So Many Challenges, So Little Time

Since my newly re-designed blog is now up and running, I signed up to participate in a few challenges I’ve been following. Two are garden related growing challenges which I love and try to do anyway. I joined so I can write about it every week and hopefully spread some awareness to others who may not garden or know anything about eating locally or organic, etc.

One challenge is called the “Growing Challenge” and you are to grow at least one additional new veggie or fruit this year that you didn’t last year and to write about gardening each week. We actually just bought 2 different kinds of grape vines to grow as well as a raspberry bush and a boysenberry bush.

I am also growing several different herbs and for my 4 year old, Leif, we are growing little yellow pear tomatoes in a planter for him. I got him a beautiful book last year called ‘Little Yellow Pear Tomatoes” by Demian Elaine Yumei. It has beautiful illustrations and is a story of why this little girl loves her little yellow pear tomatoes and what’s really in them so he was very excited to grow these. He also has a book called “Planting a Rainbow” by Lois Ehlert that he really likes and wants to grow blue cornflowers that he likes from the book this year, too. It’s very cute, I love to watch little kids interact with the plants. You should see him go crazy in the strawberry patch. He can’t pull them off fast enough to eat them right there.

The other challenge I signed up for is the “Victory Garden 100 Foot Diet Challenge”. The rules are: Beginning as soon as you can, prepare a meal at least once a week with only homegrown vegetables, fruit, herbs, eggs, dairy products or meat, using as few store bought ingredients as possible.

I’ve already been kind of doing this by growing and eating different types of sprouts in my kitchen for the past few months. We used to grow and eat sprouts all the time then stopped around when Leif was born. Since I’ve gone raw, this challenge is even more important to me because eating locally as much as possible is something I believe in so this year, we eliminated growing certain veggies we eat cooked and are growing more greens and veggies that are more prolific and that I like eating raw (or heated to less than 118 degrees in recipes). And we added much more fruit.

I love edible landscaping. Last year we put in a trough in front of our fence filled with jerusalem artichokes which grow very tall to create a screen from our neighbors for more privacy in the summer. I may tweak that this year to have year round privacy. We are discussing that one.

And my final challenge is a “Buy Nothing Challenge” I joined in to buy nothing in the month of April. No non-essentials. I generally learned to live like this since my husband basically lost his software career after 9/11 and we had to live on savings while living in our yurt in the mountains and I was livin’ on the compact for a full year.

Since I worked for myself out of my home, I realized the only times I went to town was to shop or go out socially. All required money for that so that was over. I learned how to become very creative with doing fun, free things (which I found out there are a lot of listings for this) as well as go to thrift stores, use freecycle, closeout stores, bulk buying at Costco or bulk bins at the health food store, etc.

Things have been fine and dandy for sev’l years now financially for us (and my husband’s career is better than ever) but I learned a lot about myself and my spending habits and there was a lot of non-essential spending going on so all in all it was a good lesson. I am doing the challenge again for one month just to bring that level of awareness about money back into my life again even though I’m pretty well trained at this point. Just maybe slacking a little.

So, if your up for it, why don’t you join in on one of these (or many other) challenges that are out there in the blogosphere? It’s fun and you learn new things about yourself.

New Changes At Attachment Parenting International

We consider ourselves to be an AP family. We both read a book by Dr. Sears called The Attachment Parenting Book when I was pregnant with our son and it really resonated with us. We both felt that this was the intuitive way to parent, the way it was meant to be. It just feels right and it is respectful and loving to the child. We find that the benefits are really worth the effort.

Our son, now 4, is very social, kind and independent. He feels secure in going out and experiencing new situations with making new friends and he has so much compassion for others.  He’s really tuned in to the needs of his peers.  He is generally a very happy, imaginative, fun guy.  He is, however, a very sensitive type of personality and was a high-needs baby and I feel that if we didn’t follow the 8 principles of AP as best we could, he would have turned out very differently.

The high touch and responsiveness of this philosophy is really very beneficial especially for a high needs child.  I highly recommend this type of parenting philosophy for any aged child.

Attachment Parenting International (API), a non-profit organization that promotes parenting practices that create strong, healthy emotional bonds between children and their parents, has several exciting changes they would like to announce, including:

• A newly redesigned web site and new logo at Attachment Parenting.org;
• Attachment parenting worldwide support forums;
• Parent Education Program – a comprehensive series of classes for every stage and age of child development from infancy through adulthood;
• A new book based on API’s Eight Principles of Attachment Parenting by API co-founders Lysa Parker and Barbara Nicholson which is expected to be available this summer;
• A series of podcasts, webinars, chats, and forums with API Advisory Board members and other supporters of AP. Future events are scheduled with Dr. Bob Sears, Dr. James McKenna, and Kathleen Kendall Tacket. Check out the events page for more information.

These are just a few of many exciting things going on at API. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out for yourself.

My New “Raw” Life

Well, I’ve got lots to say today!  I’ve been really researching a new topic for myself any spare moment I can since early January.  The topic is “Living Foods”.

I have a hormonal disorder that many more women are finding out they have, too.  It does have a genetic component and, therefore gets passed on in families.  I’m pretty sure mine is from my dad’s side of the family.  Part of the problem is insulin resistance but that’s not all of it.  So, my metabolism and my body’s ability to process certain types of food has been changing and actually getting much worse the older I get.

So, for the past few years since becoming a mom, I’ve not focused that much on my special needs and more on how to live a balanced life in society and eat like a “normal” person can.  Clearly it’s not working for me and this past holiday season really hammered it home to me.  I cannot tolerate dairy and refined carbohydrates pretty much at all anymore (although I love them!).  Even complex carbs are becoming a problem for me, too.  It’s depressing, actually because there goes my attempt at being “normal” and fitting in with everything in society.

An old friend of mine gave me a book for my birthday a few years ago written by one of our herb school teachers.  It’s all about raw and living foods and how it heals myriads of diseases in the human body and gives long life and vitality, etc.  I even went to see a live debate betw. this author and another famous herbalist about the benefits of the raw diet vs. a cooked food  diet when my son was 4 months old.  So, this has been a topic of great interest to me for several years now but has been pushed to the back burner for many different reasons.

My dear friend started on this path at that time, gradually at first and has since gotten really into it and has become “all raw” and it really changed her.  She seems more grounded, happy, glowing, mentally clear and generally happy and full of light.   I was so impressed and very happy for her but still I was not ready to commit.  I thought it would be too much work and my son is the pickiest eater in the world and I would still have to make him separate foods although he does love fruit and different raw veggies.

Well, since I turned 40 a few months ago, it’s like a light bulb has  gone off in my head and I am obsessively studying older adults as if to catch a glimpse of what is in store for me as I get older.  I have to say, I don’t like what I see!!  In fact, I’m kind of grossed out.  I see death and decay and lots of sadness everywhere.  I don’t think this is normal or the way we were meant to age.  It has just become the way we are from the foods and substances and the accompanying chemicals and preservatives that go into our bodies on a daily basis.

When I look at the people who are older and living their lives by consuming the living foods, they look good and vibrant and at least 20 years younger than what they actually are.  They are pain free, happy with lots of energy and very clear spiritually.

I’ve decided I want this bec. I’m disgusted with the alternative.  Also, because I don’t want to die a painful death in my 50’s like my dad and 2 of his female cousins did from pancreatic cancer.  Now that I have the answers, it’s an unnecessary and completely avoidable path.  And, if I did develop it, it would be completely my own lazy ass fault because obviously, my family has a hard time digesting cooked grains and simple sugars and it basically wears out the pancreas to the point that they develop type 2 diabetes and then cancer.

I’ve purchased a new juicer that also does “homogenizing” so it can make nut butters, frozen desserts, baby food, etc and a new dehydrator which is like my oven now, because I can make many, many dishes but the foods are not heated over 118 degrees so all of the enzymes are still viable and available for easy digestion.  I have a vita mix blender for many years (I used it mostly for making my herbal products) and I also had a food processor for many years and that is basically all the necessary tools for this way of eating.  One other fun tool I got is called a saladacco which makes angel hair type of “pasta” from zucchini and squashes and also can make chips and ravioli shells from vegetables.

I think I’m able to do this program now because there are hundreds of recipes to make everything I love but the “raw” version like lasagna, mexican food, cheese (made from diff. nuts and veggies, seasonings, etc that are pureed and dehydrated), ice cream,  nut burgers, bread!! from sprouted grain seeds then pureed and dehydrated.  Like essene bread or Ezekial bread but living, not baked, just dehydrated at 105 degrees.

And the best one, raw chocolate!! I love good chocolate and this is raw cacao, processed from the tree at low temps so all the vitamins, enzymes and super antioxidants are all still intact which makes it a superfood, not junk food!  Truly a food of the gods!  There are tons of recipes and you sweeten it with raw, unfiltered honey or raw agave nectar.  Divine!  Believe me, I’ve tried several recipes already!

So, the foods are basically any vegetable, fruit, nut, seed, sprouts, grains (sprouted only) and superfoods (which are actually either a fruit or veg. really).

The only problem I have with eating this way is that alot of the specialty ingredients I buy right now are not local and sustainable to where I live and I really believe in eating a sustainable diet.  It would be no problem if I lived in California!

As I have found out, alot of these recipes and bulkier foods like nuts, avocados, etc I eat more now as transitioning into this way of life and to feel full like you do from cooked foods goes away as you cleanse your body from stored toxins and you will crave more of the lighter foods like veggies and fruits.

So far, I’ve been doing more of a hunter-gatherer type of diet which is this raw foods diet mostly with about 10% of cooked food daily coming from either organic eggs or free-range poultry or wild caught fish.  Haven’t had any beef since xmas and the beef we eat is grass fed.  This is the diet recommended to me to heal my hormonal disorder but I’ve been thinking of taking it one step further to try to be completely raw for a month and see how it goes.  It surely is doable and very enjoyable from the many recipes I’ve been making everyday (different salads, fruits, raw almond butter, almond milk, raw granola, raw jam from dried and fresh fruit, blueberry scones, fudge balls, smoothies, green juices, chocolate coconut shake – amazing!, etc).

Today, I am making a raw lasagna.  There are lots of steps involved bec. of the many layers so I saved it for the weekend.  My wheat berries have also sprouted for a few days now so I am making my first round of bread today,  too.

But, I’ve noticed that if I drink a juice of fresh greens and an apple or a fruit smoothie or some coconut drink, I’m not hungry for a long time and I realize that I’m not eating that much bec. I’m just not hungry!  My body is getting all the nutrients it needs from the raw foods and I don’t crave any cooked foods.  How cool!  And, all of my bloat is gone (I get swollen from eating the foods I’m sensitive to like dairy and cooked grains) and now I’m just left with some saggy skin that I need to work out a bit more to get rid of.  I am detoxing the stored junk in my body from living on cooked, dead food my whole life and this part isn’t so fun.

I see how once you get going with the right tools and ingredients from the store (or my garden in a few months!) it’s really easy and only takes a few minutes of prep work for a recipe.  I’ve been trying to soak a new batch of seeds or grain for sprouting every night or soaking some different raw nuts for different recipes so you do need to think a few days in advance of what you want to eat and when since some recipes have to be dehydrated which can take a long time depending on the recipes.

And yes, my husband is totally into it, too. He says he craves the green drinks and loves the coconut drinks and while he’s fine with eating cooked grains, etc he doesn’t seem to want to eat much of that and really is into the raw recipes we make.  Leif, however, is slow to come around and I have to bribe him to take a sip of the green juices (which taste really good!).  He likes it but  is not ready to willingly drink it without some form of bribery.  I’m going to make up a batch of raw cookies and see if he will eat them bec. he loves cookies.  He wouldn’t even try any of the chocolate stuff I made and he loves chocolate.  I couldn’t figure that one out!

It’s funny, even the desserts and treats are all healthy and nutritionally good for you so I could technically eat a whole dessert (maybe a raw pecan pie) as a meal if I wanted and it would be just fine!

I will post some updates periodically and hopefully some pictures one day!

Leif’s January Re-cap

Well, this month really has been an odd one for my poor son.  He started off the new year (Jan. 2nd) by falling and slamming his ear so hard on the edge of a toy that is like furniture that he needed 4 stitches in his earlobe which he managed to slice in half.  It healed pretty well and the stitches came out 5 days later.  The night of the stitch removal, he starts puking and that lasted 12 hours and then ends but he has a fever for a few days and feels like crap.  Once that was over, he starts complaining that his other ear hurts and we go back to the doctor once again and he assures me that there is no infection but he has these huge swollen glands not only in front of his neck but the entire one side of his neck from ear to base of neck.  The only things he wants is the hot water bottle to lay on and advil and to watch movies while I hold him the whole time (aka “the human couch”).  He also will only eat some snacks, not much food at all and, of course, loses weight no matter what I try to give him.  I gave him lots of juice and water which he would drink.

Sev’l days go by and then he wants to finally eat more food and after breakfast one morning he says, hey mom, there is goo in my ear!  I look and sure enough, there is a pool of water coming out.  I think oh no, he ruptured his ear drum, all that pressure (with no infection) pressing on the inner ear all week causing pain finally is coming out.  Sure enough, we go back to the doc and he has a ruptured ear drum and continued to leak yellow stuff out of his ear (which started irritating the outer ear so we had to try to keep it dry and treat that, too) and that finally ended this past Monday.  No more advil or hot water bottle (he didn’t want the heating pad, just the water bottle – so picky!).  The doc did put him on a 5 day antibiotic because when the ear drum ruptured he could see both ears started to turn red so an infection was starting to brew so we agreed to just kill off anything in there.

So this past Sunday night I finally got to do a long, deep energy work session on him bec. when I’ve tried (everyday) since the accident, he would let me do like 5 minutes and then tell me to stop.  For some reason, when he was going to sleep on Sunday, he let me work on him (I think he is sick of a wet ear and pain) so I got to really do a thorough job on him and basically clean out, re-balance his head and whole system and sew up the hole in the eardrum with some angelic helpers and the next day he was fine and back to himself again.  I love that.  I asked how his ear was and he said all better, it’s not wet anymore.

Finally our boy is back to normal.  He did go back to school last week bec. he was hopped up on advil and an antihistamine (to help dry out the sinuses which is part of the ear leak) and at nap time the teacher gave him a hot water bottle to rest on.  One day he couldn’t sleep and she rocked him the whole time in the rocking chair.  How nice is that?!  I said if he’s not feeling well to call me to get him, anytime but he’s such a social kid that I think he was truly happy to be back with his friends even when the meds started to wear off.

He was back to his normal eating this week but today, he really must be feeling fine because he inhaled so much food, I couldn’t believe it!  Between coming home from school until getting ready for bed he kept eating (lots of healthy stuff) especially fruit and protein.  I guess he knows what his body needs and is making up for lost time.  I was more than happy to keep plying him with food but kept wondering if he is going to be like this as a teenager (supposedly his dad ate a huge amount as a teen).

I am hoping we will be done with trauma for the rest of the year now!  Only good things and blessings for my little boy.

Happy New Year!

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted and now it’s a new year so it’s time for me to catch up.  We had a very fun and busy holiday season and Leif had a great time with his Grandpa visiting for Christmas.  We made lots of yummy food and sweets (including awesome homemade fudge) and did some fun stuff with Grandpa.  I’ve got some good pix of Michael, his Dad and Leif all jamming on instruments together (dad on saxophone, Michael on guitar and Leif on everything else) and Leif and Grandpa played with all his new toys and puzzles alot, too.

Michael made Leif a beautiful wooden kitchen for Hannukah and he just loves it and plays with it alot.  He unfortunately fell onto the kitchen edge after slamming the door to his playroom (which we always tell him not to do) and landed just so that his ear got bruised and his ear lobe where there is no cartilage actually split in half.  It happened a few days ago when Michael came home from work for lunch.  We rushed him to the urgent care center right by our house and he had to get 4 stitches.  It was awful but is healing well and we go tomorrow to have the stitches removed.  I really don’t know how it could have happened bec. the kitchen is very child safe with rounded edges and corners.  Michael has since gone over the corner again with more sanding just to be sure because our kid is such a klutz.  I think he hurts himself at least once a day, this one just happened to be in a soft spot with alot of force onto basically a piece of furniture at kid height.  Michael was calling it the “perfect storm” of accidents for Leif.  I hope we don’t ever have to deal with this again.

Other than that weirdness, we have been doing some more projects to make our space function better since we know we will be here for a few more years until we find the piece of land or new community with a house we can design and have built for our forever home.  I’m still holding out for moving to the Santa Fe area, a place I have always felt I belong but Michael’s job is here so here it is we stay – for now at least.  Good thing he also really likes Santa Fe but not as much as I do so it’s still on the table as a future option.

He’s busily building new shelves for Leif’s toys in the play room.  It’s part of my xmas present, actually.  I only really wanted house organizational stuff done.  He’s using the same wood as the kitchen so he’s really super aware of any possible edges on those rounded corners, too.  This is going to make so much more room in the play room and better organized, too.  I can’t wait.  Then he told me today he will install new carpet in that room, too since it’s the only other room we have actual wall to wall carpet in (besides the basement) and it’s never been replaced since we moved in so I’m totally stoked on that.

I hope everyone had a good holiday and new year’s and that you all have a great year ahead of you!

Our Animal Friends

Since winter is now settling in, I just wanted to post a reminder to all of you to please be kind to our animal neighbors. Leave out some peanuts, seeds, other nuts or corn or leftover fruits or even bread or crackers for them this winter. We have been putting assorted food out into a feeder we made and attached to our fence near a tree some squirrels live in. Last year, we had 4 squirrels that would regularly make their rounds and share in the food items left out by us and some of our neighbors. This year, I’ve noticed we are down 2 squirrels. People don’t really care when they drive and hit a small animal, they keep on going. I think the other 2 were run over, unfortunately because I’ve seen several dead ones on my road these past few months bec. they have to forage all over to get food stores saved for the winter and many people don’t slow down or brake for animals. It totally bums me out that we humans do so much destruction to nature and don’t even think about it.

My son really likes to watch the squirrels and what they do with their finds. He’s learned alot about local wildlife just from our conversations while we watch them and enjoys feeding them.

We always have a big basket display in the fall in our house filled with mini pumpkins, gourds and Indian corn. Once we are done with that and decorate for Christmas, we cut the gourds and pumpkins in half and put it out there and they love it and eat everything. I section the corn, too so they can carry it and they are very happy.

We had a pretty cold winter in Colorado last year and there were stories of many free roaming cattle on ranches dying because they couldn’t access water or hay because of deep snow. Squirrels, birds, raccoons all of them had a hard time, too. The squirrels couldn’t access their buried food under so much snow we had for such a long time. They were very happy and ate everything we and all my neighbors all left out for them. When it was really cold and too much deep snow to trek to my fence feeder, I would just open the window and literally throw food over by the tree and sure enough, they would come out and take everything. It makes me feel good to know that I am giving back to nature in some small way. I would feed the birds, too but I have 2 cats and they would surely hunt them but the squirrels are too tough for the cats. I’ve watched them yelling at my cats when they were trying to eat and Leif and I think it’s pretty funny.

We live near a creek and a bike path and see all sorts of little animals in and along the creek. Leif thinks it’s the coolest thing to spot them on our walks and we talk about what they eat, where they live, etc. It’s nice that he gets that connection to the natural world and is learning respect and nurturing for all aspects of nature.

So, I hope this winter you all can remember your little neighbors who really appreciate any appropriate food you can toss their way when it gets really cold and snowy (or really anytime of year). Some of them have little ones to feed, too.

Tis The Season

I must admit, I’ve been a shopping maniac lately.  I’ve been trying to keep this holiday season one that is not too over the top, not too expensive and ideally kind of simple and home made.  Yeah, right on that last part.  I don’t know who I’m kidding, I’m sick of making stuff with my hands all the time (have a home based herbal products biz) and, really, I love to shop – especially for others.  What’s more, I’ve discovered over the years that I love to shop and score some really quality stuff at amazing prices.

We did venture out on “Black Friday” to get the great deals on certain items we needed for our home.  Kind of like a joint xmas gift we give ourselves.  I looked at all the black friday ads and picked the few places to go to in the morning and really, we found the best deals on small appliances we needed to replace and some xmas gifts for family at Macy’s and Kohl’s.  Macy’s was fine, not too over crowded but Kohl’s, oh my God it was like they were giving away free gold or something.  Lines went from the registers all the way to the back of the store for both banks of registers (one set on each side of the front of the store).  It was crazy but we did still manage to get the few items on our list at ridiculously cheap prices including a new (backup) portable dvd player for our son for traveling for $50.  The one we have is a bit abused from him and we think it will die sometime this year.  I stood on line for one hour there.  Michael and Leif left to shop at another store while I waited. It was madness.

Now that my son is almost 4, he’s getting into an age where toys can actually be fun for the adults, too.  I’ve really been into toy shopping for him and have found some great German made toys as well as quality toys from American toy companies.  I’ve been getting mostly stuff that he can do creative and imaginative play with instead of the blinking, flashing lights or computer oriented type stuff.  This is still the age where he can expand his creative capacities in his brain so that when he’s an adult, he will hopefully be one of those people who can think outside the box instead of being just a drone.  We do still have a couple of the electronic toys that are for making music but most everything else is up to him to do himself and he surely does.  He’s got a large wooden train setup and this kid loves trains and still plays with them more than other stuff.

Last year, I asked my husband to build him a wooden kitchen.  He said ok and never got to it by the time of his bday and his teacher last year gave him a cute, corner kitchen that he really liked for a while and still plays with but only for short periods.  It’s nice but plastic (little tikes) which would be great for my backyard but I don’t like to look at it much anymore in my house so I did ask my husband again to build him the kitchen for xmas this year.  We had everything we needed except the wood and he got everything laid out onto one sheet of nice plywood so the kitchen only really cost $26 (plus hours of my husband’s time!).   Michael has a decent tool shop set up and has built tons of stuff for us and for his family and friends even before I met him.  This is the first thing he’s made for our son Leif and he says he’s having fun building this kitchen.  It looks gorgeous and I can’t wait to see it fully finished.  I can see why these big kitchens cost so much in the catalogs, it’s very time consuming for all the finish work.  He is also building a tool bench for him out of another sheet of nice plywood and we are waiting on giving him that one until his bday in February.  Michael wanted to give him both for xmas but I thought that would be overload for the boy.

Because of the large gift from Daddy, we just decided to give it to him this week for Hannukah.  We celebrate almost every holiday this season – Hannukah, Christmas and Yule/ Winter Solstice.  At Hannukah, it’s the festival of lights so we light a candle in the menorah while saying a blessing every night for 8 nights and (usually just kids) get a gift every night.  This is both good and bad, with one gift per night, you can really focus on it and enjoy it.  The bad part is it’s just one gift and kids like lots of gifts like at xmas.  I remember this so much growing up.  I am really loving celebrating all the holidays as an adult and the build up and the decorations for xmas are so fun.  Christmas morning is really fun and we are developing our own family traditions since we celebrate everything and both of our families only celebrate one holiday.

So, my son will be getting 8 gifts (kitchen being one of them) for Hannukah, then I tried to keep it to a fair amount for xmas including the stocking stuffers but I have this fear I’m over doing it and will wind up spoiling him and creating a monster as he gets older. He’s an only child so I have a tendency to give too much bec. 1) I’m his mom and 2) I love to shop for him!  Some things I’m delegating to the bday pile and last year, my husband had to tell me to put some stuff away for this year bec. it was too much so I did.

However, this year I have been trying to only go to the Ross/Marshalls/Tues. A.M type stores and look for only the quality brands for a great price or shop online where there are also really good prices on stuff.  I’ve gotten some great things for him at amazing prices so that makes me feel better.

I’ve also gone thru all of his toys and taken out the ones he’s outgrown but that I’d like to keep for another child so those are packed away now plus I’ve freecycled some toys (esp. ones that eat up batteries) and threw away random cheap plastic stuff from wherever – parties, restaurants, etc.  He has not noticed except for the puzzles I packed away, I let him know I was doing that to make room for new stuff and he was fine with that.  It felt great to pare down his stuff and keep really just what he uses and what doesn’t drive me crazy (some toys he got as gifts drove me nuts!).

As for me, all I really want for xmas was for certain things around my house to be better organized which means for Michael to either build it for me or adjust something, no money but it requires more of his time which he doesn’t have alot of.  Small things make me happy and that’s all I really want is better flow to make me happy in my day to day life.  Last year he built a new shelving system for shoes for our small coat closet and he measured our bags and put hooks all over to hang all our assorted bags and backpacks on and wow, can we fit a ton more stuff – neatly – in that little closet.  I loved that.  One of his best gifts to me ever (I’m such a dork).  The other great gift from him this past year was my bday trip to Vancouver Island and a really cool camera so really, I don’t want much.

I hope you all are enjoying this holiday season and are having fun, not stress,  while out shopping!

Our Garden

I have to say, I really like having a garden. We have one every year and just looking at it makes me feel better for some reason. I like watching things growing, sprawling out and expanding with life force. Plants are really amazing in how from a tiny seed they expand into a very intricate plant with veggies of all kinds.

I like having my son learn about where his food comes from and he is a good helper in the garden. He gets to hold things we’ve picked or he picked alot of strawberries himself this year. We have a garden snake, lots of spiders and I’ve seen the local squirrels helping themselves to the strawberries this past year, too.

We are growing some stuff this year that we didn’t think would come up in time bec. we started a little late for it but they are all doing very well. Weeding kind of sucks but that’s part of it and my husband is the champion gardener so whenever there’s something to be done, he’s on it.

I have been focusing a bit more on the flower garden we started in the front of our house this year. It’s rocking with lots of beautiful color and that makes me happy. I’m out there all the time deadheading old flowers so we can have lots of continuous blooms. I have several kinds of zinnia’s, snapdragons, hollyhocks, mini rose bushes, daisies, marigolds and red salvia. I also have hanging baskets of lobelia, morning glory and geraniums. Lots of color. I love it.

We’ve already been processing and freezing lots of veggies for the winter. That’s the best when winter is here and you open a bag of frozen chard or some homemade pesto or canned tomato sauce- it reminds you of your garden and all of the memories of watching it grow and lovingly tending to it and then eating the most delicious, picked at it’s peak organic produce there is!

We have been making and eating tons of Israeli Salad. It’s like I can’t get enough of it. I’ve had to get some produce from the farmer’s market bec. some of ours isn’t ready yet but all it consists of is tomatoes, cucumbers (we have tons of these) and onions all diced and then add e.v.olive oil , sea salt and lemon juice and mix together. You can add other diced veggies but I’m a purist and like it the original way best. Michael has been making lots of pico de gallo, too. The pesto we just made came out awesome and we have eggplants, peppers, pumpkins, cucs, bok choy, chard, mixed greens, tomatoes, beans, giant sunflowers, etc. so much stuff in a pretty small garden.

This is why I think having lawns everywhere is such a waste. Lawns in the front of a house are useless to me. It’s not like you hang out on your front lawn much and you have to mow and water it. Our next house’s front lawn will be no lawn but a beautiful xeriscape garden. They look beautiful, use low water, no mowing and easy to maintain. We were told they don’t add value to your house so since we are selling this place in a couple of years, we aren’t doing it even though we want to. Hence, the flower bed instead and the lawn. Can’t believe something so beautiful wouldn’t add value. What a shame.

I remember reading something about how lawns came about. Poor villagers used all the land around their house to grow medicinal and produce plants for their families and the wealthy people had useless, space wasting lawns to prove they were wealthy and didn’t have to grow all their own food /meds. Quite a trend it became. I do like the lawn in the backyard where it is a logical use of it.