Third-generation farmer turned ballroom dancer, artist, and photographer. Navigating life with Type 2 diabetes for 20 years. Sharing what I’ve learned along the way.
Food & Diet
Gardener of Life Tuesday 7/14/26 Nobody tells you when the switch happened. That's the thing about the changes that stick — you go looking for the moment, the decision point, the day you turned a corner, and there isn't one. There's just a
Food & Diet
I never grew beans. Twenty-seven years on that ground and it was rice, row crop, and the orchards — apricots we grew and packed ourselves. Legumes weren't part of the operation. So when I say I've been thinking about them lately, it's not some
July 12,2026 Still getting the week lined up on paper — this one’s a work in progress while I flesh out the rest of the ledger. Consider it the porch light on, nobody home yet. Some weeks come together clean, row by row. This one’s still got a
July 10 ,2026 Apple&Technolgy A MacStories article sent me to Orion about a year ago. I don't remember the exact headline — something about a Safari alternative worth trying. I downloaded it, set it as my default, and mostly forgot I'd made a switch. That&
So I started wearing an Oura Ring in 2020 and have been using the data since then. When I started on Mounjaro, I expected the ring to confirm what I was feeling — less appetite, more energy, maybe better sleep as the weight started moving. That's not quite what
Food & Diet
There's a version of modern life where everything comes with a dashboard. Your olive oil has a harvest date and a polyphenol count. Your wrist tells you your HRV score and your sleep stages. Your browser tracks which tab you had open longest. I'm not sure
Food & Diet
There's a thing that happens every January in a farming operation. You sit down with last year's notes, a clean calendar, and whatever the almanac is saying about the coming season — knowing full well the almanac is mostly optimistic. You write out the plan anyway. Not
Monday July 6, 2026 Food&Diet Spent most of my farming years reaching for vegetable oil without thinking twice. It was what we had. It was what made sense. Olive oil felt like something that belonged in restaurant kitchens, not mine. That changed a few years back. I don&
July 5, 2026 A few changes worth knowing about Some things have been shifting here at Gardener of Life, and this feels like the right morning to lay them out plainly. Not a big announcement — more like what you'd say sitting on the porch when the season is
Health & Wellness
When the weight comes off fast, not all of it is fat. Some of it is muscle. That part doesn't always make the brochure. Muscle mass isn't just about how you look. It's how you get up from a chair at seventy-five. It&
Food & Diet
One thing doctors don't always mention upfront about GLP-1 medications — you can lose muscle along with the fat. When calories drop that low, the body doesn't always know what to spare. The weight comes off, and that part makes the brochure. What doesn't
Food & Diet
Most of us spent decades thinking about food the wrong way. We thought hunger was a character flaw. We thought people who ate too much just weren't trying hard enough. Willpower was the answer. Discipline was the answer. Another diet was the answer. The conversation around weight and