Consumer Anarchy: Granola Protein Bars

You all know how much I love being a consumer anarchist. When I make something myself, or find alternatives to what I have been told I need, I feel like I've taken on "the man" in a huge way. As these granola bars baked, I sat at the kitchen table with receipts and recipes in hand, a calculator, and a grin. I discovered the following:

Kashi Granola Bars (which I usually buy) cost a whopping $0.67 per bar. 

These little puppies? Half the price. Just $0.37 a bar to make...and they make 12 bars instead of the 6 you get when you purchase at the store.

Not only are you saving yourself a lot of mula by making them at home, but you are also saving your health. Next time you dig into a store-bought granola bar (and after reading this, I really hope you don't...) read that ingredients label. You'll find that that health bar isn't all it is cracked up to be, especially if you purchase Quaker or other cheaper brands.

These are a whole food, the only thing in them, are the simple ingredients you are about to read. And that just makes them taste that much better.

John's response to the granola bar? "Very tasty! And I love knowing exactly what's in it!"

For this recipe, I used Healthy Green Kitchen's suggestions and a swap out of my own when I didn't want to pay $18 a pound for hemp seeds. ($18 a pound?!?!) Also, see her site for the nutritional info on this bar!




Homemade Granola Protein Bars
Makes 12 bars

2 1/2 cups raw oats
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup organic natural peanut butter
1/2 cup Greek strained yogurt (I love Fage)
1/4 cup whole flax seeds
1/3 cup sesame seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon
a sprinkle of nutmeg
1 tsp salt (or a little less if your PB is a little saltier than some others)
1 tsp vanilla


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325.

2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl (if the PB is a little hard, you can microwave it for a few seconds to get it melty.

3. Oil a 7x11 glass pan (this size worked best for me to cut the bars into the shape I like, but you can use an 8x8 too.) Press the granola into the pan evenly.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Cool, cut, and wrap in cellophane. I keep mine in the refrigerator to keep them from getting too crumbly.

Questions:

Are there any health foods you refuse to buy because of the mark up?

Homemade White Pizza

This recipe is not my own, it is actually my mother's. She taught me how to make it this past weekend and it's one of my new favorites. Who knew that pizza, sans sauce, could be so delightful? The flavors of the vegetables really shine when not overpowered by a red sauce and the pizza feels so much lighter too (which means you can eat more!!)

Over Christmas, my mom taught my little neice how to make it too. It's a simple recipe to make with kiddos and is a great way to have fun and teach nutrition! Here's little Juliana adding her own special ingredients. ; )

Homemade White Pizza
Serves 3-4

1 ball pizza dough (homemade or store bought and risen and tossed according to directions)
Olive oil
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Italian seasoning
2 handfuls spinach, washed and torn
1 large tomato sliced (or 3-4 roma tomatoes)
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
Freshly grated parmesan
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Freshly shredded mozzerella
Corn Meal

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle a baking stone generously with corn meal.

2. Toss dough, and lay out over stone. Coat dough with olive oil and sprinkle with seasonings and a little fresh Parmesan.

3. Top with spinach, tomato, and mushrooms. And cover with a generous dose of each- Parmesan, feta, and mozzerella cheese.

4. Place in center rack of oven and cook for 18-20 minutes. When done, lit sit on the counter for 5 minutes while the stone continues to warm and the juices settle.

ENJOY!

Question of the Day:

What's your favorite (Papa John's, Domino's, Pizza Hut, or Homemade) and why?

4.

I Work For The Big Man

Last night I was up till the wee hours of the night (10:45!!) working diligently for Santa. I had quite a task at hand when he handed me my co-workers Christmas list. Three batches of different cookies all pretty-fied in baggies and topped off with string...I was going to be up to my eyeballs in flour!

I told Santa that I really appreciated him making me an honorary elf and I asked if I could come stay up at his place for a while, just to see their kitchen in action and get a few pointers. He said he'll think about it depending on how I do with next year's list. He says it's a hefty one.

North Pole vacation or not, I got to work on my cookies. I made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, cinnamon sugar cookies, and some pecan sandies dipped in white and red sugars. A feast for the eyes (and the mouth)! Right before bed I wrapped up 13 baggies and 2 large plates in preparation for the morning.

Santa said I could deliver them all by myself tomorrow...and if you ask me that's better than any tour of the North Pole kitchen...

Question of the Day:

What goodies are you cooking up for Christmas?

A Crafty Christmas

So, you know I promised Indiana pictures this week, right? And I'm sure you have figured out that I've been procrastinating the post this whole week, too. It's another one of those days. Last night, I really did have big plans to finally finish editing and uploading my pictures. But then we started watching a Modern Family episode and that turned into an Office episode followed by laughing over clips of An Idiot Abroad and finishing up with our favorite show- Cheers!

Instead, I wanted to share some interesting craft projects I've found while knocking around on Pinterest. These crafts are perfect for the holidays, and I have plans to bring a few into fruition.

                                                                   Source: thepartystudio.wordpress.com via Hannah on Pinterest

I love these for Christmas goodie bags. Just swap out the tag with a "Merry Christmas!" and you've got yourself a sweet little gift!

                                                              Source: tinyapartmentcrafts.blogspot.com via Hannah on Pinterest

The awesomeness of this ornament really needs no explanation. I've watched all the movies, and am now on book three of the Harry Potter series and I'm thinking of making this ornament as a gift to myself this year. (And maybe a few others for the serious fans I know...)

                                                                        Source: goodhousekeeping.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Here's another sweet ornament idea! I think you could have a lot of fun with this. You can stick with the traditional fabrics, find a pretty sheer golden toole, or even find some funky Dr. Seuss style fabric to bring a little How the Grinch Stole Christmas into your Christmas tree.

                                                                   Source: deliacreates.blogspot.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Here's another great gift idea for people on a budget (like me). It's perfect for that special someone who values going green and who loves shopping for their fruits and veggies! Aren't these fun? I would feel so cool checking out with these bad boys.

                                                              Source: junkgardengirl.blogspot.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Lastly, but certainly not leastly, here's a great idea for a DIY garland. Maybe you're a SERIOUS crafter and, unlike me, you already have miles and miles of mis-matched ribbon laying around. Here's a great way to put it to use and bring some holiday cheer into your home. This is on my to-do list as it's easier to store than fake greenery type garland and is probably a bit cheaper too!

Question of the Day:

When it comes to Christmas presents, do you buy your gifts or make them yourself?

Who Brews the Kombucha

                                                                                            Source: blueeggkitchen.com via Hannah on Pinterest

I'm getting my first batch of kombucha and my little baby scobys this Thursday. In case you are unfamiliar with kombucha tea I'll give you a brief description...

Kombucha is a beverage that is made by placing a big honking slab of bacteria and yeast (the scoby) in a bath of black/green/white sweet tea and letting it steep and ferment for a few weeks until the bacteria and yeast has eaten most of the sugar out of the tea mixture. 

                                                                                                Source: deliciousobsessions.com via Hannah on Pinterest

One might ask, "why would you want to drink a brew of bacteria?" And the simple answer is, I don't really want to, but I hear that they health benefits of drinking it can be quite good, and some people enjoy the fermented, fizzy flavor. For me, that is yet to be discovered.

Supposedly the good bacteria kind of acts as a probiotic... it helps balance your gastrointestinal tract, helps your liver to function more properly, and acts as a detoxifying agent. Supposedly.

I feel that as a blogger known for adventure and as a lover of new/strange things it is my duty to be the guinea pig on this one. Word on the street is that people have been brewing kombucha for it's medicinal properties since 400 B.C. (People have also been smoking opiates for that long...so I'm not sure there's any argument there.) I can't wait to tell you more about if it really works and if I can see any increase in my vitality from this magical tea.

I also plan to post about my scobys....which I will name once I adopt them.

Question of the Day:

Have you ever brewed your own or tried someone else's kombucha tea?

What should I name my scobys?

Hannah's Health Update (and a winner...)

Today is the day we've all been waiting for....the finale of the giveaway! Our winner is.....

Comment #4- Hilliary from Happily Ever Healthy!

Congrats, girl! And thank you for all of you support! Please email your full name and address to culture_connoisseur@yahoo.com  so I can set up your subscription.

__________________________________________________________________________

                                                                             Source: saturatedcanary.blogspot.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Fitness Update:

I'm feeling great these days folks! First I want to share with you a major victory...a little over a year ago I took the Real Age Test, and scored 34 years old! (That was 12 years over my actual age.) Over the last year I have increased the amount of exercise I do, changed to a 65% vegetarian diet, started getting more sleep at night, and cut out almost all drinks but water and the occasional sweet tea. I took the Real Age Test again yesterday and scored at 20 years old...that's 4 years younger than I actually am! Needless to say, I'm feeling on top of the world!

                                                                                                Source: weheartit.com via Hannah on Pinterest

We have been running 2-3 times per week in preparation for our 5k on September 24th, go to the gym 1-2 days a week to lift weights, and we do yoga 2 days a week or as needed to relieve tight and sore muscles after our runs. With each run and each weight I feel stronger and more endurant, but the yoga is what makes it all possible. Without yoga as the foundation I wouldn't be fit to do anything else.

                                                                            Source: letsrendezvous.tumblr.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Diet Update:
I've mentioned in previous posts that John and I are "Carnevegeveganarians." That is, we eat like vegans and vegetarians for most of our week and throw in some meat here and there when we feel like it. Making this change has completely changed our health...all our afternoon drowsiness is gone, we sleep better at night, we experience little to no illness (when we used to get sinus infections and colds year 'round), our dental health has drastically improved, fewer headaches, and even clearer skin.
Since we've so enjoyed the benefits of our healthy diet, we're taking it to the next level...

                                                                                Source: theveganproject.wordpress.com via Hannah on Pinterest

I'm a little hesitant to say "we're going vegan" because I feel like "vegan" has so many opinions surrounding it. Instead I'll say that John and I are going meat- and dairy-free for a month, and the "why?" is quite simple. Even though we have seen dramatic differences in our health lately in comparison with where we were at a year ago, John still experiences chronic heartburn. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes have been known to act as a medicinal diet, healing the body of it's ailments, preventing AND reversing heart disease and pro-longing one's lifespan.

Our meat- and dairy-free experiment is to see if it will rid John of daily heartburn for good. Currently he takes Priolosec daily, and has for years (which is not recommended) and we feel it's high time we try and deal with it. Chances are a doctor will put him on a prescribed medication, and we aren't interested in those...we want the chance to heal ourselves by way of good food straight from Mother Earth.

Our diet starts Monday, and I can't wait to see what happens. I'll keep you all in the loop and say a prayer that this finally brings John some relief!

Question of the Day:

Are you a vegetarian or meat- and dairy-free?

Have you tried in the past?

What's in Your Lunch Box?

What do you eat for lunch? It's pretty safe to say that if you are an American, and you work the 8-5 you likely eat out most meals for convenience or pack up leftovers from last night's dinner. The leftover dinner I can certainly get behind, but the eating out I cannot. I can say that, because that used to be me. I used to eat out most lunch breaks because I thought planning ahead might take too much time. Turns out it doesn't...and I was burning a whole in my wallet and clogging my arteries for no good reason.

A big mac is not a meal. This, my friends, is a meal! Since I started making up my lunches ahead of time (I usually mix up a big batch of whatever I'll be having on Sundays and eat on it all week or do another lunch making day mid-week to get me to Friday) I have experienced zero to few afternoon headaches, completely done away with mid-afternoon drowsiness, and no longer have a need to snack since my lunch does such a good job of meeting my nutritional needs.

This recipe is one example of many that can be made in advance and shoveled into a to-go container for lunch time. (See below for other recommendations if you're looking to revamp your lunch life!) I got the recipe from Angela at Oh She Glows and altered it here and there to suit my tastes. Here's what tasted best for me...

Quinoa and Black Bean Veggie Salad (a.k.a. "OMG this tastes as good as Qdoba or Chipotle but with 1/3 the fat and calories")

Will feed one person 4-5 days and a couple for 1/2 the week.

1 cup uncooked quinoa (red or white, I used white)
14 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 of a large cucumber, diced
2 green onions,chopped
1 cup corn (fresh or frozen)
1 (2, or 3, yum!!) avocado, diced

Dressing:
Juice of 2 small limes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook 1 cup quinoa according to package directions.

2. While quinoa is cooking, prepare the chopped vegetables and whisk together the dressing.

3. Allow quinoa to cool after cooking for about 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Add the beans and vegetables and toss well.

4. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss well with salt and pepper to taste.Chill to serve. Keep in sealed container.

Question of the Day: 

What do you usually do for lunch?

Other lunch ideas: 

Chicken Salad (sandwich or wrap) 

Grilled Chicken TexMex wrap 

This or this soup and a 1/2 sandwich

Back on Track Wheat Berry and Bean Salad

Black Bean, Edamame, and Wheat Berry Salad

Creamy Avocado and White Bean Wrap

Hummus, Turkey, and Quinoa Wrap

*I usually bring along a piece of fruit and a little snack too (like a small baggie of chips and a square or two of dark chocolate to cure my sweet tooth.)

Weekend Update| August 8, 2011

Lake Eola

 Another weekend came and went and it's Monday again. I guess you can't be sad about the weekend ending if you had a great time, and we did! Friday night we headed out to Lake Eola in downtown Orlando to take pictures. John has been reading a bunch of photography blogs to try and improve his form, and I can tell he's really learned a lot. Isn't the picture of the city so beautiful? I love silvery it looks, it captures the way it looked with the storm moving in perfectly!

He's really been wanting to improve his portraits, so he used me as a model and I think he got some really great shots. See how the background is blurry and I am so in focus and the lines around me are crisp? The secret there is in the zoom lens. Portraits are best taken from afar, and zoomed in to get a crisp image with a blurry background so the person is the focus of the picture.

I took the next one...because it's my favorite part of the park...

After some fun with the camera we ran a few errands and then went out for some sushi...something I haven't done in ages since John doesn't like it. To make me happy he agreed to go out and try some to see if his taste buds have changed. We went to Bikuri Sushi and I ordered a lava roll. He wasn't a huge fan, but he didn't gag or anything, so that's something. :)

Saturday morning we woke up early (7am!) so that John could hit the beach and go surfing with some friends. I had plans to go to a crafting birthday party for my beautiful friend Shana. I spent the morning making a homemade gift of Rosemary Honey Butter (which I found on Fresh Out of Lemons.)  It was so much fun to make and I had everything on hand.

You basically boil a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary in honey and let it steep for a while. You bring a couple sticks of butter to room temperature and then blend it in a food processor with the rosemary-infused honey. Put them in jars and they will firm back up when refrigerated. Go here for the full recipe.

I made Shana an extra big jar of it and decorated it up for her birthday...

And I made a little jar for myself to serve with this homemade bread...

Once my butter was made, I packed up my craft and headed to my friends' house. It was great to be back with Kate and Kayla in the house I called a home for a year prior to my marriage. We had some great times in that house, and Saturday morning kept the memory-making going! Shana spent some time making her very first quilt, Kayla was making a ruffled skirt out of t-shirts, Kate was altering some clothes, and my friend Becky was working on a project for her 1st grade classroom.

Shana quilting

All my friends are very crafty. They sew and knit and crochet and scrap book and all those fun things. I've never been much of a crafter, but if cooking counts...

Thanks to Kayla, I did learn how to knit and have been working on a blanket for the past two years...ok, so I'm not a quick knitter.

My knitted blanket

Saturday night John and I went out for ice cream with our friends Hooman and Viyan. They are the Iranian couple I mentioned two Friday Replays-ago who had the baby shower. Their little girl, Vanda, is turning into quite the little charmer. She's getting so big, and is so well-behaved. She loves looking around and taking in her surroundings. She's such a curious little girl. Isn't she precious?

We enjoyed catching up on life. It had been a few months since we last got together and there was so much to talk about. We really enjoy their company and have so much fun doing nothing at all, just sipping on a shake and walking around town. At the end of the night we found ourselves at Target, and little Vanda who had had a little nap, woke up happy and ready to cuddle!

Sunday we went to church and then came home and cooked. And when I say "cooked" I mean "COOKED!" I may have mentioned before that I usually spend a lot of my Sundays cooking up food for the week so I don't have to worry about it during the week. Yesterday I baked pumpkin muffins for breakfast all week, a chocolate chip bundt cake, homemade bread, a quinoa vegetable salad for lunches, chopped up a cantaloupe, and made a wheat berry vegetable stir fry to go along with baked fish for the first half of the week. By the end I was exhausted and my feet were tired! But it was well worth it being surrounded by fresh foods that are healthy and that contain no unnecessary chemicals and preservatives!

Question of the Day: 

Are you crafty? What kinds of things do you make?

Virginia Trip, Part One: The Epic Journey

Happy Tuesday, everyone! We're back from Virginia and had a wonderful time. I can't wait to show you all the awesome pictures I got in D.C. I really enjoyed trekking around our nation's capital and taking in all the history we have there.

But first, a story. And man, is it a brutal one. We're laughing about it now, but let me tell you, our journey started out rough. I got off work at 5:00pm on Thursday and headed across town to drop off my car and meet John so we could get on the road. We were driving my sister-in-law's car up there and then flying home. Her car is a piece of spit and broke down before John ever left. So I met him at AutoZone to get a new battery installed.  ($80.00)

The start of our journey to Virginia...a stop at the mechanic.

I followed John out of the parking lot, battery now fixed, and realized that the brake lights were permanently on. We decided the car was unfit to drive across five states unless that was fixed (and weren't sure if it would be, even then.) At 6:00, after lots of frustration and disappointment, we dropped it off at our mechanic hoping that he could fix it on Friday morning so we could drive it up the that day.

It turns out he was able to fix it before he left work Thursday night! 30 minutes later and another $80 later, we were on the road and feelin' fine!

Look at us....so happy...so naive....

Llama cloud.

Yay! We're actually driving north!

About an hour into our drive (8:30pm) we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for some feel-good food. We deserved it after an afternoon of high stress. While we were waiting for our food John went to the car to check the fluids. The car has a minor oil leak and he wanted to make sure the levels were good. The oil well was completely dry and we had only driven about 50 miles since we left Orlando with the tank full. He poured in 3 quarts of oil and came back in to eat. 

We talked about it and knew there was only one thing we could do, there was no turning back now, we'd have to make it work...

9:15 PM....11 quarts of oil.

We would have to buy up as much oil as we could and stop every 50 miles in our 900 mile journey to refill the tank. That's what we did. We bought that Mobil station out of every single quart they had and stopped every 50 miles to refill the tank. 

Our journey was supposed to cost about $180- $200 total (for gas and such). But instead it ended up costing $500. Not the price his sister or my in-laws were expecting. The trip was supposed to take about 13 hours and it ended up taking 17, not what we were expecting. The car was supposed to only need a couple quarts of oil to get there, but instead took 24...not what the car was expecting.

But at 7:30 in the morning, when we stopped and saw the Virginia state line, it was all worth it. We had just a couple hours left and a few more oil stops until we were settled and could sleep a bit and enjoy time with family. I tell you, that Virginia sign never looked so good! It was an epic journey, a ridiculous journey, and one we'll look back on and laugh about forever...

Going Green: With 4 Simple Ingredients

Today, I'm here to talk to you about a little thing some folks in my family call "consumer anarchy." That is, removing yourself from the system that says you have to have this new product to be happy, clean, important, or stylish. One of the little ways that John and I "stick it to the man" is through detergents. When I hoist a detergent cup above my head and pour homemade laundry soap into it, it has the same emotional effect on me as, say, hoisting a Molotov cocktail above my head, ready burn down a corrupt institution. It just feels good.

If you want to be a part of my group club gang independent gathering of like-minded individuals, you'll need 4 things:

Borax- $2.98
Arm & Hammer Washing Soda- $2.99
1 Gallon Distilled Vinegar- $2.50
Fels Naptha- $1.98

So far I have found 3 ways to use the above four ingredients to save a little time, a lot of money, and an environmental hassle....

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent: 
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
Vinegar (to prevent residue)  

Mix the powders together well and place in plastic container. Use 2 tbsp per load and a little vinegar in the rinse to cut the residue. You just saved $6.00!


Homemade Swiffer Wet-Jet Cleaner:
1 cup white distilled vinegar
7-8 drops essential oils (if you want a scent)
Water

In an empty (and clean) old gallon jug pour 1 cup vinegar and the essential oil. Fill to the top with water. Close with lid and shake well. Open the old Swiffer Wet-Jet  and rinse out. Fill with new vinegar cleaner and pop into the Swiffer.  Keep the gallon in the cabinet to refill whenever it runs out again. Be sure to shake the Swiffer well before cleaning (to mix the the ingredients that tend to separate as they sit.) You just saved yourself $5.00! 



Homemade Laundry Detergent: 

Out of respect for the author's wishes I will not reproduce the recipe here, but you can find it here. You will need only the ingredients I listed above. We made 2 gallons of it this past weekend and it works great! The cost of making it at home is less than $1.00, and it took me all of 15 minutes to make. If you don't go home and make this you just lack sense. Next time your store-bought detergent runs out, keep the old container, make this, and then fill up the old Tide wash with the hand-made stuff! You saved upwards of $15.00!

Homegrown Tomaters

Ready for pickin'.

Guess what?! We harvested our first homegrown tomater last night! I can't begin to tell you how great it felt to eat something you grew with a little water and sunshine. It tasted like a rainbow (but not at all like skittles.)

We have two other tomatoes starting to turn and about 10 green ones that are still growing. The plant will have paid for itself once we eat two more! We are so excited about saving money, eating healthy (they are all organic) and getting in touch with our agricultural ancestry!

My red bell pepper is finally starting to turn red which means I'll be frying that up in a fajita before I know it. Seriously, if you haven't ever considered doing a little container veggie garden I highly recommend doing so. It's fun and helps save money! And you know exactly what you putting in your body...no chemicals here, just that which mother nature intended! (For start up ideas check out Urban Organic Gardener.)

Juicy and flavorful.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, sweet sweet Selma at Crazy Little World of Mine awarded me the Stylish blogger award. My response is the same as hers, "I'm stylish?" I propose that my blog is definitely stylish, but its blogger, not so much. Either way, I sincerely appreciate you thinking of me, Selma, and think you are wildly stylish as well! If you haven't checked out her blog be sure too, it's great! (And it will make you giggle.)

Link back, tell 7 things, pass it on!

I have already mentioned 7 things about me in this post, but am happy to dig around my brain for 7 more. I'm trying to go real deep this time around...

1. Two things I will never understand or accept about the world and the people in it is racism and the need for war.

2. I failed the 2nd grade and was held back a year. I graduated high school at age 19...a good two years older than most my peers.

3. My biggest struggle in my faith is how a good God can let bad things happen. But through the years I've watched him turn every heartache I've had into strength and song. The more heartache the less I struggle with the issue.

4. I have re-occurring dreams that I try to speak and I can't because my mouth is full of cement. I've been told that this could be my subconscious dealing with the frustration of not being heard or being talked over. (I have a small voice that just doesn't reach very far.)

5. In the midst of crisis my first instinct is fight not flight. When I go into fight mode the most obscene things come out of my mouth without thinking so that I can be domineering despite my small physical stature.

6. When I'm in my home I don't like to wear a whole lot of clothing. My roommates would find me walking through the house naked, or almost, a number of times...this always resulted in a lot of laughter and a code that we would scream when bringing guests home so none of us would be caught in our skivvies.  "Peacocks, put on your feathers!"

7. My favorite past-time is people watching.


Check out these stylish bloggers... 

Terri at Try Anything Once
Elizabeth at Orange and Cloves
Brissa at Half and Half
Laura at Taylor Tales
Ruth at Cafe au Lait + Honey

Close to the Harvest



Gerbera Daisies about to blossom.

Gardening has become, for me, time well spent. I amaze myself with how much time I waste doing things I don't really care for or that don't offer any real satisfaction. Most of these things are a matter of convenience and entertainment. I think I want them, but once I'm done with it I feel like I've wasted time I can never get back. I never feel that way after gardening. I always feel like I've contributed somehow, like I made a connection to the source of what matters. I know that sounds all new-agey or "mother-earthy," but it's true.

I guess I feel like there's certain things us humans were intended to do. And when I garden it stirs some deep place in me to recognize it's calling. Suddenly the smoke screen of my daily life falls and I see life the way it is meant to be lived. Simply. Sustainably. With dirt under our nails and no corners cut. 



Caladiums unrolling.

Since I finished school last December I have a thing called "free time." Have you heard of it? If you currently don't have it you don't know what you're missing. You need to stop and re-evaluate life, right now, to make room for it. Finally I am able to do things I want to do. Finally I learned what it means to have a hobby. I feel like a brand new person, honest to goodness. They say a hobby is something you enjoy doing even if you don't get paid for it. Gardening is one, and cooking is another. When I graduated and had the "ok, what now?" moment I thought, why not go back to school to get your culinary arts degree?! But then I realized I just want to cook like a chef so I can do so for my family, not so I can own my own a bakery or restaurant. See? Hobby! 



Bibb lettuce, almost ready for pickin'.


The best thing about a hobby is that, often, it is something you can do on your own, without help, so you can not only find a little solitude, but a little confidence in your craft. I love gardening because it gives me some quiet time to think. Thinking is my all time favorite hobby, and when combined with the outdoors the mind just explodes. I learn so much from each plant, and my brain takes what I'm doing with my hands and translates it into something meaningful. For example...

My petunias, if not watered daily, will start to look lifeless. Also, if you don't pluck off the dead blooms it will stunt growth and stop new blossoms from growing. Hmm...there's a life lesson.

My tomatoes are prone to leaf-miners. If I don't keep an eye on them every day so I can catch the bug early, it will ruin the entire arm of leaves. Lesson.

My mandevilla loves to climb, but it's not a naturally vining plant. It needs to be trained back and forth around the trellis. However, you can't just push them here and there,  you have to do it gently, training each piece as it grows at its own pace. If you aren't gentle, the plant won't go where you want it to go. Lesson.

I'm learning so much, and can't wait for the biggest lesson- one that will come with the harvest. You'll see my tomatoes and peppers below are so close I can almost smell them simmering in my pan. Grow, my babies, grow!


Tomatoes just weeks away from harvest.




Red bell pepper so big I needed twine to keep the stem erect!



My Pepper is Ginormous!

A few weeks ago I gave you a little tour of my garden. Since then I found this great site and my brain is bubbling over with ideas for my porch. Inspired, I picked up a gerbera daisy plant and planted some bibb lettuce as well. I really do have so much space and I don't know why I'm not using it to its full potential. My next project are these soda bottle hanging planters. I hope to expand my herb garden this way.

Here's an update on my garden's progress. We had a good rain yesterday and they all looked so green and perky. I'm just beside myself with excitement and can't wait to reap my harvest and continue adding to its bounty!

My ginormous red bell pepper! In the background you can count 9 (!!) others starting...

Newly planted bibb lettuce. Can't wait to make these puppies into a salad!

Green bell peppers. This plant is looking very healthy and I expect much fruit.

Ah! Sweet success. This is one of my first tomatoes. There are about 5 growing right now...all at this stage.

My First Skirt

 Notice anything fun about this picture? That's right...the skirt! I found the idea on one of my favorite blogs, Say Yes! to Hoboken. The tutorial can be found here. It is actually for a little girl's skirt. But big girls like cute skirts too, so I don't see any issue.

Now, I am NOT a seamstress but with a little help from my mother I put this together in no more than 2 hours. It was a blast and I get tons of compliments on it. Need something fun to do this weekend? Grab some fabric and get sewing!

Here's one more just for showing off. Hey! It's the first piece of clothing I've ever made that I can actually wear outside the house without weird looks. :-)

The Garden | My Shot at Sustainability

Oregano

This past Christmas we came into a little extra money and decided to start a garden. The months previous led us to this decision as we were frustrated with the abundance of produce that had been bathed in chemicals, and the general lack of high quality whole foods that we could afford. Luckily for us, a tomato plant costs about $3, and organic fertilizer- just $10 for a huge bag. Win!

It should be noted that, in the past, each try at a garden failed. I did not inherit my mother's green thumb. I now believe that I had to grow into my "thumbs" because my garden is booming! Below are before and after shots. I'm so proud! I know it's weird, but they are all like my little babies. It's only been 2 months and they are growing so fast!


BEFORE

Cilantro, Rosemary and Oregano (Dec 2010)

Tomato Plant (Dec 2010)

Note that the peppers (with stakes) are still too short to see! (Dec 2010)

AFTER 

Mint, overflowing! (Feb 2011)

A little baby red pepper (Feb 2011)

Tomatoes, full of blossoms! (Feb 2011) 

How do you contribute to a sustainable future?