I was somewhat productive today. I cut up enough vegetables today for today's meals and tomorrow's meals. I hadn't planned to, it just happened.

I had cut up a huge bok choy leaf, was starting in on the broccoli, and was bemoaning the fact that we don't have a food processor. Then I realised, wait! We have a Slap Chop! (For those who don't know what a Slap Chop is, you can see it here http://www.jennyreviews.com/as-seen-on-tv/slap-chop/. The Slap Chop has received a bit of a bad rep, but we have never had any problems with it.) So I dug around in our cabinet filled with miscellaneous things and found it. I had never used it before, but my mom told me it worked well.

I grabbed a piece of the broccoli stem and put it under the Slap Chopped and started chopping away. It worked great! Before long, I had a large amount of bok choy, broccoli, and bell peppers that couldn't possibly get eaten in one day. I decided to also add some lettuce so the guinea pigs could enjoy it too. The Slap Chop does not work on greens, but the blender does! I added some water and turned the blender on for no more than 3 seconds and I had finely chopped lettuce.

I put all the vegetables in a bowl and mixed. It was a lot of food for my tiny flock of two birds. The guinea pigs got some (in addition to more lettuce) and the bearded dragon got some too. I still have enough for tomorrow as well.

I know a lot of people make this for their birds on a regular basis, and I think I'm going to start. But in order to justify it (and to use it before it goes bad without freezing it), I have to make it suitable for the guinea pigs and the bearded dragon as well. This was way quicker and much more efficient than my usual method (cutting everything up with a knife and never get it small enough). Next time I make this, I'll have to get a wider variety of veggies.

I'd really like to get the guinea pigs, Maxwell, and the birds on a completely organic diet, especially where their fresh food is concerned. I'm not as concerned about the pellets for the birds and the pigs. It would be nice to feed them organic pellets, but I've been lucky to get Digby to eat any pellets, and organic guinea pig pellets would cost twice as much as the pellets I already get them (and what they get now isn't the cheap stuff either).

So, I'm aiming to get all their fresh food to be organic. Once spring is here, I'll be able to plant a lot of stuff. In the meantime, though, I'm stuck buying stuff. Walmart has started carrying some organic produce, but if I want a big selection, I have to go to Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck).

I have to stop here for a minute and confess something: I love Whole Foods. Not only is the food good quality, it tastes good and you can always find some interesting stuff there. But, I have a couple problems with it. The first, most obvious problem is that it's expensive. The second problem is that it takes me half an hour to get there, so it's even more expensive to shop there. I live in the suburbs and the only Whole Foods in Louisville is on the east end of town. So, if we need to go to Whole Foods, we have usually combine it with another stop over there (like the Apple Store, World Market, or one of the two malls over there). Anyway, back to the topic at hand...

I'm currently making a shopping list of things to get next time I'm at Whole Foods. I'll be getting several different greens, some other veggies, and some fruit. So far the list is: lettuce, Swiss chard (I saw this there a couple weeks ago...so glad they have it...the pigs love it and so do I), bell peppers, maybe some hot peppers for the birds, apples, and possibly some strawberries.

This is what one day's worth of fresh food looks like here. On the menu today is a variety of lettuces, collard greens, bell peppers, and apples.

Here is all of it together:

The birds' food (Lenore's is on the top, Digby's is on the bottom):

 
Maxwell's portion:

The guinea pigs' portion.:

I introduced the birds to a new vegetable tonight. Broccoli!

Digby took a moment to try it, but then liked it.

Lenore dug in as soon as he saw it. He didn't wait for me to offer it, he just helped himself.

If you've been following along, you will know that I'm trying to get Digby to eat something other than just seed. I've had her for almost three months and have tried several foods. The following is a list of what I've tried:

Pellets
Zupreem Natural: Refuses. She will taste them but will not eat them and throws them on the floor.
Harrison's: Ate half of one. She ignored the rest.
Roudybush: Eats them and likes them! (See the post from 13 January)

Fruits and Veggies
Lettuce: Likes. She prefers the purple or red lettuces, and the must be cut into little pieces.
Collard greens: Will eat. She will eat collards, but not with the same gusto as she eats the lettuce.
Apples: Likes. She requires them to be cut into tiny pieces though.
Green peppers: Eh. She nibbled on it until she discovered the better red peppers.
Red peppers: Likes. She really liked the red peppers.
Cucumber: Also eh. She started nibbling on it when I offered it while I was holding it, but she decided my finger looked yummier and bit me.
Pomegranate: Loves. She surprised me liking these so much.

Other Things
Nutri-berries: Likes. If they are left in her food dish, she will pick out all the seeds. If I give them to her out of her cage, she'll eat the entire thing.
Avi-cakes: Likes. Prefers Nutri-berries.
Sprouts: Will eat. She will eat them, but only if I am also eating and she's out of her cage.
Rice: Will eat. Not her favourite, but she will certainly eat it.
Pizza: Likes. I feel bad for putting this on the list, but this was the first food she ate for me other than seed. She likes pizza, especially the crunchy edge of the crust.
Millet: Loves. She will even take this from my hand.
Seeds: LOVES. This is the reason I'm trying all the other foods. She will happily eat nothing but seeds. Doesn't matter the brand. She'll switch between brands easily.

Last year, I decided to try my hand at gardening. I only planted in containers, but I was quite happy with the results. I enjoyed being able to get greens for the guinea pigs and Maxwell by simply going out to the backyard, and I loved knowing they were treated with zero pesticides and very, very few fertilizers. I also liked having fresh cut flowers in the house throughout the summer and into fall and having pretty flowers on the deck.

This year, I'm going to plan a bit more. Here's my list so far:
Collards (to be started from seed indoors; seeds will be planted next month)
Kale
Swiss Chard (note to self: do not plant under Topsy Turvy Tomato to avoid repeat of last year's tragedy)
Tomatoes (plant earlier in the season than last year)
Various lettuce varieties
Strawberries
Azaleas in the front to replace the bushes
African daisies (more than last year, try to get several different colours)
Violas

I'm also going to see about getting an automatic watering system for the potted plants. Last summer, my older brothers forgot to water the plants while we were on vacation and several of my flowers died.

I might also plant some bell peppers. I really hate bell peppers, but the rest of my family likes them and so do the guinea pigs. They also look pretty, so they'll probably be on my list.

Another thing I might do is a raised bed. It'd be nice to have a bigger yield than I did last year, especially with the greens. Last summer I still had to buy a lot of greens in addition to what I grew. It wasn't as many as I do when I don't have stuff growing, but it was still more than I would have liked to have bought. If I do a raised bed, it won't be very big and it will only be for vegetables and maybe fruits.