Nature's Garden Delivered! Our First Co-Op Delivery!

This morning I woke up at 7 am and had a nice size box of fresh produce on my door step!  Dan and I joined Nature's Garden Delivered organic/local/transitional co-op and today we received our first delivery!  I have done some research on Nature's Garden and have even called to talk to them quite a bit over the last two weeks before we decided to join!

Signing up was easy! No fees or anything, cancel at any time!  My order is available to view Friday afternoon and I have until Monday at 8am to cancel, exchange items, or add items! My debit card is on file so once it is delivered I am charged. My delivery day is Thursday morning between 1am and 7am!

This first week we ordered a few extras.  I wanted to try out the service and the extras to see if this is something we will utilize. I spent 51.00 this week and from what I figure a normal week will cost us no more then 28.00. Still keeping us well in our grocery budget. And the best part is if I don't have to go to the grocery store every week I am least likely to buy extras!

If anyone is interested in the co-op the website is www.naturesgardendelivered.com Please put my name in where it ask how did you hear of us. For every two referrals we receive a free box :-) Every little bit helps!

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Farmer's Market!

This morning ( Saturday) was my first experience at a Farmer's Market.  I was very surprised.  I thought it was going to be a few booths all selling the same thing... Boy was I wrong!!!!!!  Ian woke up a little early this morning and I got him ready and packed up and we took off in search of the Oxford Farmer's Market that I had found on line the night before! http://www.oxfordfarmersmarket.com/

I couldn't believe how chilly the morning was.. I had the baby dressed in long pants and a hoodie, and I had a hoodie on myself.. I was very happy to see the man to see the man selling coffee when I first arrived.

After my cup of coffee, Ian needing a new bottle and some Cheerios... we stopped at the first booth. It was a local farmer who had an assortment of veggies. He was not certified organic but practiced organic ways and used no pesticides. Good enough for me! I bought 6 zucchini and moved on to the next booth.. The next booth was owned by an Amish family who raised certified organic chickens. I purchased fresh chicken legs and thighs for 3.49 a pound!  For organic that was a deal!!

My third stop was my favorite table!  I bought a pumpkin!  Our family loves anything pumpkin.. pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins! I am going to steam the pumpkin and mash and freeze!  I also bought fresh garlic and fingerling potatoes.  The fingerling potatoes were super cheep! Half the price of Whole Foods! I actually bought quite a few potatoes.

I passed several booths selling baked goods,breads, and crafts.  I saw a table selling goat cheese, plants, and rain barrels! A few booth's were also selling free range eggs. Most booth's were charging 4.00 per dozen on the eggs and I am getting a couple dozen this week from the co-op for 3.00 per dozen so I passed on the eggs. I did purchase a fresh organic chicken!  The chicken was wonderful slow cooked in the crock pot all day Sunday! It fell right off the bone.

The last booth I shopped out was Reserve Run Farms.  The were selling beef and had samples!  I bought 4 cube steaks ( trying to stick to my monthly budget!) The meat was wonderful! The family grows all of their food for their cattle and practice organic ways. After eating the cube steaks and checking the prices, I will be ordering all of our beef from Reserve Run!  The best part is I can call the week before and tell them what I want and pick it up at the market!  We are considering ordering a quarter cow after the first of the year! The farm's website is http://www.reserverunbeef.com/ 

Before leaving the market I met the man who is in charge renting out the booths.  I was happy to find that they market does a weekly news letter and was able to sign up to be on the mailing list! The market runs 7:30 am-noon every Saturday in September and 8:30 am-noon every Saturday Oct- Thanksgiving.. and the best part is they are even open in the winter! Every third Saturday December-April 8;30am - noon!!

This farmer's market is definitely worth checking out!

3 Super Foods To Add To Your Plate & 3 Items To Spit Out

Last week I attended MNO at my local Whole Foods Store. I received some really great information! They had a guest speaker who is head of operations for http://www.healthyalterego.com/ The Topic of conversation was 3 Super Foods To Add To Your Plate & 3 Items To Spit Out! This presentation is what really got me thinking about the changes that we needed to make!



3 Items to Spit Out
1.Trans fats
2. high -fructose Corn Syrup
3. Aspartame


3 Super Foods to Add To Your Plate

1.Quinoa Whole Foods made a fabulous dish for everyone to try with quinoa, pineapple, peas, Lima beans, and cashews!
2. Chia Seeds Sold a Whole Foods and Natural Stores, but cheaper online
3. Green Tea Powder The Speaker said that Sencha is the most nutrient tea powder and easy to hide in foods. Right now it is only available online!

Since hearing the presentation I have gone through our cabinets.  Food is expensive and I am not going to throw out what we have just because it isn't organic, but if it anything in our cabinet had anything from the three foods to spit out in it... it was donated to the food bank!


I found everything very interesting and just wanted to share. I also signed up on the speakers website and received free e-books. One on breast health and One on label reading.. Also a ton of information.. The website doesn't try to sell anything it is just a blog site!

Our Grocery Budget!

Our family grocery budget is $50.00 per week, or as I look at it, $200.00 per month! One of the first things I looked at when deciding to make this change is can we afford it?  The more I looked into products and checked my price book, it was easy to see that we can, but some of the changes we made to do this some might find a little drastic!

1. We only eat meat approximately 3 times per week. The other nights we have beans as a protein!  I have found some wonderful recipes for meals using beans. Black Bean loaf, Black Bean Burgers, Hummus.. the list just goes on. I will post some recipes later on!

2. We joined an organic co-op that delivers, and most of their prices are lower then Whole Foods or Krogers.

3. I am only shopping once a month for the groceries from whole foods and getting all produce, fruits, eggs, cheese, bread and some meats weekly-by weekly from the co-op!

4. Whole Foods has coupons.  They can be found in their books as you come in the door, in magazines, online, and they take manufacture coupons too! Whole Foods advertises on http://www.cincysavers.com/ where you can currently have a coupon good through September 30 for a free light bulb if you spend $30.00. They really do not have a coupon policy. I have also learned if you attend events at Whole Foods they give you a nice re-usable shopping bag filled with coupons!

This is our first month trying to follow this budget and so far I think I am doing pretty good.  I attend a class last night at Whole Foods called shopping Naturally on a Budget! It was a tour through the store showing us the 365 Whole Foods brand products that are reasonably priced.  I was very excited to find out that even if the product at Whole Foods doesn't have the Organic USDA stamp on it, the product was made using items with out pesticides, from a farmer probably in transition to organic!

I spent $81.00 at whole foods last night. Included in the $81.00 was 2 cases of Rice milk..  My family has decided to stop drinking milk and have very limited dairy. ( Do you know what is in the milk we drink?  I do and no thanks!) I love Whole Foods bulk selection!  I got plenty of beans for the month along with couscous, quina, and flour.  I also got organic snacks for the kids and a treat for myself and Dan.  I bought organic boneless skinless thighs on sale and have enough for 3 meals for us.  I also bought the best hot chizo chicken sausage!  It was really good cooked into scrambled eggs this morning!

The co-op this week will be approximately $55.00 with what we are thinking about getting, which will leave me with $64.00 to order with for our by-weekly box... and if I forgot anything at the grocery store!

Our Decision!

Monday August 30, 2010 began our first week of our " new life style" and I think it has been going very well! We decided to change so many things and just jumped right in. We are committed to going as green as possible and becoming as healthy as we can!

I had been starting to buy more organic products at the grocery store, but it wasn't until I attended a MNO  (Mom's Night Out) at Whole Foods did I get a true wake up call. I listened to a speaker that night that is the Head Ego for http://www.helthyalterego.com/ . It was amazing listening to the facts that she gave us about what is truly in our food and what it does to you! The information really stuck with me and I came home and shared it with Dan and I knew everything would change right then and there.

I am hoping to be able to update our progress as much as possible through this blog and hope to hear positive feed back from our family and friends!