If that enticed you, read on to see all of our recent photos, or look at the whole, ongoing photo gallery.

We’ve set up a garden in a trash-can: The perfect means to grow and easily harvest potatoes!

… and here’s the newly planted tubers in the can.

Our snow peas are starting to climb up their trellis.

Teisha hard at work, thinning the corn (hidden behind our tomatoes and zucchini).

Speaking of Zucchini, look at this monster. It’s our pride and joy.

We moved another zucchini into a gopher basket to protect it, but the transplant was pretty hard of the poor thing. It’s mostly recovered though, and is producing again.

And here’s a ground-level shot of our monster zucchini, with big happy flowers.

Now, a closer look at Teisha thinning the corn. Also, you can really see that our drip-line keeps the area moist (we had just turned it on to test it for the day).

The driplines water everything in the garden, including our brand-new Strawberries.

The onion patch is a riot of happy growth.

To protect our lettuce from pests, we’re growing it in raised buckets– and it’s starting to look nice!

And another lettuce bucket, showing very lettucey goodness.

I thought I’d throw in a nice view of our burgeoning tomato plants. They haven’t had many flowers yet, and we’re wondering if we might have over-fertilized.

Unlike many of our vegetables, we’re growing our pickling cucumbers from seed, and we just recently moved them out of the greenhouse and into the garden. Here’s one of them.

And here’s a cucumber protected by a plastic jar to keep pests out and heat in.

We’ve also started applying the “jar method” to our honeydew melons that are growing from seed.

Our watermelon hasn’t been doing so great… pretty slow growth. Maybe we planted it when it was still too cold?

Our rose-bush, however, has been totally revitalized since Teisha trimmed it back and we gave it some rose-specific fertilizer.

The cactus nearby has been getting in on the flowering business, too.

Here’s all of our corn, thinned out into nice even rows. That’s sweet-enhanced white corn. Mmm.

Here’s another shot of the whole garden– which is finally looking like more than a patch of dirt. Huzzah!

• Meat only once or twice a week, and that only 1/4 lb portions. I split a macadamia crusted mahi mahi fillet a few days ago– when you haven’t had meat in a week, even a few bites tastes AMAZING.
• Eat mostly salads / veggie stews / veggie stirfrys. Cook most food from fresh vegetables.
• Try to not eat anything with: high fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, corn syrup, modified corn product, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, hydrogenates vegetable shortening, etc. This cuts out most junk food, as well as almost any processed food from the grocery store… there’s a few things in the organic isle at Albertson’s or in Whole Foods, but even there you have to watch for them.
• Avoid “hidden” calories from beverages. I mostly drink water or herbal tea (no milk, no sugar). When you feel hungry, drink a glass of water/tea and wait 15 minutes. If you still feel hungry, then eat food. Otherwise, you were just thirsty.
• (something I’m still getting used to) Order smaller portions at restaurants, and split when possible. Don’t get appetizers. Order from the healthy / reduced calorie menu when possible.

Those 5 guidelines, and I feel healthier than I have in years!

Lately I have been packing on weight. Why? Because I eat delicious delicious rice garden all the time for lunch, and I work ludacris hours so I don’t ever get off my ass and do anything physical. So I have decided to seize control of my body and start getting myself back in shape (plus rice garden was chewing on my budget).

Therefore the first thing to do was axe the chinese. What do I use to replace my beloved MSG-soaked lunch, start packing sandwiches. They’re quick and easy, and have a great deal of variety: breads, meats, condiments. However when i started to eat these sandwiches I found despite all the variety they all taste essentially the same.

Then it dawned on me. Sandwich is the lowest form of food. What is the end form of meat in cafeterias? Sloppy Joe’s. What do you do with the thanksgiving leftovers? Put them inbetween two slices of bread. It is the end catch basin of food. Not particularly bad, but just asonishingly mediocre.

If you don’t agree with me think of it this way. I ask you if you want to get some prime rib, where do you thinjk we’re going to go? A.J. Spurs, maybe if you are thinking big… Holdrens.

Now lets say I add the word sandwich to the end of it. “Would you like to get a prime rib sandwich?” Now where are we going? Quiznos! If the sandwich form can actively devalue a particular cut of meat there is no telling what end of damage a sandwich can do to the rest of the food world.

So the next time you pick up a loaf of bread at the store think for a second to what you are doing to your meats, vegetables and condiments of your choice. That being said… I’m going to go make my sandwich for tomorrow’s lunch.

I have steel cut oats cooked in 1% milk on weekdays and yogurt on weekends. This is my menu about 95% of the time. The oatmeal is filling and easy to make (it takes awhile to cook, but I can leave it unsupervised while I do other things). It can just be . . . well, boring, really. It’s just so simple and I’m so used to it that I don’t try other things. I’m a vegetarian of sorts- the pesco-lacto-ovo sort, to be exact- so that limits my options somewhat. Although, to be honest, laziness and inertia limit my options more.

So, this is a plea for ideas! What do you eat for breakfast? Are you like me in that you want something relatively fast and simple? Do you get into ruts as well?  And, most selfishly and importantly, can you help me?

Cheddar Nut Wafers by Neva Kloepper
1/2 lb. sharp or medium cheddar cheese, shredded
1 stick soft margarine
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped fine
1/4 cup minced raw onion

Mix all the above ingredients in a large bowl.

1 cup flour
Add and mix well using hands (For a less greasy taste and texture, use 2 cups flour)

Using your hands, make dough into cylinders about 1 and 1/2 inch in diameter. Chill in freezer for 15-30 minutes. Slice cylinders into wafer ~1/8 to 1/4 inch thick with a sharp knife (the quicker the slice, the more likely they’ll come out clean instead of smooshed). Bake on lightly greased baking sheet in 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes like 45 wafers. Serve hot or cold (I prefer hot– they reheat great in microwave). Store in a sealed container.