Wednesday, April 25, 2012

God & Greens


This may be a completely uninteresting topic to most but currently for me it’s as refreshing as a crisp afternoon sipping soy lattes and watching Ellen. This weekend I planted my very first grown up garden! Not knowing what I’m really doing my dad provided some much needed gardening knowledge and muscle power to help rototill my dried out dirt plot that was home to weeds and not much else. Now that it’s transformed into a mini paradise of soft nutrient rich dirt I was able to plant: watermelons, zucchini, eggplant, tomato, cauliflower, carrots, wild flowers, lavender, sunflowers, cucumbers, pansies, catmint, these beautiful big  purple flowers, rosemary, poppies, red cabbage, sweet potato sprouts and a mini strawberry patch. On my modestly small deck I also have snow peas, kale, swiss chard, basil, more wild flowers, mini roses and a beautiful frilly large flowering plant. Oh no, it doesn’t end here. As a final touch I’ve noticed some low spots that really hold water puddles all day after watering sessions and rainfall, where I’ll be planting Katniss, also known as arrowhead, which can grow in the soppy wet low spots and provide a nice tuber to roast and an airy white flower for show.

To say I’m pleased would be an understatement.

I like the feeling of dirt on my hands. I will proudly sport the elegant tan lines of a wife beater and the equally attractive ankle sock lines. I will even forgo sitting on the couch for crouching in the dirt to pull weeds until my legs are sore and my heart is full.

And believe you me, I will be posting some photos of the progress as my plant babies grow into adulthood.
I’m realizing this is a whole new way for me to commune with God. I feel His presence in Creation when I immerse myself in the basic elements that make it what it is. I see the scientific circle of life and the intricate details that can only have been bridged by one who is loving and wise. The internal workings of a plant are far more interesting when you consider the hands that carefully whispered them into creation and the delicate balance and dependency of all living things. It’s truly breathtaking.  


Food for Thought
 For a change of topic, here is a helpful trick I decided to try out last night. Now, some nutritional value is lost, but the convenience of it might outweigh the cons. I had some kale, spinach and celery quickly declining in my fridge so last night I decided to juice all of it with some lemons and freeze it all in ice cube trays. Like I’ve said before, freshly juiced items quickly oxidize and lose their goodness and spoil, although freezing is a way to keep juice for longer there are still elemental reactions to the air. This morning with my frozen green cubes I transferred them into an airtight freezer container for ready to use smoothie ice cubes. Now that’s a way to sneak spinach into any anti-greens diet individual! I suggest for kids using the line “it’s green because The Hulk blessed this smoothie for you personally.”

Count Down: 21 days until May 16th, my 26th birthday!

Some interesting garden info I found on companion planting

A delicious greens garden recipe, maybe accompanied with this fragrant cupcake for dessert?

Lastly, the work out class I’ve joined if you're interested in toning up and slimming down.

Have a great week!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Words that start with F


I can associate myself with a lot of things that start with the letter F. I’m a foodie. I’ve been asked if I used to be a fatty (apparently eating healthy means you once had a significant weight problem).  Faith, I think that one speaks for itself. Fall- my favorite season. Family. Football- my favorite sport, and not just because of Tebow, besides his name doesn’t start with an F. The F words really worked their way into the very core of who I am and who I am becoming.  

A new F word that might have made its way into my repertoire might be “fanatic.” I get easily distracted with new ideas, or new fads if you will. Mainly fads involving food. Before you go passing judgment, I always research new ideas until I’m blue in the face and have covered what I think are some pretty important components to one’s health & happiness: nutrition intake, time and money spent, fullness and taste.  Last week I completed a week long juice fast. I could see and feel the health benefits derived, felt full, spent more than a couple pretty pennies to indulge in this way of life, taste was…natural, and nutrition intake was incredibly high. To give you insight into an average meal, for instance, my breakfast go to was this juiced:                                                                                                                                                                          
1 cucumber, 4 stalks celery, 3 carrots, 1 orange, 1 apple, half a lemon, large bundle of spinach, few sprigs of parsley and two large leaves of kale.                                                                                                                                                                  Sometimes I would leave out the apple, it was almost too much for me to consume in one meal. I did this three times a day with lots of hot herbal tea and water between. I splurged and put some pure honey in my tea one day, and another I ate the heart of celery I was cutting up. Delish.

This week I started a new book: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and I have something new to be fanatic about. It has opened my eyes to the devastating truth about America’s food industry, governmental manipulation (much like the corn and soy crop fiasco that has caused high fructose corn syrup to be one of the most used materials in food to date , read Toxic Fat for an interesting take), and the overall irredeemable quality of society to center around money. For instance, did you know that America ships out 1.4 million dollars’ worth of potatoes, and we ship in 1.1 million dollars from out of country farms; which might seem great until you realize the undernourished, poverty stricken farms aren’t the ones reaping the profits, just the soil. When I read that it was normal a few years ago for 300 farms, large or small, to shut its doors for good every week, sold out to its multibillion dollar chain facility with corn fed cows, hormonal chickens and overseas fruits I shuddered to think where we’re headed. The economy is in a large slump that coincides with our oversized backsides.

 I now long for a small farm, somewhere I can plant a huge garden, swap ridiculously large cucumbers with my neighbors, and scoot chickens out of the walk way to my fragrant flower field. A home with a covered front porch, where I can read my weird books that my cousin seems to be the only other human having heard of it, drinking coffee with soy creamer (I gave up dairy about two months ago) and sweetened with local honey (which actually helps alleviate allergies if it’s derived from nearby your home). Don’t worry, I still plan to shave my legs, dawn Audrey Hepburn style sunglasses and giggle like a school girl at insanely attractive pro athletes and episodes of Happy Endings. This is just a new letter F that I can’t wait to try out, farming.

And all this discovered on my quest for fitness.

P.S. I have continued juicing, just not strictly juicing. I am in the works of planting some flowers and if some vegetables end up in there....well, that'd just be such a coincidence. 
And I really do love football. I grew up watching my brother play, which having no brothers he passed on his football wisdom and throwing technique to me (I could out throw the majority of the middle school boys I knew and definitely with a more precise spiral and end location). I love watching, I love playing, and yeah, I wouldn't mind being on the arm of a player.
I do love food. Someday ask to check out my hand written recipe notebook, which I tend to tweak until it's what I want, although I don't claim to be a great chef because that would be blasphemous to real cooks. I adore my family, as proved by this Easter photo of us, and the close up of the most wonderful squealing nephew a girl could ask for. 
Top: Dana, Kate, Nicholas, Colt, Me, Mom, Dad   Below: Colt, flying high.



For those brave enough to try an all juice diet (largely consistenting of veggies), here is a great site for some unique recipes to buffer the day in day out go to mixes- http://www.jointhereboot.com/index.php?option=com_zoo&task=category&category_id=8&Itemid=695&lang=en

For those going dairy free- So Delicious http://www.turtlemountain.com/ and Silk http://silkpurecoconut.com/ offer some amazing and tasty treats to satisfy the finicky eater.

Chocolate Covered Katie is also an excellent site, which I frequent almost daily- http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/ . Vegan. Gluten free. Dairy free. Sugar free. She’s got it all.

And it’s that time of the year- http://www.salemsaturdaymarket.com/ . See you Saturday!