Happy New Year! Sort of…

Hi Everyone!

According to WordPress, I last posted 5 months ago, WTF, wow! How did that happen? Well, I decided to focus on my full-time job and my RCE Master Gardener Certification, and now that I am finished focusing the health & wellness blogosphere calls to me!

Quick Garden Update: The garden did OK this year, I expanded it and played around with some new things. But since I spent most of my Saturdays there this summer my garden looked like the shoemaker’s children – they have no shoes!

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Why Happy New Year? I have a birthday in November and I look at this as the beginning of a new year. While I still have my goals for January – which include my health coaching / personal training business and more writing, I like to take a look at what I have and see what tweaks need to be made in life.

Birthdays remind you that yes, though now a year older and hopefully wiser, you have the next year to look forward to. Take this time to evaluate your relationships, how you treat yourself and others and what really makes you tick. Finding happiness has more to do with looking inward than outward, it begins within you.

It’s Garden Lust Time!!

Hello Friends,

Today I am feeling giddy thinking about the seeds I purchased on Sunday. I also picked up seed starter soil, cell flats and some vermiculite. I decided I wanted to buy seeds this year to diversify my garden. I still have plenty of seeds that I have saved that I will use this spring, however I could not resist the seed catalog!

Image Courtesy of Amenic181 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A list of the newbies:
Blue Hubbard Winter Squash
Andover OG Parsnips
DeLuxe Lettuce Mix OG
Watercress Cresses
Roodnerf Brussels Sprouts
Kale Mix
Cosmonaut Volkov OG Tomatoes
Black Prince OG Tomatoes
Gardeners Sweetheart OG Cherry Tomatoes
Elecampane OG Elecampane
Winter Savory Winter Savory
White Yarrow Achillea
Love-Lies-Bleeding Amaranth
Butterfly Weed
Autumn Beauty Mix OG Sunflowers
Mammoth Grey Stripe Sunflowers
State Fair Mix Zinnias
Beneficials Flower Mix
Cutflower Mix

And of course I have the usual standbys:
Kabocha Squash
Calabasa
Peas
Acorn Squash
Butternut Squash
Borage
Calendula
Peppers
Swiss Chard
Collard Greens

Looks like I will need to fill my calendar with seed starting dates. I also plan to start expanding the beds into the back of yard as I would like to have more of a botanical garden in the yard than just a lot of grass. That’s where a lot of those herbs and flowers will go.

What seeds are you lusting after this season?

Why I Like to Compost

I can’t really take credit for starting our compost heaps, that was all Jared’s doing. Also his doing putting it in one of the garden beds, figure if we rotate that each year to a different bed we will have excellent results in that bed, and maybe a little extra gifts too.

Main Compost Heap w/ Kabocha Squash

I have come to support it for a few reasons:

• We have less food waste going into landfills
• It adds rich nutrients to the soil
• It recovers lost soil in the garden due to erosion
• Best of all – seeds get spread around the garden so we have extra veggies growing

My very first year of planting I planted a ton of tomato seeds, very few if any germinated – that’s what I get for buying “survival seeds” on eBay… anyway the compost came to the rescue! We had several rogue tomatoes thanks to the compost. Right now we have a giant kabocha squash growing in our main heap that has about 4 – 5 squashes on it – most we have ever had!

We also have another squash growing in the garden proper, I don’t what variety yet but I have a feeling it’s another kabocha Yippee!!

Unknown Squash

One cool project would be to spread the compost and see what comes up!

 

Garden Update

I figured it was about time I gave you guys a garden update.

This spring I didn’t have a chance to get my seeds started early so I pretty much planted as late as I ever have. As I was telling my friend Nelson, who does an awesome job running the Metuchen Farmer’s Market, my gardening philosophy is to take whatever I have and throw it in the ground…

So here’s what has come up

Kabocha Squash

Kale and Mystery Squash

Tomatoes

Tomatoes

Borage

Calendula

Asparagus

“Permaculture”

I also have these wild flower looking weeds that have really come in, thanks to my lack of weeding and making it more of a “permaculture” type plot. If anyone knows what these are please let me know!

Mystery Flowers

What do you have growing in your garden??

LIEBSTER AWARD:

I want to thank my friend Charanya from Yes I’m Vegan 🙂 for nominating me. Below are the rules and questions to answer:

Rules for this award:

• Thank and link back the person who presented the award to you.
• Have the award on your post.
• Answer the questions that has been asked.
• Award the same to other upcoming blogs.

Charanya’s Questions

1. What’s your favorite cuisine? Too many! Middle Eastern Maybe
2. What would be the last meal you will love to eat? Something Indian or Falafel
3. What is your favorite vege? Changes every day!
4.  Do you watch Game of Thrones? Yes, though I am behind but have read through book 5
5.  If you are vegan, why? If not, do you think you could be one for few days? at first it was fr health reasons but as I did more research my reasons became more ethical and environmental
6.  Is there anything your life wont be the same without? Nope not really
7.  What’s your favorite movie? Too many to name! I love bad movies!!
8.  Is there any color you loved as a kid? Green, now my fave is red
9.  Is there anything you would change in your life if life had a rewind button?
10.  Do you own an iphone or an android? iPhone
11. 3 words that could describe you: Passion, Loyal, Independent

My nominees are:

1. Vegan Flavorista
2. Earthpages.org
3. A Lazy Girl Goes Green
4. Veganomics
5. The Novice Gardener
6. Vegan Muffin Woman
7. Epicurean Vegan

My questions are:

1. What is your favorite book?
2. What gets you up in the morning?
3. What color best describes you?
4. What do you do for fun?
5. If you could make one thing in the world right, what would that be?

Oh How I Missed You

Oh my lovelies I have missed you so much. This summer was a tad busier than I expected, not an excuse I know, but I promise to fill you in on all the fun this summer.

I took a few classes over the summer which puts me on track to graduate in May, very excited! We also fostered three dogs

Bert

Pip

Jordan

and ended up keeping one of them! Meet Jordan, the newest member of our family.

Jared & Jordan

I thought I would have an amazing garden this summer, unfortunately school and work kept me busy. Nonetheless, we got some nice tomatoes

Tomatoes

A pumpkin! I don’t really remember planting this, it may be a kabucha that morphed into a giant, hope it tastes OK.

Pumpkin

My peppers have done well, I didn’t think they would survive the transplantation and they took forever to bear fruit.

Peppers

And a sunflower!

Sunflower

I have also enjoyed eating the dandelion and the plantains that have popped up in the vegetable garden. I don’t pull them anymore, I now cut the young tender leaves and eat them as salad greens. I only wish we had some purslane growing, we used to have tons.

I started volunteering at a food pantry, everyone should do this. It gives you a different perspective on the whole feeding the hungry issue. Remember people need food all year long, not just during the holidays. If you think only lazy people and illegals need food assistance then think again. I see people that work hard but don’t make enough, people that have lost jobs and can’t find work, old pensioners and young families. There but for the grace of god… It could be any one of us out there. OK rant over.

We had our annual Maine vacation and the drive up

Luke & Jordan

Jordan even went in the water at the little beach!

Jordan at the beach

The boys got to spend time with the grandparents

Dad H & Luke

In September I started the last year of my DTR program and a new job at a local hospital, the first steps in the process for my RD – yippee!

Of course I have to include a photo of my princess!

Lola

I hope all of you have had a great summer! Now on to Halloween – woo hoo!

Be careful for what you wish for…

OK, in my last post I had a garden wishlist and well, yeah, since then I started a lot of seeds. Sometimes what you wish for is a good thing and comes true. Check out what’s been growing since we last chatted:

Kabucha Squash

Zucchini

Black Beans

Cucumber, Spaghetti & Butternut Squash

Mammoth Sunflowers

Calabasa (Pumpkin)

Sweet, huh, all were planted between 4/5 – 4/9. I am very happy and can’t wait to transplant them next month. Our last frost date is 5/15, though I have a feeling we are done for the season, I hope!

There was something else that I wished for that didn’t turn out quite as well as my seedlings or as I had hoped for. I had a position at a shop that was always a dream job for me, the kind of store I thought I was meant to be working in. I loved the customers, however my values didn’t align with the owner’s and a falling out in January didn’t make it any easier. Why did I stay? Well, I needed the income and the people I met kept me coming in, and quite frankly I liked getting the discount. A few weeks ago I was asked to leave that job and I am glad it happened. I was not happy there and though the customers kept me there I felt my vitality being zapped when I dealt with the owner, which was always. I don’t blame him, I should have left a lot sooner.

The big lesson that I learned from this whole experience is that if something doesn’t feel right then it isn’t. Sometimes it’s not easy to change a situation, however, you have to do what’s right for you. Like plants we all need the right environment to thrive.

My garden wishlist

So I am getting ready to start some seeds indoors and have been thinking of what I want to grow this year. I have some kobucha squash seeds that I saved that I will be planting in the next few days. I harvested them a little while ago so they will hopefully be viable.

I have some dill and garlic chives going on in the light shelf too. I also planted rosemary but I don’t think it’s germinating. There’s something there but they could be weeds from the garden  I use garden soil and reuse potting soil so anything can be coming up.

Dill

Garlic Chives

I have tomatoes and peppers going strong, a little too strong and am afraid that they may outgrow their pots before mid-May. I was hoping to have them produce fruit inside but they are taking forever to grow (I know I am contradicting myself here, stay with me).

Tomatoes

Peppers

So that’s what I have, what about what I want? I want the squashes, I also want cucumbers. I have had NO LUCK with cucumbers, not sure why they produce fruit and it’s small and shrivels up in no time. I want beans, lots and lots of beans. Jared and I talked about it and we both agreed to try to plant beans this summer, I want to plant all of the legumes we eat: peas, black, kidney, navy, chickpeas, adzuki and pinto. I am not sure if any of these are pole or bush or whatever so it will be fun to experiment. Now I just need a spot to start them inside

What’s on your garden wishlist? Please feel free to share what you are planning on doing this year and any tips you have for beans!

Happy New Year!

Wow! Has it really been almost 2 months since my last post? Time flies when you are having fun and sometime even when you are not.

It’s tempting to post that this is the perfect time to renew goals and resolutions but come on, you’re probably getting that up the whazoo right now and you don’t need me telling you that you need to eat less sugar*, exercise more and breathe a little deeper. You know that already!

So what have I been up to for the last couple of weeks? I finished my first semester of school with straight As, YES!!!! It was tough and totally worth it. In a couple of weeks I start my first field rotation and I can’t wait. We’ll find out next Thursday where we will end up.

In order to have access to fresh greens I have  started an indoor garden. This has been something I have wanted to do for a while and we were fortunate enough to have been gifted this light shelf. I don’t usually do well with indoor plants but having them so close by helps me keep tabs on them. I do need to pick up more herb seeds.

Here are some collards

Some arugula

And some basil

Some peppers

Some ends that I stuck in a pot and are doing well

Like celery

I also have tomatoes that I don’t remember planting…

Yep, must have been pulling an all-nighter during that one. I also baked my first bread – here’s a photo of what was left of it.

I have some dough rising right now as we speak. I really wish I hadn’t found making it so easy! Here’s the recipe:

French Bread
2 Tbs Active Dry Yeast
14oz Water, 110 degrees
1/2 Tsp Sugar
1/2 Tsp Molasses
1 1/2 cup Bread Flour
1 1/2 cup Wheat Flour (or another flour you like)
2 tsp Salt
Corn Meal for dusting
All Purpose flour as needed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl mix together yeast, water, sugar and molasses in that order, let sit for 15 minutes. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix with a spatula until well combined and pasty, if it’s too sticky add some AP flour. Let sit for 3 minutes covered with a towel. Then mix again for another 5 minutes. Add more flour if it’s still really sticky, and then cover it with a towel and let it sit until it doubles in size. This could take anywhere from 90 minutes to 3 hours. I preheat the oven  and put some water to boil to get it to rise in 90 minutes. After it’s risen you are going to beat it down again to get the air out. Dust with flour if it’s too sticky to work with. Flatten it out with the heel of your hand and shape it to look like a cigar with the seam on the bottom pinched together. Make sure you do this on the surface that you are going to bake it on (i.e., I use a pizza stone) and that the bottom is  well floured with corn meal or some other flour. Let it rise covered with a towel for another 30 minutes and once it has risen again – and sometimes they don’t so don’t worry too much if it didn’t rise – cut 3 slits across the top, place it in the preheated oven and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until it sounds hollow when you knock on it. Let it cool on a rack and enjoy. That’s it, easy peasy! One of my favorite snacks is to spread a slice with avocado and top it with basil and a little salt – YUM!

* I’m doing a Sugar Blues workshop on January 19th at Jack’s Health Food Country at 1pm so yeah – I am gonna tell you to eat less sugar!

Oh this wilting heat…

Oh boy the last two weeks have been rough. Everything is very thirsty. We have had many 90+ degree days over the last two weeks. We even hit over 100 degrees the other day!!

So this meant a trip to the local big box hardware store for a garden hose. I have been having a great time watering the veggies and cooling off my feets and the kitties.

I try to water when I get home. I know, best to water first thing but there’s no way I am getting up early. There you have it. Never water during the peak heat as the water evaporates and I was also told that it burns the plants. I haven’t checked on that one yet so if it’s not true let us know.

Stay cool y’all

OH! And here’s a photo of our first tomato