Eating habits

Ok, since becoming pregnant my eating habits have changed a lot. I went through a lot of effort to cleanse and detox my body pre-conception to get it ready. In doing so I ate mostly RAW foods and was feeling wonderful.

Well then rolls around week six or so and the nausea sets in. All I wanted was a chicken sandwich from Burger King and french fries. If you've never been pregnant and craved french fries, then you don't know what it's like. It was pure bliss. Now normally, I am repulsed even thinking about a fast food chicken sandwich and fries. My body was really craving protein. I also couldn't even look at salad without getting sick, and that was the same for most vegetables. My diet as of lately has been egg sandwiches with cheese and ham in the mornings, toasted bagel and cream cheese for lunch, or grilled cheese sandwich, and of course various other snacks throughout the day and night.

I'm finally now to a point where I'm not feeling as sick and I notice that now I'm actually craving nutrient rich foods. I had a smoothie the other day, and salads and veggies with dinner. I'm still making sure I'm eating a lot of protein right now, as my body is craving it. I go through at least three eggs a day.

The main point is that I'm not being hard on myself for not sticking to what I thought was the healthiest diet for me. I'm still trying to keep things balanced out, but I'm not worrying about eating all or mostly raw, or even vegetarian. I know this is the most important phase of life to be eating healthy, but moderation is more important to me right now.

As I'm feeling better I'm sure I'll be enjoying my green smoothies daily again, because of course the little one inside of me will soon have taste buds and I'll have to do my best to get them enjoying yummy fruits and vegetables.

Our Christmas Surprise!

Well, the big news is that we found out we're expecting!! And not a baby chicken, or duck this time, and actual human!

The tenative due date is August 2nd, 2011.

More to come later I'm sure, my time on the computer is limited, as it makes me feel sick.

New Basement Office remodel

This is what we had to start with.

Looking towards the window

The finished library section and my reading nook!

the same window there on the right. We still need to finish the calendar white board on the wall and have an electrician come in and put in a light switch (so we will no longer have a light bulb hanging in the middle of the room).

It's not heated, but it's still cozy. I'm also going to make some curtains for the window, they will be of heavy fabric to help hold in the heat. It's so nice to have a little retreat area to hide and read, do household management, etc.

Hailey playing at the Senior Center

Hailey and her teacher are playing "Down in the Valley" for an audience of about 50 people in November. We try to have Hailey do a performance once a month at the Senior Center in downtown Shelton.

Will and Hailey playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" together.

Family Legacy

We recently took a quick trip over to Idaho to see the Grandparents (Great Grandparents for the children). Grandma Pratt is 94 years young and still going strong living at home, and Grandpa Pratt is 92 years and has just recently had to leave his lifetime home and stay at an assisted living center, where they can take better care of him after he had his stroke.

Family is so important!! And it's so important to listen to the family heritage, legacies, stories, and tales from the older generations. They have so mush to share. We decided to do our best to capture some of the family stories and information before it was lost. The best way we found to do this was to purchase a journal type book that's made for grandparents. We all had a wonderful time listening to Grandma and Grandpa tell stories about when they were younger, and their lives growing up. We wrote it all down to document it for future generations. We figured we might as well get it done before it's too late. I encourage all families to do something similar, because you never know who God's going to call home next. Below are some pictures from the visit. And the fall colors up in the mountains were amazing!

food

I haven't been eating 100% RAW as of lately. I did really well for about a month when I was trying to clean out and detox my system. Although I have felt really good sticking to a gluten free, vegan diet with lots of raw fruits and veggies. My downfall is always the late night snacks and sweet yummies. At least most of them are all homemade and they don't have all the artificial sweeteners and preservatives in them. In saying that, I've been feeling a lot better lately, not as much joint pain and stiffness and no muscle pain.

I try to remember that if I'm not going to be eating all RAW foods, then when I don't I need to make sure it's at least gluten free and vegan. Whole foods are so wonderful for your body also. We've also noticed, with myself and daughter, that eating the sprouted grain bread doesn't cause the stomach aches as much as if we were to eat a regular wheat product.

God is awesome!

It's a hard choice sometimes to take the path of faith. Sounds like it should be easy, but sometimes God tells us to do things and we don't understand why or for what reason. You have to choose to do it in faith, even if it causes strife and discomfort, and even if other people don't like your choices.

The great part comes when you finally "get it" and God's lets you in on His plans. Then you have peace and even greater faith then before. God loves us and never gives us more then we can handle. We have to step out in faith and be obedient to what He says. It's ALWAYS worth it !

There are things in which God showed me a few years ago, and I've been waiting for it to happen. I finally see the ball rolling in the right direction, and it's so awesome to watch.

In faith, Heather

Road Trip in August

Finally, here are some pictures of our road trip to Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, and to see family in North Dakota. We took a ton of pictures, but here are some. The others are can be seen on our shutterfly sharesite at http://hmmsharesite.shutterfly.com/

Pretend blacksmithing with their cousins at a historical interpretive center

Cousins

The garden you were given

Everyone has a garden, some people just choose to plant grass all over it.

Don't wait until you have the perfect piece of land to cultivate and grow food. Plant food in your garden and it will bless you and your family, and possibly others who live at your place after you.

Givers and Takers

Some people are givers and other are takers. It takes all to make the world go 'round. But I sure like being around givers, they seem to be much more pleasant and also cheerful. I truly believe that when people live unselfish giving lives, they make the world and themselves a better place.

For some reason I was thinking this evening about the three major events that have happened in my adult life.

1) giving birth to multiples, which were premature, along with being married to an unsupported (mean) man man at the time who was military and the twins were born Sept 1st 2001. They were ten days when Sept 11th happened. We live off base at the time and their dad wasn't even able to leave base for about a month. I was living in a very small town at the time, I didn't know anyone and had no support. Who came to help me, my mother, that's all. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for her support, with out it I may have gone crazy at the time. The funny thing is, she's the family that lives the furthest from me.

2) The divorce (July 2004). Need I say more. I was at risk of loosing my home, I had no job, I had to work with a domestic violence support center and set up and use a safety plan and evacuation to get out of the situation. To make a long story short, who was the one to offer up their house for the twins and I to stay or live at if need be? Again, my mother.

3) Third and hopefully the last, the onset of my illness (Aug 2008). I didn't know if I was ever going to go back to work, some days I couldn't walk or lift a water bottle to drink, I was close to foreclosure, I couldn't drive to the grocery store to get food for the kids. Who called and talked to me daily (until I said I couldn't afford my phone bill anymore) ? Again, my mom. Luckily by this time in my life I had a local circle of support, whom I couldn't have done without. But what about the rest of my family?

My kids are my priority. Their health, well being, happiness, security, etc. Although they aren't spoiled by any means. When I think of my security in the future, it's not how much money I have in the bank, or how much stuff I have, it's making sure my kids are taken care of. I want for them to always have a home and garden to come home to. When/if they ever run into hard times, I/we will be there to help them. Security is knowing you don't have to depend on the government to supply you with food and things. If I keep the home I own in the family and pay it off as soon as I can, along with the garden and all the edible landscaping, my children will never go without. They can choose to purchase their own home someday, but if something happens, they will always have a place to go, and feel welcome!

Thank you to all the givers in this world!! And may your children learn from you!

One cute chick!

Here's Solo, our baby chick. She's an arucana chicken. We call her Solo because she's the only one that hatched out of 12. We were told from a friend that they were fertile, but oh well, we'll just have one spoiled chicken. We all really, really, really hope she's a girl, because we can't keep roosters in the city. And after all this disapointment, with only one hatching, we'de hate to have to giver her away, or worse yet, eat him. So we're hopefully calling her a her.

I think she sort of looks like a baby owl.

This is her campanion, so cute! She snuggles up with it when she sleeps. I had to really sneak in to get this picture when she was really tired. Usually everytime she hears us come into the back room, she perks up and peeps at us.

Gluten free, dairy free, and egg free cake

I've really been challenged as of lately in finding recipes that we can all enjoy but not have any allergies too. When looking at a lot of the vegan recipes they often use wheat flour and/or oatmeal. Well, with Hailey's wheat allergy, I had to keep digging. It's not too bad eating gluten free and dairy free, as we've been doing that for awhile now at our house. But theN to add egg free also, it makes baking anything near impossible. I told the kids they may like a raw dessert, with fresh fruit and chocolate pudding even better then the "want to be" cake.

In doing some research I found that you can mix up ground flax seed (which we already always have on hand) and mix it in with water and heat on the stove top at a simmer for 5 minutes. I added 1/4 up ground flax seed to about 1/2 cup plus 2 T water. I mixed it together, let it simmer for 5 minute and then let it cool. It says that it stays good for up to two weeks in the fridge. You add 1/4 cup of the mixture for each egg in the recipe.

Ok, so the easy thing I did it was to purchase a gluten free cake mix at Fred Meyer. On the box it calls for water, eggs ,and butter. I simply substituted the flax mixture for the eggs and veggie oil for the butter. It turned out wonderfully to all of our surprize.

Now I just need to find some new recipes for dinners that we can all eat and enjoy the taste.

Changes on the farm

We've had some changes here on our little farm. It all started with the results from our allergy testing. Hailey and I got tested for food allergens since we were the ones suffering from symptoms and also have a lower immune system.



If you know about what we've been up to, you'll know that we have been looking for the right goat to have and breed, with the ultimate intention of having a milk goat. One of the main reasons besides being more self sufficient was the fact that my daughter and I didn't do well with cows milk, and goat milk to purchase is so expensive. We've also been working on growing our small chicken and duck flock. In fact right now we have a chicken incubating 2 fertile eggs and then the cousins are using an incubator to hatch the remaining 10 eggs. Our goal, more eggs, more affordable and healthy protein for the family.



Ok, so what's the change? Well, lo and behold, guess what Hailey's allergy test showed. A high reaction to chicken eggs, soy beans, chicken, and turkey, along with the ones we already figured out, cow's milk, cheeses and gluten. And here's the kicker, she's also allergic to goats milk! As for myself, I also have an allergy to milk, gluten (although not as severe as Hailey's), peanuts, beef and chicken eggs. Yikes!



So we had to sit down and really think if it was still worth it to continue on our path of owning a milk goat for just two people. Right now we do rice milk, and probably only spend at the most $10 a month on a case of rice milk. So, it looks like we'll be turning our goat pasture into a large garden next year to expand what we already have and be able to sell and can more produce. It will also save us a lot of time and money on goat feed, housing, etc.



As for the chickens, we won't be getting rid of them. We'll be able to sell more eggs and we also really like how they do a great job eating our food scraps and the chickens also provide a lot of entertainment and companionship.



Now to figure out if the family will be eating two separate meals or if we'll all convert to vegans. I'm all for the conversion to a mostly vegan RAW diet. But's it's easier for me to do it, since I have health issue, which makes for motivation. It will be interesting to see how the meals all work out. The boys sure like their meat!

What we're up to this week

We went down to the Ape Caves (Mt St Helen's lava tubes) this weekend. We had a great time visiting with family and friends that joined us, and had a blast exploring the dark lava tubes underground. We camped at a camp ground along the Lewis River. Of course we had to go play in the mud.

After quickly packing up camp this morning we headed home to meet with the man who was buying our untamed and horned goats to eat down the brush on his property. I September we'll be started over in our goat endeavor with two new, tame, and de-horned goats.

Then we spent all the extra energy we could muster to can up two batches of tomatoes. Hence the reason I'm still up this late. Only the die hard caners can when it's 95 degrees outside! When it's that hot we use the propane burner outside on the side of our BBQ.

Beard, here and gone

For family who wanted to see.
Here's Keiths 5 week old beard. We shaved it off today. I think it looked good on him, but the owner didn't like the feeling, and feeling good about how you look is more important. So off it came. I'm proud of him sticking it out for a full 5 weeks. I'm sure thankfull I don't have facial hair to shave off every day, what a pain! If I were a guy, I'd probably have a beard, just because I would be lazy.

Thankfulness

Sometimes I feel like I get so far off track on life. Why? Who knows how or why I do it......all I know is that I feel like sometimes I just wake up and shake myself back to reality and wonder where I've been lost.

Yes, I blog for myself, if others read it and they get a smile or a kind reminder about life, then that's wonderful too. You never know where my blog bantering may lead. :)

Sometimes I get lost in the world of "I wants" and "if only I had this" and "someday I'll have ____ (deck, patio, nice yard, more time, more money, you get the point)"
Then I wake up and look around me and think to myself how blessed, lucky, fortunate, and most of all grateful I am to have what I do have. Boy am I blessed! Life really can't get better.

I struggle sometimes with contentment, I always strive to improve my surroundings, yet I don't try to live like the average American ie large house, fancy car, designer jeans, etc. It's an odd combination. Sometime I just get in a funk and get tired of things being unfinished in the house, unfinished in the yard, etc, etc. Life's the jurney, not the destination, right? After all, once all my projects were finished, I'd just make up more. I'm a dreamer, what can I say. :)

When it comes down to the important stuff I have all I could ask for......above all, God's grace, a wonderful family, a roof over my head, food in the garden and in the cupboards, a car that drives, a job, and improving health.

And when it comes to the important things, what I really want more time for is.....time with my family, time to be in God's word and time outside in God's marvelous creation.

Note to self.........life is much happier when you look at the things you DO have and not the things you don't have.
Live a life filled with thanksgiving and gratefulness, it's a lot more fun that way!

Washington Old Time Fiddles Association

The kids and I are headed off for a week at the WOTFA workshops and classes, in Ellensburg, WA. We'll have a great time and also relax a bit. Along with music playing, there will also square dancing, jamming, etc. We'll be camping out for the week in the hot sun, thank goodness the classrooms we'll be in are air conditioned.
The hubby will be holding down the farm for the week.

Pics in a week or so!

The government is hurting the American Society

I'm so frustrated right now I could explode. For some reason I've been extremely irritable as of lately. I have a fairly calm demeanor, so I think something is out of whack. And no, I'm not pregnant, I checked, but that's how out of whack I feel my hormones are.



But what I really wanted to vent about is our government. Our government supports and encourages women to not get married and to not make money and to have a lot of children. Now I agree that we should have children and stay home and be the best mother possible, but it's not the same way the government sees it.



My frustration comes from the fact that I work in the social field with low income clients.

Here are some comparisons that run through my head and make my blood boil.............



Many of my clients work at low income jobs with no education, then they are eligible for housing grants and also for enrolment in the federal HUD program. Where the less you make, the more they give you. I do home inspections on large, beautiful, new, homes that my clients rent for $300 a month, the boyfriend works at McDonald's. The mother of course won't ever marry this man she has two children with, because then she would loose her DSHS cash help of $350 per month, her food benefits of at least $550 a month (she only has a toddler and a baby, they don't need that much food), and her HUD help which covers about 700-800 dollars in rent a month. And lets not forget the FREE Medicare health benefits. And mom's only real income is social security for her daughter because she has fetal alcohol syndrome, hmmmm, guess how she got that? Staying home and taking care of her own children is not a high priority.



Here's the contrast...........

We are an average family, both college educated, with school loans to pay off, living on one income and a half (I work part time). We struggle to keep our food budget in close check every month, and it's set for $400 a month. I home school our two children even though I have to work part time, in order for them to receive a better education then the one offered in our public schools, and to grow up knowing God's love and grace. I yearn for more time with my family, they still only get part of me when I'm not focused on doing my part time job that I have to fit in here and there when I get a spare moment! We live in a half finished, old, falling apart house, because we can't afford anything nicer. We just got married and plan to have more children, which means a drop in income for me. So now we have to struggle a bit more to make all the ends meet and to stick to our budget.

Four or five years ago, when I was a single mom and working three different jobs, I received food benefits from the government. At one point I made three dollars to much that month and they took away $100 of food. The social worker at the time said I should work less, then I won't loose my food benefits. That's when I lost it and said I would never use the government's help again.

The people who make the choice not to get help from the government take the hard route. And our reasoning? Independence, stubbornness, sweat equity, loyalty, honesty, integrity.............

The programs available are supposed to help you get on your feet in a time of need, not to make a comfortable lifestyle for you.

If I choose to not get married, to quit my part time job and live on child support alone, the government would be there to help me. I'd probably have a nice home, a fat belly from eating good food the government has bought for me, because of course I'd be able to increase my food budget. Is that a good thing? Look what kind of a society it has created!! Heck, I could even still stay with my partner, have more kids, and then the government would give me even more money! I want to scream, "But what about our families?!!!!!!"

The government is to blame for our needy, slothful, take-take American society!! And our government is to blame of our lack of strong families in our American society.


Why has our government created this?

Where's the support for the hard workers who work an honest living and pay tons of money in health insurance (it's required now of course, or we get fined) just to try to have a good life for his/her family? All they get in return is higher taxes, less support, and they become a slave to their job, all for the government and schools to corrupt their children and pull them down into the spiral of government help. Subsidize this and that. It's easy to to slide down there, it's comfy after all and then I could spend time with the kids more if I lived off the government, no more medical insurance to pay for, no more medical bills, better and cheaper housing, more food money to spend.

Where do you go if you want to be encouraged to work less, save nothing, and buy more food? the good 'ol US of A!!

So what's one to do when they sit on the fence and stare down the slippery slope of government help? I'm an extreme thinker, so here are two extremes....

More away to another country where they don't support laziness, or move off the grid into the woods and stay as far away from society and the government as possible.

Or ride the wave down; quit your job, apply for benefits, apply for subsidized housing from the government, get lots of food stamps to spend, be on the constant look out for grants available, and special help for those in need.

In the meantime for the people stuck in the middle....stay sane, enjoy your family, plant a big garden, be as self sufficient as you can (because some is better then none), make on honest living, and above all........be content where you are in life and with what you have. If you're on the edge and don't want to slide down, first thing is to stop looking around at what everyone else has whether it's the ultimate American dream, or the others living the high life off the government (our hard earned money). Keep your eyes on the Almighty!

For parents..........time with your family/kids is more important then money, any day.

As a side note: I know that are many people out there that truly have disabilities that don't allow them to fully live life, the problem is, there really isn't that much government help for those that are really in need. And receiving benefits can temporarily help out a family going through a rough patch of life, just don't make it the rest of your life.

The twins feeding the twins!

We're helping out some friends by temporarily babysitting their baby goats until they can sell them. The kids are having fun bottle feeding them three times a day. We've had them for about a week now and they're about 6 weeks old. It's funny because they are also boy/girl twins.

Romeo and Sugar and purebred lamanche goats. It's also nice having some very tame goats around our goats who are still a bit skittish, although they're coming around to us with many bribes. And our goats get to teach the little ones how to eat grass. It's time to start weaning them off the bottle now.

Inspiration !!!!

So I've been so inspired as of lately to talk to people about the importance of creating their own "paradise" so to speak for their family.

I think I want to start a movement called "Back to the Garden". I'm sure there's already one out there, but oh well.

Think of it......living like God intended us to live.....in nature, surrounded by plants and our family. What's more important at the end of our lives then that? And think if everyone started planting a garden, putting in fruit trees, berry bushes, etc, to feed their family. Think about how connected the family would be through all the working together, and the memories they would make planting, tending, watering, playing together, etc.

One important step of course would be for the parents goal to be to leave the property/home in the family always. Even if that meant having multiple generations living on the same property or in the same home. And the other part would be for the adult children to not sell the home when the parents pass away, etc. That would have to take a large shift in our society to not be so selfish, but it's possible.

If we all had our little "paradise" in our backyard, whether is was a tenth of an acre, an acre, ten acres, or 360 acres, the entire family would benefit. They would benefit nutritionally, emotionally, physically, and socially. And we would have a better connection to God, who created all the wonderful things the earth has to offer, the earth itself, and also to our family and community.

So why isn't this happening in and around our world more often? I often ponder questions like this. Sometime we as humans make life so difficult for ourselves. It should really be quite simple.

I wish I grew up with that type of connection, all I can do now is create a paradise with and for my family, so I can leave a legacy for my children and their future children.

More to come I'm sure...................................................................

Our trip to the Grist Mill in Woodland, WA

Ever since we took our engagement pictures at this mill, we've been wanting to go back and bring the kids. We also went with our cousins, aunt and uncle, from Portland.

The covered bridge next to the mill

My sweet husband

The river powering the mill.

Spillway from the Mill

The kids with their cousin Naomi, wiht the mill in the background

Fresh ground flour to make yummy recipies. We came home with two types of wheat flour and also fresh ground corn meal.

The water powered grist mill, very cool to watch it in action.

Mt. Hood, from a moving car on the way to Portland

What's new for the end of June?

Here are some things going on around our little urban farm.

The broccoli is finally big enough to start cutting.

We ate some fresh for dinner and then froze the rest.
Here's our first official picking of strawberries.
This doesn't count what we've been eating along the way in the past few weeks.
Again these were frozen and put into freezer containers for future use.


The baby ducks are getting big.

Here are our new goats that haven't been raised by people.

They're eating out of our hands now and allowing us to pet them.

Slowing but surely they're coming around.

Here's the mama chicken with her baby ducks. They're as tall as she is now.

It's so funny to watch them follow her around.

A fun Father's Day weekend

For Father's Day we went camping up at Lake Cuchman friday through Sunday. It turned out to be a nice weekend, and thank goodness it didn't rain as much as it was supposed to. We all had a great time and of course took advantage of the lake and went kayaking. The kids were excited because they recently purchased their own kayak. It's "Spray" the orange-red-yellow one.

Fun times!!

The kids baught daddy a new bird feeder for Father's Day!

He's sure loves his birds, expecially the finches.