Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Real Food: the continuation…

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Yep, we are still at it.  And I have never felt better!  My hormones are balancing out (I barely had PMS last cycle and if you knew me well you would know that has always been a huge struggle), my mood has been better all around, I have had much less fatigue (I didn’t know that you could make it to 3:00 without dying for a nap!) and my blotchy skin is clear enough to go make up free.  No make up is amazing!  I have worn make up to cover my terrible complexion since I was 12…unless you count the times I wore it without permission. Winking smile  That is just the beginning.  I could go on for HOURS about the difference cutting out processed foods has made not just in myself but in my children too, especially my son with Autism.   In fact I call my sister (who has been living with real foods for years) often and do just that!

We have had nothing out of a box or can (aside from crushed tomatoes twice) for about 2 months, no refined table sugar and we treat high fructose corn syrup like the plague (I don’t care what the commercials say, now that it is out of my system I realize how much I was reacting to it.  Refined sugar doesn’t do to me what that stuff does!)  When we visit someone else’s home we eat whatever is offered with thankfulness (aside from Josiah, tried letting him have the occasional whatever meal and it.was.not.good) but at home our meals are focused on real foods eaten the way God designed them as often as possible.   My husband still loves a good hot dog roast so I give in here but we try to find the best hot dogs we can without breaking the budget!

A typical day is something like this:

Breakfast is sourdough whole wheat muffins, pancakes or homemade granola with farm fresh eggs a time or two.  Of course our beverage of choice is raw milk from our lovely cows.

Lunch is often plenty of veggies, many times raw with fruit for dessert and a bit or pasta or rice here and there or a slice of sourdough bread with real butter.

Dinner is pretty similar to lunch but often we have grass fed beef or lamb in addition to our veggies.  (there are many benefits to living on the farm, being able to control what’s put into our meat is one of them)

I have also been juicing a bit for the kids but especially Josiah and I.  For me because I figure years of tossing junk in takes a toll on the body and juice help with the detoxing needed and for Josiah because Autistic children often battle with digestive issues and I see it as an opportunity to give him a few extra nutrients that his body doesn’t have to work so hard to process.

I probably sound like a fanatic (and I probably am) but wow!  what a difference real food makes!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Building on…

The farmer has been working hard on our barn as of late and has made a lot of progress.

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Here you can see the lean-to he added to the front of the barn.  We will use this for lambing and new moms.

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He often spends many a late night putting in just one more fence post or putting the last touches of another gate.

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…or chasing the chickens away from the creep feed Winking smile

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Friday, May 18, 2012

Michigan Fiber Fiesta!

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The show season has officially begun!  Hope to see you tomorrow in Greenville at Klackles!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

The Real Food Challenge: Beyond the 10 days…

As I have mentioned before we began adding whole foods to our diet before the official real foods challenge bgan so in all we have been moving from processed  to real whole foods for about 7 weeks.   The 10 day challenge gave me the ability to present the diet change to my family in a way that seemed fun and allowed us to eliminate the small vices and see that not only could we live without them but we didn’t really miss them….

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I am making enough bread to justify buying wheat flour by the 50 pound bag!   (The picture above shows how we store it.)  We are using primarily sourdough bread and I have learned to use natural sweeteners like sucanat (which is great btw!)  We go through fruits and vegetables like crazy and we have even invested in a juicer.

It is amazing the changes that I see in my children.  They are able to focus on school better, they have more energy and my picky eater is eating like crazy and his stomach aches have stopped.   The most amazing changes however,  have been in Josiah, our 16 year old son with Autism.

Josiah used to ask nonsensical questions (at least to us) like “Why isn’t pizza a skinny round oval?”   “Are you normal to me?” or “Am a light tan and not a dark tan?”.   Those questions have stopped.  Completely.  Not only that but he has been able to express complete thoughts, something he hasn’t been able to do before.   He misses his treats full of high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners and colors but his mom thinks it’s a more than fair trade!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Lambs for sale…

We are almost finished lambing, just a few more ewes left to go yet.  Here are a few of the lambs available…

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Twin Icelandic Ewe

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Twin Icelandic Ewe

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Twin Cormo Rams

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Single Cormo Ewe

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Single Cormo Ram

Rosemary's ewe lambs 2012

Twin Ewe Lambs Jacob X Finn

We have unrelated ewes and ram lambs if you are looking for a starter flock.  Please email countingsheepfarm[@]yahoo[.]com with any questions or if you are looking for something specific.  We have Finn lambs due soon also.  

Friday, May 4, 2012

Available Raw Fleece….

I am posting this pictures for those of you on the waiting list.  If that’s you, you have been contacted and sent a link to this page.  If you would like to be put on the list please drop an email to countingsheepfarm [@] yahoo [.] com  There are more fleeces available.

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Colored Cormo Fleece black with brown tips

4 pounds $100 plus shipping

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Colored Cormo Fleece silvered black with brown tips

3 pounds $75.00 plus shipping

Day 5 of the Real Foods Challenge

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I just finished eating stewed figs with yogurt!  I have never had most of the things that I am eating this week.  In fact I just ate asparagus for the first time today.

The challenge comes at a perfect time because I am learning so much about nutrition through the Family Herbalist course I am taking.  I just finished the unit on bread and I am so thankful that I spent the last two years perfecting my sourdough.   Not only does true sourdough have a lower glycemic index, it also makes the nutrients in the bread more readily available and pre-digests the gluten during the long raising process.   There are lots of wonderful things brewing in those 8-12 hours it takes for the bread to fully rise.

So far the challenge has gone well.  The kids have complained a bit but neither they nor I are really sure why.  When I ask them “Didn’t you enjoy the homemade granola?” they swear they love it.  In fact only a few things have the thumbs down. (Unfortunately sourdough bread is one of them.  Sourdough blueberry muffins on the other hand were a hit!)

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Prima Special is ending soon!

For all you Miche fans out there don’t forget to place your order for the Prima Bundle by tomorrow May 4th!   Only two more days to get two shells and the base bag for only $99.00  You can place your order at www.my8kidsmom.miche.com or feel free to email me at my8kidsmomm [@] yahoo[.]com

We have some fabulous new releases for May too!

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In farm news:   We now have 4 registered Cormo ram lambs and one ewe in the barn!   I will take pictures today, promise!

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