How To Use An Online Catering ServiceWritten by Lee Dobbins
The next time you have a party, save yourself time and trouble of agonizing over appetizers by buying all your hors d'oeuvres online. They’ll think you hired an expensive caterer or spent weeks slaving over a hot stove!Your munchies can make or break your party so you want to be sure that you have fabulous tasting foods. You can order sumptuous appetizers such as stuffed mushrooms, egg rolls, scallops in bacon, salmon pinwheels, coconut shrimp, artichoke and spinach tarts and more - all prepared by wonderful gourmet chefs. They’ll arrive pre-cooked so all you have to do is pop them in oven and cook. And best part - you can get all this for around $5.00 per guest! Of course, ordering online can be a disaster if you don’t know what to look for. Some tips for ordering food online include checking out site credentials and making sure you know how to prepare foods after they arrive. When using an online food catering service, make sure their plant is USDA approved. This ensures that meats are inspected by USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service and are up to federal standards. Also, make sure they use grade A meats. You should be able to find this information on an "About Us" page or query them via email.
| | Chicken Soup for The SoilWritten by Jean Fritz
Your soil is most important part of your garden, but too many people forget to nurture their soil. Soil is a living thing, containing microbes, fungi, insect life and general "creepy-crawlies" vital to plant health and vigor, as well as a receptacle for chemicals and trace elements. Doing a little soil prep every fall pays off each and every harvest.First, add more organic matter. Use your rototiller or your spade, and dig under frostbitten plant material, grass clippings, leaves, wood chips, and compost. Avoid using any diseased plant material as compost – burn it first if there are no local restrictions on burning. If you live near any livestock, cover your garden with 1 – 2” of uncomposted manure, then disguise that with other organic materials, and let whole thing winter over. A blanket of snow from December through March will turn all of it into about ¼” of most beautiful topsoil you can imagine. It’s also time to think about soil pH, or acidity or alkalinity. The addition of organic materials can lower pH, or make it more acidic. If your soil is already high in acid and you’d like to neutralize it, you can also add lime or wood ashes to your garden. Wood ashes are wickedly alkaline, but after a season or two, create an excellent haven for earthworms and add enough potash to soil to grow wonderful root crops.
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