~ Last Days of the March of Kindness Month ~

26th ~ Ordered myself a bag of super dark chocolate covered cherries.

27th ~ Didn't feel very good so I stayed home from church but made my husband his lunch for work that night so he wouldn't be rushed when he got home.

28th ~ Snuggled in bed with my daughter and read her a giagantic stack of books. She only had to elbow me a couple of times to keep me awake.

29th ~ Set aside everything I had to do and spent the entire afternoon with my oldest. He's getting so big so fast.

30th ~ Took a big bag of cloth diapers I wasn't using anymore to a friend who's family is living on faith at the moment.

31st ~ My two years old helped me make carob cupcakes with chocolate g'nosh. He was covered from head to toe in sticky yumminess! My oldest turned 9 today! Happy Birthday Buddy!!

~ Learning to Sew ~

My son Zach has wanted to learn to sew for awhile now and it was one of his friends birthdays this week and I just happen to see this little penguin and it was the perfect project for both learning to sew and a birthday gift.

First we traced our pattern on some felt. As much as I love the luscious feel of 100% wool felt its just too spendy. I find that the eco felt, made from recycled plastic bottle does a perfectly good job when it comes to projects like this.

Next, Zach cut out all the pieces he would need to make his penguin. He chose all the colors and traced the pattern on to the felt himself too! We did some sewing machine work, I ran the pedal and he guided the fabric. This project could easily be done by hand if you have the time. Then he stuffed him full of cotton and sewed up the bottom.

This was the final project and he was really proud of the little penguin he had made. I also made a little hobo sack real quick to put the penguin it. He had lots of fun learn to sew and is ready to tackle the next project, a penguin for himself.




March’s Families, Create! challenge was filled with awesome animal-themed posts. From Mo Willems to monkey finger puppets, our writers and crafters kept busy getting creative with the little animals in their lives.

Visit Code Name: Mama and Living Peacefully with Children to find out how you can participate in the next Families, Create! Carnival. Our April theme is "Fantasy" - childhood is a fascinating time, filled with magic around every corner. What can your family imagine and create?

Please take time to read the March submissions by the other carnival participants:

• Lizz at Am I a Funny Girl turns a family outing at the zoo into a picture book to keep.

• Maman A Droit shares her easy pattern for a felt monkey finger puppet with you!

• The kids at Living Peacefully with Children celebrated the emergence of Spring with butterflies. Check out their Coffee Filter Butterfly mobile and Pipe Cleaner Art.

• Aunalise at My Sweet Potatoes offers helpful ways for a child to remember calming techniques with a “Calming your Beast” basket.

• Most of us have monkeys running around our house at times. Or lions. Or elephants. Make your child's creative animal play even better with stuffed animal tails! Dionna at Code Name: Mama shares an easy tutorial.

• Galit Breen at These Little Waves shares an easy way to get creative with Mo Willems' "We Are In A Book."

• Maman A Droit shares her pattern for a felt bunny finger puppet-a perfect Easter basket filler!

• Brenna at Almost All The Truth shares a look at butterflies through metaphor, books and a coffee filter craft.

• Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children knitted some simple Nugget Bunnies for her children's Ostara baskets while practicing a new technique.

• Amy at Anktangle shares photographs of crocheting a lovable stuffed turtle for her son to play with.

• Aunalise at My Sweet Potatoes knows a few ways to bring beneficial birds to the garden.

• Megan at Purple Dancing Dahlias shares a fun little first sewing project.

• Lauren at Hobo Mama has a fun and easy game to make to stimulate your preschooler's memory.

• Using her children's artwork as inspiration, Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children woodburned wooden eggs for them to color in honor of Spring.

• Aunalise at My Sweet Potatoes is making nature bags or field bags for nature journals and the other things we may need as we explore our planet.

• Animals are the inspiration for this set of handmade clay items for an I Spy bag at Living Peacefully with Children.

~ Masks ~

These are the masks we made for art today. A butterfly and an eagle, they were a flying super hero team! We used this printable if you want to make your own. We used yarn and tied them in the back instead of putting them on straws.

~ Kids ~

If I fell asleep like this I can only imagine the outcome

~ March of Kindness ~

...boy, am I slacking with the posting...

20th - Let hubby sneak off to go to the "big town" to run errands and go to the bee meeting all by himself.

21st - Made a table for the nursery at church.

22nd - I let myself go to bed before everyone else. I was exhausted!

23rd - Read my daughter the same book 6 times because "mummy, I just love this story so" yes, she said it exactly like that!

24th - Letting 66 birds take up residence in my porch because apparently Spring didn't receive its memo about it being SPRING yet!

25th - Let my two years old put the dirt into my starting cells. I knew it would make a mess and would just be faster to do it myself but I just couldn't resist that little smile and "me too"!

~ How to Make Your Own Chick Starter & Elecrolyte Water ~

This is what we are using for a chick starter this year. We left the grains whole but soaked them and the chicks are eating them fine. I think we are going to run them through the grain grinder on coarse for the next batch just to make it a little easier for the little ones to eat.

2 cups wheat
1 cup each of oats and barley
3/4 cup greenstuff
3/4 cup lentils or peas, which ever the co-op has
1/4 raw milk kefir
1 Tablespoon molasses
3 teaspoons trace mineral salt
pieces of apple core, carrot peelings, alfalfa,...

We decided to make our own electrolyte mix for their water this year as well.

1 qrt of water
1/2 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 tbsp raw honey
1/2 tsp sea salt

We really just wanted to get away from all commercial feeds and mixes so that we can make sure that we know exactly what our birds are getting. We get organic grains and when we mix them ourselves it is also cheaper. Stay tuned for some more pictures, the boys ordered "ninja chicks" for their 4H projects and they are so cute. This post is shared at:

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~ March of Kindness ~

March 16 ~ Went to my mom's house and grabbed her book and renewed it for her since I was going to the library.

March 17 ~ Made a sling for a friend so she didn't have to haul around a carseat (which really belong in the car) when she went shopping.

March 18 ~ This isn't my act of random kindness but my son's. Yesterday my oldest opened the dishwasher and saw that there were clean dishes so he put them away.

March 19 ~ Loaded up the kids and drove to Brainerd to pick up the chicks so my husband wouldn't have to do it when he got off from work (at 1:30 AM) and then kept my grumbles to myself as I had to hunt for feed trays in the dark because he forgot to get them out for me.

~ New Babies Have Arrived ~

~ New Chickens ~

We have one broody hen at the moment and come Sunday, we should have about 66 balls of fluff running around. Twenty-five new laying hens, 25 meat birds, 6 chickens for 4H, 6 new ducks and 4 geese. The kids are really excited and so I am. I will post pictures and maybe even a video, so stay tuned.

~ Ditch the Vic, Super Easy Stuffy Nose Rub ~

This is the easiest way to help relieve stuffy little noses. I took some jojoba oil, about 2 ounces and mixed it with about 15 drops of essential peppermint oil. Rub it on the bottoms of your little ones feet, pop on a pair of socks and your good to go. Best thing, it smells like Christmas!! This post is part of the Herbal Medicine Chest Blog Hop

~ Why We Don't Eat Traditional Breakfast Cereal ~

Most children start their day with a bowl of cereal with skim milk. Even my kids up until a few months ago had organic cereals once in a while and they only got a serving size worth. We made sure we were getting the low sugar, organic kinds thinking that we were safe. Not so!

A Nourished Magazine Puffed Grains and Breakfast Cereals, should we eat them? By Sally Fallon

" Let me tell you about two studies which were not published. The first was described by Paul Stitt who wrote about an experiment conducted by a cereal company in which four sets of rats were given special diets. One group received plain whole wheat, water and synthetic vitamins and minerals. A second group received puffed wheat (an extruded cereal), water and the same nutrient solution. A third set was given only water. A fourth set was given nothing but water and chemical nutrients. The rats that received the whole wheat lived over a year on this diet. The rats that got nothing but water and vitamins lived about two months. The animals on water alone lived about a month. But the company’s own laboratory study showed that the rats given the vitamins, water and all the puffed wheat they wanted died within two weeks—they died before the rats that got no food at all. It wasn’t a matter of the rats dying of malnutrition. Autopsy revealed dysfunction of the pancreas, liver and kidneys and degeneration of the nerves of the spine, all signs of insulin shock. Results like these suggested that there was something actually very toxic in the puffed wheat itself! Proteins are very similar to certain toxins in molecular structure, and the pressure of the puffing process may produce chemical changes, which turn a nutritious grain into a poisonous substance. Another unpublished experiment was carried out in the 1960s. Researchers at Ann Arbor University were given 18 laboratory rats. They were divided into three groups: one group received corn flakes and water; a second group was given the cardboard box that the corn flakes came in and water; the control group received rat chow and water. The rats in the control group remained in good health throughout the experiment. The rats eating the box became lethargic and eventually died of malnutrition. But the rats receiving the corn flakes and water died before the rats that were eating the box! (The last corn flake rat died the day the first box rat died.) But before death, the corn flake rats developed schizophrenic behavior, threw fits, bit each other and finally went into convulsions. The startling conclusion of this study is that there was more nourishment in the box than there was in the corn flakes. This experiment was actually designed as a joke, but the results were far from funny. The results were never published and similar studies have not been conducted. Most of America eats this kind of cereal. In fact, the USDA is gloating over the fact that children today get the vast majority of their important nutrients from the nutrients added to these boxed cereals. Cereals sold in the health food stores are made by the same method. It may come as a shock to you, but these whole grain extruded cereals are probably more dangerous than those sold in the supermarket, because they are higher in protein and it is the proteins in these cereals that are so denatured by this type of processing."

~ March of Kindness - March 12, 13, 14 & 15 ~

March 12 ~ Held my baby while he slept. I pushed aside the thoughts of what I could have been doing and just enjoyed the moment.

March 13 ~ Swept my son up and gave him a great big hug and told him how much I love him and how proud I am of him for just being him.

March 14 ~ Suggested to my husband to just have a splash fight with our daughter (who was in the tub), to let go of the power struggle of keeping the water in the tub and I would clean up the mess. The pure joy and giggle that came forth from both of them were totally worth cleaning up. Another perk, the bathroom floor got washed.

March 15 ~ Gave my cow a good brush down, a cow massage, lol. She is getting ready to calf(looks like within the next few days) so I am sending her good birth vibes too!

~ 8 Reasons to Eat Fermented Foods ~

I love this post from Cheeseslave on why we need to eat lacto-fermented foods. Her whole post is longer than this, so hop on over and read the rest of the really great info she has.

8 Reasons to Eat Fermented Foods

1. Fermented foods improve digestion. Fermenting our foods before we eat them is like partially digesting them before we consume them. According to Joanne Slavin, a professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota, “…sometimes people who cannot tolerate milk can eat yogurt. That’s because the lactose (which is usually the part people can’t tolerate) in milk is broken down as the milk is fermented and turns into yogurt.”

2. Fermented foods restore the proper balance of bacteria in the gut. Do you suffer from lactose intolerance? Gluten intolerance? Constipation? Irritable bowel syndrome? Yeast infections? Allergies? Asthma? All of these conditions have been linked to a lack of good bacteria in the gut.

3. Raw, fermented foods are rich in enzymes. According to the Food Renegade blog, “Your body needs [enzymes] to properly digest, absorb, and make full use of your food. As you age, your body’s supply of enzymes decreases. This has caused many scientists to hypothesize that if you could guard against enzyme depletion, you could live a longer, healthier life.”

4. Fermenting food actually increases the vitamin content. According to the Nourished Kitchen blog, “Fermented dairy products consistently reveal an increasedlevel of folic acid which is critical to producing healthy babies as well as pyroxidine, B vitamins, riboflavin and biotin depending on the strains of bacteria present. [1. Vitamin Profiles of Kefirs Made from Milk of Different Species. International Journal of Food Science & Technology. 1991. Kneifel et al]“

5. Eating fermented food helps us to absorb the nutrients we’re consuming. You can ingest huge amounts of nutrients, but unless you actually absorb them, they’re useless to you. When you improve digestion, you improve absorption.

6. Fermenting food helps to preserve it for longer periods of time. Milk will go bad in the fridge but kefir and yogurt last a lot longer. Sauerkraut, pickles and salsa will keep for months. And if you’ve got a huge batch of produce in your garden that you don’t know how to use up — ferment it!

7. Fermenting food is inexpensive. There’s nothing fancy required for this hobby. And many of the foods required to make these recipes are very cheap. You can use inexpensive cabbage to make sauerkraut, or get yourself a kombucha scoby and with just pennies’ worth of water, sugar and tea, you’ve got a health elixir slash soda pop.

8. Fermenting food increases the flavor. There’s a reason humans enjoy drinking wine and eating stinky cheese. There’s a reason we like sauerkraut on our hot dogs and salsa on our tortilla chips. It tastes good!

~ Let It Be Spring ~

This post was written for Fertile Imagination @ http://community.fertilityflower.com/ where I have monthly column. Feel free to visit me over there, too!
Let me just say, emphatically, that I am sooo ready for winter to be over. It is not cooperating one bit. Last year, with March generally being our snowiest month, we didn’t get one drop of snow. It was melting by now.
This year, we still have lots of snow and the temperature today is a whopping 22 degrees outside but feels like 11 with a low of -13 tonight. Fun!

Inside however we have started our seedlings. American Flag Leeks, Carantan Leeks, Giant Musselburg Leeks, Pepinos, Thai Red Papaya, Pink Bananas, and Heartseal (Johnny Jump-ups). The bananas, papayas, and pepinos will be planted in big pots so that they can be brought in when it starts to get cold again.

In another week we will start all of our tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, tomatillos, strawberries, huckleberries, and sun berries. We are anticipating so much new growth over the next few months farm wise. We ordered our new chickens, ducks, and geese last night. Twenty-five meat birds, twenty-five new laying hens (a few will go to some good friends) Black Swedish Ducks, Khaki Campbell Ducks, and White Embden Geese. The boys got Crevecoeurs, Golden Polish, and Silver Polish Chickens for 4H. We will place additional seed orders today.

Lots of prayer and planning have gone on these long winter months and we have realized that we have a passion for helping people, all people, have access to really good, wholesome food that they can afford. The reality is, that until massive changes are made to the food supply system we have now, its up to us to enact change. Its up to us to help our local economies and communities. We are striving to achieve a balance between affordable food and being able to make a living. We have ordered our bees and will be getting those set up in the next month or two, whenever the weather decides to cooperate. We have found goats for meat, still searching high and low for milk goats. Our barn and fences really need some work before we get anymore big animals, so we are looking into the smaller ones right now.

If you are looking for a way to be a bit more self sustainable but have a small space to work with meat rabbits may be the way to go. They take up much less space, are not noisy like cows, goats, or chickens. They breed eight times a year regardless of season, furs can be a additional source of income, and rabbit meat has a delicate flavor and is leaner than beef or pork. They are very easy to maintain as long as they have proper ventilation in their housing and are easy to clean and prepare for the freezer. Rabbit poo is also very good for your garden and doesn’t need to be composted. There is also a rising demand for rabbit meat. I have looked online for rabbit and average prices are $25 - $30 for one 3 lb rabbit. I can tell you right now that I won’t be charging that price because I can’t afford it and reasonably priced food is our goal with this farm.

Another great way to maximize your growing space is to utilize squares instead of rows for some plants. I am going to plant in 2'x2' squares this year instead of rows. A 1'x4' row will yield 12 beets while a 2'x2' box will yield 36 plants because you can stagger them. If you have a small garden space this may be something to consider. We will also be doing raised beds with our 2'x2' boxes to make it easier for the kids to know exactly where they can step. It is our hope that gardening this way will cut down on the weeding we have to do as well. Things are moving along and if weren’t for the snow they would be moving much faster.

I would love to hear what you are planning at your home this growing season, whether it is just a few pots of tomatoes on the patio, a new garden, or the addition of backyard animals. Have questions? I would love to help if I can! Happy Growing!

~ Lacto-fermented Ketchup ~

Do you know why most kids love ketchup? Commercial ketchups are 1/3 sugar. This is a kid approved recipe by kids that are not all that fond of ketchup in the first place. B-b-q season is almost upon us so make sure you have this one in your fridge. I found this recipe at GNOWFGLINS.

12 ounces organic tomato paste - I use Bionaturae, it comes in glass jars, not BPA lined cans
1/4 + 1/8 c water
1/4 c raw honey or maple syrup
1/8 c whey
2 tbsp organic apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp organic mustard powder
1/4 tsp organic cinnamon 1/8 tsp each cloves, allspice, cayenne touch of molasses

I toss everything in the blender to mix. If you end up with more of a spreadable ketchup you can add a bit more water or tomato juice to thin it out. Pour/spoon into a mason jar, cap and leave the jar on the counter for a 24 hours so that the good bacteria has a chance to grow a bit. Put into the fridge and enjoy.

~ Our Sickness Protocol ~

Last week three of our children were sick (first time this year) so I thought I would share what has worked for us to help them recover and heal. We use a holistic or whole body approach.

First stop, chiropractor. Basically your spine is like the central intelligence agency of your body. Each vertebrae in your spine has nerves that "plug" into it and send signals to different parts of your body. If your spine has any subluxations, or twisted vertebrae, your body will not run properly because the nerve signal is being interrupted.

Our next go to is good bone broths and homemade chicken stocks. I always have them on hand in the fridge as part of our protocol for healthy teeth. This simple, easy recipe from The Healthy Home Economist on Potassium Broth would as be very beneficial to anyone try to recover from an illness or surgery.

1 part fresh lemon to 1 part raw honey + as much raw garlic or ginger as you or your kids can stand. I talk more about this here. We use garlic ear oil if ear pain is an issue. Garlic is a natural antibiotic that is much more effects that prescription antibiotics because it works synergistically as a whole plant rather than a single isolated antibiotic. Its main route of action is in it sulphur compound allicin. If we really need a boost we utilize Grapefruit Seed Extract. Stephen Harrod Buhner's book Herbal Antibiotics is a must read.

Fever! A fever is not to be fear unlike the medical establishment would have you believe. It is our bodies natural response to the invaders in our system. Most bacteria/viruses can not handle high heat so they are literally cooked to death when the body spikes a fever. When you reach for the bottle of fever reducer you are doing more harm than good. You are giving the bacteria a leg up by reducing your temperature to a level that they can readily reproduce in making an illness last much longer than it normally would. I am again going to direct you to The Healthy Home Economist because she wrote a very good, concise post here. If you have a child that is very uncomfortable a bit of diluted green tea can help. The small amount of caffeine can dilate the blood vessels just enough to bring comfort without compromising the healing aspects of a fever.

It is said that the ability to run a high fever is a sign of vitality and I can attest to that. My daughter will run temps of 103-104 and she still runs circles around us. She generally sleeps right through them waking healthy as though she had a perfectly normal night with no temperature.

Nourishing foods and probiotics: Your immune system is only has healthy as your gut. We all have on a daily basis, raw milk products, kombucha or water kefir and my husband takes extra probiotics because they promote flu vaccinations at his work and I don't want him bringing home the flu because of others shedding the virus. We don't vaccinate as vaccinating compromises the immune system.

And last but most important is rest. Your body needs downtime. The only reason you got sick in the first place is that your body was run down and your immune system was not running on all cylinders. Just because you get a "germ" in your body doesn't automatically mean you are going to get sick. Bacteria and viruses have to have the right medium to grow on in order to make someone sick. If you are eating lots of sugar and processed foods (or even just a little) you are compromising your immune system by destroying your gut health.

Last week three out of the four were sick. We got a new bucket of raw honey that is crystallized (oh so yummy!) and the kids had been allowed one to many spoonfuls. To a certain degree, sugar is sugar and the extra sugar weaken their gut health by feeding the bad flora and in turn weakened their immune system. We were around two different families dealing with two different illnesses that we picked up. They all had quick recoveries, 24 -48 hours. We ran temps in the 104 range, drank lots of water kefir to stay hydrated and kept blood glucose levels up and encouraged them to sleep a lot. We haven't been to a doctor for illness in 6 years and my oldest has had one round of prescription antibiotics when he was 18 months old before the stance on ear infections was to just wait it out.

People get sick. Its not inherently a bad thing. It's Gods way of building our immune systems improving our overall health. Are there those that haven't been sick in years? Yep, and coo-dos to them but I live with four kids who touch everything (an occasionally lick stuff! yuk!!) and we are bound to get sick. This is just what has worked best for our family to help us make a speedy recovery without the side effects of OTC or prescription drugs.

~ Tomato Seedling Starts ~

The tomatoes are started. We are anxiously watching and waiting for those little green sprouts to start poking out of the soil. This year we planted:

1. Anna Russian
2. Black from Tula
3. Riesentraube
4. Jaune Flammee
5. Mule Team
6. Amish Paste
7. Pink Ponderosa
8. Baxter's Bush Cherry
9. Aunt Ruby's German Green
10. Kellogg's Breakfast
11. Box Car Willie
12. Druzba
13. Green Grape
14. Eva Purple Ball
15. Valenciano
16. Purple Tomatillo
17. Pineapple Tomatillo

Now the trick is going to be digging up enough new space to plant all of those. Hurry up and melts snow, we want to get outside!!!

~ March of Kindness - March 10 & 11 ~

March 10 - I took my kids and my niece to play in the gym at the local community center. We have a "gym bin" full of activities(bowling set, kids size basketballs, tennis balls, mini soccer set)only for the gym. Story hour got out right as we were getting ready to leave and the majority of the kids came in the gym to play. The gym bin was a huge hit so we stayed an extra 15 minutes. I had been up with Jairden at least 12 times the night before and really, really wanted lunch and a nap but watching all those kids having a blast brought a smile to my face. I felt really bad having to pack up and go but I think the other mom's were relieved because they were ready for lunch and a nap too! March 11 - Told my mom I loved her and appreciated all the thoughtful things she does for me.

~ Wild Rice Burgers ~

Despite my best efforts, I don't often get dinner together all at the same time especially the nights that Jake works. I get the main course done, then remember that I didn't make any veggies, get milk poured half way through supper, and yes, we can still have mangos, yogurt and granola for dessert (mustn't forget the important things).

These have become a favorite around here, even the little ones will eat them. They are super easy and since I had dinner on the table all at the same time I though I would share. Check out my post on lacto-fermented ketchup to go with these yummy burgers.

Main Course : Wild Rice Burgers
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 lb free range/organic ground meat, beef or venison
1/2 cup raw cheddar cheese
2 large free range eggs
2 tsp organic curry powder
1 tsp sea or Himalayan salt
dash of organic black pepper

Mix together in no particular order, if you don't want to use your hands a potato masher works great. I use a cast iron skillet to fry in (no Teflon, will leave that for another post), a little coconut oil in the bottom, cook for about 4 minutes a side, until they are nicely browned.

We use sprouted hamburger buns, lettuce & tomatoes, and homemade pickles for garnish. Last night I got 6 half pound patties and 2 quarter pound patties for the little ones. You can leave out the meat if you wish, they are just as good. Add 1/3 cup of crushed cracker to your pattie mix and then before you fry them coat each side with more cracker crumbs, cook until brown. These would also be wonderful served on a bed of lettuce if are gluten intolerant.

Veggies : Fresh Garden Asparagus & Simple Coleslaw This is the first year we have been able to pick asparagus, Zach was so excited. Steam crisp with a generous dollop of real butter. I shredded an small head of cabbage, added some shredded carrots and sliced almonds, made a batch of Russian dressing with the homemade mayo, little salt and pepper, it was yummy.

I also made a bag of organic tator tots (gag) but the kids really like them and now there is only one bag left and then there will be no more (yah!!) Next time I will make a pan of oven roasted potatoes with garlic, fresh chives, and onion.

To drink, a tall glass of raw whole milk we get fresh from a local farm or our cow when I am milking her. Yogurt and granola are pretty standard fair for dessert around here, one kid doesn't like yogurt or mango so he has just milk and granola. I have been known, on occasion, to buy a box of organic icecream sandwhiches, but even then they have to spilt it in fourths and we don't call it a treat. We call fresh fruit and veggies a treat around here. I refuse to set up my kids to think that anything sugar based is a "treat" when in reality it is harming their bodies and minds. We often discuss the chapter in Little House on the Prairie where Mary and Laura receive an orange for Christmas and why that was such a big deal. What do you consider a treat in your house? And what are you teaching your kids about the impact of food choices on their health and well being? This post is shared at:

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~ March of Kindness - March 8 & 9 ~

8th ~ I let my kids make homemade icecream and eat it for lunch just because they asked. They thought it was great!

9th ~ Picked up my oldest son's towel off the bathroom floor and didn't say a word about how I ask him to do it just about every day.

~ March if Kindness - March 7 ~

Today my kindness was directed toward myself. I allowed myself to eat alone, in another room. The kids have severe cabin fever even after playing outside today. I needed to be able to wind down emotionally before I exploded from frustration from my own limited abilities and expectation of keeping up with them. It was one of those days when it felt like I went from one mess to another...and another...and another...

~ Is Raw Milk Mucus Producing? ~

Answer - from Cheeseslave's March 5 Q & A The short answer is no. Raw milk (and raw dairy) contains lactase, which is the enzyme that helps us digest lactose. People who are lactose intolerant are lacking lactase so they can’t digest the lactose. This is why so many people who are lactose-intolerant have no problems drinking raw milk. (Excessive mucus production is a common sign of an allergic reaction). Here’s the long answer: According to nutritionist, David Getoff of the Price-Pottenger Foundation:

I’m a little bit tired of hearing the statement that dairy is mucus-producing because if you take 1,000 people who, when they drink milk or eat dairy products, it stuffs them up, and if you take another 1,000 people who, when they’re exposed to either a cat or dog (or something else they’re allergic to) that that stuffs them up, nobody is going to say that cats and dogs are mucus-producing. A lot of people are allergic to dairy, to cats, dogs or dust mites. The allergic reaction is called a histamine reaction in which case they get stuffed up, so a lot of people are allergic to milk! It’s not mucus producing any more than cats and dogs are mucus-producing. A lot of people are simply allergic to it.

He goes on to explain why so many people are allergic to milk (which is why they think it is mucus-producing) — it’s a long response but very well-written:

In general, there isn’t anything in milk that a large percentage of the population is allergic to…until we start changing it and altering it, otherwise known as homogenization and pasteurization. Raw milk shouldn’t be called raw milk, it should only be called milk. Nobody ever calls the broccoli that they buy in the store raw broccoli, or cauliflower, raw cauliflower. They just say broccoli and cauliflower, and if you cook it, you say it’s cooked. Well, we shouldn’t say raw milk, we should say milk if it’s raw and cooked milk instead of pasteurized (because you are basically bringing up the temperature that is starting to cook it). When you do that you destroy all the enzymes that are in the milk, and you also denature some of the proteins. Pasteurization alters the milk. A lot of people are intolerant of some of the changes that have occurred in this food that otherwise wouldn’t have bothered them. From my own impromptu research with a couple of thousand students and patients over many years, approximately 8 out of every 10 people who have a problem with milk or dairy, do not have the problem when it is consumed RAW. Pasteurized dairy causes one of a variety of problems depending on the person, and people do not realize that they do not have a problem with raw milk, they only have a problem after it’s been pasteurized and homogenized. So milk is not necessarily the issue. A lot of people know that they are lactose intolerant which is the sugar that occurs in milk. Lactose intolerance is not a milk allergy. It doesn’t mean milk is not good for them. It simply means that the milk sugar, which is called lactose, can’t be properly assimilated by the body because the lactase enzyme is either not there or is in an insufficient amount and therefore causes a problem. Lo and behold Mother Nature knows that the human body generally doesn’t do well with lactose. So she put plenty of lactase into the milk so it wouldn’t cause a problem, but we kill it all by pasteurizing the milk. Most people who are lactose intolerant can handle raw milk (as long as they don’t use it to cook with). When you cook with raw milk, you are raising the temperature even higher than the heat of pasteurization, so obviously, it is no longer RAW. Other people have a problem with denaturing of the protein in the milk, which, of course, does not occur until it is heated. This is another reason why people who otherwise could handle raw milk have a problem with pasteurized milk. Raw milk, in general, is much higher in quality than pasteurized milk because the cows are much healthier. What the public also doesn’t realize is that the bacteria is still in the pasteurized milk, it’s just dead bacteria, and, of course, that’s not good for us either. It’s toxic. Killing something (bacteria) doesn’t make it go away, it just makes it dead.

~ Water Kefir ~

* Update: I wanted to give a shout out to Kathy Atkinson's website Mind, Body, and Sole. The recipe for Ginger Ale Water Kefir that I listed was from her site and I didn't hyperlink. I have also add our recipe for Cream Soda Water Kefir*

 We have had so much fun with water kefir lately. We are currently brewing over a half gallon a day and flavoring it with frozen fruit during a second fermentation. A second fermentation causes lots of bubble to form and trapped basically creating a healthy soda pop.

The basic recipe is: Ginger Ale Water Kefir

6 c unfiltered water, the grains need minerals
1/2 c organic sugar
1/4 c kefir grains
1 tbsp organic ginger, small dice
pinch of baking soda

Dissolve the sugar in the water, then add the ginger and kefir grains. Make sure your water is room temp so that the kefir grains don't get cooked. We usually let it sit for two days. Cover your jar with some cheese cloth and a rubber band so that the bugs and dust stay out. After two days I strain out my grains and ginger and start another batch.

With the freshly strained water kefir I add frozen fruit, cap the jar and set it on a high shelf in my kitchen. So far we have added blueberries, strawberries, cherries, and lemon juice for just plain ginger ale. This is where you will want to add your pinch of baking soda, it adds a few extra bubbles.

Cream Soda Water Kefir
6 c unfiltered water
1/2 c organic sugar
1/4 c water kefir grains
2 tbsp molasses pinch of baking soda
4 tsp vanilla

Dissolve the sugar and molasses in the water and then add grains. Let sit at room temp for 24 - 48 hours. Strain and add vanilla. Let sit another 24 hours capped. We ordered the water kefir grain kits of Cultures for Health. Our grains are multiplying like rabbits which is a good thing because we basically drink it as fast as we can make it. I am pretty sure we will be up to a gallon at a time pretty soon. We have three gallon jars of kombucha going at all times too. To see what Cultures for Health has to offer, click on the Cultures for Health banner above. Happy Brewing!! This post is share at:

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~ Cultures for Health ~

My first real world experience with unknown cultured foods was kombucha. I bought it on a whim from the grocery store and I really liked it but didn't like the price tag, 3.99 for a 16 oz. bottle. I googled it and low and behold there was a way to make it at home. I made my own kombucha mother and have been brewing ever since. I had no idea that I could have order a ready made kombucha mother online.

My next "weird" culture food was kefir and buying that from the store isn't always easy on the check book either. It wasn't until we purchased our family dairy cow that I really needed to get interested in making my own kefir, partly because I needed something to do with all the milk. On one late night clicking spree I happened upon a FB page called Cultures for Health and then stumbled into their store. Cultures, a whole store of cultures, bliss! I ordered right then milk kefir grains and yogurt starters (2 different kinds, Matsoni and Greek). The site was easy to navigate and the shipping was flat rate shipping (LOVE that) and my stuff came really fast. What most impressed me was the quality of the product. If I may, let me share the story of my milk kefir grains.

Our house is very open and the instructions say to keep out of drafts. I put my little grains in the oven so they would stay nice and toasty warm. The next morning upon waking I decided that muffins sounded really good to go with breakfast. So, I got up and started to preheat the oven to 425 and didn't remember that my poor little kefir grains were in the oven. By the time I realized they were in there (thanks to a reminder from my hubby) the milk was steaming. Kefir grains do not tolerate excessive heat. I quickly rinsed them in really cold water and poured fresh cold milk over them. I was crushed. They had been growing so well that I had shared some with a friend. I went online to Cultures for Health and asked if they would live? The answer, most likely no, they don't like heat. I was crushed. Julie, from Cultures for Health gave me a coupon code for 10% off my next order which was really cool, but even cooler, my grains LIVED. Those little grains lived through being preheated to 425 degrees.

I have also ordered water kefir and sourdough starter from there and have been very impressed. We make over a half gallon of water kefir a day because they have multiply so much. I even took some and added them to my milk kefir to help give my grains a boost. They have done wonderfully. I am excited to tell you that I am now an affiliate member of Cultures for Health. What does that mean? That means if you click on the Cultures for Health banner in my sidebar and make a purchase I get a small portion of the sale. One of the reasons I don't have google ads on my blog is because I can't control the content of what is advertised and I only will advertise something that I whole heartily believe in. So click and see what Cultures for Health has to offer and get some culture in your life.

~ March of Kindness - March 6 ~

I didn't hang my toddler on a hook! Wow, what a day! A vivacious, happy day fill with lots of loud, exuberant noise from a 2.5 year old who was in a mood to make messes. Even with my two older boys help I could barely keep up, but I am not going to complain because he was happy and doing normal stuff for a 2.5 year old. He even helped clean up! p.s. not sure if this really counts but I didn't have any time to do anything else nice.

~ A Month of Kindness - March 5 ~

As I was preparing to make Soaked Pumpkin Bread last night I decided to double the batch so that I could give one to my mom and dad. My sister is here for the weekend with her two girls and I thought it would be a fun snack!

~ A Month of Kindness ~

Dionna at CodeName:Mama is hosting CodeName: Mama's March of Kindness. Will you join in with me and perform one random act of kindness every day in March? Blog about it or facebook about it. One little act every day. This is the first chance I have gotten to blog about it so here are the first 4 days. 1. Bought my daughter another dance outfit even though she didn't really need another one. It was $3 at the thrift store, it was purple velvet with embossed flowers. I just couldn't pass it up knowing the smile that it would bring to her face. She wore it for 48 hours straight before she changed. 2. When the kids weren't looking I shoo-ed my husband out the door to go work on the storage system he is making without kids after an especially loud morning. 3. Read my kids an extra chapter in each of the books we read at bedtime even though it was late, I was tired, and it had been a long day. They were really into the story and the look of pure enjoyment on their faces was priceless. I also bought my dad a tin of Arnica Sore Joint Rub that I happen to see at the co-op. After 30+ years of carpentary his hands and elbows are in rough shape. 4. Made my husband Blueberry Basil Roasted Chicken and Rice for his dinner this evening this morning. He works in the afternoons/night on the weekends so the mornings are the time I get to try and get lots done when I have help with the kids. The house is trashed but I know he has a really great dinner for tonight at work.