Green Is My Favorite Color

Every summer, my garden leaves me awestruck.

The wondrous events that take place there, right under my nose,

are nothing to take for granted.

How a tiny seed, carrying a plant's entire life's instruction manual

encoded on it's DNA,

grows into a huge nutrition-gifting biomass is nothing

short of a miracle.

Our weather this spring has been a gift...

plenty of rain and sunshine and mild temperatures

have made for the perfect growing season for spring crops.

About a week ago I harvested our broccoli.

It was sweet and tender.

Too much heat makes broccoli bitter - an experience we have had in the past

when Summer comes pushing her way past Spring,

rendering Spring powerless.

Yesterday I harvested the tender side shoots that grow

after the main floret is cut.

This will most likely be the end of the broccoli.

 I hope to plant more in the fall.

Another spring crop, cabbage, is doing especially well this year,

as tiny heads are quickly growing into kraut-worthy orbs.

The cucumber box is full of tiny pickles.

In a week or so I will have cucumbers galore!

Tomatoes are starting to form on the vines.

I have been extra vigilant this year in keeping the lower branches trimmed

from the stems to allow for adequate ventilation.

I have also been tying new growth to the stakes every few days

to keep them from ending up on the ground.

I save the twine that keeps our hay bales together to use for this purpose.

Once the fruit is on the vine... it is then time for Summer to work her magic.

Hot, sunny days make for sweet, ripe tomatoes.

The taste of a homegrown tomato is beyond compare and something

we anticipate each summer.

This summer I should have tomatoes in a rainbow of colors.

Last week I promised to give you an update on our quest to decrease our carbon footprint.

You may have noticed in yesterday's video that we drive a red EZ-Go

around the farm now.

Because we have so much acreage to cover, 

an electric vehicle is much kinder to the environment than our

diesel Gator.

Although, we still need the Gator, with its dump-bed as our work-horse,

the EZ-Go takes advantage of the electricity that we are producing via

our solar panels.

So far, we have produced more electricity than we have used each month.

This goes into our electricity account and acts as a credit to offset any months in 

which we produce less than we use (if there are any).

Next May we will receive a check from the power company for any 

un-used power from the preceding year.

This year we received a small check in May just for

the power we did not used in April, as that was our first full month of solar usage.

I am sure that eventually our savings will cover the cost of the system.

Regardless, it still feels like it was the right thing to do.

In earlier posts I had spoken of our goal of reducing our plastic consumption.

We made several changes in what we buy.

I no longer use shampoo in plastic bottles, but, instead, I buy

shampoo and conditioner in bar form.

I have tried several types and felt that the shampoos made my hair feel a little dry.

The brand that I am most happy with comes from a company 

called The Unwrapped Life.

The shampoo and conditioner are wrapped in just a little piece of 

recyclable brown paper... no fancy wrappers.

The shampoo makes great suds and a little goes a long way.

I simply wet my hair and my hands, rub the bar between my hands,

and use the suds to shampoo my hair.

I super-glued a metal soap holder in an area of my shower that does not get wet.

This keeps the bars from shrinking due to moisture.

As for the conditioner... I rub the conditioner bar through my hair and 

it effectively removes all the tangles and leaves my hair soft and silky.

I will continue to use these products.

As for toothpaste...

I am happy with the Bite bits that I ordered.

I simply place one in the front of my mouth and pulverize it with my teeth,

then brush with a wet toothbrush and plenty of foam forms in my mouth.

My teeth feel as clean as with regular toothpaste,

and my mouth tastes just as minty fresh.

The glass bottles are perfect for other uses...

like dried herbs from the garden.

The nice thing about this company, is that you can get

it by subscription every three months...

so you never have to remember to buy toothpaste again!

I also ordered bio-degradable silk dental floss.

It comes with a re-fillable metal container and several refills.

No more disposing of plastic floss containers.

And no more dental floss that has ingredients I prefer to keep out of my mouth.

I am thinking of making my own mouthwash

and have started looking into recipes for that as well.

I only wish I were younger, so that I could un-do a lifetime of

harmful consumerism.

But, that's life... we can only march forward, armed with good intentions,

good information, and the goal of doing as much as we can...

and then... we push ourselves to do just a little more than that!

Patsy, you asked yesterday about our acreage.
We have roughly 140 acres.
Of that, about 30 acres are tillable (currently growing hay).
About 80 acres are wooded,
and the rest are pastures, barns, and yard areas.