House association to grow 20x15 ft plots. I am the only vegetarian and vegan on top of that so I rely on your networking to give me camaraderie, education and the excitement of new recipes. Your work also is full of Thay's teachings and aspirations of health for us all our fellow beings and the planet. Thank you, warmly --Lyn

Thanks, Lyn----I'm so glad you're with us. ;-)

And Alison in New Hampshire sent a link to an inspiring article on roof top gardening---actually rooftop farming! Some restaurants in big cities now grow their own produce up on the roof and the roofs of other large buildings are being used for greenhouses and row farming. It's wonderful---I only wonder why didn't we think of this earlier!
http://grist.org/food/the-next-great-farming-frontier-look-up/#.UhybkuIF...

Hearing about the rooftop farming reminded me a book I just finished reading: The Good Food Revolution by Will Allen. It's amazing. He started out with a roadside stand and ended up creating a thriving farm in the city which is also a learning center for urban gardening----which now gives national and international workshops to help spread the idea. He's black and details how the legacy of slavery and sharecropping left African Americans with an aversion for agriculture----but the rise of big supermarket chains created food deserts in the cities---with the result that black people get mostly junk food. His project is changing all that---getting people connected with the earth and their food and their health. The man truly has a vision! He does intensive gardening, making use of vertical as well as horizontal space.He has perfected the art of creating good soil by composting. And his goal is to be fossil-fuel-free: he warms the greenhouses by placing steaming compost piles in all the corners.

I highly recommend the book---it gave me such hope for the future of food!

Have you noticed our new blog on our website Home page? I expect to be using it to post a copy of my weekly emails, perhaps worded a little differently. I'll use first names only, to protect everyone's privacy. It will give us a place to keep the messages and respond to them right there if you like. To see previous blog entries, click on Blog on the left side of the screen. I'll leave last week's entry up for a few days for you to read----then it will be archived and this message will appear. If anyone has suggestions for the blog, please let me know---I'm new to all this!

Happy cooking--
Eve