Voting with Our Grocery Dollars in July

Salome LOVES organic celery

This is month 2 of recording what we bought, what we grew, what we found in the dumpster, and what we earned from our garden. This has been a learning experience.

For those of you who haven't been keeping up with our running log or expenses in July, it can be found here.

Our stated goals at the beginning of the month were to reduce our spending on groceries and gasoline, and limit 90% of our spending to bananas and local foods.

Total Grocery Receipts: $432.75
Estimated value of Free Food We Obtained This Month: $361.55
Estimated Value of Food We Grew This Month: $115.50
Total Consumption For a Family of 5 plus 1 Cat on a Raw Diet: $909.80
This works out to $29.34 per day.

We met our first goal and significantly reduced our spending on groceries! Yay! Our total grocery receipts were $213.02 less than last month. This even includes a whopping $78.38 restaurant tab, and $11.65 on food gifts for friends. If you remove cat food, restaurant and gift spending, water, toilet paper, and my husband's nonraw cheats, then we only spent $395.31 in total. Of course, last month's tab was artificially high because we invested over $100 on frozen meat for the cat. However, if you adjust both June and July's spending to only include raw human food, then we reduced our grocery spending by $74.79. Could have been better if we didn't buy so many lychee and raw bars and dates on our Chicago trip.

It was also nice to see that we double our money's worth out of our garden, although we earned about half at the Farmer's Market. I forgot how much I made selling lettuce!

Gasoline was harder to track since we didn't keep track of gas expenses either month. We took a trip to Chicago in our car, so it is unlikely. Also, we made a total of 30 separate trips to buy food. That's almost one trip per day. This is ridiculous, although I believe it was a couple of less trips than we took in June. We have obtained a bike for my husband and we plan to fix my bike. We hope to do more by bike and limit car trips. However, almost daily car trips are inevitable, since we garden 5 miles from our house on the other side of a busy highway. Often we must carry tools and large quantities of produce, so it makes riding a bike difficult. Tacking 1 or 2 extra miles onto the trip to stop at stores seems like no big deal. But, it really adds up over time.

We increased our consumption of locally grown products slightly from $274.00 in June to $292.56. However, when taken in context with our overall drop in spending, this means However, most of this was either grown by us or gifted to us by family and friends. If we think of each dollar we spend as a vote, we only increased our votes for local foods from $35.00 to $38.85; hardly a victory. We also bought more organic foods, though I didn't calculate the exact amount.

We definitely got more bananas this month than in June, but as to limiting our spending to bananas and local, we did not meet our goal.

In August, I begin an experiment to follow the 100 mile diet with the The Northwest Illinois Local Foods Task Force. Stay tuned for more information about this tomorrow. Should be an adventure!

Too tired to write another Saga

Yummy veggies in the Community Garden

Sorry everyone, the second installment of my Chicago saga will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm wiped out!

I had a full day of errands, dumpster diving (pineapples and cantaloupes--woohooooo!), harvesting in the Community Garden (the girls helped me pick beans and cut chard), and working in my own garden. Whew. And tomorrow promises to be more of the same.

I can't tell you how excited I am now that I have beans and tomatoes to pick. I am growing some wonderful unusual beans--Dragon Langerie and Yellow French Filet are the two that I've started picking so far. Others will be ready later.

Today's Raw Food


10:30 a.m. Smoothie with 6 bananas
2:30 p.m. 2 cups pineapple, 2 cups grapes
3:30-5 p.m. Snacking while harvesting--some beans, some shell peas and sugar snaps, a few tomatoes
6:30 A salad with romaine lettuce, fresh cucumber and yellow zucchini from my garden, and a dressing made from blended red pepper, grape tomatoes, celery, and sunflower seeds (I didn't really like it)
10 p.m. A medium cantaloupe

1470 calories, C-P-F 81-7-11

I am getting in a bad habit of not eating enough fruit calories (for my activity level) early in the day, and then feeling hunger right before bed. Normally, I will just go to bed hungry. But tonight, when I had fleeting thoughts of Oreos and potpies, I decided to just eat, darn it. I never even liked Oreos. LOL!

Exercise


30 minutes low-impact aerobics
30 minutes upper body strength training

What happened to Friday?

One of the residents of PIGS, a Santuary

I had a busy day yesterday! I took the kids out to the garden in the morning. We saw our farmer friends' 2 new piggies. They're so cute. "Are they going to kill them, Mama?" asked my oldest daughter. She's such a sensitive sweetie.

They tried picking mulberries, but didn't get much. We found a warren of baby rabbits that drowned in the 2 inches of rain we got the other day. The kids were interested to see them and talk about death. They weren't upset, but they did think the maggots and ants eating them were kinda gross.

Then they went and swung on the tire swing.

On the way home, we did a dumpster run. We got a lot of good stuff, but 28 avocados! I was smart enough to give a bunch away. Still, I ended up eating 5 by the end of the day.

I brought the kids home and headed back to the garden to work off some debt to my farmer friend, Phil. At the beginning of the summer, he bought most of my seedlings (with his discount) and sold me his old seeder. I have owed him about $50 forever.

Phil and I weeded side-by-side for about 5 hours, so we had a fun time talking. He's 79 and has had an interesting life. He has been pestering me to "help him" lose 12 pounds--he's not overweight but he does have a spare tire he wants to lose. He has decided to give up sugary drinks like lemonade and sugared juices that his wife makes from plums and other fruit. Talking about food got him telling stories about his travels in the Navy during the Korean War. He was a meteorologist, so he had lots of free time to explore when the ship was docked. He told about the little pizza place with red checkered tablecloths in Hong Kong, and a fancy restaurant on a ship where you could pick your live shrimp out of baskets hung over the side in the ocean water. He said the best meal of his life was in a little hamlet in Hawaii where he got a big lobster dinner and lots of drinks for $2.

I worked hard in the garden until sundown and didn't get home until almost 10 p.m. I should have gone to bed, but instead, I started eating guacamole. Naughty me.

My food

10:30 a.m. 5 bananas, 3 cups romaine
1 p.m. 3 cups romaine, 1 avocado, a dressing made with avocado, grape tomatoes, orange pepper, celery, and a tiny bit of onion, more celery for dipping
6 p.m. 1/2 cup raspberries
9 p.m. About 2 cups sugar snap peas
10 p.m. 3 mashed avocados, lime juice, and a little onion powder with 3 large stalks of celery to dip

* A note: My 2 year-old dumped the last of our expensive unheated Utah red salt. So, we're off the salt (for good?!?).

2260 calories, C-P-F 44-6-50 (Yikes!)

Exercise

1 plank, 1 set of tricep dips, 2 pushups

Voting with my grocery dollars

Some of you may not be aware that I have been painstakingly recording our monthly grocery intake and dollar out-go every day in a post entitled June Food Expenses. Those of you who love to see what I get out of the dumpster and my garden will be really interested in that post.

Since today is the last day of June, I'd like to summarize our purchasing (and foraging) habits and reflect on how they impact our health and the health of our planet.

Total Grocery Receipts: $645.77

Estimated value of Free Food We Obtained This Month: $575.67

Estimated Value of Food We Grew This Month: $57.00

Total Consumption For a Family of 5 plus 1 Cat on a Raw Diet: $1278.44

This works out to $42.61 per day.

At first glance, this seems like an overwhelming number, but there are some mitigating factors to consider.

First, we spent a grand total of $135.81 on cat food for Bart, who we are transitioning to a raw diet. Much of this food is still in the freezer and though we will have continued expenses in future months, this amount will greatly decrease in upcoming months. Subtracting this amount from our total grocery receipts would make our total out-of-pocket expenditures for our 5 humans a total $509.96, much less than we spent before we discovered the amazing combo of raw food AND dumpster diving, when our average was more like $850.

Second, we spent $16.01 on non-raw food. This expense won't continue.

Third, this amount includes paying $0.33 per gallon for the water we drink. In June, we purchased 45 gallons of water. This may not be a concern for families who have water purification systems (or access to a clean spring). Our family spent only $470.10 on raw human food this month.

Finally, we have a large quantity of food remaining in the fridge and the freezer. This "inventory" is always in flux at our house and after months of tracking our expenses, it will balance out and we will be able to see our patterns of consumption more clearly.

$470.10 is NOT too much to invest in optimal health. For that matter, neither is $1278.44, if you have that kind of money to spend. (Check your budget. How much is spent on medications and out-of-pocket health bills? How much do you spend eating out, drinking alchohol or pop, and consuming processed junk foods? How much of your budget is spent on entertainment or luxury items? Are you sure you can't afford some fruit? :)

How do our spending habits affect the health of the planet? This question is so important to me, as I want my children and their children, and all children for that matter, to have the benefit of living in a clean, healthy, beautiful place.

One issue I am particularly interested in is consuming a high percentage of my food from local sources. Buying locally supports my local economy. It means that my food is fresher, healthier, and requires many less resources to deliver to my plate. I can meet (or be) the person who grew the food and have some influence on their practices. This month, $274 of local foods were consumed in my household. This equates to 21% of our total food consumption. However, if each dollar is a "vote" then the picture changes. Because of my gardening and foraging practices, many of our local foods were not "purchases." (Of course, by dumpster diving, much of our non-local consumption was also not purchased.) This means we only spent $35 purchasing food from local producers. This equates to 8% of our actual dollars spent on food.

Another issue is our support of organic (or better) agriculture. Conventional agriculture is doing so much damage to our ecosystem and our bodies, I feel exhausted just thinking about explaining it. In The 80-10-10 Diet, Dr. Graham says that choosing between cooked organic food and raw non-organic food is like "choosing whether to shoot oneself in the foot or shoot oneself in the hand." Unfortunately, though much of the produce we purchase locally is not sprayed with pesticides, much of it is not organic either. Many of the local producers use commercial fertilizer and/or use non-organic seed or seedlings (I do this one myself). Our source of local free-range eggs does feed some commercial chicken food to her chickens.

In our area, organic produce is difficult to find. Certain items are never available--watermelon, for example, or are available for short periods of time (grapes). The cost is quite high, usually at least twice that of conventional produce, and the quality is sometimes poorer. I believe that we will continue to improve our supply only if we demand it and build it. I plan to document my family's moves in this direction in the coming months! This month, we consumed $119.75 in organics, but only $42.78 in actual expenditures (or dollar votes, as I like to call them).

Finally, if you visited the June Food Expenses post, you will note that we went to the store virtually every day this month. This is RIDICULOUS. Sometimes, we went because we were going to our garden and it was on the way, but many times, we were making trips specifically to go to the store. Several days, we actually went to the store more than once. Surely, better planning next month will result in less pollution coming from our tailpipe and less money leaking from our wallet.

Next month, we plan to trim our expenditures by only purchasing bananas, cat food, and water at the grocery store. We will purchase everything else at the Farmer's Market, harvest it from our garden, or get it out of the dumpster.

Gooseberries

Picture found on Wikipedia.com

I went to bed at a proper hour last night, so I didn't get a chance to blog about my day. Imagine that. So here's what happened yesterday.

The weather was nice and cool so my husband worked a bit longer at his painting job than he normally does. This gave me a chance to work on some housework, something I haven't done in ages, it seems. My husband has been taking care of things quite nicely while I've been gardening, but it was nice to scrub the kitchen and hang out some laundry myself.

When he returned, I headed to a friend's house with the girls to pick more raspberries. Mmmmm. Not many came home. My friend is one of my dumpster diving converts and so she also shared some of her dumpster finds with me--peppers, tomatoes, red grapes, and more.

My son has been suffering from some cleansing symptoms, so he rested on the couch all day and read books and slept. My daughter had a similar bout last week, so we all know it will pass. :) For some reason, he became obsessed with wanting to know how big the longest shrimp in the world is--maybe this was inspired by the full-color flier for Long John Silver's I found under his pillow? Anyway, you might like to know that the largest variety of shrimp in the world is the Black Tiger shrimp, which averages 21 centimeters in length, but a fisherman in Colombia caught one that was 40 centimeters long! Check it out here http://www.local6.com/problemsolvers/8755909/detail.html

I headed to my garden in the afternoon and did more weeding and replanted some okra where I didn't get good germination. My garden looks better every day and it is especially nice to have the cool weather to work in this week.

On my way home, I checked out a wild place near my friend's house to see if I could find any ripe berries. I tried some ripe gooseberries for the first time! I can see why they're mainly used in pies. Not bad but bland and somewhat tart at the same time and with a sort of strange consistency. Not something I'd go out of my way to pick again.

Yesterday's Food

12 p.m. About 3 cups black and red raspberries

2 p.m. 5 medium bananas

5 p.m. A few gooseberries, black raspberries, and mulberries

5:30 p.m. Salad with iceberg and endive, half an avocado, and a salsa made with grape tomatoes, zucchini, onion, cilantro, lime juice and a few sprinkles of spices and salt

8 p.m. Another salad with purslane and green leaf lettuce and more salsa

Approx. 1500 calories, C-P-F 80-8-12

No formal exercise.

Thunderstorms are beautiful.

Photo by Hayes Cummins

It is amazing how a different a thunderstorm looks when you're out in open space (as opposed to a city). You can see it approaching in all its glory. Wish I had my camera with me!

This morning, I planted some more beans in our home garden with the kids. The two year-old had a great time mixing all the seeds together, dumping them in her dress and on the ground and then picking them up and sorting them.

Then I went and picked up a lady I've gotten to know through the Farmer's Market so she could come help in my garden. She is an interesting character and was up for a little adventure. We got some Turk's Turban gourds and cucumbers planted, and a bit of weeding done as the storm approached and managed to get in before we got wet. Of course, I ruined my dry clothing by insisting on doing a dumpster run on the way home. Figured in the rain, less chance of getting caught. Made off with tons of oranges and green grapes, which I shared with my friend. She was happy, especially since she didn't have to get out of the car herself. She had fun stomping in puddles on her way into the house, though. "Just because I'm getting old doesn't mean I have to grow up," she told me.

Today's Food

10 a.m. 1 1/2 cups sweet cherries (rushing)

12 p.m. 1 1/2 cups sweet cherries--not that hungry, just eating because others were

2:30 p.m. (after my workout, I WAS hungry), 4 bananas and 3 stalks of celery blended over 3 cups iceberg lettuce

5:30 p.m. 4 cups mixed lettuce, mostly iceberg, with a blended dressing made of avocado, oranges, and celery*, about 1/2 C. sliced zucchini

*For some reason, I thought avocado was an o.k. combination with citrus. Not so, I found out when I examined my chart. One of several less-than-optimal choices today.

Such as:

8:30 p.m. 2 frozen bananas, 1 C. frozen mango, blended

Approx. 1200 calories

Today's Workout: 45 minute Jane Fonda's Step Aerobics, an oldie but a goodie, that oddly, is NOT led by Jane Fonda (unless you do the final 10 minutes of situps, which I always skip).

Let me put a bug in your ear...

Photo by Silvano Cervelli

http://cerbug.interfree.it/index.html

Working in an organic garden gives me new appreciation of insects. Every day, I see hundreds of different varieties of beetles, ants, worms, butterflies, moths, flies, mites, and grubs. I have no idea, for the most part, which insects are "beneficial" and which are going to munch my vegetables. But I appreciate the intricate web of life and enjoy all of the sizes, shapes, and colors of these little beings.

Today, I got some weeding done and planted yellow and white patty-pan squash, more green beans, and cucumbers.

I also made off with an impressive haul from Aldi. Sixteen beautiful just-ripe avocados (not even a bruise on them!) were the prize of the day.

I followed through with my commitment to get more exercise and did Kathy Smith's Functionally Fit Peak Fat Burning video--40 minutes of high intensity intervals mixed with squats and other strength training moves. Whew!

Today's Food

9:30 a.m. About 12 cups of watermelon
12 p.m. About 8 cups of watermelon
4 p.m. 5 small bananas, about 1/4 C. of mulberries off the tree
7 p.m. Lots of red and green leaf lettuce and iceberg dressed with 1 whole avocado mixed with the juice of 2 oranges

About 2,000 calories

Freegans Unite!

Joe Fornabaio for The New York Times

I was thrilled when my friend Courtney sent me this NY times article about freegans http://tinyurl.com/3annxf.

One of my sisters, who lives in Madison, WI, spends lots of time diving in dormitory dumpsters getting books and other usable items to sell on eBay. She is also a member of Food Not Bombs. I love the idea of being a freegan, although living in a small decaying industrial city limits the wealth found in my neighborhood dumpsters. I pretty much stick to getting produce out of the Aldi dumpster.

I think freeganism, while worthwhile, can only represent a temporary response to an awful reality. In America, we suffer from an overwhelming glut of consumer goods. We have TOO MUCH STUFF, and we are constantly being encouraged and pressured to buy more and more. It's wonderful that freegans are "dropping out" of the consumption racket and preventing usable items from ending up in landfills.

But for a long-term solution, I think that ALL of us must adopt a simpler lifestyle consuming less overall and supporting sources of ecologically-sustainable and healthy consumer goods. I don't need more furniture or clothing or "gourmet meals" made from dumpster-dived meat and cheese.

Gardening and foraging for food may actually be more ecologically-responsible in the long-term than dumpster diving.

Gardening Woes

Picture courtesy of www.nysaes.cornell.edu

Ever have one of those days?

The weather is gorgeous, if you aren't trying to keep a garden alive. Sunny and no rain in sight for almost a week. I had spoken with Linda, a garden volunteer last night, and we agreed to take a turn watering the garden. Many of the annuals we planted on June 5th are looking sickly from heat and lack of moisture (although they have been watered several times, it's just not enough).

We meant to get there by 10 a.m., but it was almost 11 when we did... for no reason than it just takes time to get organized and going. We had a lovely time watering together for an hour and a half. And I got a sunburn because I was not dressed right. I knew I wasn't, but we were going to be there earlier, and not that long (I thought).

Then, I meant to spend some time at home with the family and after the midday sun cooled down a bit, to head over to my garden outside of town. The main thing I wanted to accomplish there was to put up my pea fence!

Fast forward to 6:30. Yes, I finally got to my garden at 6:30 p.m., for no real reason other than disorganization, distraction, and distemper. And, when I got there, I realized I had forgotten my fence.

Of course, since I haven't been there in a few days, I was shocked to discover how high and how fast the weeds had gotten. Yikes. I did some hoeing and pulling, and was depressed by other findings.

My cole crops are being munched by flea beetles and gophers. The early broccoli may be a loss...or at the very least will take forever to give a crop. Darn those varmints! Though most things are up, there is not one single broccoli raab, fennel plant, or Nero di Tuscano kale to be found.

I must get out there and do HOURS of work immediately. Let's just face it. And I am getting behind on lots of other work, too. Now my husband and I are working on a garage sale this weekend, too.

So, I must head to bed in the hopes of getting up early and over to my garden tomorrow.

Today's food:

9:30 a.m. About 8 C. watermelon
10:30 a.m. Collard green thinnings at the garden
1 p.m. Smoothie with 3 medium bananas, 3 C. blueberries, a cup or two of Four Seasons Lettuce
5:30 p.m. About 10 C. watermelon

Total: 1500 calories

Another fun market day

Our friend Lynn visiting our booth during the Grand Opening of the Market in May.

What a wild and wonderful day.

After a whopping 4 hours of sleep, I woke to a crabby 2 year-old and husband. I washed some more lettuce and bagged up my Sprouted Salad Crunchies (sampling a few before beginning--I know, I thought I could resist and then I didn't).

This week, I decided to try trimming up the lettuce, and only selling the tender inner leaves of the Four Seasons Lettuce, combined with some Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce that is finally ready. Of course, the washing and trimming process is time-consuming, explaining my 2 a.m. bedtime. The lettuce mix did sell better than the Four Seasons lettuce alone. One customer, however, wanted the Four Seasons lettuce, unwashed and in a whole head (it keeps longer that way), so I'll have to bring that next week.

It was a gorgeous day for the market! Sunny, but not too hot. And yet attendance was down from last week when it was overcast and drizzly. Go figure. Of course, I had fun! The market is my favorite part of the week. Too bad getting ready for it is soooo draining.

Kristi, my market partner, and I had the brainstorm of trying to sell our leftover wares to some elderly folks that can't make it down to the market. We made four stops after the market and sold more of Kristi's bread and rum cakes. I felt a little like a drug pusher, selling white flour and sugar to little old ladies with failing health and false teeth. None of them wanted any lettuce--can't chew or digest it, they say. But they were so thrilled to see us and said to come back next week. Perhaps they'll be more receptive to the veggies later in the season when I have tomatoes and other things.

We talked with another market vendor who works in a nursing home and hope to find another venue for our products. There is also a bakery downtown that has a little lunch counter on the weekdays and they have expressed interest in buying fresh, local produce and herbs, so we'll be trying to make a connection there soon.

Kristi and I spent time fantasizing on our joint herb farm. (Lisa, if you're reading this, we want you to move back and help us). There are some cheap vacant lots available in town that we are eyeing.

After market fun was over and a quick lunch and time with the family, I headed off to pick up rabbit poop donations for the community garden's compost bin. That turned into a lot more work than I thought it would! First of all, there was a LOT of poop. I took my two oldest kids with me, but the buckets were too heavy for them to help with, so they mainly just kept me company and complained a lot.

Then I spent some time with an elderly garden neighbor who spent time regaling me with all the details of his home repair and landscape projects and showed me his own little garden. He also gave me detailed instructions on how to refinish my hardwood floors. I may use that knowledge someday!

And then, I tried to rebury all of the flowers that the squirrels dug up. Time for some cayenne pepper! I started on the watering, but the kids' patience was wearing thin. So tomorrow morning, I'll have to head over there. The new plantings look awfully dry.

After dinner, I headed off to see The Giving Tree Band perform. What fun! Some friends got me in as an "usher." What good friends... I plan to write another post about the concert tomorrow.

After the concert, I was so energetic, I made a dumpster run at Aldi. The dumpster was so darn full that I couldn't even get in it. A lot of moldy strawberries and white bread were in the way of proper investigation. But I got LOTS of good stuff, which you can see listed in my June grocery expenses post.

And now, here it is, 11 p.m. and I'm quite tired!

Today's eating was less than optimal and resting was nonexistent. I feel better, mostly, but I have a quite strong dry cough that surfaces occasionally, making me feel like a lung is trying to hop out.

7 a.m. A few ounces of Sprouted Salad Crunchies (Triple whammy--legumes, dehydrated, salt)

9 a.m. About 8 cups watermelon

1 p.m. Big salad of Four Seasons and Black-seeded Simpson lettuce w/ blended cucumber, tomato, red pepper, lime, and basil dressing, a whole lot of Sprouted Salad Crunchies

5 p.m. A medium peach, a blended soup made from blended cucumber, roma tomatoes, red and yellow pepper, iceberg lettuce, with lime juice, onion powder, cumin, cayenne, and a dash of salt (see--more salt!), more Sprouted Salad Crunchies

6 p.m. About 4 C. watermelon

Moldy Blueberries (The Downside of Dumpster Diving)

I get many positive responses from people about my posts on dumpster diving and many people have reported that they have begun diving themselves. I feel GREAT about this. Not only does dumpster diving make eating raw fruits and veggies affordable for my family and others, it also prevents these items from ending up in a landfill, where they will take a loooong time to decompose.

However, it must be said that dumpster diving has a seemy dark underbelly besides the obvious social stigma of "digging in the trash."

First of all, all of my dumpster diving takes place at a location where there is NO organic produce available. If you can dumpster dive for organics, terrific! But I would venture to guess that most dumpster finds are conventional produce. Conventional produce is laden with pesticides, and has a lower vitamin and mineral content than organic produce because of the growing practices used. At least, i can feel happy that I did not use my dollars to "vote" for these products by purchasing them.

Furthermore, the nutritional quality of the produce which has endured shipping and sitting on the shelf for some time, has declined.

Digging in the dumpster can range from easy clean pickin's to down and dirty diving. Sometimes I have to climb in and get my shoes gooshy. Sometimes they throw plants in potting soil in the dumpster and everything is covered with dirt. Sometimes it rains and everything is soaking wet. There is always a stinky chemical smell, that I hope is the scented trash bags they use to bag up all of the bathroom and office waste. I have never seen any rats or cockroaches. Does this mean they are spraying for them? If so, I hope they are doing it outside the dumpster. Since all of the produce is usually encased in packaging, I feel somewhat safe, but...

Then, of course, there is the obvious time and energy drain of picking through 84 quarts of moldy blueberries just to come up with 25 or so quarts of so-so blueberries.

And then there is the increase in garbage. I am able to compost a large amount of organic waste and recycle plastic containers. If you are not able to compost, expect a significant increase in your trash. As it is, I must throw away all of the styrofoam trays that much of Aldi's produce is packaged in.

However, I do hope that you keep diving, especially if you, like me, cannot otherwise afford to eat a huge quantity of fruit and veggies otherwise.

Cheers!

June Food Expenses

Picture from http://www.platte.k12.sd.us/ttl/week3.htm

This is going to be a complicated post. Hopefully someone is going to teach me how to put this all into more readable tables.

Note: All figures represent the spending for a family of 5 and one cat

Grocery Receipts

6/1 Hare Today Gone Tomorrow (online), $100.06, frozen meat for the cat
6/1 Cub Foods, $25.59--bok choy, cherries, cantaloupe, frozen mango
6/1 Aldi, $51.08--romaine lettuce, apples, bananas, frozen raspberries, frozen mixed berries, cucumbers, multi-colored peppers, mangos
6/1 Sav-A-Lot, $35.92--8 large watermelons
6/1 Cub Foods, $2.60--cat food
6/2 Farmer's Market, $8--Raisin walnut bread (my husband's purchase for himself), eggs (for the cat), romaine lettuce
6/2 Cub Foods, $1.98, 6 gallons reverse osmosis water

6/4 Freeport Food Co-op Buying Club, $1.28, 1 can of albacore tuna (for the cat)

6/4 Aldi $4.18, bananas

6/4 Sav-A-Lot, $26.10, 4 watermelons, organic apples, nectarines and peaches, avocados

6/4 Cub Foods, $0.99, 3 gallons reverse osmosis water

6/7 Aldi, $25.99, 12 lbs. bananas, 4 watermelons (price went up on the watermelons!)
6/9 Farmer's Market, $5.50 Sprouted Salad Crunchies, eggs (for the cat)

6/9 Aldi, $23.08, 4 watermelons, Asian noodles (my husband's purchase for himself)

6/12 Aldi, $30.06, 4 watermelons, 4 cucumbers, 12 lbs. bananas, 3 lbs. Granny Smith apples, 4 plums, 4 cucumbers

6/12 Cub Foods, $8.98, 9 gallons reverse osmosis water, 2 12 oz. packages frozen mango

6/14 Cub Foods, 24.95, 5 cans organic cat food, 2 watermelons (sale!), 2 avocadoes, 1 pkg. sundried tomatoes, 2 12 oz. packages frozen mango

6/14 Nature's Path Health Food Store, $17.15, 23 oz. agave nectar, taurine (for the cat)

6/15 Cub Foods, $33.68, 5 watermelons, 2 pints blackberries, 2 pints raspberries, 2 12 oz. packages frozen mangos

6/15 Aldi, $13.91, 20 lbs. bananas, 4 lbs. green grapes, 3 large zucchini

6/16 Cub Foods, $9.79, 2 12 oz. packages frozen mangos, 2 packages scrub pads

6/16 Freeport Farmers Market, $3, sugar snap peas

6/17 Cub Foods, $8.07, 16 kiwi fruit, 2 pints blackberries

6/18 Cub Foods, $29.03, 4 watermelon, 8 kiwi fruit, 2 12 oz. packages frozen mangos, 2 avocadoes, 1 red pepper, 1 large head bok choy, 9 gallons reverse osmosis water

6/19 Cub Foods, $8.28, 10 lbs. bananas, 1 12 oz. package frozen cherries

6/21 Cub Foods, $29.07, 6 gallons reverse osmosis water, 8 lbs. bananas, 1 large watermelon, 2 large cantaloupe, 1 canary melon, 3 red peppers, 2 avocados, 2 lbs. tomatoes, 1 12 oz. package frozen cherries

6/23 Aldi, $7.68, 5 lbs. bananas, 2 cucumbers, 1 bunch celery, 1 watermelon

6/23 Farmer's Market, $7.50, 1 head bok choy, 1 large bag sugar snap peas, 1/2 batch of sprouted salad crunchies

6/23 SHARE food program, $13.50, Organic produce box containing 1 cantaloupe, 3 lbs. Golden Delicious apples, 4 kiwis, 3 pears, 1 large head broccoli, 1 lb. carrots, 1 cucumber, 1 head iceberg lettuce

6/24 Aldi, $9.87, 5.5 lbs. bananas, 2 lbs. green grapes, 2 lbs. red grapes, 2 avocados

6/25 Cub Foods, $3, 9 gallons reverse 0smosis water

6/27 Cub Foods, $8.74, 2 12 oz. packages frozen mangos, 2 cans organic catfood

6/29 Cub Foods, $15.14, 5 cans organic catfood, 1 watermelon, 1 cantaloupe, 3 gallons reverse osmosis water

6/30 Farmer's Market, $11, Shell peas, 2 cucumbers, 1 large head heirloom cos lettuce, 2 lbs. better than organic apricots

6/30 Cub Foods, $36.55, 15 lbs.? Organic bananas (discounted for ripeness), 2 watermelon, cucumbers, 1 cabbage, 2 1/4 lbs. Braeburn apples, 2 lbs. strawberries, 2 12 oz. packages each frozen cherries and mangos

6/30 Nature's Path Health Food Store, $10.01, Amber Agave Syrup (not raw! A mistake made by my husband. We planned to take it back, but my daughter opened it without asking. Grrr.)

Total: $645.77

Farmer's Market Expenses

6/1 Bags for bagging lettuce, $4.40
6/4 Organic chickpeas for Sprouted Salad Crunchies, $1.01

6/21 Limes and onion powder for Sprouted Salad Crunchies, $3.80

Total: $9.21


Garden Expenses

6/1 Cub Foods, $7 watermelon and kale plants
6/2 Farmer's Market, $6 cucumber and melon plants
6/6 Local farmer, straw for mulching, $15

6/16 Farm and Fleet, organic pest control sprays, 12.82

6/17 Cub Foods, eggplant and tomatillo plants on clearance, $4.82

6/21 DeMeester's Greenhouse, purple and yellow snap bean seeds, yellow and white patty pan squash seeds, large bag of rotonone (organic pesticide), $19.85

Total: $65.49

Farmer's Market Income

6/2 $8
6/9 $15.50

6/11 $7.50

6/16 $17.00

6/16 $13.50 (a friend sold lettuce for me at another area market)

6/18 $7.50

6/23 $4

6/30 $0

Total: $72.00

Free Food

6/1 Aldi dumpster, approx. $13.45 in colored peppers, a lot of sweet onions that I won't count because we're not eating them
6/2 Gift of asparagus from Farmer's Market vendor, $3
6/4 Aldi dumpster, approx. 122.36 worth of stuff--15 heads iceberg, 1 lb. romaine, 3 lbs. Granny Smith apples, 1 lb. Red Delicious apples, 14 D 'Anjou pears, 1 mango, 2 lbs. Roma tomatoes, 3 cucumbers, 3 3pks of colored peppers, 1 quart strawberries, about 84 pints of blueberries (but 2/3 of it was waste), plus a lot of stuff to give away that I did not count in the money total because I gave it away
6/7 Aldi dumpster, 6 lbs. oranges and 3 lbs. Red Delicious apples, approx. $8.50

6/9 Aldi dumpster, 9 lbs. oranges, 4 lbs. organic sweet cherries, 10 pts. blueberries (about 1/2 waste), 2 3 pks. peppers, 11 D 'Anjou pears, 15 lbs. Granny Smith apples, 8 lbs. Roma tomatoes, 2 quarts strawberries, 2 lbs. baby carrots, one package of chicken patties for the cat, and a lot of other stuff not counted in the total because I'm giving it away, approx. $78

6/12 Aldi dumpster, 14 lbs. Roma tomatoes, 3 lbs. red grapes, 4 lbs. organic sweet cherries, 5 pts. blueberries, 3 lbs. Gala apples, 1/2 qut. strawberries, 10 colored peppers, 3 cucumbers, 2 D'Anjou pears, 8 lemons, 15 limes, 1 zucchini, and 1 lonesome perfect peach, approx. $66

6/12 Mulberries from local trees, approx. $3

6/14 Mulberries from local trees, approx. $2

6/15 Aldi dumpster, 50 lbs. bananas, 9 lbs. Red Delicious apples, 6 lbs. Granny Smith apples, 3 3-packs of colored peppers, approx. $38

6/19 Mulberries from local trees, approx. $3

6/19 Peas from my farmer friends, approx. $1

6/20 Bibb lettuce from my farmer friends, approx. $2

6/21 Mulberries from local trees, approx. $1

6/22 Mulberries from local trees, approx. $1

6/22 Aldi dumpster, 6 lbs. Red Delicious apples, 6 lbs. Granny Smith apples, approx. $10

6/23 Black raspberries from a nice lady's patch, $9

6/23 Aldi dumpster, 1/2 lb. sweet cherries, $1

6/24 Aldi dumpster, 12 heads iceberg lettuce, 9 lbs. oranges, 1 lb. sweet cherries, $22 (more stuff not counted because we gave it to friends and neighbors),

6/24 Red and black raspberries from a friend's patch, $12

6/26 Aldi dumpster, 16 avocadoes in perfect condition!, 15 lbs. oranges, 10 lbs. green grapes, 5 quarts strawberries (after trimming), 4 lbs. sweet cherries, 10 lbs. bananas, 1 3-pack zucchini (more not counted because we gave it to friends and neighbors), $71.70

6/27 Aldi dumpster, 14 lbs. oranges, 12 lbs. green grapes, 1 red apple, $71.66

6/27 Mulberries, gooseberries, $3

6/27 Purslane, huge quantities! $priceless? I guess I'll charge myself $4

6/28 Red and black raspberries from a friend's patch, $12

6/28 Aldi dumpster (via a dumpster-diving friend), 8 colored peppers, 3 lbs. Granny Smith apples, 2 lbs. red grapes, 12 Roma tomatoes, 1 pint grape tomatoes, 1 bag baby carrots, $17

Total: $575.67

Garden Produce (market value based on what I would charge at the Farmer's Market for said amount of produce)

6/1 Four Seasons Lettuce, approx. $2
6/2 Four Seasons Lettuce, approx. $2
6/3 Four Seasons Lettuce, approx. $1
6/4 Four Seasons Lettuce, approx. $2
6/5 Four Seasons Lettuce, approx. $2

6/6 Four Seasons Lettuce, approx. $3

6/7 Four Seasons Lettuce, approx. $1

6/8 Mixed lettuce greens, approx. $3

6/9 Mixed lettuce greens, approx. $3

6/10 Mixed lettuce greens, approx. $3

6/11 Mixed lettuce greens, approx. $1

6/12 Four Seasons Lettuce, approx. $1

6/13 Four Seasons Lettuce, approx. $2

6/14 Four Seasons Lettuce, swiss chard, spinach, approx. $4

6/15 Mixed lettuce greens, spinach, approx. $5

6/16 Mixed lettuce greens, approx. $3

6/18 Four Seasons lettuce, approx. $2

6/19 Four Seasons lettuce, approx. $1

6/20 Four Seasons lettuce, approx. $1

6/21 Spinach approx. $2

6/22 Four Seasons and Black-seeded Simpson Lettuce, approx. $4

6/23 Four Seasons and Black-seeded Simpson lettuce, approx. $2

6/24 Four Seasons and Black-seeded Simpson lettuce, approx. $2

6/27 Black-seeded Simpson lettuce, approx. $2

6/28 Endive, $1

Total: $57

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

Cows Gone Wild

Photo by angellcharolais.com

So my garden has an awful lot of hoofprints in it today. Grrrr. My friends have a small herd of Charolais that has been in the family for over 100 years. Yeah, sounds cool, until they get through the fence and trample your tomatoes. Actually, they didn't do too much damage considering. They only got about a dozen plants.

Today I planted green zebra tomatoes, Dragon Langerie beans, and yellow French Filet beans. I also did some much-needed weeding. I was at it for almost 6 hours. My neck is sore from leaning over the ground. Guess my head is pretty heavy. LOL!

Then I headed for Aldi's dumpster. And went BANANAS! I got about 50 pounds of over-ripe bananas. Of course about 1/4 of them were compost, but the rest went into the freezer for smoothies.

Speaking of smoothies, I was disappointed to read (while drinking my morning smoothie) that bananas and strawberries are not a good combo, since you're not supposed to combine acid fruits and sweet fruits.

I am really struggling with my up and down emotions. The last few days have been heavy on social events centered around food. First off, it was a big step for me to just have fun (at least most of the time). The great thing I can report was that I didn't want to eat junk food! The frustrating part is not wanting other people to eat it. Obviously, I can't and shouldn't be able to make other people's choices. There are some other issues buried there, but I'm too upset to even talk about them right now. Maybe in another post.

Windy Day

Wow, has it ever been windy here! And we could sure use some rain. We were supposed to get it tomorrow, but now the forecast has been changed to say no rain...

I had a full day with gardening, grocery shopping, dumpster diving, and a meeting/ work time at the community garden. And of course, I watched the season finale of LOST!

Today's dumpster haul was unbelievable at first glance--at least 25 quarts of strawberries, 20 packages of mushrooms (that looked perfect, not brown at all), 3 2-lb packages of grapes, 6 4-packs of D 'Anjou pears, 9 lbs. of apples, a small box full of limes and lemons, a bunch of celery, and one lonely package of Roma tomatoes. Of course, after my husband picked through the strawberries and grapes and took out all of the moldy ones, the size was reduced by over half. We gave away the mushrooms and spread the fruit wealth a bit among our friends (but not too much--we gotta eat!)

I then went inside Aldi and spent $38 on 3 large seedless watermelons, bananas, cucumbers, multicolored peppers, more apples, grape tomatoes, a couple of pounds of romaine (still haven't harvested any of my own lettuce), a package of frozen raspberries, and a can of chicken breast for the cat.

As we checked out, the cashier joked with us about how we are "her produce family." "Who eats all of these bananas?" she asked the girls. Of course, they were too shy to answer.

In June, I would like to accurately record how much we spend on food and how much it would cost us factoring in the price of the food we get for free out of the dumpster. Will I get that organized? We shall see.

Today's food:

8 a.m. One medium cantaloupe
9:30 a.m. 1/2 C. fresh pineapple (left from the kids' breakfast and I couldn't resist)
Noon About 2 C. red grapes
1-ish: some lamb's quarters while I was weeding in the garden
1:30 A blender soup made with a large cucumber, some red and yellow pepper, 3 roma tomatoes, a couple of stalks of celery, the juice of one lemon, and my typical mixture of onion powder, Italian seasoning, and salt
6:30 p.m. (on the run between the meeting and the work time at the garden) A green smoothie made with romaine, 3 small bananas, and 12 oz. thawed raspberries
10 p.m. A romaine salad w/ a blended salad dressing of cucumber, roma tomatoes, celery, lime juice and my typical mexican seasoning mixture of onion powder, cumin, and a dash of salt with the unusual addition of sundried tomatoes and cayenne pepper

Total: 1220 calories

Now don't even think it... Why is Greenmama eating a big salad with cayenne at 10 p.m.?!? An excellent question my friends.

Well, I'm worn out, so off to bed I go.

A Gorgeous Day to be Gardening...

We were low on food, so I headed to the store with our last $30. (Luckily, there's a paycheck coming this week). I went across town because Sullivan's supposedly had a case of mangos for $3.99! I don't normally shop there unless there are some big sales like this one.

When I got there, they had about a dozen mangoes on the display. No cases. It took me awhile to track someone down, and they had no idea about the case sale. They showed me a circular that had the 2 for 79 cents sale price, but not the case price. Of course, I hadn't brought my circular with me. So, I bought 4 mangos, a large seedless watermelon, 3 red pears, and 5 lbs. of Red Delicious apples (also on sale) for $15.

Then we headed for Aldi. I took a quick peek in the dumpster and got a cantaloupe. There was a huge pile of white bread, hotdog and hamburger buns. Well, that was real garbage anyway... so I left it. In Aldi, we purchased 2 lbs. of red grapes, 3 cucumbers, a 3-pack of peppers, 3 lbs. of Gala apples, and about 20 lbs. of bananas for $13.

(My husband had to run an errand and he took the sales flier advertising the mango price back to the store. They issued him a raincheck... Something to look forward to!)

After our shopping, we headed to our garden at our friend's farm. Look how tiny my girls look in the picture and it will give you a hint of just how big this garden is. About 15 times bigger than I've ever planted before. The red stuff in the foreground amongst the weeds is our Four Seasons Lettuce. Some for us, some for the Farmer's Market... if I get it weeded.

The girls helped me plant peppers and 5 kinds of tomatoes.

Today's eating included:

Cantaloupe, red grapes, bananas, a smoothie with mixed berries and bananas, mango, and a big salad with romaine, cucumber, tomato, red and yellow pepper, sprouts (French Garden mix), and a little shredded carrot. Oh, and some raisins while watching LOST!

Now, I'm up TOO LATE. I have a big day tomorrow with all-day training for my new job.

Reflecting on my Raw Adventure

sample photo from Microsoft

Looking back, I realized that it has been officially 18 days into my raw adventure, with no non-raw food cheats. I am amazed at how easy it was to go raw, but also at how difficult it was to not abuse my body with food (albeit raw food). I had to give away trigger foods, like cashews. I learned a lot about why grains, high fat foods, and dehydrated foods can be harmful, and I felt the effects of various foods on my own body.

And I learned that if I want to be able to eat this way, some of my food is going to have to come from a dumpster. Luckily, I love the thrill of the hunt! (Did I mention that last week we scored 21 cantaloupes?!?)

How has 18 days of raw food affected me?

• I have lost 6 pounds, which I attribute to water weight from a decline in salt consumption, since my body fat percentage is still about the same.

• In the beginning, I did experience some detox symptoms, such as mild headaches, acidic nasal drainage, sore throat, etc. But those passed fairly quickly.

• My bowel symptoms such as bloating, gas, and constipation go away, as long as I don't eat lots of nuts, dried fruit or dehydrated foods. When I eat those things, however, I am very uncomfortable.

• I don't crave cooked food, salt, or sugar. However, I don't like watching food commercials on t.v., because I have a combination of revulsion and attraction, almost like the feeling you get when you pass a fatal car accident on the road.
  
• My normally sharp sense of smell is even sharper. My friend came over with gum in her mouth and the smell almost bowled me over. Very chemically!

• My skin is clearer and seems to have a glow about it.

• I am anxious about other's reaction to my diet. I feel fearful about people's views about my parenting skills. I am also anxious about being able to afford good quality fruit.
  

• I feel like I am on an emotional roller coaster, going from ecstasy and joyfulness to frustration and depression.

Thanks to all of my supporters who have helped me on my journey!

Marjorie

Drizzly day

I ate today:

8 a.m.--3/4 of a cantaloupe

12 p.m.--2 1/2 C. romaine lettuce, 1/2 red pepper, chopped, 1/2 C. grated carrot, 1/4 C. broccoli sprouts, 4 or 5 small stalks of raw asparagus, a dressing made with 1/2 avocado (not ripe enough), the juice of a lime, 2 stalks of celery and some water

3:30 p.m.--2 grapefruits, peeled

6 p.m.--3 C. romaine, 1/2 C. sliced cucumber, 1/2 C. orange pepper, chopped, 2 stalks raw asparagus, 1/4 C. chopped celery, some creamy tahini and lemon dressing

9:30 p.m.--a handful of red grapes while I was washing them up

30% fat today... I have to work on this. If only I liked bananas.

Today, my mood matched the weather. Cloudy, with gentle sprinkles here and there and then some drizzle later on.

This morning I had a training session on how to man the Master Gardener Helpline. I took the Master Gardener class this spring and it was fantastic. I don't feel like a "Master" Gardener, though. I am the least experienced gardener in the group. Today, we discussed plant identification (I know very little!) and showed how to use various resources to figure out what plant you're dealing with and what's wrong with it. I brought the girls along with library books, coloring books, scissors and catalogs to cut, and snacks, of course. They were very good during the two hour meeting. I was so proud of them. Many people complimented me on how sweet and well-behaved they were.

The afternoon disappeared quickly in a combination of housecleaning, kid-care, and time online.

After dinner, my husband and I took the kids to see a free band concert at the local community college. It was a bit disappointing. The band was, well, very amateur. The kids enjoyed it... sort-of. They didn't have the patience to sit still for a whole hour (except my 5 year-old, who fell asleep), so we left before the last piece. My son asked lots of questions about the different instruments and really liked all of the percussion equipment. The baby liked the cymbal crashes.

On the way home, we swung into Aldi's parking lot. I swear, I'm addicted to dumpster diving now! I saw that the dumpster was pretty full--they clear out to make way for the new stuff on Friday and Saturday, I think. I grabbed a case of grapes from on top and planned to come back later. I was a bit skittish about getting caught, as the store had closed and the employees were about to leave for the night. I don't think anything bad would happen, except that all the employees recognize me. So what, right? I just don't want to be told, "You're not allowed," because I would of course follow that directive and then, my dumpster fun would be over.

I did go back a little after 10 and most of what I had seen was gone. Who else is diving? Makes me glad I grabbed those grapes! I still got a fair bit. Here's a list:

For us, I got:

16 pounds of grapes (I had to pick through them and throw away about 2 pounds)

5 colored peppers

2 pkgs. portabello mushrooms

18 limes

16 lemons

1 pkg. roma tomatoes

For friends, neighbors and family I got:

12 green peppers

12 pkgs. button mushrooms

10 lbs. of russet potatoes

Crabby

My husband had a senior awards banquet to attend tonight and so I had the kiddos all to myself.

I was desperate to get some planting done at my big garden out at my friends' farm, so I picked my son up from school and we all headed out there. I brought a huge container of grape tomatoes and a quart of soaked, dehydrated walnuts since I knew the kids would complain of hunger if I didn't have food along. We also brought our brand new library books to read. Unfortunately, they polished off the food and read the books in record time. Bored, they began to systematically demolish the inside of my car. Well, o.k., that's an exaggeration. My car is a glorified compost heap with a failing muffler, leaks in the windows and dashboard, a broken side mirror, an engine badly in need of a tune-up, one working radio speaker, and a great big pile of junk in the back (it's an '85 Celebrity Wagon). So, there isn't much more damage that can be done to it. But they dumped out seed packets, spilled water bottles and walnuts, tore some paper into little confetti bits, turned on the windshield wipers to squeak horribly, adjusted all the speaker levels, moved all of the mirrors out of whack and generally created havoc.

We had to make two bathroom trips and take one extended nursing break and they pretty much whined and complained nonstop, so after less than two hours, I had had it! At least I got 48 square feet more of lettuce planted. I hate wasting the gas and the trip out there, though.

We tried to dumpster dive again at Aldi on the way home...man, we need fruit!...but an employee was out back taking a smoke break, so we were out of luck.

For dinner, I had about 4 cups of romaine, a stalk of celery, 1/2 C. grated carrot, 1/3 C. broccoli sprouts, and more of that creamy nut dressing.

Tonight I started making some dehydrator sweet potato chips marinated in lime and olive oil. To one batch, I also added chili powder and sea salt. I am interested to see how they turn out. I know they probably aren't the greatest--basically raw junk food. But I can't let those sweet potatoes go to waste.

Now it is almost 1 a.m., definitely too late for me to be up! I have to volunteer all day tomorrow at my son's school, so I should be in bed.

Zipp-edy Doo Dah

It is a lovely day with lots of sunshine. A perfect day to eat raw!

This morning I lazed in bed with my dear husband.

At about 10:30, I ate a banana, about a cup and a half of romaine, a few cucumber slices and some leftover salad that I made last night that contained purple cabbage, celery, shredded carrot, and a dressing of soaked raisins, hempseed and a little grapefruit juice.

I had a fun grocery shopping experience, despite our super-limited budget this week. I tried dumpster diving behind Aldi for the first time and hit the jackpot. Loads of green onions, several packages of multi-colored peppers, a dozen or so packages of button mushrooms, a cucumber, 4 heads of romaine, and some pork roast for the Bartimaeas, our cat and a couple of loaves of bread for a friend.

The pork roast reminds me to feel guilty about the diet of our poor cat. See, we're really too poor to have a cat and care for him properly. But we like him a lot and so we keep him. We were buying him the cheapest generic dry food we could get, but I always felt bad about it. I know all about the horrors of the pet food industry. So imagine how frightened I was when my son started eating the cat's food. Although I explained how horrible it was and tried many behavior modification tactics, nothing worked and he kept sneaking it.

What's a mother to do?

I started buying the cat canned tuna and chicken breast. At least if the boy was gonna sneak that into his mouth it wouldn't have melamine or euthanized animals in it!

I wanted Bart (the cat) to go raw, but he wouldn't eat the raw fish I bought him. (At least my son wouldn't eat that.)

I really hate to handle meat. I also don't have much money to spend on feeding a damn cat. The kids have to eat first, you know?

So now, I got three free pork roasts from a dumpster and hopefully Bart will eat roast pork, because I held my nose and roasted it and cut it up for the little furball. Sigh.

After I got back from grocery shopping and dumpster diving, I made myself a salad with about 3 cups romaine, a 12 oz. bag of thawed frozen raspberries, some chopped red pepper and green onions, a small sprinkle of soaked dehydrated sunflower seeds, and an ounce or so of raisins.

The evening involved a big production... helping my husband chaperone his high school's prom. I was a bit concerned that there wouldn't be much to eat. My husband said at least there would be a green salad, so I brought along lentil sprouts and my own dressing--made with soaked almonds, cashews, and sunflower seeds, lemon juice, onion powder, dried oregano, and sea salt. I also brought two Gala apples, but we ended up eating them on the drive over.

As I feared, nothing for me to eat. The salad was liberally sprinkled with American cheese shreds. I mean really, does American cheese make a salad more fancy?!? Ugh. I dug out the lettuce from the bottom and then picked out the leftover bits with my fingers. So annoying. I tried to be quick and subtle about it. The dressing and the lentil sprouts made the salad so sooooooo good. I really enjoyed my dinner.

I was hungry later on in the evening, and there was sheet cake and cookies to tempt me. But I stayed away.

And I had a great time watching the kids dance and joking around with my husband and the other teachers there.