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Livin' Off The Grid

Okay, I'm really not, but it's been fun growing our first vegetable garden!
Six years ago I had a wake up call after a physical. My doctor called after the blood results came back and told me I had high blood pressure and bad cholesterol was bad and good cholesterol was bad...all around BAD!

I come from a long blood line of heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, heart transplant, artery disease, high blood pressure, brain aneurysm ...the list really could go on and on. Yep...I'm a walking time bomb.
My doctor was hoping it could be food related and what I was consuming. So instead of going on medicine right away, I went to a nutritionist.
Interestingly enough the nutritionist asked me to write down everything I put in my mouth for a week. My kids were much younger then and I would eat all their junk left overs like gold fish, fries, nuggets, anything!
After a week the nutritionist told me I needed to learn how to eat properly and sent me to Weight Watchers! Yep..you read that right! A NUTRITIONIST SENT ME TO WEIGHT WATCHERS!
Boy did it change my life!
Not only did I love going, I did learn how to eat properly and in the process lost over 38 lbs. My blood pressure and cholesterol became normal and it was GREAT! BUT I was spending so much money on fresh vegetables!
Six years later, I still go to my Weight Watcher weekly meeting and I've been Lifetime for five years. Now back to the blog title Livin' Off The Grid...
Eddy decided he wanted to try his hand at gardening! I was so excited for his little project only because I love salads and the idea of walking out my door and picking off a cucumber sounded great!
Guess what?
IT IS!!!



























Everyday we head out to the garden and look to see what is growing and what needs to be picked. The lettuce tastes so fresh that I'm going to be really, really sad when the season is over and I don't have fresh lettuce! I'm going to have to go back to store bought lettuce! BOO!!!

Do you have a garden? Do you go to the farmer's market?
Let's talk about my idea of Livin' Off The Grid! Leave a comment to win this fun prize pack that includes a fun cup, hand sanitizers, garden gloves, and notebook!
Winner will be announced on Friday July 3rd!

Don't forget to spread the word about the upcoming release of A CHARMING FATALITY! 

In the meantime, you can continue catching up on the series with A CHARMING WISH, book 4 in the Magical Cures Mystery Series! It's on sale for ONE day only! 
IT's only on sale at Amazon (I'm so sorry), but you can always download the Kindle app on any device! Hugs and happy reading!!

33 comments:

  1. I picked my first two cucumbers from my Earth Boxes yesterday. Tomato plant is going crazy, but none ready to pick yet. The peppers are going really slow. Looks like your garden is doing very well!

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    1. YAY!! We are loving it. We have decided to go bigger next year! I'll get Eddy to the country yet ;)

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  2. We tried to have a garden a couple of years ago, but the soil in our yard just wasn't right for it. Nothing would grow. Though we do have some random green onions growing by our front gate right now that we didn't plant LOL. We do like going to the local farmer's market - everything is so fresh and tasty, and I love that it's local!

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    1. Hmmm...maybe it's your calcium in your soil. Maybe try one of the earth boxes and use calcium supplement to help out. WE love the farmer's market too!!

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  3. I would love to have a garden. Maybe starting one will be my next project.
    I eat a lot of veggies and fruits everyday.

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    1. I'm not a big fruits gal because the natural sugar wrecks havoc on my body! I know....strange!

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  4. I have an herb garden and I LOVE shopping at our local farmers market and produce stand. When we lived in Spain we grew our own tomatoes and tomatillos. It was so exciting to see what we grew from seeds. So proud of you for taking control of your health!

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    1. YAY!! I definitely love supporting our local farmers! Awe...I'd love to say that I lived in Spain!

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  5. I so miss having a garden! I grew up with grandparents that planted everything and canned the crop for winter. I usually do tomato plants on the patio every year but did not even get that done this year :(. Your veggies look great!

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    1. Yep...canning was a big thing for my family growing up. I really wish I could get into that!

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  6. Your husband obviously did a great job on his garden! He must have a green thumb! I have never attempted a garden. I had a bad experience with one once as a child and vowed I never would go near one again! I have been to Farmer's Markets and love the fresh veggies when I can afford them.

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    1. He did! I'm so proud of him for being a city boy !!

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  7. I wish I could say that I have a green thumb, sadly though I do not. Forty-one has hit hard this year so it is my plan to try to go to the local Farmers Market a bit. You would think that living on a farm I would have a garden but as I have told people many times over, if I have to live of the grid I am in trouble lol!!!

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    1. Luckily we don't have to live off the grid. My hubby would love to use solar energy and everything...me not so much!!!! Awe...to remember forty-one again...

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  8. I have a garden every year, except this year. I miss it so much. Lesson learned, I will always plant a garden. I also do some canning. I love to have fresh veggies
    Moonbay7399@gmail.com

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    1. Me too, Candace! I really should can...but we haven't gotten that far yet. Next year I want to plant green beans!

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  9. i so very love (LOVE) to garden, but since we moved to grant county, animals have been eating all my veggie plants. :( any advice would be helpful! thanks! :D

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  11. I don't have a garden, but my oldest daughter does. Even though we live in Texas, our veggies don't grow as big as yours do, Tonya. What's your secret?

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  12. We do have a garden and I love nothing more than getting fresh veggies. We also live in a huge farming community so in the summer months there is aleays someone selling fresh veggies. I am just starting WW and trying to learn.

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  14. Living in arizona poses a bit of a problem when it comes to gardening. Summer and fall is to hot and at times winter gets to cold. But spring? Oh what fun! We plant in the late fall and harvest late spring early summer. Nothing like fresh veggies to brighten your day!

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  15. My favorite thing to plant used to be sweet banana peppers. With only a few plants, we could pick and pick and pick. And have enough left the freezer. I also like tomatoes and cucumbers and squash.
    Physically, I'm no longer able to garden. So now we go to the farmers market on Thursdays. Everybody so friendly and warm. I'm really not much for salads, but I love to eat my veggies planer and stirfries . I love eating healthy .

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  16. Yes we have a garden! We have zucchinni and tomatos and crook neck squash and pumpkins! Huge pumpkins!! LOL We also go to the farmers market.

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  17. I have just started a container garden and have herbs for my chef husband and tomatoes for me. I'm saving up for Tower Garden! I love sitting on my patio reading and enjoining the scents of the garden.

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  18. I don't have a garden at this house, but we had one at our other house. These days it's easier to go to a farmer's market or local stands. Thank you, Tonya, for the chance to win this giveaway. j_mazur@msn.com

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  19. I would love to have a garden but we live in an apartment so we can't. We do like to go to the farmers market and get fresh vegetables. In a 20 mile radius we have 4 farmers markets to choose from. I have decided this year to try new to me things from the market like spaghetti squash. I have never had that before. Side note my 3 1/2 year old loves vegetables, they have to keep an eye on him when they shop because he gets excited and starts grabbing vegetables and putting them in the cart without them knowing it. Maybe when we retire we will move to where we can garden too

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  20. I would love to have a garden but we live in an apartment so we can't. We do like to go to the farmers market and get fresh vegetables. In a 20 mile radius we have 4 farmers markets to choose from. I have decided this year to try new to me things from the market like spaghetti squash. I have never had that before. Side note my 3 1/2 year old loves vegetables, they have to keep an eye on him when they shop because he gets excited and starts grabbing vegetables and putting them in the cart without them knowing it. Maybe when we retire we will move to where we can garden too

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  21. When all the kids were home, we had a full garden. Then we kind of gave up gardening with just the two of us. This year we have a box garden of 2 tomatoes, 2 peppers, okra and then zucchini and yellow squash on the ditch bank.

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  22. I have a garden. We grow strawberries, zucchini, cucumbers, corn, tomatoes and potatoes. Everything seems to be growing well and we have been getting a lot of rain so that is at least good for the garden. I love having fresh veggies.

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  23. I attempted to have a garden 2 yrs ago and it was an epic fail...I do try to get farm fresh veggies when I can and next year I may attempt a smaller raised garden...I also need to plan how to keep the critters out...because some of my failure was because of the deer and especially the "Chuck" family (my groundhog family)....

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  24. I don't have a garden but my mom and dad do. They can pickles, green beans, crout, peppers, tomatoes, make and can salsa and apple jelly. I love to go shopping at their house!

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