Tag: gardening

Gardening: Table of Organic Produce

Aynaria Leave a comment
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Gardening: Organic produce fresh from the garden

As a child, my parents had a nice size garden. It was a little over one and a half acres. I’ll admit, assisting my parents in the garden wasn’t a job I enjoyed but I truly appreciate it now.

It’s amazing how much you can remember from childhood. I applied a lot of that knowledge into my gardening today. These days my garden isn’t quite that size. It’s a little over three quarters of an acre, but it still brings in a lot of produce.

When I worked out in the corporate world, a coworker brought me in his only zucchini plant. It was a pitiful looking thing. For some reason it wasn’t thriving in his tiny garden. He gave it to me since he knew I had a ‘green thumb.’ I took ‘Little zucchi’ (what I named his plant) home and planted it amongst my other zucchini plants. It flourished and when it was time it produced a lot of zucchini, I happily brought in the zucchini (along with tons of other vegetables) to my co-worker. It wasn’t something he was expecting, but he surely appreciated receiving the produce. I really enjoy sharing with others. It makes me feel great!

Gardening is my ‘me time’, yes at times it can be strenuous work but it’s an excellent workout. On the intense gardening days, I tend to skip my rigorous gym workouts. The initial phase require a lot of commitement; tilling, hoeing, weeding, sowing the seeds or putting out the plants, mulching, composting, etc., but seeing the fruits of our labor, makes it worth it. It also gives me a healthy respect for those where farming is their full-time job.

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whole food, garden

Vegan: Green Energy Smoothie

Aynaria 4 Comments

green-smoothie.05.28.10.jpgAs I’ve already mentioned I’ve been craving a lot of greens lately. Fortunately for myself I have plenty of green vegetables growing in my garden, and so last evening I went out and picked more collards and kale.

Quite a bit of the green veggies were turned into collard and kale chips. I’ll post the recipe in a later post. Kale chips are a tasty (and healthy) snack. It was hard not to put all my greens into my soon to be chip pile, but I managed, and I was able to make a green smoothie.

Green smoothies are something my daughter and I drink daily. The green smoothies I make are delicious and nutritional powerhouses. Yep, they are chock full of vitamins and minerals. Something that not only taste good, but is good for you too. You can’t beat that right? Yes, the smoothies are Vegan. The green smoothies are a much better choice than the many of the empty calorie drinks that are flooding the market.

A few facts about greens
Did you know that ounce for ounce collards have more calcium than milk? Shocking stuff, I know and something you most likely won’t hear too often if you’re listening to mainstream media. According to many of those sources, milk is where it’s at, right?

Importance of Vitamin K
Another powerful vitamin you’ll find in most green leafy veggies is Vitamin K. Chlorophyll is what gives plants their green color, It also provides vitamin K. Many people overlook this amazing vitamin. We really shouldn’t since it plays an extremely important role in calcium circulation and bone formation. There have been numerous studies done that show low levels of vitamin K are linked to low bone density. Don’t forget your vitamin K!

Spinach and Oxalic acid
Ok back to the calcium, it’s true dark greens are an excellent source of calcium. However, there is one dark green that shouldn’t be counted (at least not by itself) on for calcium. Which dark green is that? Spinach. The reason is simple, spinach contains a high amount of oxalic acid. Oxalic acid removes calcium from the blood. When you eat spinach it’s best to pair it with foods that are loaded with vitamin C since this will help cancel out the oxalic acid.

Green Energy Drink

  • 4 cups unsweetened apple juice
  • 1 cup grapes
  • 2 cups kale and collards
  • 1″ ginger root (if you don’t like spicy leave out the ginger)

*If you don’t like your smoothie thick add more apple juice.

Directions

  1. In a blender add all ingredients
  2. Blend until smooth
  3. Drink and enjoy

This is one of the numerous high energy drinks I make throughout the week. It’s all natural, sweet, and it’s good for you. I naturally have a lot of energy but this drink gives me even more.

For those of you who aren’t eating enough vegetables, why not give smoothies a try? Smoothies are a great way to add more vegetables into your diet without the ‘taste’ of the vegetables. Personally, I do like the way vegetables taste however, if you aren’t used to them but would like to add more to your diet, green smoothies are a tasty (and delightfully sneaky) way to accomplish that. Enjoy!

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Gardening, Recipe, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

Gardening: Early morning adventure

Aynaria 5 Comments

I’ve always been an early riser. Yeah I’m that person, the ‘type’ that some people love to hate. I’m usually awake by 4:30 AM. I bounce out of bed with a lot of energy. I’m ready to start the day.

Yeah… I’m one of those people! I tend to have the house to myself in the wee morning house. Sometimes our dog joins me on my adventure, but usually (if he even responds) he lifts up one eye, grumbles, and goes back to sleep.

I have a few cherished early morning rituals, and one of those is walking outside, soaking up the early sun rays, enjoying nature, and looking out at the beautiful garden.

Today, I decided to include a few photos of some of the things I see everyday. You might see a little white house in some of the pictures. That’s our shed. Our garden is a little over 3/4 acres. We have more than enough produce for us. What we don’t eat is stored away for the colder months and given out to family and friends.

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Praying Mantis hiding in fennel

Can you see the praying mantis in this picture? They certainly do look like they’re praying, don’t they? I love praying mantis. Our fennel bush is covered with these little critters. It’s fascinating to watch them grow. My daughter and I pay them a visit daily.

When I pick my daily fennel, I carefully check the leaves to make sure I don’t bring them inside, occasionally I do and I take them back to their beloved fennel bush. The praying mantises are great insects to have in the garden since they eliminate the critters that can destroy your plants.

How do I use fennel? I use it in my green smoothies, stir fries, and at times I eat it raw. I love the mildly sweet, licorice taste of my beloved fennel. This is an herb that I cut back yearly. If I didn’t it would be taller than myself. Ok, so that’s not saying too much since I’m only 5′, but when I did let it grow it was a lot taller than I. 🙂

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Strawberry patch

If you don’t watch out the early bird will pick all your strawberries, since I’m an early riser this doesn’t happen too much. However, I do leave some juicy berries for them to fight over. There are plenty of other juicy things for them to eat. I see them out there picking up a juicy worm or some type of insect.

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Cabbage

I love cabbage, and use it in a variety of dishes, from Eggrolls to Stuffed Cabbage Rolls.

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Squash and Beans

It’s always nice to see your garden thriving. I was happy to see that our squash and beans are coming along nicely. Beans are used in stir fry recipes, baked, eaten raw, and we dry them too. Squash are used in numerous dishes too. One of my favorite ways to use them is make them into pasta.

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Corn

Fresh corn is incredibly sweet. I cannot wait until the ears of corn are ready to be picked.

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Onions

As much as I enjoy onions, I should have planted more than two rows of these, right?

This isn’t our complete garden, but I wanted to give you an idea of some of the things you will see growing there. Perhaps I’ll post pictures of my flower garden over the weekend.

The great thing about being an early riser is that I get so much accomplished before most 9 – 5 folks are awake. By the time 6:30 rolls around the birds are out singing, I’m coming back inside so that I can prepare my daughters breakfast and awaken her.

I enjoy my early morning adventures. It’s my quiet time. 🙂 Quiet time, me time, needing space… However you describe it, I believe we all need it now and again. How do you spend your time?

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Gardening