Adventures in Local Produce / CSA Week 3

from Green Pastures CSA to our door

it was dark and raining by the time anyone was home to retrieve the box, but everything did ok.

kale, squash, broccoli, green onions, sugar snap peas, strawberries

Adventures in Local Produce / CSA Week 2

from Green Pastures CSA, delivered directly to our door

Week 2

strawberries, radishes, squash, green onions, tomatoes 

Adventures in Local Produce / CSA Week 1

In addition to starting our first garden this year, we have also purchased a share in a CSA. This is our second year of trying a CSA (community supported agriculture), and I'm excited to see what the summer brings. Last year, we went with Elmwood Stock Farm, a well-established local farm, and we were very pleased with the shares and the informative newsletters that accompanied each bag of farm-fresh food. This year, I decided to try another farm's CSA for no other reason than I wanted to see how other farms did it, and the one I eventually chose was Green Pastures CSA. I liked the price and the fact that it was two farms working together to produce the shares, one being Clark Family Farms which we had previously toured. And they deliver for free! Another bonus for us as last year Mr. Making It Bright had picked up our shares at his work and then the veggies sat out and got wilty before they made it home.     

Here is our first share. Admittedly, it has been a weird season so far with the cold temps late into spring and so much rain. They expect more bountiful shares for the rest of summer.

Week 1

kohlrabi, radishes, tomato, green onions, and the best strawberries I've had in a long time

Look how red that strawberry is, inside and out. Heavenly. Totally worth cheating on the slow carb diet to have those berries.

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Have you ever tried a CSA? 

Weight Creep

If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen my #cheatday posts. I'm living for Saturdays. (Just kidding… maybe.) Mr. Making It Bright and I have recently started the 4-Hour Body slow carb diet, as outlined in Tim Ferriss' book The 4 Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex and Becoming Superhuman. He's been on it for a little over a month, due to a recently diagnosed health condition, and he invited me to join him. He's already dropped 15 lbs. I don't expect the same rapid results because men and women lose differently, but I've already lost 3 lbs in two weeks. Woot!

I was the kid who said, "What's a diet?" and upon hearing the answer, replied that I never wanted to be on a diet, ever. My, how things change. Three pregnancies and two 9 lb plus babies later, I'm carrying some extra weight. The slowed down metabolism of my early/mid thirties is certainly not helping. (Or chocolate or beer or Doritos or all things tasty…)

I started feeling bad, lethargic, and I didn't like how I looked in pictures or how my clothes fit. Now's the time!

So, what can I eat on the slow carb diet? Meat and vegetables.

Lots of meat, lots of veggies, some eggs.

What can't I eat? Dairy, fruit, sugar, alcohol (except the driest of red wine), grains (rice, bread, crackers, tortilla chips).

So what about #cheatday? Oh, I love me some cheat day. Yes, yes, yes! We have cheat day on Saturdays. I've had two so far and they have been EPIC. Cheat days are built in to the plan to keep your body from going into starvation mode and eating muscle, and also to help you stay with the plan. It is much easier to stick with veggies and meat all week (and a single square of dark chocolate at the end of the day) knowing that I can have whatever I want on Saturday.

Cheat day #1: Donuts, eggs (to balance the insane amount of sugar in the donuts), a tiny 8 oz Mountain Dew, caprese-stuffed gnocchi with pesto alfredo and a breadstick, beer, Chuys for dinner -- all the cheese! Sour cream has never tasted so good.

Cheat day #2: Blueberry donut holes, beer (sense a theme?), potato skins, sliders, breadsticks with cheese dip, Reese's peanut butter cups, pizza, watermelon.

It's not just about losing weight, it's also about feeling better and more in control of my life. A little discipline in one area lends itself to discipline in other life areas.

Follow my journey (mostly my cheat day meals) on Instagram. I've already started a list for this upcoming Saturday: beer cheese and McDonald's fries. Not necessarily together, but maybe.