For one - the boys are both doing Odyssey of the Mind (OM), and their competition is coming up in only a couple weeks (eek!). Clay's team is having 2-4 meetings per week. I am the coach for Reed's team, and we're only meeting once a week (I'd actually love for them to meet more, but our team members all live outside of town, all in opposite directions and it seems hard to gather them too often). My team meets at my house, so we have entire days of focusing on OM, and can't escape it on the other days because there are props tucked into corners and scripts on the countertops and supply boxes as end tables - 2 more weeks... 2 more weeks... Wish them luck!!
Around the house, we are delighted that our chickens have finished molting and others seem to think it's Spring and have finally caught up to laying as much as the others. We get about 8 or 9 eggs a day (from 13 layers, most of which were last years Spring hatchlings, that's not so bad). A funny thing about layers is that when they first start popping out eggs, the eggs are quite tiny and they don't know to use the nesting boxes yet to make their deposits. So, we'll find these tiny little eggs just randomly set in the coop. A couple days ago, I found the tiniest one yet! When we cracked it open, I discovered the reason was it was all white - there was no yolk!
We have been loosely following a Weston Price type diet for a few years now, but I am now stepping it up while reading this great book Cure Tooth Decay. It is based on Dr Price's findings of whole cultures existing with virtually no tooth decay. Also, no toothbrushes, no flouride, no dentists, no refined sugars or processed foods of any kind. The book is sprouting fresh ideas of why modern dentistry isn't helping our teeth, not giving any long-term solutions. Cavities go beyond the modern theory of cavity-causing bacteria and into the realm of whole nutrition.
Main premises of the book are going grain-free, using high quality dairy (raw milk from pastured animals), grass-fed meats, low consumtion of fruits & honey, as well as adding more minerals through bone stock and organ meats.
So, we doing it! I should say Blossom and I are doing it. The boys and B are free to add grains to my meals as they wish. I already feel so much more energy through the day just cutting out the grains. We've been doing most of the other things already, although I have started cooking with organ meats (usually mashed and added to ground meat dishes - shhh!!). Getting more nutrients into the toddler is a little trickier, as she is a bit resistant to new foods, but popsicles seems to be a good place to hide nutrient-rich foods!
Anyhow, the grain-free part is by far the hardest part to implement in our diet. Like most Americans, grains are a staple! Grits or oatmeal for breakfast, sandwiches or pasta for lunch, baked goods or popcorn for snacks, bread with dinner... ugh. Thank goodness for the internet - so many blogs of grain-free families that are amazing resources for food ideas. There are some alternative flours which I have just tried making for the first time. One is coconut flour. It takes some time, but not a lot of work. You start with plain shredded cocounut and make milk out of it (like here). Then the leftover coconut is dehydrated and ground into flour. So easy, even Blossom can do it!
Wish us luck in this new venture. I know I have a lot to learn, but hopefully good results will be posted soon!!
1 comment:
Oh goodness look at that grain free chef! Super cute.
Leah's teeth did the same thing! It actually was my super sweet milk coupled with feeding through the night. They told me to wipe down her teeth after feeding in the middle of the night. ugh, did not happen..
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