40 Acres & A Fool

Cam and Miss E are back, and this week Miss E has recipes for making terrific tomato sauce and a Ukrainian egg cheese, while Cam’s got the scoop on the upcoming World Shooting Championship in West Virginia, plus updates from homesteaders and fellow fools from around the country! 

Miss E is mourning the passing and celebrating the life of her Great Aunt Pearl, who just passed away.  From teaching Miss E traditional Ukranian recipes to helping her learn to sew, Pearl helped Miss E become the badass woman she is today. Come honor a life well lived on this episode of 40 Acres & a Fool.  #camedwards #theblaze #conservative #NRA #talkradio #farm #farming #crops #selfsufficient #livestock #gardening

Okay, so the podcast isn’t going to totally be about tomatoes, but Cam and Miss E are genuinely excited to be overwhelmed by the amount of ripe tomatoes on the vine (and the kitchen counter, and the window sills, and in the fridge). Miss E has a recipe for a cooling summer soup, Cam’s got stories from his trip to Bristol for the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, and there are tall tales and updates from fellow fools across the country as well. 

Why did the chickens stop laying?  Sounds like a bad joke, but it’s a real issue for Cam and Miss E.  Is it heat?  Mites?  Intra-flock personality conflicts in the coop?  Fellow fowl-raisers from around the country are offering tips for our hosts.  Meanwhile, the pair are celebrating the first tomatoes and peppers of the year, the first rainfall in weeks, and their 20th wedding anniversary on this week’s 40 Acres and a Fool. 

Cam Edwards and Miss E talk about their flourishing garden. They are so pround of their tomatoes as well as their new found peppers, which started growing on their own. The DIY Duo are currently in the procces of "Brining" peppers to make their famous hot sauce with peppers as hot as the Ghost Pepper. Miss E explains the hot sauce making process and the best way to brine the peppers.

Cam Edwards and Miss E are becoming more and more frustrated by the fact that their chickens are not producing any eggs. It's been weeks and weeks but still no eggs. They are trying every trick of the trade to help their little hens to prosper. That's not the only issues the two are having on the farm. Miss E has been dealing with hearing loss but is tryin her best to make the most of it with the aid of her out- of-this-world Ear Buds that help her to hear less ringing. Those are just a few of the many things happening on the 40 Acres farm.

Cam and Miss E are back at the picnic table, with Miss E relaxed and refreshed after a visit to an historic Virginia mountain resort.  Meanwhile, threats to the garden are emerging; squash bugs are laying eggs on the pumpkin patch, deer are nibbling on pepper plants, and tomatoes are showing signs of the dreaded Blossom End Rot. How to fight back and keep your garden on track, plus much more on this edition of 40 Acres and a Fool.

Miss E's heading back to school on this week's podcast, honing her woodworking skills and learning about power tools. Meanwhile Cam's holding down the farm and dealing with his least favorite farm chore: cleaning out the chicken coop. Plus, new hens, old friends, and more!

Cam and Miss E explain the miracle of American Independence. How different people had to work together to become independent. They make the comparison that if things back then were like today, Americans never would have come together to become an independent nation. The use of social media, also plays an effect in the constant interaction with people, where back then, you would have to travel thousands of miles to see another person. With the freedom and independence that people have today, we are able to create our own towns and living spaces that cater to our lifestyles.

The sun’s going down, the fireflies are out, and Cam and Miss E are at the picnic table after a couple of days of hard work around the farm. The pair are talking garden irrigation, planting fall crops, and even delving into politics to discuss why elected Democrats have been disappearing from rural America.

Cam Edwards and Miss E answer emails from fellow farmers and learn about their friends new Llama and how photogenic they are. They talk about catching up with Greg the Llama owner, and discuss how names of the farm animals could double as Pokemon names. Things change course when they answer how to make homemade products, such as whip cream, and where to find difficult ingredients.

Cam, Miss E, and all three dogs are gathered ‘round the kitchen table for this week’s podcast. Updates on the garden, news from homesteaders around the country, and Miss E looks back on living in the murder capitol of the United States as the couple discuss the Philando Castile case, the tension in America’s cities, and the human right of self defense.

Cam shares his thoughts about the shooting in Alexandria, Virginia and the perpetrator's Facebook page.

It’s open season on the groundhogs of the 40 acres, especially the unknown (but clearly large) population that’s moved in under an old cabin near Cam and Miss E’s house. There are big updates on the garden, and for once it’s not Cam who’s been doing the traveling! Miss E’s got a full report on her culinary adventures in the Chicagoland-area. Plus, we’ll talk about which American city is saying “no” to backyard chickens, and the quiet push for “right-to-repair” laws across the country.

Cam Edwards and Miss E discuss the politics of the Civil Eats website and how the American Legislative Exchange Council declaration of their "Opposition to Repair" bills. They explain it as, if it's is a product that you've developed, but bought from another company, they have to make sure you did not create any unauthorized repairs to the product. Miss E claims it as "Quality Control," but this unfortunately allows companies to monopolize farming equipment and tools to increase profits, but Cam does not think that it should be legal. He also thinks that the farmers as well as the equipment companies have valid arguments, when it comes to farming.

For weeks now, Cam and Miss E have been having trouble with their chickens laying eggs in random places around the farm. Apparently they missed a few, because the pair recently stumbled upon one of the foulest (fowlest?) substances known to man: eggs so rotten they explode at the touch. Tune in for that tale, check-ins from fellow fools around the country, and a warning from the CDC about “chicken cuddling”.

Cam and Miss E worked hard into the night, on their gardening over the weekend. They weeded out the garden beds and built a new chicken tunnel near 30ft long that they have claimed as the Chicken Palace. They talk about building a temporary wall to keep the chickens in the tunnels on one side of the yard while they finish building the rest of the Palace. Much of their weekend was spent, assembling more of the garden beds and planting tomatoes and basil. They also added builing a fence to their list of work for more of the garden beds. Hopefully in the near future they'll be finished building and ready for planting!

Cam and his family share what new crops they will be planting and some of the random moments of pure joy that happen. F-Boms and all!

On today's show, Cam Edwards reports on a story about California farmer, John Duarte, who's being fined by a federal agency because he allegedly "disturbed the waters of the United States," by plowing on wetlands...during a dry season, which are also his property that he purchased! Duarte is facing a 2.8 million dollar fine for not only plowing in this area. but because "he did not obtain a permit to work near the wetlands." Crazy stuff...

The good news: the new chickens Cam and Miss E got a few weeks ago are now laying eggs. The bad news: they’re laying eggs all over the farm. The start of summer vacation for the kids leads to a discussion about grown ups and video games, and the pair check in with friends old and new from across the country.