Non GMO, organic corn.

I received an email from a friend that I have to pass on. It is hard to find non-gmo, organic corn. You can go grab yourself some right here in Gilbert. Here is the info in case you are interested:

Hi everyone,

Our first pick of home grown sweet corn is on and ready to sell.

NO PESTICIDES - NO HERBICIDES - NON-GMO

(translation:  lots of hard hand labor)

We pick the ears and snip the silks for you, fresh.  

$5 per dozen.  

Days & Times:

    Wed (20th), Thur, Fri:  5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

    Sat: (23rd)  6:00 am - 9:00 am & 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

You can arrange to pick up 2 dozen or more at other times - Call 

Nolan's cell at 480-577-3967.

Grown and sold at:

Butlers

16510 E. Fairview St.

Gilbert, AZ  85295

You'll like this variety called Sweetie 82, a popular 

supersweet hybrid.

Nolan and Betty Butler

480-577-3967

Garden Wars

It's me vs. them right now. Aphids. It is inevitable that they come to attack. You have to be ready. You need to be armed and you need to be diligent. I get them when the plants are getting towards the end of production but I want to milk every last fruit I can. Right now the aphids are plentiful. I turned my back for a couple days and bam! The leaves are covered. So, every morning, I spray them down with a hose then treat the underside with a little soapy water solution. If I stay on it, I can win the war. I have to admit, when it gets blasted hot in AZ, I sometimes feel like letting the aphids win. But, too much time and money has been put into that garden and I will push forward. If I want to keep with my goal of picking a basket full every day for a year, I can't let them get the best of me! 


The garden has been pretty successful this year with a few set backs. The tomatoes:

The plants contracted an infection this year. I had to pull many but am nursing the ones I have. Not too many this year but enough for a little salsa and bruschetta. 

The new garden has been pretty happy. The Armenians have climbed all over the tops making it a little challenging to access the garden but it looks pretty.

The cantaloupes are liking their trellis. I could make some funny joke how my melons are so big I have to sling them back with pantyhose, but some might get offended, so I won't. But, they are cute and they are getting big and I do need to sling them back with pantyhose. A few more weeks.....

All 20 of my plums are starting to ripen. Some years I get overloaded, some years only a few. They are big and sweet and I will cherish everyone of them. I think I have been eating them all myself. My little treat when I work in the garden. Sorry, kids. You have to be a little earlier to the draw.

One thing that isn't small in numbers is zucchini. We still eat one about everyday. If it isn't on a plate somehow, it is in our smoothies. I grilled up some super duper steak and veggie tacos. I grilled the zucchini with some Mexican lime olive oil and some house seasoning (salt, garlic and pepper mix) along with some onions and peppers. I grilled the steak with a cumin and house seasoning rub with some lime oil as well. I chopped all that up, sauteed it in a little more oil and more seasonings to taste including some smoked chipotle seasoning and wow! Scrumptious! I could eat that for breakfast this morning. I would be fine with just the roasted veggies.


Here's that house seasoning in case you forgot:

1 cup sea salt

1/4 cup black pepper

1/4 cup garlic powder

I use it for everything! So simple yet so perfect.

I hope your gardens are flourishing. Don't let the bugs get the best of you. Fight them with all  you got. Even if it is just spraying them down with the hose before the sun gets up, that will kick them down plenty. Make sure you get the underside. It takes time and patience but if you have done the work to put in the garden, don't give up! It is getting hot which means the garden will slow down a bit so their is relief in site. 

Happy summer.  

Look for Bugs.

I opened my canister of organic popcorn and many little black bugs were roaming free. Many may shriek in disgust but I was quite happy with the discovery.


Bugs mean that this corn is not Monsanto, pesticide sown corn. Bugs mean that there is life. 


When I was young, I remember opening boxes of cereal or crackers and on occasion, finding bugs at the bottom. I realized that I never see this anymore. Why? Well, food today is so sprayed and toxic that bugs cannot live in food. I have heard that grocery stores actually spray their cereal isles at night to keep the bugs away. Horrifying. 


I get that many don't want bugs in their food. In other countries, bugs in food are a fact of life. Bugs gravitate towards crops. They lay their eggs. They get picked and shipped to us where the eggs can hatch and little bugs will emerge. In the new GMO crops, or sprayed crops, the eggs are destroyed. Wonderful. Not. I will take the bugs over the pesticides any day of the week.


I dumped out the corn in a colander. I rinsed well and let it dry overnight. Good as new. 


If you find a little worm or bug in your produce, hooray for you! Bugs can't live within pesticides ridden produce. Wash. Eat. Enjoy good health.


Don't shun the little creepy crawlies. It is just natures way of telling you that you are eating the real deal.

Supplement orders due by Monday.

I am putting in a supplement order on Monday for anyone needing anything. 


Cod liver oil is on Sale for $30. (It is around $42 or more at Sprout's).


Email or comment here by Monday at 2.

Sacrifice

sac.ri.fice
noun


.An act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.


I talked to Tiffany at the gym the other morning and she eagerly came up to me beaming to tell me the news....She was 22 days sugar free! She was so excited and so elated with how good she felt and what she has accomplished. She inspired me to get back on the bandwagon with no sugar and to step it up. 


I had to go through a little mourning again in preparation for giving up sugar. I don't eat much but I like the treats now and then. It seems like a little more now than then lately so it is time. It is a HUGE sacrifice to give up sugar. HUGE.  It tastes good. It makes you feel good, for the moment. But, it makes me feel sick. I get a headache. I get sleepy almost instantly and it is just plain horrible for you. I need to make a sacrifice. I need to "give up something of value for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy."


Ugh. 


But folks, it is the big one next month. I am officially going to be old. 40 old. I can't really handle the thought of it but one thing is certain, I have to go there and my body isn't feeling any younger. I don't want to succumb to old age. I want to be the best 40 ever and that means I can't abuse it like a 20 year old. It just won't take that garbage.


So, here I am, contemplating what needs to be done to be a better me so that my 40 year old self won't self destruct. 


I need to make some sacrifices now so that the next half of my life, or at least the coming decade, will be a little smoother and less painful.


I want to feel good. I want to look good. I want to be sexy for my husband. I want to feel sexy for myself. I want to be able to wake without aches and pains. I want my joints to move the right way and my muscles to keep their shape.


40 year olds take a little more discipline for this magic to happen.  Darn it.


I didn't eat my daughters famous cookies last night. It's not that I am opposed to having a cookie now and then, but I can't just have one of her cookies. Therefore, I can't eat one. I ate a handful of blueberries and they were delicious. 


We gave up dairy and I appreciate the taste of food even more so. When you go without cheese on things, you realize how much cheese covers up the taste of real food. I don't miss it much now.


I am hoping that I will feel the same about sugar. I want to still have a treat maybe on one weekend night or at a party but I need to be sugar free for now to cleanse the system and get rid of that craving. It needs to be a lifestyle. It feels good.


Thanks, Tiffany. You have motivated me again to be better. 


Here's to 40. You may be knocking on my door but I will not let you in gracefully. There is going to be a fight on your hands. I warn you, I have been working out. I may not be my best 40 yet but I am getting there. I am going to sacrifice now so I can have the thing of higher value later. I see way too many who didn't want to sacrifice and now they are suffering the consequence. Bad habits will ALWAYS catch up. ALWAYS.


Time to step it up. Ready. Set. Go. 

D3, Dr. Blaylock's Wellness Report

If you would like to learn a little bit more about the critical benefits and need of D3 in our bodies, read Dr. Blaylock's report here. Fascinating. I have witnessed amazing recoveries and benefits of using D3. It is so cheap.


Read it here.

You can get it from my store for $20 a bottle for liquid drops. 

Freezing Corn...

Thanks to Miss Deana, I came home with a bag full of fresh-picked corn the other night. It was truly the sweetest corn I have ever tasted. When you pick it and eat it immediately, all the sugars are still in place. The longer it sits off the stock, the sweetness is lost. My kids also were able to join in the fun and pick some corn themselves in her backyard crop and chase a few chickens here and there. I covet the acreage, but then again, I spend enough time on my small backyard farm. How would I ever manage a couple acres? I would like to try.


Anyways, with extra corn on hand, I needed to act quickly before the sugars left and get it packed into the freezer. It is so easy to process corn.


Hopefully you will be blessed with good corn this summer season and can stock your freezer up as well. It is so great to thaw and put in salads and soups or in a great fresh veggie taco. 


First, shuck the corn and get rid of the silk strings. Use a veggie scrubber lightly if needed. Wash them well.


Heat a big pot of water and when it reaches a boil, toss in the corn.


Let boil for 4 minutes. Start timing when the water returns to a boil. Make sure you have plenty of water.


When the 4 minutes are up, remove the corn and put in ice water to stop the cooking process. If you don't, they can shrivel.


When cool, cut off the stock by holding them straight up and cutting straight down on all sides. 


Put in Freezer bags and freeze immediately. Since they are already steamed, they can be eaten when thawed.


My personal favorite is to quickly sauté it in some Mexican lime olive oil from the Queen Creek Olive Mill with a little scallions. Oh, my. While your at  it, cook some fresh corn tortillas and throw in some shrimp and Cilantro-Lime rice. Pure heaven.

Summertime. 


Grab the rice recipe here. I did it in my pressure cooker in 3 minutes. 

Family

How the heck do you do it without family?


 I love this photo, Grandpa Steve giving batting tips before the game. Tallin is drinking in the wisdom. We love grandparents. We need them. We need family.


I was talking to my brother tonight about family and how we just do things to help family because that is just what you do. We are put on this earth as family units for a purpose. We are not sent here alone to conquer life by ourselves. We are here to learn and to grown and to lift each other up. Sometimes we need more help than other times and sometimes we are the ones who are doing the helping. In any case, we need to be available and willing when the call comes. It teaches us unselfishness which is the most important virtue of them all. 


Our "family" should reach beyond our immediate and extended circle. The people I admire most on this planet are the ones who are always there in times of need with a shovel or rag to clean or just a warm body ready to get the job done. They are the ones who take the time to listen and to make the load a little lighter. 


The big challenge is to teach our children this principle. We naturally come to this earth a little selfish. Babies can only think about their own needs and as they grow, we have to slowly let them know that the world does not revolve around them.


How do we do this? 


Examples are of utmost importance. If they see us complain about serving or talking ill about family or not even serving to begin with, they are less likely to follow the path of unselfishness. They must have opportunities to serve and to look beyond themselves. This means getting up early with them to go clean someone's yard or to let them help make dinner for a family in need. It means teaching them to notice others feelings by bringing cookies or writing letters to a friend that may be having a hard day or has hurt feelings. Starting off with little acts of service will give them a greater desire to lead a life of service. 


I am so thankful for family and friends who have served me and are constant examples in my life. I have been so richly blessed. I am who I am because of them. I know that if times were hard, I would have so many to come to my rescue. What a comforting feeling that is. I want to be that kind of person that will be on the doorstep of someone in need. I would want to be remembered when I leave this world as a woman who would do anything for anyone. I have lots of work to do to get to that point but I hope I have some time to get there. It is so very easy to be selfish but such a lonely place to be.


Thanks to all who inspire me and serve me! Thank you my wonderful family! My wonderful friends!