Garden Fuss

Peas and Collards an #EarthDay Duo A photo posted by @mizqtinaj on Apr 22, 2015 at 7:35pm PDT For the last six months my family and I have been in a sort of stasis. A forced hiatus from everything in order to heal physically, mentally, and spiritually. Collectively we've endured loss of lives that felt like blows to our spiritual bodies, and then the largest battle yet of our lives to fight a feeling of helplessness when our eldest child almost succumbed to a stroke and aneurysm.  Recovery for our daughter and for us has come in many forms. This includes scaling down activities that we'd normally participate in to focus on more immediate things. For instance for me it's taking a break from the physical act of growing and documenting efforts to grow. Hence the large span between posts here, which in the broad scheme of things I am not at all sorry about. That being said, I am very thankful for the outcome of breaking from it all. Our child is on the mend and ve

Beet #kvass and fermented #salsa on deck tonight. The garden does us good! A photo posted by @mizqtinaj on Aug 8, 2014 at 9:01pm PDT One of the simplest, easy peasy, no-brainer, ways of adding beneficial cultures, vitamins, and nutrients into your diet is to ferment your foods. One of my favorite ways to add these cultures is through beverages like Beet Kvaas which I wanted to share with you today. The recipe couldn't be simpler but the benefits to my gut health, my skin, hair, and nails is why I'm excited to share this today. Beets are not on the favorite foods list of most people I know, but I'm glad to now admit that today they are one of mine. To describe to you how difficult it is to get a full grown adult to sip or sample a food with beets is worse than taking a five year old for shots. These folks feel like their life will end if they imbibe on this sometimes crimson root vegetable. But I never give up and the smell and my incessant teasing usuall

It is very fitting that next week we kick off the holiday season with Thanksgiving, so tis the time for sage in everything. Sage is such a wonderful plant! This photo was taken in May of this year and this post has been sitting in my queue ever since, waiting to shine in all its savory glory!  Now that it's cooled off significantly and the last, of the last, of the last, vegetation has been harvested from the garden, I have had time to find some perspective on a couple few things. Number one, I've decided to not give this blog up. Yeah I considered it and it's been a very long time since I've posted anything due to so many factors. Including health and very painful personal losses that took me in a direction I for one least expected. That being said and in an effort to avoid elaborating anymore, I realize that this small blog is my love letter to myself, my family, my friends (current and future), and all things green. Having just finished a phone call with a new fri