Cucumber Madness

Here on the Beck Grove, Helene's garden is off the hook! 

There are cucumbers everywhere, and luckily, I get to take a few home too.

Now one of my favorite things about the cucumber is how guilt free I feel when I prepare it.  I mean, cucumbers are 95% water, so in the summertime it's great hydrating snack.  

However, does the summer make you think about anything else???  For me it does...  it makes me think of the county fair.  And rightly so, the county fair makes me think of none other than a variety of fried foods which have no place in nature being fried.

So in celebration of the vice we all tend to fall victim to this time of year, I experimented with a little fried cucumber recipe of my own!  It's extremely easy to do, and they were delicious.  Oh and they cost a fraction of the price of fair food $$$.

1. Slice the cucumbers
   
2. Soak them in slightly salted water for at least a half an hour
   
3. Pat them dry
   
4. Dip them in egg
   
5. Dip them in seasoned bread crumbs
   
6. Drop into pan of hot oil, fat drippings, or deep fryer
   
7. Brown on both sides
   

ENJOY!!!

Now if only I could get the fair to deliver a private ferris wheel to my house... Hmmm....

By Tracy Kinnaman

Permaculture - Take it Abroad and Bring it Back Home

This is a difficult subject for me to write briefly on.  I have been increasingly more interested in permaculture lately and I would love the opportunity to go abroad and help create a sustainable solution for a struggling community.  I respect the way in which this concept seeks to solve economical problems as well, not just set up and abandon the freshly planted system, but find lasting solutions to a continuing independence. 

 "Permaculture is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of human endeavor. It teaches us how to build natural homes, grow our own food, restore diminished landscapes and ecosystems, catch rainwater, build communities and much more."

The principles involved in permaculture are ones I think everyone could use.  We should slow down, stop, and think about the way we solve problems in this day and age -  and the repercussions of our actions and what we're leaving behind. 

The first step in planning the development of an ecosystem is to take the time to engage in nature and interact with the natural progressions in that certain area.  Since we already live in a developed nation, we don't really take the time to look around our natural surroundings and question our methods of living and if they are harmonious with the environment in which we are forcing a certain way of life.  Why do we accept the status quo?

I know I am always saying, "Do I really need blackberries in winter?"  Or can I wait for Summer when the conditions here at home provide a natural growing environment for them.  Do I indeed live in southern California, a desert, yet watch the sad amounts of rain that fall here, run away into gutters, lost forever?

There are so many countries that are in need of help setting up basic methods of survival, and I feel so helpless over here.   But for now I should to try to do what I can while I am home. Hopefully someday I can affect someone else.  Even if it's just one of my friends or neighbors, or an entire community abroad.  

I believe in the power of 1.

By Tracy Kinnaman