Urban Homesteading: Sprouting Adventures

 2013 is my year of taking risks. I have noticed that it has also been an accidental journey of learning, and hey- I am beyond thrilled about that. This journey has led me to be more intentional about my health and the foods that I put into my body. I started the year out intending to do the Whole30 and begin a Paleo lifestyle, but instead I have found myself focusing on eating as clean as possible.

And I realized something- this is not failure. I have cut processed foods and sugar out of 98% of my diet. Gluten- 100% Hello, success!

In just a few short weeks, I will be moving into a townhouse with two very amazing ladies. (This is an exciting step for me, more on that to come later!) As with my last move, I find myself dreaming about the garden more than I do about the interior of the house. I don't know who I am! I used to abhor the thought of being outside and digging in the dirt. It only took me until age 28 to find the beauty in dirt, seeds, nurturing and growth.

While my last apartment consisted of a tiny little fire escape on which to plant in pots, this new town home will let me spread out a little. I will still have to garden mostly in pots, but I will have many more options available to me. While our community has shared yards (yeah! missional living opportunities!), there is a patch of garden that surrounds the front and right side of our new home. I plan on putting it to good use.

My clean eating journey and love for gardening have landed me here. I now consider myself on the journey to becoming an urban homesteader. Doesn't that sound so hipster of me?

I am not sure why growing sprouts seemed so daunting at first, but seriously it was so easy. And so delicious!

First, I scoured sproutpeople.com. There is a ton of useful information on that website. I didn't follow it to a T (rebel), but my sprouts still turned out well! I ordered my sprouting jar off Amazon. There are a lot of options out there, and I went with a mason jar and twist on screen. My sprouting jar came with a packet of organic alfalfa seeds, which will probably last me a lifetime. Two tablespoons of seeds gave me a jar bursting with sprouts.

Step one was to let my seeds soak for about 4 hours. After soaking, drain them well and tip them sideways into a bowl. For the next four days I gave my sprouts 2-3 baths a day. And that was it! So very easy.

Day two- you could already see the sprouts growing.

Day three

Day four- I put them in the windowsill to green up.

Day five: I removed the hulls, rinsed and dried the sprouts.

So easy. So tasty.

A Book A Week: January Re-Cap

I read more than a book a week in January.

Perhaps I started my book a week adventure wrong. I read some truly amazing books and am now finding it hard to get into anything else! January was filled with three solid dystopian young adult fictions. Hold your judgement, these books are good. Really good.

Also, I spent 20 hours in a car and about 15 in a hospital waiting room during week 2. That helped rack up a lot of reading hours.

So, what did I read.... 

Week 1- Crossed and started Delirium
Crossed is the second book of the Matched Series. It's good and well worth the read, the plot is fun but the characters are a little forgettable. Maybe I would like it more if I hadn't read Delirium. Oh my. I can't get Delirium out of my head. It's characters are latched onto my heart.

Week 2-  Finished Delirium and The Night Circus The Night Circus was interesting. I am not sure that I fully understood the whole plot, but the unique writing pulled me in and I couldn't put the book down. I'm still trying to decide if it is one that I would recommend. It's very memorable, but yet not quite a book I would rave about. Confused? Yeah, so am I. 

Week 3-Pandemonium (Sequel to Delirium) I am absolutely sucked into this series. My fingers are itching for the third book. I also heard that they are making these books into a TV show. My eyes are itching to watch that!

Week 4- Currently on Unglued and It Starts With Food. I thought I should take a break from fiction and mix things up a little for this week. There is a lot of hype around Unglued that I am trying to understand. I was expecting it to be a book where I wore out a pen from underlining so much. It didn't resonate with me immediately and took about 6 chapters to really get into something meaty.  I will stick with it though because there are some good nuggets hidden in the pages. I probably won't read It Starts With Food all the way through. A lot of the information I already know, but it's a handy reference to have! There is a lot of good information about our bodies and how they were made to function. It was the blog that this book was born out of that helped me start my Paleo diet.

I also started some books and ended up putting them down. I don't know if I will ever finish them, but I am going to leave them on my list for now and see how I feel later. Reading them set me back a little time wise, but that's okay. I am allowing myself some grace here. ;)

Now, to order some February books.....
Want to see what else is on my list? Check out my Pinterest board.

2013: The Year of Risk

Noun.

A situation involving exposure to danger.

Does that sound scary or exhilarating? 

It sounds scary to me, but that is because most of my "dangers" are merely perceived.

"Risk" is the word for 2013.

I tend to play it safe. Or honestly- not play at all. For fear of failure. Fear of coming up short. Fear of not measuring up.

 Stepping out in faith requires risk. God meets us there and Perfect Love casts out fear.

In January- I shared my somewhat different ideas at work. That was huge for me. I work with a team of brilliant, creative people. So brillant that I wish I could just sit at their feet and soak up the knowledge. What did sharing my ideas do? It paid off. Not a single one of my ideas was laughed at. Were some turned down? Sure, but no one changed their opinion about my character because of my ideas. Plus, some really cool ideas were latched onto and are now in forward motion.

Small risks. Big pay off.

Every month I will be posting what risky things I did. And asking you- what did you risk this month?

I'm a real bad blogger

I am a terrible blogger. And I make no apologies. Just excuses.

I forget to take pictures of my food. My outfit. My daily goings ons. I crash through life too busy to remember, then collapse one day a week too exhausted to care. I only have an iPhone. Taking pictures is not my strong suit. So, there you have it... Excuse #1.

Excuse #2- I fail at almost every recipe I try to create. This new adventure of paleo baking? Yeah, it's tough! This is blog land. I don't admit my defeat! I only post pretty and delightful successes. Right?

"I have nothing to say" slides up into Excuse #3's place. Hmmmm, have you ever met me? I rarely shut up. 

Not to mention, I don't tweet my blog posts 10 times a day (I really dislike twitter- too much, so fast!). I lurk other blogs and never comment. I have bad blogging etiquette.

Nothing is ever perfect, so I just let this pretty little space sit vacant. I keep waiting for life to sparkle to post.

I need to give myself some grace.

And look at the truth- My life does sparkle.

I laugh everyday and exclaim about how blessed I am.

It's not perfect, but I love it.

And I am vain enough to think that you guys are dying to read about my imperfect life.

So here I go.... trudging forward as a bad blogger. You can thank me later.

2013

I don't do new year resolutions.

They never stick.

Yet, I have this incredible feeling about 2013. It's going to be a good year. I can feel it in my bones. In anticipation of everything good I set a few goals.

1. A Book a Week.
Find the list on Pinterest. I am still in need of about 20 more books to get to 52 and am taking suggestions. Fiction or non- fiction- I am up for anything. After I made this decision, I was thrilled to see that my friend Lore over at Sayable is reading 100 books in 2013. She is more ambitious than I.

2. Whole30
I've been researching Paleo for about a month now and slowly eliminating certain foods from my diet. I had a dirty little secret called "Fast Food". I blamed it on my busy schedule. Then I called bullshit on myself and haven't pulled into a drive-through in a month. *insert a little jig here* Then I read about leaky gut and I got rid of gluten.  It's all about baby steps, but now.....

In January I am going to take the plunge and just go for it. Cold turkey. The Whole30 program lasts for - you guessed it- 30 days! Whole9life.com has a plethora of info. Feel free to do a little reading for yourself if you are interested.

3. Turn dreams into reality
I say "some day I want to..." a lot. One of these "some days" has been making my heart pound more than usual lately. It has always been nestled away in my heart, but it has become too big to ignore lately. I'm going to pursue it until God says stop. Or wait. Or keep going.

Speaking of turning dreams into a reality.....

4. Buy a house
I am hoping and praying my little heart out that this happens in 2013. It's big, it's scary. it breathtakingly exciting. Stay tuned, I am sure there will be more updates on this as the year progresses.

5. Hospitality
It's my heart. My spiritual gift. I want to discover this gift more. Practice it more. Live it more.

In 2012, God amazed me in ways that I never thought possible. Blew. My. Socks. Off. With. His. Love.

There was a little voice inside me that kept saying: "Am I really worthy?" Get out of here enemy!

I am so excited for 2013. How about you?

Peppermint Oil to the Rescue!

At first, I resisted the idea of sharing this little tip because I didn't want anyone to think I was..... well, dirty! No one wants to admit that they have found evidence of little mice friends having a party in their kitchen overnight. It makes me feel gross just thinking about it. But, here I am - airing my dirty laundry! This little trick is just too good to keep to myself!

I didn't want traps. When you set traps then you have to actually see the mice and throw them away. Let's not even talk about how traps only halfway work sometimes. *shiver* So, traps were out. The next option was mouse poison. However,  I have been eliminating chemical usage in the house and wasn't too thrilled of the poison idea. But honestly, I didn't think I had any other options. So I begrudgingly loaded up on tasty, deadly mouse "treats".

A few days later I was still finding evidence of mice parties.

*insert ripping my hair out here*

I was desperate. I began to search for natural pest repellent ideas. I was hopeful, yet somewhat doubtful, when I learned that cotton balls soaked in peppermint essential oil messes with their little olfactory systems and sends mice packing. But, I thought it was at least worth a shot.

Guys, it works! It's been two weeks now and I haven't seen hide nor hare of my little visitors.

Here's what I did:
- First, I added a few drops of peppermint essential oil to my vinegar cleaner. I pulled everything out of my drawers and cabinets and gave them a good scrubbing.
- I discovered a place under my sink that looked the "party central entrance". I saturated a cotton ball with the oil and put it in the opening.
- I saturated a few more cotton balls and put them in places where I had found other "evidence". 

It's really that easy! Not to mention, my kitchen smells amazing!

Helpful Hints:
- It's important to make sure you are buying 100% pure peppermint oil. Anything else is too diluted and won't even phase them.
- Check your cotton balls about every 3-4 days. Replace them with fresh ones if they are dried out.
- Steel wool also is helpful. Plug any hole that you think the mice are using as an entrance. It hurts their little mouths, and they give up chewing on it to get in.

Good luck!

Under Construction

Just like I am every day.... this little blog is under construction. The lovely Abby over at Catch The Moments has lent her creative eye and whipped out this fresh new look! I love it. (ps- check out her blog and follow her wedding planning adventures!)

Not only is my design differnent, but content is going to be changing as well as I am not longer in the wedding biz (more on that to come!). Here is a sneak peek of what to expect!

- Thoughts on making a home and hospitality (my spiritual gift) as I learn, discover and live it
- Pretty things. Well, this is not really a change- there will just be more pretty to see!
- Recipes
- Events and ideas ( I still love a good party!)
- Living the single life well as I edge into my 30's
- Thoughts on my Creator and grace. (Lots and lots of grace!)

Thanks for joining me on this journey!