First day in the garden

Sunday was a pretty nice day and it was my target date for starting to get the garden in order and maybe planting a few seeds in cold weather protection.

So this is what the garden has looked like in the last few weeks/months

<-------- That's our compost pile

<-------- Not to be confused with the honey pile






  And

The garden plot is 20 x 8 ------------------->

As you can see lots of leaves and dead plants from last year, but not for long!




We unraveled the compost and managed to spread it across the space of the garden. It took a while but not as long as I would have thought considering it was all of the veggie scraps and garden clippings since the fall - yikes!

In Bed #1 I planted greens. I think I am a bit late in the game but it's worth a try. There are 4 different variety of lettuces: Red Romaine, Romaine, Black Seeded Simpson and Green Oak, our beloved Collards and some Chard sprinkled about. I tried to pack it in nicely to keep the weeds out and ground moist.

The next bed (Bed #2) has more fragile seeds and therefore has a greenhouse. I am crossing my fingers that the seeds do OK. I planted a lot of seeds of each variety with the hopes that the hardy ones would reign supreme - one can dream right!

Here we have: Ugly Tomatoes, Purple Peppers, Roma Tomatoes, Yellow Peppers, Eggplants, Banana Peppers, Brandywine Tomatoes, Beefsteak Tomatoes, Black Krim Tomatoes, Oxheart Tomatoes... Oh yeah and since this year I am trying my hand at companion gardening there are also Cosmos, Zinnias, Sunflowers and Wildflowers mixed in. I'm crossing my fingers that the 20 degree nights we've had won't be too horrible.

On to Bed #3. This is our squash bed...

Remember the two greenhouses I was so excited about, well I only had one of them in the box. So I improvised with all the jugs and bottles I could find. Good luck in a household that doesn't drink bottled water, milk by the gallon or soda. I made do and we have Cucumbers, Zucchinis, Butternut Squashes, Spaghetti Squashes and Calabazas. I also want to plant companions, maybe more Sunflowers, some Nasturtium and Tansy.

I've been reading this book and learning a lot about companions - it makes me love bugs!

I definitely want to include more red and blue flowers in the vegetable garden to attract the beneficial insects and hummingbirds. Jared saw one in one of our sunflowers last year and now it's a mission to get it back.

This is what the garden looks like now

Bed #4 has a couple of Chards popping up which is great, that bed is still TBD we have lots of seeds yet we just need to figure out what to put in there.



If I don't see anything popping up by mid April then I will go and plant my lovelies again. Hopefully I'll also have that second greenhouse by then.

Jared is also starting an allium garden and a curry garden - how cool is that. We may need to reseed but since these are seeds in our pantry it's not a big deal. Also all of the seeds I used were either from produce we ate, like the yellow and purple peppers or seeds that friends gave us like the cucumbers and zucchinis. Some of the seeds are from last year so I hope they do OK.

I guess we'll know soon enough!

i < 3 amazon.com

Yes, I do, I really do love Amazon. Every couple of weeks there will be a little treasure trove shoved into my mailbox or sitting waiting for me on my front step. Who doesn't get a secret thrill out of purchasing items solely for their FREE Super Saver Shipping status? I know I do...

and now it's even better. I've discovered the Subscribe & Save option. They will ship your favorite items (or at least those in the program) automatically every month or two or three. In addition to the auto-ship service you get free shipping and 15% off of the price. Woo Hoo! I was able to get 14oz Zico coconut water for $1.76 a bottle, the least I have paid for it is $1.99 a bottle. These will be coming on a monthly basis. I can't wait - I've been using the coconut water in my morning smoothies and as a little pick me up.

I also picked up Raw Revolution 100 calorie snack bars for $.53 each - you can't go wrong with that. Those will be coming every two months.

The bars are really yummy and perfect for those days I don't have a snack with me and don't feel like going out or putting something together. They are also little life savers when I'm at an event that has food I won't eat. I just pop one or two and I'm good to go.

Until next time!

Recipe of the Month: Sprout Pate

I know you have all be anxiously awaiting my next recipe, especially since I totally missed February. I know, bad - I was too busy celebrating the one year anniversary of From Sprouts to Supper, yee haw!!

I've been busy sprouting, yes, you read that right. How can we be From Sprouts to Supper without any sprouts! So in honor of our first year under the belt here's a sprouty recipe.

Sprout Pate

Ingredients

Organic Sunflower Sprouts, 1 cup*
Organic French Green Lentil Sprouts, 1 cup**
1/4 Red Onion - optional
Juice and Zest of 1 Lemon (I like to use organic lemons if I am zesting or juicing)
3 Carrots
Fresh Parlsey, 1/4 cup
Ginger - about a thumb tip size
Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar 2 capfuls
Salt, 1 tsp
Cabbage, 2 Leaves
Mushrooms, 4 - 6  (I used Baby Bellas)
Tahini or EFA*** oil blend, 1 - 2 tbsp

Directions

Put everything in the food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Great in salads or as a green leaf wrap filling. If you want to get adventurous put it in the dehydrator. I might do that tonight to see what kind of burger I get tomorrow!

*Soak organic raw sunflowers seeds for 8- 10 hours (I like to do it overnight) in a jar. Drain and put a cheesecloth over the mouth of the jar and secure with a rubberband. Rinse in the morning and the evening for about 5 days and you will have spicy lovely sunflowers seed sprouts. You will need to pick out the hulls every day as they can get a bit nasty if you leave them in.
**Soak organic whole lentils (split will not germinate!) for 10 hours or overnight. follow same instructions for sunflower greens. I noticed the hulls are not as much of an issue with the lentils
***EFA is an essential fatty acid oil blend of 8 parts hemp seed oil, 1 part flax oil and 1 part pumpkin seed oil. SO that comes to 1 cup of hemp seed oil and a tbsp of flax oil and a tbsp of pumpkin oil

Signs of Spring!

Although it's snowing in Metuchen right now, yesterday I was able to snap a few pics of the first sign of spring -

CROCUSES!

Yes boys and girls our first Crocuses are peeking through. This warms my heart especially during such a long snowy winter.

Crocuses are really cute little flowers. If it wasn't such a pain to plant them I would have them covering our front yard. Since most need sunny spots, we would have to plant them in the backyard instead and that's already been done for us. Our larger patch in the backyard still hasn't come up but when it does I am hoping it's bigger and better than last year.

Juice, Juice... Baby

Got my juicer - woo hoo! It came last night. Jared got chef's choice so we did: collards, carrots and a yellow apple. I thought the greens were going to be tough to juice but I added them followed immediately by carrots or pieces of apple and they went through beautifully!

Having the juicer is also a no-waste system. I took the pulp, added about 1/4 cup each of ground flaxseed and water then mixed it together. I put the mixture flattened into the dehydrator overnight and viola! I woke up to wraps that I was able to use for breakfast and lunch.

How cool is that! I don't think our co-op is going to have enough fruits and veggies for us, good thing we'll have our garden going this year!

Not recommended for Pregnant Women or Nursing Monthers

You see those warnings a lot. When I saw my neighbor who is pregnant, and looks great by the way, it got me thinking.

Source: http://www.magnetstreet.com/baby-blog/2009/03/

If it's not safe for a developing fetus or an infant is that something you really want to ingest? Now I'm not talking about cigarettes and alcohol. I mean let's face it, they aren't exactly good for anyone. Cigarettes definitely and alcohol, well 1 glass a day can be tough and it works against you if you have your 7 glasses in one night - believe me I know!

And I'm not talking about Pthalates even though they are all the rage now. They are found in plastics, mostly the soft pliable kind. They can also be found in the air, not much you can do about that since you have to breathe. They do affect developing fetuses, causing male babies to be born with small genitalia.

Source: http://specialedjames.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html

Here's a quote from our friends at the Environmental Working Group (EWG)

Phthalates have been found to disrupt the endocrine system. Several phthalate compounds have caused reduced sperm counts, testicular atrophy and structural abnormalities in the reproductive systems of male test animals, and some studies also link phthalates to liver cancer, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control’s 2005 National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals. Though the CDC contends the health hazards of phthalates to humans have not been definitively established, for some years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has regulated phthalates as water and air pollutants.

I'm talking about food and cosmetics.

Pregnant women are told to avoid a laundry list of foods because of contamination (mercury in fish & seafood), bacteria and paraiste risks (rare beef, chicken, pork, raw dairy & soft cheese) and because of chemical exposure (cosmetics).

Do you really want to eat things that can compromise the development of a human being? I don't want to consume foods that are contaminated with mercury for my own safety, same goes for foods that are not cooked properly that can kill me.

The chemical exposure is what always strikes me. We have no problem coloring our hair and going to the nail salon, but when you are pregnant it's recommended you don't color your hair and I have a friend who is a manicurist that couldn't work while she was pregnant.

Source: http://www.beautyschools.edu/Beauty_School_Curriculum/Cosmetology_Program_And_Education

What does that mean for us? It's been found that a newborn is born with about 300 different chemicals in it's system. For those of you that are vegan and organic that number is lower. Chemicals are found in breast milk too. The scary thing is that of the 80,000 or so chemicals out there only a fraction have actually been tested for human safety. That means that WE are the guinea pigs for those chemicals. As it was explained to me by a chemist, tests do not have to be conducted if the chemicals are generally assumed to be safe. What is not taken into account is that there can be interactions between other safe chemicals that can lead to a not so safe situation. Think of your two best friends and they each have on their favorite perfume. On their own it's great but put them together in a small space and yikes!

Now a days there are plenty of alternatives and I encourage people to seek them out. Eating a plant-based diet* that includes the organic version of the dirty dozen and using skincare products that don't contain parabens and other harmful chemicals will help reduce your exposure to chemicals in the long run (check out the Skin Deep: Cosmetics Database to find the right product for you).  If only cleaning the air and the water was that easy...


*The new GMO alfalfa that's been approved by the USDA raises the risk of contamination into organic animal feed

This is So Sad...

This just in:

Headline on the Organic Consumers Association Website:

The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: What Now? 
click here for the entire article

Looks like times are a changing when Whole Foods, Organic Valley and Stoneyfield - the trifecta of organics - decide that they will call a truce with Monsanto and GMO crops, specifically the highly contested alfalfa crop.