Interesting....

I had always wondered which states allowed raw milk sales and which ones didn't. This map was neat to see....

Seems like yesterday

I can't believe I've had Poppy for almost one month now. It seems like I brought her home just yesterday!! I have definitely learned some lessons since that first fateful day of bringing her home.... But over all, I have had so much fun with this little gal. I am truly blessed.

Saving Seeds...

Ta da!! this was my first year ever to save seeds from my garden!

The foundation stock is from Baker Creek heirloom seeds, and this particular variety is called 'Bean Contender'. Inside the packet, there were only about 30 small seeds. But from those 30 seeds, we got many, many yummy meals, and enough seeds saved to fill the packet 2 1/2 times over! 

The beans themselves are very tender and delicious while small, and have an ever-so-slightly fuzzy feel to them. (Which makes it perfect for throwing at people because then they stick!) 

I am so excited to save more seeds next year!! :D

Wordless Weekend... Shadows

A starving nation?

Third world countries aren't the only places with starving people.

Sometimes, starvation shows different symptoms than what we would normally think of....

Americans these days suffer from many illnesses and diseases that third world countries rarely have problems with: Cancer, heartburn, heart failure, diabetes, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's, chronic obesity... What is going on here?

America is a starving nation.

"Wait a minute!" You say, "How can you call us a starving nation, when we have such a bounty of food! The grocery stores are packed! If you're hungry, just go and get something to eat!"

And you are right; our stores are filled with foods of every kind. We are very blessed.

It's not that we are eating too many bad foods, that is making us prone to so many diseases today; It's that we aren't eating enough good foods! Our bodies are starving for good foods that will nourish us. Heal us. Boost our immunity. We aren't eating those foods that would do us worlds of good, and consequently, we are are suffering needlessly for it. 

But, lest you think that I am some sort of person who only eats healthy foods and condemns anyone who so much as whispers the word "chocolate", ;) I really like Reese's Peanut butter Cups. :) Second to that, I think I would choose a raspberry 'Zinger'. I'm human too, and I have quite the sweet tooth. 

My motto is "It's not what you eat every now and then that gets you, it's what you eat every day." I won't die if I eat a candy bar every once in a while, but if I started eating them everyday, I really only have myself to blame when I start having health problems.

Living the life of a farm girl can be overwhelming for me at times. In my hands I have the power to grow and raise clean, nourishing food that will help people. Wow. I may not be able to save the world, but I can help those around me by providing for them good food that will help, rather than harm. I can provide raw milk that will lower the chance of getting osteoporosis, strengthen bones and muscles, enhance the nerves and boost the immune system. I can offer clean meat that contains no hormones or arsenic. Meat that will nourish and provide much needed vitamins and minerals needed for optimum health. I can provide pesticide/herbicide free heirloom vegetables and fruits that will also provide vitamins and minerals, lower chances of getting cancers, heart diseases, etc...

And it's not just me! I only live on 1 1/3 acre of land. If I can raise good food on this bit of land, then you can surely do it too! Do you have a backyard? You can raise chickens and/or turkeys in a "chicken tractor". Do you have a window? You can grow vegetables pots! Have a garage, shed, or some other sheltered place? Rabbits make excellent eating! 

We can make a difference. We can provide good food to those around us. Some nights, I dream about being able to start giving away food, or animals to people. You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or, you could teach a man to fish and thus feed him for life. I would love to be able to give cages and rabbits to people, so that they could begin raising their own food too. Then they would give away some of the resulting rabbit offspring, and it would continue on, and on.... Same thing with chickens and chicken tractors. Or goats, or cows.... What can I say? I'm a dreamer. ;D 

Took the words right outa' my mouth....

A few days ago, a friend of mine and I were discussing the prices of pasture-raised turkeys, which we have seen range from $15 a bird, to a whopping $330 for a 30 lb. turkey!! :-/ I would love to start raising a few turkeys come spring 2011, but I think I will keep my prices at $15 per bird, regardless of weight. Am I the only one who thinks $330 might be a weeeee bit extravagant for a thanksgiving meal? ;) Anywho, below is my friend's reply, and I liked it so much that I asked her if I could put it on here...

"As for the $15 turkeys - you get what you pay for. I'm about to cry right now, thinking about how terrible and huge the commercial confinement turkey operation has become. We are paying for those cheap turkeys with denuded land, neighborhood stench and wastes, exorbitant fuel use, toxic chemicals which cause allergies and Auto-immune diseases in over half the population, and being propped up by medications is no answer. You bet I'm raising free-range turkeys again next year. And you bet I'm thankful that this Thanksgiving we get to eat food which didn't kill anyone or depend on government intervention during its production! Salatin wrote a new book called 'The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer', and he's totally right. It is absolute joy to realize I'm doing what is right, even though 99% of farmers are doing what is wrong. It makes me positively giddy to think that my family's freezer is full of grass-raised beef, pork and chicken, and we have the freedom to drink real milk out of glass jars and bright yellow butter created straight from yesterday's lush green grass. And that by God's grace I'm investing in the future of my children and grandchildren, and those of my siblings by the choices that I make right now. And the knowledge that I can heal the pastures on this farm so that in the near future, by careful management they can become living active storage units of biomass and health. There is so much to being good stewards of the earth as God has commanded us."

And now -- Pot scrubbers!!

I found this small article on the 'Eat wild' website and half of me wanted to laugh, while the other half wanted to cry...

"In the "what will they think of next" category, feedlot nutritionists have been experimenting with substituting kitchen pot scrubbers for hay. Feedlot cattle need some roughage in their diet in addition to the grain concentrate or they will become sick and gain weight more slowly. But why bring in all that bulky hay, reasoned investigators, when pot scrubbers might do the trick? To test this novel idea, the scientists fed a group of steers a high-grain diet and then inserted either zero, four, or eight plastic scrubbers into each animal's rumen (stomach). The experiment appeared to work. "From day 113 to 152, steers provided with pot scrubbers had 16% greater average daily gain than those fed the 100% concentrate diet without pot scrubbers."

Wouldn't it be gratifying if the money spent on this questionable study had been spent on exploring the health benefits of raising animals on pasture?"

~Caitlyn