Garden Photos Autumn Bounty

Autumn is here and so comes the bounty from the garden. I took a stroll in the garden today for the first time since we returned from Sukkot. I was surprised to see how many tomatoes went to waste while we were gone. Still there were five crates mostly full after I picked and that's not even touching the cherry tomato patch.

The peppers, cabbage, beets, carrots, squash, green beans, potatoes, and herbs will be a yummy addition to our autumn diet.

Sukkot Preparation Odds N' Ends

Sukkot is getting so close now and I'm excited! Since we are traveling for Sukkot there are many things to prepare. I packed my suitcase already just so it would be out of the way and I won't have to think about it anymore until it's time to load the van.

Today I delivered the goats to the goat sitter then mom and I made a huge batch of veggie juice and green smoothies. We are going 100% raw for a few days before and after Yom Kippur. Since she is trying to improve her health and I'm trying to keep mine we thought it was a good time to insert a bit of a fast before a fast followed by another bit of a fast. :) Though right now I'm craving cheese and corn chips, I'll resist the urge and drinking my peach, blackberry, spinach, banana, and swiss chard smoothie, which by the way is quite delicious!

Tomorrow dad and I will drive to either Biggs OR, or Portland to pick up my niece Rachael who will be keeping the feasts with us. I'm very excited to be including her. She will miss 3 weeks of school so my job through out the feast is to make sure she stays caught up on homework in between high days and Sabbaths. I pray that by including her, Torah observant lifestyle will affect her life positively in the long run.

So somehow between now and early Tuesday morning we have to pack the last minute stuff like ice chests with food for the road and fresh produce from the garden, and yes, of course we will take our Champion juicer...I'll be juicing each day whether in a hotel or a sukkah. Perhaps I will sew on the last of my buttons for the new jumper I made while dad is driving.

The bright side of all this busy-ness is that we have Shabbat to rest on and Yom Kippur as well. Two days to set aside all busy plans and preparations and focus on Yahweh. During this season, extra days off from work are SO appreciated!

Then there is my poor cat Flavia, she doesn't get to keep the feast with us this year :( Last year we took her to the mountains with us and even though she hated the drive she enjoyed the stay. This year the amount of miles we have to drive, I decided would be harder on her than being separated from the family. She thinks she is a person after all, sleeps on the bed, watches tv, and she likes me to watch her eat several times a day. Sometimes she won't touch her food unless I stand there and watch, it's crazy! Also she is best friends with our dog who gets to come to the feast...it's just not fair being a cat I guess. Hope she eats while I'm gone.

Anyway after 2 and a half days of driving we should reach our destination in Indiana, Yahweh willing.

May Yahweh bless your Yom Kippur and Sukkot!

Cats Love Cantaloupe

Mom and I have been doing some major diet makeover in our kitchen lately. It's been on the to do list for quite some time but getting around to doing the to do list isn't always as easy as it sounds. A while back I bought the book Whole Foods And Healing Recipes by Ron Lagerquist. It gathered dust for about 5 months before I felt so bad about keeping it hidden away in the bedroom that I brought it out to re-read. By some miracle I was able to persuade mom to read it too and next thing I knew we were buying carrots, corn, and cantaloupe!

Now speaking of cantaloupe, we've been buying "herds of cantaloupe"(as Lagerquist says) each week for a dollar a piece at the roadside stand. Now mom is not convinced yet that we should juice the whole cantaloupe rind and all but did you know that is the most nutritious way to eat a cantaloupe? According to Lagerquist's research, cantaloupe(rind and all) are high in vitamin A and C, myoinositol, and a large amount of digestive enzymes. They are also good for weight loss and in fighting off certain types of cancer!

Learning some of these fascinating facts on cantaloupe has been enough to keep me interested in eating it for breakfast...but the rinds? A few year back(honestly it was like 13 years back) we realized that our cat Mimi LOVES cantaloupe! We found it funny so we tried feeding her all sorts of fruits and veggies. She didn't really catch on to the vegan concept. We did have another cat that liked peaches and pineapple, and our cat Amy tasted Dr. Pepper once...um that's another story though. So, back to the rinds. Last year I had too many cantaloupe in the garden and they were starting to rot so I took little old Mimi out there and showed her where to harvest and she just dug those fanged teeth right into the rind and began eating. So the cat knows what's good for her and she's not going to let the taste of a tough cantaloupe rind get in the way of her raw food consumption! So take a lesson from my cat and eat your rinds.

Well so far each morning I'm still throwing the rinds out the back door hoping to hit the compost bucket and occasionally I'll throw one toward the cat. And if one of these mornings you catch me gnawing on cantaloupe rind...don't raise your eyebrows at me, I'm just trying to follow Mimi's good example.