Tulasi Gets Her Bath

 In winter, Tulasi can suffer taken indoors into dry, heated homes in the west, since  she likes humidity. This in turn makes the infamous appearance of spider mites. To keep them away and keep Tulasi happy, spray under her leaves morning and evening. For smaller pots of Tulasi, a sprayer attached to a sink works well.

Another method is using a spray bottle for bathing, ideally filling the bottle with fresh water daily, and using a mister likewise, a more gentler sprayer which mimics morning dew and adds humidity 

Tulasi doesn’t require much water in winter. Only if her pot feels light and soil dry, give her a good soaking until the water runs freely from top to bottom of the pot. And if you have hard well water like we do, occasionally a little sprinkling of Epsom salts on top of her soil, helps her take up nutrients better. Epsom salts diluted in water in a spray bottle also helps for her to absorb directly through her leaves. But do not do this everyday. 

Keep her on a sunny window ledge during the day and remove her in the evenings, so she doesn’t catch a chill.

Caring for tulasi helps us build a relationship with her and pleases Lord Krishna very much.

Fresh Coriander Storage

Some people grow it and cut it as needed. Which is ideal. But to store it can be challenging. It doesn’t do well in plastic bags from the grocery store. Some suggest storing it with the tips submerged in water. Others say wrap it in a paper towel. Somewhere came the idea to wrap it unwashed in an absorbent cloth, then put it in the plastic grocery bag.

 Periodically, remove any aging leaves and stems . Also at least once, replace the cloth with a fresh, dry one and turn the plastic bag inside out so any trapped moisture accumulated can get evaporated. With this method the coriander leaves can stay good for at least a couple weeks!

DIY yogurt

Do you ever wonder how villagers in India make yogurt without getting some already made at the store to use as a starter to make your own? Well, several videos on YouTube show how it’s possible. Some make it from tamarind pods or chilies with stems intact. And others from a piece of lemon. 

We decided to give it a try. 

Basically you get a little warm milk, enough to cover a slice of lemon and its peel. Then keep it in a warm place for about 16 hours. In the following example, a warmed oven was used, and it got  warmed up again, as needed, in between time. I also keep a couple iron cast skillets in the oven. To keep the warmth in there.

The result was yogurt!

Now the observant will notice two pieces of lemon were used in this case. That’s because I spaced out and left the oven on too long. The heat kills the culture and perhaps whatever was on the lemon. So it got cooled down again and a second piece of lemon was  added, just in case. 

The finished product usually tastes a little lemony.  And maybe even more so this time around because of the inattentiveness. But the trick is to boil a bigger pot of milk and use this starter to make the bigger pot of milk into yogurt next.

After that turns to yogurt ( in about 5 hours ), bottle and refrigerate that amount to be used for making more pots of yogurt, using the amount needed in proportion to how much milk is used. This lessens any aftertaste over time. 

We tried chilies, too, and worked just as well. 

Speaking of yogurt, also know as “curd” in India, click here for some tips for the best ways to serve or eat it.

Why You Shouldn’t Kill Cows

(this got posted on Pinterest, but wasn't allowed to remain there long)

What other animal on earth gives as many varieties of foodstuffs as cows? 

Pictured here are milk, yogurt, whey, ghee, buttermilk  and paneer or fresh cheese. All are used in many ways for delicious and nutritious preparations. Not forgetting the uses of scrumptious butter and cream!

Mother cow is so generous that she provides plenty of milk for humanity as well as for her calves.

In fact, there was a cow here who gave us milk long after she had any calf! Treat her well and she reciprocates.

Oxen and bulls are valuable too, as work animals or for producing more cows. And let’s not forget that all these beautiful creatures also provide very valuable dung for use in the garden to grow so many other foods in abundance!

Now, if that’s not enough to consider sparing their lives in gratitude, think about how, if protected for life, these valuable bovines still can provide even after their death such things like leather, gelatin and fertilizers such as blood and bone meal. And if there were to be any food shortages in the future- a daily supply of milk products can be had indefinitely compared to a dead animal for meat. 

So tell me, which animal on earth is more valuable! And you want world peace? Protect cows!

Cloth japa beads

 A friend of ours was in jail a couple of days for distributing books. “How’d you chant your rounds?”, he was asked. His method was a strip of cloth that he tied to make “beads” 

Some years later I had no japa beads and so tore a strip of cloth from an old sari. I decided to give the description I had heard before, a try. Funny that the colors of that particular sari make the “beads” look wooden from a distance. 

Rangoli

Got a sidewalk? Or a smooth deck on your porch? Some chalk?  This video is so inspiring. Traditionally made with rice flour, rangolis  are auspicious designs to be drawn in front of one’s front door or on the altar. There’s lots if info on the web as well as patterns. Here’s a sample:

I hope to get my own attempts posted. To be continued!

Hand laundry tip

Let’s say you dread hanging up that huge pile of saris that pile up in the laundry and would rather wash one by hand each day, so there’s less to disentangle or hang up by the end of the week . 

Or say you are taking a trip and have to travel light. In that case, you need to wash clothes more often. And sometimes there’s no washing machine available. 

So here a tip: hand wash the item(s) as needed, wring it out as usual, and then to wick away more water, roll the item up into a thick terry cloth towel and give it a good squeeze. 

Then hang both the washed item and the towel to dry. Because there’s less water, your cloth will dry faster. 

With a thick kitchen towel, this technique is good for drying washed lettuce, too!

 

Japa

 Japa takes surrender. Japa means surrender. Every. Day. So practice surrender every day via japa!

Saatvik Salad

The highlight is grated paneer. None of that old super hard cheese that passes as cheese. And don’t forget avocados! Always buy them unripe because ones that were squeezed by customers will come out bruised. Store a couple days in a cabinet or drawer to soften just right. 

INGREDIENTS:

Lettuce, avocados, grated paneer, walnuts sautéed in ghee, raisins, lemon juice, salt and pepper . Easy! Now offer the Lord a big helping. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, “My devotees’ offerings are never small!”.

VARIATIONS: next time throw in some grated up carrots and beets for more color! 

Fresh Food

 If you want health, Ayurveda says eat freshly cooked food. No leftovers. Prasadam is meant to be shared, so eat nothing that was cooked more than four hours before. You can honor a little if it’s prasada, of course. And especially avoid pre prepared foods sitting on a grocery store shelf. Here are some samples of what should be taken instead:

Fresh food requires a cook, however. Too bad so many women are brainwashed to think about having a career outside the home! There is no job on earth more important than family welfare. 

Something to think about.

Root Vegetables

 

Ever since MH went on a nightshade free diet, I have been using more sweet potatoes. They make an excellent side dish, especially in breakfast offerings. Also great for Ekadasis. Two ways to prepare them are:

1. Split in half and place face down in a gheesed pan. Bake at 400 degrees until tender.

2. Slice in rounds about 1/2" thick. Crowd as many as possible lying flat in a heated up, gheesed frying pan. Fry a few seconds on one side before turning to the other. Lightly salt and cover and lower heat. Keep covered on low heat until tender.  

These methods can also be used for other root vegetables such as beets, carrots and daikon radishes. ‘Tis the season! Well…down south anyway. 🙂

Book Cover

My Bhagavad-gita cover was badly worn. I couldn't find the exact video tutorial I had used, but this one is close enough:

 

Garden and landscape 2021

Things planted and grown this year included:

Kale

Broccoli 

Brussels sprouts 

Cauliflower 

Carrot

Beets

Lettuces 

Radish

Daikon radish

Green beans 

Lambsquarter

Turmeric 

Bitter gourd

Peanuts

Corn

Cucumbers

Zucchini 

Okra

Yellow squash 

Spaghetti squash

Cantaloupe 

Watermelon 

Asparagus 

Tomato 

Chilies 

Eggplant 

Taro 

Luffa

Curry trees 

Basil

Oregano

Thyme

Rosemary 

Mint

Marigolds 

Jasmine bush

Curry trees

Camphor tree

Banana trees

Another loquat tree

Nasturtium 

Dahlia

Echinacea 

Violet

Iris

Pansy

Butterfly bush

Crocosmia 

Milkweed