So many new and exciting things have been happening. I am trusting the Lord to know when enough is enough. Our new church is wonderful! The people there are so nice, helpful, welcoming, and appreciative! It is a wonderful opportunity to improve leadership skills and develop new friends. The kids are also adjusting well there and hubby even seems to be warming up a bit. The church seems to be growing too which is so inspiring!

Gardening plans slowed down a bit but are still near the top of priorities. Snow keeps coming which complicates matters. I did find a source for inexpensive barrels and hope to get to Menards soon to get pieces to complete the rain barrel process. After I get back from vacation next week I will work on indoor herb garden and sprouts.

The Vita-Mixer arrived today. The old blender broke almost a month ago and we have been going through smoothie and sprouted wheat berry flour withdrawal. I can't wait to get back into this!

According to the Vita-Mixer Whole Grains catalog 62% of zinc is missing from white flour and 72% of magnesium compared to whole wheat! Sprouting would increase levels even more than regular whole wheat flour! I have read different enzymes can increase anywhere from 300-900%

Recently, I found out I am dealing with plantars fascitis in both feet. It is uncomfortable. While we were in Las Vegas I had to a foot massage which helped some but the pain is returning. I went to the doctor and he gave me a boot to where at night but it is difficult to sleep with it on and does not help the other foot in the mean time. Tonight I decided to take an oat bath to try to relieve itchy dry skin and relax muscles but wanted something to prevent the oats from making a mess in the tub. It occured to me a jersey knit pillowcase would work well so I dropped some oats in it, tied a knot, and let it soak in the tub. Occassionally squeeze out the pillowcase to get a more concentrated oat milk that feels really silky and lovely.

Once again, it has been longer than I would like to journal but our neighborhood is too crazy full of kids and a watchful eye is needed to keep mine safe. Fortunately, my eyes will be able to relax some soon. We found a place in the country which we have wanted for a long time. The landlord seems very nice too. We have been in contact with him several times and feel confident we will have a good business relationship.

The kids are excited because this means they will finally get to have their chickens. I have been really wanting some too so this is just as exciting for me. The farm comes with about 12 acres and a good amount of it is tillable. The landlord wants it to stay organic, as do we so this appears to be a symbiotic relationship. We have also been told we can put animals on the land if we want which is very exciting. We are talking about starting a community garden and activity area on the land in order to make it profitable. I hope the land can help pay for itself and make the work worth the effort physically as well as spiritually.

I would love to hear ideas from others about methods of making organic farming successful and meaningful.

Lately hubby and I have felt the pinch in the pocket book and chose to cut back on expenses wherever possible. To add to this I decided that we need to make some changes in food preparation and food storage. We were led to this because over the past year a couple of the kids have had tummy problems and I tested them naturally for gluten intolerance or celiacs.

The conclusion: two of our three children do have intolerances. I was surprised to find myself affected with wheat challenges. We struggled with not having bread products so I decided to research how flour is made and if maybe the intollerance had to do with the milling process.

New conclusion: the milling process is more likely our problem. Current processes remove a lot of the good stuff from the flour so we lose a lot of the nutrients. Also, research led me to try sprouting my wheat to neutralize the phytic acid and see if that would help with digestion. One of the kids is doing much better (the one with the most trouble) but my daughter , like myself is struggling with candida. Although I do not feel I can confidently bake with sprouted flour I am getting better. The chocolate chip banana bread turned out very well this morning and actually fell less with the sprouted flour than with store bought basic flour! This was a pleasant surprise because I have read that it can often result the other way around!

Things on the home front have been challenging lately outside the home. We moved last spring and are not happy with the situation. I am trying to make the best of a bad situation and pray that we can just get through one day without trouble.  We are trying to keep out of trouble but we all seem to find our way into the middle of something. Sometimes it is neighbors and sometimes it is the landlord. We have decided we need to find alternative arrangements and do whatever it takes to find a different situation. Tomorrow we are looking at a few places and I pray we will find something that will work for us. In the meantime, in order to stay out of trouble in the neighborhood we have been traveling to our parents a couple hours away regularly to get away from things.

Returning to frugality and preparing for hard times; some research on milling wheat led me to a more organic, simplistic life. The challenge with this is that organic food in the US can be expensive. However, because hubbt's parents live on the outskirts of Amish country I have discovered an easier way to have organic and less expensive food. A couple of tips to help save money.

Buy bulk

Buy bulk during store sales

Learn how to store foods for longer shelf lives

Our family decided to start storing up foods in case we move so we will have more money available for packing expenses. My mother in law took us out to visit an Amish family that I got to know about a year ago when I was beginning research on Celiac's disease, milling processes, and organic foods. I am not totally sure how I ended up there but I was searching and found an Amish woman who was a severe Celiac who also has challenges with caseine products. We occasionally share tips and she has helped me understand more basic baking techniques using natural foods instead of processes products like processed flour and sugar. I have converted to sprouting wheat berries to make flour, honey, and molasses (when a recipe calls for brown sugar).

My Amish friend led me to the neighbor's Amish store. I was hoping to find a place to buy wheat berries in bulk because I bought the last that the grocery store had at home. I was out of luck at the store but I did buy a 40 pound bag of potatos for $7.50 and 4 pounds of chocolate chips for $5.50. The grocery store sells 10 pound bag of potatos and I pay the same price for that as I did today so I saved myself about $20 on potatos and another $5 on chocolate chips.

My Amish fried also led me to another Amish family that grows wheat. I was also pleasantly surprised that he had several bushels of wheat berries and I was able to buy 60 pounds for $20. I saved myself another $35 in wheat berries. I was quite satisfied with my purchases. We will be very tight for the next week but I feel content in knowing that even while keeping a tight pocketbook we will be storing up for tighter times and our dollars were stretched well.

Anybody else looking for more information on how to store up for hard times can get some resources at urbanliving.com or the LDS website. 

God Bless you all and prepare yourselves so that when things are challenging you will be ready.

Mrs. Abbey

 

 

     I recently started a weight loss program that I am liking very much. It contains no wheat so I don't have any gluten problems and I have very few cravings for wheat products. I made an observation on the pre-planned menu though that I thought was very interesting. It only recommends fruit right away in the morning and in the evening as a bedtime snack. I learned awhile back that we should be eating 9-10 servings of fruit and vegetables per day so I thought this was interesting that only 2 of those, based on the recommendations were for fruit. It also recommends protein and carbs with the fruit in the morning.

     I did some research and I guess it makes sense becuase fruit takes the least amount of time to digest. This is great for weight loss and good health in general.  I noticed that at one meal during the day I tried to add fruit and my stomach hurt so bad I had to stay in bed for a day recovering.

     I am eagerly looking forward to the new school year but dreading it a little at the same time. I start back to school also next week so combining my school day and the kids will be interesting, and to add daycare kids to the mix should prove challenging. Well, I always like a good challenge. It is like putting a puzzle together in my head.

I hope all is well with everyone. If anybody else knows anything about why we should eat fruit only in the morning or evening I would love to hear it. Especially, if there is some scientific backing to it.