Amey's Blog

I planned for this to be about homemaking and homeschooling, but now it's just a chaotic jumble of news and ideas about animals, kids, food, and other random thoughts.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Feast or Famine

I'm posting a flurry of blogs today, because I know it will be a while before I get to again. Things are getting really busy. On top of the usual, normal, every-day sort of busy-ness, now we also have 6 hours a week to spend at the ball diamond for my boys' baseball practices. Which is fun. I like baseball. I wouldn't change it. But stacks of dishes at 11:30 pm are not so fun. So, my computer time is now being curtailed. This is the time of year when our already late meal times get pushed back from 7:30 or 8 to 9 or 9:30. So here you are, a feast of blogs. This is to fill you up in preparation for the blog famine to come.

Speaking of feasts, the season for farmer's markets is upon us! I imagine ours will be opening up sometime in the next few weeks. My first big purchase will be a large quantity of asparagus to blanch and freeze. The day I get it I will also make asparagus soup. Good stuff.

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Ruby's Calf and Other Stuff

Well, our new calf is now over a week old, and she is doing great! It only took Ruby a day to get used to the "mommy routine", and now there's no problems with the calf finding her milk at all. That is good, because I am close to being able to wean my bottle-baby. I don't need another one.
Here's the calf with her mother.





Before she was born my husband warned us all (and I quote): "You might not want to name this one, because you know where it will end up." (note: our last ones were named T-Bone and Sir Loin) What did I hear my husband call her the afternoon after she was born? "Here, Buttercup! Here, Buttercup!" SO, I don't know exactly where this one will "end up", but can you imagine serving "Buttercup" for dinner? Me neither. We'll see what happens.





We have a number of new birch trees along our driveway now. The biggest tree in the background, right in front of the pond, is "Penny". She has been a part of our family for years now.

Check out this huge egg we got the other day. Ouch. It was a double-yolker.

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How I Came to Really Love Real Food, Part Five

One matter that has complicated things considerably has been my health. Following a miscarriage in the fall of 2005, I found that my health began to change in other ways as well. The first thing I noticed was a burning rash on my toes. It didn't itch, but it was uncomfortable and somewhat painful. I also noticed my hair falling out in bunches, and I was extremely cold all the time. In the winter particularly, I was also very easily fatigued, and often tired even right after having slept all night. It seemed strange to me that these things started happening rather suddenly. My family doctor ruled out a hypothyroid through blood tests, and sent me to a dermatologist who told me I had Raynaud's Syndrome. Later, I developed an extremely itchy, sensitive patch of skin on the palm of my right hand. Having been educating myself on health issues for a while by this time, and knowing myself better than any doctor, it was my opinion that I was beginning to slide towards an autoimmune type of dysfunction. This is the type of disease seen in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, and fibromyalgia, for example.

At this point, I could have relied on the knowledge of my "regular" doctors. If I had done so, I would probably be taking a number of pharmaceutical drugs by now, and my health would not be any better. In fact, I believe it would be much worse. Not that drugs are entirely bad; however, many times they do nothing but mask symptoms. They do not get to the bottom of the problem that is causing the symptoms. They may bring temporary relief (which can be very valuable), but other than that, I believe their worth is debatable.

It took me a while to really research things and to try out various hypotheses as far as what might help my health to turn around. But the one thing I kept coming across in all of my research for chronic health problems of almost any kind was to dramatically decrease carbohydrate consumption, including eliminating all grains, and to increase intake of good fats like butter, cream, coconut oil, and fish oils. The more I studied, the more convinced I became that this was the answer for me. But it took me a while to get up the nerve to get started. I was chicken. The very idea of attempting to eliminate grains was intimidating. It sounded almost impossible. But I did it.

Beginning February first of last year (2007), I cut out all grains, including corn, wheat, rice, and oats. I also cut out potatoes and all sweeteners, including nutritive sweeteners like honey and maple syrup. The first few weeks it was extremely difficult. Extremely. After that it got much easier. I had a lot of homemade soup, which is what really got me through. It is extremely nourishing and filling. I have to clarify here that I do not believe this is a "normal" diet for people in good health. God made grains, potatoes, and honey. I think they are good for food. However, when our health becomes compromised, sometimes we have to narrow our diets in order to correct our bodies' balance.

It has been over a year since I made these changes. I have had breaks where I have had potatoes and ice cream for treats. But those have been brief "vacations". Overall, my carb intake has remained low for the last year. I had a small slice of cake last fall. The next day I was sick the whole day. That's how I found that my body is no longer able to tolerate wheat. I believe this is because of the damage previous diet and antibiotics had done to my digestive tract. You've probably noticed that the number of people with food sensitivities/allergies like this has skyrocketed in the recent past. Antibiotics can severely damage your digestive tract. Other drugs that also cause this type of damage are steroids, NSAIDS (Tylenol, for example), and birth control pills.

The difference this diet has made in my health has been amazing. My energy improved, the patch of eczema on the palm of my hand disappeared, my hair stopped falling out, and my body temperature increased. I am still easily chilled, but I think there is a possibility that this will improve as well with time. I am also still sensitive to wheat, but that is just a consequence I will probably have to live with for the rest of my life. It has also been helpful for me to take a number of whole food-based supplements (including iodine and organ extracts). So it hasn't been completely diet-only changes that I have made. But most of the improvement I feel has been as a result of the diet changes.

Next time, I will wrap things up and present a conclusion.

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Saturday, April 19, 2008

It's a Girl!


Ruby had her calf this morning around 6:00. She's a beautiful animal, but Ruby keeps kicking her away and won't let her get milk. This picture was taken right after we found her around 6:30 this morning out in the pasture. Apparently, that's where Ruby decided to have her baby. It makes me mad that I missed it. I wanted to be there.

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Friday, April 18, 2008

Calf Watch

I am beginning to get a little concerned. Ruby has not calved yet, but I am sure she is in labor. It seems to be off and on, though. I considered doing a "live blog" event for this, but then, I don't have a laptop to take out in the barn with me, so...there goes that brilliant idea. I am just praying we don't have to call a vet. Maybe it is just one of those "false labor" things. You know, like in humans, when a woman fakes labor just to get attention. It's not really time yet, but it sure is fun to watch people's reactions when they DO think it is time! Maybe Ruby's just thinking to herself, heh heh, I'm going to get that human that takes care of me to come out and check on me every hour and only sleep 3 hours a night because she thinks a calf will be here any moment. Then when she's so exhausted she just can't stand it any more and goes to bed at night for a good 8 hours, then I'll REALLY go into labor.

Well folks, we have about hit that point, so look for Ruby's calf to arrive during the night tonight while I'm dead to the world.

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Ruby Update

And now for a late-breaking news update: my cow is in labor. It started yesterday (Thursday) evening, and has continued into this morning. No calf yet. But this is her first time. Also, while I'm here, congrats to my older "little" brother on a Big Deal Work Thing he did. Way to go, bro!

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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

More Spring!

I have to admit, I'm getting a little nervous. I've been milking goats for over two years now. But a cow? If a goat steps on your foot, it hurts, sure, but is not that big of a deal. A cow? If Ruby stepped on my foot it would smash the bones in there to smithereens. Well, maybe not. But maybe yes! Ruby is due any day now. Pray for me! We don't even have our stanchion yet! But we will. And I'm so excited about CREAM. Here's our WonderCow, maybe only a day or two before L&D! ;-)


Remember our baby bottle goat kid? Well, now her favorite past-time is terrorizing the chickens. Loads of fun. Nothing more hilarious than watching frollicking kids.
My garlic is finally up. I must have planted it a little deep because it took longer than I thought it should have to sprout. But here it is! I think it should be ready to pull around the end of June.

And here's the peas, lettuce, and spinach I planted a few weeks ago. It's up too! I guess you can barely see the little sprouts in this picture, but they're there if you look closely! I also have a few baby asparagus shoots poking up out of the ground, but they are too young to pick this year. It will be another year or two before we can enjoy that.


Finally, some daffodils and forsythia. We're having beautiful weather this spring. No big ups and downs like last year. Hopefully that will mean a better fruit crop this year!


You might be thinking right about now: Gee, Amey, you do about everything! Heh heh heh. Boy have I got YOU fooled. You don't know how many dishes I have piled up in the sink or how many "stacks" I have about the house. If I measured the laundry needing to be done I would have to weigh it by the ton. But my boys have been to ball practice, my animals are happy, the refrigerator is well-stocked with eggs, and I read to my children today. All is well with the world.

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Sunday, April 13, 2008

How I Came to Really Love Real Food: Part Four

I "met" two very important books that summer of 2005: Jordan Rubin's Maker's Diet, and Sally Fallon's (with Dr. Mary Enig) Nourishing Traditions. These two books have completely changed the way I see food. A bit overwhelming at first, these books contain so much good information, I still refer to them heavily, especially Nourishing Traditions. Nourishing Traditions was also my introduction to the Weston A. Price Foundation, an organization that encourages people to exclude modern processed food products from their diets and rely on the "old ways".

Through the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), we have found a great pulling-together of dietary guidelines, old-ways lifestyle tips, and the busting of politically-correct nutritional myths. All of this in one package. I have heard people criticize WAPF because they do not accept all "scientific" studies as valid science. For me, there is no reason to trust these studies in the first place because they are so contradictory. For example, years ago the fats of choice were lard and other animal fats, butter, and tropical oils. Then "science" says no, these are bad. Switch to Crisco and margarine. Then a few years ago, "science" tells us no Crisco and margarine, switch to liquid vegetable oils (canola, corn, soybean, etc.). This is the kind of nutritional information we receive from "science". In a word: unreliable.

Here's what seems like a more reliable method of determining good nutrition information: find healthy people groups and see what they eat. And that is precisely what Weston Price did. He traveled the world looking for people with superb health, good physical structure (bones, teeth, etc.), and long life. He found a number of these native people groups and compared their diets and lifestyles. Here are just a few of the things he found:


The diets of healthy primitive and nonindustrialized peoples contain no refined or denatured foods such as refined sugar or corn syrup; white flour; canned foods; pasteurized, homogenized, skim or low-fat milk; refined or hydrogenated vegetable oils; protein powders; artificial vitamins or toxic additives and colorings.

All traditional cultures consume some sort of animal protein and fat from fish and other seafood; water and land fowl; land animals; eggs; milk and milk products; reptiles; and insects.

Primitive diets contain at least four times the calcium and other minerals and TEN times the fat soluble vitamins from animal fats (vitamin A, vitamin D and the Price Factor--now believed to be vitamin K2) as the average American diet.

In all traditional cultures, some animal products are eaten raw.

Primitive and traditional diets have a high food-enzyme content from raw dairy products, raw meat and fish; raw honey; tropical fruits; cold-pressed oils; wine and unpasteurized beer; and naturally preserved, lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages, meats and condiments.

Seeds, grains and nuts are soaked, sprouted, fermented or naturally leavened in order to neutralize naturally occurring antinutrients in these foods, such as phytic acid, enzyme inhibitors, tannins and complex carbohydrates.

Total fat content of traditional diets varies from 30% to 80% but only about 4% of calories come from polyunsaturated oils naturally occurring in grains, pulses, nuts, fish, animal fats and vegetables. The balance of fat calories is in the form of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids.

Traditional diets contain nearly equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids.

All primitive diets contain some salt.

Traditional cultures consume animal bones, usually in the form of gelatin-rich bone broths.

Traditional cultures make provisions for the health of future generations by providing special nutrient-rich foods for parents-to-be, pregnant women and growing children; by proper spacing of children; and by teaching the principles of right diet to the young.

source: http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrition/characteristics.html

We've made lots of little changes in the last three years. Just one at a time. It didn't take long before I realized we rarely got sick anymore. When we did get sick, it was usually following a holiday or birthday party (someplace where something sugary was the treat), and the illness was relatively mild. My husband's late-summer ragweed allergies became manageable without any medication, and our doctor visits very rare. It quickly became obvious that there was value in eating the old-fashioned way, and equally obvious that the types of food we were now interested in eating were not ones found at "normal" grocery stores. This was when we began our foray into farming as a way of obtaining high-quality food.

If you are suffering from any type of health issue, I would highly recommend reading The Maker's Diet, by Jordan Rubin. This book's information is well-organized for beginning readers of topics related to good health. I also highly recommend Nourishing Traditions, but I would definitely call this a more advanced text, and maybe not so "user-friendly" as the Maker's Diet. This is a book you have to "build up to".

Next time I will talk about complications such as auto-immune problems and other issues caused primarily by antibiotic usage.

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Saturday, April 05, 2008

Ode to Bacon Fat


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Taxes

Oh yeah. I almost forgot.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Just as Interesting as Witnessing a Live Goat Birth

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Meet "Jeffrey"

Here "Jeffrey" is almost one hour old. "Jeffrey" was named by our older son.



In this picture he is about 3 hours old. He is a strong, healthy little boy, and one good-looking goat. Very light in color, as you can see. The big event happened this afternoon around 1:00. He is an only child, and his mamma is named Rose. It was an uneventful delivery, for which I am grateful. Last year, Rose's delivery was NOT uneventful.

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