The Dow Dominion

Some scientific studies have shown eggs aren't harmful for your heart.  But is that the truth, or are these studies fundamentally flawed?  Here's a brief look at today's research review. The study under review today claims that eating eggs does not affect cholesterol levels in the body, but the researchers tested cholesterol levels after a 10-hour fast. Participants who ate eggs in the study for just three months showed modest rises in fasted cholesterol levels, though not enough of a change to be considered statistically significant. The researchers had almost no control over the subjects' diets, making it practically impossible to draw conclusions from the data collected. This study uses other poorly designed scientific experiments as citations for its hypothesis, building further upon already flawed research.   Unsurprisingly, this study was funded by the American Egg Board. For a long time, I thought eggs were a nutritious food.  They have lots of chol

Formerly "Moving Towards Self-Reliance, Part I: High Efficiency Lighting" I've been slowly working towards my goal of being self-reliant in food, water, energy and finances.  Today, I want to discuss how to become more energy-efficient as part of the larger goal of becoming self-reliant.  More specifically, I want to talk about high efficiency lighting. Do Light Bulbs Really Use That Much Energy? Yes. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, artificial lighting accounts for at least 10% of the typical American's total energy usage in their homes .  Various other sources claim even larger figures, with some experts citing that lighting can make up as high 30% of the annual electricity usage. It's hard to imagine that a simple light bulb would use that much of total energy a house expends throughout the year.  Indeed, even the most inefficient light bulbs don't use that much power compared to other appliances, like refrigerato

It took me longer than expected to post an update of my frugal veggie garden since my last article, but fear not!  Today, I've posted a new video going over some of the routine tasks I do in the garden, as well as some other tips and tricks I've picked up along the way this season.  I also do a tour around my garden (what's left of it, anyway) to show my readers what I am growing right now and what plants are still producing from the last sowing.  Here's a few highlights of the video: What material I compost  How often to turn the compost pile How many tomato plants I expect to need to feed my family during the next growing season Lots of mulching advice and recommendations Fall gardening experiments Beans, beans and more beans! A primer on winter sowing And more... I hope you guys enjoy the video.  Let me know if there are any specific questions you would like answered, or any particular topics you would like to have me cover.  Stay tuned for further v

The weather has been strange lately.  Very strange.  The last week of July produced temperatures cold enough to need a comforter on my bed during the nights.  We normally expect to turn the AC on around this time of year, but it felt more like a nice, cool week in the fall, not smack-dab in the middle of summer.  So we decided to open the windows instead, to save money on electricity and to get some fresh air in the house.  It seemed very unusual, but we were welcoming of lower temperatures none-the-less. My garden has gone through a number of changes over the past few weeks.  Most of my cool season vegetables have produced what they could and died off.  A majority of the summer crops are now producing ripe, delicious food.  Beautiful flowers that attract pollinators and predators have started to bloom, and I've started to sow more veggie seeds for the fall.  It's been a pretty bountiful gardening season, but despite that, I'm already starting to plan and design how nex

It's been a good while since the start of summer, and my garden looks considerably different now than how it did in my last video.  In this month's update, I take a walk through the garden and explain what has changed over the course of the month.  I also talk about different projects I've been working on around the garden, in my pursuit of self-sufficiency.  Take a look: I tried to fit as much updated information as I could into the video, but I know I missed a few things.  I promise to give these plants and/or ideas some time in the next video.  Additionally, I wanted to go into further detail about the different methodologies that I have been applying, so here are some notes on those techniques that I've taken from my own experience.

It's the middle of June and it's getting hot outside!  My frugal veggie garden is growing fast, and I've already harvested quite a bit of my spring veggies.  Although I've not been weighing out my harvests like I intended to do (perhaps next year), my wife and I harvest and eat something from our garden nearly every day. The peas vines are making good use of my cotton twine "trellis" (i.e. fence) Snow peas and Sugar Snap peas both ready to eat My frugal veggie-growing guide includes instructions and details on how to get your garden up and running for minimal money investment, but even a frugal veggie garden needs continual attention and maintenance to keep the plants productive.  Until now, I haven't really discussed the tasks that I am continually doing around the garden now that it is well established.  So today, I am going to share a few tips that I've learned over my few of gardening experience that make the biggest difference in te

I've been really busy with life in general, and I haven't been able to devote a lot of attention to writing for my blog.  I still wanted to give all my readers an update on how my garden has been doing, though, so I decided to make this post a video update!  I will walk you through various parts of my garden and show you how all of my plants are doing, as well as what I have been harvesting.  Enjoy!

It's the last day of April [Edit: Well, it was when I started writing this :P ], and my garden has already had a good share of ups and downs.  Slugs have taken a toll on quite a few of my plants.  Even daily slug slaughter-fests and beer traps, they manage to nibble some of my veggies out of existence.  Despite the slugs, most of my garden is doing very well and progressing as it should for this time of the year.  Let's have a look at what's growing. Slugs: Always a problem The Good The spinach I planted is all doing great.  I've eaten a few baby leaves in some scrambled eggs already, but it has just now reached the point where I can harvest a good amount of leaves on a daily basis without hurting each plant.  I expect to be eating a lot of spinach salad very soon.  The slugs attack my spinach plants as well, but they must not like them nearly as much as my brassica family of plants. Beets are also doing quite well.  They don't grow quite as fast as spi

My Garden's Progress Spring has sprung around my neck of the woods.  I've planted quite a variety of veggies, including spinach, carrots, beets, swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower, peas and lettuce.  I've also got tomatoes and peppers in pots, ready to be transplanted to the garden once the weather warms up sufficiently.  Today, I am posting an update on how my frugal veggie garden is doing. Spinach growing well The spinach is coming along very well, with almost 100% germination in all the spots I've planted it.  It won't be long before we're harvesting it to use for breakfast dishes or salads. Beets have almost all germinated and seem to be growing well. Broccoli and kale have all germinated and were growing well, but have recently come under attack from slugs.  I am taking a few different approaches to dealing with them.  We shall see if my efforts pay off.  More info on that in the next section.

I have to apologize for the lack of updates to the blog lately.  My son, now nine months old, has finally learned how to crawl.  As such, it's hard to sit down for any length of time to write, as he gets into everything not nailed down!  Little rascal.  Today's article will be worth the wait, though. After months of planning, preparing and composting, we are finally ready to sow some seeds in our garden outdoors.  If you missed one of the sections of this guide, you can get to Part I , Part II , Part III , Part IV , and Part V by clicking the on each of the links.  They contain important information leading up to this part of the series, so review them if you need to before reading this article. Today's focus will be on how to plant your seeds and transplants out in the garden, spacing considerations, and general tips on how to best utilize your garden. This is going to be a mammoth of an article, as there is a lot of information to cover.  So grab a cup of coffee or

In the previous part of this guide , I wrote that I was going to have the next part of the series dealing with planting your seeds out in the garden, spacing and outdoor germination tips.  Although it's definitely within the realm of possibility for some people to go ahead and plant seeds outdoors, I wanted to talk about starting transplants first, for people who are more adventurous and want a greater variety of plants in their garden.  If you would rather not deal with the obstacles of indoor plant growing, feel free to skip this section for now.  Come back when--not if--you are feeling confident enough to start growing your own transplants.  Trust me, you'll eventually want to. Why should you start your own transplants in pots?  Well, it depends on what you expect to grow and where you are located.  For some people, growing transplants may not be the best option.  For example, if you live in a tropical or sub-tropical climate area, you may be able to sow seeds outdoors

It's been about two years since I last discussed my weight lifting routine on the blog, and I have changed it around quite a bit.  While I am definitely still not as strong as some of you out there, I have progressed considerably since I last visited the topic, and I figured an update is in order to document my successes and failures so far. A Change of Program If you recall my last article on weight lifting , I was following Lyle McDonald's generic bulking program to bulk up before my wedding that was a few months away at the time.  The plan was to bulk up for a couple months, then lean for a month-and-a-half before the wedding.  Well, that didn't happen at all.  I kept lifting weights on a regular basis, and there were no motivation issues holding me back, as I really do enjoy the activity.  In my usual fashion, I mentally decided that I was going to diet correctly for each phase of the recomp, but in reality, I just ate whatever I wanted.  Dieting has never bee

In my ongoing series on saving money by growing your own food , I've explained how to create your own compost to fertilize your garden, how to plan your garden for maximum production efficiency , and where to find the cheapest seeds . In my USDA climate zone, it's about a month out from being able to plant certain cold-tolerant vegetables in the garden, so today we're going to finally get digging in the soil.  I will show you how to prepare your garden bed to get ready for planting seeds when spring rolls around next month. Hopefully, you've still been throwing your kitchen scraps, yard clippings, and other organic matter into your compost pile and turning it regularly.  If this is your first year composting, you probably won't have a huge amount to use for your garden.  That's totally fine... any amount of compost is going to provide some benefits to the plants you decide to grow.  And if you are consistent with composting your organic material, in the com

Today's article in my frugal food-growing guide will be short and sweet.  However, it is one of the most crucial parts of the guide: Saving money on seeds, tools and soil. Most of the big box stores sell seeds and tools for a ridiculous mark-up.  I've seen seeds sell for $1.50 per packet at places like Lowes, and their tool selection ranges from $20 to $100+ for a single tool.  And forget about plant starts... every year, they reduce the amount of plants you get in a pack and charge a little more than they did the previous year.  Not a great way to save money on growing food. You should know that you have cheaper options, though.  Much cheaper options.

  Will Choline make you smarter?  Here are the key points you should know.   Choline supplementation may improve declining cognitive abilities of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and similar cerebral health issues. The only well-designed human study on choline in healthy individuals thus far shows a small benefit for increasing attention span in middle-aged women, using doses of up to 500 mg of supplemental choline per day. Most studies investigating choline supplementation for cognitive performance enhancement in healthy individuals are plagued by bad experiment design, too few subjects, or both.  Further research is needed. Aim for the adequate daily intake of 550 mg for men, 425 mg for women.  For reference, a normal-sized chicken egg contains about 140 mg of choline.  ADDENDUM 04/15/2015: Although I still recommend obtaining the adequate daily intake of choline for possibly improved cognitive function, I DO NOT recommend obtaining choline from eggs.  There is mountin

Welcome to the next installment of my frugal food-growing guide .  If you are following this series, hopefully by now you have started collecting food scraps, leaves and other organic material for your very own compost pile.  You can read more about that in Part I of my guide . Today, I want to write about some particular aspects of planning out your frugal vegetable garden before actually delving into the creation of it.  Planning for this kind of project is absolutely necessary, since each plan will be unique and different based on several different factors.  Some of them include your location, the amount of space available to work with, time of the year, you (or your family's) particular tastes in vegetables, space-to-production ratios and various other things.  This article will focus mainly on planning which vegetables and fruits you decide to grow in your garden. First, let's start on the assumption that you found a suitable space for your future garden.  This means y