The year before last I sweated and planted and weeded and toiled. Then finally the season came, the tomatoes came on and I discovered that I had grown a bumper crop of half rotten tomatoes! Grrr Grunt Snort! I was really put out, and about ready to throw away the notion of growing my own tomatoes. Sound familiar? If you've experienced this in your garden, and are considering throwing in the hat, or at least a little frustrated with the wasted work, keep reading! because next I'm going to tell you how YOU can stop those pesky rotten tomatoes this coming season before they even start! This MYO tip is just in time for the coming season.

The blessing in all of this is actually a double blessing. Can tomatoes talk? The first blessing is that your tomatoes are actually telling you a very important piece of information. gardening.com says that "A water-soaked spot [rotten] at the blossom end of tomato fruits is the classic symptom of blossom-end rot. This relatively common garden problem is not a disease, but rather a physiological disorder caused by a calcium imbalance within the plant. It can occur in pepper, squash, cucumber, and melon fruits as well as tomatoes." WOW! So your tomato is telling you that you have a calcium deficiency in the garden. That's a blessing because plant based calcium is highly soluble in our bodies, meaning we can use it much more readily. We want and need that calcium, so if our soil is deplete, we will be missing out on that benefit when eating our tomatoes. Thank you little ugly rotten tomato for preserving my health!
      The second blessing in this issue is that it's not a difficult issue to solve. You can easily purchase bone meal to add calcium to your garden. But the tip I wanted to share with you today is that you can MAKE your own calcium supplement for the garden! It's better than cheap, it's actually almost free!

The super simple short story is that you take your leftover egg shells dry and grind them and then sprinkle them in the garden. The calcium readily breaks down into the soil from this form and will aid your growing plants, and your body when you enjoy the bounty of your garden this summer and fall. The plants will absorb that extra calcium and you'll be getting your calcium supplements from nature, the way our Creator intended! How's that for NATURAL HEALTH!
      Now if you want the DIY tutorial on exactly how I did it, stay tuned and I'll be sharing that with you soon. I'll also hopefully be inviting a guest blogger in to share another recipe or 2 on how YOU can make your own natural calcium supplements!
Comment below and tell me what other fantastic natural remedies do you use in your garden? And tell me, who else is itching to get in the dirt!?

Mmmmmm... The taste of nostalgic food! One of my favorite dishes growing up was chicken pot pie! A while back my husband and I set out to "treat" our children to a bit of nostalgia. That's actually a common thing for us. A a young married woman I dreamed and planned of all the things I would someday share with my children when I had them. It's one of the driving points behind my parenting style. I love to share with my children the things that I loved as a child, the things that made my childhood special and the memories that I cherish.
       So on this particular day, we (gasp) purchased some of those cheap pot pies to share with the kiddos. (He likes beef and I like chicken so we bought a mix of the 2) We brought them home and put them in the oven. I was almost giddy as I pulled them out of the oven, steaming and bubbling with goodness. My childhood days rushed back to memory. (cue reminiscent melody) After they cooled we served them up and watched with excitement as our kids took their first bite. They ate, we ate and...
(record screech)...

The beautiful, perfectly browned, bubbling bundles of nostalgia, pot pies we bought tasted absolutely TERRIBLE! They were edible of coarse, but perfectly deceiving. What we expected was a slightly cheap version of grandmas home cooking and what we got was... Well you had to be there, but I bet you're glad you weren't. The taste experience was akin to being served cold fast food burgers and mushy fries at an expensive steak house. It was disappointing to say the least.
      Childhood memory almost ruined, I set out to share with my children, and you our readers, what a real pot pie can (and should) taste like. So here we have it...

The most important thing about this recipe is that it's not really an exact recipe. Ha! This is more of a method really.
The best thing about it is that you can truly use whatever you have on hand and it will still taste good because YOU made it.

For the crust you need:
2 savory pie crusts, 8 or 9 inch, depending on your pan. (if you don't have a favorite savory crust, you can use your standard pie crust recipe, omit the sugar, and add 1/2 tsp. salt. To prepare- roll out and place 1 crust in a greased pie pan. (we use coconut oil, but you can use your favorite solid fat, other than butter which burns)

For the filling:
1-2 cups cubed or shredded pre-cooked meat. (leftovers are great!)
2-3 cups mixed chopped veggies (whatever is in your garden or pantry)
broth to simmer in, but not cover (about 2 cups)
2 tbsp. cornstarch or 1/3 c. AP flour
Seasonings to taste.
For a creamy chicken pot pie, use less broth, add 1/2c. milk and use flour to thicken

Mix the cold or room temp broth with the cornstarch, add the veggies and simmer until the broth becomes a gravy consistency. Add the meat and stir in seasonings. Then you're going to pour this filling into the prepared pie crust. Do not overfill or you'll have a mess in the oven. Fill just to the top of the pan. Top with remaining crust, press and flute or crease edges, make slits in the center of the pie and bake at 350* F until center is bubbly and crust is golden. (about 30-45 min.) Let it cool for 10 min. then slice and serve.

Helpful Hint - As an even easier option take leftover stew or chicken/ veg soup and simmer down the liquid until only a couple cups remain then thicken with cornstarch or flour/water and pour into your prepared crust. This is an easy alternative and makes good use of leftovers that changes it enough even your picky eaters will want it.

I think you're going to love the results! It's such a joy to have a childhood favorite combined with the natural goodness of homemade food. Thanks for taking a trip with us down memory lane. I would love to hear what some of your favorite  memories are, and if you have any recipes you've been looking for from your childhood let me know. I'd be happy to see what I can dig up for you! Who knows we may find our next favorite recipe!

Shalom