Hatching Bunnies Farms Bulk order

I was tipped off to another local organic/heirloom plant grower who has some tomato, tomatillo, eggplant, basil and pepper plants available right now, Hatching Bunnies Farms. They will have  cucumbers, summer squashes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, okra, and melons by mid to late March. They plant them in composted cow manure pots that you plant directly into the soil. I am trying to get a group order together for a discount so let me know if you are interested. Email me directly and I will send you a flier about what tomatoes and peppers are available. The price is $3 for the 3" size, $4 for the 4" size and $6 for the gallon size. If we get a good order together, there will be a discount. 

Thanks! Happy gardening!

Sweet Corn Organic Nursery

If you are looking for some great, organic, safe seeds; check out Sweet Corn. They have plants, seeds, fertilizer and soil amendments and best of all, all kinds of tips! You can even email them with your questions. They sell their seeds and some plants at the Orange Patch in Mesa and The Guadalupe farmers market in Gilbert. 


If you go to their website and click on the "free seeds" link up top, you can get a packet of seeds mailed to you by liking them on FB or signing up for their email newsletter. My new garden is going to be a total heirloom/organic garden. I am so thankful for companies like them who are dedicated to providing us with safe seeds. Hooray for them!

Spring and Spanish Rice.

     If I have a spare moment, I am usually out in the yard; soaking in the green and growing. This time in AZ is amazing. I am in love with my garden and beyond thankful for my greens. I can't hardly wait for my second garden to be finished. We squeezed 80 cubic feet more of growing power into my backyard farm. Yipee!

     Just look at that beautiful celery! It just makes me happy to see things grow. I can hardly wait for my peaches to be ready to munch. Things are looking good for this years crop! Let's not forget to appreciate what the girls have been doing for me in the backyard:

Muchos Gracias!

     Enough bragging. I hope you are all getting ready to set out some summer plants. It will make you happy too. I bought some wonderful organic fertilizer from the Backyard Farmer that perked my garden up almost instantly. He uses a product from Bluebonnet feed that you can get online or from him in about 3 weeks. If you haven't checked him out, please do! He carries grains and beans, local honey, eggs, meats, produce, chicken feed and grains, local Olive oil and storage containers. If he only carried toilet paper , I would get all my shopping done with him! He delivers every Wednesday. Click here to get to his website. 

     I have particularly been enjoying his fresh dried pinto beans. The beans you get in the store are who knows how old. His are this years crop. They are creamy and delicious. We have been eating them a lot! The other day I made some great Spanish rice that turned out better than any I have made before. I have never really loved any Spanish rice recipe I have tried or created before this. This was good. I want to try it with brown Basmati rice. I just used some Jasmine rice this time but the brown would be great. 

    These night time pictures always turn out yellowy but you get the idea. The beans are tossed in some Frontera red enchilada sauce; free of preservatives. The sweet organic corn (from Costco), is stir fried very quickly in some Mexican lime olive oil from The Olive Mill. AMAZING flavor! The smell is to die for! Add a little cilantro, tomatoes, green onion and lettuce, and you have a fine meal. 

     Enjoy your weekend! Try out the rice. I am not sure where I got this recipe (again) but I didn't change much of it. Delicious! 

2 T. coconut oil or olive oil of choice

1 C. uncooked rice

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 bell pepper chopped

2 cups water

10 ounces diced tomatoes

4 ounces green chili

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

Heat oil and saute onion, pepper and rice until rice is golden and onion soft. Watch carefully not to burn! Use medium heat. 

Stir in water, tomatoes, chili and seasoning. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is done. Add more liquid if needed. 

Supplement order this Friday.

I am placing a supplement and oil order this Friday at noon. Email me if you need something or want to try out the allergy pills! 


$15 for the chewables and
$34 for the capsules

"Typical"

     When Tate was first diagnosed at the age of two with Autism, I had a goal.  I would "fix" him by the age of 6 and he would be in a "typical" kindergarten. Now he is 7 and my perspective is very different. I had his best interests at heart. I wanted him to be able to have a happy life, one not so complicated as our path suggested. The word "typical" doesn't hold purpose anymore. In fact, I would much rather my children be "A-typical".

     What does "typical" even mean, really? Do we want to fit into a certain mold? Do we want to be the same? Do we try too hard to have our children mainstreamed into a certain common thread? Why? 

     I read a fabulous article about some famous people who were all speculated to have some form of Autism. People who have changed the world. The article praised these brilliant minds and said that if we didn't have these special, "A-typical" minds in this world, we would be missing out on so many amazing inventions. Many speculate that Einstein was autistic. He didn't even speak until he was 4. We all know how brilliant he was.

     My desire for Tate is for him to be happy and to not be held back from anything he wants in life because of Autism. We have peeled back those layers through food and natural medicine so that he can function just like the rest of us. He isn't in a foggy world where sensory issues prohibit a happy life. That is a very important goal that everyone with an autistic child should have. It can happen. Tate is not like everyone else. Thank goodness. He is special. He is happy. He is creative. He loves life. I celebrate that he isn't "typical". It is perfectly normal for him to be hunting our cat in the back yard with a Batman mask on and no pants. 

     I had a conversation with a friend about her sweet son who is not like other kids his age. He doesn't have any syndromes or diagnosis. He is brilliant. He is creative. He is different and special and amazing. She worries about him because she wants him to fit in and to do well in school. I love this little boy. He is so sweet to Tate and they have a special spiritual connection. I told her how wonderful it was that he was not like the other kids. We need these different and creative minds. We need to celebrate them and let them be individuals without a mold to fit in.

    It is hard to parent these little minds. It's hard when we don't understand how they work or what is going on inside of them. We need to not worry about what is normal and to place more focus on raising children who love life and contribute to it in some way. Children that are happy and productive. If they are happy, everything else will fall into place.

     If a certain type of teaching isn't working; if a technique isn't applying well; try to change courses to see what will. All minds are different. 

     As parents we need to do all we can to help our little ones minds to be clear and focused. That takes health and nutrition and patience. But, when we can clear that path or even when we are in the process of clearing that path, we need to let them be who they are. We need to not worry. Who really wants to be "typical". How boring would that world be. 

   Oh how I love my little "A-typical" minds. 

Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes.

     I just felt good after eating this vegetarian meal. It was filling and light. This was a real basic chili that complimented the sweetness of the sweet potato. I found this simple recipe on a wonderful website called The Sprouted Kitchen. There are so many great recipes on that blog. You can link to them on my sidebar. I had someone email me what vegetarian cookbook I would recommend and being that I can't find that email to respond (seems to be my theme right now), I will tell you all....I don't really buy cookbooks anymore. Why, When you can google everything under the sun? I simply type in whatever I am interested in cooking or a general "vegetarian recipe" search and millions pop up. I look for sites that have reviews so I can see what others are saying about the recipe. If they get good reviews, I will try it out. All Recipes is a great site. They get lots of feedback. Read the reviews because other cooks tell what they did to change the recipe.  I have a binder with plastic sheets and I print them, put them in the sheets and they are all in catergories. It is the best cookbook I have! I don't keep them if they aren't winners. 

There you go.

     Try out this recipe. You can change it up anyway you want but I liked that it was really basic. Sometimes I just like to taste simple ingredients not overpowered by spice.

 Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

4 medium sweet potatoes

1/2 lb dried pinto beans or beans of choice, soaked overnight

2 tsp. Olive oil

1 yellow onion

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 T. chili powder

1 t. cumin

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1 t. salt, or more as desired

28  oz, crushed or diced tomatoes

Cilantro, onion, avocado, sour cream, etc. as desired

I doubled this but this recipe above serves about 4.

Preheat oven to 400. Pierce sweet potato and bake for about 40-45 minutes or until tender.Be careful to not overcook! I did. Mine were smaller and were done in 30 minutes.

Cook soaked beans according to directions. Soaked beans will usually cook in under an hour or about 20 in a pressure cooker. You can also used canned beans. 

Slice onion thinly. Over medium heat, warm the olive oil and add the onions and garlic until softened. Add the spices and tomatoes. If the tomatoes are diced or whole, smash them up or blend them. Bring to a simmer and reduce for about 20 minutes. When the beans are done, drain and add to the tomato mixture. Taste for salt and spices to see if you need more flavor. Adjust accordingly. Let simmer another 10-20 minutes for beans to soak in flavor.

Split sweet potato down the middle and fill with chili. Top with optional ingredients. 

***To make things go quicker in my house, I cook beans in bulk and freeze in 2 cup increments. This is a huge time saver since I don't want canned beans. If you are as lucky as I am, you got your fresh dried pinto beans from The Backyard Farmer! Totally spoiled!

It's Planting time!

     It's that time of year again where I put out the plug for home gardening. It is warm enough here in AZ now to get the soil ready and begin the planting. If you have paid attention at all to what is going on with Monsanto and the seeds they are producing, you understand why it is so important that we grow plants ourselves. Monsanto is in it for the money. Completely. They are taking our seeds and corrupting them with pesticides so that all the seeds now become toxic. They are slowly buying out seed companies right and left and soon will be the only company out there. They are shutting down family farms with law suits and corruption. The head of Monsanto was appointed to the FDA by our own Obama. What a perfect marriage for Monsanto. 


     I don't know about you, but this doesn't sit well with me. I want safe food. It is bad enough that our water has junk in it, but I want to start with good, healthy seeds left as God made them. You need to buy heirloom plants. You can use seeds from heirloom plants to grow new plants. It just takes a little dedication. There may be a time that the only way we are safe is if we grow it ourselves. That time seems eerily close. 


     If you only have a small space, get a small planter. Grow one thing if you have to. If I had to pick one thing, I would grow collards or kale. It grows easily and abundantly and is such an amazing food for our bodies. We pick leaves daily for our smoothies. If that is all you had for your greens, you would be blessed. 


     I am adding another 56 square feet of garden tomorrow. I have a large garden on the west side of my house that doesn't get enough sun. I never thought about building a raised planter along my North fence line but the sun is perfect. I can hardly wait to have it up and running. My pepper plants are going to be so happy there! If all you have is an area that gets little sun, you can still grow some leafy greens. Mine do very well in my shady spots. The broccoli does not! Watch your yard for a day to see where your sun is. You want at least 6 hours per day. You can buy pots and stick them in various sunny locations if you have to. I am to the point now where I care more about what I can produce on my land then what the landscape looks like. It can be pretty if it is taken care of. I would much rather have a plant giving me food than a bush giving me flowers. 


     I had a great meeting with some wonderful women last night. They are all trying so hard to change their lives and help their children. There wasn't one of us in the group that was without struggles. We all had children that require extra help through nutrition. Our food matters so much. It costs extra to be healthy. However, you will always save in the long run. My kids haven't been to the Dr. for illness for at least 7 years, no lie. Food is the best medicine. 


Grow something. It does the body good.


Click on my "gardening" label to the right to get more gardening tips.

Charlie's soap powder

With a big family which includes lots of stinky boys, I go through lots of laundry soap. I shy away from the chemical filled soaps so that means it is a little pricier to do the laundry. 

I read about Charlie's Soap and am super impressed. You can get 1000 loads for $105 bucks. No residue. No chemicals. The best part is that it really cleans. This is a great year supply item to have on hand.

Here is info from their website:

Biodegradable Laundry Powder

Charlie's Soap Laundry Powder is a laundry detergent originally developed for use in textile quality control labs.

Charlie's Soap is truly the answer to getting the cleanest clothes with the biggest savings while at the same time caring for the environment.

Charlie's Soap Laundry Powder is a clear, scent-free laundry powder that cleans thoroughly, rinses completely, and leaves nothing behind but the sweet smell of clean.

Here are just a few of the benefits of using Charlie's Soap

• Only use one (1) tablespoon per large load!
• Safe for all HE machines.
• Softeners are not recommended or needed. That means even greater savings on your laundry!
• Non-toxic & completely biodegradable.
• Safe and effective for all fabrics, including silk, wool, linen, cotton and high-tech micro fibers.
• Contains no clays, dyes, phosphates, ultraviolet brighteners or perfumes.
• Will not fade your colors.
• Removes entrapped odors from athletic wear.

Some stores in the valley do carry it if you go to their website and type in your zip code. They also carry natural cleaners as well.