Carol, I don't like to use much of anything in my garden either. This year, when I sprayed the entire garden with Bt during the massive cutworm outbreak, it was the first time I'd sprayed the whole garden with anything since we moved here. If I "have to" treat something, I usually only spray that specific crop, and not the whole garden. I also used neem once or twice in the spring, but only on specific plants. I've found cabbage worms and cabbage loopers on cole crops this past week. I was going to spray all the cole crops with Bt 'kurstaki', but instead, I've just been hand-picking them. I hate spraying anything. Like you, I do drown a lot of pests in a bowl of soapy water--usually it is either cabbage loopers or imported cabbage worms, or sometimes it is Colorado potato beetles. The cold has finally shut down the grasshoppers for the most part, and I haven't seen a scorpion in about 2 weeks now, but the garden is full of butterflies, bees in all sizes, yellow jackets, predatory wasps, green lacewings, lady bugs and several kinds of flies (like tachnid flies and Southern robber flies, both beneficials) but also a few cucumber beetles and stink bugs, which I just ignore. There's been a little bean beetle damage on some of the remaining beans, but I just ignore them. It isn't enough damage to warrant action. We also have oodles of butterflies. I am glad I took the time to cover up a few zinnias and verbena bonariensis along with the southern peas and beans because everything else froze and the little flying critters fight over the few remaining flowers all day long. I left some henbit in the bean bed when it sprouted there in early October, and now it is just starting to bloom. That's a relief because once the beans are finished, the bees and little winged insects and butterflies at least will have the blooms of the henbit. There's also some chamomile that sprouted about the same time and it is about to start blooming, so that will be a few more flowers for the wild things. I don't get too concerned about fall pests because the cold weather pretty much takes care of them anyway. I have dug up a surprising number of cutworms in the fall garden, and have killed every one. Maybe I'll have fewer of those suckers this spring than last spring, which was epic in its horrible-ness (I know that likely is not a word) but it is appropriate. There's still tons of spiders too, so at least all the beneficial critters are hanging in there, and there's both toads and frogs lurking in the garden every day. With the salt issue in self-rising flour, it is a much bigger problem for those of us who have certain kinds of alkaline soils that are more sodic in nature, so I never would use flour in my clay for that reason. I used flour in about 2002 or 2003 when the grasshoppers were so bad, and it just ruint all the foliage of my beautiful tomato plants. They looked crappy the rest of the summer, long after I'd hosed off the flour....and we still had tons of grasshoppers too. A friend of mine doesn't have chickens, but she has an old mother coyote who has raised many dens of pups in an area near her pond, and she always puts out the stale bread and stale crackers for that coyote. I also have used an organic fungicide (Greencure) and once or twice have used insecticidal soap, but I'd rather flick the pests into the soapy water in a bowl than spray the soapy water on my plants. I don't think I've sprayed a lot of garden plants with a soap spray in about 10 years, though I have sprayed an occasional single plant in a pot. Our chickens are having garden withdrawal because the fall garden is doing so well that I haven't let them into the garden yet to dig and scratch and hunt for bugs. At the rate its going, the chickens may not make it into the garden until January. This evening we came back from a fire (it has been a very busy fire week since about Tuesday) and had some unhappy chickens in the chicken coop. They were up roosting but were chattering even though it was dark. Usually that means a snake is in there, but this time it was a little possum curled up in the corner of the coop. Tim showed him or her the way out and then closed the door. I guess the little possum thought he'd found a nice place to spend the winter. Hawks have been trying hard to get the chickens so they haven't been out free-ranging much, but I planted 5 rows of winter greens in the big garden for them, so every day I cut them a bunch of greens and toss them into the chicken coop. The greens might make being cooped up a little more bearable. When I let them out to chase bugs around the yard, I stay with them as much as possible to keep the hawks away. In this drought, the hawks are having trouble finding enough food and it is going to be a long winter for the chickens with those hawks hovering over the yard. Dawn

I order einkorn (whole berries) from - www.einkorn.com and mill it myself - flour and flakes. I'd suggest trying the recipes they have at their web site and then branch out from there as you see the characteristics of the flour. Spelt may be another grain your husband could use since it's not hybridized and much less expensive than einkorn. I'm using a starter I made recently with einkorn flour and that has worked well so far. You may also enjoy baked goods made from almond flour and coconut flour as alternatives. I use a lot of almond flour for baked goods these days because I need to use the pulp left from making almond milk each week. I altered this recipe last week when I made it and used einkorn flour instead of wheat flour. We love this snack cake! -Grainlady BANANA CRUNCH CAKE (crunch topping) 3/4 c. oatmeal (quick or old-fashioned, uncooked) 1/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar (I used palm sugar) 2 T. butter, melted (I also add chopped walnuts.) Combine all ingredients; mix well. (cake) 1/2 c. butter (I use half butter, 1/2 coconut oil) 2/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar (palm sugar) 1 c. mashed ripe banana 2 eggs 1 t. vanilla 1 c. ground oat flour* 3/4 c. all-purpose flour (I've used einkorn as well as rye flour) 1 t. salt 1 t. soda 1/2 c. chopped nuts, if desired (I like these in the topping more than in the cake) (I also add 3 T. flaxmeal.) Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy; blend in banana, eggs and vanilla. Gradually add combined dry ingredients, mixing well after each addition. Stir in nuts. Pour into greased 9-inch square baking pan; sprinkle crunch topping evenly over batter. Bake in preheated moderate oven (350-degrees F.) 40-45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. *How to make your own ground oat flour. You can mill whole oat groats or use oatmeal to make oat flour. To use oatmeal: Place 1-1/2 c. oatmeal (quick or old-fashioned, uncooked in a blender or food processor. Blend or process for about 60-secones. Makes about 1 cup oat flour.

If you decide to use bread flour, one of the tips for using high-protein flour is to add a little more fat - above the amount called for in the recipe. Where the additional fat coats the flour, it blocks the water from being absorbed, so it also reduces the amount of gluten that is developed. Be sure to keep mixing to a bare minimum. You could also use a blend of bread and cake flour and use the regular amount of fat in the recipe. I disagree with Linda about the protein content being "miniscule". There are more baking "mistakes" made by using the incorrect flour. High-protein flour gives you tough pastry, cookies, and cakes..... Hydration will be completely incorrect - as the chart below will show. Information from "CookWise" by Shirley O. Chorriher: Cake flour - 8 g. of protein per cup National Brand (Gold Medal, Pillsbury) Bleached All-Purpose - 9-10 g. of protein/cup National Brand Unbleached All-Purpose - 12+ g. protein per cup Northern Unbleached All-Purpose (King Arthur) - 13 g. protein per cup Bread Flour - 13-14 g. protein per cup ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The water absorption capacity of white flours for 1-cup of water to form a sticky dough ball in a food processor: 14 g. protein Bread Flour - 2-cups (packed) + 1 T. 13 g. protein Unbleached Flour - 2-cups (packed) + 2 T. water 12 g. protein All-purpose Flour - 2-1/4 c. 11 g. protein All-purpose Flour - 2-1/3 c. + 1 T. 10 g. protein All-purpose Flour - 2-1/2 c. 9 g. protein Southern All-purpose - 2-1/2 c. + 2 T. 8 g. cake flour - 2-3/4 c. -Grainlady

If you can get King Arthur flour, that works better than anything else. Buttermilk Biscuits 2 1/2 cups self rising flour (I use King Arthur) 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 cup PLAIN Crisco (not butter) 1 cup whole milk buttermilk Preheat oven to 425*. Cut Crisco into flour with a pastry cutter or fork until well mixed. Add buttermilk and stir. Turn out onto floured surface and pat out, turn in half, flip, pat out, and turn bottom half over. Pat out and cut with biscuit cutter. Place in pan sprayed with Pam. Reform leftover dough and cut rest of biscuits. I form the last biscuit by hand. You can do them all by hand if no cutter. Bake about 10 to 15 minutes. 1. You can cut recipe in half. You can also take out of oven after they are just done, but not brown, and freeze after they are cool. 2. To use regular flour, 2 1/2 cup plain flour, 2 tablespoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt. 3. We like to butter our biscuits after they are cooked and do not like butter in the dough. If you want butter in the dough, use 1/2 cup unsalted butter, omit Crisco. 4. The lard you get in the grocery stores now is not the same as old fashioned lard. If you have a source for real fresh lard, you can use 1/2 cup lard instead of Crisco or butter. 5. Keep your hands well floured and also dust a small amount on top of dough and under dough as you turn. Keep a light hand, you are not kneading yeast dough. Dust the cutter with flour, also. The first biscuits after I got married in 1970, you could of used for hockey pucks, lol. He ate them anyway!