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Down Home Dietitian - Healthy doesn't have to be hard.
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Gardening

Planting a Small Permaculture Orchard on our Homestead

 

We planted an orchard!

One of the first things we wanted to do this Spring was get some fruit trees in the ground since they are such an investment into food production on the property. We planted two cherries, a peach, and a pear tree to go along with the apple tree that was already on our property. These new trees should produce a decently-sized fruit harvest in 2-4 years. We plan to plant and maintain this orchard using permaculture principles as much as we are able: promoting diversity, planning efficiently, and utilizing resources fully.

The diversity of trees will be joined with a wide variety of shrubs, berry bushes, herbs, and flowers. These will help to promote a wide variety of microorganisms and pollinators, and limit damage from diseases and pests. Each plant will have different resistances to disease and pests, essentially diversifying our investment and promoting a hardy homestead. Here’s to healthy food production!

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Gardening

How Much to Plant in Your Vegetable Garden

 

Each year, my goal is to grow enough produce for my family to eat all year. Each year, I get closer to this goal. It is a bit of a trial-and-error process each year to answer the age-old question: how much should I plant in my vegetable garden? In this vlog I’ll walk you through my process of assessing what’s left from our preserved home-canned and frozen foods to decide how much I should plant in this year’s garden.

Some plants have a more direct correlation of seed-to-food ratio, like beets, carrots, and cauliflower where each seed produces a single unit of produce. Others produce many units of produce per plant, such as squash, zucchini, cucumbers, or green beans. Healthier plants, of course, produce more while less healthy plans produce less. Because of these varying factors you will find there is no magic answer to knowing how much of each plant to put in your garden, it takes this sort of year-by-year assessment and adjustment to get as close as possible.

If you don’t succeed on your first try – welcome to the club! I’ve been gardening for years and have yet to hit that nail perfectly on its head, but each year it gets a little easier and I get a little closer and I’m happy with that! We’ve greatly reduced our reliance on the grocery store and a few years in (with some seed-saving knowledge) we have also decreased our grocery budget by quite a bit. Here are a few tips to help you succeed:

 

Plant What You’ll Eat

Every gardener does it – inevitably you will end up planting too much of something your family won’t eat. I’ve got a freezer full of turnips from 3 years ago that we are still working on for this exact reason. I just couldn’t resist how picturesque and farm-y they looked growing!

By all means, plant things you enjoy and try new things – but save the majority of your space for well-loved staples that your family traditionally eats plenty of.

 

 

Plant Extra if You Can

Decide how much you think your household might eat, and then plant a few extra if you have space and resources. Seeds are cheap and it’s pretty common to lose some plants to disease, pests, or just the garden gremlins that inexplicably leave your plants sad and wilty. Having a few extra means you’ll be much more likely to hit your mark

 

Start With Growing for Summer

If you’re a beginner gardener, and especially if you haven’t preserved food in the past, a great goal is to aim to grow the food your family will eat fresh during the summer months. You will have plenty to learn and do as you plant, tend, and grow your first garden. Preserving and canning are amazing and incredibly useful skills, but you don’t have to overwhelm yourself by planning to do all of it in your first season. Eating produce all summer from your garden is incredibly rewarding – give it a try!

Have a Preservation Plan

If you’re looking to preserve the produce from your garden, have a rough plan in advance of how you’ll preserve it. Will you can, freeze, or dehydrate? Do you have space for storage? Do you need to learn these skills before your produce is ready? Make sure you are prepared when the time comes…your produce rarely waits for you and it is a heck of a disappointment to put in all the work to grow a winter’s worth of produce and watch it go bad before you get to it!

 

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Gardening

Seed Starting for Beginners

Seed starting is a key piece of getting more from your garden sooner, especially if you live somewhere with a shorter growing season. This video will give you all you need to start seeds indoors and get a jump on tasty fresh produce!

 

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Down Home Dietitian

Diet culture is determined to tell you that you have to be miserable to be healthy.

That couldn’t be more wrong.

Subscribe to learn how to go from a frustrated, restricted dieter to a happy, relaxed relationship with food and fitness. Healthy doesn’t have to be hard!

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https://youtu.be/xz9u4pUPFA0

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downhomedietitian

Healthy doesn't have to be hard.
Dietitian | Exercise Physiologist | Speaker | Youtuber
Building a small permaculture homestead in WA state

Becki Parsons
Choosing to work with a dietitian is NOT "turning Choosing to work with a dietitian is NOT "turning yourself in" to the food police! It's finding a teammate to help you find the eating plan that works for you. I frequently joke with my clients that they are dating healthy changes and I am their matchmaker - it's not about forcing your life to fit a plan, it's about finding the plan that complements your life AND helps you meet your goals and feel your best without being miserable or deprived!
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Ready to give it a go? Click the link in my bio to schedule an in-person or video appointment!
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#diet #dietitian #nutrition #nutritionist #wellness #health #healthy #eathealthy #loseweight #weightloss #fitness #lifestylechange #exercise #eatwell #fuel #fuelyourbody #food
Our perennial garden is expanding with a low-maint Our perennial garden is expanding with a low-maintenance veggie you plant once and harvest year after year! Click the link in my bio to visit my YouTube channel and watch the full video.
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#garden #gardening #perennial #veggie #veggiegardening #veggies #asparagus #growingasparagus #health #healthy #homegrown #gardener #homestead #homesteading #wellness #nutrition #easy #eatlocal #growityourself #fiber #diet #dietitian #weightloss #healthyeating
Happy meets healthy: prioritizing your favorite fo Happy meets healthy: prioritizing your favorite foods!

At a restaurant, you are presented with so many options: appetizer, drinks, sides, entrees, extras, dessert...

An all-or-nothing "diet mindset" would say turn it all down - eat a grilled chicken salad with a water. Deprive, deprive, deprive.

An all-or-nothing "not dieting right now" mindset would say to get it all - absolutely anything and everything that sounds good to you. Then feel guilty for having done it. Promise yourself you'll start your "diet mindset" again Monday.

I'm here to say that all-or-nothing thinking stinks. It isn't healthy OR happy. It's miserable. Your healthy life SHOULD include your favorite foods. AND healthy foods that make your body happy.

It was a busy, restaurant-filled weekend as we celebrated our son's birthday as well as Mothers' Day. I prioritized the options at each restaurant and meal that make me the happiest - sourdough toast, two servings of sweet potato fries...HAPPY. I made changes somewhere else to get plenty of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals...HEALTHY. You CAN have both.

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#healthy #happy #nutrition #fitness #wellness #weightloss #eatingout #restaurant #diet #dietitian #nutrition #dietitianlife #loseweight #eatingwell #veggies #protein #fruit #carbohydrates
#wildflower #nocaptionneeded #wildflower #nocaptionneeded
What a great horse blessing day! Thank you to my p What a great horse blessing day! Thank you to my parents for this gorgeous new saddle pad for my birthday. A gift for my horse is a gift for me!
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If you're a horse person, you'll know the great joy it is to share your horse with a currently horse-less horse lover. For 17 years I was that horse-less person and I would have gladly cleaned stalls for hours just to be in a barn again...my aunt Mary has the horse bug too and hasn't had a horse since her sweet boy Pal in high school. This weekend she came to visit for the first time since I got Blue Belle and it was such a joy to watch Blue Belle light up Mary's face as she got to groom and ride. ♥️ Plus my mom got to ride for the first time in years, and we talked about their memories of riding their Grandma's horse Sugar. Horses are such a gift!
We just added a few hundred new members to the hom We just added a few hundred new members to the homestead! Click the link in my bio to watch my latest video on our new hive of honeybees!
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#honey #honeybees #garden #pollinators #gardening #hive #homestead #beekeeping
We recently got back from a Hawaiian vacation with We recently got back from a Hawaiian vacation with our family that's been 3 years in the making...we are so grateful to have gotten to go and enjoy all kinds of Hawaiian foods! Click the link in my bio to watch my recent video with tips for eating well - like really, really deliciously well- on vacation.
Tulips are starting to bloom! The patience bulbs r Tulips are starting to bloom! The patience bulbs require is such an effective teacher that good and beautiful things are worth the wait.
Just got back from an amazing and much-needed Hawa Just got back from an amazing and much-needed Hawaiian vacation...looking forward to taking all that restful peace back to work in the garden!

#hawaii #kauai #poipu #beach #sunset #vacation #beautiful #restful #peaceful #happy
We planted an orchard!!! Click the link in my des We planted an orchard!!!

Click the link in my description to watch my latest video on planting a small permaculture orchard on our homestead! I'm so excited about this investment into our food production - now to wait 2-4 years for a decent harvest... #patience
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  • Planting a Small Permaculture Orchard on our Homestead
  • How Much to Plant in Your Vegetable Garden
  • Recipe: Immune Boosting Winter Smoothie
  • Choosing an Exercise Plan you can Stick To
  • Working Toward Your Health Goals When Life is Busy or Stressful

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