Olive Oil — The One Pantry Item Non-Negotiable
I came to olive oil late.
Started using it when I began GLP-1 medication. Had to do some reading on what to eat differently, and olive oil kept showing up. So I tried it.
That was the swap — not butter exactly, just whatever I’d been using without thinking about it. Olive oil instead. One use a day, then more.
I’m still figuring out what I notice. Early days yet.
If you’re making diet changes for any reason — medication, just curiosity, whatever brought you here — this is one worth trying. Pick one daily use this week. See what happens.
Small seeds. We’ll see what comes up.
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions. William questions everything, including his own opinions. Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty. The reader is always the final decision-maker.
From the field:
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
The Mac as a Field Tool
I didn’t grow up thinking of a computer as a creative tool. I grew up thinking of it as a ledger. Something you used to count things, not make things.
That changed slowly. The way most things on a farm change — without announcement.
The Mac Studio sitting on my desk right now does what three or four separate tools used to do. Ulysses for the writing. A photo app for the images. A spreadsheet when numbers need sorting. All of it talking to the iPad on the table, the MacBook on the bench, without me having to think about it much.
That’s the part I notice most. Not the power — though it’s there. The quietness of it.
A good tool disappears. A hammer you trust stops feeling like a hammer. The Mac has gotten closer to that than anything I’ve used before. You’re thinking about the work, not the tool.
My father kept a journal. Pencil and paper, every day for forty years. Not because he was a writer. Because noticing things mattered to him. I do the same thing now, just on different equipment.
Whether that makes it better, I honestly don’t know. It makes it easier to share. Whether easier is always better is a question I keep turning over.
From the Field
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions. William questions everything, including his own opinions. Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty. The reader is always the final decision-maker.
From the Field:
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
Why Sleep Is the Foundation
The Oura ring doesn’t lie.
I started paying attention to my sleep data the same way I used to read the soil before planting — looking for patterns, not answers. What I found was humbling.
On nights when my deep sleep dropped below an hour, my glucose the next morning told a different story. The CGM would show numbers climbing earlier, holding higher, coming down slower. Same food. Same day. Different night.
I didn’t call it a sleep experiment. I just noticed.
My grandfather would’ve said the ground needs to rest too. You can’t pull a harvest out of worn-out soil forever. Something about that stuck with me when I started looking at my own recovery scores.
Sleep isn’t the only thing. But it might be the thing underneath the other things.
That’s all I’ve got this morning. Draw your own conclusions.
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions. William questions everything, including his own opinions. Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty. The reader is always the final decision-maker.
From the Field:
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
The Mediterranean Table -- Where to Begin*
People keep asking me about the Mediterranean diet. Like I’m supposed to hand them a plan.
I don’t have a plan. I have observations.
What I notice is that it’s less a diet and more a description of how people in certain places happened to eat for a long time. Olive oil instead of something else. More beans, more vegetables, fish when it was available. Bread, wine, time at the table.
Nobody called it a system. It was just what grew nearby and what they knew how to do with it.
That sounds familiar to me. We didn’t set out to eat seasonally. We ate what was coming off the place. Apricots in July. Walnuts in October. Whatever my grandmother put up in jars, we ate in February.
A lot of people I know are paying closer attention to what they eat right now. Some because a doctor said something. Some because their body said something first. Some because they’re on a medication that changed how hunger feels and they’re figuring out what that means for the plate.
Different roads. Same question: what do I actually put in front of me?
The Mediterranean pattern keeps coming up in those conversations. I think it’s because it doesn’t read like punishment. It reads like food somebody wanted to eat.
Whether it fits your situation – that’s between you and whoever’s helping you figure that out. I’m just noting what keeps showing up.
From the Field:
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
A New Look at Technology
Apple & Technology — Friday, July 3
Farmers plan by the season. You don’t just walk out one morning and decide what to plant. You sit down in winter with last year’s notes and next year’s ground and you work out a rhythm before the first seed goes in.
I’ve been publishing Apple and technology pieces here for a while now, but more like walking fence lines than farming — checking what caught my eye, writing what came up. That changes this week.
I’ve laid out a 52-week guide for this pillar. A topic, a habit, a reflection prompt — one Friday at a time, the whole year mapped before we start. Tools I actually use. Questions worth sitting with. Nothing theoretical.
We start next Friday with the Mac as a creative tool. Not a review. More like a conversation about what it means to understand something you use every day.
Same voice. Same porch. Just a planted field now instead of a fencerow.
From the Field: My dad always said you farm better when you know what you’re growing before the ground thaws. Took me a while to apply that to writing.
From the Field:
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
There's A New Rhythm
There’s a rhythm to a farming operation that most people never see. You don’t just walk out one morning and start planting. The harvest you want in October starts with decisions made in January.
Starting today, Gardener of Life is running a full year of seed posts – 52 weeks, three pillars, every Monday a food and diet question, every Wednesday something from the health and wellness side, every Friday a look at the tools and technology that hold it all together. Friday’s post this week goes deeper on the technology side, if that’s your territory.
Not a curriculum. Not a program. Just one farmer’s attempt to pay attention to what’s actually working, week by week, and write it down honestly.
I’ve got no idea what week 47 looks like yet. That’s the point.
From the Field: The best crop plans I ever made left room for what the weather was going to do. Same principle here.
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
The Three-Fish Starter Kit for GLP-1 Users*
* You don’t need cooking skills. You don’t need much of a budget. You need three fish and a reason to start.
Sardines come in a can, cost almost nothing, and deliver more protein per ounce than most people expect. Eat them straight or on a cracker.
Salmon is forgiving. Hard to overcook in a way that ruins it. Rich enough to feel like a meal even in a small portion – which matters when your appetite is mostly gone.
Cod is the quiet one. Mild, light, easy to get down on days when nothing sounds good. Bake it with a little olive oil and you’re done.
Three fish. Different enough to rotate. Simple enough to actually do.
For GLP-1 users eating less of everything, these three earn their place on the plate.
From the Field
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
*Setting Your Protein Target in Cronometer -- And Actually Hitting It**
* Monday made the case for fish as the protein anchor for GLP-1 users. Here’s what it looks like when you put that into practice.
Open Cronometer and set a custom protein target. For muscle preservation during weight loss, most guidance lands between 1.2 and 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight. Enter your number. Now you have a daily threshold to work against.
Log a serving of salmon – say, four ounces. Cronometer returns roughly 25 grams of protein. A can of sardines gets you another 20. You can see the bar move in real time.
That’s the part that changes behavior. Not the knowledge that protein matters – most people already know that. It’s watching the number sit at 40 percent of target by mid-afternoon and knowing you have work to do.
The plate becomes a problem to solve. A solvable one.
From the Field:
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
Protein and Muscle: The Conversation GLP-1 Users Need to Have**
When the weight comes off fast, not all of it is fat. Some of it is muscle. That part doesn’t always make the brochure.
Muscle mass isn’t just about how you look. It’s how you get up from a chair at seventy-five. It’s your metabolic engine – the tissue that burns calories at rest, regulates blood sugar, keeps the whole system running efficiently.
Lose enough of it during rapid weight loss and you pay for it later. Slower metabolism. Weaker legs. Less reserve when you need it.
The answer isn’t complicated. Protein. Resistance movement. Consistency over time.
But on a GLP-1 medication, when appetite is mostly gone and portions are small, getting enough protein takes intention. It doesn’t happen by accident.
This is the conversation worth having with your doctor – not just how much weight, but what kind.
From the Field
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
Seafood and the GLP-1 Plate: A Natural Fit**
** One thing doctors don’t always mention upfront about GLP-1 medications – you can lose muscle along with the fat. When calories drop that low, the body doesn’t always know what to spare.
Protein is the answer. But not all protein lands the same when your appetite is mostly gone.
Red meat sits heavy. Even chicken can feel like too much. Fish is different – light enough to eat when you’re not hungry, dense enough to do the work your muscles need.
Sardines, salmon, cod, sea bass. Easy to prepare, easy to get down, and they carry the protein load without the weight of a steak.
For GLP-1 users, every bite is doing a job. Seafood might be the one that punches furthest above its weight.
From the Field
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
The GLP-1 Dashboard: What I Actually Track and Why**
* When you’re on a GLP-1 medication, a lot is happening under the surface. The technology I carry makes it visible.
Libre 3 is the anchor. Continuous glucose monitoring – a small sensor on the back of the arm, readings every minute, trends on my phone before I’ve had coffee. I can see what a meal does. What a bad night’s sleep does. What stress does. The body stops being a mystery.
Oura sits on my finger overnight. Recovery score, sleep stages, heart rate variability. On mornings when the numbers are low I know before I feel it. That changes how I plan the day.
Cronometer is where food becomes data. Protein targets matter more on GLP-1 – muscle preservation doesn’t happen by accident. Logging keeps me honest.
Apple Health pulls it all together. One place, one picture.
It’s a real dashboard. Takes about ninety seconds to read in the morning.
Worth every second.
From the Field:
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
What GLP-1 Medications Are Really Doing to Your Appetite**
Most people think appetite is a willpower problem. GLP-1 medications make a pretty convincing argument that it isn’t.
GLP-1 is actually a hormone your body already makes. It releases after you eat and sends a signal to your brain – you’ve had enough, slow down. The medications work by amplifying that signal and holding it there longer than your body would on its own.
There’s more happening too. Gastric emptying slows down. Food stays in your stomach longer. The physical sensation of fullness lingers in a way it never did before.
None of that is willpower. It’s chemistry.
Which is why people on these medications aren’t fighting hunger the same way anymore. The fight is mostly over before it starts.
Understanding the mechanism matters. It changes how you think about eating – and what you choose to put on the plate when appetite finally shows up.
From the Field
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
Why GLP-1 Users Are Turning to the Mediterranean Table**
When you’re on a GLP-1 medication, appetite drops fast. Some people are down to one small meal a day. That changes everything about how you think about food.
Every bite has to carry weight now. You can’t afford empty calories – not when you’re only going to eat a handful of them.
That’s where the Mediterranean pattern starts making a lot of sense. Small portions of fish, legumes, olive oil, vegetables. Food that’s dense with what your body actually needs. Anti-inflammatory. Satisfying in a way that holds.
It wasn’t designed for GLP-1 users. But it fits like it was.
If you’re on one of these medications and wondering what to eat with the little appetite you have left, the Mediterranean table is worth a serious look.
From the Field
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
Are You Actually Eating the Mediterranean Diet -- Or Just Thinking You Are?*
It’s easy to say you eat Mediterranean. Fish a couple times a week, olive oil, plenty of vegetables. Sounds right.
Then you start logging it.
Cronometer is where I’d start. Enter a week of meals honestly and ask it to show you omega-3 intake. Most people are surprised. The number is lower than they expected – sometimes by a lot.
Fish frequency is the usual culprit. You thought you were eating it twice a week. The log says once, maybe. And that one time was a fish sandwich.
Plant-to-protein ratios tell a similar story. The Mediterranean pattern leans heavily plant-forward. The American version of it – even the well-intentioned version – tends to drift back toward meat as the center of the plate.
The numbers don’t judge. They just show you what’s actually happening.
That’s the whole point of logging.
From the Field:
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
Omega-3s and the Aging Body: What Seafood Actually Does**
Monday we talked about the fish. Today, what the fish actually does once it’s inside you.
Omega-3 fatty acids – the thing that makes sardines and salmon worth eating – aren’t a supplement industry invention. They’re structural. Your body uses them to manage inflammation, protect joint tissue, and keep the brain running the way it’s supposed to.
After fifty, all three of those things start costing more effort to maintain. Inflammation runs hotter. Joints announce themselves. Memory gets a little less reliable.
Omega-3s don’t reverse any of that. But they slow the conversation down.
Two or three servings of fatty fish a week – sardines, salmon, mackerel – is roughly what the research points to. Not a handful of capsules. Actual food, eaten regularly, over time.
That’s it. Not complicated. Just consistent.
From the Field
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
Sonnet 4.6
The Protein Nobody Mentions
* Most Americans picture the Mediterranean diet and see pasta. Maybe some olive oil drizzled over bread. If they’re generous, a Greek salad.
That’s the postcard version. The actual diet – the one that people in Crete or coastal Sicily actually ate for generations – was built on fish. Sardines. Anchovies. Sea bream. Whatever came in off the boats that morning, eaten the same day.
Not salmon. Not tuna steaks. Small, oily, unglamorous fish that cost almost nothing and kept whole families fed.
The omega-3s, the lean protein, the minerals – that’s where a lot of the health case was rooted. Not the pasta.
The Mediterranean diet works when you eat like a fisherman, not like a tourist. There’s a difference
From the Field
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero… Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions. William questions everything, including his own opinions. Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty. The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes buymeacoffee.com/gardenero…
Questions or thoughts? Email me at : contact@gardener-of-life.com
Welcome to The Quantified Porch Series
* I’ve been tracking things. More things than I expected to, honestly.
Blood glucose. Steps. Sleep. What I eat, when I eat it, how much. Heart rate variability – which I couldn’t have defined two years ago and now check most mornings.
At some point I looked at the devices on my wrist and nightstand and thought – there’s a lot going on here. Worth talking about.
So that’s what Fridays are for now. The Quantified Porch – a running conversation about the technology I’m actually using to track health, food, and movement. What works, what doesn’t, what surprised me, and what I’m still figuring out.
No lab coats. No sales pitch. Just one person with too many apps and enough curiosity to keep asking questions.
Pull up a chair.
From the Field
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :
The Field Changes. So Should the Plan.
A good farmer doesn’t plant the same crop the same way every year without looking at the soil first.
You check what the season did. What worked, what didn’t, what the ground is telling you now. Then you adjust. Not because you failed — because that’s just how farming works.
Your health is the same way.
The plan that got you moving six months ago might not be the right plan today. Your body changed. Your schedule changed. What felt hard then might feel easy now — and what worked then might have stopped working without you noticing.
Re-assessing isn’t quitting. It’s the opposite.
It means you’re paying attention. It means you take what you’ve learned about yourself — the small goals you hit, the progress that compounded quietly — and you use it to set the next season’s plan.
Three things. Small goals. Constant progress. Re-assess as you change.
That’s the whole Health & Wellness system. Simple enough to remember. Sturdy enough to last.
From the Field
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes coming.
Questions or thoughts? I’d love to hear from you.
The Jar on the Counter
Nuts and seeds don’t look like much. Small, quiet, easy to overlook. You could walk right past them in the store and never think twice.
But calorie for calorie, they punch well above their weight. Healthy fats. Protein. Fiber. The kind of slow, steady fuel that keeps you out of the kitchen an hour after you just ate.
I spent years growing crops that fed people. Almonds. Walnuts. Sunflowers. I knew the fields. Took me longer to know what was actually in the harvest.
I keep a jar on the counter now. Mixed nuts, some pumpkin seeds, whatever I have on hand. No measuring, no planning. It’s just there. When I walk by, I grab a small handful. That’s the whole system.
Easiest habit I’ve added in years. No app required.
Three posts in this series now. Next Monday we start pulling it together.
From the Field
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes coming.
Questions or thoughts? I’d love to hear from you.
The System I Use to Filter Health Information
Last week I wrote about how I decide what health information to trust. This week I want to show you the actual system.
It isn’t complicated. Three tools do most of the work.
Apple Health is the hub. Everything feeds into it — my CGM data, my workouts, my sleep. When I read a health claim, I can check it against my own numbers. That’s not available in any article. It’s only available in my own data.
Kagi is my search engine. It doesn’t sell ads. It doesn’t surface results based on who paid the most. I get cleaner results and less noise when I’m researching a topic.
DEVONthink is where I store what I’ve decided is worth keeping. Not bookmarks — actual documents, studies, articles I’ve read and tagged. When a topic comes up again, I have a real library to draw from instead of starting over from scratch.
That’s it. Apple Health tells me what’s true for my body. Kagi helps me find better information. DEVONthink helps me remember what I’ve learned.
Three tools. One farmer. Less noise.
From the Field
Find me on Ghost: gardener-of-life.com
Micro.blog: micro.blog/gardenero…
Substack: gardeneroflife.substack.com
Food recall alerts: www.foodsafety.gov/recalls-a…
These are observations from one retired dirt farmer — not prescriptions.
William questions everything, including his own opinions.
Curiosity and humility over authority and certainty.
The reader is always the final decision-maker.
If this resonates, buy me a coffee — it keeps the field notes
Questions or thoughts? Email me at :