Brown Girl Green Life

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Brown Girl Green Life

Just a brown girl on a journey to a healthier, greener life and a smaller footprint. �� A blog focused on wellness and green-living.

Follow me on my journey by checking out the website at www.browngirlgreenlife.com

24/07/2020

My first tomato of the year is a Frankenstein Black. They are large, red and black tomatoes perfect for slicing. This one is cracked because I’m inconsistent with watering at times. Fortunately, it’s still cute and extremely delicious! This tomato met its demise atop crustinis made from homemade sourdough baguette and homemade labneh (yogurt cheese). It was a glorious occasion. Can’t wait to harvest more ripe tomatoes and do it again! 🍅

24/07/2020

Much in the same way that capitalism and convenience culture has caused us to accept a certain amount of disposable single use products in our lives, we have come to accept that some *people* are disposable as well. People are one of our greatest resources, yet we are quick to cast them off as lost causes rather than lend our hands and our hearts to help them.
Ours is a culture that punishes people who commit crimes of desperation rather than making sure their most basic needs are met. When a person is shot or killed by police, we ask ‘well, what did they do (to deserve it)?’ - ascribing disposability under the guise of criminality. We don’t care to free people in jails or prisons or detention centers during a pandemic, essentially leaving them to die. We throw away people just as much as we throw away things. We dispose of real people and it happens every day.
This , all I can think about is these people. It is not you nor I that have locked adults and children in cages, yet it is the collective shrug of this beautiful yet frustrating nation that has allowed it to remain so.
All this talk of abolishing the prison industrial complex has me rethinking my position on policing and state violence, on criminality and punishment and even cancel culture - ways in which we use shame, isolation, deprivation and retaliatory harm on people we don’t care to be accountable to. We have grown accustomed to this violence and the convenience of disposing of people and things because it’s easier - less time consuming - to do better by each other. But that doesn’t have to be our story moving forward. We can reject the ideology of ‘I’ and welcome the ideology of ‘we’ - a shared existence with mutual accountability and compassion. We can transform our communities with this new ideology and, of course, by putting in the time and the work.
I implore everyone to get involved and join the conversation - to learn and unlearn and to reimagine our communities in ways that perpetuate care rather than harm/violence. Engage with your community. Give your time and your money and your privilege and your heart to the cause. It could save more than a plastic straw; it could save a life.
Image: hand drawn illustration of echinacea with the words ‘People are not disposable.’

06/07/2020

Last week, we harvested 3.6lbs of blueberries from our garden! The blueberry bushes are thriving this year and producing really large berries. I feel so grateful that the energy I’ve put into learning how to care for these plants is really paying off. @ Seattle, Washington

25/06/2020

Baby broccoli! 🥦

I can’t tell y’all how I excited I am to see this baby broccoli! I actually have four broccoli plants with babies coming in!
Other brassicas in my bed this year are red cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. Last year, my brassicas were over taken by aphids and many were bolting (going to seed) in the heat. I’m hoping for some good luck for my brassicas this season and it looks like we’re already off to a great start!

Tip: Aphids love brassicas. Planting garlic around brassicas deters aphids, but you’ll still get a few. There are many other ways to stop aphids from taking over (they reproduce up to 12 offspring a day!), but keeping your plant in good health is one of the best preventions as they are more likely to be attracted to unhealthy plants.

23/06/2020

Ron Finley () says, “all of life’s lessons happen in the soil.” There’s so much truth in that. It’s been a little over a year since I really took up gardening and I’ve learned so much in that sliver of time. Not just about the earth and it’s infinite systems, but about myself and my own systems. I’ve set my roots in this place and this garden has been a huge part of that.

Learning to grow and preserve my own food is my little act of resistance. In writing this, I realize it’s not so little. It is empowering. It is patience and pressing on despite things not working out. It is give and take. It is getting your hands dirty. It is letting go. It is growth. It is nourishment, in more ways than one.

Let’s keep fighting for justice, but let’s not forget to keep nourishing ourselves. We’re gonna need our strength. ✊🏽 Happy belated and happy belated .

09/06/2020

This past weekend, I marched for black lives, for equality, for justice, for our humanity to be recognized. I marched against police brutality, and state-sanctioned violence, against the dehumanization and criminalization of black/brown bodies, against hate and white supremacy, against the institutions that uphold our oppression. The work of fighting to be seen/heard is tiring and emotionally taxing. The trauma of seeing a neverending list of extrajudicial killings of people who look like me and my family is debilitating. With or without videos and photos.

I am incredibly grateful for people on the front lines of this fight - for people who have hardly rested these past few weeks...and these past seven years since the movement was born. Thank you for your diligence and commitment to our liberation. I hope to join you on June 12th (in Seattle) to strike and march yet again.

To my new followers: Thank you for being here. Please be patient with me. I don’t have much else to say right now. I’m still wading through the mire. I’m resting up and working on being okay. I’ll be posting on Stories here and there in the meantime.

04/05/2020

Those lilac blossoms from the other day didn’t last as long as I wanted. My YiaYia suggested I google ideas for ‘capturing the essence of lilac’ when I expressed my desire to do so. Lo and behold, had a recipe for lilac simple syrup! I used my wilted blooms and a couple fresh ones to make this and it is delightful! I mixed it with club soda and topped with a few fresh lilac flowers. Totes cute and soops refreshing. 💕

Pictures: (3) bottles of lilac simple syrup in their of repurposed/secondhand bottles; my wilted lilac blooms; harvested blooms in a colander; steeping blooms in a pot on the stove; totes cute cup of lilac simple syrup (it’s purple!) with club soda and some pretty lilac flowers on top!

01/05/2020

Have you ever heard a sourdough sing? It’s my new favorite thing now that I’m getting serious about my sourdough! Shortly after you take it out of the oven, it makes this cool crackling sound! No clue what it is, but it’s so satisfying.

Quarantine has renewed my motivation to try baking some real bread with my sourdough starter. I did it once last year and it stressed me out a bit because I was so confused (bread still turned out great lol). Since then, I’ve maintained my starter and made a few batches of sourdough discard pancakes. That’s it.

In the past month, and especially after being inspired by ’s sourdough adventures, I’ve devoured every piece of content I could find on sourdough starter maintenance, sourdough baking, different flours, hydration, etc. I’ve asked and a million questions (thank you both, srsly). And I finally made some more sourdough bread. Twice in a week actually! This time, I followed recipe and helpful IGTV video series.

I’m officially obsessed with bread making and I love it! Each time I bake, I make two loaves and keep one and give the other. I think I’m going to keep this up every week! And I love the idea of gifting a loaf each time (thanks for the idea, Justin!) because I get to bring a smile to someone’s face! Who doesn’t love fresh sourdough!?

Photos: my wife captured this funny pic of me excitedly listening to my first loaf sing/crackle; of first loaf; boule pre-shaped loaf almost ready for proofing; complete with sunrays; another crumbshot from my most recent loaf!

28/04/2020

This year, I’ve got a whole new setup and I’ve given seed starting indoors another shot!
Here’s a picture of my baby cukes looking pretty darn good (except for that guy in the front). I gave them some distance from the light and made sure they were plenty watered and they perked up (see 3rd pic with whole row of floppies). I’m learning so much about growing my own food and growing plants in general. It’s been such a rewarding experience and it’s brought me such joy in this unsettling time. 🌱

Now that the garden is in full swing, I’ll be sharing lots more content with you guys. I hope my little corner of the internet brings you a little joy too and I hope we can learn a few things together along the way! 💕

Are you growing any food or herbs this year?

22/04/2020

Made English muffins for the first time! After seeing make these in her stories, I was inspired to give it a shot. They came out delicious! And I made the cutest little baby English muffin!
I feel like the texture wasn’t exactly right; I used instead of active starter so that may have been why. Regardless, it was still delicious! I’ll be trying again soon and I’m determined to perfect it.

30/10/2019

Got some new plant babes for the garden! Asparagus starts (1-2 more years until I can harvest), scallions (perennial I think), parsley (biennial-not entirely sure what that means yet), bay laurel (bay leaves!), and lemongrass (perennial)! I also got some garlic and shallot bulbs to plant for harvesting next spring. Big thanks to folks at for all their help! https://ift.tt/3224Gt6

21/10/2019

Monday marked our two year wedding anniversary. And this month marks seven years of loving you. We have done some amazing things together and this past year hasn’t been any different. Loving you has been my greatest adventure and I can’t wait for a million more years of life with you! Happy anniversary, babe! I love you to the moon and back. ❤️ @ Reynisfjara

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