Day 18 Update... Addressing Concerns...

As you may already know, I've had to tweak my diet a little bit for lack of abundance this year.  But I saw a few of my readers yesterday and I wanted to clear up some concerns they were telling me about.  

The first thing I want to talk about is getting enough fats in our diet.  Fats are very important.  Fats help our bodies metabolize and absorb the vitamins that we are getting from food.  In fact, eating a little fat at the same time as taking vitamins, if taking them, can increase our bodies usage of the vitamins more than if we don't eat any fat.

  Fat also helps our brains function.  Lack of fats can make people have brain fuzz.  Our brain is made of cholesterol and fat.  There are studies showing that a diet low in "good" fats can cause depression because of the lack of cholesterol.  I really think this is why I felt depressed on my first days into this journey.  My brain wasn't getting what it needed.  The day I added eggs to my diet, I immediately felt better.  

My intention this year was to have more seeds to eat, which contain fatty acids.  I also normally have eggs from my chickens, but they are still too young to lay eggs. So, I have been buying them from a local farmer.  It's all in my planning, or lack of planning, and I will get into more about fats in another post.

The other thing that was mentioned yesterday was carbs.  The nice woman I talked to was telling me about a friend she had who was trying to lose weight and cut out carbs from her diet, was fasting or something, had lost a whole bunch of weight and then was in the emergency room because her heart was going haywire.  I can't remember the story word for word, but I just wanted to make this clear just in case people are thinking I'm doing this to lose weight.  I have lost a little weight, but it is not my intention to use this as a "diet".   Not only can losing weight really fast be bad for your health, but people who lose weight really fast never keep the weight off.  If I lose weight, I want it to be very slowly.  Carbs are great for energy and I am eating lots of carbs.  But not overly processed carbs.  I'm eating potatoes, beans, greens, squash.  All real, unprocessed whole food.

Anyone just starting to follow this blog, or anyone following, but missed it, can go back and read my first post about eating what I grow from back in June.  I give all my reasons for doing this.  Weight loss was only an afterthought.

These last 18 days, I have been on an educational journey.  I'm learning more about myself, and about what I need to do in the future to be more food secure.  That's what this is about for me.  Things have evolved over the last 18 days, but I am still focused on eating real, live, clean, local food, and the good that will do to me, others, and the earth.

Sunflower seeds have lots of good fats in them.  It's a superfood.

Amaranth seeds.  Good fats.

Carbs.  Unprocessed.

Sunflowers in the garden

Note:  I'm adding a note to this post because there are a few things I have wrong in the above blog.   I chose not to delete all the misinformation completely because I want to show that we can all get the wrong info now and again, and it's okay..  I was wrong about the fats and cholesterol.  Like many of you, I have tried many different "diets" that have all failed.  Keto being one of them.  Although we need fats in our diet, I was very wrong about the amount that is adequate and that fats from plants like nuts and seeds are just as viable, without the negative impact that raising animals for meat has on the environment.

Bag Balm

Now that the air is frigid and we have to heat the house to keep warm, the air gets dryer and dryer.  And so does my skin.  I find that the coconut oil I use for moisturizer in the summer does nothing for me in these cold months.  I switch to thicker stuff with cocoa butter or vitamin E in it, and that does the trick for my everyday skin.  But sometimes I need something else for wind burned, chapped skin.  So I break out the bag balm.

I realize most people know about this great stuff already, but as I was fishing my green tin full of relief out of the back of the cupboard in the bathroom, I decided it needed a little attention in this here blog.

I always remember the distinctive green metal tin sitting on the shelf at home.  The first time I ever used it was maybe around high school for burns or something.  My sister and I were always inventing beauty products from things around the house.  That was also around the time we started making our own sugar scrubs for our hands and feet.  I didn't think about bag balm again until I lived on my own and saw it somewhere and bought some.  The tin that I have now is only the second one I've owned in my lifetime.

One of the reasons bag balm doesn't go bad, or rancid is because it contains lanolin.  Lanolin is a byproduct that comes from washing wool.  It is produced by sheep to protect their skin and then is transferred onto the wool.  When the wool is carefully washed after sheering, the lanolin that is washed off can then be used in products to protect our skin.

Bag balm also contains petroleum oil, and 8-Hydroxyquinoline Sulfate, which is an antibacterial and protective property, and another reason it keeps from spoiling.

I think if something has been used consistently since 1899, we should not ignore it.  If you read the container that bag balm comes in, it will say all sorts of things about cows and their udders.  Bag balm is used on dairy cows to keep their parts from being chapped and to help heal abrasions.  I use it for the same reason, but I don't have to stand out in a cold barn waiting to be milked.

Every time I have chapped lips, I put bag balm on them right before bed.  When I wake up, the chapped lips are pretty much gone.  Really sore, dry hands or feet?  I apply bag balm to them and put socks on over the whole mess and go to bed.  By morning I have a baby's butt on my feet.  Lol.

I have used bag balm on my chickens to keep their combs from getting frost bite.  I've used it on the cats and dogs for minor abrasions and rashes.  Blisters, burns, scrapes, and bites, bag balm goes on and a band-aid goes on over that.

There aren't many places you can buy bag balm.  Some drug stores have it.  Most pet supply places have it, especially if they cater to livestock animals.  It's a little more expensive online.  A 10 ounce tin is about $6 or $7 in the stores, I think, but it'll last you 10 years.  Well worth the investment.

Frozen Gazpacho Success!

It may be silly to get excited about gazpacho, but I just can't help myself.  6 or 7 weeks ago, as I was still getting ready harvesting and preserving all the stuff from the garden, I racked my brain to come up with easy things to preserve.  If I hadn't been so strict with my preservation, I probably would have had more food stored, but I was trying to stick to the rules I gave myself: only things from the garden using only salt.

One of the things I was able to scrape together from my really poor harvest was gazpacho.  Of course, I only used my old vegetarian cookbook recipe as I guideline and I made up my own, using only what I had growing in the back yard.  

One of my many problems this year that I tried hard to solve was how to preserve cucumbers, because I had tons of them.  I made jars and jars of wild fermented pickles, but after awhile they turned into inedible mush that the chickens wouldn't even eat.  I baked cucumber slices and made "chips" out of them, but it took forever to bake out enough water out, to be able to store them.  What was left was really thin, tasteless snacks that probably contained none of the nutrition of the original cucumber.  You'll find no good recipes that you can freeze or can.  Except gazpacho...

My old vegetarian cookbook that I've had for a hundred years calls for a bunch of pureed tomatoes, with assorted peppers, a bunch of different herbs, onions, vegetable broth and a single cucumber.  That wasn't going to help me with my population of cucumbers and not very many tomatoes.  So I made up my own recipe, using the vegetables that I had, in the proportions that used as many cucumbers as I thought I could get away with.  

I really didn't follow the recipe as far as the pureed tomatoes either.  I only had cherry tomatoes.  My larger ones got blight and were unusable.  So I chopped them coarsely.  I did the whole thing the same way I make my salsa.  A bunch of stuff chopped up, with some salt.

As I made this pretty large batch, I just kept adding and tasting as I went.  I mixed up the flavors until I thought it was finished.  Onion, some garlic leaves, parsley, oregano & basil, tomatoes, celery & cucumbers.  I just left it as is, with some salt and hoped that the existing vegetables would make enough juice for it to be soup-like.

I was actually really happy with it, but there was one problem.  I wasn't sure what would happen after it was frozen.  Some uncooked or non-blanched vegetables get yucky and mushy when frozen and thawed.  I know peppers and basil can be frozen raw, but all the other stuff was recommended to be cooked before freezing.

So, when I left one in the fridge to thaw a few days ago, I wasn't expecting much.  I figured it would be another experiment on this journey that just ends up in the chicken coop.  Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised.  All the different ingredients thawed quite well, and not mushy.  And there was a nice amount of moisture, so I stirred it up really well to give it a salsa-like consistency.  I was also surprised how fresh it tasted.  With gazpacho, I think the colder, the better.

I think that even if I wasn't trying to eat only what I grow, I would make this again.  I love that I don't need a recipe, I can just wing it, and come up with something really good.  I can't guarantee that everyone would like it.  You have to already like cold soup, but if you do, this comes pretty darn close.

I didn't have pictures of my gazpacho, but this is something else I made...

It's the little things...

I think it is so true that when something is rare, or rarely happens, it is more cherished and sought after.  That is exactly how I feel about this whole food thing I'm going through.  If I get nothing else out of this journey, at least I know that I made a small difference in the way I feel about the things that come so easily to me.  It's about the small things.  

Only weeks ago, when I ate anything and everything I wanted, it was just that, eating.  Now that I have been away from that state for two weeks, I feel like I appreciate the things I have had so much more.  Now the simple thought of coffee in the morning has so much more joy in it.  I have allowed myself coffee the last couple of days because I feel like I've learned from this. And I've earned it.  But it isn't the same cup of coffee I had before.  It's much more.  

Not that I didn't appreciate things before.  I did.  I didn't come from a family with money and I certainly don't have money now.  It was never a priority for me.  I have more than I could ever want, but I appreciate what I have and that makes all the difference.  So to be able to coerce myself to eat twigs and bland berries for a few weeks, eventually a year, I have an ever greater appreciation for the things I have in great abundance around me.

When I drink coffee now, I need less because I am so much more satisfied with it.  I find that I don't just drink it down as a way of staying awake or waking up, I'm actually enjoying it much more.  Instead of saying, "Jeez, I need coffee", I'm saying, "yay, I get to have coffee!" 

 It's only temporary though, to have a little coffee.  Just as a reward.  I think the thought that I can cheat once in awhile really helps me to keep going.  Dealing with the psychological let-down that I can never have certain things for a year is quite depressing. 

I think if we could do that with more things in our lives, be more satisfied with the little things, we would be much happier people.  Instead of having to have the kitchen gutted and redone every 5 years to make our fickle selves happy, wouldn't it be great if a pretty utensil holder would make us just as happy.  50% of the stuff in landfills in the United States is building materials.

It's the little things.

Oh, and guess what...  I'm down a jean size!  

Frugal Hoarding 101

In my post yesterday I talked a little bit about feeling like I lived through the depression.  Wanting to be prepared, scrimping, being frugal.  One of the things I do as a result of that feeling is that I like to have things around in case I need them.  While that may sound completely mad to some of you, I will clarify what I mean.  I am not a hoarder by any means.  I do not keep mounds of kleenex boxes or bags of garbage.   Not anymore.  Just kidding.  But.  I do have the things I need when I need them.  

Take canning jars for instance.  When I need to can some grape juice in the fall, the jars are in the cellar.  I don't need to go to the store at all.  I have collected them for years, a box at a time, so that I would have them when I need them.  I have seen canning jars sell for between $8 and $12 for a dozen at the stores.  I get them for $2 or $3 a dozen at garage sales.  I have gotten some for free.  Glass canning jars themselves can be used over and over forever. 

I am saving time, gas, and money.  I don't need to go out and buy the things I need every time I have a project.

Another thing I like to have around is vintage plates and shallow bowls.  I pick them up whenever I see a couple that are pretty and I store them or display them until I need one.  If you have ever known anyone who worked at a thrift store, they will tell you that the majority of the glass and china that gets donated is thrown in a dumpster because no one wants it and they don't have the room to display it all.  I would love to see them throw it far out in the lakes so it will become sea glass, but it just all goes in the land fill.  So here are a couple of ways to keep them out of those land fills.


 I have been using some vintage white soup bowls to grow my oat and wheat grass in the kitchen.  You just need a little layer of dirt and a heavy layer of seeds.  It takes 3 to 5 days for them to sprout.  It's pretty and I use the tops in green drinks and smoothies.  You can juice the tops too.  My cats like to chew on them.

Another thing I use old plates for is to catch water under my plants inside or outside.  Especially if the rim around the plate is really pretty.  There are all sizes and shapes of pots and plates so it's easy to find matching ones.  I saved my begonias that were growing outside in my straw bale gardens before the frost got to them, and brought them in the house.  The composting straw that they are growing in is all the soil they need in their pots.  And it was super easy to pot them up because the soil is really loose.  I just kind of scooped them up and stuck them into clay pots.  I don't know how long they will keep flowering through the winter but it is a nice thing to see in the windows on a dreary day.

Lastly, if you have a few plates that are pretty enough to give as gifts, you can give cookies or treats away on them.  The plate is an extra gift.  If you have ever given a plate of cookies to someone on a paper plate and tried to keep the cling wrap from coming off, you know where I'm coming from.  I have given cookies on real plates before and people are always a little tickled that I went the extra mile to have a real plate they can keep.  Plus, if you add this to your Christmas list when shopping antique places and thrift shops, it's kind of an adventure to find cute plates that you know will make someone happy as a gift.  I have found them priced anywhere from 25 cents to $2 a plate, which is a totally reasonable amount of money to spend on a teacher or a neighbors gift.  Green glass plates are always fun at Christmas.  Come to think of it, I have some mugs at the shop with gingerbread men on them.  They can be filled with candy for gifts.

I'm always shocked by the things that people throw away.  Even some the clothing that gets donated to thrift stores goes to other countries because we have so much and they appreciate the used clothing.   Or it gets chopped up for rags.  There just simply aren't enough people buying used things to keep up with our waste.  It's funny, we ship merchandise over seas from China or wherever so we can have cheap clothing so that we can ship it back to another country after we're tired of it.

With the Christmas season coming, maybe we can change the way we spend.  Local, family owned places are always struggling, so why not spend our money there?  We are always so sorry when these small stores go out of business, but we are the ones who don't shop there.  Amazon and big corporate companies already have all the money.

Okay, I went off on a rant.  But you get the idea.  Maybe this year, our Christmas season can be different.  Buy gifts that mean something.  Buy from people who make things.  Buy on Etsy or at a craft fair.  I know Amazon is cheaper, but when you buy from Amazon, your money goes to make some CEO in an office richer.  I know there are things that we can't help but buy on Amazon, I do it myself.  But gifts are special.  If they aren't special, then why are we giving them?  Obligation?  That is absurd, you should give because you want to give.

Okay, done ranting.  I do feel better now.  Thanks for listening.

Let's keep pretty old things out of the land fills, shall we?  And buy from people, not corporations!

The victory garden...

Yesterday was a good cheat day.  Actually I had a couple of them.  I was helping out at Filomena's with the open house and I was overwhelmed with holiday spirit and ate some of the baked goods everyone had made.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I didn't really even feel much guilt either.  It's the holidays.  I'm not a pioneer or a survivalist or a prepper.  The goals I have of being food secure, I have set for myself.  I can brake my own rules.  

I admit I sometimes am living in the past.  I live in this old house with all this old stuff with these old souls.  I feel like I have to preserve these things to not let history disappear.  I drive by old houses and they've been stripped of their history with their vinyl siding and plastic windows and drywall.  It hurts my heart to think of the families that lived in those old houses and how hard they worked to make that house as pretty as it once was.  The details.  

Things seem to come so easily to people now.  Everything people buy now is thrown away when it bores them.  Then they go buy more.  That's why they love those dollar stores, I think.  

Part of this food preparedness thing I've been trying to accomplish stems from the feeling I have that I lived through the depression.  Of course I was born in 1974 and wasn't even close to living in that time period, but somehow, I have a connection to it.  It could be the stories I've heard, the times we're living in now, or my old soul, but I feel driven to having that feeling of being prepared for things to come.  To be able to survive through it.

Even though this year may not be so successful, I feel like I'm on the right track.  Next year will be another summer and I can plant more.  I am going to focus on perennial plants that will just keep on producing for the rest of my life.  This fall I planted some new trees.  Another apple tree, a pear and a peach tree.  I'll plant more in the spring.  A lot of fruit trees do better if there are several of the same species for pollination.  This is an investment in the future though because it could take 3 to 5 years for me to see any fruit.  But fruit is kind of expensive.  And it's better if you grow your own.  It's worth the wait.

Blueberries are a shrub.  Anyone can grow blueberries in a small yard.  Just rip out those high maintenance shrubs that you get nothing from, and plant some food.  They flower in the spring.  Then you get berries.  

As it gets colder and I sit in front of the woodstove more, I get antsy to start looking at seed catalogs for next season.  This is my favorite winter pastime.  Of course, I always get over zealous and buy way too many seeds than I'll ever plant, it's still really fun.  Planning my "victory garden".

Until tomorrow then.  Go find yourself an adventure.

Day 10... Kiki Bear

I made it to day ten.  I am really thankful that it hasn't been as difficult as the first 5 days.  It is a bit boring though.  No frills.  I eat about the same thing almost everyday.  Even though I've added eggs to my daily intake, and I really like eggs,  there are only so many ways you can eat them.  So I add things like turnip greens or dandelion greens to them and it makes it a little more interesting.

I haven't had much ambition to write for a few days because we lost Cali two days ago, our little old Calico kitty.  We inherited her from Jack, our neighbor across the street who died suddenly a few years ago.  Of course Mike and I handled the re-homing (is that a word?) of all his animals.  He had about 30 baby chickens in the dining room, two tropical birds and two cats.  He was a lot like us. Kept to himself, and loved farming.  When he died he was in the process of getting his land certified organic. When we first moved into our house he had peacocks out back.  I love peacocks and I still have some of their feathers that Jack gave me.  I have to keep them away from the cats though because cats LOVE peacock feathers.

So Cali is with Jack now.  She was the tiniest kitty.  She was an "under the covers with the electric blanket on high" kind of kitty.  Most cats like heat, but Cali liked a nice smoldering inferno to sleep in.  As she got older, in the last few weeks we set her up with a heating pad to snuggle in.  

As with all the fur babies, I had several names for Cali.  Jack named her Cali, but I called her Kiki, Kiki Dee, Baby Kiki, Kiki Bean, Kiki Bear, Turtle, and The Turtle Monster.  There may have been more, on the spot names, but I just can't think of them.  Some cats inspire more names than others.  

Every animal is special to me.  There's always a hole left in my heart.  But I can be thankful that almost all of them live really, really long lives with me.  Milo lived the longest at 21 years.  I got him when I was 20 and he died when I was 41.  That was half my life at the time.  

To share your life with an animal is almost all reward.  There isn't anything else on earth you can say that about.

I'm going to go eat something very bland and boring now.  I hope you all enjoy your day.  Until tomorrow...

Cali footies.  This was the only grey she had on her.  Just one ankle.