Yes I need to blame this frustration on someone and I figure she started this mess so I am a blaming her!! In December we watched a PBS special on Jillians Metabolism busting. Since I was at a stalemate of loosing weight and hubby was way over what he had ever weighed, we paid attention. It's really good information and it made sense. Even though I had lost 60 lbs I didn't feel any better and actually felt worse. So we bought her book and cleaned out the cupboards and went mostly organic. It is 6 months later and we are 98% organic....sorry I won't give up my coffee and some veggies I can't get local organic ones. But, it's pretty hard to hit 100% unless you can produce all your own food!
So back to why I am blaming Jillian for our frustration. Yes her program works, very well indeed, hubby has dropped over 50 lbs, I took off another 20 lbs. It's all the other stuff. You know the saying one thing leads to another....well once your turn green it's all down hill after that! LOL First it was growing sprouts, we still do mung beans and red clover regularly. The rest was Uck and a lot of work.
Then it was juicing. We had tried juicers and they were more work to clean up than making juice. We finally got an auger style juicer, YES it is great and we juice every day, mostly for breakfast. Well that led to a pile of fruit or vegetable garbage. So next came the composter, which hubby built a wonderful tumbler style. Yah, well it really doesn't work very good, we can't get the temp up and it's a beast to tumble that stuff weighs a ton. Plus you can't put that much fruit goodies in there it has to be a proper mix to make it work. So we either build a different style or go back 40 years and just make the compost piles that worked for decades!
Well since we really wanted tomatoes and the price was horrendous this winter, we decided we would get set up to grow our own next winter. We discovered aquaponics, so we built the unit for the dining room. Frustration with it running through it's cycles, we need to change the siphon over to one we can control. We finally have plants that are growing, but the lettuce keeps bolting, the peppers have blossoms, the basil is SLOWLY growing and the Arugula is a waste. Next!!!
Now it's time to put in our outdoor garden, so hubby is a peach and builds me a wonderful double rainbarrel system. I have 110 gallons of water, but it keeps raining so what the heck do I need that for!!! LOL
In the mean time we have built a second aquaponics unit upstair under natural light. This one is built out of 2 liter pop bottles. We also have 30++ talapia that will grow and provide us food in about 6 months. The talapia provide the plants their food and the plants provide the fish their food. It's a complete eco system and very cool. But that means I get to kill fish!! This system is working better, but the stinking lettuce bolted in that too. Time to hit the greenhouses and find a different lettuce! The rock wool I have started seed in creats a spindly sick looking plant that doesn't look like it would grow into crap!
Now we still have all this fresh goodies that we really don't want to dump in the garbage. So hubby find Vermicomposting. Now we are the proud owners of 2,000 red wigglers, Yah that means worms! They live in a flow through composter in my basement that hubby built. They eat our garbage and provide compost that is suppose to make my garden look like Eden! Of course hubby stressed out over the fact that they were hidden and he couldn't tell if they were eating!
Finally hubby is now building a third aquaponic unit with barrels in the back yard. This unit will grow tomatoes and be moved to the basment this fall for growing more goodies. I can see the work in that coming down the pike. Pretty soon there will be enough light and heat in my house this winter that the drug helicopters will pick us up on radar and they will come busting through my front door just to eat tomatoes! LOL
I have also moved up to the recycling of everthing else, that means cleaning cans, jars, plastic, keeping my box's, newspaper etc. You know these new cans they make you can't cut the bottom off of. So squishing them is a macho foot stomping process. But each week I carry my orange container to the curb I know I am being good. But I wish Jillian was here to clean the crap out of the cans and jars!!
Yes, Jillian Michaels it is all your fault, I am healthier, my skin is glowing, my finger nails are growing for the first time in my life, and I weigh 20 lbs less than I did when I got married. I am enjoying all this silly stuff we are doing and we are having fun. Frustration levels get up there on a regular basis, but that probably just gets my heart pumping better. I am still blaming you and Thanking You for changing my life!! I really should send this to her site!
Have a great day, huggies all around. My juice is ready, the fish need to be fed, the worms need a load of garbage and the garden needs to be weeded, and it is still all Jillians fault!
