If You Can't Beat 'Em, Eat 'Em!

I've been wanting to write about this for some time, but many things have been going on. I'll update first, and then I'll hit my main topic.

July 18 - Our sweet Angelina had a birthday! She's 7 now. I can still remember her as a baby, so it is hard to believe she is so grown up. We had her party at the ball park in Daytona, and it was very nice. They gave her lots of attention which she loves.

July 27 - Darius turns 27 which seems even more incredible. I can still remember when he was born. I can remember gazing at him once when he was laying on his quilt at the foot of the stairs. He was always stretching like he was trying to fit into his new body. I wondered then as always how his life would turn out. Alicia had a nice party for him at the park on Forest and Beach. Alicia's mom, dad, and sister were there as well as Dorian and his family, Roger and I, and JaRay and his friend from Utah, Randy. It was nice, and the food was terrific.

July 27 - Sweet baby Brooklyn received her name and blessing in the Timaquana ward. She was blessed by her daddy, Orion, of course, and assisted by her two grandpas, two of her uncles (including Darius and Kevin (I think that is his name), Bro. Gavelin, and some other people I didn't know. It was very sweet. She started crying which makes me think she doesn't like all the attention like her grandma. (Come on, you've got to give me something here.)

On the baseball scene, we attended an end of the year dinner for the Suns this week and learned that the Dodgers would be leaving the Jaxsonville affiliate for a closer site out west as I previously predicted. It is disappointing for those of us who are Dodger fans, but we are hoping for bigger and better things for whichever team comes in. One of the players said that the Marlins were looking at this park; their current AAA affiliate is in New Mexico, so that seems like a strong possibility as noted in a previous blog entry. Not being a big Marlins fan, I would be more excited at seeing their opponents. The advantage of having a AAA affiliate is that there are only 2 leagues. Each major league team has one AAA affiliate, so when you are watching a AAA ball club through the season, you have the chance of seeing 1/2 of all the major league ball clubs during the year. These guys are only one step away from the majors as well, so that is exciting in itself.

The East coast AAA league is called the International League and has such great clubs as the Toledo Mudhens (made famous by Jamie Farr in MASH) and the Durham Bulls (also made famous by a movie, now that I think about it) as well as the Pawtucket Red Sox for those who love them. Not so fan friendly Yankees are included (the team we all love to hate); the Mets are in the Pacific League (for now anyway since they are in New Orleans which seems more eastern to me). Each year this stuff gets shuffled around so there are no guarantees, but this year the following teams are represented in the IL:

Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Washington Nationals, Tampa Bay Rays, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins, NY Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, and the Detroit Tigers. As I said, all of the other teams are in the Pacific League. I guess there is always a possibility that if the Marlins moved over to Jax, they would stay in the Pacific league. That would be weird though and a lot of travel for the western teams that had to go to their stadium. Currently they are flying to New Orleans though, so who knows? What do you think?

Jesus pitched Saturday night but received a no decision since the score was tied when he left after 7 innings. He won his previous game out of town. He seemed to be struggling at this outing with only 2 strike-outs in 7 innings. His ERA was 2.85 going into the game and is now at 2.99 which is still excellent.

On to main topic: Each morning that I am home, I work outside for as long as I can depending on my schedule. This is usually about 45 minutes, but if I only have 15 minutes, I don't feel badly about that. I am learning that the important thing is that I am out there every day if possible even if I just walk around. (I try to do that on Sunday; it is a wonderful Sabbath activity to sit on our garden benches and walk on the mulched paths.) There are a couple of benefits (besides the obvious) for being out there every day.

The obvious benefit is that more work gets done. It is very easy for a garden to get out of control with even a little neglect. I've learned that the hard way. It is amazing how easy it is to stay on top o it when you spend a little time out there each day.

That was my initial reason for setting that as a goal. Well, actually, my goal was to spend 15 to 20 minutes a day in the sun. During my juice feast I had committed to do that. When my friend, Geri, was visiting from Utah, she was telling me about a vitamin D deficiency she has, and I decided that my goal was a very important one I would try to maintain. What better way to get 15 to 20 minutes worth of sunshine than to spend a few minutes in the garden? I'm not much for walking aimlessly around a track. I've tried that MANY times in the past, and I really hate it. I thought about biking, but I haven't got a bike right now, so the garden won the toss.

I didn't expect many more benefits than ample Vitamin D production and a better tended garden, but something unexpected resulted. Each day I start out by pulling a few weeds and then I collect produce that is ready to eat. One day I decided to save back a few springs of the weeds I was pulling for the green drink I make for breakfast each day. I started out with weeds I knew were edible like sorrel and red raspberry leaf. Then I added one I didn't know figuring if it was not good for me, I'd know soon enough. (I made sure I showed it to Roger, so he could show it to the doctor in the event an anecdote was needed. See, I'm responsible.) Since then, I've added a few others. Today I was up to about 2 cups of weeds in my drink! Awesome, don't you think.

I am very interested in finding out what the unknown weeds are, and I have planted some in a pot to take to my friend, Leisa, who knows the wild edibles. I am going to mention it to others in our church branch who are hoping to be more self-sufficient.

You would not expect the drink to be good with weeds in it, but they are the tastiest ones I have ever made. Saturday I was not home, so I ordered one at the juice bar from Native Sun (minus the weeds, of course), and it was amazingly bland in comparison. Good enough, of course, but not as tasty as the weed-infested ones. I am very excited by this development, and I can't help but think of the benefits that come from drinking a green drink every day from produce just picked from the garden.

For those who would like to try it, here's my recipe:

1/2 cup water in the blender
several stalks of celery cut in 1 - 2 inch pieces

Whirr this up until celery is liquified. Add garden weeds. Whirr til liquified.

Then I add whatever produce was picked: tomatoes, banana peppers, a cucumber, some parsley, a sprig of fennel.

Grind til all is liquified on the highest speed. Some might like this as a smoothie, but I strain it through a nut mylk bag. The add some sol. (This is Himalayan Salt rocks put into suspension with water. You can use sea salt. It doesn't take as much as you might think. Go easy til you find out how much you want.)

Delicious, and you gotta think: Nutritious! I have so much energy from drinking this it is incredible. Let me know if you try it and what you think.

So, if the weeds in your garden are getting you down, if you can't beat 'em, eat 'em!

My next experiment is the grasses: could they possibly taste worse than wheat grass? I don't think so. That stuff invades my garden with no fear at all! Let's see how they are after they've been run through my wheat grass juicer!