Happiness Jar Challenge

"A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes." 

-Mahatma Gandhi

James' happiness jar.

As we roll through the holiday season and sail into the next year, I have a challenge for you.  Start your very own happiness jar!

Happiness Jar???  Well that sounds quite odd.

Oh, I know, believe me, but stay with me here...

Guest Post on Earth911.com

A guest post of mine went live on Earth911.com on 12/21/21.  If you haven't checked it out yet, check it out, it's called "Convert Your Yard From Grass to Veggies."

The Perfect Breakfast Routine

Fancy breakfast in September of 2021.  A breakfast this fancy is rare but a very enjoyable treat once in a while.

Break that fast with breakfast...

Is that where the word breakfast comes from?  You're technically fasting when you sleep so when you wake up and eat breakfast you are breaking that fast.  Right?!

Weird thoughts aside, there are quite a lot of options for breakfast:  cereal, toast, eggs, pancakes, waffles, muffins, bacon, salad, biscuits, coffee, nothing at all, etc. plus probably a lot more concoctions that I'm not thinking of at this very moment.

There are a few general problems with your average breakfast:  cost, sugar, empty calories that leave you feeling not so great, and time to cleanup.  A lot of people love cereal but it's generally loaded with sugar.  It may be on the cheaper side when you look at per serving cost until you add costly milk.  Pancakes are lower on the sugar and cost side but it's really not that nutritious for you and falls into the empty calories category which normally leaves you feeling sluggish.  Eggs are fairly cheap and easy to make but cleanup can be a pain and they need to be eaten with something else since they're not that hardy.

I've been on a quest to find the perfect breakfast routine for the better part of 15 years now and after cycling through most of the options listed above (and more) for various lengths of time I've finally cracked the code of the perfect breakfast!

How to Preserve Food

“Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will." - Vernon Howard

Freezer nearing capacity with blanched veggies and pesto.

Now that you are growing your own food, you need to learn how to preserve it.  Otherwise you're just wasting your time and if all of the delicious food you've grown rots away in your fridge, there's no point in that.  Efficiency is the name of the game here.  Preserving food for the winter is important however we want to be able to accomplish this as fast as possible so we can get back to the garden or whatever else we have going on in our lives.