Healthy Shopping in a World of Supermarkets

Well as fired up as I am about knowing where my food is coming from I felt almost powerless when I made my grocery list today. My children have to eat this week, my garden will not be producing for quite a while, and I have even gotten my pigs yet much less had them slaughtered!

SO.....what's an organic health lovin' mama on a budget to do??

I started out by making a list of what I knew was good for us. Then I bought the most important items first...here is a few of the items I got:

Cage Free Eggs - These were considerably higher than the regular eggs but all I could think about were those poor hens in battery cages laying cheap eggs. I just could do it. So I found these eggs instead. They were more than I normally spend but I only bought 2 instead of 3. Plus my long term resolution to this issue is that we are getting our own free range chickens this spring. In the meantime I will buy free range eggs.

One very important part of healthy living is to only use pure foods. We have been using pure cane syrup all year and we love it. We use this instead of pure maple syrup because it is about half the price ($3/can). Artificial syrup is a created product and it is not a good idea to put those kind of things in your family's bodies. Also this brand of syrup is made/canned in Abbeville, LA....so it is local. You can buy this little jar at Walmart.

Fill your buggy with produce first. Get all those good fruits that the kids love. Now, I have also learned that many off season fruits and vegetables are carried in from far away, picked before being ripe and then ripened with a gas.....GROSS! BUT...I have to feed them something so I bought organic as often as possible (especially when there was little price difference). The strawberries were the most off season fruit I bought but my little boy was standing by them saying...."look mama, strawberries!"....I couldnt help it. I will be posting how to keep/use all this produce without waisting it soon.

Buying milk and cheese made from cows that are not treated with rBST is another important thing we can do to help shield our babies from chemicals. Bordon milk and cheese is sold at Walmart.

I also found whole chickens for about $4 each that were free range chickens. I bought 2 for this week.

Making these little changes is how we begin to change our lives!

Now I am off to make homemade yogurt, homemade granola, & homemade bread......babysteps lead me to this....haha! Yeehaw!

Gettin' off to a good start

Here is a picture of a little square foot garden off my kitchen. It is not getting much sun right now so I am not sure what I will put there but it is ready for when I make up my mind....;)



Here are my herb seeds. I am doing 9 plants of each of my herbs. That seems like a lot to me but I am hoping to can a ton of spaghetti sauce and dry the rest of my herbs for use during Fall '10 to Fall '11. I am also going to make my own taco seasoning packets and greek seasoning packs. This will cut down on prepackaged items from the grocery store. Who knows what is really in that stuff anyway.


Here again are some more of my herbs and a TON of beefsteak tomatoes. I sure hope these things produce a bunch of tomatoes. Any tomato advice PLEASE SHARE. Also my catnip is in those circular starter thingys but my cats eat every spring that pops up....haha. If they would be a little more patient they would have a TON to chew on!


Here is my dear dear husband tilling our ground. As I have stated I am a huge fan of square foot gardening but I am going to try to do a raised bed adaptation of square foot gardening. It is our choice because we are focusing our money into the pigpens and the chicken coop and this is a free way to get my big garden going.

Food Inc....Rent this tonight!

I watched Food Inc and it honestly has only confirmed my desire to grow our own food and raise our own meat. It is insane how our food is truly only coming from a few companies. And the living conditions of these animals is sad.

Watch this video ASAP and then make a change so these companies get the message!

This year my home will:

Grown as much of our own produce as possible

What we do not grow we will buy from farmers markets

We will raise 2 pigs for a years supply of pork

Harvest & replant as many fruit producing plants as possible

Buy a very limited (emergency cases) amount of prepackaged food (boxed meals)

Buy only grass fed meats

Limit our purchases to Walmart and other large corporations and increase our purchases with local farms/meat stores

Homemade Granola - Do this Tonight!

Today I was looking for a snack to soothe some stress and quite frankly, I did not have ANYTHING worth mentioning. Then I remembered that a friend from Sunday School had told me she made her own granola and how easy it was.

SOOOO......I googled this recipe and got to work (click here).

It was fantastic. You can add any nut, dried fruit, or even coconut & chocolate chips (after the mix has cooled) that you have laying around.

Do this SOON!! I will probably be making 2 batches one time per week. This will allow for several snacks/breakfasts of yogurt and granola, and some in a bag for a traveling snack.

Love ya!
Ash-

Living on less....fall clothing

In an effort to organize a list of clothing "needs" for this coming Spring, I am going to look back and see what the children really wore during the fall/winter of this year.

Wyatt - 1 yr-old boy
Footed Fleece rompers - he wore these to sleep in, play in, and even run errands in.

2 Favorite Mini Boden outfits - these 2 outfits outshown the rest and he wore these all the time

1 Gymboree monkey outfit

2 holiday sweaters - 1 for fall and 1 for Christmas (nutcracker sweater from Janie & Jack)

Gap jeans - 3 pairs

socks

chore boots for outside

leather boots for church/casual wear

William

fleece pj's with socks

Homemade fleece longies w/ long sleeve tees

sweater/coat/fleece zipup for outside play

chore boots

ankle boots for church/casual

2 holiday sweaters (same as above)

Gap jeans

Boden flannel pants w/matching tee (x2 sets)

2 pairs of rib waist cargos from Boden that I LOVED w/ random tee's

tennis shoes

socks from children's place

Hannah

Knit dresses with knit pants/tights underneath

Knit pants with matching tee's

Holiday dresses Thanksgiving & Christmas & New Years

2/3 church dresses

matching pj sets (warm)

chore boots

land's end mary janes/pedi peds for dressy & casual/boots

Hannah had a lot of mini boden but it ended up being too wide for her and she hardly wore any of it. I am hoping it will still fit for next year.

Abigail - (my biggest challenge to buy for)

knit dresses w/tights/knit pants

matching pjs

pencil skirts

sweaters - zip up

tee's for layering

boots

ballet flats

chore boots

lots of accessories, scarfs...ect

Now looking at what we DID wear will make buying for future seasons easier. My goal is to NOT BUY those things that only get worn once or do not get worn at all! So the first step is pinpointing what we DID wear.

I challenge each of you to do this so your clothes budget goes farther. Buy less, wear it more often!

My First "Successful" Loaf

Well, friends and families.....this is it. This is my first loaf. In the midst of a bathroom remodel and a major closet clean out I baked my first "successful" bread loaf today. I will not even describe the look on my husband's face as I was kneading dough while he was stressing over getting a toilet back into the guest bathroom.......just in time for company to arrive tomorrow. Priceless!!!

I have tried twice before (a while back) and this was my "three times a charm".

I bought the video...Homestead Blessing "How to bake bread" by the West ladies (will add link later) and it was worth every penny. Not only did my loaf cost about a quarter but it is delicious. I also use their video for homemade cinnamon rolls.

SO.....I will now be baking our bread loafs...I will probably bake 2 loafs, twice per week. YUM!!!

Now if anyone has any suggestions on how to cut this thing please let me know!

Decorating on a budget.....our guest bath

Here is the first step in my guest bathroom remodel. What do you think? This part of the bathroom was done for under $100. We basically painted granite onto the countertop and then antiqued the cabinetry which was in excellent shape.

Here is the new faucet we are getting and after I get it in I will match new knobs and a light fixture.

Now we have to finish the floor, walls, and tile the tub enclosure. Since I wont be able to finish the tub before our company comes, I am making a fabric tub surround from luxury shower curtains I found for $10 each at Tuesday Morning.

I will upload more pics and instructions soon....