Imperfect Food Delivery!

 It's always fun to try new things and this week we decided to order a box of fruit and vegetables for the first time. There are several different services like this available, so we shopped around a bit and found one that would deliver to our place.

We began seeing the commercials for Imperfect Foods several months ago. The great thing about Imperfect Foods is that they take foods that have been rejected by restaurants or grocery stores because they don't look perfect enough. The mission of Imperfect Foods is to eliminate food waste while still delivering quality produce and other foods to their customers. (www.imperfectfoods.com)

When we made our order we added a special note asking them to ring the doorbell when they delivered so we would know when to bring the food inside. Sure enough they rang the bell and when we opened the door we waved to the delivery person and our pink box was sitting on the front step. 

All the food was in the box together meaning no extra packing or additional waste! Everything we ordered was pretty hardy so we didn't need to worry about bruising too much. The most fragile things we ordered was peaches, but they aren't quite ripe yet.

We see the small imperfections on the food, but it makes us feel good to know that we have saved the food and will enjoy eating it instead of it being thrown away. Plus, everything tastes great. We tried a new kind of cabbage and it was yummy! 

The food really makes us think of how food looks when you grow it yourself!

Solving Issues

When repairs need to be made, or an issue needs to be solved, it can be a great time to stop and think. What is currently happening? And how do you want this to be different? These are important to know before you just jump in to "fix" something.

There are probably many examples of this, but here is one we recently handled.

We are currently training a young horse (for our training adventures see www.TrainingHorsesHelpingPeople.blogspot.com) and we have begun noticing that she is rubbing a section of her mane completely off. As we pause and think through things, we realize that though its annoying to see the bare spot instead of her mane, at least she isn't injuring herself. Now that we know this, we can take out time to solve the issue.

At a local home improvement store we found some lightweight wire and heavy-duty wire, but neither one were quite the right size or exactly what we wanted and they were kind of expensive. So, we decided to keep looking.

A few weeks went by while we thought of some additional ideas before deciding against them because of their potential to cause the horse injury or at the least, prove to be ineffective.

Then this past weekend we tried another store and actually found exactly what we wanted. It was exactly the right size for the side of the pen where our horse is pushing her head through and exactly the right color to match the pipe fencing! Plus, its about half the price of the "not quite right" wire we almost bought the other week.

We'll keep an eye on the new wire to be sure it ages well and doesn't cause any additional issues.

What's A Ranch To You?

When you think of a ranch, what comes to mind? Is it wide open spaces? Horses? Cows? White vinyl fencing? Maybe the word conjures up a place you used to ride or even a specific horse. For some people its about wood and western decor.

Whatever comes to mind you can use those thoughts and images to create your own slice of ranch. Let your imagination flow and see where it takes you! 

You can do something as simple as hanging a western-style picture, maybe one of you and that horse you rode, in a wooden frame. 

If you are limited on space it may not seem possible to have "wide open spaces", but do you have part of a wall available? Consider shopping online for a background. Prices vary, but there are many design and color options and in some cases you can even order a custom size if you don't mind waiting a bit longer. This can be an especially great option if you are in a rental situation and aren't supposed to permanently change the walls. Command-style strips can fasten your "wide open space" to the wall of your choice with no holes.

How do you create your slice of ranch? Please comment below.