Garden Update

 I haven't shared about my garden for a while now. It's still an ongoing and ever growing project. Lately I've been watching a lot of documentaries on FMTV about sustainability and our foodchain. I'm more than a little concerned about not just what goes into our food but also what goes on it when it's growing. Now I've been juicing daily I try to buy as much organic as I can afford, which is usually the items on the list that absorb the most nasties in the conventional growing methods like celery and the ones that you can't really wash residue off, ie Kale. The last thing I want is a glass full of pesticide. So my answer to this has been to look for ways to increase my growing space.

 A few weeks ago I resurrected my old raised garden bed that I bought when I was at my last house, it's been in pieces since I moved nearly 2 years ago. Today its a bed of kale

 This bed contains curly and tuscan kale and was planted about 3 weeks ago and so far there has been really good growth and no bugs. It's had a dose of organic fertiliser and a couple of applications of seasol. 

Apart from a bed of Rocket in a kids sandpit clam shell everything else is growing in pots. I'd always been under the impression that I needed to plant in full sun. I'd had my eye on a particular spot of garden along my fence but was worried it was too shaded. But a bit of gooling at the weekend informed me that leafy greens don't need as much sun and will tolerate shade. 

I'd been a bit lazy with pulling out the grass that had grown into the existing garden so I decided I could accomplish 2 things in choosing that spot. No more grass in the garden bed and a perfect growing spot. I laid cardboard down on the spot a couple of nights ago to start killing the grass and today I built the garden. Several bags of potting mix, and compost along with some shredded paper and garden edging I have a new garden bed and this is the result ...

 It contains lots of yummy greens for juicing.

 Across the front I have planted curly leaf parsley.

 Then behind that in rows from left to right there is 

 white stemmed silverbeet

bok choy

rainbow chard

   I planted some rainbow chard in a big pot when I planted the kale and it will be interesting to see if there is any difference in the results between the pot and the bed.

I also planted some english spinach a month or so a go and have been picking and enjoying it for a few weeks now

It's planted in a galvanised wash tub that's had holes drilled in the bottom for drainage. It was a great way to recycle a tub that had been a display years ago when I had a shop with my sister. The spinach from this patch is the sweetest I've ever tasted. I love eating it straight from the garden.

There's lots happening in the greenhouse at the moment too. Loads of coriander and parsley along with chives, mint, wheat grass and cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes started flowering again a few weeks back so I've moved them into the greenhouse to keep them warm and see what happens.

 
 I can't wait for everything to get to the point when I can start harvesting and eating all of these lovelies and share them with my family.
 

Taking It Up A Notch

I've been seriously interested in Nutrition for a few years now and one of my goals is to study online with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in the US. In the interim I'm reading and learning via books and blogs but last month I hit the jackpot via an email from Kris Carr. It contained a link to the Hay House World Summit. 

I've heard about the summit before but never fully realised what it was about. This time I followed the link and was blown away. Over the course of 4 weeks 100 interviews and several videos were released to view and listen to for free. I jumped in with both feet and listened to  Mike Dooley, Melodie Beattie, Cheryl Richardson, Louise Hay and many more. I also watched a documentary called 'Hungry for Change' which looked at the obesity epidemic and how processed foods and so called diet foods are causing not only obesity but also significant health issues in society. You'd be inclined to think that with advances in science and technology that we would all be getting healthier but this is not the case. Health simply comes down to nutrition and eating a natural diet. The calorie laden nutritionally deficient processed foods are leaving people obese and undernourished. It's little wonder why as a society were becoming sicker.

From my earlier posts you'll see that I've been on the right path for a while now but watching 'Hungry for Change' has kind of kicked it up a level for me. I've had a few months where I wasn't really caring for myself very well. I was drinking more wine than I normally would and eating a little too much sugar and processed foods, and not drinking enough water. I'm gluten intolerant so the level of processed foods I consume is much less than the average person but even with a slight increase it was showing in my skin. But more on that in a minute.

After the summit ended I wanted to know more so I bought the 'Hungry for Change' book on Kindle and started reading. I then discovered that the authors have a website called FMTV it's like Netflix for health and wellbeing. They have a 7 day trial so I signed up and watched 'Food Matters' and 'Fat Sick and Nearly Dead' 

OMG how much I've learned all ready. In the last few days I've introduced 2 things. And if you watch 'Hungry for Change' you'll hear them say if you add things in then eventually you wont want the bad stuff. If you deprive yourself it's harder to give things up. But if you add the good stuff in eventually the bad stuff just leaves.

David Wolfe suggests starting each day by drinking 1-2 litres of water before you have food or coffee. I now go to bed with a jug of water and a glass beside the bed so that as soon as I wake up I can start drinking my water. 

The other thing I'm doing is juicing again.... lots of dark leafy green vegies to give my body a regular micro nutrient boost. My juice consists of organic celery, kale, spinach, cos lettuce (romaine), rocket (arugula), parsley, coriander (cilantro), carrot, beetroot, apple and lemon. I put this all thru a cold press juicer and make enough for a couple of days. It stores really well in an airtight jar in the fridge. And I've even found a use for the pulp... I've been making raw wraps with it. I put the pulp in the thermomix with an organic zucchini and some flax meal and then spread it out onto dehydrator sheets and dehydrate for a few hours. The wraps are very tasty.

This was today's lunch 

Pulp and Zucchini wrap with homemade hummus, tofu,

 baby spinach and homegrown rocket and coriander.

I was so inspired that today I went to the nursery and purchased some more coriander, parsley, coriander and kale seedlings.

Oh and after only 3 days of juicing and 2 days of drinking a litre of water first thing my skin is already looking better, and the horrid dark circles under my eyes have started to disappear.  

If you are interested in your health then I'd highly recommend either watching or reading Hungry for Change. It features some of the leaders in the health and wellness movement. I've included links above for the people I've mentioned as they are a wealth of knowledge in their individual areas.

a juice a day

At the end of last year I bought myself a cold press juicer. It's fairly basic, it won't make sausages like some others do but it does the job. My challenge for myself for this year is a juice a day. This mornings concoction was orange, mango and freshly harvested wheat grass from my verandah garden.

I must admit that I missed day 1 of my challenge. A few too many Bellinis for New Years didn't really set the pace for juicing before work... But I did have a home made fruit smoothie so that sort of counts!