Take two!

After the things with the BRD (Blue Rose Dairy) and the ensuing mayhem after it all predictably went to hell, I fell out of the habit of blogging, and seriously fell off the wagon of my decision to eat and live a healthier lifestyle.

SO.

Here I am climbing back on the wagon, and a few of the things that have changed since I last posted.

The goats sadly had to be put down. Lovely Rhonda at the BRD got me goats for my own personal use that were infected with CAE, which without getting into the detailed specifics, it's safe to think of as the goat version of AIDS. It's blood and milk transferable. It is as of yet not thought to cause harm to humans, however it turns a goat's joints, specifically their knees, into essentially cottage cheese, and paralyzes their lungs. Which all equates to a long, painful death.

When the goats started coughing we sent the tests out, and they came back positive. So to spare their suffering, and the possibility of infecting future goats, the decision was made to have them put down.

So at the moment, I do not have goats of my own. My briefly fruitful stint making cheese has been waylaid, but will resume eventually. I have found work with other local dairies that have been wonderful to work with, and with their help I should be returning to making my own cheese after kidding season.

The garden is currently laid to rest for winter, but I am accumulating seeds to work on next year's crops, and am devising ways to keep those blasted deer and rabbits out of my garden. Which, thus far, is easier in theory than practice.

My DF (Dear Fiance) and I got married in September, so he is now officially my Dear Husband.





























With him having gotten a new job with wonderful benefits, we are now looking at having our first (and hopefully only) child. I am not pregnant yet, but the knowledge that this decision is imminent finally rekindled my desire to Get Healthy, Damnit.

So! Attempting Healthy, take two. This time, it. will. stick!

Ideally, I will be posting daily, or at least every other day or so. My penchant for writing recently has been shoved out of the way by Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled 2. So, I am taking up my proverbial pen and trying again! Blast it all but I suck at this stuff.

Worst granola wanna-be EVER. :)

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

Had a long day yesterday... Dealing with a minor, but painful and annoying, health issue. Then was working outside all day. It wasn't bad; I enjoy good hard work, and the weather was nice so I finally got to wear my cute little shorts and let my "hasn't seen the light of day since I was 5" legs get a little sun.

Still, I made a stupid choice while stacking a woodpile and made myself feel REALLY dumb. ("Pff, this is easy. I don't need gloves!" .... *Tumble slip SCRAPE* ... "I'll go get my gloves." ~.~)

Forgot to grab grandpa a birthday card while in town because my pesky little health problem had me anxious to get home and lay up on the couch and forget the world.

Sigh.

I did however get out to weed and water the garden a little, and my nemesis the local rabbit duo wasn't there, so that was nice. Even though they've eaten ALL of my watermelon and cucumber plants. And a significant portion of my corn sprouts. And most of my beanlings. And a chunk of my lettuce.... You get the idea.

So there was that as well. I am not pleased with the rabbits.

On the bright side; one of my non-rabbit nibbled bell peppers is beginning to sprout flowers. Which. Is a mixed blessing as it's still tiny and I don't think it is strong enough to carry even one adult pepper... but... well... I'll take what I can get with those rabbits terrorizing my garden.

A bit later I had promised to help a friend with their farm, and I was looking forward to that. They have some horses I'm working with to get returned to riding condition. I love their goats, and working over there is much like a little vacation, especially given the hell that the blue rose dairy was.

While over there I was going to be milking out some of their does and one of mine. And that's always a peaceful affair. DF was going to be there with me, not necessarily to help as... well, he's just not exactly a farm boy, but to keep me company while I worked. That is always a welcome treat as well. Any job goes so much quicker when he's there to chat with me while I work.

I got through the milking just fine, and the last milker was a little alpine girl who was new to me. She did fine getting onto the stand, and as usual, I set the bucket below her (already over a gallon full) and took my seat behind her and started milking.

All was fine for awhile, and then she grew a wild hair in her ass all of a sudden, and before I could blink she had her foot IN the bucket and KICK! I was covered in a thick layer of warm goat milk.

Oh fantastic; thank you, lady.

The situation could have gone one of two ways. I could have been frustrated and upset and lamented my state of stickiness. Fortunately I chose the high road.

DH and I were both staring in silence, and I looked down at myself in shock, and I had milk foam from my collarbone to my knee. My shirt was soaked through, my cute little shorts were soaked through, milk was even in my shoe and my hair and on my face and glasses.

I looked up at DH, and we both just started laughing. Good, deep, belly laughing. Don't cry over spilled milk! Laugh.

The stress of the day washed away... In a tiny tide of goat's milk.

Come on, good weather!

It's been raining here the past couple of days, which is nice... There was an awesome little thunderstorm the day before yesterday, so I curled up in the window with some tea to watch it roll over. I adore thunderstorms.

I have more seeds out in the garden, and some sprouts are finally beginning to come up. Despite the fact that that awful giant black rabbit keeps sneaking into my garden and eating my lettuce. >.< As soon as we can afford a trap I'm going to stop that little vandal. And enjoy some rabbit stew or barbeque.

The puppy is growing like a weed and I've finally settled into the routine of milking the goat and making cheese. I'm looking at selling the meat goat we have, and instead purchasing another dairy goat. Or perhaps find someone who is willing to trade.

Still haven't been able to find any paying work yet, and so it's looking like we're not going to be able to make it to the SCA event this weekend. :( Which is a real bummer as I've been scrambling to get enough cheese made to bring to the event. On the bright side, it's all frozen so it will keep for a very long time yet.

The goat sitter we'd had planned for this weekend bailed on us, which is unfortunate, but I don't think we're going to be able to find a replacement. Sigh.

Once we get a little income this month I'm going to be heading out and getting some more seeds for the garden, I have plans to put in potatoes as well as everything else, so that will be good. :)

There have been no real developments in the Blue Rose Dairy situation, we haven't spoken to them since, which is perfectly fine with me. I'm content to just kick back and wait for Rhonda to kill the rest of her herd and lose the farm. The one and only thing I'd pray for is her loss of the farm and never to own any other animals.

If prayer ever actually did anything that wouldn't happen anyway, of course.

The weather today is VERY beautiful. The sun's out and there's hardly a cloud in the sky. I'm going to take the dogs on a walk here in a bit now that Rorschach's paw is feeling better.

Yesterday was a little rainy, but all the goats wanted out so I get them situated in the pasture so they could all graze, and they thoroughly enjoyed it.

Which really only reminds me that our first priority needs to be getting adequate fencing put in on at least half the acreage so I can let the goats graze as they please instead of having to manually set them up and take them down using tethers and posts. :\ One of these days soon I hope.

Goats

Keeping goats is a big step to living green for me. It's not necessary to it, but we have the land, and the time, and the desire.

For us, having goats does several productive, helpful things for us.

Lawn mowers! All this land we have is covered in lush green grass almost as tall as I am, and brambles, and blackberry bushes, and thistles, and saplings of unknown origin. All of these are things we want to have cleared up so that we can get everything fenced and cross fenced, as well as looking... well, not so feral. Not that feral land is bad; but we could DO more with tamer land.

Milk. Penny, our milk goat, is a lamancha and she produces just shy of a gallon a day(12 + 3/4 cups). Right now the milk tastes very goaty because of the things she was eating prior to coming to live with me, but we have her on a sweet grain, quality graze, and a quality hay now. As well as a goat-specific mineral block, and a high-copper goat free choice mineral. She came to us with a mild case of hoof rot, but that is being treated, and the new added minerals should help to prevent it from happening in the future.

Meat. We do have a meat goat, and raising your own meat is far less expensive than buying it at the store.

Cheese. Goat milk sometimes has a strong goaty flavor, but often times that flavor is lots when you turn it into cheese. I'm a big fan of goat chevre, and will be producing some here to have around the house soon. I look forward to perfecting my recipe.

I think being so tied-in with the milk process (Feeding the animal, caring for the animal, keeping the animal sheltered and safe, milking the animal, filtering the milk, storing the milk, processing it into cheese or adding it into recipes) will help thoroughly round out the experience, and with the cost of milk and cheese rising to absolutely ridiculous prices, I think it's a good economical move as well.

The poblem with the sweet tooth

One of my biggest struggles with this endeavor, is my huge sweet tooth. Blatantly put, I *love* sweets. Candy, cookies, smoothies, shakes, cakes, confections... You name it. I guiltily admit that on several occasions, I've made a meal of gummy worms and chocolate squares(which admittedly, is delicious) or some other non-food, and not thought twice about it. When I say I'm something of a sugar junkie, I mean it. I live for sweets.

Giving up my "meals" of non-food is very difficult. Doubly so now that I have to plan all my eating ahead because it takes 20 minutes to get to ANYWHERE that sells food.

I've been trying to set myself up for success. I don't buy that stuff anymore. I just do not want to have it available in the house because I know it will vanish in a blink, and not only will I have failed my own desire to get healthy, but I will have wasted however much money it cost. Not to mention, going through the checkout at the grocery store with $40 worth of candy getting put on one's food stamp card is... well... kind of embarrassing.

Instead, recently I've been trying to get to the bottom of my candy craving. Why do I want those types of sweets SO MUCH?

After a little research and some serious contemplation, I think I figured it out.

Biology. In nature, the things that taste sweet (carrots, fruits, berries, melons, etc) have a high sugar and nutrient content, greater than anything else a human or animal could otherwise get. Biologically, people crave sweets for a boost of energy and concentrated sources of vitamins. Could my huge sweet tooth be my body's way of saying it needs more energy and more nutrients?

Well, I know if I stopped eating the high sugar non-foods, I felt down. Way down. Next to no energy, groggy, grumpy... I didn't want to COOK because that would take time and energy I just didn't have. I just wanted some candy or something fast and easy and tasty. I think that answers that question.

Which makes me wonder how blind I was to my own needs, that I hadn't realized it before. Boy do I feel dumb.

So, now I keep the right kinds of "sweets" in the house. Whole organic apples. Oranges. Bananas. Berries(man do I love blueberries and marion berries!). When I feel like I need candy, I walk into my candy-free kitchen and just stand there for awhile until I finally resign myself to a fruit.

After eating the fruit... I feel good! My sweet tooth is gone. Instead, I realize I'm actually hungry, and make myself a snack or a healthy meal depending on the time of day. Maybe heat up the leftovers from last night's home cooked meal.

I still have my sweet tooth. And I do occasionally indulge it. I will once a week or so, make some chocolate chip cookies. Of course; this is to keep myself from going totally crazy in the absence of junk food.

But, I think having a couple cookies after dinner sometimes is a definite step forward from the handfuls of candy ALL DAY LONG that it used to be. Don't get me wrong either, it is not an easy transition. I have to keep reminding myself that I want to be healthy. I remind myself of the types of junk that's in store bought sweets, and that sugar alone is counter productive. My body doesn't want sugar just for the sake of sugar - it wants the good stuff that comes with NATURAL sweetness in the form it was intended.

If I'm craving sweets, there is a reason, and I won't find the answer in a package of gummy worms.

An awfully big step...

From the time we're cognizant, we're told we should eat healthier. Most of us have at least heard about the "Supersize Me" movie and how atrocious the content is. We're encouraged in one commercial to eat right (eat your vegetables!) and in the next, how about that mouth-watering triple bacon (triple bypass?) burger with all the trimmings and dripping with whatever-sauce.

We all know we should eat healthy. We all knooowww fast food is "bad for us". But the fact of the matter is that eating healthy is just so darned inconvenient, and anyway, a full belly feels good so fast food or microwave dinners can't be all that bad, right?

Well, I've pretty much grown up eating crap. Kid Cuisines, fast food burgers, corn dogs, hot dogs, candy(oh, candy...), flavored and over sugared drinks from strawberry milk to cola... I'm not sure how I even managed to make it to adulthood... I mean, if we are what we eat, I'm a huge walking-talking-breathing landfill of everything we know better than to feed our pets.

My average day consists of getting up whenever, pouring a bowl of cereal(my favorites are cookie crisp and coco crispies) and once that was out of the way, stuffing my hand into a bag of candy and idly munching until I realize I'm actually hungry, and then it's a trip to the corner store for some chips and a hot pocket. If I'm lucky, hot pockets are for dinner, too! Or taco bell if I'm really lucky. Oh how I love those chalupas and crunchwraps and mexi pizzas!

I'm not what you'd call "in poor health"... I have my issues, but doesn't everyone? Sooo what if I get a little sicker, a little quicker, a little harder than most other people? I'm thin as a rail and well proportioned! I must be healthy!

I visited my DF's (Dear Fiancee) grandfather's place not too long ago to stay for a couple of weeks and help out at a dairy just up the road. Also working there was a young man who has lived all his life eating how people should eat. An egg from his own hen every morning, with bacon from a pig he'd raised, bread from a loaf he'd baked, and a big glass of milk from the cow he raises and milked himself.

He was talking to me one day about how they ate on the farm, and how he felt like he was just dragging his feet because the quality of the food he was eating had gone, in his opinion, straight down the tube. I was curious, given that I thought they ate very well (how could you not, living on a dairy farm?) so I asked him to elaborate, which then resulted in a couple hours worth of discussion about food. Good food, bad food, how he personally felt after eating this new food for a week.

Well, this prompted me to begin doing research, and somehow I got this wild hair that now that I'm twenty three, it's about time for me to buckle down on my inner five year old, and make some changes before all this crap food that I've been eating all my life makes some serious, irreversible changes to me.

So. That's what this blog is about. I'm a generally practical person with some serious issues taming my inner five year old.

I'm getting married this year, is it terrible of me to want a flat tummy for my wedding dress? We are pretty sure we're going to try to have a baby next year. How can I even begin to tame my offspring, if I cannot even tame myself?

Not to mention... I want to know if eating better, and getting closer to a "natural"(NOT vegetarian or vegan!) diet will help me get better quality sleep, wake up easier, change the effects of my endometriosis, change the course of my bipolar/depression, or help me get a handle on my adult ADD.

I've decided to blog about it, maybe not daily but at least a few times a week. I'm not trying to make a health food blog, but I'll share any particularly tasty recipes I come up with. Mostly, I'm sharing the path from geek to green.