{Happy Not So WW!} Our Urban Garden Update!

Stay up to date on the latest posts. Subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

the backyard urban garden… the hub just put up the clothesline (came with home when we bought it 10 yrs. ago!) after being on a hiatus for a few months! (click on photos for a more clear, shot)

tomatos, calendula, beets, 3 types of peppers, zukes, cabbage is in there too …near playhouse on left wall!

and where I’m standing are two beds one of carrots and the other of mangled peppers (thanks to the chicks)!

our second, green bean on it’s way!

harvesting beets

letting ladybugs go …great for the garden and supposed to be good LUCK

original carrot bed

what’s up doc! He’s sitting in Baby C’s car seat  – he sat extended rear facing for quite some time…

just found him a new one!

‘

strawberries…mmmm!

purple kale looking miserable after being hustled by the chicks!

so jealous, Julia!!!

our front yard urban garden… we don’t need no stinkin’ GRASS!

elderberry bush

glorious peaches …we have 2 trees and not featured are the nectarine and apricot tree

+ several other fruit trees the hub bought recently that are still in pots… more on those!

watermelon… I<3 watermelon juice!

Henrietta & Dixie out wreakin’ some havoc….the original gangstas!!!

This is just a peek into our garden.

I completely forget to take a picture of our asparagus box and a few other pots with veggies that didn’t get included.

I plan to update again and hopefully get a little more regular on these garden updates.

How does your garden grow?

CSA Goods: Crate 6 and our chicks!

Gotta luv-Community Supported Agriculture!!

I can’t wait to figure out something to do with the cherries and chocolate mint besides the obvious. 

What would you do with them?

Anyway, sorry, if I was going really fast… the boys were up from their nap and I didn’t want anyone to get upset with mama’s attention on the camera!

I didn’t mention it … but there was also zucchini, carrots and strawberries in the crate. Oh yeah!

And just so you know- our chickens are a little over 3 months now…

the 2 older ones are Henrietta and Dixie. They’re 2 years old… the other red/orange colored hen is Ruby, the black with white is Patsy, and the Arcana is named Lois!

Lois will lay greenish to blue eggs. Cool, huh!

Super excited about this summer’s, CSA experience, our own harvests and the Farmer’s Market.

Have you thought about joining a CSA?

What about visiting any local farms in your area? Our cherry farms are almost ready to open.

Do you have any farms near you?

Check out localharvest.org

There are so many reasons to join a CSA…

here are just a few:

* fresh ORGANIC food

* eat foods in season & local

* food borne illnesses are less

* support your local farmers!!!

Heart being a locavore! ‘

{Meatless Monday} Menu Plan & New Serving Style!

Hi all!!

The countdown begins!!!!

10 DAYS LEFT TILL EARTH DAY!!

Celebrating it’s 40th year…

here’s 40 tips to lessen your carbon footprint!!

Oh and…

Happy MEATLESS Monday!!

May your plates be full of healthy goodness this week. Sorry for the late posting… you know me! *wink, wink*

Okay, so I’m going to share this weeks meatless menu plan…

I thought that would be fun and give you some ideas.

A great veggie diet. I say veggie diet  because we try to remain dairy free but sometimes get caught in the undertow and well, that’s not vegan or raw for that matter.

We’re doing what’s we feel is best for us – no labels… just listening to our bodies and instincts. We’ve been working on  cutting out all of the refined sugars, high fructose corn syrup, processed foods, meat… etc.  IE. the JUNK for awhile now!!!

With all that in mind… I’d say were doing pretty darn good.

I digress. end rant. lol!

This week’s menu is light but filled with tons of nutritional goodness!

I truly enjoy cooking/uncooking for my little tots and the hub… and I LOVE LURVE it when the hub steps in the kitch and rocks it!

Maybe, that will happen this week. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

:: MENU PLAN ::

Monday:

Breakfast

Strawberry Nana Smoothie

served with soaked oatmeal and all the fixins’

(raisins, cranberries, frozen fruit, maple syrup, coconut oil, hemp seeds, chia seeds… etc.)

Lunch

the tot’s are with my mom on Monday’s

Dinner

usually the tot’s are fed.

The hub and I will have a breakfast scramble.

Scrambled eggs, with sauteed spring onion and asparagus

served with Ezekiel toast and green smoothie

Tuesday:

Breakfast

Blueberry Buckle green smoothie

served with soaked oatmeal and all the fixins’

Lunch

apple nut salad (raw vegan)

served with strawberry bars (raw vegan)

homemade hippie hummus and snap peas

ideally another green smoothie & a “taco” wrap for mama – red leaf or romaine lettuce with fresh fixins!

Snack

boiled egg or dried fruit

Dinner

Spring Soup from CSA recipe card & steamed artichokes

served with a green salad that includes our homemade beet relish or sauerkraut!

and Ezekiel toast

Wednesday:

Breakfast

Blueberry Buckle green smoothie

scrambled eggs over Ezekiel toast

Lunch

same as Tuesday! as well as snack!

Dinner

Quinoa Hash

quinoa, potatoes & carrots …

served with a stir fry of greens recipe from CSA card

Thursday:

Breakfast

Breakfast Smoothie

From the Sun- Sational raw baby food book

served with fresh fruit and Ezekiel toast smothered with almond butter, sunflower seeds, cranberries, & cinnamon

Lunch

lightly steamed butternut squash & artichokes

served with veggies and dip

and fresh fruit and/or green smoothie

Snack

boiled egg and dried fruit

Dinner

Sweet Potato Hash

sweet potato, black beans, corn, red pepper, cilantro…etc.

I love hash meals… or hobo dishes! Easy peasy.

Friday:

Breakfast

Breakfast smoothie!

served with fresh fruit and Ekeziel toast smothered with almond butter, sunflower, dried cranberries & cinnamon

Lunch

raw veggies and dip and any leftovers from the week

served with fresh fruit

Snack:

boiled egg and dried fruit

Dinner

Roasted veggies & sprouted brown rice

served with a green salad

Saturday and Sunday

we usually serve up a homemade meal – try to go gluten free when we can…french toast,  pancakes, oatmeal and eggs for brekky on Saturday and Sunday…

lunches vary from salad, smoothie, or meat free sandwich on Ezekiel bread

Dinner’s are usually homemade or we eat out on occasion – usually with parents! lol!

Okay, so, speaking of plates full of healthy goodness…

Check this out!

For those of you wondering… it’s a stainless steel section plate or otherwise known as compartment plate.

We happened to find 4 of them and plan to fill them up with fun fresh veggie/vegan , & raw goodies/goodness!

Aren’t they purty!?

Thanks for the tip off from Green & Crunchy, mom, Sheri on where to find these babies.

They’re not as cool as her round ones… but they’ll work for now!

Looking forward to learning new ideas on how to make these plate really shine!!

Next week, I’ll be back with a recipe and pics using the new plates!

wheeee!!!! 

ETA: Mr. Linky… and made a few corrections to this post as well!

So, please join in on the Meatless Monday fun!!

CSA Goods: Our First Crate Full!

Hiya peeps!

Today was our first CSA pickup from Abundant Harvest Organics and were feeling so pumped about our decision to eat more local and in season.  We’ve been talking about it for over a year now after I did a write up for the local paper. We didn’t have the opportunity to make the leap until now.

Finally we’ve done so and now were committed each Saturday to pick up a large crate at 10AM.

We happened to be early birds today and from this we gained that “extras” were available for our taking.

Score!

We are not sure whether this will happen every week but it sure was a nice start!!

Here is the glorious bounty …

Doesn’t look like much but we did the tally and …

the contents contained…

1 bunch of  chard

1 bunch of spring onion

1 bunch of carrots

1 bunch of beets

3 cabbages (2 green + 1 red)

4 potatoes

5 baby artichokes

29 brussels sprouts

10 tangelos

9 lemons (eureka & meyer)

2 rutabagas

2 leeks

extras

2 green heads of cabbage

4 tangelos

4 potatoes

A pretty nice pickup of  organic fruits and veggies, don’t ya think?

We initially thought we’d be sharing a crate but we’ll easily eat up every ounce of healthy goodness a large crate contains.

Mmm!

If you have a CSA pickup in your area, check into it.

Support your local farmers- eat local, seasonal, organic foods..

all while helping to protect the planet for future generations to enjoy!

Yesterday, as I walked into the kitchen, I spotted our Italian herb sprouts popping up in their container.

They all sprouted but one and it took them exactly one week to say hello! 

Today, has been great the weather not so much! It’s windy and nasty out.

But, that didn’t stop us from taking a drive out to our local conservation district to check out what native plants, shrubs, trees and flowers we will be planting in our front yard.

We are hoping to dig out the lawn and plant edible flowers and pretty much have a water wise front  yard.

I did take some video footage but I don’t have much time to upload it…

to say the least, we came home with a California native elderberry bush!!!

super stoked.

Elderberry syrup and wine here we come!

yum. yum.

There are so many benefits to supporting local businesses and growing plants, trees and flowers  that thrive well in your area.

It puts a lot of things into perspective.

Were connecting ourselves with nature and community.

It’s magical.

I’m grateful for our CSA pickup and can’t wait for din-din because we also get to enjoy our homemade sauerkraut ( 6 days old)

YAY! 

Hope you’ve had a lovely Saturday!

Oh!  if you have a rutabaga recipe you’d like to share… feel free! 

Our trip to the Ananda Marga Organic Peach Farm

On Sunday, the hub Baby C and I drove out to the Ananda Marga Organic Farm in Lake Hughes, Ca. Which is not a far drive from our home whatsoever! The Ananda Marga Organic Farm was part of our local farmer’s market. Last weekend was the final market until next June.

I really liked the opportunity of having fresh locally grown produce at my disposal on Saturday mornings. This was the first year our town did anything like this and I thought it was successful. It was nice chatting with the farmer’s and their wives and getting to know the person who is growing the very food on your plate. It’s actually quite interesting to have a conversation with some of farmers. Especially, the ones who are growing their produce organically.

I’m sad the market was over but happy  I was able to meet and greet the local farmers each Saturday! After doing my normal chitchatting I found out the Ananda Marga Farm is open year round to visitors. I had no idea! Finding this out made my entire year. I’ve known about the farm for quite some time but did not know you could buy produce from them directly. I thought you had to be part of the CSA.

Which was definitely one of our goals this year- to get on board with Community Supported Agriculture through Abundant Harvest Organics. I’m still working on it though and visiting the Ananda Marga Farm has given me some inspiration to get something started ASAP. I haven’t really found anyone receptive enough to take on half of the load with us- but still working to find others interested in sharing a box. Keep your fingers crossed for us because it’s the next best thing to growing your own!

Read more

Next Page »