This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
Thank you for all your support over the years!

We Have Winners!

January 18th, 2010

I chose winners for the Renee’s Garden Seed contest.

So our winners are Misti and Beverly. If you didn’t get my e-mail make sure you send me your address so I can send out your prizes. Contact me at: susy (at) chiotsrun.com.

A Healthy Snack: Popcorn

January 18th, 2010

Nutritionally, popcorn, is one of the best all-around snack foods. Mr Chiots and I love popcorn as a snack in the evenings. We grew some of our own this summer and we have a few local farms we buy delicious popcorn from. It tastes much better than the yellow popcorn you buy at the store and it comes in all different colors.

We make it on the stove the old-fashioned way (we don’t have a microwave). It’s so delicious when made fresh this way, you won’t ever be able to eat microwave popcorn again. Typically we use coconut oil or ghee as the oil when we make popcorn.

It does work best if you have a nice heavy pan to make it in. Kettle corn is also quite simple to make at home. All you do is sprinkle a tablespoon or two of sugar over the popcorn and oil in the pan once the first kernel pops.

We typically enjoy our popcorn drizzled with some homemade ghee, it has an intense buttery flavor that’s perfect on popcorn.

From what I read popcorn provides 67% as much protein, 110% as much iron and as much calcium as an equal amount of beef. An average 1.5-ounce serving of popcorn supplies the same energy as two eggs; and a cup of unbuttered popcorn contains fewer calories than half a medium grapefruit. In addition, hull is an excellent source of fiber. So, buy some popcorn and pop up a batch next time you rent a movie, you won’t be disappointed with the fresh flavor of popcorn made the old-fashioned way!

How do you like your popcorn, super buttery, salty, air-popped, kettle cooked, or coated in sweet caramel?

Quote of the Day: Little House on the Prairie

January 17th, 2010

“Now Pa carefully took the nails one by one from his mouth, and with ringing blows of the hammer he drove them into the slab. It was much quicker than drilling holes and whittling pegs and driving them into the holes. But every now and then a nail sprang away from the tough oak when the hammer hit it, and if Pa was not holding it firmly, it went sailing through the air.

Then Mary and Laura watched it fall and they searched in the grass till they found it. Sometimes it was bent. Then Pa carefully pounded it straight again. It would never do to lose or waste a nail.”

Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie

I loved reading as a kid with Little House and the Narnia series being my favorites. Every couple years I read through the The Chronicles of Narnia. I’m reading through the Little House on the Prairie Series this winter. I find myself being amazed at her description of how nothing was wasted, truly a lesson we could stand to relearn. I’m sure I notice different things reading them as an adult that I did as a girl.

What were your favorite books as a kid?

Quote of the Day: Gandhi

January 16th, 2010

“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil
is to forget ourselves.”

Mohandas K. Gandhi


I like that he includes “tend the soil” in there, which I believe is the most important part of gardening.

Do you think he’s right?

It’s Time

January 15th, 2010




I try to make sure I enjoy each season, instead of longing for the next one. However, once I take down the lights and garland I start getting antsy for spring.

What about you, do you have spring fever yet?

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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