New Fruits for the Farm

My mother and I (with kids in tow) took a trip down to Wapello, IA to visit the Red Fern Farm. They specialize in chestnut trees, but also have persimmons, pawpaws, hazelnuts, aronia, and asian pears. I took 2 hours of Tom Wahl's time but I just couldn't help myself. I was in fruit production heaven. He also let us try persimmons (a first for both mom and I) and hazelnuts. The hazelnut was really good but the persimmon i am undecided about. I did the little astringency test of taking a tiny bite and waiting about 15 seconds. I didn't appreciate the dry sand feeling, but did seem to think it had a numbing quality. It reminded me of sucking on a chloroseptic tablet that numbs your throat. It was very sweet and the texture was like a really juicy tomato without all the tiny seeds. I bet it would taste good dried like an apricot. Calysta didn't want to try it. Tom allowed me to bring a few home and I gave one to my dad and husband, Todd. He liked it but I don't think he loved it. All in all as a family we are undecided about persimmons in our lives. This doesn't mean it wouldn't be a valuable addition to the farm as far as a selling fruit.

The hardy kiwi and pawpaws were looking good but weren't ripe yet which was very disappointing to me. I have been staring at these fruits in pictures now for a couple years now and was really anxious to try them. I had read many posts discouraging growing hardy kiwis but after seeing Toms I am anxious to get them going. His were covered in grape to roma tomato sized kiwis. The 2 I bought this year from Gurney died, 1 was just a poor specimen (the roots seems damped off) but the other I killed. It dried out on a weekend when we were gone. I will try again next year.

We made a small purchase of 15 hazelnuts, 2 aronia, 2 korean giant pears, and 1 nijiseiki asian pears, and 3 pawpaw seedlings. It was great to see this plants in action. I had hoped for a medlar as well but Tom didnt think it would do well. So hopefully in a few years I will be posting about all the wonderful things i am going to do with all the new non-traditional fruits.

Low Carb Diet Days are Upon Us

Well the time has come. I am out of excuses and frankly my tubby frame is more then I can handle anymore. I have officially stopped pumping breastmilk and so the fear of losing my milk due to dieting is no longer a valid excuse. So low carb here I/maybe we come.
Why low carb? I don't know, it seems to work for me. I don't like calorie counting. It is exhausting and frankly I do better with an all or none mentality versus the "control" one. Anyone who knows me knows I go overboard with everything. Also low carb seems to suit my body. I have a feeling I am a little insulin resistant or something because eating lots of carbs really wears on me. Some people feel exhausted doing low carb, but I think they might be doing it to excess or not eating enough. I don't completely fall into one low-carb strategy or another (ie atkins or south beach). I don't tend to limit vegetables (potatoes are a starch in my book) and I avoid things that are white unless it is yogurt or sour cream. So ultimately we eat a vegetable and meat for dinners. This includes stir-fry, kabobs, steak, lots of grilled stuff, fish packets, and lots of different entree salads. Dessert is a huge weak spot for me so thank god I recently discovered brownies made from black beans and the old standby's of cheesecake, fruit yogurts, creme brulee, mousse,etc. If it weren't for stevia I would be destined to fail from the start!!