Your Moment of Zen

vTunes vs. iTunes

Here we have Valerie playing another popular piece of music. She plays it on the violin too. But the piano is always there ... and allegedly tuned. So, here you have it, another activity for kids when mean old mommy says no video.

I have to say, it's really empowering to Valerie. When she's mad at me (or someone) she can go bang out a tune on the piano. Sometimes I think she plays purposefully to drown out the music I might be playing on iTunes in the kitchen. But really, that's okay. I can always just go sort some wire hangars or something.

Need A Break?

Okay, you've all read about the garden and the bunny and the chickens and the kids, lack of television and video games and the crazy whole foods I force down them. But it's not like they don't get "their way" sometimes.

Rex has been building his own trebouchets, bows, arrows and other implements of war for quite some time. He'd been lobbying for the Red Rider BB Gun for what seems ever. (Really, I think he wanted this before he ever saw the movie "A Christmas Story"). I took great relish in responding with the requisite, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!"



Well, this past Christmas Uncle Dave came to the rescue with a soft pellet gun. I still didn't want it at my house. I figured the little plastic pellets were bad for the chickens and the gun was just bound to be misused. Rex and Michael swore about gun safety and set up a little target practice range in a hidden part of the yard by the back fence. (Rex used to have bales of straw back there for his bow practice ... now there is a pile of junk and a can on a string dangling and some paper targets). It's really an eye sore. But, it is hidden.

A soft pellet gun is the gateway gun to a BB Gun, apparently. It's true, we do have a rat problem. I think my boys had been using it to snipe rats. I may be mistaken. They try to take care of gun related things out of my line of sight.

Sunday afternoon while Michael was in the duck and cover mode in Florida (big storms) I was wrangling kids, dinner, etc. My phone rang. Much to my surprise it was my neighbor right behind me. "Why, hello Mr. Bee. How are you?" He informed me that he was doing well. He'd just returned from a glorious vacation to Mendocino. My inside voice told me that this was not the reason he was calling.

After indulging in the polite conversation he asked, "Does your son have a BB gun?" Uh oh.



Turns out he came home to a broken window and a back yard full of soft pellets and a couple of BBs.

Doh!!! Needless to say, I was very contrite, Rex apologized and I, of course, offered to pay for the window.



Storm or no storm, I got on the horn to Michael. Those guns have got to go.

Maybe he can set up the straw and revert back to his bows and arrows? And point the range toward the other fence?

Well, on the plus side, he's not sitting around playing video games and watching Spongebob.

Number One Fan!

My brother and sister-in-law stop by my blog frequently. How do I know this? Well, they write the cutest reviews of what they've read and then they send them. They are such gems (as reviews and comments go) that I feel the need to post another one for posterity. Scott sent this to me this morning:

Ahhh yes,

A nice sundry roll and coast to Tifftown. While the other cars belch out fluorocarbons and other emissions, the normal road deviates from another path that lets you meander down to a small street leading into Tifftown. Here you find may other curiosities that let your mind relax; although you may want to think about scraping your shoes, you do see the chickens, correct? Although in other yards the pile of compost composed of yesterdays worms, bugs, rat parts, and whatever didn't make it off your plate last night would be found in a yard bag at the curb, not in Tifftown. In Tifftown, the rules are all to clear and sometimes not so much for the Mayor of Tifftown since she too is reminding herself of what was the rule. For the visitor the rules are relax, enjoy the bunny, chickens, cats, and yes, children, all at play in the yard. No TV but 30 minutes a day and what is viewed is taken into consideration otherwise find something to do with your mind. Why not look at the young tomatoes and other plants growing in the garden. Inspect the nests of the chickens for eggs, look at the grass and see how green it is or the tree with the tree fort in it; no computer required.

Unfortunately, youth escapes us all and we must acknowledge that a grownup has worked hard to make Tifftown a nice place to visit before work and a pleasant place to stay. While young, we may argue about: Why use a bike when your car is faster? Why draw when we can watch someone else's animation on a TV? Why sit out side with "nothing to do" when video games are just moments away, why eat gluten, sugar, egg, milk free muffins (ok so there MAY be some butter in them) when Suzy-Q's are soo cool with the other kids? Well, that is the funny thing about Tifftown, because '...she says so', now, go out side before I give you something to do... nothing.

The problem about doing nothing, you never know when you are done.

It is time for me to mosey away from Tifftown into the grown-up world of numbers, anxieties, pressures, and follies. However, remember, I visit Tifftown often ... even though everyone may be asleep.

scott

Spring Chickens & Gardens & Allergies

Well, spring has really sprung (You might be able to see from this picture of part of the garden. Tomatoes, carrots, shallots, etc. ) We've had Bessie out cruising around to do all our errands the last few days. Then, this morning in anticipation of May being "Bike Month", I decided to get into shape by riding downtown to pick up a few needed items. I don't have any pictures of the bike ride this morning because I was too busy arguing with somebody (who shall remain nameless) about why we were actually going to ride our bikes through the park and then downtown on this beautiful day instead of strapping into a car (a very cool one at that!) But then I realized, "Hey! Wait a minute, I'M IN CHARGE. And I don't have to explain myself and my crazy reasons to you."

Let's just say that after a few minutes of fresh air and exercise and looking at squirrels in trees and saying hello to people, the dark clouds of that mood passed on by - thank goodness!




But then, of course, the allergies really settled in. They've been coming on the last few days. I'm itchy and sneezy (and sleepy and dopey and sometimes Doc). It's so beautiful out that half of me wants to be really productive. The other half wants to take a nap and hide from the pollen.



I took a good look at the garden today and decided there wasn't really any space left for planting. So, I snapped off some pix for posterity. Next year I can look back at my blog and see my glaring mistakes or fantastic ideas.




Here you can see the tons of garlic and onions I planted. They won't be ready for another month, I'm guessing. Then there are the mounds of potatoes. I was only recently tipped off about covering them with straw. So, I tried to scoot around the tomatoes and peas. And way in the back I've put some zinnia and sun flower seeds in the hopes they'll peek out this summer.

Here you can also see the artichokes, roses, borage and well, lemon and bee balm behind the potato mounds. Well, maybe you can't see it all. But that's what is back there!



This here is my compost. It is full of chicken goodness, food scraps, bunny litter and straw. I was turning it today and there are just loads of worms. That's great!



The chickens are all flocking (separately for now). Sitting in my back yard is like Wild Kingdom! (With the added bonus of actual pollen, hawks, parts of rats, chicken poop, etc.)



In other news, my friend got her pig today. I'm so excited. I hope she invites me over to see it. I think it would be cool to have a pig. And some goats. And some bees. And some land for all these dreams. Well, and some time for them ...

These Kids Today ...

I know I am really becoming that cranky old lady who stands out front her house with a shot gun loaded with rock salt yelling, "Hey! You kids! Get off my lawn!!!" when I title a post "These Kids Today ..."

First, I have to admit one of my many faults. I am entirely too neurotic about food. It's true. I drove to THREE different farms last week and had one deliver. I bought into a "cow share" so I could get raw milk straight from the cow. I had some grass finished beef delivered to my house. I drove out to another farm to pick up freshly harvested, grass pastured chickens. And then I made my weekly trip out to get my greens from GRUB. I mean, who does that? In the mean time I spent some time e-mailing and calling my senators about the latest agricultural bill that threatens small local farms and tries to regulate everything under the FDA to make my food "safer". Well, with the stellar track record the FDA has ... I just don't trust the government to provide me with safe food. I do trust my local farmer, if I meet them and see their farming practices. (Wow ... I really am sounding like a cranky old lady. How old am I???)



Okay, now I can move on to my rant. My kids like to have friends over, of course. Who doesn't? Some of their friends are really polite and will try just about any crazy food I put in front of them. Other kids drive me insane. My daughter had this one friend over who refused to eat ANYTHING. My peanut butter only had peanuts in it. Imagine that. My bread was the wrong color (not white). I didn't have grape jelly. My chocolate chip cookies weren't like the ones her mom makes (she apparently buys the rolls of pre-made dough and slices them on to cookie sheets). Mine were, of course, homemade with organic ingredients and eggs from my chickens. I didn't advertise that. But I take great pride in what I produce in my kitchen.



My recent encounter was with Rex's friend sleeping over. I knew his friend was a picky eater. I have a hard time giving that kid anything to eat. So, Rex asked when his friend was coming to dinner. I told Rex he had to warn his friend that we were having hamburgers without buns and sweet potato fries from the oven. If his friend wasn't willing to eat that, he'd better come over after dinner. Apparently, fully informed, this kid decided to come over for dinner. I have to admit he choked down the hamburger, but that was it.

After dinner he asked if he could have ice cream. I had to inform him that we didn't have ice cream in the house. And I didn't want to give my kids sugar right before bed (it always results in leg cramps and nightmares and less sleep for me). He reminded me that last time he came over we had ice cream. I started to feel like a really bad hostess. I figured he was still hungry. So, I offered him a glass of milk. He drank it right down and asked if we could watch a movie. My kids are used to not watching movies on the weekend (except special circumstances). Rex was outside building some crazy structure and the girls were entertaining themselves as usual. This kid was hounding me for sugar and entertainment. (Well, that's how it felt. He has threatened my son before that he was just going to go home if he didn't get to play video games and drink soda -- he knows we don't do that here).



Finally, I caved. I didn't want to be a bad hostess. We had a movie, Fantastic Mr. Fox, that seemed rated for the whole family. I offered to make popcorn too. We had to pause the movie while he phoned his mom to bring over his pillow and blankets. I was informed he couldn't watch a movie unless he was comfortable. Anyhow, I think we finally fed him enough and made him comfortable.



At 7:30am on Sunday morning there came a knock on my bedroom door. Rex announced that his friend was hungry. I had anticipated this. Last night I started some pancake batter (freshly milled organic spelt flour soaked in a yogurt mixture). I got up and brushed my teeth and came out here to start breakfast. His friend then announced that I should nevermind as he just called his mom to come get him. I offered to make bacon and eggs, a bowl of cereal, a glass of milk, pancakes, whatever. Nope. He was going home. Plus, his mom apparently makes pancakes that spray out of a can "like spray on cheese".

I can't compete with that. So, if you want to get rid of your company in the morning, be sure to whip up the following:

(based on the recipe from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon):

2 cups freshly ground spelt or whole wheat flour
2 cups kefir or yogurt/milk mixture or buttermilk
2 eggs (separated)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablepoons melted butter

Soak flour in milk mixture overnight. In the morning separate eggs and melt butter. Whisk melted butter into yolks, combine with whites and add with rest of ingredients to batter. Drop 1/4 cup batter on well heated griddle (use coconut oil or ghee). Turn when bubbles appear.

Add blueberries or other berries to batter if you wish. Serve with butter and real maple syrup after your company goes home.



So, I understand that I'm entirely too neurotic about food. I know that my kids encounter cookie dough out of a can, soda, spray on cheese, grape jelly, chips and candybars at other people's houses. And I'm okay with that because I offer really healthy food here. But I hope my kids have good manners and at least try different foods at other people's houses. I really beat myself up this morning for not being "the cool mom" with all the junk food, movies and video games kids love. But if it would give my kids manners like this, then perhaps I'm not sorry.

I am now done with my Sunday morning rant. You can send your contributions toward therapy to my home address.

Probably T.M.I. & A Recipe!

Yes, this is probably too much information, but I'll share it anyway. First of all, the woes of peri-menopause certainly settled in on me around the age of 37. Yes, it's true, I went from about a 4 to a full 10 on the Joan Crawford scale. My poor family.



Linked to all that is hormone imbalance, adrenal fatigue and hypothyroidism and osteopenia. Sure, I look great, but on paper I'm practically dead. Well, maybe just over 40. It happens if we're lucky! I'm just saying all this in case the same thing is happening to you or someone you love. Prozac will not fix this situation.

So, I went down this crazy road of adjusting diet and exercise lots of blood tests. A nurse practitioner and a friend of mine once suggested that I do a total elimination diet and slowly add things back in to see if that would help. A friend of mine is convinced that she was able to tackle her hyperthyroidism by eliminating wheat/gluten. Well, that sort of helped but not really.

Finally, this winter Michael got some tests done and found out he really CAN'T have wheat/barley/rye or any grain containing gliadin. Since going pretty paleo, he's health has really improved.

I went in for a test too. I made sure that I was consuming wheat and dairy and all the no-no's before hand just to make sure they were tested. The good news is that I have no reaction to gluten/gliadin. Hooray!!! However, I apparently have a "leaky gut" due to a systemic candida situation. Ouch. So, I'm presently on a candida diet. I'm on day 4. Let me tell you, it's not pretty. NO SUGAR. Period. No fruit, no bread/carbs/dairy/kefir/kombucha/fermented products/alcohol, etc.

Here's a picture of the candida albicans that makes nice little roots into the intestines, breaking the walls, creating leaky gut and causing people like me to be unable to absorb calcium (leading to osteopenia).




I thought I'd been pretty healthy eating lots of veggies, meats, fats, kefir, kombucha, lacto fermented foods and eggs. I was feeling pretty good ... but not always. Well, turns out I have to eliminate a lot of these items for at least three weeks while I cleanse. And on Day 3 I experienced what's known as the Herxheimer reaction. I quickly added a bowl of amaranth for breakfast (no sugar). That seemed to do wonders. I guess I can't kill all those beasties at once without taking a toll on myself.

Anyhow, due to the leaky gut issue, I have developed a reaction to the following: peanuts, sesame, halibut, strawberries, coconut, pears, oranges, millet, green pepper, egg whites and yellow squash. So, I now have to eliminate those from my diet for 3 to 6 months. Wow.

Well, necessity being the mother of invention, I created some muffins that I could eat. Apparently I can have one fruit on occasion if it is a berry. So, behold, my recipe for CANDIDA ALBICANS MUFFINS (yes, I should probably give them a more appealing name! And, yes, I realize there are egg whites in these. I'm not a saint).




2 1/2 cups almond flour
3 eggs (separated)
3/4 tsp liquid stevia
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup plain organic yogurt
4 tbsp melted butter
1 cup organic blue berries


Preheat oven to 300F degrees.

Sift together dry ingredients in a bowl. Separate eggs and melt butter. Place egg whites, yogurt and stevia in a bowl and mix to blend with a fork. Slowly add cooled, melted butter to egg yolks then blend with whites/yogurt. Add liquid to dry ingredients and combine until just blended. Fold in 1 cup blueberries and scoop into well buttered standard muffin tins.

Bake 30 mins at 300F degrees.

Slather with real butter and feel almost satiated.

See, all that gluten free baking practice paid off. I can make muffins! Well, I should really say that I use that term loosely. Someday when I kick this fungus perhaps I can enjoy a REAL muffin ... spelt and buttermilk and honey and all that's good.

Bon Appetite!

If more people saw this, maybe we could save our water

Click on the link below to see a very informative clip about bottled water.

The Story of Bottled Water