California - What are you doing this month?

[quote=I don't mind counting carbs, giving up sugar, and exercising. I've been doing it all for over a week. I'm just tired of being sick. When do I start seeing results? [/quote]

Suz, remember that it didn't take overnight to get into this position.... It will take probably a few weeks to really start noticing the effects of your good work. Just stay with it.

AtlantaMarie wrote:[quote=I don't mind counting carbs, giving up sugar, and exercising. I've been doing it all for over a week. I'm just tired of being sick. When do I start seeing results?

Suz, remember that it didn't take overnight to get into this position....  It will take probably a few weeks to really start noticing the effects of your good work.  Just stay with it.[/quote]

Well, part of it was simple stupidity. I gave up carbs, sugar, and sweeteners, but didn't substitute anything else. I was probably living on about 800 calories a day and wondering why I didn't feel good. After losing 4 lbs in 9 days, I realized I was starving myself. Now I'm eating more and feeling a little better. I read that losing 10-15 lbs might help, and I can do that without getting too skinny, so that and working up to 30 minutes a day on the treadmill are my twin goals.

Good for you! Those are certainly reachable...

"Slow & steady wins the course." I know it's a cliche, but they're cliche's for a reason, lol!

countrynaturals wrote:

audrey.jeanne.roberts wrote:

countrynaturals wrote:Almost everything is dead in the garden. I don't know why, since I never missed a watering and our weather seems fine to me. Some of our nights get down into the mid 40s, but I didn't think that would be too cold. Obviously, I don't know much.

I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. I haven't had sweeteners or carbs in over a week and still feel lousy. Cholesterol is high, but everything else checked out okay. Next is the cardiologist. I'm so sick of being sick. All I do is play XBox and watch TV. This isn't living.

So sorry to hear this   I'm reading a fantastic new book, written by a doctor that deals with end stage diabetes patients that have kidney failure.  His name is Dr. Jason Fung (from Canada).  He was tired of seeing failure out of the standard treatments and did in depth research on how the body deals with weight, blood sugar, insulin etc.  It's called "The Obesity Code."  Super readable yet scholarly.  You can also look him up on Youtube where he has a lot of videos. 

I started following his information in Mid-May and am down 30+ lbs and feeling so much better.  I have diabetes on both sides of my family and didn't want to go down that path.  Sending {{{{HUGS}}}} your way!

I'm not overweight, but I have dropped 2 lbs already, just by giving up sugary drinks and snacks. Is there more to "The Obesity Code" than weight loss? 

Sanderson? Is there a way to move these posts somewhere else, since we're so far off topic?

Absolutely more to it than weight loss.  Understanding diabetes and how it works so that you can avoid insulin and other treatments that are deadly in the long run (they don't tell you that up front).  I would encourage you to watch his videos to get what information you can without spending the money on the book.  I've watched all of them and the book has a lot more information in it than are in them.

Working on getting a healthy diet subforum started. Audrey, have you noticed the gluten-free recipe sub-forum?

OMG!  Remember that little striped cukamelon thingy I got from seeds that were supposed to be vine peach (yuk)? Only a few developed the green stripes and they were awesome. I got the best one about a month ago, and ate it, seeds and all. Then I started kicking myself for not saving the seeds, since it was the most awesome cuke I had ever tasted. I kept hoping I would get some more, but then I got sick and the weather turned. Today, I went out to prepare space for some sprouting broccoli starts and I found a perfect little striped fruit just laying there among the dead vines. YIPPEE!  I brought it in, carved it up, and ate the flesh. The outer part tasted like a nice, sweet cuke, but the gooey part next to the seeds actually tasted like a honeydew melon. I'm so excited I don't know what to do. This baby is loaded with seeds, so now I'm off to research how to preserve them. I am a very happy camper right now.  (It's about the size of a golf ball, but others were more the size of baseballs, so I know they can grow bigger under the right circumstances.)

 

So interesting. I hope you can save the seeds and can plant them next year. I wonder what traits will be passed. For each seed, it could be a different set of traits. This is exciting.

Today was such a great day to work outside.  The air is so clean and blue after the rains.  I took this either Sunday or Monday night.  Normally the air is bad and the sky a greyish blue.

I managed to get the last 3 2x4' beds clean and amended.  They will sleep until the sun reaches them next spring.  The worm tubes were full of castings and the soil full of worms.

Finished applying horse manure under the wood chips on this 36' strip of out-of-the-box area.  I will have sorghum, tomatoes, peppers and maybe okra in this area.  Still have another 20' to apply manure but that will be easy now that I have the rhythm down.  The sungold tomato is still going strong with some nice big cherry tomatoes.  I pruned new growth with flowers so that the energy goes to ripening the tomatoes before first frost.  I can't believe how the petunia baskets have revived with this cool weather!

First 2 snow peas!

sanderson ... it all looks beautiful.

Do you use composted or (semi)fresh manure?

Frost? You get frost! Say it isn't so.

sanderson wrote:So interesting.  I hope you can save the seeds and can plant them next year.  I wonder what traits will be passed.  For each seed, it could be a different set of traits.  This is exciting.

 I put the seeds in warm water on top of the fridge. My research said that viable seeds would sink and the nogoodniks would float. This morning every seed is on the bottom. YEE-HAH! I've already decided where to plant them next year -- in the berry patch, which is over 100' away from the rest of the garden, so I shouldn't have to worry about cross-pollination. I may also grow one in the house and another one in the butterfly/greenhouse. I will definitely be a helicopter mom to these babies.

Fresh manure under the wood chips.  No root crops or fresh greens will be planted in this area.    For the hot compost piles, I prefer fresh but will take what ever is available.

Yep, frost.

Transplanted celeriac into 3 transportable pots, after reading growing instructions that started with "As long as you don't have hot, dry summers . . ." I will put them in the greenhouse for the winter, bring them out for spring and early summer, then bring them inside when the temps hit 90. Next year, at about this time, I'll let you know if it was worth all the trouble.

sanderson wrote:Fresh manure under the wood chips.  No root crops or fresh greens will be planted in this area.    For the hot compost piles, I prefer fresh but will take what ever is available.

Yep, frost.  

I'll have to take a drive to a nearby horse riding stable to see if I can get some manure. I did go to the local coffee shop and they are quite happy to accommodate my request for coffee grounds. The deal is that they put the filled 5 gallon bucket at their side door and I leave an empty bucket for them to use. Also I can take all the cardboard I need out of their very clean cardboard waste bin.

I use about two 33-gallon garbage cans worth of manure for a bin.

sanderson wrote:I use about two 33-gallon garbage cans worth of manure for a bin.

Wow! I don't think I have enough energy to haul that much manure from farm to backyard.

Looking at my notes, between 8.5 to 13 Five-gallon buckets of horse manure.

Husband moved the 1x4' TT to the patio, right under the overhang (eaves) of the patio roof.  That's so they wouldn't get the full effect of the rain this winter and rot. There is a 1/4" solid tube right at the white patio support post to make a connection. First, I plugged some of the 1' holes with bottle corks.  At the beginning I was afraid TTs wouldn't drain well and made the holes big.  Now they are just 1/2".  

Planted.  I had spring onions in a 12" pot for a couple years.  I planted about 8 seeds and there were 30 plants after separating.  Planted 2 squares of them.  I broke up a few walking onion bulbils sprouts and stuck 3 in  one square and 9 garlic cloves in the 4th square (looks empty).  The little basil plant is from a spring I put in a glass of water that grew roots!  This one goes to daughter.


I can't believe how many pots I bought at the beginning (2013) when I only had 4 little boxes with a total of 28 sq. ft.  I need to wash, dry and find some storage area for them.  I also bought the trays which only caused the soil to get septic.  Live and learn.

The lettuce, carrot, parsnip, 3 garlic cloves and radishes were sowed about a week ago and here they are, sprouting, on Nov 3.


Notice the chunky compost?  In the beginning I sifted a lot.  Now I just dump and mix it a little bit.  I figure the chunky stuff will nourish the spring crop after the microbes and worms have done their magic.

I forgot the "before" picture of the spring onions.  I needed a knife and a lot of tugging to get them out of the pot and separated.

The next 2 photos are for the northern folks. It wasn't that long ago that I harvested kale and chard leaves.  They have really bounced back.  The puny late purple broccoli is getting huge!

More kale, chard, broccoli and cauliflower in the foreground and snow peas in the background of the 2x7 TT.

Wow sanderson those veggies are doing really well. The leaves are huge on the kale and chard compared to my puny plants.

Sanderson, don't kale leaves get bitter when they get that big? (Or is that your goal?)

Your garden is looking beautiful my friend!  I'm pulling up squash that are finished.  I still have a couple going very strong, one zucchini and one butternut and I'll let them go until our first frost comes.

Our cows are back and so is my source of fresh cow patties for my compost, so I'm working on my first pile since the spring. We bought the zippers for the greenhouse doors (they will roll up so two zippers per end) we just have to get that done and I'm about ready to button up for the winter.  We can get a killing frost at any time, but it's not showing up yet on the weather forecasts so fingers crossed we can get it done soon. 

I need to post a picture and ask you guys about a plant.  I planted broccoli raab but one of the plants is very different and I'm not sure if it's a super monster kale or???

Off to vote.

Audrey, post a photo.  Jealous of your patties.  The leaves have just barely started turning red, so it will be a while before they turn yellow and we can collect them from the neighbors' yards.

Bitter kale?  All Kale gets sauteed so I don't know about it getting any more bitter as it gets big.  It's the summer heat that finished it off.

TD, the really giant leaves are broccoli and cauliflower.  It seems that with your high latitude your kale and chard leaves should get large.  Maybe you pick them before they get big.  I have a 2015 ruby chard neglected in a 2x2 that is still putting out leaves.  Sort of an experiment.  I even forget it's alive and forget to water it.  The leaves were bitter during the summer.

Oranges and lemons are almost ready. The little Meyer lemon tree is loaded. This is it's 3rd year. It's barely 3' high and just as wide. The navel orange was new last year. This will be the first fruit we get from that one. It's about 5' tall.  The limes are gone. They were AWESOME! All 3 are in 5 gal. pots and will come inside for the winter again.

trolleydriver wrote:Wow sanderson those veggies are doing really well. The leaves are huge on the kale and chard compared to my puny plants.

Ditto.  Mine were vigorous,but  nothing like you have going!

countrynaturals wrote:Oranges and lemons are almost ready. The little Meyer lemon tree is loaded. This is it's 3rd year. It's barely 3' high and just as wide. The navel orange was new last year. This will be the first fruit we get from that one. It's about 5' tall.  The limes are gone. They were AWESOME! All 3 are in 5 gal. pots and will come inside for the winter again.

Wow!  Send me some?  Would love organic fresh citrus!  Pm me any one!