So I'm going to try gardening!

One of the things I've decided I want to give a lot of focus to in my life is living a more green, healthy lifestyle. I'd been giving some thought to having a garden (I'm not an outdoor person so I'm not a natural gardener per se). I asked my dad if I could clear out some of our garden boxes in the back yard for a veggie garden. He axed that idea...it seems as though he's a bit attached to his flowers! Then I heard about the Burpee Cash Garden seed set. I thought this was so cool in theory! Then I found a blog giving away a Burpee Cash Garden seed set. I signed up for the giveaway and decided if I didn't win I would purchase the seed set and Princess Bear (PB) & I would set up a bag garden on our back patio. Well lo and behold I won the seeds! I'm so excited! I've done some research on bag gardening and we're going to be good to go! Then my sister & I started talking about CSA's and once again I was on the hunt. For those of you who don't know what CSA is it stands for Community Supported Agriculture and basically you buy a share in a local farm and for approximately 20-22 weeks you get a fresh delivery of veggies for approximately $15-$19 per week. The advantages are that most CSAs are organic and the veggies are still much fresher than what you get at the store. The CSA that my mom and I opted to go with also has a free range chicken egg option, and a cruelty free beef, pork and chicken option. If you are interested in learning more about CSAs you can google CSA or go HERE

I've also decided that I'm in a place where I'm ready to dump some of this extra weight I'm dragging around. I've gotten to terms with why I gained the weight and now I'm ready for it to be gone. I was giving a lot of thought to a clean eating diet. I figure it has to be a very healthy option and would only help PB with some of her health issues. Last week I bought the book Skinny Bitch. I LOVED THIS BOOK! I will also let you know that the authors of Skinny Bitch think that everyone should follow a pretty strict vegan diet (something that is mentioned no where on the cover). I was basically a vegetarian in college and reading some of the things in Skinny Bitch reminded me why. I really can't stand the thought of animal cruelty and the majority of domestic animal butchering practices are beyond barbaric. So once again I was giving thought to becoming a veg head (although I don't know if I can give up seafood!) My mom doesn't want to give up meat but is willing to pay extra for humane slaughter practices. I was back on the phone with the CSA we picked and started asking about their animal rearing practices (no growth hormones or antibiotics!) I was invited to come visit the farm...I loved that they are so confident in their practices! I also asked a ton of questions about the slaughter house they use. Not only were all my questions answered but I was also given the name of the meat locker used as well as the owners name and phone number and told that I could visit that as well. So now I've decided that this summer is going to be one of healthy living for PB and myself. The only animal products will we consume will come from our CSA or another cruelty free locker but the biggest majority of our food will hopefully be from our garden or CSA deliveries. I'm also going to try to get PB on soy milk and off of high fructose corn syrup (did you hear that there is now mercury being found in HFCS?!!!?) So those are some of my plans for this summer & I've got to tell you I'm pretty excited!!!