Couldn't have been a nicer day on the farm. Mid to high 70's with a sight breeze blowing. The ground was steamy and wet and odoriferous with green, growing life. At times, when I crouched low to snap a buried Swiss Chard stem, the heat from the ground was almost sauna hot. Picking was silent some of the time, just the pop of snipped greens, and the rustle of leaves. Other times easy conversation punctured the steamy silence.
My fingernails are stained olive drab and my fridge is full of produce.
Satisfying, satisfying, satisfying. Sigh.
The packing went quick and the boxes were pregnant with delicious offerings. Pictured are some of the gorgeous offerings... a handful of purple beans, garlic, broccoli and cabba
ge.
BROCCOLI "BEEF"
We made a stir fry out of just picked broccoli and snap peas. It maybe was the best stir fry I've ever had. I was starving...that always helps, but, yum.
We had Trader Joe's "beef" seitan in the freezer so we tossed that in. (Highly recommended!)
with the broccoli,
snap peas,
some frozen peppers,
onions and
brown rice that we had cooked previously and frozen.
Quick and delicious.
I made a sauce out of : 1/4 cup sesame oil,
1/4 cup plus
1 TBSP soy sauce,
1 minced garlic clove,
1 tsp sesame seeds,
1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes, and
3 TBSP slivered almonds.
Poured it over and stirred it up.
Yum!
Last day of this introspective, change your life posts. Ten is a decent round figure.
Finally, add the whole FlyLady concept to your life. Her theory is that you make use of the time you have rather than put things off until they feel out of control. One month I took a modified suggestion from her and forced myself to get rid of ten things every day for a month. (Okay, I could do this with papers, but I took it to a more challenging level some days.) A giveaway box in the corner of a closet collected a lot of stuff we just weren't using. I loved it. And probably should make it a habit to do at least three times a month.
Though I don't get her emails for follow her plan I love her attitude and proactivity.
If you want to look into her here's the link. Beginning Baby Steps eases you in. But there's a lot of extra coaching. I found Hot Spots under day 6
interesting and something I need to focus on. I have two table hot spots...and uhhhh... well. She coaches that tiny bits of time every day or so saves us from the big horrendous things like spring cleaning. And a little organization makes life a little more like living.
I dare say we could take her concept to other areas of life. Just like when I did the 21 Day Project and made copious amounts of progress on the book. Since then, I've barely touched it, and guess what? It's not like I have a ton more time on my hands. Everything was fresh and right in front of me and in my mind for 21 days. If we could take the important things in our lives and put them on a must do list every day I wonder what difference we'd see in our lives.
If every day I made it a habit to contact each of my kids and tell them that I love them. Or hugged and kissed my husband just because. Or made a promise to myself that I would make five positive statements for every negative statement that comes out of my mouth. Or I spent two minutes really praying and ten really reading the Bible. Or twenty minutes taking a walk or ten minutes just talking with my husband. All of that time wouldn't add up to much. Might cut into commercial watching or mindless surfing. But would I really miss those? I wonder if those changes wouldn't multiply blessings in my life.
Worth thinking about.
Tuesday = Farm Fun.
Yesterday I worked in the non-balmy field planting Zinnias. It was almost chilly on this first day of summer. Of course, that might be because of the rain. Fortunately, the rain was spotty until it was time to drive home, then it was as if someone turned a fire hose on and sprayed it directly at the driver's side of the windshield.
But again, I digress. You are probably wondering why I'd plant Zinnias at an organic vegetable farm. Congratulations. That was my response. But mine also included a goofy look, probably similar to the ones the dogs wear whenever a human puts food into a plastic bag. Huh?
Zinnias attract pollinators. Honey bees, remember the hive? Apparently they are thriving and helping all the happy plants become productive members of vegetable society. And butterflies. The better the pollination the better the yield. Okay. That makes sense.
So I asked if the Zinnias attracted any negative critters. And I felt almost as if I received a "good question" head pat. That's why we planted near the vegetable garden but not IN it. 
They have discovered that creepy crawlies beyond pollinators like Zinnias, too.
Then I had my first real shot at the packing line. I was very, very careful when it came to washing... double checking and avoiding anything that looked like a pea. Fortunately, there were ZERO mishaps. Whew. I was feeling a little nervous. But, I think we cracked it out pretty impressively.
And I am now the owner of a lovely kohlrabi. I'm not sure exactly how we'll eat him. The farmer says we should think jicama. (I'm sure that helps. Ha.Ha.) But once I figure out how to dissect him, I'll share the recipe. Right now, I'm enjoying the whole alien in my refrigerator thing.
And I'm just realizing that there may be something sinister about the kohlrabi...I did absolutely nothing of value last night....except surf Amazon for cookbooks. Weird. Like it's little purple tentacles controlled my actions.
Do one more healthy thing today than you did yesterday. It could be as little as a few moments of introspection into your motives and drives. Or as much as pushing yourself to move one mile further. Or to finally begin tweaking your favorite recipes.
Park further away from your office and walk the extra distance. Drink one less pop, or pour half of it out. Smoke one less cigarette. Take two bites of the cookie and save the rest until later. Go to bed 15 minutes earlier. Set your alarm for 15 minutes earlier and use the time to sit and sip and read your Bible, pray, or prepare for dinner. Stretch. Hit the snooze alarm one less time. Prep vegetables for snacks in small containers or within easy reach.
I read an article about self-control and self-discipline a while ago. It mentioned the importance of making small decisions to help encourage you to go for bigger things that seem overwhelming right now. It's like if you say yes to yourself you become your own cheerleader. Every bit of control you take over your own life encourages you to take that next step.
The reverse is true, too. I've found that when I want to fall into laziness or a funk, it's so easy to let it snowball. Maybe the best thing you can do today is to decide you can be lazy in one area but not the others that always seem to go along with it. Allow yourself that today, but tomorrow, do one more healthy thing for yourself than you did the day before. See if healthy choices don't begin to become contagious in other areas of your life.
ge. 
1 TBSP soy sauce, 
