I have always envied runners. How they can just get up and go for a workout wherever they are at and come back all rosy and flushed and saying that they had such a GOOD run!
I have always hated running. I don't know if it was the actual act of running, if it was that i couldn't watch TV while working out or if i am just not built to be a runner. I couldn't manage to like it, not even tolerate it.
And while i have always WANTED to have a consistent workout routine, it had alluded me. That was another reason why i envied runners, the apparent ease with which they exercised on a regular basis. It was like i was missing something, some grand awesome thing that happens when running that makes you want to do. They always talked about a runners high, i usually got a bad temper.
But suddenly all that has changed.
And now, i think, i might be a runner!
For the past two weeks or so i have been "running" ( more like walking a lot and jogging in between till i feel like stopping). Most evenings, as soon as our toddler is in bed, i go until our lab and we go for a run. I have no idea how far i go, but i am usually gone between 30 minutes and an hour. I still haven't quite figured out why it is working and why i actually, desperately sometimes, want to run but i do. Maybe it is the time alone, maybe it is the physical exertion, or that i have a "companion" of sorts to run with, or maybe it is because the weather is generally really nice and wind free around that time of the evening. Maybe it is because we live "out" and the most likely thing i will run into is a pheasant. I don't really know and i don't really care. I am just glad that something is finally working for me!
And yes, maybe just maybe, i might be a runner!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
That " Cowy" Flavor
In my quest to know more about nutrition and whole food, i have found that raw milk from grass fed cows is nutritionally superior over store bought milk. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say the difference was big enough that i was a little desperate to find a source of raw milk here in North Dakota. Imagine my dismay when searching online, i found it has been OUTLAWED to sell raw milk in this state.
How sad.
Thankfully, there are enough health conscious people around who agree that raw milk from grass fed cows, when handled properly is not only nutritionally superior, but perfectly safe. So of course, they have found ways to get around this law so that they can feed their family safe whole foods.
So i dug in deeper and had found a couple leads, but all much to far away to make it practically for consistent supply. Finally i decided i should consult a dear friend at our church who i knew to be very "granola" and figured that if there was a source near by, she would know about it. Imagine my surprise and delight when she informed me that they actually had several pastured Jersey's and would have plenty of milk for my needs! Yeah!
We got our first gallon for "pet food" on Sunday and i was quite eager to start drinking safe and healthy milk. I remembered having raw milk in my childhood and was looking forward to the unequalled flavor and creaminess. So imagine my surprise when i took a big drink and had a hard time swallowing. The only way i can describe it was that it was decidedly "cowy". Not in the way you think of cows, like that it tasted like the smell of manure or something. It was just so obviously "cow juice" from a cow, that it was all i could think of. Crud! How am i going to drink raw milk that i can't deny is so much better for me if it tastes so weird?
Luckily, after some discussions with my dad and sister, i got some answers.
First of all, me getting raw milk, is like the first time people who have grown up on store bought meat eating grass fed beef. They ask if it is deer because it tastes wild and gamey. I always thought this was silly, but i grew up on grass fed beef. That is essentially what i am going through with grass fed raw milk. I only had raw milk occasionally as a child and it was from a dairy. And apparently when you have multiple cows adding to the milk, it kinda levels out the flavors and you don't taste the "cowy". I am getting milk from ONE cow. So whatever she eats, or if she is just started milking or almost finished, all of that will change the milks flavor. I also found drinking it ice cold helps. And last but not least, my sister said i will get used to it and not taste it anymore.
Phew! Cause after going to all this trouble, and paying a considerable amount for high quality grass fed raw milk, i was afraid all my work would be for naught!
How sad.
Thankfully, there are enough health conscious people around who agree that raw milk from grass fed cows, when handled properly is not only nutritionally superior, but perfectly safe. So of course, they have found ways to get around this law so that they can feed their family safe whole foods.
So i dug in deeper and had found a couple leads, but all much to far away to make it practically for consistent supply. Finally i decided i should consult a dear friend at our church who i knew to be very "granola" and figured that if there was a source near by, she would know about it. Imagine my surprise and delight when she informed me that they actually had several pastured Jersey's and would have plenty of milk for my needs! Yeah!
We got our first gallon for "pet food" on Sunday and i was quite eager to start drinking safe and healthy milk. I remembered having raw milk in my childhood and was looking forward to the unequalled flavor and creaminess. So imagine my surprise when i took a big drink and had a hard time swallowing. The only way i can describe it was that it was decidedly "cowy". Not in the way you think of cows, like that it tasted like the smell of manure or something. It was just so obviously "cow juice" from a cow, that it was all i could think of. Crud! How am i going to drink raw milk that i can't deny is so much better for me if it tastes so weird?
Luckily, after some discussions with my dad and sister, i got some answers.
First of all, me getting raw milk, is like the first time people who have grown up on store bought meat eating grass fed beef. They ask if it is deer because it tastes wild and gamey. I always thought this was silly, but i grew up on grass fed beef. That is essentially what i am going through with grass fed raw milk. I only had raw milk occasionally as a child and it was from a dairy. And apparently when you have multiple cows adding to the milk, it kinda levels out the flavors and you don't taste the "cowy". I am getting milk from ONE cow. So whatever she eats, or if she is just started milking or almost finished, all of that will change the milks flavor. I also found drinking it ice cold helps. And last but not least, my sister said i will get used to it and not taste it anymore.
Phew! Cause after going to all this trouble, and paying a considerable amount for high quality grass fed raw milk, i was afraid all my work would be for naught!
Friday, June 22, 2012
I am now GRANOLA
Wow! All i can say is whole foods and knitting, knitting, knitting! I have been planning several baby knits, as my dear sisters are bringing me a niece and a nephew this year (phew!). I have been having so much fun with all these fun baby knits i have had to remind myself to take it one step at a time. I will have the rest of their LIVES to knit cool things for them, i don't have to knit them all NOW! I have also been having fun planning secret and exciting Christmas gifts, but those you will have to wait a long time to find out about :)
And i am still so wrapped up in learning more about healthy food. It just continually amazes me how PROCESSED even the most innocent of foods are. And all just to make a buck. It is a sad world we live in when food producers care more about making money then making something healthy and nutritious for its customers.
Did you know that most chicken we buy is bleached? They do this because there is so many diseases because they cram so many chickens into such a small place and then feed them ground up parts from other dead chickens and animals. Gross.
And did you know that beef has been given the bad rap of being unhealthy only because the industrialized way we raise beef has MADE it unhealthy? Cows were not meant to eat only grain and yet that is all we feed them, plus antibiotics to keep them from getting sick because they are also crowded and in their own poo. Ewww. The grain diet makes them gain fat and weight quickly, making them a lot fattier then their grass fed counterpart.
And did you know that when you buy pasteurized milk, that they allow 300,000 to 500,000 parts of fecal matter in it while raw milk they only allow 25? That is what pasteurization has in part, caused. Laziness when it comes to cleanliness.
I could go on and on. I have learned so much about food in the past couple of days i can't hold it all in! I just can't believe that companies have allowed this, that we are so ignorant of this. If we can't even buy chicken, beef, eggs or milk the way they were meant to be, unprocessed and grown properly, then how much GROSSER are things we buy in boxes and bags that have things in them we can't pronounce?
Wow. I have become a "granola" person overnight.
And i am still so wrapped up in learning more about healthy food. It just continually amazes me how PROCESSED even the most innocent of foods are. And all just to make a buck. It is a sad world we live in when food producers care more about making money then making something healthy and nutritious for its customers.
Did you know that most chicken we buy is bleached? They do this because there is so many diseases because they cram so many chickens into such a small place and then feed them ground up parts from other dead chickens and animals. Gross.
And did you know that beef has been given the bad rap of being unhealthy only because the industrialized way we raise beef has MADE it unhealthy? Cows were not meant to eat only grain and yet that is all we feed them, plus antibiotics to keep them from getting sick because they are also crowded and in their own poo. Ewww. The grain diet makes them gain fat and weight quickly, making them a lot fattier then their grass fed counterpart.
And did you know that when you buy pasteurized milk, that they allow 300,000 to 500,000 parts of fecal matter in it while raw milk they only allow 25? That is what pasteurization has in part, caused. Laziness when it comes to cleanliness.
I could go on and on. I have learned so much about food in the past couple of days i can't hold it all in! I just can't believe that companies have allowed this, that we are so ignorant of this. If we can't even buy chicken, beef, eggs or milk the way they were meant to be, unprocessed and grown properly, then how much GROSSER are things we buy in boxes and bags that have things in them we can't pronounce?
Wow. I have become a "granola" person overnight.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
All that Natural stuff
Now that i am no longer working outside of the home, i have time to make plans.
To make plans for healthier eating, finding whole and nutritious foods, weeding out the chemicals that pervade our everyday lives. Plans for growing medicinal herbs, and cleaning with natural ingredients and (shock of all shocks) washing my face with honey. Yes, honey. Plans for teaching our daughter and preschool curriculums and bible verses, bible stories, shapes and colors and names and numbers and all that is necessary and good and exciting to a 2 1/2 year old. Plans for projects to start and field trips to take and camping trips to make and knitting to commence. So many things that need done and want to be done and that would be cool to do.
It can get a bit overwhelming!
As always, i find, my nemisis, my difficulty is in drawing the lines. Where to stop and what to say yes to, while always saying no to something else.
Lately i have really been caught up in nutrition and whole foods and all that it entails. I am conscious of the fact that i can not implement everything all at once and go all green and all natural in one fell swoop. But the more i learn and find and discover about this bad chemical and that bad filler and this cool easy way to clean and so on, the more i want to implement more and more! I have to tell myself to take it easy! But it is so exciting to me, to be able to know i am feeding my family healthy whole foods. That we know what everything is on the ingredient list, that we are reducing our exposure to the toxins and chemicals that pervade the most tiniest moments of our lives.
I am also excited to learn more and more about medicinal herbs and there uses. In American, herbs are so very neglected and there has been such a pall of danger and fear cast over them, that i know many will tell me i am playing with fire by using herbs. But many of our modern medicines have extracts derived from these herbs, or properties chemically altered or changed, but that came from an herb. And for our forefathers, herbs were their only medicines, and often a very good medicine. Herbs are by nature less potent and more gentle to human bodies, they tend to work within your body, rather then against it.
Now don't get me wrong, i am not going to never go to a doctor, nor will i shun antibiotics when needed, surgery or the like. And i am pretty sure i will still have a bottle of tylenol in my medicine cabinet, as i have yet to find a effective pain relieving herb that doesn't come with some pretty substantial risks, at least to me. But i am interested to see what herbs can do, and will most likely be trying a home remedy before rushing to the medicine cabinet, as i learn more about God's green medicines.
As always, i have many knitting projects planned, and some actually in the works. And i always want more :) I have also been excited about the biblical preschool curriculum i have found online. Many of my fellow homeschooling moms directed me to multiple websites where they gleaned this from one and that from another, telling me that the free stuff was often just as good as the stuff you had to pay for. For a short time i was feeling, compelled or feeling bad that this prospect did not excite me. In fact it frightened me and made me feel like quitting on this whole homeschool endeavor, at least until next year. But then i realized, it is okay that teaching itself is not my passion. I do not get excited about creating lesson plans or finding a great game to teach math with. I would rather someone else find it and package it into a tidy little book that i can look into each day, or a couple days before hand, and know what that days plan is. And there is no shame in that. Though teaching may not be my passion, my CHILDREN or rather, my child IS my passion, and thus the decision to homeschool. So i will do my best, and will not feel bad about buying a curriculum, rather then making my own. Besides, the curriculum i am getting also has 12 other supplemental materials/learning tools that i have to make on my own. Eeeek! And that is more then enough for me!
And through all of this has been the struggle to settle. Though i can not stress enough how good this move has been for our family, and how certain we are that this was the path God has for us, it does not make the hard parts any easier.
It has been quite a struggle deciding what to do with our house in Idaho, and the struggle is not over. The market is so dismal that in human terms, it just might not be possible to sell. So I am glad that we have a very big God working for us on this. And as is that is not enough, as typical humans we like to borrow trouble and worry about finding housing HERE once everything in Idaho is buttoned up. To put it lightly, housing is in extremely high demand here, thus prices are going up and supply is extremely low. And with the uncertainty as to whether or not dear husband could be moved to a different mine within his company, we are unsure whether to rent or buy, and if either will be possible. All this on top of the inherent stress of not having your own place, somewhere to call HOME and put down roots and make it your own. Well, it has just all been rather stressful. But thank goodness, God is bigger then it all and we know he has a plan, it just isn't always easy to live that "knowing".
But hallelujah, it seems that summer is finally here! I know i will not love a lot of the weather out here, but i have been incandescently happy that the sun is back and it is WARM! It is amazing what some good weather can do for your spirits!
So on continues this great adventure in the Great Plains of North Dakota. I guess God never said life would be boring!
To make plans for healthier eating, finding whole and nutritious foods, weeding out the chemicals that pervade our everyday lives. Plans for growing medicinal herbs, and cleaning with natural ingredients and (shock of all shocks) washing my face with honey. Yes, honey. Plans for teaching our daughter and preschool curriculums and bible verses, bible stories, shapes and colors and names and numbers and all that is necessary and good and exciting to a 2 1/2 year old. Plans for projects to start and field trips to take and camping trips to make and knitting to commence. So many things that need done and want to be done and that would be cool to do.
It can get a bit overwhelming!
As always, i find, my nemisis, my difficulty is in drawing the lines. Where to stop and what to say yes to, while always saying no to something else.
Lately i have really been caught up in nutrition and whole foods and all that it entails. I am conscious of the fact that i can not implement everything all at once and go all green and all natural in one fell swoop. But the more i learn and find and discover about this bad chemical and that bad filler and this cool easy way to clean and so on, the more i want to implement more and more! I have to tell myself to take it easy! But it is so exciting to me, to be able to know i am feeding my family healthy whole foods. That we know what everything is on the ingredient list, that we are reducing our exposure to the toxins and chemicals that pervade the most tiniest moments of our lives.
I am also excited to learn more and more about medicinal herbs and there uses. In American, herbs are so very neglected and there has been such a pall of danger and fear cast over them, that i know many will tell me i am playing with fire by using herbs. But many of our modern medicines have extracts derived from these herbs, or properties chemically altered or changed, but that came from an herb. And for our forefathers, herbs were their only medicines, and often a very good medicine. Herbs are by nature less potent and more gentle to human bodies, they tend to work within your body, rather then against it.
Now don't get me wrong, i am not going to never go to a doctor, nor will i shun antibiotics when needed, surgery or the like. And i am pretty sure i will still have a bottle of tylenol in my medicine cabinet, as i have yet to find a effective pain relieving herb that doesn't come with some pretty substantial risks, at least to me. But i am interested to see what herbs can do, and will most likely be trying a home remedy before rushing to the medicine cabinet, as i learn more about God's green medicines.
As always, i have many knitting projects planned, and some actually in the works. And i always want more :) I have also been excited about the biblical preschool curriculum i have found online. Many of my fellow homeschooling moms directed me to multiple websites where they gleaned this from one and that from another, telling me that the free stuff was often just as good as the stuff you had to pay for. For a short time i was feeling, compelled or feeling bad that this prospect did not excite me. In fact it frightened me and made me feel like quitting on this whole homeschool endeavor, at least until next year. But then i realized, it is okay that teaching itself is not my passion. I do not get excited about creating lesson plans or finding a great game to teach math with. I would rather someone else find it and package it into a tidy little book that i can look into each day, or a couple days before hand, and know what that days plan is. And there is no shame in that. Though teaching may not be my passion, my CHILDREN or rather, my child IS my passion, and thus the decision to homeschool. So i will do my best, and will not feel bad about buying a curriculum, rather then making my own. Besides, the curriculum i am getting also has 12 other supplemental materials/learning tools that i have to make on my own. Eeeek! And that is more then enough for me!
And through all of this has been the struggle to settle. Though i can not stress enough how good this move has been for our family, and how certain we are that this was the path God has for us, it does not make the hard parts any easier.
It has been quite a struggle deciding what to do with our house in Idaho, and the struggle is not over. The market is so dismal that in human terms, it just might not be possible to sell. So I am glad that we have a very big God working for us on this. And as is that is not enough, as typical humans we like to borrow trouble and worry about finding housing HERE once everything in Idaho is buttoned up. To put it lightly, housing is in extremely high demand here, thus prices are going up and supply is extremely low. And with the uncertainty as to whether or not dear husband could be moved to a different mine within his company, we are unsure whether to rent or buy, and if either will be possible. All this on top of the inherent stress of not having your own place, somewhere to call HOME and put down roots and make it your own. Well, it has just all been rather stressful. But thank goodness, God is bigger then it all and we know he has a plan, it just isn't always easy to live that "knowing".
But hallelujah, it seems that summer is finally here! I know i will not love a lot of the weather out here, but i have been incandescently happy that the sun is back and it is WARM! It is amazing what some good weather can do for your spirits!
So on continues this great adventure in the Great Plains of North Dakota. I guess God never said life would be boring!
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