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Kitchen Gardeners International is a network of likeminded ‘green-fingered’ folk who wish to re-localise the global food supply. The founding director, Roger Doiron, was instrumental in the replanting of a kitchen garden at the White House. His challenge is for kitchen gardeners to unite to ‘feed more people healthier food while preserving and enhancing the health of the planet.’ He writes in The Kitchen Gardener’s solution: ‘Harness the power of people who grow their own nutritious, delicious, and sustainable food to help others do the same.’ (more…)

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If you’re a salmon lover and feel like treating yourself for a change, consider preparing this salmon Wellington dish. You’ll need 500 grams of salmon fillet, some baby spinach leaves, white wine vinegar, onion, butter, lemon juice, sea salt and butter puff pastry. You’ll have to open a bottle of wine of course, not only because the recipe calls for it, but because it’s perfectly fine to drink alone when you’re cooking. That said, if you feel like some company, simply double the recipe. (more…)

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How does it feel to meditate? According to The School of Meditation, ‘meditation leads the attention beyond the gross to a subtler level of mind, where there is less activity and fewer compelling images. Beyond that, it leads to a level subtler still, where there is no experience, no thought, no imagery.’ This state can be compared to deep sleep, when one has no experience of images in the mind. At this level, awareness ‘is a condition of being at one with pure consciousness.’ (more…)

Photo: Robert Couse-Baker / Flickr

Are you a compulsive thinker, constantly stuck in your head? Are your concepts and judgments getting in the way of your relationship with yourself and others? ‘The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly,’ says Eckhart Tolle. ‘Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly – you usually don’t use it at all. It uses you.’ Believing that you’re your mind is a delusion: don’t let the instrument take over. (more…)

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Do the lights in your house flicker? Does the toilet flush when nobody is there or have you had an encounter with doors shutting themselves? If so, this is ‘no seasonal attraction for those who delight in fright: It’s your own home,’ writes Roy Berendsohn for Popular Mechanics. ‘Even if you don’t believe in ghosts, the noises you hear in the dead of night still give you the heebie-jeebies.’ No fear, here are a few nifty fixes to explain away some creepy happenings. (more…)

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All soil is composed of a mixture of silt, sand and clay. Soil will hold air, nutrients and water differently depending on how much of each of these three elements it contains. A well-drained soil will contain sand which makes the soil loose. Loose soil holds air and water well while also making it easy for roots to spread and grow. The best soils are loams which contain an equal mixture of sand, clay and silt. Read on to find out more. (more…)

Photo: Kevin Micalizzi / Flickr

This is a rich and decadent recipe where the pudding creates its own fudge sauce. It’s quick to whip up as it only takes 15 minutes of preparation time. Cooking time and cooling time both require an hour, so factor that into your plans. Ingredients include flour, baking powder, sugar, melted chocolate, butter, milk, cocoa and water. Once baked, you’ll find the fudge sauce hidden under the upper layer. Although the pudding should be cool, it should not be chilled. (more…)

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Erin McKenna’s Babycakes book offers advice on how to substitute normal baking ingredients to allow for ‘Vegan (Mostly) and (Mostly) Sugar-free’ baking. McKenna ‘experimented endlessly with alternative health-conscious sweeteners, flours and thickeners’ in the hope of combating her own sensitivities to dairy, sugar and wheat. She opened her bakery Babycakes NYC in 2005, which helped get the gluten-free and vegan baking movement on the go. Read on for McKenna’s advice on ingredients substitution for milk, sweeteners, oils and flours. (more…)

Photo: Kake Pugh / Flickr

Bergedel come from the original Dutch ‘frikadeller‘, which are potato and meat balls. They can be used as dumplings in soup, particularly spicy chicken soup. This fish bergedel recipe requires cod, mashed potatoes, breadcrumbs, coriander powder, onion, egg, vegetable oil and seasoning. The ‘fish balls’ can be served hot or cold as a snack or with a fresh salad. It shouldn’t take much longer than 20 minutes to half an hour to prepare the ‘fishcakes’. Allow for a cooking time of 20 minutes. (more…)

Photo: Svenneman / Flickr

Although one can’t buy health in a bottle, some supplements may improve one’s wellbeing and energy levels. Here we look at ginseng, gingko biloba, amino acids, kelp, wheat grass, St John’s Wort, blue-green algae, royal jelly and co-enzyme Q10. Vitamin and mineral supplements also have their place but the starting point is always to ensure that one is eating a healthy, balanced diet that includes fresh fruits, vegetables and plenty of water. Exercise and emotional wellbeing are also important. (more…)