Stevia and weekend activities

First off, I wanted to post this weekend but had issues with my blogger account and couldn't. Grrrr..it was very frustrating but I finally figured it out this evening. I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and thanked all our veterans, active duty soldiers and heroes who gave and are giving their lives to protect our great nation.

I've been looking for a Stevia plant everywhere and I found it at the chicken festival held by the cat shelter this past weekend! We had so many great vendors there and very fanciful chickens. You know, the ones with the big mops on their heads. I love those chickens. We even found a home for a chicken that was given up to the shelter. As soon as we brought the cute little bugger out someone offered to give him a home with their other chickens. I love happy endings. Anyway, I digress. So, one of the vendors was a local lavender farm and, of course, they brought some hen and chicks (the plant) and several other herbs. There was a single Stevia plant that had my name all over it. :)

Stevia is known as the natural sweetener with ZERO calories. The plant itself is from the daisy family. The Native Americans in Paraguay have used Stevia for hundreds and hundreds of years not only for it's natural sweetness but for it's medicinal properties as well such as controlling high blood pressure and diabetes..mainly through the lack of calories. Stevia has also been widely used in Japan over the last three decades.

You can find more info here on Stevia's website. The best part about Stevia is....it's all natural.

Anyway, a few fun pictures to share from this weekend...

The cute little chicken that got adopted...

My deck is turning green! Guess who sits on the ground?

My newest Hen and Chicks plant (middle). It looks like a lotus flower. :)

And just a little artwork I made for the chicken festival. It sold! All proceeds going to the cat shelter. :)