Darrell Ross

Coffee is undoubtedly one of the most popular drinks in modern history. Currently, more than 166 million 60-kilogram bags of coffee beans are consumed annually across the world. With such a large consumption, it is normal to wonder how coffee travels from the farms and reaches the tables to consumers.

• Planting

Before coffee becomes the drink that is known and loved by many, it undergoes several processes. The first process involves planting the caffea. Caffea is a flowering plant that bears “coffee cherries” that contain coffee beans required to make coffee. The caffea shrub is cultivated in several continents, usually in tropical areas.

Unlike most fruits, coffee cherries do not ripen after harvest. Thus, during harvest season, only the most experienced pickers are called to do the job to make sure that the best cherries are plucked.

• Harvesting

The coffee beans are then harvested either by selective picking or strip picking. Selective harvesting is done by experienced pickers to harvest high-quality Arabica coffee. This method is labor-intensive and time-consuming. On the other hand, strip picking harvesting coffee by hand or mechanical harvester.

• Processing

Once the cherries have been sorted and organized, they are immediately processed to prevent spoilage. There are different methods of processing the coffee cherries to get the coffee beans and this depends on the region and resources available.

There are different types of processing methods including:

• Washed (wet)
• Sun-drying
• Mechanical drying
• Natural drying
• Semi-washed
• Resting

After the processing, the coffee beans must be in resting period, where they remain in parchment for 15 to 90 days. Several factors must be taken into consideration when resting the coffee beans. If the resting is not done properly, the coffee beans will age faster and have unwanted flavors once it is milled.

• Milling

Once the coffee beans are well-rested, milling follows. Milling involves hulling which is the removal of all remaining materials in the bean, followed by polishing, then cleaning and sorting, and lastly grading. At this point, the coffee beans will be prepared for shipping.

• Roasting

The next process is roasting the beans. Roasting is usually done in the importing country to maintain the freshness of the coffee beans. During roasting, the coffee beans are heated until they attain the well-known brown color.

Once again, there are many factors to be considered when roasting coffee beans because these variables will affect the flavor of the coffee. Once the roasting is done, the coffee beans are cooled and rested for a few hours to one whole day.

• Packaging

After the long process, the coffee beans can now be packaged and sold to the public. Most consumers are concerned with the roast date and level of roasting because these are indicators of whether the coffee beans are still viable or stale.

If they are still fresh, which is usually within four to seven days from roasting, the coffee beans are grinded to the desired consistency. You may grind them to be coarse or fine.

• Brewing

Once the desired consistency has been obtained, the final step is brewing. This is the culmination of all the processes because coffee the drink is finally made. Several techniques can be used to brew coffee depending on the preferred coffee profile of the coffee drinker.

Conclusion

Getting coffee from coffee plants is a long journey from the farm to the table. We hope that you now have insight into what is involved in making this delicious drink.

Almost 700 million people become ill because of illnesses caused by mosquitoes every year, while more than a million of them die. Therefore, it’s not surprising why many people are adamant about figuring out ways to eliminate mosquitoes in their gardens and around their homes.

Still, prevention proves to be the best way since it can be hard to control mosquitoes if they have a very large population. If you’re wondering how to manage mosquitoes in the garden, then we’ve got just the right tips for you.

How to Protect Yourself

When working in the yard, make sure that you protect your exposed skin. You can cover it by wearing a long-sleeved shirt and long pants. Wearing shoes, socks, a hat, and gloves can also provide extra protection.

You can even use different mosquito killer sprays on your clothes. For this, you can choose a spray with diethyltoluamide, a chemical known as Deet in different concentrations. Though further research is still needed on how safe Deet is, it is generally safe to use low concentrations. However, rather than applying it to the skin, you have to apply it to your clothing for mosquito protection instead.

You can also purchase shirts that have a fabric infused with mosquito repellent. You don’t have to worry about washing these shirts since the repellent will be effective even if you launder them many times. You can also use lotions and sprays for mosquito protection on your skin. Get ones with citrus oil, such as wipes that you can rub on your skin.

If you don’t want to use chemicals, you can opt for a Bug Baffler shirt which can cover you from the head down to your waist. It is also made from a very fine mesh material to help prevent mosquitoes and flies from coming near you. Moreover, it is more comfortable than a long-sleeved shirt as you can move more freely when working in your garden.

How to Prevent Mosquitoes

Mosquito prevention is more effective and important than protection. Just keep in mind that you don’t have to protect yourself too much if you can control the mosquito population even before they invade your garden.

You can remove standing water from drain outlets everywhere and anywhere in your house to get rid of their breeding sites. You can also use citronella since it is known to protect you from mosquitoes. You can opt to get citronella torches with oil or candles and place them in small areas in your home, such as the patio, when you have guests over.

Placing an electric fan on your patio or porch also works because mosquitoes and flies hate wind.

Conclusion

Always remember to also practice protective and preventive measures even inside your home. Don’t wait before it’s too late before you start acting. As early as possible, get rid of their breeding grounds to ensure they won’t multiply. This way, you can enjoy a mosquito-free backyard and property.

Hedgehogs are innocent little furry creatures that are not harmful to humans. Generally, hedgehogs will get scared and will run away from humans, or they will curl up into a spiky ball. However, their spikes can penetrate the skin and may cause a little discomfort.

Despite their timid demeanor, the hedgehog population has been declining. According to a report in Britain, the population of hedgehogs has fallen by about 50 percent. With this knowledge, we should take certain actions to increase the hedgehog population. This can be done by attracting them to friendly gardens and giving them a home.

However, hedgehogs don’t just wander around your garden normally. There are things you must do to make your garden hedgehog-friendly. Here are some tips that will certainly help attract hedgehogs into garden hedgehog houses.

Before we dive deeper into the different ways of how to attract hedgehogs into your garden, let’s watch some interesting watch about these little animals.

5 Ways to Attract Hedgehogs into Your Garden

1. Create Pathways for The Hedgehogs

While you may want to fence your property to ensure privacy, this may keep the hedgehogs out. So, how do you invite them in? First, you need to create a pathway that will allow your hedgehogs to get into your garden.

Also, by creating hedgehog holes, you are allowing these furry little creatures to enter your garden. A hedgehog hole allows the hedgehog to travel from garden to garden. At night, hedgehogs usually travel around 1 mile. They like to stay near the edges as they feel much safer. Nonetheless, they will also wander around from time to time. During the breeding season, males can go about 2 miles.

The best way to create these pathways is to set up a meeting with your neighbors and devise a plan or come up with an agreement to create hedgehog pathways. The right pathways will undoubtedly attract hedgehogs to your garden.

2. Build a Hedgehog Home

You can also attract hedgehogs into garden hedgehog houses by building one for them.

You can build hedgehog houses by yourself, or you can buy hog houses from different online shops. If you opt to go DIY, you can randomly pile logs and add some leaves to the box.

For an average size garden, perhaps 2 to 3 hedgehog houses are best. Place the box in your garden under the garden shed or thick vegetation. Ultimately, you need to create a safe nesting for your hedgehog. Although these shelters are specifically made for hedgehogs, they can add any aesthetic to your garden. These hedgehog houses can be very decorative, depending on your creativity.

3. Avoid Noisy Places

If you are looking to attract hedgehogs, you should know that they require peace. This is especially true during the day since this is their sleeping time, and they need some quiet.

Therefore, when creating a good hedgehog home, make sure that it is far from busy roadways, businesses, or construction sites. Also, children and noisy dogs can scare them away.

4. Supplement Them with Food and Water

This is very obvious, but this is still worth noting. Hedgehogs need a lot of water, and supplying enough will attract them into your garden. For food, you can use cat or dog pellets to supplement their natural diet. Also, make sure that you put a bowl of water in your garden.

If you already have a hedgehog house, you can leave it somewhere close to it. This is also to encourage them to stay there. During the cold months, you may have to change the water supply regularly as it may get frozen if it gets too cold.

5. Do Not Disturb Them During Hibernation

This is pretty tricky since it is very hard to determine whether a hedgehog is hibernating in your garden or not. However, you need to resist the temptation to disturb the hedgehog if you find that it is hibernating in your garden. Just leave them be and let them hibernate. Usually, hedgehogs hibernate during November and March.

Final thoughts

Being at the top of the food chain, human beings are quite unchallenged by most species. However, this does not mean that we should pay attention to other living things, especially those declining in population. Hedgehogs are not harmful and deserve to live well and populate. The above tips can help you attract hedgehogs into garden hedgehog houses.

Hemp is one of the earliest crops to be tamed by humanity which is easier to buy comparing to get the best CBD oil in Canada. This non-psychoactive cousin of the cannabis plant was grown for a wide range of applications. These ancient plant roots were refined into various products such as paper, textiles, and cordage.

Industrial hemp once dominated the American landscape until the 20th century, when US lawmakers made the growing of hemp illegal as they sought to control the use of marijuana.

The use of industrial hemp has evolved into a great variety of uses. This ranges from biofuels, clothing, plastic composite material, construction material, organic body care to health foods.

One byproduct of hemp, Cannabidiol, has become so popular because people have discovered its medicinal value. People have found that CBD oil can be a treatment for arthritis, insomnia, epilepsy, and anxiety, among many other illnesses.

Hemp cultivation is once again legal in the United States. This has opened up tremendous opportunities in the agricultural economy. Here are four ways industrial hemp is changing the economy and how you can capitalize on it.

Creation of new careers.

The rapid growth of industrial hemp promises the creation of very many job opportunities. New careers in farming, research, regulation, and sales and market are required for industrial demand.

Government regulation is required in every step of hemp products, like CBD oil. These products cannot contain more than 0.3 percent of THC, which is the psychoactive element in cannabis. Therefore, stringent regulations have to be put in place before farmers are allowed to plant the crop.

This will create many jobs for compliance specialists who will help farmers to stay within the legal specifications. People in sales and marketing are also set to benefit from the hemp industry. Many small businesses that are hemp product-related are cropping all over the country.

Huge investments by farmers on industrial hemp.

Farmers are betting big time on industrial hemp. According to the Vote Hemp advocacy group, between 2018 and 2019, the size of land under hemp cultivation saw a 455% increase.

This is a massive indication of the enormous demand for hemp and hemp products in the country. More than just farmers are needed to meet this demand.

Government regulators, small business start-ups to launch hemp products, and researchers are also needed in the hemp industry.

Demand for industrial hemp is changing legislation.

Legislation is a vital tool that influences the economy of any country. In 2018, the United States Congress passed the farm bill, which legalized the growing of hemp.

Congress removed all the restrictions that regulated the growing of hemp, transportation, and the possession of any hemp-derived product, including CBD oil.

Hemp is a cheaper alternative to the construction industry and paper industry.

Hemp-based material can be used as a cheaper alternative to wood. Hemp products are also stronger and more durable than wood.

Hemp-based paper is a superior alternative to tree-based paper. Hemp paper is stronger and brighter than tree paper. Thus, it does not require bleaching, which releases toxins into the environment. Furthermore, hemp paper can be recycled up to eight times.

Conclusion

These are just some of the ways hemp has influenced the agricultural industry and the economy. Since its legalization, there has been increasing demand for hemp and hemp-derived products, especially CBD products.

When it comes to harvesting a vegetable garden or finding an air fryer online, most people are often left wondering what they should do with everything. Naturally, some of it will be frozen, some of it canned, and some given to both friends and family.

The rest, of course, is usually used in different succulent recipes. Vegetables can be served in very many different ways. Air fryers can be used to fry them; they can be steamed, buttered, creamed, and tossed into salads and casseroles.

Let’s take a look at some of the top options out there.

Tomato Fritters

Are you good with air fryers, and do you have so many tomatoes in your storage cabinet? Then you can make tomato fritters. Both the green and red tomatoes are excellent for this recipe.

All you need, aside from the tomatoes, of course, is a little cornmeal. Simply slice the tomatoes, cover them with the cornmeal and then dump them into some hot oil. Fry them until golden brown and serve while hot.

Fried Pickles

Cucumbers usually grow really fast and are mostly used in salads or for pickling. Frying your pickles will give them a delicious and unusual twist. Get some of your best homegrown pickles, drain them (reserving a bit of the pickling liquid) and slice them up.

Combine one cup of AP flour, a quarter teaspoon of salt, and one teaspoon each of ground red pepper and garlic powder in a medium mixing bowl. Slowly stir in one cup of the pickle juice and club soda until mixed well.

Dip your pickles into this batter mixture and then throw them into the fryer. Once golden brown, use a paper towel to drain and serve while warm.

Fried Squash

Squash is also something you probably have in your garden, right? If you don’t, then this isn’t for you. If you do, then this recipe might just blow your mind. For starters, not many folks think of frying their squash.

Anyway, fried squash is made the same way as tomato fritters. The only difference here is that you’ll first have to dip the squash slices into an egg and milk mixture before rolling them in the cornmeal. The mixture helps make the cornmeal stick to the squash slices better.

Glazed Carrots

Carrots are an excellent source of carotene, potassium, fiber and antioxidants. If you have some of these  in your garden then you should not hesitate making delicious glazed carrots.

Take some of your carrots, wash and scrape them well, and then boil until slightly tender. As they’re boiling, heat 3 tablespoons of both butter and brown sugar with 60ml of hot water. This is to make somewhat of simple syrup. Remove your carrots from the boiling water and then drain thoroughly. Pour the syrup over the drained carrots and then bake them for around 25-minutes at 190 C.

Wrapping Up

You can do so many other things with the vegetables from your garden, and these are just but a few of the most interesting ones. If you like using air fryers, then you should definitely try out some of these recipes.

Did you know that you can turn your food leftovers into natural paint? According to The experts you heard it right! By simply adding a little bit of creativity plus patience, you can convert every leftover fruits and veggies to an art material your toddlers would love. Let’s get started.

Things You Need:

• For green dye, prepare Swiss chard, kale, and spinach
• For orange dye, prepare orange peels, carrot, and onion skins (yellow)
• For red dye, prepare beets, strawberry, raspberry, or grenade
• For blue dye, prepare blackberry, red cabbage, or blueberry

To make a fruity paint, here’s what you need to do:

First, get a small saucepan then mix each cup of vegetable or fruit along with two cups of water. Set the heat to medium. Wait for it to simmer within an hour. Don’t forget to switch off the cooker. Let the water cool down. After that, pour and filter the juice in a container.

On the other hand, to make a veggie paint, you need to blend a teaspoon of dye with 6 tablespoons of sugar. Repeat the second and third procedures.

Improve Your Room’s Curb Appeal With This Paint

Now that you have a new set of natural paint, you can grab this opportunity to bond with your kids. Improve your room’s curb appeal with a personalized and dramatic result by giving your interior a fresh coat of paint.

It can also bring harmony in your room spaces by complementing the color of your furniture, paintings, floors, ceiling, and other things inside your abode. Furthermore, an appealing room paint does not only boost the visual aesthetic of your home, but it also has the capability to promote positive and relaxing moods.

On top of that, it will give your kids a chance to show off their creative side through house painting. Let them draw to their heart’s content.

Natural Paint Can Help Keep Surfaces Protected

Aside from covering up stains, marks, and other imperfections, room paint can excellently protect your walls from further damages. Both your exterior and interior walls are subject to corrosion and detrimental effects of aging despite your best effort to maintain them. To cover up these imperfections and touch up your room’s surfaces, painting will be a good choice.

Final Words

There you have it – quick and easy ways on you can turn your food leftovers to good art materials. This may not just save you extra cash, but it will also help you enhance your child’s skills.

Don’t just limit yourself to making beautiful paintworks. As much as you could, try experimenting with your own way of decorating your furniture. Begin with applying your favorite colors or by mixing this natural paint that will add dimension to your furniture surface.

For cabinets, for example, make your personal blend of colors by applying a light color on the exterior & dark shade inside or vice versa. You can either use a dark-colored shade on its interior. However, the color preference still depends on your own choice – you just need to freely do it yourself.

Most people like to wear something that looks good and pleasing. Apart from trending custom t shirts and fashion outfits, what’s important in clothing is the comfort and chance to express oneself. When visiting a farm, it shouldn’t be the case.

Whatever kind of farm it is, it’s expected to get dirt, stains, and other reasons that can cause damage to the clothes. However, the farm shouldn’t be something that limits in wearing fashion staples. You may wear any custom T-shirts if you want, but be sure to wear in the proper way.

There are clothes that are intended for the farm. Aside from them being especially useful on the farm, they are also made for a reason. Visiting a farm could be an exciting adventure. This gives you a sense of responsibility to love nature as a whole. Today, here are some of the clothes to wear during a farm visit.

Hat

Hats should be wide and breathable. This also protects you from the scorching heat while doing a farm activity.

Gloves

Make sure to bring a pair of gloves when visiting a farm. Gloves protect your hand when plowing the field. Also, when there’s heavy work during your visit, a pair of gloves can save the day.

Slippers or Shoes

When visiting a farm, make sure to wear a pair of flat shoes so you wouldn’t have a problem if the field is uneven. If you happened to visit a farm during the rainy season, make sure to wear water-resistant shoes and rain gears such as raincoats and boots.

Long Pants

One of the most important clothes to wear is a pair of jeans or long pants. When wearing one, make sure to tuck it inside your socks to avoid insects like chiggers. Also, wear long pants that are slightly loose so you can walk comfortably.

Hiking Boots

If the farm you plan to visit needs a hike before you get there, it is better to wear hiking boots or shoes. That way, your feet will not be strained.

Flannel Shirt/Plaid T-Shirt

A flannel shirt is lighter and composed of smooth fabrics. Apart from that, flannel can be worn for a long time during hot days.

Denim Jumpers

Aside from flannel, you can also wear denim jumpers paired with custom T-shirts.  Apart from it being cool to wear, it can also protect yourself from the heat.

Other things to wear during a farm visit include:

• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Bandana
• Sweatshirts/light jackets
• Scarfs
• Extra shirts and pants

Final Thoughts

It is important to wear the necessary clothes during a farm visit. When in the farm, it can’t be avoided to stay under the sun for long, plow a field, plant seeds and vegetables, pick up fruits, or visit a barn and feed the animals.

Proper attire is important because it’s not just a necessity but also protects your body from any external harmful objects. That said, make sure to pack yourself with a farm attire so you can enjoy your visit whether in the sunny or rainy season.