Good morning, readers, I hope you all had a great Christmas! Remember I told you about the thankful journals I was giving everyone in our family, and asking them to start writing three things every day that they're thankful for? (The idea came from reading One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are.) Well Kal, our 19 year old, was about as impressed with the idea as I expected… But everyone else has been doing great with it. I told the kids that I won't look at what they write unless they want to share it, and when they do, it's so special to hear. 🙂 Soon I'll do a longer post on this over at my other blog, where I haven't had time to post much lately. (I'll get back to it one of these days because I have loads of post ideas.) Here's a picture of our thankful journals, they were only a few bucks at the store, and nothing fancy:
Does anyone have a “You won't believe what I got for Christmas” story to share?
- Get this! I'm so excited about something a local organic market by us is doing for the winter! Read about the winter veggie plan here.
- The first picture in this article about the new movement of young farmers (perfect after last week's posts with Chris Kerston, huh?), actually mentions how some farmers are extending their growing season, just as Sheri mentioned in the winter veggie plan link above. What do you all know about that? Is that “OK” to extend the growing season with greenhouses or in other ways, or is it not very ‘natural'? I sure hope there's a good way that it can be done, because having more veggies throughout the winter sounds enticing, just for the fact that it makes dinner more interesting. If we can do this and still eat locally, in Michigan, what a coup!
- I'm curious if you agree with the statement that parents aren't allowed in public schools these days? Maybe that's true in some areas, but thankfully, it certainly isn't true where our kids go. I'm there all the time and many of the teachers and staff are close friends of mine. And it's not just me, other parents are in and out all the time, too, volunteering, dropping off something their child forgot, or whatever. What's it like at your kids' school?
- I love how Cara from the Health Home & Happiness blog is always coming up with ways to make grain-free easier and tastier. Whether it's her 30 Days of recipes and tips on the GAPS intro diet, or her Grain Free Meal Plans, OR one of her awesome recipes, like these Homemade fried cheese sticks – wow, who would've thought you could have that while on the GAPS Diet?!
Do you know where your honey comes from? Most of the stuff at the store is worthless. Only buy local raw honey unless you're ordering it from a source you can trust. “Raw honey is thought to have many medicinal properties,” says Kathy Egan, dietitian at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. “Stomach ailments, anemia and allergies are just a few of the conditions that may be improved by consumption of unprocessed honey.”- Have you heard about this? Can Walking Barefoot Lower Cortisol and Balance Hormones? In that link, Ann Marie talks about Earthing, something I'm just beginning to learn more about from one of our new sponsors, Radiant Life. I'd love to know if it has helped you and with which health issues?
Do you know where your honey comes from? Most of the stuff at the store is worthless. Only buy local raw honey unless you're ordering it from 
Beth says
–Does anyone have a “You won’t believe what I got for Christmas” story to share?–
Merry Christmas, Kelly! Mine was not so much what I got as what we did that’s hard to believe :). We took 17 4-5 week-old broilers on a 900+ round trip road trip to see my in-laws over Christmas! Too funny. We had to have the heat lamp on during the trip down but then it warmed up as the week continued. I kept waiting for a neighbor to call the city code enforcers on the Clampetts from The Beverly Hillbillies (us!) with the traveling chicken coop on a trailer in their driveway! Here’s a short post and I’ll be uploading some photos later on:
https://eclecticlvng.blogspot.com/2012/01/broilers-what.html
Oh, regarding the earthing… When I start to feel weird from working on the computer I literally go out and hug a tree, lol. One of my doctors recommended going out a few minutes daily, barefoot, to stand or walk on natural ground. I found that just standing barefoot on my concrete back porch or even just leaning up against a tree or touching it would immediately help me feel better. Not the same if I just went out normally. We don’t have a single tree in our new house (we planted a few saplings) and the coyotes/dogs mark around our back and front porch so I certainly haven’t done it lately… Thanks for reminding me. I know it sounds weird, but I can tell a difference right away.
KitchenKop says
The Clampetts, I love it! You’ll have to let me know when you get the pics up. 🙂
And you just inspired me to go stand on the ground for a few minutes before the snow hits tomorrow!
Kelly
Kelly says
That CSA type thing for winter veggies sounds super expensive. Are those normal prices in your area? I didn’t see an estimate of how many pounds are in each basket (roughly) but the one basket at $49/week is nearly $200/month just for veggies? Am I missing something?
WordVixen says
My parents are awesome. Among other things, they bought me a jar of Wilderness Family Natural’s virgin coconut oil, and a quart of pastured lard from a local farm that I frequent. 😀
BTW- my dad had a minor heart attack a week before Christmas (they released him Christmas Eve), and they’re really stressing that he shouldn’t have salt (bah! I’d argue, but I think it may have something to do with his retaining fluid and not high blood pressure since his bp isn’t that high and the fluid retention/congestive heart failure is the main reason that they kept him so long), but mom thought it was really funny that they said he can have as much unsalted butter as he wants. I thought it was odd too (no salt but they allow butter? Are they conventional wisdom or not?) until I remembered that the medical community is finally starting to agree that margarine is worse for you than butter (I don’t think they’re admitting that butter is actually good for you, yet).
So, there may be hope! Unsalted butter is still head and shoulders above no butter! 🙂 Mom said they’re not telling the doctor that they cook with lard, though. You can only push it so far. *lol* Oooh, oooh! And, mom told dad the other day that maybe he should make his eggs in lard instead of bacon grease because the bacon grease would be salty (not pastured or uncured bacon). I so love my parents. Lard, eggs, butter. They know what’s good!
KitchenKop says
Wow, I’m so thankful that your Dad is OK, and I’m in SHOCK that they said he could have butter at all, yes, that gives me such HOPE! And you REALLY are blessed to have parents who get it, that’s amazing! 🙂 I’m sure you know how rare you are.
Kelly
Beth says
I have problems with water retention and really felt it last week at my in-laws when I was out of routine and again tonight when I got home (and missed supplements for a few days each time). Anyway, when my hands, feet, or knees are more swollen than I can handle I increase my fish oil. I did this at my in-laws after we got there and lost 4 pounds in water weight in about 6 hours. I’ll get back on it again tomorrow and hopefully me knees won’t hurt so much and will get back to normal.
ValerieH says
the earthing link to Ann Marie went to your resources page
KitchenKop says
If you click on the name of her post (about walking barefoot) you can read it there, the other 2 links go to my resources page where you can buy the products. 🙂
ValerieH says
I got the Earthing book from the library. I read about 90 pages and ordered an earthing pad. The studies described in the book are convincing. I’m sure my husband thinks it’s snake oil. I read the book reviews on Amazon. Some people said they didn’t notice any effects. I wear a Q Link pendant and I have never noticed a difference.I’m willing to try it though.
damaged justice says
If I as a parent am “not allowed” in the place where I temporarily entrust my children to others, then the next logical step is for me not to allow my children in there.
KitchenKop says
Yes, I can’t imagine any parent putting up with that.
(And thanks for helping me catch a dumb spelling error!)
Kelly says
We homeschool, but if we didn’t already and this were the case in our area, you can bet I’d start!