Modern Daisy Hippee

Tonight we had organic grass fed beef burgers.  That’s my first one, at least as far as I know.  Maybe back in the day when I was a young girl, that’s how they made beef.  (Well, I’m not as old as that might make me sound.)  In the more recent past, ground turkey was my choice for burgers at home.  Since I’ve chosen to go absolutely as organic as possible, I decided I’d also go with grass fed beef on the rare occasion when I eat it.

Now, it was almost $8 a pound so I only bought enough for two burgers.  I thought it was particularly good.  It seemed to taste more fresh and more like meat.  I suppose that’s not desirable for some, however when I want meat I want it to taste like meat.  OK, enough about that.  Bottom line… I’m sold.

OK, my entire purpose for blogging about organic gardening & living more naturally is to let you know it’s not that difficult, so you might be willing to give it a shot.  I’m also honest (to a fault, according to some) so I am compelled to share the challenges as well as the victories.

I’ve had issues with gnats in houseplants in the past and the only way I was able to get rid of them was to get rid of the affected plants.  Nothing else seemed to work.  I was able to save my larger plants by adding a layer of sand to the top.  Frankly, I don’t think those plants were affected yet and the sand kept the gnats out.  The sand did not work for the plants that already had gnats, hence those plants are now gone.

I had used every trick I read about.  The main thing I read that everyone seemed to agree on was apple cider vinegar in a shallow dish.  It is supposed to attract the gnats, then they drown in the liquid.  Well, it did attract them, however I must have had super smart gnats because they just hung out around the edge, for the most part.  So, I decided to put the vinegar in a small mason jar, hoping they would at least go inside the jar and every once in a while I could put the lid on to catch the ones inside.  That worked a bit better.  Still, some just hang out on the rim or even the outside of the jar.  I finally gave up on saving those plants & took them outside to get the gnats out.  Once I did that, they finally disappeared.

Now, I have these little brown gnats.  I’m pretty sure those originated in the indoor compost bucket.  I don’t actually let it compost inside.  It’s just where I collect scraps to take outside later.  When I first started doing that, I was surprised that I had no issues with odors or any type of bugs and I wasn’t even covering the bucket.  I’ve deduced that the gnat problem originated with banana peels.  I strongly recommend you just take those straight to the outdoor compost bin.  You might want to do that with any fruit scraps.  I also realized that covering the bucket is a very bad idea.  It seals in the moisture too much and causes the problems I didn’t have before, especially odor.  If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.  I believe that may have perpetuated the gnat issue as well.

So, now I cleaned the bucket out and left it outside to eliminate that attracting them.  I also put a jar of vinegar out on the counter in an attempt to trap the remaining gnats.  That’s not working any better than it did in the past and requires manually trapping them inside.  In fact, I think these brown gnats are even more intelligent, staying closer to the outside of the jar and very fast.  I keep thinking I’ve gotten them all, then three or four more come from out of nowhere.  Actually, I think I’ve only seen one today… crossing my fingers.

OK, I’ve never been considered a “tree-hugger”. Still, this is the only planet we have so it really is important to take care of it. We have been pillaging the Earth far too long. It’s time to give something back!

I mean that literally. Instead of dumping food scraps into a landfill, compost those scraps and turn them into fertile soil that supports the growth of natural plants. Many people incorrectly assume that these food scraps will readily biodegrade and turn back into soil, even in a landfill. Sure, that may happen eventually. However, the conditions are not optimal and it happens too slowly. Common sense would clue you in that it isn’t going to be very effective when all these items are trapped inside plastic garbage bags.

You might think composting sounds like too much trouble. Well, first of all, it won’t seem like so much trouble when our world is so full of trash we don’t have room to live anymore. That might seem like an exaggeration, yet the reality is that there is a limit to the amount of space we have. We generate a tremendous amount of trash as it is. If there is one simple thing you can do to cut down on it, while also regenerating fertile earth, why not do it?

Once I started composting my kitchen scraps, I realized how much it cut down on my trash. I was amazed and sad that I hadn’t realized it earlier. So much food had literally gone to waste. Some of it was inedible parts, although a good portion was food that had gone bad because it wasn’t eaten quickly enough.

I also found out that you can include all kinds of non-food items in your compost and they actually help the process. That eliminates other waste that isn’t going to the landfill. The best example is paper. Instead of tossing your shredded paper and egg cartons, you can add it to your compost bin. Just avoid the shiny colored paper.

I happen to live in a dry desert, with clay earth and I like to garden. Composting is essential for gardening here so I don’t have to buy fertile soil. I was determined to figure out how to do it. However, many things I read stated that you can’t compost in the desert because it’s too dry here. After some trial and error, I’ve found that’s simply not true. The trick is to keep the composting materials enclosed enough to maintain moisture. A composting bin with too much ventilation will not work as well here.

I believe my method will work anywhere. It’s simple and it’s super cheap.

First, I’ll give you the “rules” of composting. Some people complicate these way too much. My version is simple and it’s really all you need to know.

1. No meat or fat in your compost. This will make it smell bad and I don’t think it degrades as much.
2. No shiny, colored paper. This has stuff in it you don’t want in your soil. (Don’t burn this stuff either.)
3. Maintain moisture in your outdoor composting container. Keep it “spongy”, not soaked and not dried out.

That’s it for the absolutes. Everything else is pretty flexible.

I have an indoor compost materials collection bucket in the kitchen. I simply use a clean 5 gallon bucket, lined with newspaper to absorb any moisture. If I have shredded paper, I’ll add that in the bottom as well. I just toss my kitchen scraps in. I don’t use a lid, although you could if you want to. I haven’t had any issues with odor. Although I have had issues with gnats. Just make sure you empty the bucket frequently. Dump it, newspaper and all, into the outdoor container.

Here’s the process for the outdoor compost containers.

1. Get a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. I have several. The lid is required in dry areas, maybe not in others.
2. Drill some aeration holes in the lid. Don’t go overboard, especially in a dry area.
3. Put your composting materials into the bucket, mix it up a bit and moisten it with water.
4. Put the lid on.
5. Maybe mix it occasionally & check the moisture once in a while.

Your compost will be ready more quickly if you mix it up every day or every couple days. You can roll the bucket (as long as the lid is tight fitting) or open it up & mix it with a small pitchfork or similar tool. You could even mix it by dumping it out, mixing it with a shovel, then shoveling it back into the bucket. Mixing is not required. it just speeds up the process. As the materials decompose, they will compact and take up less space. You can continue to add materials to the same bucket to fill it up or use a new bucket for each batch.

Some instructions for composting tell you to have proportional amounts of brown and green materials. That really doesn’t matter too much. Use what you have available. It will all break down eventually. If you have a lot of dry materials, you might want to set it aside and use a small portion of it for each bucket of scraps to keep the process from slowing down too much.

Composting is really simple, cheap and great for the planet. It’s great for your garden too!

Actually, it’s been planted for a while now.  I got a pretty good start this year.  Still, I’m realizing I can plant the cool weather plants much earlier here.  It rarely freezes!

I’ve gotten a bunch of radishes already.  I’m letting some of them go to seed, just to see how it works.  I’ll still have to do a little research on that.  I made some radish green pesto, which was delicious.  I also used the radishes to make a modified version of my Grandma’s potato salad for a family get together last weekend.  My modifications did not do it justice.  It was pretty bland.  It was my first attempt though.

Anyway, most everything in the garden is doing fairly well.  The tomatoes and peppers are not doing as well as I’d like, although one tomato plant is starting to get one or two small tomatoes.  All the plants are still very small.  The peas and beans are a bit sparse.  That’s something I probably need to plant earlier.  I’m also not getting much spinach very quickly.  I think that also does not do well in the heat.  So far, those things are doing alright though.  It’s been a little cooler than normal lately though, so I’m sure that’s why.  I’m working out a way to make some shade structures for those plots.  Maybe that will give me a little more time.

It even looks like my potatoes are starting to grow.  I did it the lazy way because I’ve heard it’s worked for other people.  I just buried the seed chunks and let them grow instead of filling in the dirt on top as they grow.  I dug around in there the other day to see if there were any new potatoes to harvest and after that, the sprouts started coming up like crazy.  I’m not sure if it’s related or coincidental.

I definitely need to stagger the plantings more next time.  It seems like all the root crops are about ready now.  Well, except the onions.  Those seem to be taking forever.  I guess they are a bit slower.  So, really it’s just radishes, beets and turnips.  The greens are mad crazy.  I don’t know what I’m going to do with all of them!

At least I’ll be getting a decent harvest this year.  I need to start digging up some recipes to use everything though.  Hopefully it won’t all be ready at the same time.  I might have to do some freezing!

It’s still a learning experience.  This is the best way for me though…  hands on.  Besides it’s more fun that way

I’m growing radishes and while I was looking up recipes for how to use them, I came across one for radish leaf pesto.  I was wondering if the greens were edible anyway, so it was cool to find this recipe.  I was skeptical about how it would taste because pesto is usually made with basil and I LOVE basil.  I couldn’t imagine radish leaves could compete.

Well, I was sure wrong.  I used pine nuts and grapeseed oil with a bit of salt, blended it together with some radish leaves and presto…  pesto!  (I know, that was totally corny.  I just couldn’t help myself.)  The original recipe I came across used hazelnuts and some other things I didn’t use.  It’s plenty yummy the way I did it.  Grapeseed oil was suggested to avoid the bitterness of olive oil when it’s put in the blender.

I was just happy to know I can use the greens from the radishes.  I don’t like to waste things.  And, the garden can be a bit of work.  It’s awesome to find ways to use what I grow that are so great!  Now I just need to find something as wonderful to do with the radishes!

I had to share this story my boyfriend just shared with me about his trip to the grocery store with his friend.  His friend was getting some turkey from the deli and requested Boars Head.  The girl at the deli counter asked him if he was sure that’s what he wanted because it had no preservatives in it & would only last about three days in the refrigerator.

The key point here is that she asked if he was sure he wanted something that was JUST FOOD.  Ironic, right?  It usually seems like we have to search for items with no preservatives and that would be the “selling point”.  This girl thought it was a bad thing.

Interesting to see where our culture is.

Well, I had to start over with my starter.  I forgot about it for a couple of days and it grew fuzzy mold.  I’m on Day 10 of my second batches.  I made sure to put the glass jars someplace where I can see them more easily.  That way I’m less likely to forget about them.  I also thought about setting an alarm on my calendar.  I’m finding that unnecessary now though with where I put them.

I’m doing one with whole wheat flour and one with buckwheat.  I had thought I was overfeeding it by adding 2 Tb of water & flour, so cut it back to 1 Tb.  I just realized that was a mistake.  I also hadn’t been discarding any because I wanted it to build up.  Well, now I realize I’m supposed to be essentially doubling it (or close to it) at each feeding otherwise it may not work properly.

I assume as a result of that, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot happening with the buckwheat flour.  The wheat flour has been bubbly for a while now though.  I’m not sure if that’s because I thought I was actually under feeding it or it’s just taking longer.  It reacted right away the last time.

Today I took out some of the buckwheat starter & fed it properly.  I also took off the top layer of the wheat starter & fed it.  We’ll see what happens.

Clearly, I have no idea what I’m doing.  I’m in the trial and error phase of learning how to do this.  That’s fine because that’s how I like to learn things.  Hands on is the way to go!

Some people treat their cars better than they treat their bodies. You learn about how to take care of your car so it keeps working to get you around. You need to maintain it by having certain services performed periodically. This keeps the parts working properly and usually prevents major problems. You need to use the proper fuel for it to run. It won’t run if you just cram any old thing into the gas tank.

Your body is the vehicle that takes you through your life. It’s the only one you have. You aren’t able to go out and get a new one if the one you have stops working. The condition of your body also contributes to the quality of your life. If your body is not well maintained, it will not perform well and may not be able to take you everywhere you’d like to go. If it is maintained in optimum condition, you’ll have the energy and stamina to do much more.

Of course, most of us do the most basic upkeep of our “vehicle”, keeping it clean by using routine basic hygiene. Most of us do NOT give much thought to the products we use for this though. At least not in terms of how healthy or unhealthy it is. I’ve learned that most personal care products in the U.S. commonly contain ingredients that are banned in Europe. Apparently Europe has more stringent standards for deciding if products are “safe” than we do here in the U.S.

I suppose most of us figure we’re putting that stuff on the outside of our bodies, so what’s in it doesn’t matter as much as the things we put inside our bodies. We may think that if it doesn’t visibly harm our skin, it’s ok. Consider this though. Our skin is actually an organ and absorbs into our body, at least some of what we expose it to. It stands to reason that it would absorb into our body a significant amount of the things we rub onto it and into it every day. Some people say that if you wouldn’t eat it, don’t use it on your body. I tend to agree with that concept.

Obviously, what you are literally putting INSIDE your body is the fuel you use. If you want your body to function optimally, you’ll want to use optimum food. To me, what is truly healthy is REAL food. That means the way nature made it, as close to natural as possible. There are lots of things that are put into lots of our “food” products that are not, in my opinion and that of others, not actually food.

Dig a little deeper when you’re checking out the ingredients listed on some of the processed foods you use to find out what they actually are. (Better yet, stay away from those processed “foods”).  Some of those unrecognizable ingredients are controversial and suspected of dangers, to put it mildly.  Of course, with the whole food, I also believe organic is healthier. Not because it contains more nutrients, which it may. Instead it is because of what it does NOT contain… chemicals.

Watch out for words and phrases listed on the front of a package. Some may be misleading…  like “natural”. It really doesn’t mean anything, at least not at this time. Look at the ingredient list to find out what is really in the product. Another term to look out for is “natural flavors”. What does that mean anyway? I’ve learned that it could mean the product contains MSG, which is one of those controversial ingredients for a variety of reasons (which are far too extensive to go into here).

The bottom line is that your body is your vehicle for life. The way you treat it will be reflected in the way it treats you. Educate yourself about the things you choose to put in, on and around your body. Create extraordinary health to support you in creating your extraordinary life!!!

Have a beautiful day!

I’m on a mission to eat more naturally and get all artificial food additives out of my diet.  One of the most difficult types of products to do this with is breads, so I’ve been practicing with making my own.  When I was looking up recipes for English muffins, I found some that called for sourdough starter.  I already knew you could make sourdough starter because I knew someone a long time ago who did that.  So, I looked up how.

As usually happens, when I start something new, that lead me down another path.  I found several recipes or instructions on how to do this.  Some were more complicated than necessary.  I wound up simply mixing a small amount of buckwheat flour with an equal amount of water.  The simplest instructions I found called for rye flour.  I used buckwheat because I had that & didn’t have rye.  It seemed to be working.  I forgot about it for a couple of days and wound up throwing it out.

Now I’m starting over with more buckwheat flour and a second batch just using whole wheat flour.

Here’s the recipe:

2 Tb. flour

2 Tb. water

Mix in a glass container.  Cover loosely.  Feed every 24 hours.

“Feed” just means to add in another 1 Tb. of flour & 1 Tb. water, mix & cover loosely again.

I’ll get into more of the details as I go through the process.  Today is Day 2.  Apparently the starter will be usable in about a week.

Step One to getting my body back!!!

I cleaned out my pantry to purge any “bad” foods.  Mainly I’m looking at “toxic” additives.  Ideally, I’m looking to keep only foods that are whole or close to whole.  I want some convenience, so I’m not eliminating canned and packaged products altogether.

As it turns out, the pantry wasn’t too bad.  I had some crackers that, of course, had partially hydrogenated oil in them.  The surprise is that refried beans also have partially hydrogenated oil.  I’m not a big fan of refried beans anymore, however I used to eat bean burritos all the time.  They were convenient and I thought, healthy.  That just goes to show you that you don’t know what you don’t know.  Anyone can think they’re eating healthy and not be.  I’m thinking of all the bean burritos I’ve eaten and how that translates to the amount of partially hydrogenated oil I’ve consumed in my life.  Of course, I’ve eaten many other things that I’d consider pseudo-food because of this ingredient.

I have pretzels and dried fruits in my pantry also.  These were intended as healthy snacks.  I thought I’d find additives that are unacceptable by my new “whole” standards.  I was happy to find that they really aren’t too bad.  Especially the “Craisins”, which I love…  just cranberries and sugar!  Yippee!!!  I can still have those with no concerns.

Canned chicken broth is not ideal.  As it turns out, there’s a bunch of sugar in it.  In fact, it’s listed several different ways…  sugar, dextrose, etc.  Swanson’s adds claim there is no MSG in their chicken broth, however there is something listed as “chicken flavor”.  I don’t know what that means.  Usually when a label lists “natural flavor” or something along those lines, to my knowledge, it’s the same as MSG.  So, that’s a little perplexing and I’m going to look into it further.

The instant oatmeal isn’t too bad, however I want to use more whole products, so I’m getting rid of the last few packages of that.  The granola and breakfast bars are also going.  Some have partially hydrogenated oils, so that’s a no brainer as far as I’m concerned.  Others just have lots of sugar and other non-whole stuff.

So, if you’re wondering what the big deal is about “partially hydrogenated” stuff, I’ll write a separate post about that & link to it from here when it’s done.  For now, I’ll just say it’s what you might call a “pseudo” food and not “whole”.  The chemical structure of it is not compatible with our bodies.  It essentially becomes toxic.  Unfortunately, it’s in a LOT of stuff.