Tomato season and a peek at our diet...

It's here... high tomato season!  Juicy, bright yumminess in its own edible packaging.  Created by a loving and nurturing God for our health and delight.  Grown organically in our own backyard.  What could be better?

Tomatoes, like all the other veggies we grow, support our healthy living choices.  We've been on a food journey for some time: learning, discussing, experimenting, and growing more and more varieties in an organic way.  I have found a vegan diet brings my diabetes into control, increases my energy level, clears my skin, and just 'feels right'.  This choice didn't begin as, and still is not, a social or political choice.  It just makes good heath sense for me.  Since my colectomy last year, I have added fresh goat cheese and fresh local eggs back into my diet, but these are not daily occurrences.

So, what do we eat?  LOTS of fresh fruits and vegetables, many from our own garden, grown in raised beds on our 1/5 acre of increasingly urban suburbia.  LOTS of beans and whole grains.  Almond and some soy milk (although I do limit the soy). Some tofu, but only in smoothies, pies, puddings, or other baked goods.  Nuts, nut butters, quinoa.  Again, the occasional egg or some fresh goat cheese.  I will also admit to an addiction to Trader Joe's Meatless Corn Dogs, but don't spread it around.  Every now and then, though, I'll buy my dear husband a lovely piece of grass-fed beef from Polyface Farm, just as a treat for being so sweet and supportive. 

What about those tomatoes?  This year, we planted and are now harvesting cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, Lemon Boy yellows, and heirloom Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra, and a German one I can't even pronounce.  We eat them in salad, we eat them sliced with our breakfast/lunch/supper, we eat them in wraps, we eat them in guacamole, we eat them in salsa.  We savor every fresh-from-the-vine-outside-our-backdoor bite, letting the juice run down our chins. 

Grab a tomato, bursting with goodness fresh from the garden, and slice up some healthy joy to slap between your slices of bread!

Cherokee Purple, Lemon Boy, and Brandywine from our garden

"I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat. And I have given the green plants as food for everything else that breathes. These will be food for animals, both wild and tame, and for birds."

Genesis 1:29-30 (CEV)

An Unexpected Gift

The call came as I was doing my work, making my plans, rushing through my day.  A sweet messenger of grace was calling, a woman I did not know.  She was unable to go to the conference, you see, and she the substitute attendee herself.  There is this paid registration.  Four days of retreat, of study, of fellowship.  The room is ready, the meals are included.  It's in the mountains.  And, she said, it would be so nice if I could go and glean, as I would be supporting others through my work in the days to come.  The conference would begin the next day.

The human girl in me thought of all the reasons (excuses) I should not go: the fatigue, the health issues, the family responsibilities, the travel, the clothes unwashed and unpacked.  So the human girl in me spoke tentatively to the messenger, "Let me call you back in just a few minutes."  As my mind (and stomach) swirled, considering all the logistics and reasons (excuses), a quiet image began to form.  Slowly, building, it became clearer.  God had opened His storehouse and brought out a treasure for me... for ME.  God, who knows me better than anyone else, who knows the endless impossibilities of my life, who knows the secrets of my heart, had offered this gift.  How could I refuse?

This morning, my clothes are washed, my bags are packed, my foodstuffs are prepared, my family is provided for, my Jeep is full of gas, and my heart is overflowing with gratitude.  The journey is before me and I look forward to it with joy!

Friends, keep an open ear to the messengers that come into your life.  Be ready for the open hand of a loving Lord.  Remember to whisper, "yes".

Blessings, dear ones...

Psalm 146:1-7

Hallelujah!
   Praise the Lord, my soul!
I want to praise the Lord throughout my life.
I want to make music to praise my God as long as I live.
 Do not trust influential people,
   mortals who cannot help you.
    When they breathe their last breath, they return to the ground.
         On that day their plans come to an end.
Blessed are those who receive help from the God of Jacob.
   Their hope rests on the Lord their God,
    who made heaven, earth,
         the sea, and everything in them.
   The Lord remains faithful forever.
 He brings about justice for those who are oppressed.
   He gives food to those who are hungry. 

Seek and find rest, life more abundant, and possibilities untold today...
and every day... 
in the Lord.

Blessings as you begin your week, my friends!

Meditation Garden, Buffalo Springs Herb Farm, in days long ago