Gardening-and Eating in the Dark

Night comes earlier than it did just last week. And the beans keep right on producing. It is an amazing and instructive phenomenon- can I be productive even when I've been nipped a few times, or even damaged? 

I tend to get home now around sunset, even if I leave work a bit early. The air is cooling; the cats are crunching their evening meal and getting the wild-eyed hunter/ huntress look of a cat at dusk. I wish I had cat-eyes, to see what I want to harvest. What I miss can dry on the plant until tomorrow. For now, it is time to fix dinner.

How do we eat? We eat a low-sodium version of the DASH diet (from a study done in 1999 called Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). Husband's BP is 20 points lower eating like this, with no drugs. Put simply, eat as many colorful vegetables and fruits as you can, with whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, lean meats, and dairy to round out your carb/protein needs. Those may vary by individual, but the advice to eat a rainbow of color and flavor every day, mostly vegetables and fruit, is sound. In winter I tend to go for more soups and stews, in summer the salads and stir fries. Viva veggies!

Here is a sample meal: Mrs. Dash mesquite grill braised chicken, microwaved broccoli, sliced tomatoes, roasted beets, red potatoes, and sweet potatoes, and a butternut squash-brown rice risotto. Kind of starchy, but it is winter and we need the energy. It works for us. And we do eat from the salad-sized plates.