Say No to Groceries.

This is my motto for the unforeseen future.

I am a just a girl on a tiny homestead in the heart of the Bluegrass State (Kentucky) – but I have some serious super-powers.

I grow food.

I started an outrageous adventure in 2016 when I went on The Homesteaders Food Challenge.  If you are new here and hearing this for the first time – let me get you caught up.

I spent 101 days attempting to grow/raise/pick/harvest/kill/ or otherwise obtain all the food I ate.  With my own hands, right here in Kentucky.

The entire experience was exhilarating, educational, challenging and beyond remarkable.

This is why I have decided to make it a seasonal part of our life. [Yes, the entire family was caught up in the wake of my challenge as well.  Since I’m cooking what we’re growing – they’re eating what we’re growing too.]

Eat Local Y’all!

I’ve decided that Spring is the perfect time to abandon supermarkets & eat from the yard (or the local grower).

If you don’t have a garden, a yard or a pot – you can still do it.

• Shop at the Farmer’s Market
• Hit the roadside stands
• Buy local produce
• You can find locally raised meat too

5 Reasons You Should Give Up Groceries for the summer:

ONE: A Garden is a Blessing

It is spring and summer will be here in a couple of weeks.  If you already have your garden in (like me) you may have plenty of food available.

Sugar snap peas

If you haven’t planted some tomatoes and peppers yet, you still can.  It’s not too late.  You can have an incredible summer garden and a fall garden if you start now.  A garden will bless your entire family.

• They’ll learn where food comes from
• You’ll learn new life skills
• You’ll eat local, organic, fresher food
• You’ll get exercise & fresh air

Here are some great crops that mature quickly you can plant now:  cucumber, squash, green beans, lettuce, radish, beets, & turnips.  

TWO:  It’s Sustainable

Do you know how to grow your food?  Do you know how much you need to feed your family?  Could you grow your groceries if you had to?

Experience is the mother of all teachers.  This sort of adventure may be just the thing we need to learn.

I love having the knowledge and ability to grow food and provide for my family.

THREE:  It’s Responsible

I almost think it’s irresponsible of me to go buy groceries at a supermarket right now.

My garden has plenty to offer me right now.

Rainbow chard

I have over 20 heads of lettuce, an unknown number of onions & garlic bulbs, broccoli, sugar snap peas, rainbow chard, kale, radishes, turnips, and more.  There are so many beets they need to be thinned, the asparagus is still coming up and I’m just scratching the surface.

To spend money on food seems wasteful and selfish.

FOUR:  It Will Save You Money

Why would I take hard-earned money and give it to a grocery store?

Even if you aren’t a gardener – this is a great time to support your local farmer!  By purchasing produce from your local grower you are putting money back into your community.  You are supporting the small guy & getting fresher, better food as well.

Why, then, do we still walk into the grocery and hand over our money?

I’ll tell you why – because we are a bunch of selfish, impatient people.

We want instant gratification.  We want tomatoes.  We want eggplant.  We are brats.

We don’t want to wait for the tomatoes to ripen.  We want a BLT TONIGHT.  So we buy tomatoes.  We don’t want to wait for the squash to grow, we want squash casserole TODAY.  So we buy squash.

I am guilty of this, and I want to do better.

By deciding to eat ONLY what you have grown it solves the problem of eating in season and not wasting what you have grown.

FIVE: Stop Wasting Food

Beets

I’ll admit it.  I gave the turnips to the pigs. I hate them (the turnips not the pigs).  I have also put off harvesting the beans too long and watched them dry and shrivel on the vine.

How many times do we grow remarkable amounts of food only to watch it rot on the vine or toss it to the chickens?

Why?

I’ll tell you why – because the lettuce at the grocery is already washed and bug-free.

If nothing else, eating only what I grow forces me to eat what I grow… and I love this.  I savor every head of lettuce.  I eat the radishes.  I inhale bowls of sugar snap peas.  I don’t forget to snap off the asparagus spears.

It is my food and I treasure it.

SIX:  Farm to Table Baby!

It’s hard to beat picking your food and eating it that same day.  Not only will it make you feel like Wonder Woman (or Superman) – You’ll be healthier for it.  Much of the nutrition in fruits and veggies are lost during storage and transit.  Additionally, much of the fresh foods sold at supermarkets are picked before they ripen so it can survive the trip to the store.

When you eat from your yard you will be picking foods when it is ripe (thus at the peak of healthfulness) and enjoying it immediately (which means it will taste better).

SEVEN:  Kitchen Adventures

Have you ever made pasta?  crackers?  tortillas?  pizza crust?

The day you say goodbye to the grocery is the day your culinary skills will explode exponentially.  I have grown as a baker and home cook in amazing ways because I abandoned pre-made foods.

EIGHT:  I Want to Feel Like This Forever

I have been eating the foods from my own hands for a while now.  I know how I feel when I eat from a farm and I know how I feel when I eat from a Grocer.

If I could eat Farm Fresh all year round – I probably would.  Here in Kentucky, this isn’t possible.  In winter, I need those groceries, but right now – I don’t.

This is the time of year I CAN survive on food from my own hands – Therefore, I shall.

Potatoes

The Plan: Give Up Groceries for the Summer

I know it’s hard.  I know it’s a lot of work.  I know I will be in the kitchen.  I know I will need to resist the junk served at picnics, parties, BBQ’s and restaurants.

I know and I am still willing to choose Farm Fresh Food.

Why?

Some Notable Take-Aways from Raising All My Food:

• Weightloss.  This isn’t a weightloss diet – but eating only foods from your hands has the ability to take away unwanted pounds.  When I began my journey my goal was not to lose weight.  I wanted to see if I could raise all my food.  The weight loss was a surprise.  I didn’t expect it, but I’m not going to complain about it either.
• We all need a break from sugar.  Taking a few months of the year to eat only what I raise means I won’t be eating ANY sugar for those months.  I am a recovering sugar-addict & going completely sugar-free is a reset we all can benefit from.
• Eating food from your own hands will eliminate any mid-section bloat as well as your love handles.
• You will feel fantastic (well, after the 2-week sugar-detox you will).
• Your clothes will fit better.
• You will have more energy.
• You won’t crave junk food (good-bye Nutella).
• Additionally, I sleep better, cook more, try new recipes and experience life on a deeper level when I am making food by hand instead of buying it from the grocery.  

Whether you buy your groceries from the local farmers market or grow them yourself – we can all benefit from a grocery ‘fast.’

I’m here to tell you – it will change your life.

Go Farm Fresh & you won’t want to go back.  

To read all the rules for the 101-day challenge go here.

Be sure to join the email list (for free) here.

Learn more about becoming a member here.

What’s with the Memberships?

Trying to clean up your diet & get healthy?  Renegade real food meals, groceries from your yard, bread-making like your great-grandma, instructional videos, insider information and more.  Joining is cheap & your pants will thank you.  – Learn more here.

love Y’all,

Candi