Not much has changed since my last post, or should I say my last venting....  Last month I focused on our meal plan for suppers.  We didn't eat as much take out but so far exercising has not been worked back into my lifestyle.  To be honest I feel down right LAZY.  I do know once I get back to exercising that laziness will go away and be replaced with wonderful energy.  I have reclaimed my work out area in the basement, I packed all my husbands fishing lures in bins and boxes and set them off to the side.  That's certainly a start.  I can now access my treadmill and my weight bench when I set my mind to it.  

At war with myself.....................

I asked a friend the other day "why is food so confusing?"  As I thought about that question I realized it's not the food that's confusing but we are confused.  Or at least I am confused.  Or in denial.....  I don't know how to fit healthy eating into a busy lifestyle.  I thought I had found a way.  I tried the Vegan protein shakes, not slim fast but still a meal replacement shake.  I was feeling good, was able to walk during my lunch break and was doing quite well with weight loss.  I did hit a plateau and was going to tackle dealing with it but then they changed the shake formula and it affected my system.  Not sure what they changed but I started to get the shakes myself, literally.  So, once I figured out it was the shake I stopped drinking them.  But then I fell into the fast food trap again at lunch time.  There's not much food wise that's easy to eat while you walk, or at least nothing I have thought of.  I only get 30 minutes for lunch and if I didn't eat something I would be ravenous by supper time.  But as I write this I realize I should probably look into it and see what I can find.  Going for a walk kept me out of the fast food joints and was obviously better for my health and bank account.  And with the fast food lunches draining me of my energy because I've put nothing but garbage in my body I'm exhausted when I get home from work so we then order take out for supper......  sigh......

I have been trying to figure out how to break this habit, realizing nothing but simple willpower is the answer.  Somehow I have to muster the determination to say "NO" to the junk food.  For instance today I had a salad and two hard boiled eggs with me for lunch, hubby dropped by and I jumped at the chance to go for a burger and fries.  

I'm not the person I want to be.  I'm not as healthy as I want to be and it's my own fault.  I am the only one that controls what I put in my body.  I am the only one who can take control of the cravings and say "NO".

I thought about joining Weight Watchers again.  It's been a long time since I've been this neglectful of what I'm eating.  But I'm not sure Weight Watchers is the answer, I'm not sure they can make me do what I obviously can't make myself do......  Just yesterday I started tracking my food intake again.  Wow, that was an eye opener.  And maybe that's the answer.  I need to see what the numbers are....I need to see the 3600mg of sodium I put in my body on the screen.  I don't know for sure if it's the answer but it's worth a try.

What I do know for sure is I'm tired, I'm unhappy with how I feel and I'm disappointed in myself.  I'm disappointed I didn't do the 5k I planned to do in June, I'm disappointed I'm eating my way back to the weight I was after all my hard work, I'm disappointed I can't get motivated to walk and exercise knowing that made me feel better before.  Maybe this is my breaking point, maybe I'm hitting my low and on the other side of all these feelings of disappointment will be my ah ha moment where I find another way to fit exercise into my busy life.  I realize as I write this I could have gone for a walk.....but I haven't written since Feb and felt the need to get this off my chest so it's not time wasted.

I have also made bad decisions in other ways, not only with food.  I gave my husband the TV I had in my work out room that I used to play my Yoga DVDs, he has taken over my work out area with his business merchandise so now I couldn't use my treadmill even if I wanted to.  Of course, I hadn't thought of it, it's all HIS fault!!!  ha ha, just joking.  But I did find yoga great to do on week nights after work as it calmed me and it was a nice work out for a later time so I wasn't so jazzed up before bed.

At this point, after writing all my thoughts, I still don't know what the answer is but I'm determined to figure it out.  Getting rid of all the junk food in the house would be a great way to start but I'm not the only one that lives here so there's great protest to that idea.

I'm off to check pinterest for healthy portable lunch ideas, other than shakes.  Here's hoping I get some inspiration!

'til next time......

What I've learned about stress and belly fat.....

I've been using my new Library card to do some research on the science of stress.  Here's a tidbit of information I would like to pass along.  I have learned why our bodies store belly fat when we're stressed.  It involves all kinds of technical jargon, scientific terms and many pages I had to read a few times to understand.  Here's my personal understanding.  The body stores fat in the belly area so it is close to our liver for quick access, so it can be turned into energy when needed for fight or flight.

I have also learned to burn that belly fat and fight the bodies urge to store it I need to do Yoga.  Last fall I started to do Yoga.  Then Santa brought me a complicated Yoga DVD and I got a bit discouraged.  As I've mentioned before I have also lost interest in exercising and I've gotten lazy during the cold winter months.  Not getting out for my lunch time walks has put a wrench in my routine.  But, after reading the benefits of Yoga, I am determined to start a new routine.  Starting this week and moving forward, I am going to do my Yoga every evening before bed.  I have no excuse not to.  It will relax me for sleep, ease my stress level and make my body feel better.  Last fall I noticed my belly getting smaller and actually had compliments on it, I had no idea it was due to Yoga!  And when my belly started getting bigger I blamed it on the Christmas treats - I had no idea it was because I had stopped doing Yoga.  Of course the Christmas treats didn't help.

I am a very slow reader, it is taking me a long time to get through the book about stress but I'm learning something and that's what counts.  :)

To muster the courage to keep a goal.....

Last year when I kicked my "healthier me" plan into higher gear I set a goal to run a 5k in June.  With winter I have turned into a hibernating bear.  Packing on pounds so I survive the storms.  With this change I fear I am letting myself down,  I will not be able to run the 5k as I had hoped.  Last fall I was walking 6k easily, it took me an hour with a distracted beagle so I was hopeful, now I am concerned.  Should I just forget about it?  Should I give up?  Am I just afraid of failing?  Am I sabotaging myself since I have a treadmill I could be using to keep up what I had accomplished last fall? These are all the questions racing through my mind right now.  Especially since registration is posted.  At this point I have a decision to make, to get back on track or give up.

Health Journal

I have been researching healthier eating and then forgetting what I found for years.  I am back to researching and wondering how I am going to remember this time.  I do not like "spinning my wheels" and redoing my research.  I don't mean things like eating a salad is better for you than french fries.  I mean research such as what affects does Soy have on our bodies, negative and positive.  What to eat to improve memory, curb hot flashes.  What foods to avoid to keep the hot flashes away for example.  I remembered a friend of mine mentioning she has been keeping a health journal.  In it she puts magazine clippings and other information she has found to inspire her to eat well and other healthy eating and healthier living advice.

So, I am going to start keeping a journal of all my findings so I can compare and figure out what information is good for me and which is not.  I am unsure if it will be an online journal or a physical book.  My Pinterest boards are similar to a journal but I find it tedious to go through all the information on the boards looking for what I need to know.  Perhaps in the end it will be my Pinterest boards I use for an online health journal and just create more boards to narrow the information search.  But then a physical book on my dresser or night stand might be more inspiring...... still some decisions to be made.

I'm Dreaming of Camping......

There's a Facebook post:

We have a travel trailer so in no way are we living like we're "homeless".  We have a propane stove, microwave, washroom......but depending on where you stay it can get expensive.  Even if you have a tent you still have a roof over your head.  Anyhow, we really enjoy camping as a family.   Our very first camping experience was in a beautiful large tent:

Obviously we had a fantastic time or we wouldn't have continued to invest more money into the activity.  I was new to camping, this was my first camping trip EVER and even though you KNOW you should not dump food near your campsite, I did.  We had soup for lunch, I rinsed the pot and dumped it in the wooded area.  Well, I'm not positive if that's why we had the night time visitors, perhaps they would have came anyway but we had a family of raccoons outside our tent all night.  They were fighting and made their presence known.  We had 3 air mattresses at home.....I only brought one and it ended up being a double.  Thank goodness our Son was small at the time and there was room for the 3 of us but by morning the mattress was losing its air.  After that trip, and the fact we enjoyed everything about it except for our living arrangements, we started looking at alternatives to a tent.  Right off the bat hubby wanted to go with a travel trailer.  I am more conservative financially and wanted to stick with something much lower priced.  So, we purchased a Pop Up Tent Trailer:

This gave us more of the comforts of home, we were up off the ground, the roof over our heads was a bit more solid, we had a stove that you could use inside or outside, a fridge, it was great.  The downside to the pop up was when I wanted to get inside and it was not popped up.  If I wanted to change the bed sheets, do some cleaning, stock something up we had to pop it up.  If it was calling for rain, we had to put it down.  Not because it leaked, it was dry, very solid but because we didn't want to put it down wet and have the moisture trapped.  So we went on the search for a travel trailer we COULD AFFORD.....  

It turned into quite the search as our budget was quite low.  We were told by a local salesman, who is very trustworthy so it wasn't a forceful tactic to get us to purchase, if we found something in our price range we should grab it as they don't last long.  We witnessed that personally very shortly after, we were searching online night and day, looking for great deals.  We found one at that local dealer, the next morning I stopped by to have a look at it.  The one we found was a "lemon", it had water damage and our salesman didn't recommend it for us.  He showed me another, it was nice but not exactly what I was looking for.  It was in our price range but the bed was right in the main living area, right beside the sink basically.  We made arrangements to view it the next day anyway.  That afternoon the salesman phoned me, it was sold.  Then and there I knew IF I found something I liked in our price range we had to take it on the spot.  After weeks of searching online day and night, seriously we were up until the wee hours of the morning quite often looking at trailers and discussing our options,we found the one for us.  Our adventure that day started out to look at another trailer at a different dealership that was supposed to be a gem and was a great price.  When we viewed it, it was nice but you could see they had done repair work to it.  The condition of the interior wasn't bad, we had seen much worse like the one my husband tapped on the wall and poked a hole with his finger accidentally as it was very rotten.  The whole time this salesman tried to tell us it wasn't rotten and had no issues, the floor was buckled....anyway, back to finding our new home away from home....we went to several lots that day and our last stop was a friends house in Truro.  Our friend gave us directions to another dealer in the area.  I was tired, discouraged from what we'd seen, disappointed the one we went for wasn't what it was supposed to be but my husband insisted we take a look.  

We found the dealer no problem.  We explained what we were looking for and saw some beauties in the $14,000 to $18,000 dollar range.  Very nice and all well and good BUT way to expensive for our modest budget.  We still had our pop up at home, we weren't without a home away from home.....I was willing to wait.  This last stop was looking like a waste of time until my husband spotted a trailer along another line up that apparently just arrived and the salesman didn't know anything about it.  He took us on a tour and I fell in love.  While we were looking at it he called his manager to see what the price was.  It was very close to our price range but a tiny bit over.  Hubby said "we'll keep it in mind".  I asked him to come around the trailer with me, he probably thought I found something wrong but I wanted to get him out of hearing range of the salesman.  I said "I'm making him an offer of what we can afford, if he takes it we're buying it".  To shorten a very long story I made him the offer, they accepted it and a week or so later we had our new to us "home away from home".

All that winter I waited for Spring to arrive and bring with it the camping season.

Our first trip was to Kejimakujik National Park.  http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ns/kejimkujik/index.aspx

We love Keji.  Our first camping adventure tenting was at Keji.  So much to do and see there, so peaceful and very clean.  Our first trips for this season will be there, we look forward to it.  We love to go hiking, the fishing is great and you can also rent recreational equipment like canoes and kayaks.

There are many many adventures to be had at Keji.  And of course a highlight is always the campfire.  I love to set back with a magazine or word search book and just relax by the fire.  

In Slapfoot there seems to be a playground around every corner, which is awesome!

There's lots of swimming areas....

Though we have the fridge, stove and washroom we do not have a TV in our trailer.  There are two hook ups ready to go but I have no desire to take a TV camping with us.  I love leaving the technology behind, if we have it we will use it and it will ruin our experience.  I'm concerned and quite sure if we were to take a TV we would watch it instead of going outside for a hike even though it's drizzling a bit....it would be an excuse not to keep our plans.  Or instead of reading books before bed we'd be watching TV which I have actually been changing the course of at home.  Now, the TV goes off before bedtime and we spend some time looking at books and reading instead of watching TV right up until it's time to fall asleep.  The only technology we have with us is my smartphone.  We have a radio which is nice to hear the news and listen to some music.  One adventure to Truro last Fall hubby and I enjoyed listening to an old Rock station and reminiscing about the songs, trying to figure out who sang them.  It was nice, good music too.  :)

Because I have a full kitchen our meals do not consist of campfire roasted weiners and canned beans though those both things are tasty camping foods.  We have everything from campfire hotdogs, bbq steak, pulled pork in the slow cooker to chicken and stir fry veggies.....

With our day to day lives so busy camping is a nice getaway for us to spend time focusing on each other as a family.  It's good for our mental and physical health.  Our dog has certainly put on some pounds since the weather has changed and camping season ended.  Her and I put on a lot of miles at the campgrounds.  We got "lost" at Keji one morning.  There's tons of signs so you're never really lost but we did go in a few circles before we found our way back "home".  Needless to say I'm looking forward to getting back to the woods.  

'til next time.... have some fun and play as life's too short to work it away.....

Growing Vegetables in the Winter.....

My best laid plans of doing bookwork and baking cookies quickly got curbed to researching how to grow my own vegetables in the winter.  Why did this project fall onto my plate all of a sudden?  Well, a trip to the grocery store triggered it.  My husband went out to pick up a few groceries.  On my meal plan for tonight is Pork Roast and Baked Potatoes so I thought "lettuce and cream" would go great with that, what a treat it would be.  When hubby returned from the grocery store he had a sad looking shrivelled poor excuse for a bundle of leaf lettuce and it cost $3.  Seriously I can hold this bit of lettuce in the palm of my hand - for $3!!??  It looks like it was dragged behind the delivery truck from whatever country it was grown in.  That's it, my plan is to build a cold frame and grow my own lettuce and whatever else I can.  We already have the frame, the pigs threw it around in my garden all fall but I'm pretty sure it's still sturdy.  We will have to modify it a lot and hubby may just want to start from scratch, I am in search of a building plan.  Wish me luck!  Here's proof I can do it, this lady only lives about 45 minutes from our homestead and she says it's really easy to do.  Yay!  She shows her cold frame plan and it includes recycled materials which is even better!!  Right now it's raining here so maybe it will be warm enough to build our frame and start growing some lettuce soon.  Oh how exciting.  Now to talk to hubby which isn't a worry, he's fantastically accommodating and willing to lend a hand.........

http://eastcoastliving.ca/2011/11/gardening-winter11/

Taking Time To Chill......

As I sip my second cup of hot chocolate this morning, taking a moment to relax before I start my days home work, I find myself on Pinterest searching for different recipes from my boards.  Since I started meal planning we are eating less BBQ steak and more variety. I would, however, like to try some new recipes but find it challenging to select ones everyone will like.  My husband and Son are not fans of vegetables.  My Son loves stew, he likes his vegetables with flavour.  We are also eating way less take out.  Any time I don't prepare a monthly meal plan we slip back into the take out trap.  That happened to us last month, with preparations for Christmas added to our already busy life exhaustion sucked us in and we ended up eating too much take out.  Our pocket book and my waist line have both suffered.  So, this month I am making sure I have a solid meal plan in place and exercise to get rid of my extended waist line.

I also reflect on what I have to do today, my first day off this week.  I have cookie dough in the fridge waiting to be made into yummy cookies, I have a file of paperwork to my right waiting to be entered into Simply Accounting, I have my workout area calling my name......right now I am ignoring it all, taking the time to chill.

'til next time... take care, have fun and play.  Life's too short to work it away.....

Welcome to the Library!

I got my first ever public library card this week.  I want to read, I have enjoyed reading in the past, I enjoy reading to my Son but this way if I don't read a whole book, lose interest and return it I don't have to feel guilty.  No money was spent/lost in the fail of intent.

The library is at the local recreation centre where I go walking so it's convenient for picking up and returning books.  It's nice and very convenient to be able to search for and reserve books online for pick up.  The new library was seen as "a waste of money" by many with the new age of e-books but I prefer reading a real book made of paper, I stare at a computer screen most of my day.  Also, studies are showing a real book is much better for your sleep.  If you read at night an e-book emits blue light which interferes with your natural sleep.  The same blue light may also cause cataracts, not only emitted from e-books but computer screens and smart phones as well.  I'll take a paperback book any day.

'til next time.  Have fun, find time to play, life is too short to work your life away.

BRRRRR!

The weather has turned cold here on the South Shore of Nova Scotia.  I have been walking outside all summer on my lunch break at work.  It's a nice use of my lunch break, the fresh air and sunshine is rejuvenating.  With the arrival of the cold weather I have started walking at our local recreation centre.  It's quite nice, listening to the music and watching the public skaters below.

Today as I walked around the track, watching the skaters, I was once again impressed by the ease the elderly gentlemen skate.  So relaxed, so skilled. Their arms gently swaying in rhythm, their feet cross over each other as they round the corner.  I admire their skill.

I also observe the lady figure skating in the middle of the rink.  You can truly see her love of the sport as she glides and twirls about the ice.  Perhaps she's reminiscing of her younger years as a figure skater, she seems to be in a zone, a place of her own.

 I also relate to and sympathize with the middle aged man who fell and cleaned a good patch of ice with his buttocks.  That is my skill level.  Recently I was skating at a good pace, fell and slid a good 8 feet before slamming into the boards and skinning my knee.  I hobbled to the car that day.  The next time on skates I was a bit more cautious and timid.  Definitely not relaxed with my arms swaying.....  But non the less I enjoy skating whether it be alone or with my family.  It's great exercise and a great way to relax.  You're focused on your movements, giving your mind a break from thinking about the chores at home, the bills, the bookwork.....

Having a winter activity you enjoy helps the season move along quicker.  So far the winter has been easy on us, we've been lucky to have very little snow though I hear that is changing the end of this week.  We are already planning our camping trips for this spring and summer.  Just the discussion of summer vacations and activities made me a bit giddy today.  It's always nice to have something to look forward to, isn't it?  

'til next time, take care and have some fun!  Life's too short to work it away....

Name Change Alert!

I have been toying with a blog name change for quite some time.  Wild Apple Acres just didn't seem to work any more, it didn't inspire me.  It was too much about our property and too restricting.  I felt restricted to talking about only farm things.  Now I feel I can talk about general life.....as harried as it may be ;)

I hope you enjoy the changes.

What's been happening on our homestead

I haven't written in my blog for a long time.  I have started many posts, they remain drafts that I never completed and all start with that same sentence "I haven't written for a long time".  It's interesting to read over them, everything from my journey of weight loss, deciding to give up farming and gardening (which we have not done and probably won't)....  I have thought about writing often, obviously since I at least started new posts.  Reading back over my posts I'm reminded of the frustrations of the time.  I suppose that's one reason I didn't post them, they appear a bit too negative and full of emotion but I'm sure at the time it was a great way to release those feelings.  Perhaps I should start writing in my journal again.  Writing your thoughts down is a great release, seems to clear the mind and heart of negative and also helps remind you of the positive things.  And it's often sobering to read back over those words to see how far you have come and how things have changed.

I find myself engulfed in Christmas preparations these days.  Shopping, wrapping and baking goodies.  Trying to slow down and enjoy the moment.

We purchased skates for the family to keep us from hibernating this winter.  My husband and I are a bit rusty but impressed that we can still stay on the blades, our Son is just learning.....

We enjoyed a wonderful family holiday outing compliments of my employer.....

Christmas Baking under way.....

We turned our swimming pool platform into a fire pit area.  Bringing one of our favourite parts of camping home.....

We raised 6 pigs this year.  Seeing them "go" is very difficult for me.  I try to be tough and not think about it but the feeling of loss is one major reason I consider giving up farming as I wrote in one of my drafts.  My garden was also a huge flop this year which was very frustrating.....

That's a little update on what's happening on our little homestead.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary How Does Your Garden Grow?........

Well now the answer to that question depends on which plant you're focused on.  My cucumbers had a rough start with the ant population taking too many samples but they pulled through and I've picked enough to make a batch of relish, some for salads and some for our piggies.  The green peppers are doing great, sadly I only got to use 3 of the green peppers in my relish, the others were fed to the piggies by my Son without my consent.

My lettuce and spinach flourished until the pigs got out of their pasture, I may have left the fence turned off, and they ate all the lettuce and spinach.  And that brings me to the tomatoes.  If there is one particular item I look forward to and enjoy the most from my garden that would be my prized tomatoes.  Well, this year my prized tomatoes are in horrible condition.  The plants are dying from the bottom up, the fruit are rotting before they ripen.  I am not going to get one single ripe tomato from my garden this year.  I am very disappointed and discouraged.  I've done some research and the best thing I can come up with is Fusarium Crown Rot.   I try to rotate my crops but my garden is so small I don't have a ton of room to move things around. The plants are not in the exact area I planted last year but perhaps with tilling the soil it moved it around enough to cause problems.  I had the pigs working on an extension for my garden, they didn't quite get it all turned over before I had to fence them out and plant the garden.  Once my garden is finished growing this year I will release the pigs to turn it over again.  I've had a horrible problem with grass this year as well.  I originally blamed the grass for the tomato plants dying from the bottom but it's spreading right to the top, slowly but surely the plants are dying.

As you can see they grew tall and were healthy but something horrible has taken over and it's not good.

On a positive note we have a lovely sunflower growing in the garden......

I also had a nice harvest of garlic this year.  So it's not a total loss but the tomatoes are a big disappointment.  I am considering skipping a veggie garden next year and leave the soil rest.  Or move the garden but that's more time to invest that we really don't have.  I have all winter to figure out what I'm going to do.  

A Healthier Me.....A Work In Progress.... (a post I've worked on for a few months!!!)

It has been a long cold winter here in Nova Scotia.  It's pretty safe to say we're ready for Spring!  And I am sick of being sick.  Our household has been hit by way too many cold viruses.  It seems like we've been sick all winter.  My initial reaction has always been to swing by the pharmacy for some cold medications.  A surprise phone call from a friend who mentioned she could hear it in my voice gave me some advice.  She had done some research on how to boost your immune system to actually avoid getting the cold.  I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of that before.  I guess I sort of had, like adding more exercise and eating more vegetables.  I hadn't thought of adding herbs and juices to my diet to boost my immune system.  She gave me some recommendations from the research she has done.  The next day I headed to the grocery store for Elderberry Juice.  It's not cheap but if it helped me kick the cold virus it's worth every penny.  I can honestly say the next morning I felt better and progressively got better quicker than ever before.

I've spent the past few days searching Pinterest for ideas and advice on how to naturally boost my immune system and fight viruses.  Here's a bit of what I found:

*Mushrooms, even the basic white button kind, help to boost the immune system.
*Elderberry Juice appears to be a miracle elixir helping boost the immune system, fight viruses, fight inflammation, lower cholesterol, thin mucus.......Google it, it really is amazing stuff
*Lemon Balm Tea helps fight viruses
*Garlic helps boost the immune system and make your body an unpleasant environment for viruses
*Ginger helps boost the immune system and fight inflammation
*Carrots boost the immune system, lower cholesterol......  There are many juicing recipes for drinks containing garlic, carrot, ginger and apple

It's easy to do the research, there's lots of advice.  I went with my friends advice and pulled the most common items from the articles.

I recently purchased a juicer.  I've been making lots of carrot juice with various other veggies added to it.  I haven't acquired a taste for it yet, I drink it because I know it's good for me not because I enjoy it.  I think one of my problems with the juice is the same problem I have with eating whole vegetables, the quality of the taste.  I'm hoping when I have my own fresh produce and access to fresh produce from farmers markets the juice will taste way better.  I am not a fan of store bought carrots, I buy organic for eating.  To buy organic produce during the winter for juicing is just too expensive.

I've been trying to get more exercise into my life routine.  We have a chubby Beagle who can also use a walk so she motivates me to get my chub moving too.  The fresh air is so good for the brain too, it's great medicine.

Avoiding take out is still a struggle for us at times.  Crazy work hours make it difficult to prepare home cooked meals but we are working hard at it, trying to avoid take out as much as possible.  I am to the point now that if I eat take out I can feel it attacking my body, the high salt content really affects how I feel the next day.  And it really tastes horrible, a total waste of money.

So, the juicer is packed away on the counter collecting dust for now.  I will try making my own V8 Juice when I have delicious ripe tomatoes from my own garden.  I have, however, decided to give smoothies another try.  Fresh Strawberries will soon be available, they will make some delicious smoothies!  I've been researching some new recipes and ideas on Pinterest ;)

So, that's the update on my quest for healthier living from the past few months.  There will be another update on our Farm happenings soon, we have some new additions that I'm anxious to tell you about!  And there will be some new camping adventures to share!  And of course the weather will soon be warm enough to plant my vegetable garden, I hope!!

'til next time!!

How Far Do I Need To Go??!!

What a beautiful sunny day.  The sun is gaining strength, a sure sign its plan is to melt away the snow and warm the earth again.  With that comes dreams of gardening.  Today I was thinking about what the next season will hold for us.  An addition of new piglets, a pumpkin patch and perhaps an expansion of my existing vegetable garden.  I would like to expand the garden to allow more room between the rows.  Then I wonder if I should just plant less.....but I want to plant carrots, sweet potatoes, various lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, peppers...... and then I watched the "food industry documentaries" on Netflix.  Expanding my garden sounds like a great idea and I may research options for growing some of my own veggies during the winter months, or at least extend into the beginning parts of winter. 

The documentaries have over loaded me with uncertainties about what I am feeding my family.  I will certainly have to watch them a few more times to absorb the information.  It's interesting how they describe a lot of our food as "food like products".  They aren't "real food".  Most of our food is so processed and refined the nutrients are gone.  We're eating calories with no benefit to our body.  I hadn't thought of it that way.  From most of our food all we're gaining is fat!

This is not news to me.  We grow our own meats/eggs so we know what we're eating, we grow our own summer veggies so we know what we're eating....how much further can I take it?  I can't see me milling my own flour....in reality I shouldn't have to mill my own flour.  Would I have to grow my own wheat so I'd know it wasn't sprayed with chemicals????  How far do I need to go????  Do I just search out alternatives to processed bread products?  Are there alternatives to processed bread products?  What is really safe????  My mind is whirling with information overload and uncertainties. 

A lot of it is a no brainer - fast food, sugary snacks, sugary drinks, processed foods are all bad for us.  But what is really good for us?  Tomatoes are sprayed with a gas to ripen them.  Are organic tomatoes sprayed with that same gas?  How many chemicals are in a salad?  If the grass the cow eats is sprayed with pesticide that is in our milk, our cheese, our yogurt.......  It's crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!  It's scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We trust the food industry to supply us with nourishment but they don't deserve our trust.  They are failing miserably.  It's all about making money.  One documentary suggests sourcing local milk, flour, etc.  Government regulations frown upon sourcing milk from local farmers, they want us to drink only pasteurized.  In the eyes of the government we are no longer capable of knowing if something is safe.  Or that's what they want us to believe, that we need them to make sure our food is safe.  They don't want us to purchase milk, eggs, meat from our fellow neighbours.  They want us to support the processed world of the supermarket. 

We have recently found out government organizations are actually spending time on internet classifieds such as Kijiji watching for local people selling food products such as eggs, turkeys, chickens, pork etc.  Apparently, if you are not a part of the government organization, if you don't fill out their paperwork and abide by their criteria you are not seen fit to supply food to others.  To source unprocessed food you have to go underground.  If you could source whole milk you'd have to sneak it home and tell nobody.  As they crack down on our neighbours who are supplying us with unprocessed, hormone free, pesticide free, natural food it is going to be harder and harder to find someone to take the risk.  Threatening letters are scaring home farmers, making them afraid to share their hard work with others.  There's always the Farmer's Market, from what I understand those people have jumped through the hoops for the government to get permission to sell their goods to us.  It's a crazy world we live in!

Anxiously awaiting SPRING!

It has been a long winter in Nova Scotia....or I feel it has.  I sound like a broken record but I am anxiously awaiting Spring!  We have had a record number of cold and flu bugs hit our household this winter, I am ready for open windows, fresh air and warm sunshine.  And I'm ready for camping.  I have been working on our camping agenda off and on, several short trips planned, some with special events tied into them.

As for the farm, we have added an Eastern Wild Turkey Hen to our family.  She completes a trio and will hopefully supply us with eggs to hatch our own turkeys for the freezer this fall.

I was told by a friend whom I've never met in person but talked to her on the phone many times about farming that I would love raising Turkeys.  She said Turkeys cannot be compared to raising chickens, they are a totally different experience.  She's right.  Heritage turkeys are so beautiful when they display and I love their gobble gobble.  It could be that it's a new sound on our farm but it makes me chuckle every time I hear it.  Our big guy is a bit shabby from being inside all winter but I still think he looks pretty impressive.  The ladies don't seem to be paying much attention though......

We have 3 more little piggies coming to the Farm in June.  We have come to the realization that it will be hard to go back to store bought meat.  We may have to become vegetarians if we cannot raise our own meat!  Our beef arrived a couple of weeks ago and it's perfect.  It's tender and delicious.  There certainly is a risk to forking out the cash for 284lbs of beef because that beef could be as tough as shoe leather and taste like cardboard!  But we were lucky.  We have lots to choose from for our bbq while we're camping this summer!  We're actually having BBQ steak tonight, something we have not had for months.

While we were ill this past month my Son and I spent some time looking at our local seed supplier catalogue, deciding what we're going to plant this year.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to try sweet potatoes.  I can't wait for the time to come to turn the soil!

There you have it, a quick update on our little farm.

'til next time!

Meatless Monday Sauces Wednesday's Chicken.....

Today is a stormy snowy day here in Nova Scotia.  Normally I would be at work but it was such a big storm most businesses are closed.  Today was supposed to be hubby's day to cook.  On the menu - Chicken.  Molto Bene Chicken to be exact. We eat a lot of meat at our house.  Whether it be pork, chicken or beef.  On Monday my son and I had pasta.  No meat, just pasta with a homemade dressing and diced tomatoes.

The homemade dressing is the new Molto Bene seasoning blend from Epicure.  I'm like a kid in a candy store when my Epicure order arrives, especially when it contains newly released products.  Since I was preparing a serving for two I didn't use all the dressing on the pasta and reserved some to make a sauce for my chicken tonight.  It would have been super easy for hubby.  Right now hubby is plowing snow in a blizzard so I am happily preparing supper.  I am going to mix the remaining dressing with a bit of no salt added tomato sauce and brown sugar to make a nice "bbq sauce" for my chicken.  So simple and so delicious.

I am like a "mad scientist" in the kitchen.  I mix up my own sauces and experiment with soups and stews.  That's why I enjoy Epicure.  I can take what they have created and build on it.  I can take a recipe and make it better.  More flavour and less sodium.  Pure deliciousness.

Here it is, the finished product.  Molto Bene Chicken Breast and veggies. Absolutely delicious!  The hint of sweetness from the brown sugar blended perfectly with the rosemary and garlic in the seasoning. This is definitely a flavour combination I will be using again.



My food photography leaves a bit to be desired, especially when it's my dinner I'm photographing and all I want to do is eat it!

Happy Cooking Everyone!

A Comforting Accompaniment......

I love a light and fluffy tea biscuit with a bowl of chili or nice plate of home baked beans.  Here's my recipe.....

Tea Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter
1 cup milk

Sift together all dry ingredients.  Cut in the butter, I am impatient so I use an electric mixer with whipper attachment.  Add milk to make a soft dough.  Drop onto buttered cookie sheet.  Bake at 450 deg for 12 to 15 minutes until well risen and lightly browned.

Enjoy your light and fluffy biscuits.

Monday's Supper Recipe - CHILI

Sometime around the end of this month or first bit of February we are expecting a phone call that a side of local beef is ready for us to have prepared for our freezer. In the mean time we are busy trying to make room for it! The only beef we have left is ground beef.  I am not the biggest fan of ground beef so when it came to grabbing something quickly for supper I would avoid it. Now, with my meal planning, it's included in the month so there's no avoiding it. It's in the fridge thawed and ready to use.  Case in point is today's meal, Chili. Here's the recipe:



Chili
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 540ml can white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 680ml can tomato sauce
1 398ml can tomato sauce
1 156ml can tomato paste
1 tbsp Epicure chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp Epicure smoked paprika
1 tsp Epicure cinco pepper blend

Brown ground beef in a large pot over medium heat, until meat crumbles and is no longer pink.  Drain if necessary, our beef is so lean there is no need to drain.  Add all other ingredients to the pot of cooked ground beef.  Stir to combine well.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 3 hours or until thickened.

Serve with some fresh baked rolls or tea biscuits.  We're also having garlic bread with ours to keep "the boys" happy.

Here's a secret....I hadn't had lunch yet when I was browning the ground beef and onions, it smelled so good I couldn't resist grabbing a sub bun left over from last nights supper and I made myself a yummy loose hamburger "sandwich".  YUM!  That bit of hamburger won't be missed.  ;)

I used to make Chili a lot, my late husband loved it.  For the past 6 years I avoided making it because the males of the house today don't eat veggies.  You will notice my recipe doesn't include many fresh veggies.  Only fresh onion and garlic.  I'm fine with that.  If I wanted I could hide some veggies in the tomato sauce.  For now I am happy everyone is eating my recipe as it is.  You can add any fresh veggies you wish, this recipe is an excellent base.  You could add mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes - YUM!

I am so happy meal planning is bringing me back to those meals I used to love to cook.  It's getting me out of the rut I was in, cooking the same thing too often.  We craved take-out because the menu was more interesting than what I was cooking. My friends always comment on what a good cook I am, these past few years I didn't feel I was deserving of a "good cook" title. But today the house smells of delicious simmering Chili.  My Son is enjoying stirring it and says it smells "deliciouso" a.k.a. "delicious".  As I mentioned Friday, cooking at home is so much more rewarding than ordering take out!  More rewarding for everyone in the house in so many ways.  It's an experience for me and my Son to cook together, though I am trying hard not to be the control freak I normally am in the kitchen.  It's healthier for our family, better food and more variety.  I do hope I'm inspiring you to cook at home more too! Maybe jogging your memory of recipes or meals you've forgotten.  Or giving you the encouragement to try something new......

Happy Cooking Everyone!

Friday's Supper Recipe

I have been trying to think of ways to make my Blog more interesting to you and me.  I feel like I'm discussing the same topics over and over again.  One of the topics I have been discussing is our battle to eat less take out and cook at home more.  This battle has taken me back to my favourite cookbooks.  I happily browsed through a cookbook on a cold winter day like today, looking for new recipes to try.  With a larger family, a larger farm and many small business hats to wear time doesn't always allow me the leisure of browsing through my cookbooks. But I'm working on finding the time.  Pinterest is a great resource for new recipes and it's so simple to find what you're looking for.  If you're cooking with pork, just search pork.  Though I will warn you, you may not only get pork recipes.

If you would like to follow me on Pinterest here is my link: http://www.pinterest.com/luv2cook2/

I am starting a new addition to my Blog I hope you will enjoy.  It ties into my efforts to avoid take out, cook more at home and meal planning.  I will randomly post the recipe for what we are having for supper, starting with today.  Many of the recipes will contain Epicure Selections products as this is a product I use in my kitchen since it contains low/NO sodium and pure ingredients.  I have given up the salt shaker and replaced it with real seasoning.  The ready to use onion, garlic and seasonings make preparing my meals for the slow cooker on mornings I go to work much quicker.  If you have question of what other product you could use as a substitute message me and I will be happy to help you out.

Yesterday we had baked ham so today we are having Split Pea Soup.  Here's my recipe:

Split Pea Soup
1 lb Green Split Peas
6 cups of water
2 tbsp Epicure 3 Onion Dip Mix Seasoning
2 tbsp Epicure Vegetable Bouillon Mix
1 1/2 cups Chopped Carrot
1 1/2 cups Chopped Potato
1 Celery stalk chopped
1 ham bone with meat (left over from previous days ham roast)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Sort, wash and drain your peas, checking for stones.  Place all ingredients in large soup pot.  Amount of water may vary for your type of split peas, check package directions for proper amount of water for your peas.  You will want to "skim the foam" off the top for a few minutes until it stops forming.

Bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer.  Cover loosely and simmer soup for about 2 hours or until peas are tender.  Be sure to stir occasionally to prevent peas from sticking to the bottom of your pot.

Some people like to puree the soup, I like it just the way it is.  I remove the meat from the ham bone and serve it with the soup.  You can return the meat to the pot if you like or serve it on the side.

A perfect meal for a cold winter blizzard day like today!




Everything into the pot!  Simmering away.....on it's way to homemade deliciousness.....

Right now I am experimenting with organic foods so for this soup I did use organic split peas and organic carrots.  I do notice a difference in flavour of the organic carrots, they are much tastier.  I have had an issue with carrots tasting "soapy" so I will gladly pay for organic carrots if they actually taste like carrots!

I hope my meal planning discussions and my recipe posts encourage you to cook more at home.  You savour the aroma of the food as it cooks, you anticipate the meal.  Cooking a delicious meal at home is so much more rewarding than take out!

Happy Cooking!