
Welcome to spears (as in asparagus) shoots (as in peas) & stalks (think corn and beans), a blog born in a backyard garden in Encinitas, California, where the sun shines most of the time. This blog is my opportunity to catalog and share my love of all things gardening, as well as my growing inventory of garden-inspired recipes.
My three girls (ages 11, 9 and 7) are what get me out bed in the morning; the garden is what gets me out of the house. Thank heaven for both! You’ll notice plenty of posts here intertwining gardening and kids — they intertwine so naturally! — but the garden is not only about the kids. It’s my thing; it’s a family thing; and it’s its own thing. It’s always interesting, a constant source of change and surprise. It can be soothing and therapeutic, gratifying and edifying; a source of revelations! It can also be annoying and unpredictable and out of control. (Oh yeah. Sort of like kids.)
I don’t pretend to know a huge amount about growing vegetables or children. In the seven years I’ve been gardening and parenting, I’ve had some conspicuous successes and some equally notable failures (the girls are unequivocal successes, despite certain of my failures). But I am learning… and we’re all eating better… and the effect on the grown-ups’ health, in particular, has been awesome! Good clean fruit-and-vegetable input = optimal energy output!
I hope this blog will be of use to you! Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions. I’m just a regular chick who spears shoots & stalks.
Thanks for the tips on growing tomatoes! Planted marigolds and basil and fed them with the Oscomote and it grew 3x the size in about 1 1/2 weeks! I’m super excited!
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Hi Jen,
Just went to your site to double check the cashew milk recipe. It’s looking great! Congrats on everything you’ve accomplished so far! – Jen Ruijssenaars
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Thanks so much Jen! I wonder if you’d be willing to contribute a “guest article” to the blog someday… you have so many great ideas and so much knowledge (being a “health nut” of course!) 🙂 PS. lately we’ve made pumpkin seed and walnut milks… both excellent! Though cashew is still the gold standard… X Jen.
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Jen: We’ve connected on Facebook. Now I’d like to invite you to become a follower of my new Web site: http://www.christinanifong.com. Check it out and follow along if it suits. Thanks so much!
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Christina, I started following your new blog today. It’s delightful! Congratulations on the new site and I look forward to reading more!
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Thanks so much! Glad to have you following along…
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