For Our Good

Being the frugal sort, our family tries to reuse everything we possibly can. Despite my children's exasperated eye-rolls, I ask them to wash baggies so we can get more life out of them. Every bottle from shampoo to dishwashing detergent gets rinsed of the entirety of its contents before it goes into the recycle bin. More often than not, my kids Goodwill clothes don't make it back into recirculation due to their being well worn-out! And we refilled purchased water bottles until I began hearing about the toxicity of BPA, bisphenol A, leaching into our water.

Yesterday, I read through the posting and comments on GNOWFLINS discussing BPA-free freezer storage. Yet one more hazard to defend our families from. I'm sure it's not just me - sometimes it takes me a while to determine not to turn my back on new information that makes life harder. I mean, the day before this, I was ignorant of this peril in my pantry. Now, I have to either knowingly ignore this danger, or determine to incorporate changes for our protection. After a day of absorbing and ruminating amidst the stuff of life, I determined we will begin phasing out our plastics and bringing in glassware and pyrex.

I have not listened to it yet, but it just so happens that on the heels of these thoughts of change in our family, NPR held a piece on it's show today concerning this very topic: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/01/by_nell_greenfieldboyce_the_fo.html

For those who are new to this subject, read this from the Environmental Working Group:
BPA - At some of the very lowest doses the chemical causes permanent alterations of breast and prostate cells that precede cancer, insulin resistance (a hallmark trait of Type II diabetes), and chromosomal damage linked to recurrent miscarriage and a wide range of birth defects including Down's syndrome (vom Saal and Hughes 2005). Few chemicals have been found to consistently display such a diverse range of harm at such low doses.

I know my Dad thinks that I'm becoming a (colorful adjective), tree-hugging, eco-nut, earth muffin. (Believe it or not, I was once listed with the Green Party - in California, of all places! And I regularly enjoyed Earth Day celebrations for a number of years, to my Father's disdain.) Once my life was given to Christ, my views of earthly stewardship found their purpose and home, joining with my love for my family, the world, it's people, and my Creator.

"Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so."

As complicated as life gets, some things are really quite simple. The words of Genesis speak of life as it was intended from the beginning. Yes, we have corrupted it, and continue to try to work things for what we deem to be our own good. The lesson I am learning is that the closer I get to what He created for our good, the better.

1 Hour Delay

That's how far behind I am, cumulatively, on #5 of my New Year's Resolutions. And yes, I am keeping track because I do plan on catching up, not giving up. I have to say in my defense that I have had two days of migraines in that time, and I have been BUSY. 'Nuff said.

Today I made my first clandestine run over the border into South Carolina for a purchase of raw milk. I sat in my car with Angelina, and noticed others sitting in their cars parked up and down the row. We all waited, protected from the cold, for the arrival of the Milky Way delivery truck. At last! He came and I handed over my money, hurrying back to put my gallon in the cooler for the drive home.

Tonight I had my first cup - it was heavenly. Full-bodied, creamy, rich. I have gone to the other side. Ok, I was ready for this particular leap, but it is just as delicious as I'd hoped.

*Bonus: I was able to pick up some pasture beef and eggs being sold there by another farmer!

Kelly the Kitchen Kop's School

I was chatting with my Mom yesterday, pleading with her to become my "follower" on this blog - thanks Tan! You're #1 in more ways than one! ;D Help Mom get on board too, would you? My son urged me to try another blogging resource, but I feel it is just too busy and confusing to navigate there - besides, I don't want the pressure of a pack of followers (thinking ahead ;D); I just want a few followers to support me at this point. Mainly this is born of 1)a need to control things and 2) don't push me... and, well 3) what if I don't succeed? There's all my confessions of fear of failure in a box. It's my third post, and I'm already making public confessions!

So, if you stumble upon my site, anyone beyond my sister Tania, I invite you to be my "follower" as well. (This is just so public for me!)

Ok, enough about me. I wanted to talk about Kelly the Kitchen Kop. As I was saying, I was chatting with my Mom about the various changes I want to make in my eating habits and I mentioned raw milk. "Well, it will be pasteurized, won't it?" she asked.
Nope.
"Well, you're going to boil it first, aren't you?"
No, I don't think that's what I'm supposed to do - that's pasteurization, I believe.
"Well, I don't know that I'd feel very comfortable with that," she said with doubt.

Honestly, these are all things that I am looking into as well, so I told her that I couldn't tell her right now WHY it's supposed to be better for you, but I would find out and give her the highlights. I began looking around a bit for those answers. In the course of my pursuits, I went reading through Kelly's site.

Kelly the Kitchen Kop has a plethora of material. She is a veritable encyclopedia of information on healthy natural eating, sources for organic and raw foods, delicious no-fuss recipes, the latest political issues to preserve natural farming, and bless her heart! even a section for people like me - Rookie Tips. ;P Her first words in bold are YOU CAN DO IT! I intend to carve out time over the next few days ingesting and savoring, and hopefully retaining, the education she has worked so hard to provide for the rest of us. I have said before, I am a homeschooling Mom with a mind like a seive. But I also have grown accustomed to repeating my work or readings in order to do a better job and/or achieve a greater degree of retention. I recently read Malcolm Gladwell (I envy people who are born to such encouraging last names) has researched and determined it takes the average person 10,000 hours to become an expert at anything. I'm the kind of person who finds such a statistic encouraging. After all, I've only invested about 5 hours in this so far, and via the benevolence of strangers such as Kelly, I have some excellent teachers out there.

So, join me in raising a glass of organic coconut milk to my fledgling education!

Where do I start?

Well, I have probably read through this book at least 2.5 times. I really expected this to be some modern-day snake-charmer shtick, but it seems there are real people out there who eat this way and swear by it's benefits. I wish I lived on a farm right now, or better yet had a sibling I could mooch off of for organic meats, eggs, milk and such.

I have had a rough idea in my mind of beginning once we start back to school, more or less, which would be somewhere around the 2nd week in January. What have I done in preparation? Well, I have purchased coconut oil and milk, and some cod liver oil, although I didn't check to see if this brand was on the list or not. I intend to pick up some dolomite and dessicated liver at my local Vitamin World.

Friends of mine purchase raw milk, so I'm hoping to get in our their alternating runs to South Carolina for it. I've looked online for local sources of beef, chicken, lamb, and even lard! Yes, I found lard not too far from me! I'm not sure how this is going to go financially, so that will be a major determinant in the size of my baby steps.

Oh! And I found both Kombuchu and coconut milk at my local Bloom - I like them ok. Kombuchu smells and tastes kind of like sparkling vinegar apple juice. I'm glad I was able to taste it before going to the trouble of making it myself. I think I'll stick with an occasional Bloom purchase at this point - but it could grow on me. Coconut milk is rather light in flavor, but it has a solid white color which is very milk convincing. That one is going to be an easy change.

I have also been soaking my oatmeal on a regular basis, which substantially reduces cooking time in the morning as well as feels good to be doing something that improves the benefits of oatmeal - already high on my good-for-you list! ;D

There are a number of places I drive by on a regular basis where goats are raised. One in particular, I go by all the time. The other day it suddenly occurred to me that they might be a good source of locating whey for fermenting sauerkraut and kimchee. Most things I've read seem to assume it is cow whey we are talking about, but upon looking into it it appears that goats will do.

Do I have the nerve to jump into what looks like real weirdness to me? I know, there are a lot of people out there to whom this is normal. And I have to say my hopeful feeling has less to do with weight loss and more to do with health. This is all making real "gut sense" to me, if you know what I mean....

Anyone else out there want to baby step this with me? It's the New Year and I love the possibilities that that always brings with it!