Yah! Spring!

Hello All!

I started a health kick back in January with a 10 day juice fast.  I drank vegetable and fruit juice exclusively for breakfast and lunch and then a meat free salad for supper.  I bought a juicer using a gift card I had received for Christmas and was on my way to better health.  In that 10 days, I lost 15 pounds and felt great at the end of it.  The first 4 days were T-O-U-G-H because my body was detoxing...then the "better" set in.  I will do it again, probably soon.

Since that time, I've been eating a lot of micro nutrient food.  Micro nutrient foods are foods in their whole form, often raw.  We already eat a whole lot less processed food then most people do.  Processed foods aren't just the ones with weird ingredients with a lot of chemicals and unpronounceable ingredients.  They also include ones made with flour and sugar- so breads, pastas, things like this.  It would also include all natural ice cream, crackers and anything where the food has been put through a process to refine it in any way.  This usually creates "dead" food, or food that won't breakdown because the living things in it are mostly gone.   I've been feeling great with this new style of eating.  I do eat some meat, but have increased my veg & fruit levels to about 6-8 servings a day.  Because I'm eating the nutrients my body needs, my cravings have been greatly reduced.   

This is the base of my breakfast yesterday.  It is sauteed asparagus, mushrooms, onions and fresh alfalfa sprouts.   I know that it may seem strange to you that I eat this many veggies for breakfast (I know Music Man thinks it's a bit strange, but he's a cereal addict and can't stomach anything like this for breakfast).  But, I've adapted my tastes over the years to be welcoming to having this start to my day.

To that, I add my girls' farm fresh eggs.  These were snatched from the nest just moments before they hit this pan.  Look how golden those yolks are and how well they stand up...nothing is better then these eggs.

and SHAZAM!  they go right onto the veggie base...eggs over easy make a great "sauce" for the veggies...no butter, a bunch of black pepper and I'm a happy woman.
I've become pretty passionate about the micro nutrient foods since I watched "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead" (available to watch free on hulu.com).  It opened my eyes about fresh food in general, but really taught me a lot about the true benefits of eating this lifestyle.  Since I love veggies and fruits, this is no stretch for me to eat this way.  It feels good, natural and common sense.  I can't wait until the garden is in full swing and I can lower the produce bill again because with all the fresh foods I'm eating it's up a bit.

Wishing you body health,

~Peacemom

Grace

This is something that I remember hanging on a little card on my grandmother's wall next to her door when I was a child.  I never asked her about it, but I think it must have brought her peace after my grandfather passed away.  I have used it many, many times in my life to gain some perspective on the things that are too big for my plate.  Repeating this works for me and brings me a sense of grace and peace.  If you're struggling yourself with something, it's a good way to meditate on it for a bit, maybe it will work for you, too.

Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity

to accept the things I can not change,

courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Peace to you today in whatever struggle you may face,

~Peacemom

Did you know this about your food?

Lately, I've been feeling on overload a bit.  I've been reading so much about local eating, and the problems with our food system in this country.  Well, I have actually been studying this for about 5 years now and the more I learn, the more hopeless it becomes. 

We have so little control over the food that goes into our bodies.  When you want to live beyond the processed grocery store food, which the government in all its wisdom deems "safe" it is a very frustrating and daunting task to many.  The government has decided that the irratiated, chemical laiden cheeseburger from McDonald's or that nutritionally bankruptTwinkie are safe for you, but that raw milk from a cow with all it's beneficial enzymes intact is "dangerous"....well, that scares me.  A lot.

Let's think about this.  There have been many studies done of McDonald's hamburgers that will be put on a shelf for literally years, never touched, and they look exactly the way they did when they were bought.  Or a Twinkie, many, many years after manufacture, looks exactly the same as the day it was pressed into a mold and baked.  This food is dead food or it would break down.  What nourishes our bodies?  Why, here's something that some of you may not have thought about.  Living food does.  Our bodies need living food that will actually break down in order to remove the nutrients from it to nourish your physical form.  Dead food will not break down, and therefore does not feed the all important cells in our bodies.  If you don't feed your body living food (which most processed food is no longer living), then you are not providing your body with what it needs to not only survive, but thrive.  Your immune system depends on these living organisms to create resistance to food germs and fight many illnesses.  If you're only eating "sterilized food" then your body is unable to build up resistance to the germs and illnesses that are searching to seek and destroy. 

I could go on and on about this topic, I really could.  I read so many well researched books and found out how dysfunctional our government is that it's terrifying to me that they can control such a personal choice as what I put into my mouth to nourish my body.  The entire food system of our country is owned by big business, but mostly the one I fear the most is Monsanto.  They are in the forefront of genetically modified food and patenting seeds.  Seeds are life, how can you patent food and life?

 And for the love of God, please don't believe the commercials that show the white bread middle Americans walking through their placid little corn field  and tell you that "corn sugar (what the corn industry is calling high fructose corn syrup these days) is just as safe as sugar, why, your body can't tell the difference!"  I know your liver begs to differ with them! 

I think for me, I feel so aggravated some days by the misinformation and agendas from the big business and corporate greed that drive what happens to our food.  Did you know that the USDA is not allowed to force a recall on tainted food?  They can only recommend it, they aren't allowed to order it.  So if hamburger goes out to 10,000 retailers from some large factory farmed plant and it's tainted with ecoli, some of which very possibly could kill people (or hey, spinach that has used that "fertilizer" from that factory farm and spread that ecoli to spinach), the USDA is only allowed to say to the company, we recommend a recall.  Then, the company is allowed to do whatever it wants from there.  How many times have they ignored the recommendation because recalling thousands of pounds of tainted meat would be too costly?  Anyone seeing the problem here but me?  The stories I have seen and the research I have read would scare the hell out of the average American.  Or maybe it wouldn't, I don't know, but it sure scares the hell out of me.

I'm eternally thankful that I have fresh, local food available to me to feed my family.  I'm very grateful for the farms that raise that food and fight the fights they need to to keep that option alive for me.  However if the government and big business have their way, I will no longer be able to purchase that food.  In fact, believe it or not, I would not even be able to consume the food I've grown myself for my own consumption.  Oh, this is no joke, folks.  Legislation like this tries to sneak through at every turn.  And you can say what you will about NH, but this is one time I'm truly thankful for our motto, "Live Free or Die"...I just hope it doesn't actually come to that. 

Trying to find my way through the food industry minefield, ~Peacemom 

A Snow Day

As we've finally got some snow falling, we're having a snow day here at Casa de Peaceable Kingdom.  Above is the view from the front door of our humble abode...

Music Man and Maestro are currently deep in the assembly of the Mystery Machine driven by Shaggy and Scooby...

Little Red is the boy always in motion around here.  He's also got the body temp of a reptile as he can withstand cold that I can't understand.  You can see how Music Man and Maestro are dressed above...here's Little Red in his current clothes running about the house throwing the football to himself.  This is a constant activity around here for the two boys.  Ya know...whatever works, that's what I say. 

I have taken the bulk of this week off work with the boys home.  I desperately needed a vacation, and am having to do so without pay this week. That's additional stress for us financially, but I've not had a vacation or day off in 3 years, and I decided I wanted to take some time with my boys this week relaxed and unneeded by anyone else but these three precious men in my life.  So, on my afternoon off, I'm choosing from my current reads to dive into.  Music Man will be starting the fire soon and hot cocoa is brewing.

We spent the morning at the Museum of Science in Boston, but departed for home when the snow started to fall.  Hope you enjoy a snow day checked out yourself.   What's on your reading list?  Leave a comment if you'd like to let me know what I might need to read next!

Snowy peace to you today, ~Peacemom

Freaky Friday

Last Friday was Freaky Friday! at the boy's school.  They had spirit week and got to wear crazy clothes and do their hair in fun ways.  Little Red is not partial to doing anything beyond the normal with this hair, ever. But Maestro enjoys a little wackiness from time to time.

A fun time was had by all!  It was a good way for the school to get the kids geared up for their week off for winter vacation this week.

Wishing you some Freaky Friday of your own, go a little crazy!  ~Peacemom

Hhurumph.

This is a blog post about nothing.  There's a very specific reason for this and that's that lately, I've been feeling grumpy, out of sorts and well D-O-W-N.  See this bird?  He gets me.  I'm feeling the original Angry Bird right now.

I had scheduled a grown up play date at my friend Laura's yesterday.  As I was getting dressed to go to her house after working 6 hours before 10:30am, I realized something.  Something a little disturbing to me.  I'd not left my house in 4 days.  Well, I did go for a walk one day and got the mail a couple times.  I also tend to the chickens several times a day, so I need to get outside my actual home to do that as well.  But, I had not left the immediate vicinity of my house in 4 days.  No other outside human contact then the men in my life.  Though I love them dearly...ugh and yikes.  Something's not right in Kansas, Toto.  I'm feeling the reasons are many fold.

My job has been...let's see...how can we put this...so much less then fulfilling lately.  I'm working at a job that allows me to be home for my boys most days.  For that I am thankful.  It's helping us just get by in these, yet again, laid off times.  For that I am thankful.  But it's also very stressful, incredibly fast paced and impossible to do really well because of that.  I'm performing a good 42-45 hours worth of work in 30 hours most weeks.  It's not conducive to anyone's best quality work.  It's a job that is spiritually draining to me and often feels pointless.  And after 3 years at this pace with absolutely no vacation, holiday pay, sick time or raises, I'm burnt out.  Not your average burnt out, but charcoal briquette burnt out, the reserves are running on empty.  With all that we've been through the last 4 months, I just need Calgon to take me away.  If only a bubble bath would put it all right, I'd be all set.

So, many things have to change for us and yet they remain the same.  We're in flux of a big decision right now (more on that later after the decision's been made) which means some even leaner times for our family for a couple of years.  We're up for that challenge, but honestly, not sure how much leaner I can function this household.  All I can say is this.  It's a really good thing that, after a literal lifetime of it, I've gotten so good at dealing with financial adversity.  It's going to prove even more useful in the near future if this decision is made. 

Some days, I get to wondering will this ever end?  See, Music Man and I have been together for almost 14 years (what??? how is that possible?).  In that time, he's been laid off 7 times.  I can assure you, this is no fault of his.  All his past bosses were sorry to see him go, but it's just business.  And the nature of what he's trained to do being either absorbed by engineers or shipped overseas when it costs less for the company to do this.  But now, Music Man is going to be 51 soon and the older you get the harder it is to find a job.  This weighs on us both tremendously.  We've got two little mouths to feed besides our own, and hope to some day retire.  So, that being said, something's got to give, doesn't it? It's unavoidable.  Do you ever feel like you're beating your head against a wall?

I'm in one big funk lately.  I think I have some slight form of PTSD because I keep reliving the moment in my head that my loving, talented, caring husband walked through our door two weeks before closing on our forever home we worked (hard- blood, sweat and money went into it) 5 months to get and had to tell me he was laid off.  Again.  From a job he felt was stable, and that he loved. The raw pain in his eyes and face, I'll never forget that feeling, never.  And I'm having some trouble with all of that lately.  I know this too shall pass, life is ever changing, it's the one thing you can totally count on.  But I'm feeling...hmmm...I don't know. 

Not sure how to define how I'm feeling, and it comes and goes.  Some days are better then others and I'm trying to focus on the fact that we're all together, safe, warm, fed and relatively healthy.  And then I go back and forth, should that be all I can hope for, can't I be allowed to hope for more, like comfort, more rested, financially secure and a successful future?  Many people in my life, relatives and others are financially so much better off then we are, and I wonder why that is?  We do all the right things, work hard and are good people, why is it that we keep coming back to this same place?  I honestly don't know what lesson we're supposed to derive from this is, and it's not for lack of trying to figure it out.  I spend hours in the middle of the night almost nightly, lying awake, trying to figure out just this thing.  What's the lesson? Music Man and I have arrived at the fact that things need to change in order for this horrible pattern to stop repeating itself.  Things have to change, there is no other choice.  Change.  I'm never comfortable with change anymore.

So, I will get back to my recipes and homesteading stuff soon, but this is where I'm at and what I'm feeling and so thought I'd share.  You can now resume your regularly scheduled programming.

Looking for a way to get to better, ~Peacemom

Sweet!

An unexpected morning off from work...the old computer crashed HARD on Friday...and I've had the morning off from the paying job.  But, it allowed me a nice time off to accomplish some things around the house.  I am a "morning" person who is most productive from 5-11 am.  I got to:

Clean the fridge (tonight's dinner of thawing pork shoulder, bag leaked all over the bottom of the fridge...eewww)
Paid bills
Wash the kitchen floor
Make yogurt from scratch
Wash, dry & fold 2 loads of laundry
Put a loaf of bread in the breadmaker
Wash copious dishes with, ummm...questionable...leftovers in them (mold isn't supposed to be on spaghetti sauce, right?)
Get the kids fed and out the door in clean clothes, teeth brushed

And I'm sure I'm not done yet.  I'm awaiting the call that tells me to log back on to my work computer and in the meantime, I'll keep ticking off those chores on the list of things I've been wanting to get done.  Also planning on airing the house out as it's gonna get to low 50's today. 

Yesterday was a day outside as well, I was able to get the chicken coop cleaned out, did a little research on chicken tractors (for raising our meat birds this summer) and read up on some composting ideas.  Also walked the yard here to see where the extended garden will be going in and where we might put a pig or two if we're so inclined to try raising those. Not sure about the pork yet, we're still trying to figure out how they would get to slaughter and where it would be done.  Sure wish we had a mobile slaughterer in our midst.  I keep trying to talk our friend into doing that, there's good money to be had there. 

All in all, I think I've got spring fever BAD.  I'm ready.  It's not been a brutal winter here, in fact very unusually mild as you could see from my last post.  But, I'm a person who's favorite activities take place in the other three seasons of the year. So, yes, I'm ready.  How about you?

~Wishing for warm days and cool nights, ~Peacemom