News from the homestead

• Our garden is half-planted (we are 18 days ahead of last year): peas, kale, cabbage, spinach, leeks, lettuce, two rows of potatoes, a new asparagus bed, etc.
• We have been harvesting parsnips and salsify that we wintered over in the ground - perfect timing, because just ran out of root-cellared carrots last month.
• We are getting around 18 eggs a day.
• The chickens are running free again, which cuts down on feed costs; and this year, Squeeze put up 3 foot chicken wire around the perimeter of our flower/herb gardens to keep them from digging (and destruction). Amazingly, this is working.
• We are going to have a "West Garden" in addition to our existing garden, now known as the "East Garden".
• West Garden = sweet corn, pumpkins, squash, watermelon, musk melon, potatoes, pole beans
• East Garden = carrots, radish, cabbage, broccoli, kale, chard, potatoes, parsnips, salsify, peppers, tomatoes, peas, bush beans, lettuce, horseradish, sunflowers, celery, okra, decorative corn, tomatillos, eggplant, leeks, onions
• We are taking back the perimeter of our property from the corn/soybean commodity crop rotation and plant it with native grasses and flowers. We took back the "Front Four" acres last growing season, which our neighbor planted with alfalfa - a three year commitment.
• Those pesky rabbits killed more of our fruit trees - a couple of apples and a plum. The snow was so high that they were able to get over the barrier and chew almost all the bark off around several saplings. Squeeze is going to encase them in chicken wire to their very tips this year: evidently, 4 feet wasn't high enough in an extra-snowy winter. Doh!

A Special Truen Update:

• He is scooting, rolling around, getting up and off of furniture, climbing stairs, crawling, doing somersaults, and going down the slide - I would say it is safe to conclude that his pain has desisted. Thankfully.
• We go into the Orthopedic Surgeon again this Thursday afternoon for a check-up. I'm sure they will do another x-ray and assess the situation. At the last check-up, they cut his cast on the side and put in a wedge to move the break to a 4 degree angle (previously healing at a 9 degree angle).
• If all goes according to the forecasted plan, Tru-babes should have his cast off in a week or so. I can. not. wait.
• Based off the stories from my 5 yo nephew, who broke his leg in the same spot in January, it may take awhile for him to ease back into walking. They said there was a lot of cramping at first and it took awhile for him to gain the strength and courage to try walking again. It makes sense . . . those muscles aren't getting used inside the cast. Our nephew is still limping in April - not because it hurts, but because his leg is weak. He was in his cast for 7 weeks, though, and his break was worse; I'm really hoping we can drop Truen's cast like a hot rock at 4 weeks. Maybe our transition will be easier? I can only hope. I want this over with.

Be My Wife

I adore David Bowie. Be My Wife is one of my favorite songs, off my favorite album, Low, cut my favorite year, 1977. And, in addition to all the other venerated things about Bowie, I really enjoy his theatrics. And pizzaz. And smarts. He's the package deal.

The title of my last post reminded me of this song for obvious reasons.

Be my wife

This afternoon, Diego cried piteously over the fact that he cannot marry me when he grows up. "But I want you to be my wife!" he wailed. "You are the most beautiful!"

The poor little guy. I remember a similar conversation very well, around the age of five, with my own father. My dad was tucking me into bed for the night and explaining why he couldn't marry me, because he already was married to my mom. I remember it boggled my mind at the time. How could I not marry my dad? He was the best!

The feelings were that of the desire to be with him, and my parents, forever. Taken care of. Safe. Loved. Not that I could have explained that then. But I can so easily remember those emotions, and the feeling of being a little scared that I couldn't marry my dad when I grew up. What else was there?

And that is exactly what Diego displayed this afternoon. "I don't want anyone else!" he bawled. "I want you!"

And you know, it makes me feel a little sad too. It is hard to remember that it won't "always be like this". Life changes gradually, and I know it is and feels normal, but trying to imagine that change now hurts.

I am reminded of the time when Diego was two months old, when I sat in our room, holding my beautiful baby, and wept miserably - grieving over the horrible truth that he would never be two months old again. So silly, I know, but my throat hurts and my eyes smart just thinking of it.

My mom has said something to the effect of, "You love them all along the way." Love grows and changes with them. I love Diego just as fiercely and affectionately as I did when he was a baby, only he is four years old now.

An earnest little four year old who wants to marry his mama.

I love him so much, it hurts. ♥

Way more demanding than usual

Just checking in to say --

Having a 2.5 year old with a broken leg is a lot like having a baby again, only this baby is enormous, cranky, and knows what he's missing out on.

He has also slipped back into long-gone nasty habits, like waking me up all night long demanding to nurse, then howling angrily when he doesn't get what he wants. Bah! It's terrible.

I should say, though, that little Truen is doing very well overall. His pain is nearly non-existent and he is starting to move around - stand, scoot, roll-over, etc. He plays with his toys with equal exuberance from his little stool next to the loveseat as if he were standing at the play-table.

That being said, I can't wait until things are back to normal.

Unbelievable, I know

For the record, two year olds can break bones. Yup. And yikes.

Truen and Diego were happily wrestling and playing around on Thursday night when a push from big brother caused a rotational fracture on his front-right shinbone - the tibia. Oy. It was terrible.

I could tell right away that it wasn't a "normal" injury. He wasn't recovering well and couldn't stop crying and holding his little leg or get comfortable. I wrapped him in a blanket, put ice on it, and consulted my copy of Naturally Healthy Babies and Children. It didn't take long to make the decision to bring him in - and for that, I am very thankful.

The doctor put a splint on in the ER that first night, which was extremely painful for Truen as you can well imagine. It was hard to see him in that much pain. We then reported to the Orthopedic Surgeon, for more x-rays and the cast, at 8:30 AM the next morning after approximately two hours of sleep. More pain, lots of hollering.

ER: After the splint

Sweet comfort

It felt so good to see his beautiful smile today --
It had been mostly grimaces, pensive staring, and/or
whimpering and crying since Thursday night,
the poor baby.

He is doing much better today, thankfully; which leaves me feeling optimistic for tomorrow. His pain has lessened and he is acting more like himself. (I've missed him!) The Orthopedic Surgeon we saw expected he would be scooting around within the week. "They heal so fast at this age," he said.

He will be in the cast for about a month. It is purple, his favorite color, though you can't see it in the picture. The doc cut the sides to leave room for swelling and wrapped it up with an ace bandage. We go back next Thursday for a check-up and the re-finishing of the cast.

This is definitely one thing I thought I'd never deal with. Or, at least, not this early in the game.

Un-un-un-un

Dreamt For Light Years In the Belly of a Mountain

My brother and SIL introduced this song to me just this week...and I think I might be obsessed. I have had it on repeat all morning; I am lulled, soothed, contemplative, and mournful all at the same time.

If you have 10 minutes to sit and stare, by all means...please do.

A remedy for pink eye

We just finished with a stint of conjunctivitis. I am so pleased to report that we eradicated it on our own! Home remedy. We blotted out sinus infections, ear infections, and now, eye infections - all without a visit to the doctor or the dreaded round of antibiotics.

Yessss. I am so proud.

Here's how we did it:

• Regular intervals of hot compresses to the eye(s)
• Eye wash of chamomile tea w/ goldenseal tincture
• Lots of warm baths to promote drainage

The bacteria that causes pink eye cannot live in heat, thus the hot compress. Because we do not have a microwave or a hot water bottle, I heated dried beans in a pot until they were hot and put them in an old sock. Be careful - it can get very hot, to the point of needing extra layers to protect your skin.

For the eye wash, I resorted wiping out Truen's eye with a cotton ball dipped in chamomile tea with 2-3 drops goldenseal tincture. (He couldn't handle anything else.) Squeeze used a glass eye-washing cup: it makes a seal and allows you to open and flush out your eye with the liquid (also great for irritated eyes).

Chamomile tea:

• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 TBSP chamomile blossoms
• Let steep until cool
• Strain twice before using

I repeated the eye wash/wipe and hot compress several times throughout the day, once or twice in conjunction with each other (which is a very good idea, if only my two year old could have handled it better). After the 3rd day following this routine, little Truen's eyes were tamed. Squeeze's eyes, which were never oozy like Truen's, cleared up after two days.

I referenced Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis Balch and Naturally Healthly Babies and Children by Aviva-Jill Romm - books that are invaluable components of both my home library and natural health philosophy.

Fighting for real milk - fighting for personal liberties and freedom

Hundreds pack raw milk hearing in Eau Claire

Hours of testimony
Wednesday's hearing at Chippewa Valley Technical College attracted about 450 people - most of them raw milk supporters who arrived by the busload. Testimony began about 10 a.m. and continued for more than 10 hours. Speakers included farmers, consumers, scientists and state and federal officials.

What happens here will send a message to the rest of the nation, said Kimberly Hartke, spokeswoman for the Weston A. Price Foundation, which touts the benefits of raw milk and says the risk of illness from it is minimal.

Currently, about 25 states allow some form of raw milk sales."Wisconsin is a bellwether state for us," Hartke said.

Ted Beals, a retired pathologist from the University of Michigan, said raw milk sales should be allowed."There is a very large and expanding group of well-informed families that very much want to have their milk fresh, unprocessed and whole, and they prefer to get it from a farmer they know," Beals said in an interview. "It's very personal," he said. "I can't think of another reason to get people more upset than to tell them that the food they believe is very nutritious and essential to their health is going to be denied them."

Advocates say raw milk contains nutrients, enzymes and bacteria that boost the immune system and can prevent allergies. Some even say it helps control asthma or autism.

"I am not making claims that our milk is going to cure cancer or anything else. You only know what it's going to do for you when you try it yourself," said Janet Brunner, whose dairy farm in Pepin County sold raw milk for nearly 10 years until running into opposition from state regulators.

For dozens of small farms in the state, raw milk sales have been an economic elixir, and they have built a loyal customer base while avoiding prosecution. The Brunners had more than 600 customers who paid about $5 a gallon for unpasteurized milk from their farm.

When they stopped selling it, Janet Brunner said, the farm store's income plummeted by 90%. "Now we are not earning enough to pay our bills, let alone support our farm," she said.

Independent lens

Diego has been taking a lot of pictures recently and I have really enjoyed seeing our home through his eyes. It's nice to have some fresh perspective from 42 inches off the floor.

Here are some of my favorites...

Little tootsies

A wasp's nest from the WI woods;
a mirror ball and color-strip lighting,
used for borealis family dance parties.
(Squeeze has black-lights up too,
but you can't see them in this picture.)

An extended window sill,

a little bit of green barracading us from the

sparkling outdoor winter whiteness.

One of my favorite bookshelves

Skyping with my dad.

I had the camera off the monitor

and was showing him something up close,

though I can't remember what.

Maybe the boys?

Skiing

I'm very good at skiing.
I have a kind of knack
For I can do it frontways
And also on my back.
And when I reach the bottom
I give a sudden flop
And dig myself in sideways,
And that's the way I stop.

Marchette Chute

***
Piper, Pipe that Song Again: Poems for Boys and Girls
Selected by Nancy Larrick
Published 1965
Thrifted ♥

Food, Inc.

You've seen it, right??? If you haven't, use whatever means you have available to you to see it - library, retail, rent, borrow, Netflix, etc.

Watching this film is a most revealing experience. It got me fired up all over again. It was a concise summery of all the research I've been doing the past 4-5 years, encompassing a good number of books. I highly, highly recommend it.

Books: My Journey to Real Food

These books have changed my life. They've given force and direction to my then-vague, now robust whole foods gut-instinct.

• Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World - Greg Critser
• Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life - Barbara Kingsolver
• The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals - Michael Pollan
• Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats - Sally Fallon
• Real Food: What to Eat and Why - Nina Planck
• Garden of Eating: A Produce-dominated Diet & Cookbook - Rachel Albert-Matesz
• Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods - Sandor Ellix Katz
• Kitchen Literacy: How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes from and Why We Need to Get It Back - Ann Vileisis
• The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements - Sandor Ellix Katz

The foresight! The vocabulary! The synapses!

Truen is two. Yesterday afternoon we were outside, stomping on the ice in the driveway, as Squeeze drove in. Truen saw him and announced, "We gonna get crushed!"

It made my mind spin. Amazing.

Coconutty-Almondy-Chocolatey-JOY

A lot of people have asked me for the recipe for the Coconutty-Almondy-Chocolatey-JOY in my last post about my battle against the void of refined sugar and flour, so I decided to take care of business with one post vs. numerous emails.

It is so good.

Coconutty-Almondy-Chocolatey-JOY

• 6 TBSP coconut oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 TBSP maple syrup
• 2 TBSP unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup chopped almonds

Melt (not cook, just melt) coconut oil in a small saucepan.

Whisk in vanilla, cocoa, and maple syrup until completely dissolved. Failure to do this will result in separation and an oily top.

Whisk in remaining ingredients, making sure they are completely incorporated.

Pour mixture into pan and tip to evenly spread. Use an 8X8 pan (or 9X13 for a double batch) - lined with parchment paper.

Place pan in freezer for 10 minutes to harden. ENJOY!

For those with little ones - this treat melts quickly when handled by warm little hands, so have them sit at the table while eating it.

In the fact that it is mostly coconut oil, Coconutty-Almondy-Chocolatey-JOY makes for a terrific dessert. That deliciously wonderful fat will help you feel satiated in addition to making the most of the digestion of the good meal you just ate.

Disclosure: I found this recipe online last fall, but could not locate the original site when composing this post. If anyone runs into it, please post the link in the comments so I can give credit where credit is due.

Yesssssssssss

Representing the Friends of the Library, I presented our proposal to the City Council last night. I am happy to announce that they were extremely receptive - and impressed with the level of our preparedness and how thorough we were. We had spreadsheets, folks. Spreadsheets!

We had all the bases covered: evidence supporting our argument [that the library is too small], quotes, funding, the options, handicap-accessible requirements, and the quantified effects of our current situations. It was totally awesome, yo.

I am endlessly pleased, because...

• They voted to move forward with the initial application!
• They're calling an architect to come and look at the two options we presented!

Our current library is unbearably small; so much so, that there has been a decline in both circulation and patron visits since they moved to the "new building" in 2007 (formerly the City Office). These trends were magnificently illustrated in our illustrious presentation of The Spreadsheet. Quantified data: who can argue with that?!

[btw, before 2007, the library was in a slightly larger building with extremely poor air quality. People were getting sick and it was yellowing/putrefying the books. But circulation was higher, as were physical visits to the library.]

Here are the points that we honed in on:

• We need a larger building for comfortable browsing and expanded programming.
• It is not a matter of if, but when and how.
• The time is now: we have funding available specifically for rural libraries.
• We want to keep people in our town, patronizing our library and our businesses.

It was fist-pumps and happy-dances galore after the meeting.

We nailed it!

Poetry for kids

I love, love, love this book of poetry for little ones. The poems are so fun to read aloud; they have a swing that is almost like dancing.

Yolen's compilation is wide and varied, which makes it all the more pleasurable. My boys enjoy the text and are intrigued by the rich and colorful illustrations. The poems vary in length as well, which keeps it exciting.

Go out and buy it, I say. It would be a lovely addition to a personal library or a great gift for anyone with little ones. Or at the very least, get it from the library.

It is delightfully charming.

Borealis: SIX - Competition: ZERO

One of my goals is to provide my little (and big) guys with wholesome, luscious desserts that blow the competition out of the water.

The competition being, of course, being the bank and post office, where they hand out endless quantities of candy, the allure of anti-nutrient laden pre-processed desserts and candies we, as a society, are surrounded with, and the void of desserts and treats made with refined sugars and flours.

I want them to taste the junk and recognize it for what it really is. Junk. A blackhole of cumulative ill health. And because my own palate is set for more savory than sweet, my previous tactics have involved avoidance and a lot of complaining. BUT. Since I am feeding three other people in addition to myself, I have decided instead to beat the competition silly with my mouth-watering sweet treats.

My arsenal thus far:

• Baked apples, stuffed with cinnamon-spiced walnuts and raisins, sweetened with maple syrup, and drizzled plentifully with fresh cream
• Chocolatey-Coconutty-Almondy-JOY - an amazing chocolately treat made with coconut oil, unsweetened cocoa powder, chopped almonds, and shredded unsweetened coconut. Sweetened with 1 TBSP maple syrup.
• Baked Custard - sweetened with honey, luscious
• Tapioca Pudding - honey again, and the boys love the "balls" a.k.a. tapioca pearls
• Homemade Jello - made from fruit juice and unflavored gelatin
• Chocolate Covered Coconut Macaroons - pure bliss

We made the macaroons this weekend, thanks to inspiration from my friend's post over at Night Swimming. Yowzas!!! They were so amazingly delicious. And really simple to make. She, in turn, got the recipe from Cookus Interuptus. (Which looks like an amazing site in itself.)

A few years ago, my goal was to avoid refined sugar and flours completely - but I just wasn't sure how to do that and still satisfy the all-too-human sweet tooth. Now I am learning that it is entirely possible. Not only possible, but wonderfully delicious and knocking-our-socks-off.

I'm going to lay the competition out flat.

They're so funny

"Did you know that Bob Sponge-ish is really made of cheese...?"
--Diego, while looking at the SpongeBob SquarePants soap dispenser at the library

"Dada, look! I'm a men!"
--Diego, holding his new printing calculator from the thrift store

"Hi Bunny Mama! Hehehe...I called you Bunny Mama."
--Truen, at breakfast

"I yike your neck-yis, Mama. Pwetty."
--Truen, sitting in my lap and facing me

Dada: "Why aren't you guys in the tub?"
Truen: "Because I'm too yittle."
(They're always escaping and running around nakey.)

The ENFP in me

I have a lot going on right now, which is some ways is very fun. In other ways, not so much -- like feeling like I am ignoring my children, or scrambling to get food ready hours later than I should.

So here's what I'm up to:

1) Working on a proposal for our small town's City Council meeting next Tuesday.

For what? A USDA Rural Development program that provides funding specifically for rural libraries through low-interest loans and grants! Yesssss.

There is even an empty storefront in town that is move-in ready and more than four times the size of our current library with room to grow (the entire upstairs could be remodeled). If one can even wrap their mind around it, the size of our current library is probably . . . 1000 square feet? Maybe less? And one-third is taken up by the bathroom and storage rooms. I know. Insane. It used to be the City Office.

All we need to do is convince our City Council that this is a good move for the entire town. Obvious, duh - but we are expecting the worst.

2) Following South Dakota's legislative season, specifically the Midwife and Birth Center bills.

The GREAT news is that two of the three bills have been "passed to the floor", meaning that the entire senate will have the chance to debate and vote on the bills. In years previous (since 1994, actually), the bills have never even made it out of committee in either the house or senate.

The third bill, SB107, presented this morning "as amended", is proposing a state-sponsored task force to get everyone at a round-table discussion about Certified Professional Midwives (CPM) in South Dakota and then draft legislation that works for everyone. Bills for CPMs licensure have been unremittingly batted down for over a decade now, so CPM advocates are changing their tactics, hoping they can finally work something out.

Predictably, all the medical lobby and Secretary of the Dept of Health were adamantly opposed to the bill "as amended", saying, literally, that there is no common ground [between the Dept. of Health and CPM advocates], the small number of homebirths in SD "aren't worth the cost" [of the task force], and that "There is no place for the CPM in the care of women and children in South Dakota".

The entire testimony can be heard at SDPB's STATEHOUSE. Scroll down and find "18th Legislative Day" and click on "02/10/2010 Complete Meeting" - the midwife bills start at 35 minutes and goes until the end.

EDIT: If you have trouble getting it to play on Realplayer, like I did, go with Option 2 on the SDPB's Help Site. It worked for me.

If you have any interest, it would be worth listening to. Especially the wicked opposition to the legal right of 26 other states (and counting): access to a Certified Professional Midwife. On a broader spectrum, I have learned a lot about how government works through listening to the committee meetings and the House in session.

3) Helping a friend start a thrift store in our small town.

She had the building anyway, so, logistically, it has simply been a matter of re-organizing and gathering stuff to sell. She is also aligning herself in a rotational basis with all area non-profits, giving them a percentage of her profits every quarter.

It has been interesting. She didn't know much about thrift stores, so we scoped the thrift shop my MIL volunteers at - then brainstormed prices, lay-out, and general rules. Since then, I've served as cheerleader, supplier (raiding our house for stuff to thrift), and zealous dumpster diver.

Love it. Dumpster diving comes natural to me! I've been finding treasures in other peoples garbage since I was little. And will tell you: I've been absolutely appalled at what is in our town's dumpster for rural residents. The dumpster is free, I might add, in a campaign to prevent garbage burning, a dirty habit of rural residents passed down through the generations.

Here has what I have found - in PERFECT condition, mind you.

1. Dollhouse, complete with all dolls
2. Barbie backpack with rollers and pull-handle
3. Dora floaty-suit for a little one at the beach
4. Graco toy stroller
5. Child's sleeping bag
6. A bag of clean socks and bras
7. Stuffed pig
8. Barbie horse trailer
9. Several bric-a-brac figurines and candles
10. Wall mirror

South Dakota's midwife-related bills

For those with the interest and time, you can listen to the Midwife and Birth Center bills for the state of South Dakota being discussed in the Health and Human Services committees, for both the House and Senate. It will be fascinating (seriously).

South Dakota Legislature - 2010 Session Committees

Schedule:

• HB1123 - Birth Center Bill - Rm 412 - Tuesday, February 9, 2010 - 7:45am - House Health and Human Services Committee
• SB96 & SB107 - Registration & Licensure Bill - Rm 412 - Wednesday, February 10, 2010 - 7:45am - Senate Health and Human Services Committee
• HB1230 - Decriminalization Bill (Tentative) - Rm 412 - Tuesday, February 16, 2010 - 7:45am - House Health and Human Services Committee