Chronic Inflammation

Inflammation is the body's natural way to fight infection and respond to harmful organisms, irritants, damaged tissue or toxins.  In a healthy, well-nourished body, this natural response to this temporary problem should result in a system-wide "all clear" within a few days or weeks.

Food, stress levels and ongoing toxin overloads are some of the primary decision makers in whether your body uses inflammation, fever and other healing pathways for a short season, then subsides or whether your body goes into a state of chronic inflammation which brings in another level of trouble and poor health. 

Sadly, we often look at health problems as something to be gotten rid of, not a warning signal that there is something amiss in our body, our environment or our mental state (meaning staying in a place of high stress and not addressing the cause).

Diets high in sugar, saturated fat and overprocessed foods can spur inflammation.  This can cause overactivity in the immune system, which can lead to joint pain, fatigue, and damage to the blood vessels, which is often step one, two and three in a downward spiral of poor health.

The typical Western diet – high in processed foods, refined starches, added sugars and animal fats and low in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and omega-3 fatty acids – fuels inflammation, according to a 2006 paper in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Choosing to apply toxic substances to our skin, hair and environment, breathing in toxic fumes, can all exacerbate the problem of inflammation as your system must be in overdrive all of the time.  Smog, pollution, dust, mold....  all problematic.

Living in a world of chronic stress... aka "the modern world" also brings its own set of damage inducing inflammation.  Lack of sleep, lack of quiet, lack of community, lack of being "unplugged" EVER..... some of the modern stresses so many of us deal with.

Perhaps today, make a different choice.  Choose to shut off some of the stress.  Choose to stay away from the chemical bath that the modern world offers us.  Look at your toothpaste, your shampoo, your soap, your lotion, your cleaning products.   If you would not eat them, don't put them on your skin or breathe their fumes.  Choose to eat wholesome, nutrient-dense, slow cooked, soaked, REAL food today.  Visit a farmer's market, talk to the small farmers about what they do to produce food.  They are almost universally knowledgeable.  Embark on a balanced exercise program, play, turn off and tune out for a while.  Allow your body to settle down and come to a more natural place.

Foods, spices, savory things and oils are a potent, long-term way to activate your immune system into a proper response and to provide a proper level of healing and long-term vibrant health.  The lists below are certainly not an exhaustive list, just some suggestions
.

Some of the foods which can help minimize chronic inflammation, please note:  This is assuming that the foods are organic, non GMO and properly prepared in a nutrient dense fashion:

Avocado, dark leafy greens, soaked walnuts and almonds, sweet and hot peppers, olives, olive oil, coconut oil, sweet potatoes, beets, beet greens, unsweetened dark berries, cacao, red grapes, broccoli, tart apples, citrus, chia seeds, red cabbage, celery, whole, soaked grains, fermented foods and liquids, high quality, minimally processed sea or harvested salt, wild caught salmon, grass fed beef, poultry.

Some of the spices and savory things which can help with chronic inflammation:

Turmeric, ginger, basil, onion, garlic, oregano, mint, cumin, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, black peppercorn, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg.

Some of the oils which can help with chronic inflammation:

Oregano, fennel, clove, thyme, wintergreen, myrrh, frankincense, camomile, tea tree oil, lavender.

Remember, this is just a starting place.  Primarily it is important to remember that what we eat, breathe and put onto our skin is what fuels our body. Give it good fuel.  Avoid fuel that clogs up the system.  Go simple, go clean, go vibrantly healthy.

Blessings

Cindy

Bell's Palsy

A question that has been bubbling in me recently...  "WHAT are the fruits of the Spirit in MY life?"   Because we are known by our fruit, both here on earth and above in Heaven.   This picture represents what I strive for regularly.  This was a recent "gut check" for me and one that has been a wrestling place.  These have not been the fruits showing up in my life. 

Many of you know that I experienced a Bell's Palsy episode a coupe of years ago.  It recently flared its ugly head again.  Here are my thoughts on addressing this issue in my world. (IMHO... It is always, always, always the best thing to do to begin by getting right with God, no matter what your issue is)

Remember that I am not in any way a medical professional.  This is just what I did and continue to do to wrestle with this health issue.  Really, this is the resolution and the end of a lot of steps.  Please know that all along the way I have had wonderful counsel from a naturopath, a chiropractor and a massage therapist.  If you are in pain with your skeleton, begin with a good chiropractor.  If you have gut imbalance issues, begin with a good naturopathic doctor.  A good counselor can help resolve emotional issues or mental issues.  You may need to begin with a good massage therapist to deal with muscular issues.  Please be open to asking for help and guidance.  This list is where I ended up.  Please know that I began with good professional help.

This is not addressing a Bell's Palsy situation that is caused by trauma or injury.


So, the causative / problematic areas to be addressed:

1) Gut imbalance
 2) Emotional, physical, mental or spiritual stress


These first two (either/or/both) can then begin a chain reaction which can be triggered by:

3) overreaction to neurotoxin exposure (pesticides, possibly GMO's... still researching... corrupted fats, chemical overload in our food or body products, some parma stuff, other neurotoxic things.

4) Opportunistic virus which acts very, very oddly

This in turn leads to a swelling in the affected area (in the case of Bell's Palsy, the inner ear ... other diseases are the basically the same process but different parts of the body affected). This brings us to the next phase.

5) This swelling can cause the myelin sheath (The fatty substance that covers and protects nerves is an extremely simplified explanation) to be damaged or degraded, especially if the original condition is not corrected quickly. A further problem is lesions, but this does not usually occur in Bell's Palsy specifically.

6) For reasons of which I am unclear, this chain of events almost always pulls our body physically out of alignment. This needs corrected by a competent chiropractor as quickly as possible. Massage therapy in conjunction to the physical adjustment may also be very, very helpful.
SO, my personal steps to allow healing of my original episode and subsequent flare ups....

1) Recognize that there is probably an underlying emotional issue bringing problems to your body. It is necessary to deal with this. Depending on your world view, this can be accomplished by prayer and submission to God, inner healing, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) or other recognition and healing process.

2) Make VERY SURE that my gut flora, my mouth flora and my skin flora is healthy and active. This involves any good Phase 1 diet for a season while AT THE SAME TIME adding a lot of great fats from the whole spectrum (short, mid and long chain fatty acids) and a LOT of fermented foods (sauerkraut or other cultured veggies, kombucha and kefir... there may be others... these are my base.
Following these two steps should bring you to a place of:

3) neutralized pH and a gut that has a healthy population of bacteria (and your skin and your mouth)

4) rest and calm emotionally

This then opens the door for my final steps of healing:

5) Chiropractic adjustment. For me personally this usually involves adjustment of my atlas, sometimes my upper back, and recently my foot. I personally expect to go for 3-4 sessions over about a six week period to ensure that everything is stable. The first time this happened to me it was more like 2-3 times per week for 3-4 weeks.

6) A good chiropractor will have available some low level energy or laser or electrical device which should bring relief to nerve endings that are going haywire and causing a lot of pain and distress.

7) A good massage therapist working hand in hand with the chiropractor may speed all of this up considerably.

8)  Begin (or continue) an appropriate exercise program.  Get out in the sunshine and walk or jog or run, play an active game... but also add some good, structured exercise program.

Hopefully this is helpful to you.

Blessings
Cindy

What is happening around here

Hello all,

I realized that the last post (which has been on top for a while now) is on CANDY MAKING.  Yikes.  Christmas is over.  Back to the real world.  (well, I might make up a batch of caramel sometime soon).  What we are doing around here right now is:

1.  Getting ready to watch (again) an amazing movie.  We plan to watch it at church with a bunch of avid gardeners, hobby farmers, novice growers and everything in between.  A potluck and an afternoon centered around growing stuff successfully.  What could be better than that?  We have watched it free on line, but finally broke down and ordered the video.  

Back to Eden

2.  In addition, I have been reading some books on permaculture and we are trying to plan out how to make our entire property a lot more efficient and work better.  The book I am currently reading is "Permaculture by Sepp Holzer.

Sepp Holzer's Permaculture

3.  Also, on the subject of health, I have two books going right now.  Deep Nutrition and Devil in the Milk.  Both are awesome and full of information.  Deep Nutrition is a great book if you are just beginning the process of trying to learn a different way of eating and why you should do that.  Devil in the Milk is about A-1 and A-2 cows and the types of milk they produce.  By accident (?)  we appear to have cows which produce A-2 milk. 

Meet the authors of Deep Nutrition

Book Review of "Devil in the Milk"

And finally, I am starting seeds.  Yep, it is that time of year.   I have a ton of seeds from my favorite seed bank ever and am trying to restrain my hand from too many tomato plants.  Again.

Baker Creek Seeds

Be blessed!

Cindy

Life on the Farm

Blessings to you all,

It has been so long since I have written ANYTHING on this blog, I have almost forgotten how.  There have been many, many changes around our place.  One of the biggest is our major steps to get off of the grid.  We have been trying to simplify, declutter and doing our best to live a different way.  It has been challenging, two steps forward, one step back, intermediate steps, rethinking........ Anyway, it has been fun.  A lot of work..... but fun.  Our life has changed to very quiet, simple homebound routines.   Some of our upcoming projects include a root cellar, ice house and spring house.

As part of that process, we have gotten more serious about our garden.  In the early spring, we dug trenches with the help of the backhoe and put manure in, then refilled.  It broke up some hardpan, stirred around our minerals and really improved our soil.

After reading several wonderful gardening books over the winter, we laid out the plants differently.  Every plant was put in carefully with consideration of "root room".  We wanted to give every plant plenty of room to thrive.  This meant that we placed the tomato plants 4' on center.  It was hard for me.  I was limited to 50 plants...... OK, I might have snuck a couple extra in.  I also gave room to the squash, cukes, melons, peppers - everything got enough root room.  They marked up a piece of pipe for me so I could easily plant.

My sweet hubby made new tomato cages for me this year.  We didn't have enough material for all of the tomatoes, but hopefully by next year we will.  I will use fencepost and wires for the rest of the plants.

We have been harvesting raspberries, beets (they are yummy just rinsed, rubbed with oil and salt and baked) greens of every type, tomatoes (from the coldframe) squash, kohlrabi, turnips, parsnips, radish, peas and we are just beginning to get cucumbers.  Our meals are simple and revolve around soaked grains, greens, eggs, milk, garden produce, our own chickens, grass fed beef and raw cheese.

The cow produces wonderful milk and the chickens are laying beautifully.  My sister continues to turn chicks out of her ever revolving incubator.  The roosters we butcher, the hens we either keep or move on to someone else.  We have lots of chickens.  We used the broody hens and chicks to keep the coldframe warm this winter.... that is why we have early tomatoes.  I'll be working a lot harder on the coldframe w/chicken heat this winter.

The Spring and Summer have been filled with hard work, family, new experiences, adjustments, and the Hand of the Lord always giving us guidance.  I can say again today that He has NEVER left us.... NEVER forsaken us.  We can depend on His mercy, His abundance and His grace.

Be blessed, healthy and well
Cindy

Time to think about gardening!

I know it is still winter, but spring is just around the corner.  There is quite a bit you can be doing to get ready for garden season.  I have already written about why I garden and you can find that post here.  If you intend to get a garden going this year, here are some things you can do now to make sure that happens.

Begin a garden journal/devotional.  Just having one place where you are jotting down your thoughts, scriptures, poems, recipes and ideas is helpful. It is good to get your thoughts in order.  This is also a great time to read a new (or old) book on gardening.  Try the thrift store :)

Plan your space.  Make this a family affair.  Figure out how much room you are committing to gardening, what needs to be done and where you intend to plant everything.  Planning is key to a productive garden.  We like to measure everything and lay it out on paper.

Decide what you intend to plant and order seeds.  I use Baker Creek Seeds - they have an awesome selection and test for GMO's.

If you intend to start seeds, this is the time to do it.  You do not have to have a perfect environment.  You need  a warm place, and after the seedlings have popped up, you need to haul them to some sunshine whenever possible.  Water them and let the water drain.  Add some kind of natural food to your water.  The seedlings burn through the available nutrients pretty quickly.  We usually begin tomato, sweet and hot pepper plants, broccoli, brussel sprouts and swiss chard inside.  The other stuff gets direct sowed when the soil is warm enough.

If you need to build boxes, fix fences or acquire pots to plant in, this is the time to work on it.  Often you can find someone who has changed their garden plan and will trade, barter, buy or give you old containers.  Use some of your soil and mix in something good - well rotted compost, some purchased topsoil.... something full of nutrients.  Make sure your pots will drain well and are big enough for the root systems of your plants.

Begin or plan a compost pile.  You don't have to be fancy.  Find a spot, mix equal parts brown, green and hot (leaves, sawdust, straw, kitchen scraps, manure, urine)  and mix occasionally.   You can build a round container out of old fencing or you can use old pallets or you can go with something that spins, turns and works your stuff.   The more you work it, the hotter it gets.  Here are some great links to Organic Gardening.... as far as I am concerned, they are the king of compost :)  You can probably find lots and lots of other articles on compost, these are just three random ones.

Fast Cooking Compost Pile

Compost Ingredients

Safe Compost Bins

Plan to begin a spring garden as soon as you are able to work the soil.  Lettuce, spinach, onions, potatoes, swiss chard, broccoli, brussel sprouts and peas are part of our spring garden plan.  I can't wait!

Do you need to clean up your garden site from last year?  Take a couple of the nice days that always happen in the middle of winter and clean it up.  While you are at it, take a look at your tools and see if you need to replace, repair, sharpen or rethink them.  Make sure you have a somewhat organized place for your tools.  Always searching for a tool is a huge waste of time.

Talk over with your family the amount of resource you plan to use.  Include time, water, money, physical labor and space.  Reassess what you did last year.  Do you need to do something different?  Be open to suggestions from family members.  Step up the chores for the kids and move them up the chore ladder.  A garden is an amazing way to spend great family time.

I would love to hear your garden plans.  Ours are firmly in place and moving on.  It might seem odd to be full steam ahead on your garden when there is still a significant amount of snow on the ground, but if you do not have a plan, your odds of being successful are much smaller.  It is time to start.



Happy Gardening


Cindy

A simpler life

Anyone that follows the stock market, commodity prices, the dollar and news events is probably getting somewhat uneasy.  Commodity prices have been steadily rising for months and have really shot up recently.  This is for multiple reasons - manmade and natural disasters, unrest in the world, too many people living off of the "system" and not putting into it, too much borrowing and not enough saving, terrible political decisions in multiple countries... the list goes on and on.

It is not helpful to live in the spirit of fear that is permeating our world.  One of my favorite scriptures is in 2Timothy 1:7......   For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.   BE ADVISED  it is the better part of wisdom to look ahead and make wise decisions for your family..... not in a spirit of fear, but in a useful, responsible way.

No matter where you live or what you do, you can make your situation more stable.  Proverbs has a lot of wisdom concerning living in wisdom or in folly.  If you have not read through Proverbs lately, you should.  Just look at today's date and read that Proverb.  Here are a few samples.

A wise man fears and departs from evil,
      But a fool rages and is self-confident. 

Proverbs 14:16

Every prudent man acts with knowledge,
      But a fool lays open his folly. 

Proverbs 13:16

No matter where you live, you should look around and see what local resources are at hand..... then learn to use them.  This is wisdom, not fear.  When you learn in a non-emergency situation it is a lot easier.  Add knowledge and skill one layer at a time so no one is overwhelmed.  If I had tried to feed my family sourdough bread baked on the wood stove 3-4 years ago no one would have eaten it..... including me.  I probably would never have attempted a full on farmer's breakfast on the stove, but now it is very possible.  We have changed over time.

Life on the Farm - Sights from our past few weeks

I have already posted this video, but am posting it again with a caveat from my sister.  She said the pictures make everything look easier, cleaner and faster than it really happened.  We have just made one step after the other after the other.  Each person works within their strengths..... or develops new strengths.  For example, my hubby had a milk cow when he was younger.  Bonnie would much prefer him to milk her and gives the most milk to him.  This is not practical for us.  I have had to learn to milk, and my sister is next.  It doesn't matter what is the easiest, this is a new skill we must develop.

Ask yourself these questions....

• Does my family produce more than they consume?
• Is the bulk of my food local and sustainable?
• If it is not, do I have an ample supply on hand for an emergency situation?
• Can I slowly change the way my family eats, lives, cooks and plays to be more sustainable?
• Do I know how to produce food and energy for my family?
• Do I have a skill, knowledge or resource that I can barter with?
• Can I convert grass into protein? 
• Do you know how to garden?
• If you have a garden.... do you use heirloom seeds?
• Do you know how to properly save and reuse your seeds?

A side note.... Baker Creek Seeds is my favorite non GMO, heirloom seed company.  We plan to add a section of garden for the animals this year. 

Questions like these help you think ahead in a non-emergency situation.  When a power outage or other disruption occurs, use the opportunity to practice some of your skills.  Do you have to run to the store regularly?  Rethink that.  Then when the next disruption occurs, try again.  Instead of complaining, figure it out.  Do laws need to be changed so you can have a wood stove in an area RICH with firewood?  How about backyard chickens?  Do zoning laws need to change?  What has to happen so you can live more sustainably?

Living a simple life brings a peace that is beyond wonderful.  We are not quite there yet, but we persevere.  Stay close to God, eat local and fresh, be prepared, be a good neighbor, learn to function closer to where you live.  Be content.

Cindy

Life on the farm

Slideshow of recent changes around here.

We have had a lot of changes around here since I last posted.  Our daughter and son in law moved back to the Bay Area.  It is bittersweet.  The sweet - he got a wonderful job.  The bitter, they moved away.  It involved a lot of change for all of us since our daughter had become the teacher for our youngest and they both helped so much around here.  Also, they had the nerve to take one of my grandbabies out of the county.  I thought there was a rule against that! 

The next big change came when our raw milk source dried up...... well, they sold out and we no longer had access.  This was so, so sad.  However, as a small community, we decided it was time to bite the bullet and purchase our own milk cow.  We would turn our own grass and clover into milk!  We purchased Bonnie the cow and Bessie her calf.  We got a good deal because she was difficult to milk and the calf was still on her at three months.  She is a beautiful 3/4 mini jersey and 1/4 dexter and they were not kidding about being difficult to milk :)

We pressed on.  At the beginning it took three adults, a kick bar and a lot of patience to get her milked.  Then down to two adults and someone on poop patrol (we have someone catch her poop in a snow shovel if she lifts her tail).  Now one person can milk her.  We still have the poop patrol, but she often does not poop while being milked.  We started out using Bag Balm on her teats, then read the label.  Petroleum based.  Bad bad bad bad.   We are trying out the Burt's Bees Farmer's Friend Hand Salve.  It appears to be working really well.  We are happy and blessed.

My sweet hubby and brother in law converted the Taj Mahal chicken coop into a milking barn.  It has a concrete floor, a washout, lights..... then my sister spotted an old sink at my aunt's house and talked her out of it.   Her hubby went and fetched it and installed it.  Then we traded a neighbor for some of their excess hay.  The three younger kids (from both families) picked up some extra daily chores.  Our oldest son came and cut down some unproductive fruit trees to begin the process of making a better pasture and we are good to go!   Everyone has worked together in their own strengths.  We are now being rewarded by about 3 quarts of milk at each milking.  It is only a little disheartening that the milking barn is cleaner than my kitchen.  This is thanks to Farmer Joe who sweeps, washes out with vinegar water and squeegees after each milking.

We have been hit by another brutal snowstorm and are out of power again.  We are wondering if we will break our previous record of 10 days.  I worked hard on baking sourdough bread on the stovetop.  It turned out great!  Also during that time we lost our water and the boys had to snowshoe up to fix it.  All in all, a very grand adventure.  (Note, the power is back on - we were only out 7 days - we're getting ready to be hit by another storm later this week).  I have to say the Ipad, Iphone, Itouch and Laptop were helpful.  The Kindle program loaded up with books was awesome.  You can sit in the dark and read for several hours.  When we turn the generator on, we recharge everything.  It worked really well.

Shortly after they got our water fixed a ditch that runs above a part of our road got pulled out by a big cedar tree.  A massive amount of water came down and wiped out a part of our road.  The guys  drove the backhoe out and helped the local water company do some repairs. Being a part of a community is good.

I have to say, I love simple farm life.  There have been big adjustments, but they are good.  While we were out of power it was even better.  It is wonderful to always have fresh milk. A simpler way of life makes power outages a little easier to handle.

I have a bunch of pictures from the past few weeks in this slideshow.  I hope you enjoy it.


Cindy

1/1/11

Happy New Year!  

The first week of the year, we love to plan out what we would LIKE to happen, begin trying to make it happen, and stay flexible.   Here is a simple list of things to consider to begin 2011.

Be blessed, happy and well this year.

Organize yourself:  I love to sit at the computer and make a list for myself and my family.  Not everything happens, but often more happens than you think.  I try to look it over at the first of each month and see how we are doing.  I have been looking over last year's list, and am happy.  My five categories:  Physical health, Spiritual health, Financial health, Household health, Garden (or Farm) Health.

Begin a daily Bible Reading program:  Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you.  This is critical.  Use your IPhone, IPad App, or Laptop.  One great online program is Bible Gateway Reading Plan. Use your BIBLE and some bookmarks, ask if your church or place of worship is beginning a program, something.  This is so important to get into your day.  Schedule it around something.  Spend time with the Lord every day.  It will cleanse you.

Begin a prayer journal:  Keep a list of people and situations.  Pray over the list daily.  Release these people and situations to the Lord.  He loves them more than you.   Allow the Holy Spirit to change others.  You cannot change anyone on your own.  Your most effective course of actions is to pray and bring God into it, and then take your hands off.   Write it down, it will be encouraging to you.

Dump the junk:  Take opportunity to get the junk out of your house.  It is NOT a sin to throw junk food, candy and energy robbing food away.  Look for words like SUGAR, hydrogenated, fractionated, soy, msg.... fill in your own list.  You cannot be healthy if these foods are there constantly tempting you.  Take a couple of hours, clean your fridge and cupboard and hidey holes, thrown them OUT, then take the trash OUT!  Christmas is over.  Let it be done.

Add good foods in:  In order to feed yourself healthy food, you have to plan ahead.  Either do a weekly menu, or a seasonal menu, something.  You have to have a plan.  This has been my biggest failing this year.  Last night my sister and I hashed over some kind of solution for me.  I think I will try a 6 week menu (for example, soaked hot oatmeal every Tuesday.... like that).

Make sure you have healthy snacks and foods available.  Adding good, healthy foods into your day to day life is easier than taking tasty, but dead foods out.  Just replace the junk with life giving foods.

Drink more water:  Flush the toxins out of your system.  Drink more water.  Add a splash of lemon, lime or apple cider vinegar to boost the effectiveness.

Began taking a good, food based vitamin:  Something that covers the bases and is high quality.  We like the All One Senior Formula mixed in ginger ale/juice with our breakfast, but there are a lot of good ones out there.

Began a modest exercise program..... or boost the one you are on:  Exercise is one of the best gifts you can give yourself and your family.  Please do not begin with an intense, unachievable program.  Begin with something you CAN do and set yourself up for success.  You do not need to spend a fortune.  A couple of DVD's, a few weights, 20-30 minutes, warm up, cool down.  That is all you need.  Try Wal Mart and $20.  Find something that appeals to you.

Don't try to go from NO exercise to a 1 hour, intense program.  You will be setting yourself up for failure.

Spend some time with your finances:  Make a budget.  Do you need to do Dave Ramsey again?  When you make a line item for money, you give it priority in your life.  This week, schedule your finances.  Do it as a family.  Talk over what you would like to see happen.  Plan, write down, budget, figure.  This is a good time to clean up last year and begin afresh.

Clean your house:  Go through room by room, if necessary.  Do you want it, love it, need it, use it?  If not, should it be donated, trashed, burned???  You cannot be healthy if your house is cluttered with stuff you are not using.  This is valuable real estate, and it is good to have a peaceful, useful space to live in.

This might be a good time to paint, clean, change a fixture, something.  Take some time and organize your household.  You will feel cleaner, more free and more effective.

Plan your garden:  We have a New Year's Eve tradition of drawing out next year's garden.  My sister is good with design and sketched out our plans last night.  We talked over success and failures and plans for next year with a lot of laughter and good memories.  Everyone chose their favorite tomato and we began our seed order - Baker Creek Seeds- be ready for our order :)

2011 is here, whether we are ready or not.   Take the opportunity to bring the gift of health to yourself and your family.

Cindy

Another new baby

Our daughter had a healthy baby girl two weeks ago.  She is sweet and very healthy, despite being almost four weeks early.  Sweet Gracie brings another grandbaby in the mix and I am so happy!

They came home two days after her birth, only to have us haul them to our son and daughter in law's house a couple of days later.  We were slammed by a big snow storm which brought down trees and power lines everywhere.... along with generally creating havoc within our county.    Exhibiting a sweet sense of hospitality, our "Dirtbikes and Dollies" kids hosted them for several days, and also hosted our family Thanksgiving..... they were the only ones with power.  Their story of this time is here. 

During this time, a dear friend took some wonderful pictures of the baby.  Thank you Jodi for the great pictures.  She also did a mini-session with my other sweet grandbabies.  What a sweet blessing. 

I almost feel like I can begin some routines again.  Our days are beginning to settle down as the snow slowly melts.  Yesterday I was able to drive into town in my car.  The internet and power are back on.

I confess, I miss my garden.  We were picking until the bitter end.  I am trying to learn how to make bear meat taste good.  (another story for another day).  I realized anew that clutter is not helpful, we can live with less, you can make wonderful meals on a wood stove, sourdough is amazing stuff when you have no power.  (crackers, bread, pancakes, muffins).

Today, I am just trying to remember how to organize my thoughts.  Thanks for being such a big part of our life.

Best of health to you
Cindy

Fall is here

It has been a great summer.  We planted a garden, swam almost every day, made new friends, learned a lot, began using raw milk, preserved lots of stuff and generally stayed busy and happy all summer.  We learned how to butcher chickens and made gallons of cultured salsa. Most days began early and ended late.  It has been good.

Fall has officially started around here, even though the weather is wonderful.  The pool has been allowed to go green and the garden has sections being finished up.  The chicks which hatched on the first day of spring have begun laying (it is about time!).  We took a vacation to the Oregon coast and went crabbing.

School and soccer began and the kids are being brought back into routines (it is not easy).  We were blessed by a coffee can of rendered bear fat.  I am going to make pie dough with it.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Today we had a discussion on cultured foods.  I am re-energized on sauerkraut, ginger ale, kombucha and sourdough bread.  My sister found a great web site that she loves and she is trying out tons of new recipes.  I hope you enjoy it as well.

GNOWFGLINS

 This stands for "God's Natural Organ Whole Foods Grown Locally In Season"

We are all about that :)

Cindy

The return of the Peasant

My favorite definition of peasant:  son of the soil

On a recent news program there was a discussion of China and India - in these countries peasants are rapidly moving away from their subsistence type of lives into an industrial or middle class lifestyle.  Oddly, the discussion revolved on the certainty of a massive increase in diabetes, cancer, obesity and which pharmaceutical company was best positioned to take advantage of  this well known phenomena.

I almost puked.

.........instead, I contemplated how my sister and I - well trained in legal secretarial, sales, education and medical careers (neither of was content with just one career :( - have instead incorporated large portions of being a peasant into our lives.  We are going backwards and are happier and healthier than ever.  I guess the pharmaceutical companies will have to go elsewhere to make their next million.

My son in law says we are peasants who can read.

Really, what has been happening around here is a heart change.  We want to produce more than we consume, make the most of the resource we have, be content with what we can produce, be willing to accept that an idea might not work out like it did on paper, and be grateful for what is here at hand.


This effort includes learning to like new foods (quail, our own chickens, wild game, rendered fat from odd animals).   Also, it involves spending time and energy acquiring "live foods" that you do not produce yourself...... then turning it into something else (raw milk, bear fat, grass fed beef)  It is harder than it looks to not run to the store for what you want.  Instead, head out to the garden and use what you have.

A garden like this is high maintenance.  Tying up tomato and cucumber plants, watering, weeding, trying to find a pathway through the overgrown melon patch (my sister in the picture above continues to try to make a path) is a daily struggle, but it is a good struggle.  When you pop something into your mouth that you have raised - organically, with care, and realize that you cannot buy that kind of flavor, all you can do is enjoy.  The enzymes feed your body, the work feeds your soul.

 All in all, it is time consuming, but good.

We are now peasants..... that can read.

Cindy

Homemade Play Dough

Playdough Recipe

2 cups flour

1 cup cornstarch
1-1/2 cups salt
2 Tablespoons cream of tarter
3 Tbsp oil

Food Coloring
3 cups water 

(colored ahead of time with the food coloring)

1.  Mix all ingredients into a large pot.  Be sure to add the food coloring to the cold water before adding to the other ingredients.  This will give you a better color. (We used approximately 20 drops - the water should be quite dark.)

2.  Cook on medium/low heat stirring constantly until it begins to form into a dough.

 

3.  Turn out onto a cutting board or other surface and knead for 1-2 minutes until it is the right consistency.

4.  After it has cooled, store in an airtight container.  It should stay good for 3 months in an airtight container (does anyone believe this?)


5.  Have a lot of inexpensive fun!  Even though these are somewhat edible ingredients..... don't let anyone eat it.  There are edible playdough recipes available....... if you want to teach your children and grandchildren how to eat playdough... I wouldn't think it is a good idea, but that is your call!

Cindy

Life in the Summer

Hello my long lost blogging friends.  Since we last talked it has been insane busy around here with gardening, chickens and chickens and chickens and some ducks and

SWIMMING!!!!!  Yeah for swimming.  Otherwise, all I would be doing is weeding, watering and tying the endless rows of tomatoes :)

........ except that maybe it got a little too busy - I seem to have lost my voice.  This is an old, old, OLD injury from my babyhood through my whole life - but I have been free from this problem for quite a while.  I have actually had to take a week off - not for something fun, but just to sleep and NOT TALK!  Anyone that knows me understands my dilemma.  I am also trying every remedy I have ever tried, heard of, or persuaded anyone else to do.  I appear to have maxed out on a few remedies - today I am trying something else.

DETOX might be hitting next :)  but my voice is coming back.  It is not gone for months, but weeks.  This is good.

While I was doing nothing but sleep, our oldest son was teaching his son to wakesurf.  I totally missed it, but thanks to friend Melissa, I saw some pictures.  His folks said I could share them.

Enjoy
Cindy

First, you have to gear up.....
Wait a minute, just what are you geared up for???

Next you need to learn how to fall off the board.... 1-2-3-Jump

Dad is there waiting.

.....and he's UP!

Yep.... I'm totally cool  :)

A Project in Process

We have all been working hard around here to make the pool area safer, cleaner and function better.  One of the big projects involved turning an old, unworking, hot tub into a kids pool.  The next generation is coming up and I am tired of fishing kids out of the middle of the silly thing.  Also, cleaning it was a nightmare because of the different levels and little corners.

It started out looking like this (well, once we drained the swamp):

This mess got pressure washed and scraped with a wire brush, then rocks added to the middle:

Next came the big concrete job  :)  :)
                               (normally their concrete jobs look more like this)

First you gotta fire up the old mixer.  I think it is older than I am.  It is a good thing George keeps anything and everything.... and keeps it working :)

Add a little concrete and water, mix and dump.

Devise a high tech concrete delivery system.... 

Lots of advice on how to properly spread it around.

Looking for a nice, straight.... or kind of straight... board.

Yep, it works  :)

Floating it out with a little advice from the peanut gallery....

I'll help Papa!

You are never too young to figure out how to finish concrete around here.

.....or a little instruction from Dad...

It is all ready to be cured and painted.... The process will take a couple of weeks.

The baby obligingly slept through the process.

Then, time to move on to the next project..... the never ending fence fixing.

 

A semi-finished kids pool.  Somehow water got in there.  I have no idea how that happened.  Dad planned to put the final coat on with the sand mixed in so it is not slick.... all possible kids are frantically scooping water out.

Cindy