Eating Local

I am quite proud of tonight's supper. I am not a very good cook, but I decided to try a veggie saute on pasta. I used a zucchini from my garden, garlic, onion, tomatoes and eggplant from the farmer's market, olive oil and a bit of oregano. Sauted until tender then served over whole wheat pasta with some grated parmesan cheese.


It was wonderful. Katydid ate some as well and enjoyed it. And there is enough for my lunch tomorrow.

Making it all from scratch gave me quite a sense of accomplishment.

Tomatoe disease

Checking on the garden this afternoon, I found brown/black spots on the lower leaves of my tomatoe plants. I think it's either bacteria spot or bacteria speck. Either way both can be treated the same..at least that's what I found on the web. From the Kansas Status University Extension site:

"Copper-based fungicides, including basic copper sulfate, copper hydroxide, and copper resinate, may be effective in suppressing bacterial speck and bacterial spot. Make applications at the first sign of leaf spotting or at the time of first blossom. Continue applications at 7 to 10 day intervals."

Now to figure out if any of that is organic, and if not then what is that can help control it.

-Jen

CARROTS!!!

Yep, you guessed it. I picked my very first grown myself carrots and they were amazing. Sweet, tender, and flavorful. Carrots will definitely get a bigger space in next years garden.

What are my goals and where am I at right now.

I want to document where I'm at currently, so I can look back on it later and hopefully see how far I've went.

Being green - My desire to be more green comes from several sources.

I've always felt a certain connection with nature, but I'm not exactly the nature type. It's more that when I'm outside, even just mowing, I feel a certain calm and well being. I'm happy to be alive type of thing. So preserving that nature is important to me. Over time I've waxed and waned in my green-ness, but have decided now to make a concerted, sustained effort.

The second reason is it's scary what our Earth could become if a larger number of people don't start caring about and doing something about what impact they have on the Earth.

A desire to remove as many chemicals from my life for health reasons are another part. I am very sensitive to a number of chemicals, artificial ingredients, perservatives, etc. I also have quite a list of environmental allergies. Between the 2 I can be pretty miserable. Environmental allergies can be easily managed with allergy medication and can be reduced by exposure over time to the allergens. Not so with chemical sensitivity, the more you are exposed the worse the reaction (for me at least). Choosing green products reduces the number of chemicals exposed to myself and family. Plus it's good for the environment.

What have I done so far for being green:

• Started curbside recycling again.
  
• Using less AC that previously.
  
• I'd have it around 80-82 for me, as I tend to like warmth more than cold. However, the rest of the family doesn't feel that way, so we're working on having it at 74/76 consistently. Which is better than the 68/70 we did last year.
• Line drying the laundry.
  
• When I started this a month or so ago, everyone complained greatly about how stiff everything was. My response was if I wash it, then it is lined dried, if you wash it then you get to decide how to dry it. There is much less complaining now, but still a few "why me" looks when a towel resembles a piece of cardboard. However, Katydid, hung out laundry the other day when she did towels, a first.

Working toward simplicity
I didn't know that simple would make me happy. When I started reading blogs a few months ago, I found myself being drawn to blogs that were about living a simpler life. At the time I didn't know why. But the more I read, I found myself looking at my life differently. I even started looking at housework and cooking differently. I hate housework and cooking, so it was quite a surprise.

What I have done toward simplicity:

• Joined the pinkeep/needlecase swap at down-to-earth, to work on my sewing skills
• Using simpler/greener methods for cleaning
• Started gardening again
• Working on getting debts paid off

Coming out of the closet

So I left my blog up on Thaxiss' computer the other day. Not that I had been hiding it, but this is just in the baby stage, and it just hadn't come up. He mentioned it yesterday that he liked it, and especially me using Thaxiss for his name, as well as the name of the blog.

So it started a conversation about the changes I'm working on. The conversation really helped me think about my goals and the path I'm walking down at the moment. I think the biggest thing about my changes is the speed at which I'm moving....very, very slowly. This works for me. In the past (for lots of different things) I always tried to do big changes. Big changes are much harder to maintain.

I've gardened years ago, but when re-starting this spring, I stuck to one 4 ft by 4 ft square foot garden. It was hard, especially when thinking about all the stuff I wanted to grow. It's been successful for me, and when I think about whether a large garden would have been one, I think answer might be only partially. I have the feeling that the weeds would have been more successful.

Red Tomatoes!!!

Wednesday, July 16, I had my first red tomatoes, 2 cherry tomatoes, ugh I forget the type I planted, I'll have to look at the stake in the garden. If I would have thought about it, I could have taken a pic, but alas they went too quickly into my mouth. Should I have shared...no, I grew them and there will be plenty more the plant is bursting with green ones and still more flowers.

Why is that veggies from your own garden taste so much better? Lack of chemicals? The emotional attachment to what grew from your efforts, so fresh it's still sun warm? Probably a bit of it all.

I had quite an argument with Katydid last night. She takes looooonnnnnngggggg showers, and trying to reduce as I am I just couldn't take it any longer. Mind you I've made comments before, but never actually been upset with her. Even with a low flow shower head she is probably using close to 40-50 gallons of water per shower. YIKES! And she seemed so unconcerned about it. I suppose typical teenager response. She says that since she doesn't turn the water on all the way, she's using less, but I don't think it's going to be that much less. We decided that I would check our water meter before and after her next shower and see exactly how much she uses.