A Small Steps Farmer

Indoor Winter Gardening - April

2011-04-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't really know how to start this post. I did learn a lot from this experiment. Mostly that I need to make some preparations during the warmer months so that I can have the home grown food that I want.

Many of the veg that I like (zucchini, cucumber, even carrots) require heat to produce their edible produce. The plants grow indoors and even flower but that is it. At least for me anyway.

In this experiment I did get to eat some fun salad with lettuce I grew inside and some Zucchini blossoms. It was very yummy. Now I have planted some Pansies inside to see if I can add them to salad too.

I wanted to mention the few things that I found when trying to get the indoor garden to grow. The first being fertilizers. Picking the weeds from the garden and adding them to a screen covered and water filled container like a plastic garbage can will produce a fertilizer for the garden that is very good for it and very natural. Any left over fluid in this container at the end of the growing season can be put in cleaned milk jugs and stored inside for the winter for house gardens (veg or otherwise) only the liquid will have to be diluted so that it isn't smelly when applied.

Next, the salad ingredients grown inside should really be added to store bought salad ingredients to help them go farther. It takes a lot of space to grow enough salad for two adults and two children to eat it daily but even a handful of home grown indoor salad adds a bunch of flavour to store bought ingredients. And colour too.

I will do this indoor veg gardening again this fall. I'm going to try starting the ingredients outside and then bring them in and see what result that gives. Also, I am going to try the above mentioned fertilizer indoors. In all I think that this indoor garden attempt was fun and worth the effort. I think it will even help the outdoor growing efforts this year.

Best to all your efforts too.

Lousy Labels - Marketplace

2011-03-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

In my last post I mentioned the illusions of product labels and Marketplace has aired an episode that delves into this concept as it concerns organic and natural products, including those for babies.

when my second child was born I became conscious of the natural products out there and now that I have seen the Market place episode - Lousy Labels I can't help feel a little more confused and a little angry.

First I would like to define Organic and Natural. Even defining "Organic" is difficult. I looked Organic up using The Free Dictionary and some other sources and found that really the word organic is redefined for so many things.

Defining Natural is much like Organic as found in The Free Dictionary. It makes it easy then to make Organic and Natural to mean what ever you want.

I read some of the comments attached to the Marketplace episode and some comments were quite good. Uranium is an organic substance but we don't want to hold it in our hands in any form. Asbestos is also organic. You see where this is going. I don't want to be applying harmful things to my person just because I don't have time to read every label when I have two children in the store with me and a wall of choices but this is what we have to do.

One product that I did find when I was preparing for my youngest was Bare Organics and I have read the ingredients of these products. I haven't been disappointed in these products at all. There are other products like this available in Canada but not in any local stores. Thank goodness for the power of the internet.

I'll have to continue this later. we're off to town now.

Mental Health?

2011-03-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

I've come to understand that I am not mentally well. I don't really mean this in jest either.
When did it become OK or acceptable to expect others to look after our well being?

About a month ago I posted the facts (as I saw them) about mine and my children's adventure to the Emergency Room. We had gone there because I couldn't get my children into see a doctor sooner than a week's time. They were sick forever and I didn't know what else to do. I was upset about having to take them there but more upset because I thought that the doctors had let my kids down. I thought for some reason it must have been an isolated incident but it wasn't. Yes doctors are here to help us but aren't they supposed to be there for us when we (or our children) really need medical intervention?

Today a friend is faced with much the same thing. Her daughter is really sick and can't see a doctor at the clinic. She is faced with the Emergency Room too. it is difficult to know when to go and see the doctor or when the Emergency Room is needed these days.

There aren't enough doctors. We have so many "sick" people. I've just come to understand that I am a chronic disease person myself and one of the "sick" people. I'm only in my mid thirties and I have a chronic disease. I am overweight and I can and have problems being able to move. How did I get to be one of the SICK people?

I remember the anti-smoking campaigns where focus was placed on asking people to think of others before lighting up. That second hand smoke was harmful to others and especially kids. That was moving, to know that an action done by one person could harm a child indirectly.
More so I think now that the moving aspect of that campaign was that the smoker was being asked to be responsible, for themselves and those around them.

Even a month ago I was placing the responsibility of being healthy on the doctor. My husband and I chose to live in rural Saskatchewan and with that comes the responsibility to foster better health in ourselves and our kids because the "Health Care" system can no longer afford to be responsible for our health. That is what this whole lifestyle change has ultimately been about, to be healthier. If we were healthier to start with we wouldn't need the doctor as often, Right?

I can change my actions a lot easier than I can change those of others. The challenge for taking on this responsibility is just that, a challenge. Healthy food is difficult to spot, especially if we don't know ALL of the ingredients (those things that are left out because they are considered to be to insignificant) or are unable to find what things we are looking for. The responsibility becomes mine to grow, raise and learn in order to care for my children and keep them healthy and not in NEED of the "Health Care" system. I have a renewed interest in the 100 mile/Km diet concept. If we can know the farmer or the person that makes the thing that we are going to eat or use, that takes much of the guess work out of things.

To all others out there on the same or a similar path, Bon Chance (good luck), we'll need it. I began this post implying that I was not mentally well. I still don't think that I am. Our brain needs oxygen to function properly and without exercise the brain doesn't get the oxygen it needs. No wonder I can't remember things the way I used to or sleep the way I remember I used to be able to do (and yes I know I have kids and I thought that would make falling asleep easier). As my health returns and I continue to see life as less of an obstacle and more as a gift, I will remember that there are people out there who have better health but I would be willing to bet that they have already taken their health as their own responsibility.

As for the doctors in Saskatchewan. I really wish the best for you. I can't imagine the weight of responsibility for the health of people that won't help themselves and eat better or exercise or even sleep well. As a recovering one of these people I will try to see the doctor for things not chronic disease related in an attempt to not be a "sick" person any longer.

Good luck to my friend and her daughter who really need to see a doctor today.

Chickens and Goats

2011-03-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

Yep, Chickens and Goats. It turns out that I'm crazy. I like me that way but life can't be dull when you don't know what your doing.

We will be getting 150 chickens this year in two groups. The first group of 75 chickens will be "Browns". This type of chicken has New Hampshire in I think. The second group of 75 chickens will be Black Sex Links. These are really pretty chickens and they lay (at least what I have read) really large eggs and they brood. I want to get our cattle feed lot (we don't have cattle) to be a fenced in chicken pasture for truly free ranged chickens. We want them for meat and for laying.

When we get that under as much control as we can after fencing and grass seeding and coop building etc. we will begin preparation for some goats. Goats! I like that that sounds crazy and I like that I think that I can take that on. I want to be able to milk one and raise them. My biggest concern is their temperament. Goats like to cause trouble. I want animals on the farm that the children will like too.

I'll keep you all posted on this crazy and exciting endeavour.

Back to basics, Again!

2011-03-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

As spring arrives with the start of a new promising growing season and I know that I have taken on too much work, I plan to start with my new frame of mind, small steps, but not in the garden. I had forgotten this concept in practice over the last few weeks. With this spring and the weather and the kids, well, things became overwhelming and I regressed to old ways. I have discovered that I tend to freak out over the unknown. I like order and I want what I want, now. This is of course not useful and I am starting again with my lifestyle change because I do want it and I have made some progress.

Small steps are required for most of the things that I do, I just don't listen to myself that clearly. I had given up coffee and now I am drinking it again. But I have incorporated more veg into my diet and water and I don't even have to think about those any more.

I wanted to share some small step guides with you again. These three things have helped me get back on track without loosing the big picture:

1. upper body strength - I haven't got any upper body strength and haven't for some time now, so a push up for me is intimidating to say the least. I have now been instructed on how to get to a point of being able to do a push up. Do push ups up against the wall. As many as you can do for three sets every other day. It looks silly I'm sure but I can feel it working in my arms. Now if my life depended on a push up I might be able to do one.

2. Cardio exercise - I don't have the time with two very young children to get in the cardio that I need the way I used to think I needed to get it, in 20 or 30 minute bouts. Burst training is helping with that and I am starting to feel stronger too. I've mentioned the Burst training in the past I think but it is worth mentioning again. Just run on the spot for half a minute for three sets with a small 10 to 15 second break in between the sets. Mixing it up with running, jumping jacks, squats, kicks, etc. makes it more fun and must be harder (at least it feels harder). As you get better at it increase the duration to 45 seconds a set, then a minute and so on.

3. Eating Veg - I always thought that a serving of veg was what you put on your plate (and it is) but in general, a serving is about half a cup. When speaking in terms of broccoli for instance, half a cup is only three or four uncooked florets. That's not that much and makes it seems more attainable to get my goal of 10 servings a day. I had a lunch of baby carrots, celery sticks mushroom caps, and broccoli and cauliflower florets with a small sandwich and I've already had three or four servings just with that and I couldn't finish my sandwich.

I'm going to be constantly learning and making mistakes at this but I know that I'm trying to do it and so I have to believe I will.

"Small Steps"

Is Spring in the Air?

2011-02-25T11:59:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again when I start to think of all of the things that I am going to do outside. For those of you reading this that aren't from Saskatchewan, it is -34 Celsius with a windchill of -45 Celsius. This makes planning the yard and garden difficult for me because I tend to "dream" about all the possibilities in an attempt, I think, to block out the freezing reality.

Never the less, I have already started many garden plants in the house and have run into a small snare. I don't want to fertilize my home grown plants (that we will be eating) with chemical fertilizers. I am looking for a convenient and easy way to make fertilizer to use on things like lettuce, bell peppers and even zucchini. I would use kelp or fish or even the chicken manure from the barn but they all smell foul (no pun intended) when used in the house. Any suggestions would be welcome.

As for the vegetables themselves. We are successfully growing: homesteader peas, black zucchini, beets, carrots, tomatoes, parsley, garlic, bunching onions and strawberries. We are already eating the very dwarf peas and it looks like the zucchini are about to bloom. We started everything the second week of January.

We have just planted the second planting of Tomatoes, Peas and a new batch of herbs and Jalapenos. The first plantings of Jalapenos didn't make it nor did the Rosemary, Artichoke or eggplant.

As for what we can eat now: the mixed lettuce, peas, beet tops, parsley and within days the zucchini blooms (or we could let them grow and see if they make it to full vegetables.

It is all very exciting. I think that we will start some pansies and violas and see if we can make pretty salads. Maybe the kids would like that.

Maybe the weather gets as bad as this so that people like me get motivated at the right time to get the garden veg that needs to be started now started. I really could use a break from this really really cold weather though.

Milk from Cow to shelf

2011-02-20T14:09:00.000-08:00

I have had the opportunity to speak to the neighbours that used to have dairy cattle. They couldn't continue to supply milk. It wasn't affordable for them. I did learn that there is a lot of detail and attention that goes into dairy farming. Everything has to be just so and this makes sense because of concerns for TB and other bacteria that can make the milk unsuitable for drinking.

I also received a reply from the Dairy Farmers of Canada. They provided me with much information concerning care of animals and quality of milk. Concisely, they say the same thing about care and attention as our neighbours and add that grain fed to cattle is determined by region. They also mentioned that grain is carefully given to cattle because of Stomach problems ( I think this refers to blotting though I am not positive).

Having said all of that I now question more than ever the processes that milk is subjected to once it gets to the production phase. This is truly becoming quite a complicated subject.

Now that the kids are no longer sick I am going to attempt again to get in touch with Parmalat. In the mean time I am going to look into the processes milk goes through just to be shelved in the store as a drinkable product. Also, I am still looking into the difference between Organic Milk and regular milk but I guess now I also need to look into Raw milk and Raw milk products.

Starting with the neighbour's information that when the pasteurization of the milk destroys enzymes that aid in the digestion of dairy.

Little Things

2011-02-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

I am by no means a gourmet cook. I likely will never be anything close to one but I do enjoy more and more accomplishing a meal that is both healthy and balanced. This was not always the case.

When I first started cooking without non-stick coated pots and pans everything stuck to them. It didn't matter what I was doing nothing came out of the pot or pan. I ruined a very good pot when I actually burnt rice in water. I still don't know how that happened. poor pot.

I wanted to share some of the Little Things that when I started this lifestyle change were not, at least to me, obvious.

1. I didn't know that a stainless steel pan needs to be cured (heated with oil) slowly like one would ready a cast iron pan before using it. Heat the pan and then add the oil. Only cook the food once the oil is hot too. Then the food doesn't stick, usually.

2. Using a hand blender that cleans quickly is an easier way to add vegetables to meals (especially when the veggie choice is presently not a favorite with the kids).

3. Substituting ingredients is not a scary task at all. I used to think that just because I didn't have one or two of the ingredients I couldn't make the recipe. I have found great substitutions both on the internet and from friends. Now I make substitutions quite a bit more.

4. Sugar. This is the newest revelation for me. There are so many sweet substitutions out there now that I am beginning to feel that their isn't any real need to eat sugar even though it is in EVERYTHING I am starting to realize that we don't need to add it to things.

Eat well. :)

Village on a Diet

2011-02-08T22:07:00.001-08:00

I forgot to mention in my last post that my husband and I have just seen an episode of "Village on a diet". Initially we didn't want to watch it because it appeared to be a program about dieting. this program is about lifestyle change. Encouraged lifestyle change and there is someone in that village that pretty near represents any lifestyle change approach I could think of.

I wanted to mention this program in my last post because of the communal approach to change. This community is taking on huge changes, and yes they have much help that many of us will never see when making our own changes, but they are making changes together. The program is interesting to me because it is also motivating. To see someone (or in my case I relate to one or two things about many of the participants)go through something and then overcome the challenge or fail at it and then try again, helps.

This television program is very like the Innate lifestyle program that I am trying to convert my lifestyle into. No sugars, fewer but healthier grain choices, better mind set, more water and lots and lots of easy exercise.

If you haven't heard of Village on A Diet you should check it out. Maybe it will be the small piece of information that you need to motivate or direct.

Community Health

2011-02-08T14:53:00.000-08:00

I had a recent eye opener that left me a little dazed.

I came to this small community only three years ago. I didn't really know that many people and none of them really well. I had some preconceived idea that the community was responsible for welcoming us and helping us get to know them. This didn't happen.

A friend of mine recently joined an organized religion. This particular community of individuals made my friend and her family feel very welcome and loved especially in their time of great circumstance. It really was little wonder that she and her family are as happy as they are now because they are not alone. They can concern themselves with lifestyle changes and know that they are "looked after", to a certain degree. As a result they are making great changes through hard work but their spirits are high. It may sound corny but I don't know how else to put it.

It is my opinion that all organized religions focus on community. How to coexist in trying and exceptional times. The great epiphany for me was that we, each of us, is responsible for making our own community. I was lost when my husband and I moved out here and I waited for someone (community/town) to find and help us out. What I didn't consider was that I wasn't going to be apart of the whole if I didn't just get out and do something. While I was wallowing I forgot to look after myself and just wallowed.

I mention this today because I have been re-energized by this idea. I am empowered to make greater personal change and I haven't even changed my current community standing, I just want to now. The sole idea that the whole, what ever the whole might be is enough. I find that there is a self importance to community involvement whether the community is a town, a religious group, family or even a large group of close friends. It makes it a little easier to change with a support group. I don't know why but there it is.

The Health Care Outcome

2011-02-05T11:22:00.001-08:00

As a young child I had a very good family doctor. Dr. Kinear (Sp?)was gruf and loud and didn't take any biting from little girls who didn't want to get their vaccinations. So all the unpleasantness of yesterdays excursion to the Emergency Ward was taken with stride, I think.

Showing up at the Emergency to have myself and children examined for a cold was not well received. The first question they ask as you come in the door is "Why are you here"? Having to tell them that I didn't know what I was up against with the vomiting and the coughing and the frequent trips to the bathroom for all of us didn't do anything for their threshold.

The doctor was the real treat. I haven't met anyone else, who like my grandmother, can chastise, belittle and sooth without changing tone or volume. None of my direct questions were actually answered, I was told to purchase Imodiem and Children's gravol to deal with the violent attributes of whatever we actually have and we were off.

Not a pleasant experience but effective I suppose. So, I could go to bed last night knowing that my children were looked at by a doctor and presumably have nothing that is life threatening. Regardless of having taken them to Emergency when the family doctor wasn't available for more than a week.

Just doing the best I can.

Saskatchewan health care and colds

2011-02-04T06:57:00.000-08:00

I don't suppose I'm alone in saying "What the heck is going on". My children and I have been sick with what I thought was a cold for the past two weeks. It is either not a cold or it is crafty and bouncing back and forth between each of my children and myself just enough to keep us miserable and raw nosed.

At this stage I thought that it would be a good idea to see the family doctor to find out just what is going on. Sounds simple enough. The next available doctor wasn't our family doctor but a resident and not available for yet another week. That's a long time to wait with two sick children under the age of four and you yourself not even close to par. I voiced as much to the poor operator on the other end of the phone, in a voice raspy and likely difficult to understand. My options are to stay home and continue to take in fluids to the point of drowning or seek assistance at the Emergency Room in the nearest City (half hour drive from home).

Seeing a doctor seemed like a good idea before "Emergency Room" was thrown into the conversation, but now? Does this mean that I am one of those people that runs to the doctor at every sniffle or that I am being overly concerned with the state of health my children and I are in? What if I'm not and nobody can tell for sure unless we see a doctor. Does this sound like a cyclical thought process to anyone else?

I don't know if the conflict of interest is with the Medical Clinic or with me. I suppose that it depends on your point of view. I sure do feel confused about it though.

We stayed home yesterday because I couldn't talk myself into an hour round trip to the Emergency Room just to wait there with two sick children for who knows how long all for a "Cold". Now I can't but help think that that was their plan all along. I started to wonder why I couldn't see the doctor until next week anyway. Was it that the doctor didn't want to see a patient or was it something else. It was my mother who was the one likely to have hit the nail on the head with "their offices are filled with patients that have chronic disease". This makes sense whether it is correct or not. The only time I really end up in the Doctor's Office is when I have to have something scheduled anyway like an annual physical or something.

I really don't know why I was so upset. We are all still sick today and I am that much closer to packing everyone up and going to the Emergency Room to address this silly "cold" but I am still going to keep the appointment for next week with the family doctor, Just in case.

Common Sense and milk

2011-01-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

As stated before, We are what we eat. It makes sense that that would be true for any animal. A healthy cow will provide healthy milk. There are many concerns for me concerning milk. The first being what makes a healthy cow. according to organic livestock production manuals and workbooks a healthy cow requires space to graze, clean water, a waste managed space and organic feed. The feed not only has to be organic but not be fine particles or the beast will bloat. Feeds can be grain, grass, cull vegetables and forage etc. The exception is that the cow not be fed overly grown woody food because it doesn't have high levels of nutrition and of course it has to be organic. This is of course a generalization, I am not a cattle farmer.

Having said all of that, how do we know about the milk we buy at the store? We call the company. As it turns out, our house drinks Coop milk which is supplied (I Think by Saskatchewan dairy producers) and one lives down the road. I think I will ask them some questions and see what I can find out. In the mean time I have found the sources listed below if anyone is concerned with what I am discovering. It turns out that the milk we drink is primarily marketed to stay on the shelf longer. Not be nutritious or taste good. No surprise there. Most food is becoming like this. The processing of the milk after it leaves the farms seems to be the biggest concern to me but I'll see what our neighbour says.

Sources:
ww1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex6769
http://www.attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF//livestockworkbook.pdf
http://eap.mcgill.ca/MagRack/RH/RH_E_97_05.htm

Milk?

2011-01-29T17:59:00.000-08:00

I have always felt that milk was an essential component of ones diet. I have done some investigation into the quality of milk. albeit that I did the research online but I am still really confused.

I believe that there must be an issue with milk to some degree because of the increasing cases of lactose intolerance. I would be one of these cases so I can't dodge that one. But milk is in so many recipes too.

I'm still going to continue to look into this and see what the conditions of milk are in Sask. but I haven't any answers now.

I also wanted to draw some attention to a blog that I have seen today....
www.ecofamilylife.blogspot.com. Not only is the author taking steps to be healthier but is taking steps to become gluten free. Not easy.

Food Quality

2011-01-23T18:32:00.000-08:00

It doesn't take much to understand that you are what you eat. just like so many things, the better the ingredients the better the final product. So, why then is it so difficult for me and likely many others to figure out what to eat. It isn't rocket science but it is harder than it sounds.

Vegetables are the key. At least that is what the live right now advertisements are saying. I get that but food choice is part of it to. Garden carrots even taste better than store bought carrots but they are hard to come by in the middle of winter. Organic is a good idea too but at what expense and then there is the selection available when one lives farther and farther away from a major center like we do.

It's a lot to take in when you're just starting to make lifestyle changes for health. How much of a change is necessary and how little is not enough. I think that every little change for the better is enough. As long as you keep making more and more small changes.

Starting with sugar elimination was a little too much to start with. Sugar is in everything. Almost everything really does have some form of Sugar in it in one form or another. I'm still going to make as much of an effort about the sugar as I can reasonably do for the time being like not drink pop and not buy anything more that is obviously high in sugar. Sugar is one of the hidden ingredients in foods that make it stay tasty for weeks when it would otherwise go bad. This household will have a difficult time letting go of BBQ sauce.

One of the my other biggest concerns is milk. What is the truth about milk. I'm going to look into this next and get back. Cheese is another large consumable that we need to look into. I don't know if this house can give up cheese if it needs to.

Just trying to keep up

2010-12-22T17:53:00.000-08:00

As the holidays begin and the office parties, preschool parties, group gatherings, social events of all kinds really, come and go. I realize that anyone trying to maintain any semblance of normal is likely at home alone. Right now I am wishing for just two hours of home alone. I need sleep. I'll sleep on Sunday.

For Christmas day, everyone will be here for the big meal and I'm trying to pack it full of veg to offset all of the other stuff. I now know that I over plan things like this and that that is likely why I don't volunteer for much of this kind of event hosting. So, three days and counting and we are now officially two or three days into the holidays and we have just gotten the tree up and the menu planned. Now for the shopping and the mad dash through the house cleaning up and hopefully a nap.

I'll get back to lifestyle "change" when the holidays are over but I am still trying to make sure that we all keep moving and make the best diet choices that we can. Good Luck to everyone else too.

The Christmas party

2010-12-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

Well it is that time of year again that dictates a certain social requisite to attend the Office Christmas Party. I believe that every place my husband has worked has had one of these parties and this year He has just started working there so neither of us will know anyone there.

I think that I am starting to get a little overwhelmed. Lifestyle changes in mind. We are just going to have to do the best that we can and hope that the guilty conscience won't stress us out to much. Maybe more exercise will be the answer.

On that note, getting the kids to be more active was only as hard as getting me to let them call the game. wrestling, chase, playing in the snow (when the wind hasn't been an issue) and even squats and crunches. Today's activity took all morning but the basic concept was my son getting himself dressed. He was everywhere and it took over an hour but he did it all on his own. My youngest likes to dance but only if there is audience participation. She does it all the time if I just bounce with her.

So in closing I guess the focus for the lifestyle change is really on me. What I am going to focus on for the next few days will be my mental state. Live and let live but try and stay the course.

Small Steps

An Indoor Winter Salad Garden

2010-12-16T14:56:00.000-08:00

I was just trying to figure out if it was possible to grow salad planters in the winter and I came across this link:

http://www.squidoo.com/salad-garden

This website gives me a little hope to cut the grocery shopping down and I might actually get my Eggplant. Yay!!

Busy

2010-12-16T10:14:00.000-08:00

I think that one of my biggest obstacles to changing the current lifestyle that I lead is going to be the planning. I thought that it was going to cost to much or that the food would taste less than desirable but that isn't true. I thought that the exercise would be difficult to work in (though we aren't where we should be) but it isn't. The difficult aspect of this lifestyle change is the planning that has to go into travel.

We have to go at least half and hour one way to get Veg from the store. We can get it here to some degree but it isn't a very good selection. We have to go to the same city to get the car gizmos looked at and my husband works in this city so sometimes the kids and I have to go to his work. It isn't really realistic to just stay confined to the farm either. Like I said before in an earlier post, we will have to venture out for some reason or another anyway and we will encounter the world. But what have we done when encountering the world? We caved in.

Last night the time constraint in what was happening between where we were and where we needed to be and the children hungry and I hadn't left enough time to make anything (based on what we had on hand at home) led to eating at a Fast Food Joint. I still have a head ache and I really don't feel well. Mostly though I feel stupid. I know better and yet.... there it is. Lack of planning and bad decision making.

I'm chalking this up to a lesson learned and a reminder. From this point forward I am always going to take food with us no matter if I think that we are going to be back home in time or not. I just can't predict everything.

P.S. I know that I have been told to travel with food before mostly because of the kids but now I won't scoff at it.

Back to Square Foot Gardening

2010-12-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness. I started talking about the square foot garden format that I want to use this year and ended up talking about chickens. Wow!!!

We have a little space in the backyard that I have marked out a plot for a raised square foot garden. I am still going to use the city block sized garden in the back back yard for potatoes corn and squash. Just the things like lettuce and tomatoes that require less direct sun and more water (I am tired of hauling that much water that far) will be planted there.

If I can grow things that aren't available in the grocery stores out here I will be really happy. I miss Eggplant and sprouts. I've been told that I can grow some varieties of veg in the house in the winter. I might give that a go too. The only plant life in this house right now is a very sick Amaryllis and an even sicker Geranium left over from this summer on the deck.

We're plowed out now so going to the store this afternoon in the City may be possible.

Square foot gardening

2010-12-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to grow a successful veg garden since we moved out to the farm. Previously I was a flower gardener and I think that I was good at it. I don't know if it is that gardening vegetables is that much harder than flowers or if it is just that the soil here is different than what I grew up with.

I have begun planning my garden for this coming year so that I can best plan our Chicken Moat. I discovered this idea of keeping chickens around the garden on the internet quite by accident. I think that this is a great idea. This coming year we want to have about 40-50 laying hens and about 50 meat birds that we can raise as free range as we can manage. Trial and error seems to be our way of adaptation.

Hopefully by this time next year when/if we experience another snow deposit like last nights, we will be able to enjoy (worry free) our own organically grown produce and meat and not have to worry about heading off to the store for veg.

This is all apart of our lifestyle change. Not to grow everything ourselves necessarily but to procure healthy food so that our bodies can be healthy. Until then, let the planning continue and the imagination free. I also hope that I don't take on more than I can chew.

posting

2010-12-14T16:50:00.001-08:00

I suppose that it needs to be mentioned that the posts for this blog are made "on the fly". There will be grammar and spelling errors because I just don't have the time to go over them again before posting them. If I did, they wouldn't likely get posted.

Snack

2010-12-14T13:50:00.000-08:00

I have to say it. At the best of times I don't give my son Chocolate. He doesn't react well to it. It isn't that he is allergic to it but I almost feel like I should tell people that he is. Snack at pre-school was chocolate chip cookies and apple juice. I'm thankful that he got a snack and that today I didn't have to arrange it but I just wish it wasn't cookies and juice.

Part of the issue here is that while my children are at home I have the control to balance the diet. He's going to have to go to school in the not to distant future and I won't have a say in the matter then. I won't even know if he'll eat what he has been given for lunch. Like I said earlier, I'm going to have to get more creative. Ramp up the exercise. Any Ideas?

Stretching

2010-12-14T06:43:00.000-08:00

Well, the stretching went well. My son likes to try to tickle my hands while I do the stretches. Not quite what I had in mind but it's a start right. Just need to work on making breakfast healthier and palatable to this youngster and the morning will be half sorted out. Hopefully!

Age of Enlightenment

2010-12-13T18:34:00.000-08:00

I'm actually having a difficult time composing this post today. My mind is swimming in things that I already knew but haven't used in a very long time. I haven't applied these things to my day to day regime and I find it absurd that I am finding it difficult to do what I need to do to change my lifestyle.

This isn't a difficult concept. We all know the rules. Eat well, exercise and don't stress out. Not rocket science. But hearing what I need to do makes me upset that I can't do it. I know that I shouldn't stress about it but....

I remember when I could run (a long long distance in a go) and I remember when I could bend. These are just memories now and I'm only thirty five. My 90 year old grandmother is healthier than I am.

SMALL SMALL steps.

Tomorrow and I do mean Tomorrow first thing, this house is going to initiate a new schedule. Like we have one now. Stretching, breakfast, cleaning up, chores, maybe yoga or Tai Chi and then lunch. We'll start with just the morning and see how that goes.

The age of Enlightenment happened in the 18th Century and left us with the understanding that opening ones eyes to reason was all that was needed to become Modern. Hopefully Tomorrow is the start to the age of Enlightenment in this household.

SMALL STEPS

Life as we know it

2010-12-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

previously I used this blog spot to chronicle my adaptation to living in the country and applying my city training to life in the middle of... well, the country. If you have read what was posted here in the past you would know that ecology and organics was a focus for me but also my young family and the community that I live in. I could be humorous in my description of my husband and the community that we live in and poke jokes at the use of the two block drive to work but then I would be forgetting that I had done that and in doing so omitted to understand lest apply that my lifestyle needed to be corrected too.

In August I suffered another back injury. This was my second lower back malfunction in three years. I am only 35 years old and I discovered that my back health was likely that of a ninety year old woman. One cannot function on zero movement and total pain anywhere. Now through in a new born and a three year old and daily farm chores and you have the mix for a woman in extreme distress.

This blog spot is now dedicated to chronicle my previous goals of applying eco-friendly and organic practices on our farm and the lifestyle change that I am now undergoing and imposing on my family.

My hope is that others can choose to read this and learn from my mistakes so that they don't have to make them as well.