Whole Foods Volunteer Day and April Food Budget $269.92

A couple of months ago I emailed my local Whole Foods store.  I love this store in particular because of the amazing workers.  I'm always amazed how far their customer service skills go. I'm also in love with their organic produce.  Anytime I need anything (especially when my garden isn't going) I head on over to Whole Foods to get it. I also told them to keep me in mind if they need help with volunteering projects. So I was stoked when they replied to me and invited me to help out with their front garden.

So Saturday April 14 2012 we headed up to my favorite Whole Foods store. My 11 year old daughter Hailey loves to be in the garden so she jumped in as well.  We planted just about everything you could imagine.  The great thing about this project is that all the produce they grow in this garden will be donated to the Oregon Food Bank. Whole Foods donation will be distributed through their network of hunger-relief agencies to the tables of hungry families in Oregon and Clark County, Wash.

2 hours later we have a fully functioning garden. I'm not gonna lie, it felt good.  Very very good!  My daughter is excited to watch the garden grow each time we go to Whole Foods.  Thank you Whole Foods for making this day special for my daughter and for donating your space and plants to such a great project.  And a big thank you from me!

I also want to share with you my favorite garden book of all time.  This is the Maritime Northwest Garden Guide and you can find it in any New Season's Market store in Oregon.  It cost $14.95 and is worth every single penny.  Seattle Tilth's best selling Maritime Northwest Garden Guide is the "must-have" resource for Northwest gardeners.  The guide includes a detailed monthly gardening calendar that shows you what's happening in your garden through the seasons and when to plant vegetables, herbs and flowers. 
* Maritime Northwest Climate Zone Map
*Techniques to extend the growing season
*Vegetable, herb and flower variety recommendations
*Month-by-month gardening tips
*Beneficial insect identification
*How to beat common plant diseases organically
*Getting organic outside the garden
*Ideas for gardening with children
*Seed and compost sources

My friend Theresa gave me some more garden goodies.  Green beans, bok choy, kale and some red potatoes.  These will be put to good use so thank you Theresa!!!!

Picked up a few groceries the other day and misplaced my receipts.  I'm obsessed with organic cilantro and parsley right now.  They add such a great fresh flavor to any meal. Organic lemons were on sale for $2.99, navel oranges are .99 cents per lb, and organic cucumbers are .59 cents each.  Little green pack is some mushrooms were trying out.  Raw sunflower seeds, and toasted sunflower seeds will be tested. I also picked up some peanut oil to use for the test. Before I order 25 lbs of sunflower seeds I want to test if I can toast them myself and test to see if I can even make the sunflower butter myself.  The test went great so I ordered 25lbs of the toasted seeds. Peanuts are way too expensive for us so were switching to these.

 In total I think I spent around $28.00

Today I didn't need too  much.  Whole Foods Organic apples bagged end up about $1.25 per lb which is much better than $1.49 per lb or up for unbagged ones.  Organic Navel oranges were only .99 cents per lb at New Seasons.  New Season's also has lettuce only $1.49 each along with .59 cents for cucumbers.  Picked up some linguine noodles that are organic and whole wheat.  I think this will be a nice chance from macaroni noodles.  And only $1.39 a bag its pretty easy on the wallet.  Last but not least I found Seattle's Best coffee for only $4.99 at Grocery Outlet.  Not organic but somewhat of a local company to me.  I happen to love their coffee ever since my last trip to Seattle last year. 

My total for today was $21.94

Grand total for the month of April so far is $269.92