You wont believe this but I only recently leaned about this eco craze called 'homesteading' since I arrived on Steemit, which I thought was only restricted to people who were off grid and had a large chunk of land they were working on day to day. Little did I know that the term is more broad than that and I finally have a word to describe what I have been up to for the last 4 years can be considered homesteading, even though I live in an apartment! ![hss1.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmTDmzAEXyqy5Z98X8zxaVbijjuJH83Jvt7drPNxKPDKQ8/hss1.jpg) When it comes to food i'm very passionate about making everything myself from scratch where possible and avoiding most stuff that comes out of packaging. Not only is it better for my health, often cheaper and also good for the environment. I had no idea how to grow anything from seed until I embarked on this journey to make a conscious effort to put the food I eat into my own hands so I can become more self sufficient. I've had a lot of ups and down's trying to grow organically and at the moment I'm slowing building up my balcony grow. Lettuce is very easy and is thriving at the moment, so I had to make a salad with my own homegrown leaves, as part of this exciting #homesteadingchallenge hosted by @kiaraantonoviche. ![saladgrow.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRpXH7FWC6FfpuArPCq7McQS2Y1quCm1V7Y9QRk9Cf5Hr/saladgrow.jpg) I also had been meaning to make a curry squash and leak soup for the last few days, my vegetables (all brought from a local farm shop cooperative) were starting to wilt and needed to be used up quickly. I only just realized that I could make a compost tea with all my left overs and cut off bits, I was really excited about this so I'm sharing this extra part as well as my recipe. As you can see from my gif all I need to do was just blend up the bits (that would normally get thrown in the bio bin) and add water, I made a couple of jugs and am leaving them to sit for 24 hours before using them as a nutritious fertilizer for my plants. ![composttea.gif](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRbjRgxGSmyQwwcuVF8pBedyTJj3S1Xoq7YdpJ2zkAiYZ/composttea.gif) Back to my own nutrition, I've been feeling a bit under the weather because it's that typical spring when the weather is going hot and cold but this spring definitely feels colder than previous years. Although i'm not 'sick' I'm low in energy and feel achy. I wanted to make a soup that was particularly healing for bodily aches and pains so I used ginger, turmeric and black pepper along with some organic ground korma spices in the soup. I like the soup and salad combo because you are getting the benefits of raw produce along with that warming and comforting food, perfect for spring/ autumn seasonal changes when it keeps going hot and cold on you. ![hs10.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmVqxkMWidGCHLLSpw97dUZmf5THYdc1eXpXDiyTShJyZi/hs10.jpg) One of my homemade condiments for salad and sandwiches is to make hummus with sesame seeds because its so quick and easy. Requires no pre-soaking of chickpeas or pulses and can be combined with whatever you like. This one is a red hummus, so as you might of guessed I used tomatoes and red pepper! Topped with Sumac (a beautiful and extremely healthy middle eastern spice I picked up on my travels and can easily brought online) Here's a gif of the prep for making this meal.... ![food2.gif](https://steemitimages.com/DQmWQBY9VcrSVhsXnQB4BWv4W2dsAD7TXMDhmNYJkwxPhvp/food2.gif)

Ingredients - Curry Soup

Large salad onion mushrooms carrot leak pumpkin ginger turmeric black pepper Himalaya salt organic ground korma spice (boiled, left to cool an blended) Topped with blended fresh spinach leaves and freshly squeezed lemon) ![hs15.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQefBKd6my9ovhH4Dv5UrUUDsKSnDgGoWgJyBJ4t4ugh5/hs15.jpg)

Ingredients - Salad

*(homegrown) *salad leaves mix *Mibuna Leaves *Mizuna leaves Asparagus Broad bean little plum tomatoes ![hs20.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmf27jKJZzsp9PUHL4gWc8SFZys1E47NoeKLtB7MDnCega/hs20.jpg)

Ingredients - Red Hummus

Sesame seeds Red pepper Tomato Apple cider vinegar freshly squeezed lemon juice oregano Himalaya salt olive oil ![hs16.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXmRQJA1rArQqFscziX72iQijMXC8skGwqNgtiDNYS5Jb/hs16.jpg) ![hs17.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNh7gaDtCTyUbvamacQvfF5zcH9Y3AV9v6JpKFueCsJgC/hs17.jpg)

Important health tip

I've mentioned this before that broad beans and spinach are all high in [Oxalic Acid](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/should-we-eat-greens-high-oxalic-acid-guylaine-lacerte), asparagus is slightly lower, this acid inhibits the absorption of minerals like iron and calcium by eating them with tomatoes and freshly squeezed lemon, the vitamin C helps with the absorption of these minerals! ![ecotrainbanner.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNaTMTUQzCsupZsdEFfPBV6eC1egR3im7z426Xad2SUkR/ecotrainbanner.png) ![Hcwg0lg - Imgur.gif](https://steemitimages.com/DQmeghPGYhwUy1Bafh4LpeqbRKFykxNwtufJxJtMCCuCNom/Hcwg0lg%20-%20Imgur.gif) 🥑 🍎🥝 🍉 🍇 🍐🍓🍈🍋🍑 🍍🍊🍌🍏 For more health and diet tips, check out @celestialcow.... ![celestialcowlong.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZyJ55SwmE3mtTo6EtuXQdF7e2SNSPvmdmjfPKGQgahXC/celestialcowlong.jpg) _switching to a plant based diet 🌱 can change your life and change the world_ ✌️**Join the food revolution now**✊ All images are created by @celestialcow Thanks for reading