Our smoothie recipe that our little one loves. Easy to make and nutritious.
It happened organically
This blog only went live a few weeks ago but as some may have noticed, we try to live a healthy lifestyle. I am not going to claim that we are fitness gurus or anything like that but I do like to think we eat healthy for the most part. If we can get it organic then we do and if not organic we look for non-gmo.
This leads me to a little gem I came across today. I stopped in 7-11 on my way to work and found that they now sell 7-11 bottled Organic Cold Pressed Juice. Intrigued I picked one up.
7-11 Cold Organic Press
I am sipping on it here on my train ride to work and must tell you, am really liking it. The one I tried is a tomato, tart cherry, beet, strawberry, apple, lime mix they call Restoration Red. My only gripe with this one is the tart cherry is definitely tart and seemed to be mainly what I tasted. I personally didn’t think it was overly sweet but for some it may be. I believe the bottle said it used 18 tart cherries. I think 9 or 10 might be better suited for some. I like sweet so the taste did not bother me.
It really comes down to the individual on this one. Would I buy it again? Yes I would. While the tart cherry was strong, the overall juice had great texture and was comparable to other bottle cold press juices. At the end of the day it comes down to the fact that I liked it.Kudos to 7-11 for realizing that there is a growing population who care about what they put in their body. I am happy to see them starting to offer organic products. I believe products like this will decrease major health issues over time and lead to better food choices for future generations.
To Pay or Not to Pay
As the snow has melted, it appears we are now on course to Spring. In New York, they are predicting near 70 this weekend. With this weather just round the corner, I notice my lawn and flowers starting to grow fast and furiously leaving us with a dilemma.
We have hired people for landscaping services for the past two summers. The first summer in the house we somewhat inherited the landscaper. I knew nothing about landscaping but knew when that landscaper came around last summer and quoted me $2500 for the year, I knew that was too much.
I searched and found a new landscaper for half the price last year which was around $1200 for the year. Much better than $2500 but still a nice chunk of change.
With the experience of the past two years under our belt, we are considering doing our own landscaping. We don’t anticipate it being easy but we do like the idea of being in control of what we use and put into the ground. As stated in our previous post, we do our best to eat organic. We would like to do our best to garden organic also and avoid putting chemicals in the ground that may harm us and our neighbors.
I know we can not control how our neighbors take care of their lawns, but I do feel we may be able to lead by example and hopefully prove that chemicals are not necessary.
Please keep in mind that neither of us claim to be experts on organic gardening but we will learn as we go along so expect a learning curve with many rants from us complaining about weeds and whatever else arises.
As for tools, we have none but have been looking for a lawnmower, edger and blower. While they say they are not as powerful, we are leaning towards electric over gas powered. Once again, we are trying our best to be enviornmentally conscious. Right now we are leaning towards the Ego product line. They seem to have good reviews but you never know.
Thankfully for me, I have been hoarding rewards points on my credit card and due to this I am able to trade the points in exchange for gifts cards for Home Depot which is what I will be using to buy the mower, edger and blower and expect them to arrive in the next week or two.
This is a nerve racking endeavor and I am honestly a bit nervous that we may end up having the worst looking lawn on the block. I keep telling myself that we won’t learn to take care of a lawn unless we try.
I ask that you all keep your fingers crossed for us and if anyone has any tips, advice or comments, please send them our way. We would appreciate any and all input and will take the into great consideration.
Wish us luck and we will keep you updated.
Spring is in the Air
They say it is officially Spring but the weather says otherwise. I look outside my house and see the tulips really want to open. It seems that when they are ready to do that we get hit with snow leaving the Tulips to curl up and hide.
Regardless of the fact that the weather can’t make up its mind, I am left to contemplate what to do about our landscaping.
Since we bought the house we have hired landscapers. This is a great solution for those who don’t want to worry about taking care of your lawn. For me it was a great solution simply because I do not have a green thumb but on the flip side, I never liked the idea of getting an additional bill every month for work we could do ourselves.
The other issue I have with the landscapers is many are not environmentally conscious meaning they use weed killing products that create a toxic environment. With two dogs, one who is going on 13 and the other who is just a few months old.
Due to this I believe I may take on the task of the landscaping this year. I am currently researching lawnmowers and am leaning towards going green with this as I am looking at electric powered mowers. Yes, I know they say electric is not as powerful as gas but from what I am reading, it may be less maintenance.
If anyone out there has experience with electric mowers and have good experiences to share, please don’t hesitate to comment or email us.
Back to the products that have been put in the ground in the past. We will not consider gardening in the soil for some time until we feel confident that most of the toxins are gone. We will be using organic products to treat the land in hopes we can reverse the damage that has been done.
As for a garden, we are looking at elevated planters to keep our garden off the ground. These elevated planters are not cheap but I may have come up with a solution. If I put this solution in play, I will post pictures at a later date.
With all this said, I am hoping my research allows me to turn my black thumb to a green thumb. If you have any tips for us in regards to organic gardening, please do comment or email. We would love some feedback.