Urban Agriculture & Native Plants Diet

Many of us dream of growing our own, organic healthy food and breaking away from industrial pre-packaged groceries.

Dinner from the Florida Permaculture Garden, peas, okra, peppers and more

Yes, Judy and I have always had a healthy diet.  Virgin olive and sesame oils are the primary fats we've cooked with for almost twenty years.

Our garden has provided daily vegetables throughout the seasons.

Yet I've been asking myself if I could really break from grocery market food.

So this week I am giving it a try for a week, starting yesterday afternoon (Sunday, October 21, 2012).  The teens and Judy are welcome to participate if they like.

Anyway, I'll be updating my diet successes or failures daily on the blog here and posting similar updates to Facebook.

The ground rules are simple.

The only food I am going to eat for two weeks will come from the garden or will be wild foraged.

Right now I've gone twelve hours and feel fine.  Of course I am watching my blood pressure and INR. I am assuming my diet will include more green vegetables since we have so many in the garden   Green vegetables mean vitamin K.

Having artificial heart components I must make sure my blood doesn't clot around the titanium valve.  An increase in green vegetables translates into a probable increase in Coumadin to keep the blood thin.

Dinner Sunday evening consisted of sweet Saw Palmetto berries, a wonderful mix of garden veggies heated on the stove (including okra, black-eye peas, peppers and more - see photo above) and delicious Seminole Pumpkin from out back.

Seminole Pumpkin were cultivated by the native Floridians and originated probably in Central or South America.  This calabasa keeps for a very long time once picked and is absolutely delicious baked, tasting very similar to a cross between a butternut squash and a pumpkin.

Seminole Pumpkin from the Floria Permaculture Garden

Today I'd like to net a bucket of mullet running along the shoreline, clean, soak in vinegar and bake.  I also found an awesome patch of lentil-look-alike Florida native Thicket Bean, Phaseolus polystachios.  I easily had a bag of pods, leaving most on the vine, within five minutes.  We will see how tasty they are later today.

Florida native Thicket Bean, Phaseolus polystachios

Can I stay away from the commercialized and industrialized pre-packaged foods?  Can I stay away from Publix?

Each day you will find comments and recipes, creative I am sure, of my garden and forage adventure.

Why do this?

Preaching Urban Green and Sustainability is one thing.  Living the life is another.

Native, wild saw palmetto berries.  Many can not stand their taste but I love them!

Now is the time for me to see if I can really live the low-carbon footprint life and just how hard weaning one's self from cardboard boxed foods, is.

Day One Diet:

Saw Palmetto Berries, freshly picked;
Marvelous sauté of garden vegetables (okra, peppers & black eye peas)
Baked Seminole Pumpkin
hot Yaupon tea (black drink)

I'd love to hear about your experiences too!  Emailed testimonials of Foraged & Garden Diets will be posted along with my experiences.