This image of the Food Variety Tree is interesting. It’s based on a study from 1983 by the Rural Advancement Foundation International, which “compared USDA listings of seed varieties sold by commercial U.S. seed houses in 1903 with those in the U.S. National Seed Storage Laboratory in 1983. The survey, which included 66 crops, found that about 93 percent of the varieties had gone extinct.”

Take tomatoes. In 1903, you had 408 varieties to choose from but by 1983, that was down to 79 varieties. Cabbage went from 544 varieties to 28 varieties. Radishes went from 463 varieties to 27 varieties. And so on.

However, 1983 was a long time ago. I would be willing bet that with all the heirlooms on the market, the number of available varieties have improved since this study came out. This is why I like to use seed catalogues that specialize in heirloom and non-GMO seeds.

Still, despite improvements, we’re not anywhere near 463 varieties of radishes on the market. Can you imagine?

Williams-Sonoma has been getting into the DIY spirit by offering kits for Beehives, Cheese Making, and Kombucha. There’s even a chicken coop.

I like this Shiitake Mushroom Log, which claims it “will produce a crop of organic shiitake mushrooms every two months for more than three years.” Unlike some of these products, which are on the pricey side, that seems like a good deal for $29.99.

Like with other mushroom kits, you soak the log for 24 hours in cold water and “watch your crop emerge.” The log rests for two months between crops and needs a soak every two weeks and regular misting to keep it going. But for regular a Shitake mushroom supply, it sounds like it’s worth it.

ETA: Check out A Review of Williams-Sonoma’s Agrarian Line for more discussion about these products.

I was trying to take a good picture of my Easter duck, but my battery died, so this is the best I got. Nevertheless, the duck was perfectly cooked with crispy skin on the outside and moist meat on the inside.

Some people are intimidated by cooking duck, if for no other reason than people are no longer exposed to meats that used to be common in the U.S. (rabbit, lamb, etc.), and so they seem exotic and difficult. But have no fear, duck is extremely easy to cook. It is a lot like roasting a chicken. And, like a chicken, all the parts of a duck are useful. You can use the bones, giblets, and neck to make broth and you can use the fat to make duck confit.

The main difference between a duck and a chicken is that duck has a layer of fat around its body that a chicken doesn’t have. That means you have to take more time to cook the duck–in this case, 4 hours–and you have to get the duck to release the fat while cooking. I did this by pricking the duck so that as it slowly roasted at a low temperature, the fat released from the bird and the skin became crispy. I also cooked the duck upside down so that as the pan filled with fat, the skin cooked in it, adding to the crispiness. At the end, I turned the duck over so that the skin on the breast could finish browning in the oven.

Here’s the recipe:

How To Roast A Duck

Ingredients:

1 5-7 lbs duck
Salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Wash the raw duck and pat dry. Remove the neck and giblets from the duck and freeze for broth. (Sometimes you will have to cut the neck off the duck–get a cleaver and chop it off, then freeze as normal.)

Rub the inside and outside of the duck with salt.

With a knife or skewer, prick the duck all over so that it will release fat while cooking. Hold the knife parallel to the duck and shallowly insert into the fat, being careful not to go all the way through to the meat.

Place the duck breast-side down in a large pan. Put in the oven and roast for about 3 hours, checking periodically to make sure it is releasing the fat. If not, prick a few more times.

After 3 hours, turn the duck over so that it is breast-side-up and increase the heat in the oven to 350 degrees. Cook for another 45 minutes or until the skin is nice and crispy and the internal temperature is 170-180 degrees.

Remove from the oven and let rest for about 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

I think toothbrushes look better out of sight, but I haven’t figured out how to store them in my new bathroom remodel. In searching around, I came upon three DIY projects to store your toothbrush from The Family Handyman. You could:

1. Cut notches in the cabinet shelf and hang the toothbrush inside the medicine cabinet.

2. Use large grip-type clips to hold electric toothbrushes. These things:

3. Use a magnetic strip to hold toothbrushes. You do have to attach a magnet on the back of the toothbrush to get this to work.

Read more about these tips and others here.

Throughout the week, I occasionally throw links up on Twitter when they look appealing. Here are the links from this week, all in one place:

Orange Blossom Ice Cream.

How to make your own Vicks Vapor shower disks.

It’s possible to clean windows with vinegar without streaking–the trick is a dash of liquid dish soap.

Awesome chandelier in this dining room.

What Americans buy.

Cocktails Made with eggs for Easter!

Have a great Easter weekend.

Here’s a great tip from Frugal By Choice to make your own grapefruit-scented cleaner.

All you do is put the skins of a grapefruit (or any other citrus fruit) in a jar of vinegar and let steep for a month. At the end of that time, you strain out the peels and use the nice-smelling vinegar in your homemade cleaner.

I am going to try this!

At the beginning of the week, I thought I would make a strawberry dessert for Easter, but then I ate a strawberry shortcake and now I have moved on.

So, what should I make?

Here are 5 Easter Desserts I’m considering:

Cheesecake Filled Chocolate Easter Eggs. The “yolk” is a passion fruit sauce.

Raspberry-Lemon Easter Cake. Decorated with sugar cookies!

Little Lemon Souffles. Made right in the lemon rind.

Easter Nest Torte Recipe. “A luscious cake layer nestles rich, creamy mousse, and festive chocolate “twigs.”

Carrot Cake Cupcakes. And don’t forget the Cream Cheese Frosting.

A word to the wise: never read an article about child rearing that starts out warning you about all the things you will have to give up when you have children. It is not that you won’t have to give things up–of course you will–but rather, that articles that begin by emphasizing what you will lose almost always want to scare you by telling you how awful pregnancy/children are.

And so it seems to me with this post called The Cost Of Having A Baby. It starts out telling you that you will never have sex or fun again and then goes on to scare you about how expensive babies are.

But while bringing a new person into the world isn’t going to be free, it doesn’t have to be as bad as people make out. It seems to me that many people don’t consider the actual needs of the baby when making purchases. For example, let’s look at a few of the things this article mentions as necessities for a child:

Babies come with a lot of gear. Here’s a sample of some of the stuff we’ve acquired for just one kid in just 18 months: a crib, a pack-‘n-play, two strollers, four carseats, a Moses basket, several types of bouncy seats, a changing table, a diaper bag, sippy cups and snack traps, bottles and binkies, burp cloths and a Diaper Genie. (That last one keeps your house from smelling like poo and, like printer ink, requires pricey proprietary liners).

Total cost of all this stuff? I’ll venture a guess at about $2,000, but I’m not including clothes and consumables, which we’ll get to.

There is no attempt in these paragraphs to look at what is needed for the child and what is not. Yes, you need a crib, but do you need a diaper genie when a garbage can (frequently changed) works fine? Why do they need four carseats–does that mean these people have four cars? Why two strollers? Is a Moses basket a necessity? Do you really need “several types of” bouncy seats?

I mean, this is all for one baby, right?

For almost every expense that the article mentions, there is a cheaper option available. It laments the cost of formula but glosses over the fact that breast milk is free. It mentions the cost of diapers is around $50 a month, but completely ignores the existence of cloth diapers, which are cheaper and can be reused.

That doesn’t mean everyone always goes with the cheaper option. Sometimes you can’t breast feed, sometimes you just want to change a diaper and move on with your day–but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least weigh comparative costs when making financial decisions.

On top of this, there are tons of ways to get used and free baby supplies. Friends and neighbors want to get rid of baby things, and they are happy to pass them on to you. As for used gear, there are baby swaps, used baby stores, thrift stores, garage sales, and Craigslist. Even new clothes can be cheap–baby outfits can cost under $5 if you shop around.

Then there are the big things the article mentions–day care, life insurance, college fund, etc. I’m not going to get too deeply into these issues, but I will say that if the budget is really tight, things like life insurance and college funds can wait a bit. Likewise, when you start factoring in super-high expenses like day care, it’s smart to run the numbers and see if the second job is worth the cost of having it. Surprisingly often, it is not.

After telling people that they will need more than $50,000 to fund their baby in the first year of life, this article has the nerve to say, “Don’t let this scare you.” If you listened to this guy, you would be crazy not to be a little scared.

I guess I’m annoyed with the prevalence of articles that try to suck the joy out of a wonderful thing by telling you how miserable it will be. Yes, babies cost money, but you do not have to go bankrupt to have one. You just have to make smart purchases, like with any other area of life.

Here’s some further reading:

What Do Newborn Babies Really Need?
Baby Costs The Frugal Way
Bringing Up Baby, Cheap from The Tightwad Gazette III by Amy Dacyczyn
How to Get Ready For Baby Without Spending a Bundle
Baby Cost Calculator

How did you save money with your children?

When I was first married, I told my Southern-born husband that I was going to make him biscuits. He was pleased, but when I put the biscuits in front of him, he took one look and said, “Those aren’t biscuits.”

It seems that what I had grown up thinking of as biscuits were a far cry from what most Americans, especially Southerners, consider biscuits. My biscuits were cakey and sweet, closer to the base of a strawberry shortcake than the typical flaky Southern-style biscuit. (If you want to make those, Mr. Savvy recommends this recipe.)

Over the years, I have grown to prefer the Southern biscuit, but sometimes I still get in the mood for the ones I ate growing up. So here they are.

This is my mom’s recipe. Since her family is from Canada, I’m calling these Canadian Biscuits, although they may be closer to tea cakes or scones. I like to eat them with butter and jam, but they also make a kickass base for strawberry shortcake–just add cut-up strawberries and a dollop of whip cream.

Canadian Biscuits
Makes 6 biscuits

Ingredients:

2 c flour
4 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs + 1 tsp baking powder
4 Tbs butter
1 egg + milk = 2/3 cup*

Directions:

* In a 2/3 measuring cup, break an egg and stir with a fork. Fill with milk until the total of both the egg and milk is 2/3 cup.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and baking powder. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add the milk/egg mixture and mix until you have a dough.

Turn the dough out onto a flour surface. Pat out or roll the dough until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Dip a drinking glass or cookie cutter in flour and cut out biscuits until you have 6 total.

Transfer to an oiled cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes, until the biscuits are lightly golden. Enjoy!

I like this idea of making Easter Egg Pops. As with the Rainbow Jell-o Easter Eggs, plastic eggs are used as molds, but this time it’s to make popsicles.

While I’m not so sure about the popsicle filling, which is made of Gatorade and Vitamin Water, the helpful part of the tutorial is that is shows how to turn the plastic egg into the popsicle holder through a series of tools like a push pin, drinking straws, an egg carton, and a small funnel.

The results are quite a fun little treat.