13 Mar 2009
GROW YOUR OWN GREENS… for…GREEN SMOOTHIES!
Freshly harvested greens, flowers and fruit from the dome and square foot gardens...Aloe Vera, Mint, Collards, Chard, Kale, Freckles Lettuce, Jericho Romaine..Violas, Calendula and a Meyer's Lemon - click for larger image
For pretty much my whole life, I never ate salad. Never really ate vegetables of any kind! That probably was a contribution to my health decline in recent years! But when I found Victoria Boutenko’s books on raw foods and specifically “Green For Life” on blending “greens” up in a Vita-mix… something resonated!
At first, I had to go to the store to familiarize myself with what dark, leafy greens even were! I stood in the organic produce aisle just staring…. taking in names like, Kale, Chard, Arugula, Romaine, Dandelion, and Collard! So much to take in, so many new names, but it all felt so good!! We started applying the lessons from “Green for Life” by blending our greens with a little fruit and it made it taste great! For the first time in my life I was getting fresh greens! I always loved fruit, but this made for a perfect marriage of the two..
We love the smoothies sooo much, that we’re now growing our own greens. The organics available at grocery stores are great, since they don’t have pesticides, etc…but these greens are a whole new story….you have to taste homegrown food to know the difference! Find a local farmers market to taste the homegrown difference…these local growers can help you get on your way to growing your own!
Here’s a video from a couple days ago, March 8th 2009. Outside temps. are around freezing at night still, but in the high 60′s during the day…..so we’ve removed the plastic covering over the sq. ft. gardens and are now using AGRIBON – 19 exclusively on the gardens. It’s working great, keeping the bugs and wind to a minimum as well as frost protection! The plants breathe through it, and push it up as they grow!
Here’s the seeds/seed companies we used for the greens in the video:
Check out “Green For Life!” We always include the books/references we learned from, so you can ingest the information yourselves. You don’t even have to buy the books, they’re probably available at the local library! Worth reading for sure!
We just noticed Victoria has a new book on the subject coming out this summer….called, “Green Smoothie Revolution.”
We’re excited to see what updates she has, she’s an amazing researcher! We love the simplicity of her perspective, like how she mentions that…..
Mountain gorillas don’t eat hamburgers, spaghetti etc.. they eat leafy greens, supplemented with fruit, and reach their massive size from the pure proteins, enzymes, chlorophyll and minerals found in the GREENS!
This made sense to my mind, when I read it, but when we applied it, and started drinking green smoothies……..that’s all the proof we needed. We felt great! The Vita-mix rips the plant cellulose apart….releasing much more nutrients than if you were to masticate the greens for a very long time! Victoria describes the plant cellulose as little sponges that ”sweep” through the intestines and colon, cleaning them out, while mineralizing and providing pure sunfood… CLOROPHYLL.
We now do a smoothie a day, and gratefully have the option now to go outside and pick the fresh stuff just outside our back door.
Here’s the follow up video…….blending fresh greens for breakfast!
Grow your own greens….then blend em up!
