Author: thewholeruth

I am on a search for truth about food, healing, and the holistic approach to life. I blog about my curiosities and my whole self, which tends to be anything that's not cool to bring up at parties: gardening, periods, mental illness, poverty, injury, sex therapy, codependence, healthy eating, poop, avocado tree hoarding, feelings in general, and honesty. I haven’t actually blogged about periods yet, but I do always bring it up at parties.

Meet Fat Bastard The Live Avocado

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#meetfatbastard #hesingsbass #bigthickmf
#meetfatbastard #hesingsbass #bigthickmf

I’m excited for you to meet Fat Bastard. He’s the size of a small tennis ball. Which means he isn’t the size of a tennis ball… He’s the size of a golf ball- and a half. He’s the size of a large plum… He’s his own man and his own size and he doesn’t need to tell you or anyone else about it. He’s the big fella at the party who just sits in the corner and is quiet most of the time and after things get going, ends up being hilarious, but still quietly. And only if he feels like it.

He came from our CSA box. That is a Community Supported Agriculture box. If you already know what that is, please *skip ahead to find out about who Fat Bastard is dating and his hobbies. A Community Supported Agriculture box (try to say that five times fast) (you totally can) (I just have trouble with it) (but practicing just now helped more than I expected) is a box full of vegetables from a local farm. Continue reading “Meet Fat Bastard The Live Avocado” →

Wilbur’s 83rd Day Birthday

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You can click the first photo for a slideshow with a little story of Wilbur’s journey. Click only if you feel like it. No worries, either way.

He’s a bacon avocado, thus the little piggy name.
Wilbur was the first to root and grow of his 14 or so siblings and cousins. This is him on April 18th. He was born March 9, 2013.
By April 24th, he’d sprung up with vivacious little green leaves!
By May 5th, he was almost as tall as me!
And his leaves were perky!
And his roots were salsa dancing for Cinco de Mayo, despite having what looks like miniature styrofoam popcorn at each connection point. Every avocado in our house has them!
This encapsulates how big I felt he was.
And a few days before May 12th, I moved him to a larger glass, thinking more root space would be nice for him. But he got a little brown spot instead.
And today, he has yet to forgive me for making him homesick for his original glass. His leaves became droopy and a few tips turned brown too.
But he’s still tall and strong. I took him “for a walk” here hoping some fresh air might help.
His roots are still full and happy. And still have balls.
And over the past few days, he has grown new baby leaves up top and they are radiant! Happy Every Day Little Wilbur.

3 Things I Learned on Tuesday: Part 1 Debt

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Dollar Cleveland TheWholeRuth 5.15.13
#dollabillsyall #makestheworldgoround #orisitinertia #creepyfloatingeye

1) Donald Trump’s companies have filed for bankruptcy 4 times.

While reading the highly trustworthy and classy Examiner, maybe for the first time, and without knowing how I ended up there, I saw a link for an article about people going from riches to rags. I hesitated to click on it because I didn’t want to give any energy to stories about people who finally made it somewhere and then lost it, thinking that I may read something that would make me anxious later. But I clicked it anyway and it wasn’t very scary or life-changing, just people’s natural ups and downs, some from being frivolous, some from injuries, some from negative life events who bounced back even higher… But Donald Trump’s story gave me new perspective. I was shocked to find out that four of his companies had filed for bankruptcy, because they were millions, sometimes billions of dollars short.

I’m short. By inches. And debt wise, I’m barely making it each month, but I am. I sometimes think about how filing for bankruptcy would be helpful, but then I think, “No, no, you can pay back that $15,000 and if you didn’t, the world would end.” Continue reading “3 Things I Learned on Tuesday: Part 1 Debt” →

Duck Banter

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#nosyneighbor #statefarm #wherearethetrannyhookers #hollywood #potsibilities
#nosyneighbor #statefarm #wherearethetrannyhookers #hollywood #potsibilities

The other day, while I was home working, I heard a man and a woman arguing outside. Like really yelling, back and forth, with the speed and intensity that only a couple that has been together for a while could organically volley. Being a good neighbor, I went to the window to be entertained, and/or make sure everyone was all right. And there was a tan man, probably 5’10” with gray hair, fit, with a thin woman, who was shorter than him, with dark auburn hair, and he was saying, with complete sincerity, “Yes, I love you, but you’ve been pushing for a long time, and now I WANT TO PUSH THE CART!” And he was pushing a red shopping cart filled with garbage bags filled with recyclables down the very center of our street.

Ha! This homeless couple, who may be thin from hunger or Meth, seemed like a pair of ducks who mated for life, and despite the actions they were taking, their words were said in the exact same manner that any middle class sweet pair of ducks would argue. I loved it.

It makes me wonder if incredibly rich people banter in the same way too. “Yes, I love you, it’s just that your space butler/chaeffuer/secretary has been managing the family business for the past hour and I want MY space butler/chaeffuer/secretary to manage the business now!” Or whatever incredibly rich people may argue about. Maybe they will come have a conversation outside of my window and I’ll find out.

Thank You for Keeping Ruth Outta Jail

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I want to thank all these people below. They gave me hand-me-down clothes at one point in the last 12 years and I’m still wearing them.

Thank You Cards TheWholeRuth 5.10.13
It’s not that I don’t have the Thank You cards…

I’ve been thinking about how when someone gives you new clothes, you think to write a Thank You card. And if you are an asshole, like me, that is as far as you get. Other people follow the thought with the action.

It’s hard enough for me to write a Thank You card when I know I’m supposed to, but when people give used clothes, I think there is a national understanding that donating is kind and quick, maybe you’ll get a hug or a tax write-off, but never a Thank You card. Maybe because if you drop-off at the Good Will, you never know who is going to receive it, and the receiver doesn’t have an address with which to send a card, and the good deed goes by in a woosh. But even when you give clothes to a friend, there is joy, and gratitude, feelings of Yay! But never a Thank You card.

I might be wrong about that. I haven’t asked enough hand-me-downees about their card giving rates…

Anyway, you guys, my dear friends who have given me clothes, I don’t know if you know that I think of you all of the time when I get dressed (dirty) and that when you casually and generously gave me an item of clothing, it really helped me out!

(Also, you may not know you gave me clothing because you may have given it to a friend who gave it to me, or you may have put it in a bin on the sidewalk for homeless people and while needing the bin, I discovered the clothes and kept them as well… But that second scenario person knows I have her clothes because she is my neighbor and I told her about it. Because I knew that inevitably one day she would see me wearing a full outfit made entirely of her wardrobe and it’d be weird for both of us. If I didn’t prep her beforehand… “So don’t be weirded out,” I texted, “…or DO be weirded out, but don’t be surprised.” She’s cool with it.)

Today I felt like you should know the impact you’ve made so I’m writing you this virtual Thank You card and yelling a loud belly “THANK YOU” to you.

Continue reading “Thank You for Keeping Ruth Outta Jail” →

Morning Mind Seed Curiosity

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I’m embracing my thoughts. It’s a whole new world and I’m the carpet AND Jasmine. And Aladdin? Hmm. AND the monkey! Yay! Who is the tiger?

Anyway, I’m letting it all flow free and seed is what I woke up curious about. I’m collecting seed, but I don’t know much about it. Here is a fine mind ramble from Gamble that may come in handy later. It also may just scare/confuse you/me, so if you want to read something more sane, skip to the photo caption below. Also, many of these questions probably have answers. I was just having fun relishing in wonder this morning…

  • Seeds have protein, so wouldn’t strawberries have a bit of protein?
  • Is the protein in a banana in the seeds or the meat?
  • What do you call the banana part of a banana? Other than banana? Or meat?
  • What makes us eat certain seeds and not others? Cashews (big) vs. lemon seeds (smaller), I’d think we’d eat the smaller one… Is it just taste? Or texture? Or some other biological reason?
  • Many seeds are designed for animals to eat, travel around with in their belly, and poop out later to spread the seed. Some scientists think avocados were designed for bigger animals to eat, digest, and poop out the seed. Does that mean I am really over-stepping my boundaries as a small person every time I eat one?
  • Do all seeds have tannins like an avocado seed?
  • How come those large animals could process avocado seeds while to some smaller animals, avocado seeds are toxic?
  • When we chew seeds, doesn’t that kill their chance of survival?
  • And doesn’t that go against this idea of ingestion for poop seed sowing?
  • Is that why seeds and beans are harder for humans to digest?
  • Because chewed seeds are stickin’ it to the man?
  • Are you upset by that bad joke? Is that a joke?
  • I heard that when flax seed is eaten whole, we don’t get its full nutrients so its better to eat ground flax seed. But we end up chewing it when it’s whole, so what’s the difference?
  • But it’s true that when I eat whole flax seeds, so many end up in my poop fully intact. Seems like that would be good for them- why wouldn’t the flax seeds make that option appealing to us nutritionally?

  • Nuts, seeds, beans, peas, and legumes are all seeds. Why do we call them different names?

Seedy Tower TheWholeRuth

#savingseed #cdtower #seedytower #getit?

Avocados are a virtue

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I’m bringing the guacamole to the party… in 13 years!

This is the 100 year old avocado tree in our back yard. Beautiful.
This is the 100 year old avocado tree in our back yard. Beautiful.

I just found out that it takes 5-13+ years for an avocado tree grown from seed to bear fruit! Whoaholymybatmanthatsalongtimegoodness!

That made me realize that if we all understood how long it really takes for nature to move, for a tree to run it’s natural course, and we were the specific person that tended to that tree for all of those years, we would respect them in a totally different way. If I cared for a tree for 12 years and it got sick and died that year, the year before it fruited, I would be so attached to it at that point that I would weep.

Continue reading “Avocados are a virtue” →

Have an avocado baby

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What I’ve learned so far about starting avocados from seed: Stab with toothpicks, stick in water, & love. Just like it happens in nature… 


Avocado Baby 3.9.13

This is Wilbur. He’s my little bacon avocado. I’m excited that he’s inspired some friends to make their own avocado babies. And other friends across the country literally got their avocado seeds the same day I posted his first picture, with the intention to plant their own trees, before even seeing him! Avocados are great and they’re making our minds think alike! Creepy…

Thought I’d share what I’ve learned so far on how to grow your own avocado trees from seed. Continue reading “Have an avocado baby” →

Why can I buy avocados?

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So I’m hoarding avocados now. It’s really fun. I feel like I get all the beneficial feelings of being a crazy cat lady, without the pre-packaged judgement 🙂 But give it time, the world will soon have a new breed of stereotype: The Hoarding Avocado Woman.

This morning, while cleaning the kitchen, I looked at my pile of four avocado seeds sitting in a puddle of water on the back edge of the sink. I leave them there as a visual to-do list and because this is the best thing I’ve thought of so far to keep them alive until I can plant them. The water from washing dishes each day splashes on them and kinda forms a little life-nest beneath them, giving me the time to come up with another glass jar somehow.

Everything in the store in a glass jar has a new meaning to me. I want to crouch down and surprise-leap onto my prey in Trader Joes, and flailingly leave it’s contents strewn wherever just get to it’s magnificant glass hide and display it with pride along my window sill. Continue reading “Why can I buy avocados?” →