Miami

Lately, I've been having conversations with others on how to live more organically, how to take out the GMO's and chemicals from our food, and how to educate ourselves on getting this accomplished. A question I continually ask is how is it that living in Miami, we do not harvest rain water? In my humble opinion, I believe if we were able to set up a system to collect rainwater we could prevent a lot of the flooding issues. We also be able to use this same water for the gardens or lawns. Speaking of which, another question I ask a lot is how can people live on a nice lot and not have any type of edible garden growing on it. I like flowers and plants, but given our food choices and how expensive organic is, you would think more people would want to cultivate something.

Now that I got that off my chest, I have been thinking of working on a video to teach people to dehydrate fruits and vegetables. I will post the video soon to teach and hopefully encourage more people to get involved with food preservation. Which leads me to gardening. When there's excess fruits and vegetables, you can't eat it all so you preserve it by dehydrating (among other means). Or, if that's not the case, then if you are at the supermarket or grocery store and there's a sale on fruits or veggies, if you know how to dehydrate, then you can buy at the sale price and preserve for later. Cranberries were on sale in December or November, can't remember so I bought a few extras and dehydrated them. They are great in yogurt, smoothies, cakes, kefir, etc..

I had a disastrous balcony garden after my plants that were growing beautifully were decimated by the white fly. So, now I am planting cuttings from my basil and Spanish oregano plants to create a hostile environment for the white fly so that I can start planting my tomatoes and cucumbers and lettuce again. There are different pests in South Florida and I just need to figure out how to work around it. Once I have my garden working again, I'll start preserving the fruits of my labor. Pun intended! :-)

I just found out that on Saturday, January 21st, at the 40th Street Farmer's Market there will be a free rain barrel workshop. I'm super excited as this will give people that don't know about harvesting rainwater, the knowledge and know how. They are also selling them for $40.

Now I have to run as I am getting my herbal oils ready for the market on Saturday. Hope to see you there. Otherwise, make it a wonderful weekend. 
Blessings,
Z