DIY Ideas for breaking your Cane Sugar addiction

From: EarthEats

Sugar, coffee, bananas, chocolate. Some of the hardest things to find suitable workarounds for if you’re trying to live a locavore lifestyle.

Finding local cane sugar is nearly impossible if you don’t live in Hawaii or the continental Southeast — and even then, the raw product is typically shipped to a processing plant thousands of miles away before distribution.

But there are options. If you want to keep your “home, sweet home” sweet AND close to home, a local-food columnist suggests a DIY option:

Set aside a section of your garden for sugar beets and boil them down for a homemade sweetener!

Making Beet Sugar

(adapted from: Grandpappy’s Homemade Sugar Recipe)

Carefully wash and scrub beets, remove greens.
Finely slice, dice or shred beets into a large pot.
Add just enough water to cover the beets.
Cook beets over medium heat until tender (about an hour).
Drain the beets (retain the water! this is what you will use to make the sugar), you can eat the cooked beets, use them in other recipes or can them.
Simmer the beet sugar water over low-medium heat, stirring frequently until it becomes a thick syrup, roughly the consistency of honey.
Transfer the syrup to a storage container. As it cools, it will begin to crystallize.
As the sugar crystallizes, periodically remove it from the container and crush it into sugar crystals.

Substituting Honey And Maple Syrup

You can also use maple syrup or honey in many recipes.

To substitute honey for sugar, eHow provides a few guidelines:

Up to one cup, honey can be substituted for sugar in equal amounts.
Over one cup, use about 2/3-3/4 cup of honey for every cup of sugar.

They also recommend reducing the amount of liquid in your recipe, adding a little baking soda to counter honey’s acidity and reducing the cooking temperature a bit.

For maple syrup, similar rules of thumb apply: use about 3/4 cup maple syrup in the place of each cup of sugar and reduce the amount of liquid in your recipe by about 3 tablespoons per cup of maple syrup added.

Both honey and maple syrup also make healthier, more local additions to coffee, tea and other beverages.

Read More:

The Sweet Success of DIY and Organic Sugar (The Daily Green)
Grandpappy’s Homemade Sugar Recipe (grandpappy.info)
How to Substitute Honey For Sugar in a Recipe (eHow)

When it Sucks to be Single

I enjoy being single most of the time. I can do what I want when I want without answering to anyone. If I want to go to Cape Breton and backpack for a week, I can. Or if I spend all my savings on a trip across Europe, it's my money.

But being single sucks when you're sick. I started feeling nauseous, getting chills yesterday and a horrible headache began this morning. I texted my roommate to let him know that I wasn't able to keep up my share of the chores and why. He was good with it and is leaving me be to get better on my own.

It would be so nice if I was in a relationship and my man brought me soup or something just because.

Ok, I know, I'm being a big suck right now. I don't necessarily want someone around (especially if I'm contagious) but it makes me feel so much better when they show they're thinking of me and wanting me to feel better. Pout :(

Thanks for listening, I'm going to make herbal tea and crawl back into bed now...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dghir9oCmKQ Cold as it Gets / Patty Griffin

Stop that you anarchist!!

Forget About It - Alison Krauss

Forget about it
I'm admittin' I was wrong
And I'll just take what's mine
and broken right out the door

Forget about it
I'll split and I'll be gone
And you'll have memories
You'll find hard to ignore

Cause after all
I'll see you sometime
Maybe when I will recall
How you drove me crazy

Forget about it
When forever's over
I won't remember how much
I loved you anymore

Forget about it
Put me out of your head
Now that you're free and easy
Out there on the town

Forget about it
When you're lying in bed just wishing
I was there to lay you down

Cause after all
I'll see you sometime maybe
When you will recall
How I drove you crazy

Forget about those starlit nights
Laying by the fireside
Holding you tight
I can't remember when it felt so right
So just forget about it

Forget about it
When you see me on the street
Don't wink, don't wave
Don't try to tease me with your smile

Forget about it
If we chance to meet somewhere
Don't think it's cause I'm trying to reconcile

'Cause after all
I'll see you sometime baby
When I will recall
How you drove me crazier

Forget about those starlit nights
Laying by the fireside
Holding you tight
I can't remember when I felt so right
So just forget about it

Top of the World - Dixie Chicks

http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/www.roughstock.com/cowpie/songs/d/dixie-chicks/top_of_the_world

Top Of The World
Dixie Chicks

#
Tabbed By: Melissa Marchetti

Capo- 9th Fret


I wished I was (G) smarter
Wished I was (D) stronger
I wished I (Em) loved jesus
The way the my (C) wife does

I wished it'd been (G) easier
Instead of any (D) longer
I wished I could've (Em) stood
Where you would've been (C) proud
That won't happen (G) now
That won't happen (D) now
There's a whole lot of (C) singing
That ain't (D) gonna be heard
Disap(Em)pearing every day
Without so (C) much as a word
Somehow (G)

I think I (C) broke the wings
Off a little (D) songbird
And she's never (Em) gonna fly
To the top of the (C) world
How (G)
To the top of the (D) world
I don't have to (G) answer
Any of these (D) questions
Don't have no (Em) guide to
Teach me no (C) lessons

I come home in the (G) evening
Sit in my (D) chair
One night they called me for (Em) supper
But I never got (C) up
I stayed right (G) there
In my (D) chair

There's a whole lot! of (C) singing
That ain't (D) gonna be heard
Disap(Em)pearing every day
Without so (C) much as a word
Somehow (G)

I think I (C) broke the wings
Off a little (D) songbird
And she's never (Em) gonna fly
To the top of the (C) world
How (G)
To the top of the (D) world (Em) (C)

I wished I'd had (G) known you
Wished I had (D) shown you
All of the (Em) things I
Was on the (C) inside

But I'd pretend to be (G) sleeping
When you'd come in in the (D) morning
To whisper (Em) goodbye
Go work at the (C) rain
I don't know (G) why
Don't know (D) why

Cause (C) everyone's singing
We just wanna (D) be heard
Disap(Em)pearing every day
Without so (C) much as a word
So how? (G)

Gonna (C) grab a hold
Of that little (D) songbird
And take her (Em) for a ride
To the top of the (C) world
Right (G) now
To the top of the (D) worldÊ

Em C Em C Em C

Em C
Ohhh ohhhhhhhh Ohhh ohhhhhhh

Em C
To The top of the world To the top of the world (x3)

♥ Bolivia Thank You

Bolivia is set to pass the world's first laws granting all nature equal rights to humans. The Law of Mother Earth, now agreed by politicians and grassroots social groups, redefines the country's rich mineral deposits as "blessings" and is expected to lead to radical new conservation and social measures to reduce pollution and control industry.

The country, which has been pilloried by the US and Britain in the UN climate talks for demanding steep carbon emission cuts, will establish 11 new rights for nature. They include: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered.

Controversially, it will also enshrine the right of nature "to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities".

"It makes world history. Earth is the mother of all", said Vice-President Alvaro García Linera. "It establishes a new relationship between man and nature, the harmony of which must be preserved as a guarantee of its regeneration."

Read the newstory: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/10/bolivia-enshrines-natural-worlds-rights

Every two months

Another night watching the stars
wondering if you look up where you are
if you sometimes stand and gaze
thinking of days riding the waves
of that feeling, the ongoing reeling
of body and soul the before you know
(even though you do) wanting to show
your Queen a path to wander to
see if it leads to me and you