Our eating plan is really working for both of us. We both feel good. I have not felt this good in over 10 years. We are both steadily losing weight and we have energy. Some people struggle to take off 10 or 20 pounds, but we both have a huge amount of weight to lose.
Many years ago I was reading my Bible one morning and came across a verse about living a simple life at home. I sat and pondered on that verse and began to daydream about what that meant. I pictures a small pastoral farm with goats and chickens. :) Neither one of us were born or raised on a farm. We were city slickers through and through. I believe that day above was the beginning of our journey to this life we now live. I shared my thoughts with Michael and we sort of laughed at that ever happening. God brought people and circumstances into our lives that helped to direct us.
We started to grind our own grains and make all of our bread and baked goods. I made our pasta. We noticed a difference in how we felt. Then I started reading about herbs. I could never see us going the herbal route. Who could remember all that stuff. Think of all the herbs you would have to buy. As we ran out of stuff, I would buy an herbal replacement if we knew of one. Within a couple of years, it was not unusual to hear our son come in and ask for an herb because of something that was bothering him. It became the norm in our house. By the way, I am not saying any of this in a bragging way or thinking we have arrived. I am simply explaining how it is a journey and how you just have to start someplace.
Then we began to research all the stuff they do to our foods. We began to add animals. You can read our whole story of our journey to farm life at "Tails From The Farm". I have not added to it in awhile, but it is an ongoing story. :)
Our farm is a true gift from God. I am grateful to be allowed the privilege of living on a farm. I have done things that I never dreamed I would do. I have been a goat, cow and sheep midwife. I have fallen into a big pile of manure because my boot got stuck. I have gotten to hold and bottle feed baby animals. I have butchered chickens, turkeys and even helped to butcher a cow. I have the enjoyment of seeing lamb races each Spring. I have milked goats and cows. I have made cheese and butter and sour cream and yogurt. I get to garden and the process that produce that God brings forth from the ground. I love to see the eyes of little ones light up to see the baby animals. The wee Wonderful Neighbor loves to see the cows and the sheep.
I don't live on the pastoral looking farm of my dreams though. I crop most of that out of my pictures. :) Our barns need painted, we need piles of junk to go to the scrap yard and to straighten up other areas. We need to put a fence around the garden. I dream of a pretty picket fence, but I think I will be settling for any kind of fence we can get up and quickly. I am still grateful though.
We are able to eat like kings and queens. We raise grass fed beef and lamb. We raise pork and try each time to incorporate more pasture. We are hoping to greatly expand that this year. We pasture raise chickens and turkeys. We have free range laying hens that are ALL OVER my yard and my porch. I have even had some knock on my door. You can read about the humor behind that in this post. We have bees again, which provide us with honey. We have planted many fruit trees and berry bushes and some grapes. There were already grapes here and an established asparagus bed. We planted strawberries last year, although the chickens have been scratching some up. We planted rhubarb and we have horseradish to go into the ground.
Yes, all of this takes a lot of work. Michael does the bulk of it and we get lots of help from the Wonderful Neighbor children. I hope to be able to do a lot more this year as I am feeling so good. I love to sit down to a meal that totally came from our farm. It is so satisfying. I know what went into my food and what did not. We have been blessed with good health despite our size. For us, it has been a choice and we feel a leading from God to march in this direction. I don't think that the way I eat means I will always be healthy. Our health is in God's hands ultimately. However, we are to be good stewards of what He has entrusted to us. I read a book that had 3 main principles that I loved. Here they are in my own words. First of all eat only what God intended for food. I always insert blue jello here.... It is not natural to eat blue jello. :) Secondly, eat it as close to the way that God created it as possible. DON'T over process. Thirdly, don't make how you eat your God. Your health is in God's hand, not yours.
There are so many diseases and an increase in so many others in just the last 10 to 20 years. Convenience food is processed food. It is packed full of junk that is not good for us. It actually can cost less to cook from scratch. It just takes more time and planning. We need to be responsible for what we eat and what we feed our families. There is a great book out that I am currently reading. I suggest you try to find it at your library or even purchase a copy. It is called The Unhealthy Truth. It explains in great detail what they have done to our food and what it is doing to us.
We would love to be able to help people change their eating. My dream is to have an on farm building that would be used for classes. Classes in cooking, bread making, cheese making, farm skills, spinning, etc.
If you have continued reading this far, I hope you hear my heart and know I am not preaching, but simply sharing.
Many years ago I was reading my Bible one morning and came across a verse about living a simple life at home. I sat and pondered on that verse and began to daydream about what that meant. I pictures a small pastoral farm with goats and chickens. :) Neither one of us were born or raised on a farm. We were city slickers through and through. I believe that day above was the beginning of our journey to this life we now live. I shared my thoughts with Michael and we sort of laughed at that ever happening. God brought people and circumstances into our lives that helped to direct us.
We started to grind our own grains and make all of our bread and baked goods. I made our pasta. We noticed a difference in how we felt. Then I started reading about herbs. I could never see us going the herbal route. Who could remember all that stuff. Think of all the herbs you would have to buy. As we ran out of stuff, I would buy an herbal replacement if we knew of one. Within a couple of years, it was not unusual to hear our son come in and ask for an herb because of something that was bothering him. It became the norm in our house. By the way, I am not saying any of this in a bragging way or thinking we have arrived. I am simply explaining how it is a journey and how you just have to start someplace.
Then we began to research all the stuff they do to our foods. We began to add animals. You can read our whole story of our journey to farm life at "Tails From The Farm". I have not added to it in awhile, but it is an ongoing story. :)
Our farm is a true gift from God. I am grateful to be allowed the privilege of living on a farm. I have done things that I never dreamed I would do. I have been a goat, cow and sheep midwife. I have fallen into a big pile of manure because my boot got stuck. I have gotten to hold and bottle feed baby animals. I have butchered chickens, turkeys and even helped to butcher a cow. I have the enjoyment of seeing lamb races each Spring. I have milked goats and cows. I have made cheese and butter and sour cream and yogurt. I get to garden and the process that produce that God brings forth from the ground. I love to see the eyes of little ones light up to see the baby animals. The wee Wonderful Neighbor loves to see the cows and the sheep.
I don't live on the pastoral looking farm of my dreams though. I crop most of that out of my pictures. :) Our barns need painted, we need piles of junk to go to the scrap yard and to straighten up other areas. We need to put a fence around the garden. I dream of a pretty picket fence, but I think I will be settling for any kind of fence we can get up and quickly. I am still grateful though.
We are able to eat like kings and queens. We raise grass fed beef and lamb. We raise pork and try each time to incorporate more pasture. We are hoping to greatly expand that this year. We pasture raise chickens and turkeys. We have free range laying hens that are ALL OVER my yard and my porch. I have even had some knock on my door. You can read about the humor behind that in this post. We have bees again, which provide us with honey. We have planted many fruit trees and berry bushes and some grapes. There were already grapes here and an established asparagus bed. We planted strawberries last year, although the chickens have been scratching some up. We planted rhubarb and we have horseradish to go into the ground.
Yes, all of this takes a lot of work. Michael does the bulk of it and we get lots of help from the Wonderful Neighbor children. I hope to be able to do a lot more this year as I am feeling so good. I love to sit down to a meal that totally came from our farm. It is so satisfying. I know what went into my food and what did not. We have been blessed with good health despite our size. For us, it has been a choice and we feel a leading from God to march in this direction. I don't think that the way I eat means I will always be healthy. Our health is in God's hands ultimately. However, we are to be good stewards of what He has entrusted to us. I read a book that had 3 main principles that I loved. Here they are in my own words. First of all eat only what God intended for food. I always insert blue jello here.... It is not natural to eat blue jello. :) Secondly, eat it as close to the way that God created it as possible. DON'T over process. Thirdly, don't make how you eat your God. Your health is in God's hand, not yours.
There are so many diseases and an increase in so many others in just the last 10 to 20 years. Convenience food is processed food. It is packed full of junk that is not good for us. It actually can cost less to cook from scratch. It just takes more time and planning. We need to be responsible for what we eat and what we feed our families. There is a great book out that I am currently reading. I suggest you try to find it at your library or even purchase a copy. It is called The Unhealthy Truth. It explains in great detail what they have done to our food and what it is doing to us.
We would love to be able to help people change their eating. My dream is to have an on farm building that would be used for classes. Classes in cooking, bread making, cheese making, farm skills, spinning, etc.
If you have continued reading this far, I hope you hear my heart and know I am not preaching, but simply sharing.
4 comments:
Marci, I think it would be fantastic if you started classes. I have that dream, too, in some way, shape or form. The gradual journey you have made mirrors ours. We were also city slickers, and now we have such a completely different lifestyle. I always had a calling to have a farm and grow food. You are right, the more you do for yourself, the better you feel. The rewards cannot be measured, they are so great. It's wonderful to know others who are sharing a similar journey. Thanks for sharing with us...
I'm going to have to save up some money now, 'cause I don't think I can live without that tea tumbler much longer!
It's funny you mention that book because I found it on the computer catalog at our library but couldn't find it on the shelf. I am going to have to check again.
Thankyou for this post. It was such a comfort to read today.
Classes like that would be so nice! There's nothing like that here and I've been trying to teach myself. Learning to knit was easier :)
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