We still have to buy and add the netting that will go onto the supports for the tomatoes, green beans, and peppers. 
There you have it...a nice, tiny veggie garden. I will post pictures from time to time to show the progress or lack of progress, lol.
It's time to plant veggies if you have a garden in central Florida. This is the first year we've had a garden. Don installed our raised garden bed a few weeks ago and over the weekend we made our mix (compost, vermiculite, and peet moss). Now it's time to plant.
We are doing a square foot garden since our yard is so tiny. Right now, our plan is to have two tomato plants, two bean plants, four leaf lettuce, four Romain lettuce, 9 beet plants, 32 carrots, 32 onion/scallions, 2 broccoli , 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper, and that leaves us 2 square feet left. Our bed is 2 feet by 9 1/2 feet so we have approximately 19 square feet. The garden doesn't look that big. It's hard to imagine that many veggies are going to come from that tiny space. I'm so excited. Of course this year is a learning year so my expectations aren't that high, lol. I just joined an organic produce co-op though so what ever doesn't grow, I can always supplement with the co-op. I will post some before planting pictures in the morning.
So Joshua and I go to Shawn's school to eat lunch with him. When he sees me, he runs over to give me a hug but he doesn't let go and I'm basically dragging him along while I tell him to stop and let go. That should have been my first clue. Then he proceeds in the cafeteria in a sort of walk/run/hopping like a mentally challenged person. He can not sit still at the table. He keeps making strange noises and faces. He's in total hyper mood and I haven't seen him like this in a long time. The last time had to do with dairy but since he's been taking the Betaine, he's been able to tolerate cheese. I'm thinking it must have been the yogurt he had last night. I experimented with this last batch to see if I could get it thicker and I did so I'm thinking maybe it was more potent, lol.
I'm really surprised that he still came home with a green dot in his agenda. Although, this afternoon he was like a different kid. He played nicely with Joshua and shared his toys. There was no whining or crying. Maybe he was able to expel all the extra energy at recess.
This is something that has bothered me for a while since the whole report about BPA leaching from plastic containers including sippy cups. I bought a couple of Klean Kanteens for Shawn's lunch. Also bought some snack sacks to replace the ziplock baggies. We are still using our old cookware and I cringe every time I cook but we can't afford to replace them right now. I have an idea of what I want to replace my pans with but what about food containers??? I've seen glass containers but someone mentioned they could have lead in it. How do you know for sure if a glass container contains lead? Then I saw this article that talks about lead leaching from a ceramic crock pot. Ugh, I use my Crockpot almost daily! I want to start fermenting veggies and kombucha. What do I use? Glass, ceramic, stainless steel? I'm so confused and so angry that there are still products out there that have lead in them; especially the kind used for food!
I've got something bothering me. I'm hoping it's die-off. Lately Shawn has been doing a lot of spinning around. The average person may say that all kids do this but this is not Shawn. He didn't used to do this. Sure he would spin around sometimes when he was playing around with Joshua or his friends but he wouldn't do it constantly. It's bothering me because when I did so much reading on autism, spinning around was a red flag. It is a way to self stimulate. He's been really hyper lately also. I'm really hoping he's having a flare and it's just die-off. Maybe I should start giving him Epsom Salt baths again.
This has been an interesting journey. Before starting GAPS, I would have never called myself a cook. In fact, I hated cooking! I can't really say that I love cooking now, but I can say that my interests have changed. I've learned so much since our diet change and thrive to learn more. Yesterday, I tasted my first Kombucha. Now, I want to make my own. I've been told it's best to use a ceramic crock but I can't be without my Crockpot for that long. So the next chance I get, I'm going to check out the local Goodwill store to see if they have any crocks. I could definitely use a couple of them since I want to try my hand at fermented veggies. I never in my widest dreams ever thought I would be at the point where I wanted to try fermented veggies, lol.
I've been making my own yogurt for a while now using goat milk from Publix. It's ultra pasteurized though. I wanted to try raw goats milk and finally found a local source for it. It is a little thicker than the ultra pasteurized but not as thick as cow milk yogurt. However, it tastes so much better!!! I can't believe the difference in taste! I'm sold. I'll be using the raw goats milk from now on. I had to use a lot of honey before to cut down on the tartness of it but I didn't use any honey in my fruit smoothie this morning and it tasted great! I need to get another batch going so I don't run out. I can see us eating a lot more of it now, lol.
One thing that is frustrating me though is our local library. Since I'm totally clueless to all these new and weird things, I want to learn more from reading books. Every time I check the library for a book, they never have it. I can't afford to buy the books so I'm frustrated. They did have Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon though. Now that I have that, I think I'm going to see if I can find a used version because I'm not sure I want to take it back to the library, lol. The book I really want is Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz. I was so happy to see that the library had a copy and quickly placed a hold on it. After a week, I was wondering what was taking so long so I checked it out. It seems that the one copy that they had now says "trace" instead of "in transit". UGH!!!
Besides fermenting veggies and making Kombucha, my other new interest is in gardening. I really, really, really want to plant some veggies this fall. My problem? The daycare. Since my backyard is so small, I think it would be best to have a raised garden so I don't have kids running over my plants, lol. I'm sure they will still try to climb in but I can keep them from doing that (I think). My next problem is what to make the raised garden out of. I can't use pressure treated lumber of course because of the chemicals. All my other options are expensive. I'm trying to convince Don that the expense will work out in the long run. I'm running out of time though. I would love to have some veggies and herbs growing right in my yard.
I saw this on another blog and decided to try it. It was supposed to taste like a chip. Now in the picture on the other blog, her pieces were big. I couldn't find any kale except for the prewashed bagged kind so my pieces were quite small. Joshua seemed to really like it. He must have had at least ten pieces. Shawn seemed like he liked it also. He had about 4 pieces and then said he didn't like it, lol. I thought it was ok. I did taste a faint taste of kale but the crunchier the piece, the better. Ok, Don just came home from work and tasted it without even asking what it was! His thoughts - he said it was interesting, lol. Another great way to get a leafy green veggie in my kids!
Oh, one more thing I forgot to add - instead of olive oil, I used coconut oil. Most people don't realize this but you shouldn't use olive oil to cook with. It should be used cold like on salads. Heat will destroy a lot of nutrients and change unsaturated fatty acids into trans-fats. Coconut oil can be used at high temps.
We still have to buy and add the netting that will go onto the supports for the tomatoes, green beans, and peppers. 
