Fresh Produce and Healthy Fats

In 2018 I was obsessed with cooking whole grains and beans. Unfortunately this low-cost, high-carbohydrate diet did not help me escape obesity. In 2019 I have been following The IVF Diet, which I also refer to as a Garden of Eden diet. I have lost about 15 pounds so far, but I would have to lose 50 pounds more to reach a "normal" BMI. Now that I have found a method that is working, I will be sticking to it until it does not work anymore.

Farmer's Market haul from May 19, 2019

Living in California has been great, since we can go to the Farmer's Market and get most of what we need. If I had the discipline, I would write down the prices we pay for these items at the Farmer's Market, but to be honest I do not enjoy tracking cash transactions. Many people have an idea that the Farmer's Market will be more expensive, but I doubt that. When you consider that you are eliminating carbon cost associated with supply chain, and you are getting fresher produce (less wasting rotted fruit and vegetables), then you might be getting more than what you pay for.

What I can share with you is saved receipts from the grocery stores for the past few weeks. We have been eating according to a Two Week Cleanse that eliminates most dairy and gluten. Here are my results. The items are in no particular order.

Cheapest source is highlighted in green

Similarly to what I found in a previous analysis, Winco is the cheapest place to get the items we need for the diet. It is not as dramatic since the items above are fresh and not found in bulk bins, but there are a few notable exceptions. The almond butter machine inside the store at Winco is amazing! I also discovered that Winco has pitted dates in the bulk section.

Side note: I was almost forcibly removed from Walmart when they noticed that I was writing down prices in my notebook. Their argument was that I could have checked all the prices from home using their shopping app, but I preferred to check them in person at the store. I explained that the information was "just for me" since I am on a new diet and eating the same items every two weeks. I believe I have a right to comparison shop to get the best prices in my local area (Los Angeles).

Unfortunately, we live 40 miles from the nearest Winco. We have a car that gets 25 mpg highway. With gas prices around $4 per gallon, it costs $13 to drive to Winco and back. Compared to our local store (Von's) and the organic retailer (Whole Foods), the savings are worth the drive. You can find the shopping list for week 1 of the diet in the previous post. Happy shopping!

Summer Garden in bloom

I am LOVING my summer garden and it's thanks to a wet March. We had two inches of rain over normal, which set up my soil and got my seedlings started perfectly. With a few hot days, we had a relatively normal spring temperature-wise with no late frost, so that also helped everything survive.

before

after

Unfortunately, today we have excessive heat. To mitigate the damage, I added burlap coverings to the new vertical garden shelf and to some of my growboxes. The "Garden Patch" growboxes have holes in the four corners, which are for the polypropylene (fiberglass) Staking Kit. 

For the vertical shelf (below) I drilled holes into the wood. I used a wire hanger and some of the leftover pieces from the Staking Kit to create supports. The burlap was purchased from Home Depot in a roll, which I cut in half. It's not a perfect system, but hopefully it's better than no shade.

I do need to buy "Mosquito Dunks" to prevent the standing water in the bottom of the growbox from becoming a breeding ground for pests. I had a mist cooling setup, but water was pooling in the trays and I saw bugs hatching in the excess water. So I dumped the water and let the trays bake in the sun for a few days.

I used the "Nutrient Patch" on a non-Garden Patch container. I planted every-other slot with salad greens and it worked out really well (no weeds). I wouldn't say that box was more productive than the boxes without a Nutrient Patch, but they were in a different locations so it's hard to compare.

before

after

I'm super excited to harvest seeds from my radish and arugula. The lettuce just started bolting. I got some new succulents and a friend said he'd be happy to share some clones with me. Something completely ate the two varieties of kale, which I'm sad about, but I'll replant for a fall/winter garden.

I have two 'Husky Cherry Red' tomato plants, one 'Jubilee' tomato plant, one 'Red Bull' pepper plant and one 'Jalapeno' pepper plant that are now 110 days old. Of the seeds I planted in March, it's good that some of them may grow to adulthood. I guess it's almost time to plan the winter garden.

There are some recent news articles about Californians going back to water usage at pre-drought levels. I am guilty of this. I had grown fewer and fewer vegetables and leafy greens in order to save water (growing cacti and succulents instead) but I'm going back to growing food since we had a wet enough winter to refill our reservoirs. 

Until water restrictions are reenacted I will continue attempting to produce home-grown veggies. Technically, we're still in a 'Severe Drought' so we'll see what happens between now and winter. There's a trade-off in sustainability between buying fruits and veggies that are trucked in versus home grown fruits and veggies. At least I can be sure my home-grown produce is organic.