Big news this week. Starting tomorrow (Monday) I am going to limit my diet to only what I harvest from my foodscape for 7 days. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Crazy? I suppose so.

One of my motivators for gardening is to become more self sufficient and so a lot of what I grow is food producing plants incorporated into our home's landscape. Of course, that means pollinator attracting plants are also grown here along with plants we use for green mulch. So this week I am putting the foodscape to the test. And myself to the test. Not only am I challenging myself to follow a strict diet, but also challenging my plants for production. Along the way, this is what I want to learn:

1. Can the foodscape sustain 1 week of constant harvest?

2. How would my body handle complete self reliance on the foodscape?

3. What foods are missing that my body misses the most and can I incorporate them into the foodscape?

4. Can I prepare the harvests in enough ways to prevent palate fatigue?

5. What else can I learn from this experience?

This is a weird time in the season to be doing this challenge I must admit. I would have liked to have more fruits readily available but that will not be the case this week. I am hoping to have the following harvested:

• Okinawa spinach

• Longevity spinach

• Dinosaur Kale

• Cranberry Hibiscus

• Sweet Potato Leaves (no tubers)

• Eggplant

• Celery

• Moringa

• Everglades Tomatoes

• Peppers (Bell, Banana, Habanero, Poblano, Jalapeno, Serrano)

• Egyptian Walking Onion

• Society Garlic

• Katuk

• Blackberries

• Pigeon Peas

• Bananas (If they ripen in time)

• Pumpkin Blooms (Seminole Pumpkin gourds will not be ready within the week)

• Herbs (Mint, Rosemary, Basil, Oregano)

• Uncommon plant parts (Spiderwort, Bidens Alba, Porterweed, Bidens Alba)

• Eggs from our chickens

• Pole Beans (if they are ready in time)

Right off the bat I notice that most of my food is going to consist of green leafy veggies. Hello weight loss program! I am concerned of palate fatigue and boredom with so many meals of green leafy veggies. Send me your recipes please! I'll need all the diversity I can get.

My other concerns:

• Most of my plants are young and therefore harvests are not large. Will it be enough to support 3 meals a day for 7 days?

• How will I satisfy periods of hunger? What can I make as a "snack"?

• What is the actual caloric intake I will be consuming?

I do have a small disclaimer. I will be using oil I've saved from bacon grease, store bought salad dressings, store bough seasonings, and etc. I have reached that level of self sufficiency yet to not have to rely on that.

See you..........................