Pure Breakfast Soya Drink With Delicious Creamy Taste

Soya is a wonder bean with more than 360 uses. It contains all the nutrients that the human body requires despite being a plant. The wonder bean has double the amount of protein Found in beef. It has protein of high biological value with all the essential amino acids. This means the protein is naturally  used effectively by the body. 

The farmers can process the crop into delicious creamy soya drink, milk, meat, yoghurt, oil, flour, snacks and the list is endless.Breakfast is no longer a headache with emergence of our product-Visit: http://kariokor.olx.co.ke/njagu-pure-soya-drink-whole-sale-retail-iid-446474407

Farmers Training session

This delicious natural product is made from the wonder Soya beans, grown and processed by Njagu farmers group from  Kiambu County in Kenya. The pure breakfast drink is delicious, creamy in taste, and caffeine free. 

1. You can buy this  pure delicious creamy breakfast  drink for sale and home consumption at wholesale and retail price from kes 180 only. Call Mr Mungai on 0735 330 647 for more information. 
2.  You can sell your natural Soya crop to our processing plant at good prizes. 
3.  We train other farmers how to grow and process Soya beans.
4. Join the wonder bean move and improve livelihoods naturally.  

Begging Rachel for Her Poor Man’s Pudding
Written by Mary Ellen
  

Shiitake Bread Pudding

Last year during fall shiitake harvest time, Rachel here at F&FP, experimented with mushroom bread puddings. There is nothing quite like great produce to inspire good cooks, and the fall shiitake have been nothing short of exceptional.

Recently, we remembered that day when she brought in last years creation, gorgeous and creamy, studded with mushrooms on a teal colored plate for Food Friday. We thought we’d make up a pan. Alas, the recipe was deleted from our blog, and like most good cooks she couldn’t remember the details of making it. She’s re-created the recipe for us and we thought we’d post it in case you missed it the first time around. Thank you Rachel!

Cold Weather Shiitake are fruiting here at F&FP, and man are they delicious. Miss Happiness is no exception.

A Note on “Bread Pudding”

Bread pudding was often called “Poor Man’s Pudding” for the obvious reason that it was made from stale bread. Nowadays a country cook still has thrift in mind, but also an eye toward delectability. Bread puddings are typically thought of as dessert, and take well to finely textured white breads, brioches and even bread crumbs. Savory bread puddings made with these are refined in character, but also can be glorious when made with sourdoughs, French breads and ryes…and Shiitake, as in this bread pudding!  

For the best bread puddings, whatever the bread, use one or two day old bread, thereby being slightly dry to soak up the liquids, but not so aged to taste stale.

Snow Cap: A beautifully ornamented Cold Weather.

 

 

Chocolov: A Cold Weather full of goodness. 

Shiitake Bread Pudding

6-7 C day old French bread or marble rye, cubed
About 1 lb. Shiitake mushrooms, sliced thin
1 small leek
3-4 cloves garlic
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sage
1 tsp basil
Parsley and chives
5 eggs
2 C heavy whipping cream
1 C milk
¼ - ½ C parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and leeks, sautéing until fragrant. Add the mushrooms and herbs, cook until mushrooms are tender, about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream milk, and parmesan. Toss in the bread cubes and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Gently mix in the mushrooms and pour into a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with parmesan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour.

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If the bread pudding is a little dry (a lot depends on the density and moisture of the bread) you can serve it up with a side of Whipped Cream Horseradish Sauce. Come to think of it, whip up a side anyway, you won't regret it.

Whipped Cream Horseradish Sauce

1 c whipping cream
1 T prepared, jarred horseradish
1/4 tsp pepper
Sugar to taste

Whip up the cream to soft peaks and whip in the horseradish and pepper.  Eat immediately :)

Bellwether: F&FP's newest Cold Weather Strain.

How to grow calla lily Flowers

Calla lily makes fantastic Bridal Bouquets flowers and they are grown from tubers.  In addition it symbolizes magnificent beauty and purity. These plants blooms all the year-round, which makes it affordable. Some brides use white flowers in the bridal bouquet and colored ones, such as purple, pink, green and red, in the attendants' bouquets. While there are many ways to use them in a bouquet, a modern yet classic style where the stems show at the bottom compliments any dress or wedding theme. Add flowers food or a few drops of citrus acid to the calla lily vase. 

The stems can stain or drip water and therefore, the bouquet should be allowed to stand outside of water for at least 30 minutes before handling near a wedding gown.

Prepare the soil well before planting the flowers. The crop grows best in well drained loose soils. Mulch application will help to maintain moisture, a more constant soil temperature and control weeds.Dry out the calla lily tubers in a ventilated area prior to planting. 

Once they have hardened well, plant at 5cm deep with the foliage pointing upwards. Allow 60cm of space between the growing rows and 30cm between the lily tubers at planting time.

Water the tubers so that the soil is moist but not water logged. Calla lily need to be kept moist all the time during growth and they will bloom in about 60 days.

Dig up the tubers once the foliage dies and Store in a cool dry place until ready to plant in the following season. The tubers can remain in the ground for storage in climates that are warm year round and given a dose of nitrogen fertilizer to start the calla lily flowers’ growing process over again.

Empowerment is Urgently Needed to Rescue the Boy Child in Kenya

The girl child empowerment in Kenya has sidelined the boy child pushing him to the periphery. The boy child has been ignored for too long. The boy Child is suffering a life skills crisis and needs to be empowered. Life skills enable us to deal with day to day challenges. Consequently, family values are in danger since the boy child is expected to head the family. This has caused many families today to be dysfunctional. The nation which is built on the foundation of the family is standing on a shaky foundation. Our upbringing models us to be what we are. Current boy child has been brought up mainly by their mothers. Most fathers are absent physically or emotionally to act as role models to the boy child. Consequently, he has not been trained in the responsibilities of a man. It’s common to find family men who are running away from their responsibilities.

When challenges arise at home many men hide in work and in the bars getting home late. This takes them deeper into drugs and substance abuse which has become a national problem threatening to cripple the nation. Women though empowered bear the heavy burden of caring for the family single handedly. However all is not lost and we can start a new balanced empowerment legacy. As an individual, you can choose to become a role model and empower the future generation.

Partners in abusive marriages should seek outside help and not suffer in silence any longer lest the situation gets out of control. To those who are trying to avoid problems, gather courage and make deliberate effort individually to face the issues head on. Everybody is suffering from these past empowerment disparity, and it should come to a halt. Deal with your negative experiences, set realistic expectations and be optimistic. Lucky enough, today there are several initiatives that are focusing on the boy child empowerment which should be embraced and supported. However the current boy child empowerment efforts are far from adequate. More local and international organizations need to commit themselves to the worthy course in Kenya. 

Do You Know The Food You Eat Can Bring Health or Sickness?

Food can bring health or sickness depending on your eating habits. Inadequate helping and  wrong food mixtures leads to malnutrition. Good nutrition is not optional but a basic human need and a fundamental human right. Therefore it’s essential for all people individually and collectively to care for their nutrition. Global Food and nutrition security for the 9 billion by 2050 is the goal of all the world’s nations including Kenya. According to  surveys carried out by the Ministry of public health Kenya 70% of children less than 5years of age are found to have vitamin A deficiency, 55% of women and 47% of men have inadequate blood. These results are indicators of poor family nutrition.

Why should you eat?It’s important to feed for right reasons which include:-

1. Body building in growing children and young people
2. To get energy for daily activities for all people
3. For maintenance and repair in adults

Millions of people globally feed with the following wrong motives and consequently they don't care what they are feeding on:-

• To stop hunger
• To fulfill routine

Malnutrition is a result of eating inadequate amount or wrong food mixtures while hunger is a result of food shortage. This means malnutrition can occur when there is abundance due to wrong mixtures. Good Eating habits observe the following:-

• Distribution :Frequency: Eat 3 balanced meals + 2 snacks Daily
• Contents: Eat balanced/diversified meals which provides all the nutrients required by the body.
• Amount: eat enough/adquate to provide the body with the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of all the essential nutrients.

A balanced meal has the following 7 essential nutrients:-

1. Proteins
2. Carbohydrates
3. Vitamins
4. Minerals
5. Fats/Oils
6. Fibre
7. Clean Drinking Water: At least 8 glasses  / person/ day taken 20 minutes after a meal, to avoid diluting digestive enzymes.

The  functions of water in the body includes:-

• Refreshing and body cleansing
• Age therapy

All these essential nutrients should be should betaken at every sitting to promote good utilization by the human body. When taken at different times, utilization by the body is poor leading to wastage and poor health.

The family farm should therefore  provide the following 6 key food groups for food and nutrition security achievement.

1.      Carbohydrates

2.      Legumes

3.      Fruits

4.      Vegetables

5.      Animal source

6.      Clean drinking water

High impact nutrition intervention areas according to ministry of public health Kenya includes:-

1. Food production: Diversify production to ensure that all the above six groups are available on the family farm in order to provide the 7 essential nutrients. 
2. Breastfeeding: Sole breast feeding of infants for the first 6 months excluding even water. This alone has been observed to reduce child mortality by 13% which is line with millennium development goals. Breastfeeding should then continue for two years during the period in which alternatives are introduced gradually.
3. Expectant mothers:  intervention benefits both mother and child.
4. Lactating Mothers:                         ’’
5. Nutrition education for school children in order to develop the culture early
6. Food security for all people including the toothless aged. You cannot say there is food security for this category of citizens when the only food available is maize and beans.  

Sweet Yellow Passion Fruit Farming Makes Millionaires in Kenya

Sweet yellow passions fruits are perennial plants and the vine has a lifespan of about 5-7 years. Passion fruit grows best at an altitude of 1200-2000 meters above sea level, and at a soil PH of 5.5 to 7. During the growth period the farmer performs maintenance practices such as weeding, spraying with pesticides, and fungicides among others as he waits for harvest. One carefully tended sweet yellow passion fruit vine will grow to a length of over 20 meters, after the first 4-5 months of transplanting. Yields of 30 kg of fruit per vine/year can be achieved. Vigorous growth of passion is the key to achieving high yields. One acre can accommodate over 670 plants and each vine can yields 30 kg of fruit. One kilo goes for Ksh 50-80/= which means that a farmer can earn 670 x 30 x 50= Ksh. 1,005,000 per acre in one year. Secondly the plant grows a deep root system making it resistant to effects of low soil moisture. Moreover passion fruit juice is wonderful and in high demand  locally in Kenya and therefore the market is good.

Propagation of sweet yellow passion fruits:The vine is propagated through seed, cuttings and grafting. A seedling is ready for transplanting once the vine attains a height of 15-30 cm after 3-4 months. One full grown passion vine has the ability to produce up to 50 kg of fruits per year if it is supplied with the correct nutrients during the transplanting stage. Soil testing is recommended for specific soil nutrition recommendations. Otherwise the general recommendations are digging square holes of a width of 1 m and a depth of 1 meter and separating top soil from sub soil. The top soil is thoroughly mixed with 1- 2 wheelbarrows of well rotted manure, 125 grams a  compound fertilizer and afterwards filled back to the hole. After this; the seedling is transplanted into the pre-filled hole. This is a tedious process but it is the key to high yields and profit. When the vine is supplied with adequate manure, and fertilizer, passion fruit grows resistant to pests such as nematodes and other diseases. This strategy ensures that hard pans which limit room for roots expansion to facilitate deep root system development.

Husbandry practices of passion plant: The crop has a slow growth during the first 5 months of its life cycle therefore regular weeding is needed for vigorous growth. Injury to the plant during weeding should be avoided as bacteria and fungi will get entry to the plant through the wounds. Once the vine has been transplanted, 4 laterals grow from the main vine. Sometimes they may fail to grow, force them by pinching the shoot tip. The laterals are trellised on a 14 gauge galvanized wire stretched along the tops of posts whose diameter is 18 cm, 3 meter long and its base buried to a depth of 50-80 cm. Inter-row spacing of the vines should be maintained at 2 meters while intra row spacing should be 3 meters. This gives a plant population of about 670 per acre

Harvesting passion: Fruits drop to the ground when fully mature and are collected every second day. At this stage, they are shriveled which is the best condition for manufacturing. For the fresh market, the fruits are harvested when ripe just before shriveling. Growing sweet yellow passion plant/vine is a good economic opportunity in Kenya. 

Our Products and Services 

We offer the following products and services at affordable fees.

1. Agribusiness plans preparation
2. Agribusiness information e-manuals

AGRIBUSINESS PLANS PREPARATION

An Agribusiness Plan is the road-map to success in any farming business. An Agribusiness Plan preparation is therefore crucial for success of any farming business. This is the document which will support your agribusiness to grow, seek funding from financial institutions and/or donors, and monitor performance over a period of time for continuous improvement. Agribusiness plan is a management tool which will help you to avoid expensive mistakes in your farming business. FAILURE TO PLAN IS PLANNING TO FAIL. MAKE SURE YOU PREPARE AN AGRIBUSINESS PLAN BEFORE STARTING YOUR FARMING BUSINESS.The second important milestone is to get the right technical information.
 

AGRIBUSINESS INFORMATION E-MANUALS

a)       Watermelon farming e-manual 

b)       Dairy Farming e-manual

c)       Passion fruit farming e-manual

d)      Strawberry farming e-manual

g)      Tomatoes farming e-manual

h)      Capsicum farming e-manual

i)       Greenhouse farming e-manual

j)       Oyster mushroom Farming e-manual

k)      Tissue culture Bananas farming e-manual

l)       Upland arrowroot, Cassava, Sweet potatoes and yams e-manual

m)    Poultry Broilers, layers and improved indigenous/ Kienyeji e-manual

n)    Value addition and Agro-processing e-manual:The e-manual contains Manufacture of Fruit juices, yogurt, Fruit Jam, Small scale ice-cream making ,Tomato sauce processing, bread baking & cakes baking, cake decoration, vegetable solar drying,  Banana crisps and flour processing, cassava fermenting and flour processing, Soya milk and peanut butter processing.    

Email yagrein@gmail.com for more information

Falling for Autumn Shiitake

Written by Mary Ellen

Flashback: Joe and Phoebe (and Merlin) enjoying the fall Shiitake harvest.

Joe tells us that the only time he was ever taken out of school was when the podpinki (buttons/stumpers/honey mushroom/Armellaria

mellea) were in season. He, his dad and grandfather would go cut banana boxes full of podpinki and jam them into the back of the family station wagon.  They’d arrive home as if fresh off a bank heist! His mom would be faced with hours of cleaning and canning mushrooms (isn’t it much more fun to be the forager than the kitchen drudge?).  This might be the reason that spring is her favorite time of year.

Here is an Armellaria species, just one of at least a dozen very similar species grouped together and labeled by mushroom hunters as "Honey Mushrooms," or as in Joe's example above, "podpinki." Do you have any tales about picking Armellaria? If so let us know in the comments section below.

Armellaria infrequently fruit on shiitake logs but ...even so, you should know what they are in case they make a showing! Identifiers: often clustered, growing in fall on wood, buff/brownish/yellow, often sticky caps with a bristling of short "hairs" on the top of the cap. Gills are attached, cream colored, and covered with a fibrous or webby "skirt" which becomes the ring on the stem as the mushroom grows. Spore print white.

There is no need to go foraging beyond your backyard if you are growing shiitake mushrooms. Yes, this is IT…Shiitake time! Shiitake have two general fruiting times when there is almost nothing you can do to stop the fruiting impulse…Fall, and (to a lesser degree), Spring. Planting a mix of different strains will help stretch out the season, but the combination of temperature change, rainfall and humidity after a long hot summer can mean grocery sacks full of mushrooms. 

Autumn: Flying geese, falling leaves, apple cider, wood fires...mushrooms!

 On our farm, we finished up a week or so ago with a nice natural flush of mushrooms from logs planted with Wide Range strains. Now the logs planted with Warm Weather strains, especially WW70, (a vigorous fall fruiter), are bumpy with mushrooms. We had our first fall frost two nights ago so we await with pleasure the prospect of harvesting the gorgeous Cold Weather shiitake. 



WW70 is a star early fall fruiter.

Good shiitake fruiting goes hand and hand with rain, so we are often faced with black brown, water logged caps. Mushrooms like this have a much shorter shelf life than properly harvested shiitake, really no more than a week. Plus, their dark shiny appearance scares customers if the mushrooms are taken to market. It is best to avoid this problem by watching for the earliest stages of fruiting, and covering the pinning (baby mushrooms) logs with fruiting blanket, frost blanket or clear plastic until the mushrooms are ready to harvest. Even if you can cover the wet but still developing mushrooms a few days before the cap starts to pull away from the stipe (stem), they should develop beautifully for a high quality product at picking time.  

Sometimes you just can’t get the logs covered in time though. Water saturated mushrooms are just fine to eat unless they have developed a dark brown cast to the gills (meaning rot). Saturated mushrooms can be dried, but be careful not to overload drying trays. Monitor heat and air flow as these easily get past their prime before they fully dry. Our favorite way to preserve is to slice and sauté until the extra water releases and evaporates. Season the slices to taste and freeze pints or puree and pack into ice cube trays for later when the fine memories of the fall harvest are equal to the taste of fresh-frozen shiitake. 

Pine squirrels are just as likely to snack on football Sundays as are local cheeseheads. Covering fruiting logs helps reduce obvious bite marks in prime specimines.

Just now, after years of hearing the tales of podpinik hunting, Joe tells me that the underlying reason for going mushroom hunting was the side trip to the White River in Waushara County, WI…for fishing. Figures!


Go to our recipes page to try Rachel's wonderful Shiitake and Cheese Tart.