Crazy Time is over for now....

Well, the crazy busy time is over for the moment. I had a bunch of dogs go home 2 days ago, and it's taken me this long to recover. That's just sad.
I have a bunch more dogs going home on Monday and Tuesday, and I think I even have a night with only my own dogs.... I am going to just sit back and enjoy it! That almost never happens anymore!
Then I have to get busy and make sure I am pulling in enough money for the winter. Classes to plan, and I want to expand my daycare dogs. I have more than I used to, but my goal is to get another 10 dogs coming at least once or twice a week by the end of Sept. Then that should do me for them moment!

I got back out into the garden this morning, and planted a bed of spinach. I still have wayyyy more to plant, but I hope to get on it this week, and get most of it all in. I need to be prepared for winter! I've been saving my grocery reciepts for over a year now, and my bill has gone down by about 70% this summer... that's a trend I would like to continue! I am eating lots from my garden, and am making my own drinks now (lots of ginger beer... more on this soon!). I am making sure I have something fermented in my diet each and every day. The whole fermentation thing took me a while to adjust to. You think 'fermented... EWWWW'. After you do it a bit, though, you get used to the idea, and actually look forward to the fermented foods. I just get sad when I realize how close we have come to completely losing this knowledge on how to prepare foods like this. My lunch today is cherry tomato salad with fermented beets and cheese and balsmic vinagrette salad and some sourdough bread, with ginger ale to drink. It cost me about 50 cents with everything, and I will be really full and everything is yummy and healthy!!
I have officially lost 14 lbs eating tradionally like this now. I'm not trying to lose weight, it just comes off. It's the coolest thing ever!

Changes in my diet...

So, today I wanted to share with you the changes I've made in my diet the last few months. I have been researching (quite by accident!) on going back to a very traditional diet. Basically, if my grandma wouldn't have recognized the food, it's not on the menu. That's not to say I am being anal retentive about it - I let myself have some processed crap once in a while, but I find my body not liking it much when I do.
For dinner tonite (as an example) I had a stir fry with snap peas, zucchini, garlic, potatoes, broccoli (all fresh from my own garden) and pasture raised pork, and mushrooms (from the store.) It was delicious! And oh, so good for me!

Some simple changes I've made to get the process started:

• no more refined sugar. If I need sugar, I now use unrefined cane sugar
• sea salt instead of table salt
• sourdough bread (fermented foods are extremely good for you... and yummy, too!)preferably made with whole grain flour, not white or whole wheat flour
• unpasturized honey (pasturized honey has a glycemic level that is through the roof - the heating process does that. Plus, unpasturized has certain bacterias that are very beneficial to us)
• NO PROCESSED FOODS
• Raw milk. This one is my personal favourite. It is illegal to buy (stupid government) so you have to find a cow share to get into). Raw milk has beneficial bacteria and microbes we all NEED to be healthy, and OMG is it ever good. You have to get your milk from grass-fed, hand milked cows. The grass fed is the healthiest way to keep your cow, and machine milked cows are the scary type... bad bacteria builds up in the machines, and that's why we now need to pasturize our grocery store milk. Think about it - 100 years ago, people drank raw milk every day, and no one died from it. It was only when we industrialized the process that people started to get sick.
• Butter from grass fed cows. NO MORE MARGARINE! I now make my own butter from my milk each week. The stuff from the store is the same old story - made from corn and grain fed cows... NOT healthy for you at all.
• meat - now I only get my meat from grass fed cows, pasture raised chickens and pigs. Also, I raise my own eggs from pasture raised chickens. These eggs and meat have lots of natural omega-3's, and other healthy nutrients we need. Again, it's how we raise the animals that has the most impact on how healthy the products we get from them are. Eggs only became 'bad' when they started raising them on corn and grain (not a natural diet) and keeping them in little cages or cramped in close quarters. Sad.

Slowly, I am adding a new element into my diet, making more of my own foods, growing as much as I can, and trying to buy organic when I can afford it.
Some huge differences I've noticed - the most noticable thing is that I don't get any zits anymore! I have only had one in the last 3 or 4 months. My skin is clearer than it's been since I was a kid. The zit I did get was just about 3 weeks ago. I was all rush, rush, and panicky - didn't have time to make something good, so I went to McDonald's. Within HOURS, I had a brush of pimples all over my chin. Geez! They have since cleared up, and I haven't had another since... I think that's telling me something!
I have more energy - I work 16 hour days, running 2 business', and I'm not totally dragged out all the time. I used to be, even when I wasn't working hard.
I have lost 10 lbs, and I am not even trying to. It is coming off slowly, but surely. It's great!
I still am not getting any major sugar cravings. I didn't realize I used to eat so much sugar - I thought my diet was good. Not. Now, I have a little piece of chocolate each day, and unless I get really stressed out, that seems to be enough.
My teeth seem to be getting healthier. I always have taken good care of my teeth, but have fillings all over the place. I have recently had a few fillings fall out, and can't afford to go to the dentist. BUT, the cavities I have in those places are hurting less and less, and getting less and less sensitive to temperature. Interesting!

So, I'm not telling you this to nag, or say that this is the only way to eat. Just Food For Thought;-) To me, it actually makes sense. This is how people used to eat in the olden days - before cancer was a common word, before everyone was chubby, and before tooth decay was rampant.

If you want to find out more, go to http://nourishedkitchen.com/

Crazy Days of Spring!

Well, spring is proceeding with it's usual undecidedness. Warm and sunny one day, frost the next night, and pouring rain next. You never know what the weather will bring!
Things are progressing in the garden very well for the most part. Broad beans, peas, some lettuce, arugula and carrots are popping up. A few lettuce varieties I planted haven't shown up yet... not sure what is up with that. I'm going to wait until it warms a bit, then try replanting them. I need those early crops!
I am stoked to report I finished all 50 of my garden beds on March 26. It was 11 days later than my goal, but that's ok... I got it done, and am feeling quite proud of that fact. Most beds are planted now, but I've saved a few beds to plant assorted beans into later this month when it gets warmer. I've also been working on doing yet another business plan... I am applying to the government for a grant, to see if I can get further funding so I can put the rest of the garden beds in, as well as finish my orchard and berry patch. I also want to build a few new chicken coops, so I can rotate their pasture, and the chickens will always have fresh pasture to forage in. After this winter, the chicken runs look like giant mud patties. I can't imagine that it's the healthiest thing for chickens to walk around on.
A friend of a friend gave me 30 laying hens a few weeks ago. They are just the regular laying hens, which give you huge eggs, but I still love my Dorkings the best. The new layers just drop dead every once in a while... they are definitely not as hardy as the heritage breeds.
Here is a sample of the difference in the eggs:

Even though the Dorking eggs are smaller, the birds win the contest for overall hardiness and ease of keeping. I am keeping my fingers crossed right now.... 5 of my hens are broody, and I am hoping for some little Dorking chicks soon!

Here is a pic of my new layers. There were 30 of them, but Reckless ate 2, and 4 died spotaneously.

I am also taking part in a challenge- it's called the Nourished Kitchen. It's teaching people how to eat traditionally, like we did 100 years ago and more - BEFORE we had tooth decay, and everyone got chubby. It's the direction I've wanted to go anyway, but didn't really know how to start- alot of the things we used to do to eat have been lost in the mass of processed foods we eat these days. So, I am learning how to make my own sourdough bread (and pancakes!) at the moment. It's really interesting! Things I didn't know: sourdough bread is WAY healthier for you, plus it keeps your blood sugar levels even, and is especially good for diabetics. This is the link if you are thinking of doing the same thing: http://nourishedkitchen.com/
I am looking for a cow to buy shares in, so I can get ahold of raw milk, and learn to make my own butter and yogurt products. It's so exciting to try all this stuff! The best part since I've been eating these foods is this:
I AM NOT GETTING THE TREMENDOUS SUGAR CRAVINGS I NORMALLY HAVE. I have been a junk food junky all my life, and every time I've tried to 'eat healthy' in the past (low fat, blah, blah, blah) I've had sugar cravings that have almost killed me. This week, I bought a chocolate bar and put it into my fridge. For anyone who knows me, that bar would usually have been gone the day, no, the minute I bought it. It has been 4 days, and it is still in my fridge. I've had a couple of bites, but that little bit was all I needed. I am so excited to try some new traditional recipes, and see where it takes me...

The cherry blossoms are out and I just had to take a picture of my little Aaron cherry tree all dressed up. Can't wait for those cherries this summer!

I also have 2 new arrivals at the farm. Katrina, who owns the horse that boards with me got 2 little Shetland ponies- Babe and Lenny. They are so cute, and a joy to have at the farm!

I went to a meeting a couple of weeks ago for people who raise heritage turkeys. You know how much I hated those damn turkeys....
Well, I am going to try again. There was some really awesome people there, and one of the ladies is going to come over and help me clip the turkey wings, so I don't have escapes every 10 seconds. In theory, it should be a little less stressful this time around...
We are also getting a new food made for the turkeys and chickens, which mimics closer the feed we used to give these birds. We should get faster growth out of them... it will be interesting to try it, and see what the difference is!