Friday, June 1, 2007

Finally, some rain


The above photo is a 4 x 8 raised bed from our community garden. We have 15 of these that we rent out for $10 a season. I have one, but this is NOT mine, because mine doesn't look this good yet. So I chose someone else's to show off. LOL! The garden also has two large areas where we grow food for a local food pantry. Today I managed to unload a carload of compost and plant yellow crookneck squash, zucchini, okra, and slicing cucumbers just before it started raining. Yay. We really needed the moisture.

I harvested some more 4 Seasons Lettuce from my farm garden in the rain. It is supposed to rain tomorrow, which means less customers, so I didn't take it all like I originally planned.

As you may remember, my family has gone round and round with what to do for our poor cat. We want to feed him a biologically-appropriate raw diet so that he is healthy and so that our kids won't be tempted to eat cat food. But our finances are so limited. I did some research at http://www.catnutrition.org and was shocked at how complicated it was to make your own cat food. I am not ready to be grinding and chopping meat in my own kitchen. But the premade stuff is too expensive for our budget. Finally, I just impulsively took some of our latest paycheck and purchased 40 pounds of raw preground/precut meat at Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow. http://www.hare-today.com/ . Really, that money should have paid other bills. But I can't just can't part with my cat. I also preordered some salmon oil and torula yeast at our local health food store. Luckily I didn't have to pay for that yet!

It is a big leap of faith. I hope it pays off and that our cat and our kids will be healthier for it. I will post more on this experiment

Tonight I managed a dumpster run in between everything that's going on. I got about 30 pounds of Vidalia onions and a dozen colored peppers. The onions will probably be a give-away item. I just can't leave decent produce in there to go to waste...

I didn't do any proper resting today, as I'd planned. And it is now midnight (I have to be up at 6 a.m.). Sigh. Something to work on.

Today's food:

9:30 a.m. Smoothie with 2 C. raspberries, 1 large banana, and 1 C. Four Seasons lettuce poured over 4 C. romaine
1:15 p.m. 12 cups of watermelon
5:00 p.m. 6 more cups of watermelon
8:30 p.m. A large salad of romaine, Four Seasons lettuce, and grape tomatoes, with 1/2 of a large cucumber and 1 cup of grape tomatoes blended and poured over the top, a sprinkle of cumin and a sprinkle of onion powder

5 comments:

RawVeganMom said...

I feed my dogs & cats mostly just cheap chicken legs on sale. It's all they want by choice. I try tried offering them a variety but they don't like anything else and it just goes to waste. I do not cut, grind, mix or do anything besides freeze them in portions that I sometimes thaw the night before but usually just toss frozen in the yard for them in the summer. It defrosts quick & they lick at it frozen too.

RawVeganMom said...

Forgot to add.. Once we move I will raise my own chickens just for them. Right now we have 2 that lay eggs. All the animals love eating the eggs.

Anonymous said...

You need more sleep! Maybe with the rain you will take a rest, seeing as you cannot garden very well in the rain!

Courtney

greenmama! said...

Hi Ginger,

Thanks for the info on feeding your animals. I will be experimenting with the best option.

Courtney,

LOL! I know I need more sleep. I'm just so excited about life right now that I keep avoid going to bed.

I did take a 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon.

Marjorie

Jennifer C. said...

Marjorie, About your cat, I'd recommend checking out the rawcat chat list on yahoo! http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawcat/

I've recently joined the rawfeeding list there, and have learned so much about feeding my dog better and for less money. Really knowledgable people who are willing to answer any question you can come up with.