Changed Lives
As you get to know me; you’ll learn that I am all about changing lives through better eating. I take joy in seeing people grow their own food, improve their and their families members health. I want you to meet two friends/subscribers of mine. In the video below they’ll tell you how their lives and health, have totally changed as a result of growing their own food and eating cleaner.
They will share with you:
- what their lives were like BEFORE they decided to grow their own food
- what motivated them to change
- how their lives are radically different today.
Watch the video. Afterwards, share this blog post with someone that you think may benefit from reading this blog entry. Then, leave a comment about how eating healthier and/or growing your own food has changed your life or someone that you love.
Super awesome blog Kim! Love the video. Amazing what gardening can do for us individually and especially when it’s presented in such a easy to follow package lie your YT channel!!! Love these life changing stories and well you know how much you have helped me! Keep up the amazing work you guys do! Lots of love from Baja, Mex!!!
Hello Rod,
Amazing what clean eating can do for our bodies and being in the garden can do for our souls as well! Super proud of your life journey and so happy to play a small part in that!
CaliKim29, My husband Ken and I have recently started watching your YouTube Channel and love it. We have always enjoyed gardening, but have not had a garden in a few years. We have gotten motivated after watching your Channel and have already started seeds for this Spring!
We are looking forward to watching this season and comparing our new garden. We will keep in touch.
Dana
Hi Kim & Camera Guy (Jerry),
I love your videos and you honestly inspire me to be better and healthier. I live in AZ and attempted to garden two years ago… (failed)…(gave up)… trying again. Since I live in AZ, the weather is ridiculous and have to learn the planting cycle. Anyhow, started my beds and containers and now have some late plants and beginning the fall plants. That said, I found some root maggots in my pots (super gross and really sad), I don’t know how to get rid of them, any advice? I have used DE and still there… please help me.
So glad that you are inspired to garden again! The rewards are just so cross-beneficial, aren’t they?! DE would definitely be what I would recommend for root maggots, but it’s honestly not an issue I have faced. Vermisterra has a few studies on their website showing the benefits of the worm tea and castings for root nematodes, so it may be worth giving that a try for your plants. You can find that product on the Partners page here on the website- there is even a 10% coupon there for you as well! =) When plants are stressed, they are much more susceptible to bugs and disease- AZ is a challenging growing environment for sure, but I have seen such great results in my garden from using the Vermisterra products. Keep me updated on how your garden is doing- thanks for stopping by!
Hi Kim,
I purchased the worm tea and trifecta plus after watching your videos. I purchased the beneficial nematode (suggested by John) and I’m waiting to see how they do.
On a side note, I have two baby watermelons (size of a tennis ball) and it’s super exciting. I am now addicted!!!
Thank you again for all that to do. PS love Luke & Sindy too
Hello Kim
I live in South Africa. I watch most of your video updates. Your garden is awesome, I started doing gardening this year January. Currently I have kale, lettuce, beetroot, tomatoes, baby spinach bush beans and potatoes in my garden. I bought plant starter [All purpose] NPK ratio is 2:3:2, I need help on how to use it in 30L/40L crates, how much to put in
Awesome update it been a pleasure just beaning able to eat my lettuce and kale while Davids been at work
with an Egg
your an awesome couple have a blessed week
Hi Linda, garden fresh food is always a pleasure – fun to just go outside and see what you can find for a meal! Glad you are enjoying yours!
Hello Kim and Camera Guy,
Both Organics Gardener and Brian’s stories were amazing and very inspirational. Thank you both for sharing your stories. My garden is a place where I feel relaxed and happy; plus it gives me healthy, organic and delicious food for me and my husband to eat. It also gives me the feeling of accomplishment when it’s time to harvest the veggies. I actually have a smile on my face when I pick the ripe veggies off the plants and put them in my basket. I think my Labrador Retriever, Bear, also enjoys being in the garden with me. He walks over to every plant, sniffs them, and gives them a little gentile lick as if he checking to see if they are ok. lol! He’s my little helper of sorts. 🙂 I’ve watched just about all of your videos and I think they are great. They are extremely helpful and easy to understand! Thank you Kim and Camera Guy!
Hi Sandy, it’s CameraGuy, Thank you for your response. for some reason, I feel like I’ve replied to this already but apparently not? Forgive if I am repeating. But I loved the type of place you have created in your garden. And the bit about the dog, too. Mac definitely has ‘his way’ about himself in the garden.
Thank you so much for your support and encouragement. That’s truly what keeps us going here!
CameraGuy
Hello Kim and the Camera guy,
I was born and raised in a city and have no gardening experience at all. I would really appreciate if you could do a video about basic gardening techniques, what tools to use and how to use them.
Your channel has inspired me to start a small container garden where I grow tomatoes, peppers,eggplants and fenugreek. But I want to grow more.
Love your channel and the way you are so friendly and helpful. Keep doing the good work of inspiring people, one garden at a time!
Radha, what a great story. Thanks for sharing. I suggest you go through my playlist on YouTube — there are some basic gardening series’ there that I think you will find helpful. Also, look for the video about “gardening terms explained” I think you may find that helpful, too! Please keep us posted on how you are doing and what you are growing! CaliKim
What awesome and inspiring stories and a testament to show how many lives you both are touching and how you are leading a health movement!!!
: )
CameraGuy
Hello ,kim
I came across your videos and they are great . I was raised with fresh fruits and vegetables … My grandparents always had a great garden . Now my parents have a great garden .. But they live too far ..so I started my garden .. With my hubby help .. But Failed Two years in a row .. My tomato had black sports and my cummber also has sports .. So i watched so my videos on gardening it’s overwhelming .. Haaa so I ‘m trying again this year .dont know you could plant during the summer months .. Hot Texas summer . . Thanks again for your great videos they have helped .. Can’t wait to try lettuce .. Thanks
Hello Celine,
How awesome that you are carrying on your childhood tradition and are growing your own fresh food! So proud that you did not give up but kept trying and learning what works for you in the process. So much to grow in warm weather, you’ll love my new ebook “Growing 5 Warm Weather Vegetables Made Easy”, it will show you exactly what to do! Keep me posted on your garden!
Thanks so much, Kristy! We love you!
Wow…truly amazing. These stories are all very inspirational. I have encountered many people in the last couple of years who have similar stories of having to change to save their lives due to health reasons or were so unhappy about their status that they knew change was required. It seems that there is an awakening happening.
I too have a similar story. 3 years ago I knew I needed to make a change in my life. I was a medical wreck. Overweight, over stressed and high blood pressure. It started with a medically assisted diet. I needed to drop weight fast. I lost 80 lbs. over the course of 8 months. I was able to come off of my medications for BP, my sleep apnea disappeared, my energy came back and I started kendo as a way to stay fit. It was an accomplishment. Likely the most significant of my life.
But, thinking I was invincible I fell off the wagon and returned to some of my old habits, aided and abetted by spending the better part of August in Paris. Not wanting to lose what I had gained I rededicated myself last fall and in an effort to improve my kendo I took up yoga, primarily to improve my flexibility. And that is what put me on the journey that led me to Calikim.
Yoga opened up a whole new world. It made me realize the connection between a clean body and clean food. Doh! It also made me realize that the diet I had been on medically was also a clean diet, free from junk food, sugar, additives. It lead me back to the diet that I had initially been on, but I wanted even better inputs. If a little clean living was good, a lot clean living would definitely be better. I knew that clean living was the only way to regain and maintain the healthy lifestyle I had before I fell off the wagon. I am sure all of you have experienced a similar quest. I found myself looking at labels, frequenting my local organic health food store, making green organic smoothies and looking for and making healthier eating choices.
I had started a small tomato garden a couple of years ago and have been expanding the variety of types. I added strawberries last year, and lettuce this year. I also have been trying new techniques and a variety of different types of containers. Because of my desire for strawberry protein shakes, my need to grow more strawberries led me to CaliKim’s strawberry milk crate project. This got me hooked on her videos and I have been binging ever since. Today I finished construction of a new raised garden bed planter. I hope to plant some of my smaller potted tomatoes and peppers tomorrow.
In anticipation of next year, I plan to grow cantaloupes and watermelons using cattle fencing. This was inspired by CaliKim’s videos as well. My compost heap has been started. Bit by bit my garden is coming together.
Clean living and a better lifestyle is what this is all about. And the cleaner the food, the cleaner the life.
Thank you for helping me find my way with your great videos and more importantly your encouragement!
Hello Brian –
My apologies for taking so long to answer your comment! Congratulations for taking action to change your life, it likely lead to saving your life! So proud of you, sometimes it is just one small step that makes a HUGE difference. Yes, you did that search for strawberries that led you to my videos, and i am grateful to play a small part, but you are the one that did the hard work that making a lifestyle change such as this takes! This is hugely motivating and inspiring to me, and I’m sure it is to many others around you and including readers of this blog. So thrilled for you, keep sharing, keep eating healthy and by all means, do keep me posted!
I’m really excited about your gardening program. I have learned something everytime I visit it!
Hello Ines-
So contagious to hear your excitement – and happy to hear that you are learning and growing your own food! What do you have growing in your garden right now? Appreciate you stopping by!
Oh my gosh I can’t believe you changed so many people’s lives everyone should start growing their own food like you CaliKim.
Hi Kim and camera guy. First I need to thank you on all your Yt videos. Found your channel months ago and was addicted to you authenticity. Real gardener, real life, real mistakes and real successes. Don’t get TOO professional. Keep it real my friend. I’ve gardened for more than 30 years and was inspired to try new plants and methods by you. Rabbits loved my lettuces, but did share much with us. Now they are at the green beans. Definitely need to use for next time. Made several of your recipes and would love to share some with you that I developed and some i found online. Like zucchini cobbler and zucchini crisp and one I developed from one of yours, zucchini ital. sausage boats. Also modified my baked oatmeal to include zucchini. But now my zucplants go some kind of bug at the base of stems. What should I do, treat them or pull out and start new? If new, can I plant on same mound or not?
Hi guys! I come from Northern Greece! I just love your videos. They are very helpful. I’ve been a gardener for many years now and for the last six years I’ve been planting my own heirloom and organic seeds. I’ve learned many things through my failures and successes but at some point I got overwhelmed with the problems and difficult situations I had to face in my garden, mostly due to the extreme weather conditions in our region. Thanks to you, many things have been cleared up for me and I’ve adopted many of your ideas. Now I feel more confident about myself and I’m on my way to an even better organic garden. Thanks a lot!!!
Thanks for sharing. I already started my garden . I got tomatoes, sweet peppers , eggplants, hot peppers, mint, spearmint, chalmolie, arnica , aloe and some trees. Little by little I will like to expand. Most of plants I bought them, but as soon as I harvest I will save seeds. I need to start eating healthier. I like your blog.
Hi Kim. I just received your Spring garden seed collection. I’m super excited and can’t wait to get them started. When I was growing up, my family lived on a farm. We grew all our own food. Even had livestock and a dairy cow (or 2 at times). We were all healthy then. Now that the farm is gone, we all have health issues. I’m on over a dozen different medications. I’m hoping that time in the garden and eating fresh real organic veggies will help get me off of some of them.
I was wondering if your seeds came from GMO’d plants. It doesn’t matter either way, I’ll still eat the veggies. I’m just curious with all the publicity and controversy surrounding GMO’s.
I know that I didn’t start putting on weight until I started using store bought milk and other foods to follow.
I’m going to start some of the seeds inside next weekend. My boyfriend is setting up a small raised garden for me very soon using skids and kiddie swimming pools because I’m not allowed to plow up the yard. I rent. And this will make it movable if I move.
See you in the next video!
Hi, Kim, I’m a kid (10 years old) and I was asking do we get frost here in Arizona but I was asking also if I could get one of those unused tomato cages because I just watched your video about that wedding day at your house I would want if you could give me some thanks. I’ve been subscribed since you ever uploaded that giant watermelon harvest.
Great video! I love growing my own food because I l ow where it came from. I am never nervous about pesticides or other gross things people decide to put on plants. I have grown all organic for five years and started growing in third grade. I changed my life because I just feels so relaxed in the garden. I don’t have as interesting or as life changing as a story as the people in this video do, but I just want to share my love for gardening. Garden on everybody!
Hi Calikim , I’m new to your channel . I love & enjoyed your videos . It gives me encouragement to do gardening again after it failed few times already . I love vegetables especially green salad . I’ve been trying to eat healthy including my family . I started planting some cherry tomatoes , eggplant & peppers but still no luck . My peppers are getting soft brown spots & my cherry tomatoes are eating by the birds , & I don’t know who’s eating my eggplants though some critters ? Took 2 of my big eggplants already . So disappointed . I need your help please . ☹️☹️