Vegan MoFo ~ Fave Herbs & Spices

Just a quick post today but still sticking with the Vegan MoFo prompts...today's being...my favorite herbs and spices!  This one is probably going to be non-climatic because I pretty much like them all for different reasons.  So I guess I will point out a few individual ones to keep this months posts consistent!

Basil

I LOVE the way it looks, smells, tastes, and grows!

We've had a LOT of luck with Basil - both indoors, outdoors, in a rooftop garden, and on a window sill garden!

Turmeric 

One of the healthiest things you can consume - some say!  And my favorite Turmeric to buy by far is from The Raw Food World!  Turmeric is one of the most powerful therapeutic herbs on the planet – it is highly regarded in the ancient Ayurvedic healing tradition of India and one of the most popular spices in the world. Turmeric is used in traditional Indian medicine as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antiviral*. This Raw Wildcrafted Turmeric extract is made of pure turmeric root harvested by local farmers in the wetlands of India, low temperature dehydrated and cold water extracted to a standard of 95% Curcuminoids.

Dill

Helps Digestion.  A teaspoon a day can reduce 80 percent of bloating in only three days.  Its antibacterial oils not only kill any possible stomach bugs but also help in the breakdown of carbohydrates and proteins.  Plus I love the smell and taste!

Cayenne

It has thermogentic properties that increase your blood flow and metabolism. Individuals who only use cayenne infrequently also find it reduces hunger.  I just like to give my foods a KICK every once and a while and Cayenne certainly makes that easy!  I think the BEST quality Cayenne can be found online...HERE.

Curry

And you can't go wrong with Curry!  I mean...want can't you do with curry!  Check out some of the curry flavored products you can easily find online!  And of course with fall and winter near Curry is the perfect addition to many dishes!

More Rooftop Garden Progress & NEW Patty Pan Squash is Flowering!

I have 2 quick posts today so be sure to check the post out after this one, too!  That will finish up my Warren County Fair Concert posts but something unexpected happened this past weekend...we ended up going to Crawford County Fair, too, but only for 1 day so I will start in with that tomorrow!  I still have so much to post so I will most likely be double posting most days in the meantime.

I'm also going to get back into videos, too, so here is a quick one with Rooftop Garden Progress!  I apologize in advance for it being sideways again.  I will get my act together again one of these days!  You may also notice that this video is posted to a different channel it's my 2nd account so if you want to also follow this channel it's located HERE.  I have to say with everything going on I've REALLY excited about the Patty Pan Squash potential!!!  Check it out!

Rooftop Garden Check-in & Cricket Update

I've had a few people ask me how our Rooftop Garden has been doing this year.  I haven't talked about it as much and I probably should.  We didn't do as many things this year because of less people to help with it and those who do most of it have been busier than usual.  But what we do have - I have taken some recent photos in the last week or so and will be posting a video, soon, too!

This year we have 3 different kinds of tomatoes we are trying.  2 out of the 3 are starting to produce something.  I will be posting more about which kinds at a later date.  Here's a pic of one of them in the meantime.

You know me and BASIL - I love it!  We have 2 'trees' of it we started this year as you can see here and we have one left inside near a window leftover from last year.  We have 2 'just starting out' plants that are growing from a 'drop off' from previous plants.

My mother has like 9 basil plants doing well in her back yard and she doesn't even use basil much so I guess it's time to start making pesto, eh!?  I know each time I mention it I have people interested in taking some once it's made.  I think I will make that a mini goal for this week and next week!

Another mini goal of mine SHOULD BE to do something with all of the Lemon Balm that is popping up everywhere!  I brought a little bit over from my mom's and it's going NUTS!

We have 3 containers of it going strong and I'm not doing anything with it...it's taking off on its own completely.

All I can think of is include it in tea but I want to try and come up with some home remedies and health/beauty ways to use it, too!

Suggestions for Lemon Balm?  Let me know!

And just a quick update on Cricket before I go...here she is!  She's a sweetie!  Ever since we lost Suzie - Paco and Riley have been going thru the motions with no real 'leader' and Cricket is leader - that is for sure!

She loves riding in the car, going for walks with fur friends, and doesn't mind baths.  But she doesn't like her nails done...so that will be something I will need assistance with soon!  She's still around 4 pounds and done growing but she has no idea that she isn't as 'big' as the other dogs!

Rooftop Garden Mini Video Tour

Rooftop Garden 2015!

I decided to do a 2 minute video from the Rooftop Garden!  This is just the beginning!  There are some Basil Plants, small Pepper Plants, various Leafy Greens, a squash plant that was from the actual squash that started a shoot so I planted it to see what happened.  It probably won't produce but it's fun to look at and it's going a little crazy!  Also in this video are 2 different kinds of chives, lavender, 3 different kinds of heirloom tomatoes, and Rhubarb!  Woot!  I plan on visiting one of the places where I got some starters today so I might be getting a new plant or two to add to the mix!  I will keep you posted!

Since I am new to YouTube I would really LOVE some new subscribers!  Please subscribe to my channel HERE.  Thanks so much!

Rooftop Gardening 2015!

If you have been reading my blog for a while now you may remember last year we started a Rooftop Garden at work.  It was COMPLETELY Trial and Error!  We learned a lot and will continue to learn a lot!  We know a lot of what NOT to do this year and from here on out I will be sharing with you what we will try and do THIS year!  That's right!  It's the 2015 Rooftop Garden, folks!  First up...Rhubarb!  Now that I am in sales in addition to other tasks at work I am able to get out and chat with our local growers!  I LOVE this!  I have been able to get more of them to advertise with us, too!  So far I have grabbed a Rhubarb starter from a local outlet.

It's DOUBLED in size since I bought it, too!  We are REALLY excited about that!

A few things we won't be doing this year on our Rooftop is tomatoes...they didn't do well at all last year.  We did a few different kinds of peppers and we still might try and do some this year but the yield wasn't too high last season.  Maybe this year we will have better luck!

One of our Basil Plants made it thru the whole winter and we had it in our production room.  We might take that outside again.  In the meantime we purchased another starter!

They seem to be doing well so far but I will be SHOCKED if they get as big as the ones did last year!  They might but I'm not banking on it...those were CRAZY HUGE last year!

I hope to introduce something new each week.  If I do I will let you know!

We got quite a bit of rain over the weekend so some of the area farmers and markets already have corn nearly ready!  And Strawberry season is near, too!

And check this out!  Our chives came back!  Even after the horrible winter we had!  Actually they came back TWICE as strong!  As a matter of fact last fall we threw one of the chive plants away in the compost pile and it sprouted up like crazy this year so we replanted it!

One of the plants is flowering!  I have been reading up on Chive Flowers lately and might try to start using them in dishes, too!

It was a slow start this spring but I'm getting super excited about the potential of the Rooftop and Container Gardens once again this year!

Food, Urban Gardening, & Buffalo Bills

This was one of the many foods I attempted last week.  Jamaican Jerk Tempeh.  Here's the recipe for the sauce part...After soaking it - I baked it for 30 mins at 350.
 3 Cloves Garlic
1/2 tea Ginger Powder
1/2 tea Red Jalapeno Powder
1 to 2 T Wildtree Jamaican Seasoning
1 T Lemon Juice
1 tea GoL's Original Raw Protein
1 C Mango
2 T Maple Syrup
And this was for about 10 strips or 1 package of Tempeh.

Since our Big Jim Peppers did so well we decided to try and dry some of the seeds and see if we could try our hand at planting those seeds and seeing what happened in future crops.  This is the first time we've tried doing this.  I'm sad to see summer and prime produced season coming to an end.  Sam and I want to try to keep a few things going indoors for the winter.  We are going to continue with the Basil and maybe a lettuce or two.  We will probably at least try and do some sort of pepper inside but we are trying to figure out what else we can grow indoors in the snow belt area.  More on that in future posts, I'm sure!

My  parents went to the Buffalo Bills game this past weekend and sent me this photo.  It's been a few years since I last attended a Bills game.  I'm just not into it as much as I used to be.  But I am very excited that Terry Pegulia and his family purchased the team and will keep the Buffalo Bills in the state of New York!  Terry's also the owner of my beloved Buffalo Sabres.  He's very loved in Western New York for keeping these teams alive in the Buffalo area.  I just hope the teams improve and win, soon!
Healthy Vegan Friday's Participant

Future Rooftop Garden

4 of us at work are going to try and do a Rooftop Garden this year! 

A co-worker and I went to an Indoor Gardening Class last night thru Jamestown Community College Warren Campus and the Penn State Ag Extension.  It was fun and VERY informative.  Much of the Indoor stuff we probably won't be doing especially when it comes to lighting, etc...but we walked away with many more ideas for the project we have planned!  I'm VERY excited about this actually! 

We will also be trying to re-use and re-purpose old equipment as much as possible - since there is so much of it around our building.

One of the main places we have decided to 'shop' for our seeds is Seed Saver Exchange.  So far...here is what we have planned from this catalog...Bill - one of our part timers was interested in A & C pickling Cucumbers.  My Mother-In-Law who is also our office manger wanted Stupice Tomatoes.  Casey who is one of our Sales People checked off Joe's Long Cayenne, Hot Portugal, Tolli's Sweet Italian, and Georgia Flame Hot Peppers.  Sam - who is our production person would like to do Amish Snap Peas, Green Arrow Peas, and Cherry Roma Tomatoes.  Then there is me...I'm interested in...Dragon Carrots, Watermelon Radishes, Alma Paprika, Mini Chocolate Bell, and Sheepnose Pimento Peppers, as well as Black Cherry, Blondkopechen, Isis Candy Cherry, Lemon Drop, Tasty Evergreen, and Ukrainian Purple Tomatoes.

Karen, Sam, and Casey have had garden's before and I know that Karen and Sam are very good at Gardening.  Casey said he would provide most if not all of the dirt, and Bill will help us out when ever he can, too!

This is just a Pre-Post of sorts to tell you what we are up to but I will be posting more pics very soon!