The Dream Backyard
This lady has been inspiring to meet here in Los Banos California. Sandy has Proverbs 31 working in her life right now! Wait till I show you what all she does.
She said that she quit
the corporate world and she and her husband decided to raise their
children with a lasting legacy of a true mom and dad. So she is a stay
at home mom, with an incredible talent unfolding. Not only is she home
for their children, but she also has found ways to make their budget
work wonders right in their own backyard.
This is her backyard..... ok.... you say looks like a regular kind of a yard. But what is happening here is a dream. She is raising all kinds of fruit trees and nut trees. Planted all around the sides carefully tended and properly with a real gardeners eye. How does she know what to do or plant? She reads books and asks other gardeners questions. She started this in earnest to help feed their family and what has happened is wonderful!
She has pomegranates, plums, oranges, lemons, limes to name a few.
Her apricot tree is loaded with fruit.
The pear tree is producing nicely too.
THIS IS AN OLIVE TREE!!!
She gave me a peach from her tree. (We ate it later that day - was so full of flavor)
Just look at this fruit!
This is one of the two tiny greenhouses that is also in the backyard. She grows all her own veggies and herbs from seeds - then plants them in beds along the sides of the house. Check this out!
She has peppers, of all kinds, several kinds of beans.....onions, garlic and more I can't remember.
There are strawberries planted all along the fronts of the beds - see the strawberry?
Look at these grapes! Her grapevines are full of tender fruit.
Her herb gardens are full - chives, garlic, mint, rosemary, thyme to name a few.
The tomato beds are full of plants - it's going to be a bumper crop this year she thinks. So think about this..... instead of all the grass that does nothing but grows, gets cut, grows and gets cut - her yard is producing food! She took all the empty areas - sides, corners, fences lines and turned them into blessings for her family.
What does she do with all this food from her own backyard? She makes jellies, jams, cans and freezes them for her family to eat year long.
And she also has built a business from her hands now. She has a thriving business selling her homemade treats at bake sales and now she is getting so well known that people are coming to her front door to buy! Sandy's Jam n Desserts is alive and well.
Then we get to taste test the fruits of her labors, and my oh my what a treat it was! She has a orange jelly like none else, also orange marmalade and strawberry jalapeno, hot jalapeno jelly and a blueberry banana that is fabulous! We kept on and on because each one was more amazing than the last!
She told us laughing that she is trying to get ready for a bake sale, but can't because people keep coming to the door to buy! Like us - there is no way we are leaving her home without some of her goodies.
Sandy I am amazed and can't wait for others to see you and what you are doing in your own home - keep going you are a inspiration to thousands of others now!

















The last big event we had in the Community Center was the second week of October, and there were food trays leftover from a buffet one night. So I took one of the fruit trays that was so pretty and decided to see how long it took for the raw sliced apples and grapes to start deteriorating. Normal apples would start turning brown within a day or two at most. This is what is supposed to happen when the apple is whole and natural. It's supposed to break down and be digested internally completely being used by the body for vitamins, minerals, and various enzymes. Natural good food. 
Now we Americans have some comfort foods that when things don't suit us, we feed ourselves things that we 'think' make us feel better. Cookies are one of those things. Our minds and mouths are conditioned to think and taste sweet cookies as the satisfying way to soothe us. Do they taste good? of course they do. But let me help you go beyond the instant gratification of cookies, to the reality of what 'blessing' that cookie is giving to you. Cookies are dead foods. What does that mean? Basically this; they have zero nutrition. Nothing in them is going to nourish your body. Your mouth says, mmmmm so good. But your heart says, 'oh no more fat to clog my arteries'! Your stomach says, 'man there sure is nothing here for us to send to all of our body parts to give strength'. Your bloodstream says, 'what tha.........? Who is sending all this sugar in here! We can't possibly keep things level with this garbage'! Your liver groans, 'not again! more fat, more sugar, more white flour, more preservatives for me to sort out'.
Now here is a food that may not be thought of as a comfort food, but it could be. What's the difference between a plate of cookies and a plate of grapes? Loads and loads! Grapes are live foods. They are living. and when your troops get some of these inside? It's a party! Every part of your body is happy that you ate these! This live food brings energy, nutrition, water, minerals and trace elements with every bite. And the taste of a sweet grape - cannot be compared to the sugary flat taste of a cookie. If you do a taste test for yourself you will see what I mean.