waste not want not.

I'm learning a lot these days.  Waste not want not is one of the big things, and I am learning it through food.  I believe God can teach us through anything, and He knows me and He's speaking my love language-- FOOD.  We started this beautiful CSA where we truly have a bounty of the FRESHEST food EVERY week.  I feel spoiled.  How awesome it is that we get to do this.  One of my goals with this adventure was not to be wasteful with what we have.  You see, I'm that person who buys a shopping cart full of produce only to remember it's in my fridge 3 weeks later and to dig the rotting pieces out, having to clean out my fridge of rotten produce juice-- not even knowing which produce item it came from or how long it's been there.  I do love produce, but I think I buy so much I forget about it all.  I hate it.  I hate that I waste that money.  I hate that I waste that food when there are people right here in my city going hungry right now.

So part of the deal when we signed up for this CSA was that we'd get fresh produce-- whatever it is they give us-- and I'll fix it for us.  I knew we wouldn't always like it.  I tried the radishes, really, I don't.like.them.  But we'll try it.  It's taken me awhile [a month] to get the hang of this, but I am getting it.  For the sake of transparency I thought I better share the whole truth here.  I'm doing better with using it all, or giving it to someone who will use it [enter those pesky radishes again, turns out my mother-in-law and sister-in-law love them.  win!]  But the first few weeks I wasted.  Especially week one.

Back here I wrote about week 1 and what I did with the swiss chard.  Glad I used that-- bummed I wasted a lot of it.

Week 1  

The Stats Week 1:

Broccoli -- wasted
Radishes -- wasted
Bok Choy -- wasted
Garlic -- wasted
Lettuce -- ate, delicious!
Swiss Chard -- made it, tried it, bleh.
Strawberries -- a.w.e.s.o.m.e.

Week 2  

The Stats Week 2:

Lettuce -- ate, delicious!
Squash -- ate, delicious!
Garlic -- wasted
Cabbage -- still in fridge, keeps well... I hope
Eight Ball Squash -- ate, delicious!
Spinach -- ate half, delicious!  wasted other half
Strawberries -- a.w.e.s.o.m.e.

Week 3  

The Stats Week 3:

Radishes -- wasted
Turnips -- made it, tried it, not bad!  [turnips get the Most Surprising superlative]
Broccoli -- ate, delicious!
Napa Cabbage -- made it, tried it, delicious!  [awarded Best Dressed superlative... you'll see why when I post this recipe]
Lettuce -- ate, delicious!
Strawberries -- a.w.e.s.o.m.e.  [I had already eaten them before I took this picture]

Week 4 [night picture]

 The Stats Week 4:

Cauliflower -- made it, tried it, bleh.
Potatoes -- in the fridge. excited to make!
Eight Ball Squash -- oh.my.goodness.  greatest veggie dish I've ever made.  recipe soon.
Cucumbers -- so fresh. so delicious.
Squash -- ate, delicious!
Radishes -- tried a bite of one.  gross.  gave to family.  glad they found a good, loving home.
Lettuce -- ate, delicious!
Arugula -- ate some, some still in fridge.
Kale -- still in fridge.  plans to make this soon.



Now that I'm at the end of this post, I think this  must be really boring for people to read.  If anyone has stuck around, do you have problems with wasting food?  Any tips for me?

a gardening project.

First off, there's a new look here at The BPS. I like the simplicity of it, and we'll see how it goes. What are your thoughts?


Next...

Today was finally Morgan Gardening Day. And by Morgan Gardening Day what I really mean is we got our garden {very small this year} planted. And by we what I really mean is Tommy did the work while I sat in our adirondack chairs "supervising". I did a pretty good job of supervising, if you ask me - I kept the dogs company, I kept Tommy company, I took pictures, and I pointed out where things should go.


So this year because we have many changes in our lives and our family {that would be our little Jack guy} and because we need to make adjustments from last years garden, we have made some changes in our gardening.

• We cut the size of our garden in half.
• We bought well-established tomato plants {because we started planting late and because I demand good tomatoes and last year we didn't get many big boys to grow from our smaller plants}.
• We are sticking with tomatoes and peppers this year- a concentrated effort.
• We changed the location of our garden to be closer to the house and in a spot that will definitely get more sun!
• Tommy used our raised garden beds from last year but did some reconstruction to make it a higher bed.

the new location

moving dirt from the old to the new

preparing the new location

Tommy's special helper for the day

building the newer version of the raised beds

just putting the screws in...

still working on the screws because the drill died. yes, he is screwing them in with a plain old manual screw driver

moving the bed over to the new spot. and this was my view throughout this endeavor. i didn't even get up to take the picture but in my defense i am 4 days away from my due date.

filled it with good, rich soil

again with our special helper. she's so handy to have around.

what's going in...

and in the ground!

we also filled 2 planters with veggies - one with peppers and the other with a Better Boy plant!

ps- I told you I took pictures :)