March Against Monsanto

I completely forgot my Friday post again but for good reason. We stayed up working on signs for the March Against Monsanto that happened worldwide on Saturday. So many people don’t know what corporations are doing to over 90% of the food we buy, and the worst types of GMO foods are being marketed and fed to our children! I’m not trying to guilt people for not eating organic 100% of the time, but I am trying to help educate people so that they can make an informed decision about what they eat and feed their families, instead of blind consumerism. Check out the pics from our march here in Ventura, CA!

May 27, 2014 0

Foodie Monday: Harvesting Potatoes

So I wasn’t able to post a foodie Friday post last Friday, but it was my birthday and I was vacationing with the family. Much needed! Anyway, I’m posting today with my first potato harvest! The picture above was what I pulled out of the orange laundry basket I used to plant potatoes. Didn’t take too long, about 6 weeks and I had lots of little potatoes. The orange basket negated any gophers getting at my papas. I had planted about 3 small organic potatoes, and these are the ones that grew-and very quickly! I also threw in 3 non organic potatoes. Those did NOT grow at all. They just took up real estate and rotted. They smelled awful! Like chemical rot and bad breath. From now on I am sticking to organic. I learned my lesson! I put some of the stalks back in the basket with more soil because there were a lot of little mini potatoes just starting to grow, so I’m looking forward to harvesting more potatoes in a few weeks. Not bad for my first potato experiment!

May 12, 2014 0

Growing Wheatgrass

At the Farmer’s Market, we tried a shot of wheatgrass from one of the vendors. She kept telling us how great the stuff is for teeth and gums, which of course made us look right at her mouth. Her teeth and gums looked really healthy! Her skin also looked very clear. You could tell she wasn’t wearing much makeup at all if any. I’ve been reading about growing wheatgrass for a while now, so we ended up buying some seeds from her that were already sprouted. Only $4.50 for a giant bag! I planted quite a bit, but still have a lot left! I need to make more growing trays. Anyway, this is my first time growing this, and I created a makeshift tray out of some leftover tomato plastic containers from Fresh N Easy:

I cut them in half and then poked holes for drainage:

My second tray ended up better.

Filled it with rich soil and compost that i had mixed together earlier. I added water to make sure it was a nice moist mixture, kind of like brownie batter!

Originally I placed too many seeds…

The tray on top of the other half to allow for drainage…

Pretty wheatgrass trays all in a row…

Watered it, and the drainage system looks like it’s working well…

Covered them up for the night…

I’ll post progress pics of success or failure. 🙂

February 16, 2014 0

Asian Feast

After organic shopping at the farmer’s market, halal meat shopping from the Camarillo International Supermarket, and odds and ends from Trader Joe’s we came up with this:

Teriyaki chicken using Halal chicken boneless, skinless thigh meat, organic garlic, onion, potato and Trader Joe’s Soyaki sauce!

Organic baby bok choy sautéed in garlic, ginger and fish sauce

Super spicy wild Alaskan cod-fish from the frozen section at Trader Joe’s is amazing and very reasonably priced-even wild fish (which is the only fish we buy now after reading all the horrors of farmed fish), organic Thai peppers, garlic, ginger, onion and habaneros from our garden, sriracha, fish sauce, organic soy sauce, rice vinegar, organic tomatoes, and just a little bit of corn starch. AMAZING AND SUPER SPICY!!

Gyoza from Trader Joe’s (delicious and fast!)

And brown rice.

It was a feast! The kids left their plates completely empty!

September 28, 2013 0

Gardening, Great Ideas and Great Neighbors!

I thought I’d share this very simple yet cool idea:

And our neighbors brought us a bunch of produce from a friends local garden! All organic and the biggest chard I’ve ever seen! We had to wash it in the bathtub and use the baby tub to hold them all!

And lastly, a cute pic of some pickins from our own little garden that went into our dinner last night. This morning we took the recyclables again and got free organic produce from the Farmers Market. I’d love to hear from others who find ways to get free or inexpensive organic produce!

August 10, 2013 0

Free Organic Produce

We took the recyclables to the can bank and got half of our organic produce free at the farmers market! I’m set for fruits and veggies for the week!

August 3, 2013 0

My Little Garden Sanctuary

Took a little break from the computer to go check on my plants. Came back refreshed! It’s amazing what growing things can do for you when you show them some love!

Habaneros

Red peppers

Mint is taking over! I need to move this. But it is keeping the field mice away!

This is a hutch off an old desk. It’s my next garden project. Maybe I’ll put the mint in here. Put some wheels on it?

Avocadoes

Spearmint

The butterflies love our aloe!

Tomatoes!

More tomatoes!

And Sandy our guard squirrel!

July 30, 2013 0

Farmers Market and Still Life

Healthy eating is a very high priority in our household. With the current issue of GMOs in food these days, we choose to buy almost 100% organic and non GMO foods. I know what you’re thinking, it’s expensive! Let me tell you, we are definitely not rich (yet) and I have to make each paycheck stretch. But where there is a will there is a way! I actually end up paying less for healthy options most of the time than the norm. Coupons, clearance items, farmers market/local produce, and cooking majority of our meals at home make this possible.

I’ll delve into more of that in later posts, but for now check out these beautiful pictures of organic grapes, mini peppers and red green beans! These will be incorporated into a still life painting!