SAHMville

Update After One Year On GAPS Intro

2012-01-23T20:42:00.005-06:00

I've been meaning to update about our GAPS progress. We began our journey on January 10, 2011. After one year we are currently on Stage 4 of the Intro diet.

For the most part, the improvements that we've seen have come about slowly. In order to really evaluate the changes I had to get out a chart that I made at the beginning of our journey to track Sam's autistic behaviors. (That chart will be my next post.)

When we began the GAPS Intro diet I made note of all of Sam's autistic behaviors that I wanted to improve upon. For Sam, those behaviors included: humming, clapping, TV/movie talk, hitting head, meltdowns, argumentative, chewing, and poor sleeping.

Here's how our lives have changed in one year:

Humming: Prior to the diet Sam would hum nonstop. He would hum while eating, in bed before going to sleep, as he was riding in the van, while watching tv..all the time. After one year on GAPS Intro Sam does still hum, but it is only occasionally. Now he might hum whenever there's a lot of noise or unusual activity around him.

Clapping: You can tell in the videos from February 2010 that Sam would clap his hands at a furious pace. I'm happy to say that I cannot remember the last time that I have witnessed Sam clapping his hands involuntarily. I don't know exactly when he regained control of his body but it has been sometime in the past year.

TV/movie talk: This is something else that he used to struggle with on a daily basis. We couldn't ask him a question without getting an answer that was simply repeated from some TV show or movie. We no longer get those kinds of answers from him. Now, when we ask a question, we get an answer that comes from Sam's own mind. You can see his improvement in that area in the video from February 2011. I will say that Sam does still struggle with "book talk." He still does get extremely immersed in certain topics that he's reading about and, if you give him free reign, he will dominate the conversation with whatever topic he is currently interested in studying. Right now he is really interested in the Presidents and the weather so he could talk to you about those things all day long if you would let him.

Hitting head: Again, this happened numerous times every single day whenever Sam got angry or overwhelmed. I cannot remember the last time that I've seen Sam hit himself in the head.

Meltdowns: Prior to the diet Sam didn't necessarily have one of these every day, but they were still often enough to be a problem. Sam's meltdowns involved him hopping from one foot to the other while he banged his ears with his hands. He would scream "NO!" or just wail while he had his meltdown. I cannot remember the last time that I've seen him have a meltdown. Now, instead of losing physical control, he will use words to express anger if he doesn't get his way. Now he would be more likely to say, "God will be angry with you!" if he's upset with you about something.

Argumentative: When I say "argumentative" I mean that Sam used to argue with you about everything under the sun. You'd say, "The sky is blue" and he's scream back at you, "NO IT'S NOT!" I'd say, "We're having eggs for breakfast." and he's scream back at me, "NO WE'RE NOT!" I'd love to say that my child never argues with me, but the reality is that now Sam saves his arguments for rare occasions. It's so nice to not be in a constant battle with my child now.

Chewing: Sam used to destroy things by chewing on them. He'd chew on forks, spoons, straws, toys, clothing, cups, etc. I cannot remember the last time I've seen him do this. It has also stopped within this past year.

Poor sleeping: I think this is the area that I've most taken for granted. I look back at my chart from the beginning of our GAPS journey and I remember how bad it really used to be. Sam used to wake up at 5am every single day. He would also get up numerous times during the night. Now, he is asleep by 9pm and usually sleeps solid through the night until around 6:30am. If he does get up in the night it is just to go potty (which he does quietly without waking up anyone else) and then he puts himself back to bed.

After one year on GAPS Intro, the areas that I would like to continue improving upon are:

Help Sam to understand when someone isn't really interested in knowing everything about the Presidents or the weather or whatever his current interest is. I'd like for him to be able to sense when he needs to change the topic.

I'd like Sam to be able to expand his interests more. I'd like him to show more interest in doing "outside" tasks instead of staying inside and reading so much. I think more of a balance between the two would be healthy for him.

We'd like to see Sam improve upon his motor skills. There are still some areas where he is physically behind where most 6 year old boys are.

After one year, the results of the GAPS Diet have been more than I even hoped for. For anyone considering this diet...it is SO worth the sacrifice! I'm anxious to see what my child is like after another year of healing.

NDAA Passes the House

2011-12-15T20:40:00.004-06:00

An update from Shawn:

Ironically, on the 220th anniversary of the Bill of Rights, the House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act 283-136. Obama has announced he will sign it into law.
Even the mainstream media, including CBS News, admit the bill allows the detention of "terror suspects" within the U.S. without trial. As with the old Soviet Union, North Korea and Cuba, enemies of the state will be taken away during the dark of night, never to be seen again.
Of course, 99% of people are too concerned with what Betty Sue posted on Facebook or the stats of their favorite sports team to worry about secret detention camps and government authorized political assassination of citizens.

http://www.infowars.com/ndaa-gives-pentagon-green-light-to-wage-internet-war/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57343287/wh-oks-military-detention-of-terrorism-suspects/

Prepare Yourselves -- NDAA passes in Senate

2011-12-01T09:54:00.007-06:00

(My husband has some things to share with you, so here's another post from Shawn. --Janice)

On Thursday, December 1, 2011, the U.S. Senate voted 93-7 to pass the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act). This bill basically expands the battlefield of the “war on terror” to include U.S. soil. Here is a brief description of some of the provisions of this bill:

• Explicitly authorize the federal government to indefinitely imprison without charge or trial American citizens and others picked up inside and outside the United States;

• Mandate military detention of some civilians who would otherwise be outside of military control, including civilians picked up within the United States itself; and

• Transfer to the Department of Defense core prosecutorial, investigative, law enforcement, penal, and custodial authority and responsibility now held by the Department of Justice.

What does this mean? Under this bill, the U.S. military has the authority to use its own discretion to determine if any American citizen is a threat to national security, use whatever force necessary to take that person into custody, hold them without a trial or due process and impose any sentence or punishment they deem appropriate. In other words, if someone in the military or government declares you to be a threat to their agenda, you will be placed in a detention camp or killed if you resist. We are facing complete and total martial law.

Not since the days of Reconstruction following the Civil War has the U.S. seen troops patrolling the streets of America. Not since the Japanese internment camps during World War II have concentration camps operated within the United States. I believe it will soon be common to see soldiers going door-to-door rounding up citizens, tanks and armored vehicles patrolling our neighborhoods and razor-wired concentration camps. The type of operations you’ve seen on television in Iraq and Afghanistan will now be in your neighborhood if this legislation is signed into law.

Senator Diane Feinstein expressed her concern for this bill, stating: “I will stop reading here, but again, I want to emphasize this point. We are talking about the indefinite detention of American citizens without charge or trial. We have not done this at least since World War II when we incarcerated Japanese Americans. This is a very serious thing we are doing. People should understand its impact.”

Some of you may have heard of “FEMA camps”. For years, there have been reports of concentration camps being built across the United States for the purpose of housing thousands of American citizens in the event of civil unrest. Many politicians have denied the existence of these camps. Civil liberties advocates such as radio talk show host Alex Jones and former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura have conducted detailed investigations to prove these camps do exist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dys3xE2Bnk&feature=related

The debate over FEMA concentration camps is over. With the passage of the NDAA, the Senate is no longer hiding its intention to detain Americans without trial. No matter what name is given to them (such as a “residential center” or “shelter”) these military prison camps are nothing more than concentration camps. Under the NDAA, any American citizen can be placed into these camps at the will of our military. Senator Rand Paul proposed an amendment to remove this part of the bill, but his amendment was rejected 67-30.

http://www.infowars.com/rand-paul-americans-could-be-sent-to-gitmo-under-indefinite-detention-bill/

Are you worried about the military rounding up citizens and placing them into concentration camps? Does it concern you that you no longer have any due process rights if the federal government declares you a threat to national security? Will the sight of military vehicles patrolling your neighborhood frighten or offend you? Unfortunately, most people are more concerned about the new video game, smart phone or entertainment system they want for Christmas. We can’t be bothered with trivial issues such as concentration camps and martial law when we have all these forms of entertainment to distract us.

I feel like I’m in a time machine, transported back to Nazi Germany in the early days of World War II, desperately trying to warn Jews about the approaching holocaust. Wake up! Turn off the video game, stop looking at Facebook and pay attention to the wolves who are about to devour you and your family.

The media is doing its part to support the passage of this legislation. Most mainstream news articles suggest that only Americans who belong to groups such as al Qaeda would be detained as terrorists. The media ignores the broad, general terms used in the bill such as “associated forces” and committing a “belligerent act” that would “aid enemy forces”. As with the Patriot Act, the government will exploit every aspect of this bill against anyone it chooses. Of course, we already know that ordinary Americans who have organic farms, own guns, homeschool or practice certain religions have been labeled as terrorists by our government. If you are reading this blog, you most likely fall within the current, broad definition of a domestic terrorist.

I hope that President Obama will veto this bill. Even if he does, the writing is on the wall. Our government clearly supports martial law, an end to due process and the establishment of concentration camps. It is clear that major changes must be made in Washington if we hope to restore our Constitutional liberties.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/senate-votes-to-let-military-detain-americans-indefinitely_n_1119473.html

UPDATE: In a compromise to ensure more support for the bill, an amendment was added that states it is not the bill's intent to be used to detain citizens indefinitely. Oh, I feel much better now. These are the same folks that promised the Patriot Act would only be used against foreign terrorists. They also promised that TSA would only conduct non-invasion searches and only at airports. What if the military held you for 20 years without a trial? That is not "indefinite". Bottom line, I know what their goals are, their track record and where we are headed. Don't be fooled!

For a detailed list of who voted YEA and who voted NAY, check out this link:

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=1&vote=00218

A Five Gallon Bucket of Lard

2011-11-12T09:47:00.004-06:00

I spent a couple days this week rendering lard. We had a 1/2 beef coming and I had to make room in my deep freeze. I had accumulated a pretty good supply of pig fat so rendering it was no small task. When it was all said and done I ended up with six gallons of lard!

So I now have this five gallon bucket of lard sitting in my kitchen. As I look at it I can't help but remember the big 5 gallon bucket of lard that was sitting in my mom's kitchen when I was little. We lived in an old, PINK farm house. Has anyone else reading this lived in a PINK house? The kitchen was the main room of the house. From it there was a doorway leading to the living room, another leading to my brothers' bedroom, and yet another leading to the front porch. Also, there were two closed doors: one leading downstairs to the basement and the other leading upstairs where my sister and I slept. I very distinctly remember mom having a 5 gallon bucket of lard sitting in front of the basement door. Now that I'm older I've figured out that there were probably TWO reasons for mom having that bucket of lard sitting there. First, it was likely convenient just to have it sitting nearby to use in cooking. Secondly, it was a heavy barrier that kept us children from opening up the basement door! That thought had never crossed my mind until I sat looking at (and lifting!) my own bucket of lard.

Angie, do you remember mom's bucket of lard? I wonder if mom even remembers that bucket sitting there in the kitchen floor. I'm sure a bucket of rendered pig fat was insignificant in mom's mind.

I can't help but wonder, what objects in our family's home will my own daughter remember as an adult? What items do I consider insignificant that Sarah will look back on as a memorable part of her childhood?

A Lost Tooth & Another Sam Update (10 months on GAPS Intro)

2011-11-11T10:25:00.001-06:00

Not too long ago I received a comment on another post:

Erin said...
I was wondering if you could do an update on Sam's autism. I'm assuming he's still improving. I've shown the videos to some people, and for some reason people don't want to believe it. One lady said, "Any kid will differ from day to day..."

Erin, thank you for your question. Yes..Sam continues to improve! The healing is extremely slow, but that's not surprising. Dr. McBride's book is very up-front about the fact that this is a lengthy healing process. I guess, to some extent, the comment that you overheard is true. Yes, any kid will differ from day to day and that holds true for Sam. There are still some days that he hums and claps more than others. There are still some days that he recites passages from books. HOWEVER, Sam's worst day now is so much better than his best day before the diet.

A couple weeks ago we invited our property's previous owners out to visit. Mr. G commented, "You know, you all are doing a great job with Sam. When we first met him two years ago it was obvious that something wasn't right. Now I don't know if most people would even realize that there's something different about him." Those kinds of comments just make my day!

Last night Sam lost his 3rd tooth. Here's a video of him explaining what happened. He doesn't make eye contact all the time, but he is very capable of answering my questions. He's keeping up with our conversation. He's able to tell what his FEELINGS were. That right there is huge! He used to have such a difficult time identifying people's feelings, even his own.

There are still certain times when Sam struggles to control himself. If we are away from home I can tell that he still gets a little overstimulated. Even if it's a place that he's accustomed to I will notice a slight difference in behavior compared to when we're home. Of course, if we're somewhere out of the ordinary, the difference in his behavior is even more noticeable. I've also noticed that he gets overstimulated anytime he watches electronic media. We have no TV service in our home and we've even stopped watching movies. However, we do still allow the children to watch some YouTube videos from time to time. I've noticed that Sam has more difficulty controlling himself after watching those videos.

However, having said all the above, I want to stress again that when you compare his behavior now to his behavior pre-GAPS (or even early post-GAPS) there is obvious improvement. His worst behavior now after watching a YouTube video is dramatically better than his best behavior a year ago.

I get really frustrated when people make comments like the one you overheard. In my experience, those comments are usually made by people that are looking for an excuse not to make dietary changes. They are from people that are so devoted to their processed food and fast food drive-thru convenience that they'll look for any reason to quickly dismiss the diet. I know that parent's don't actually say this, but this is what I hear when they quickly dismiss a dietary change:

"I choose Twinkies over my child's health."
"I choose birthday parties over my child's health."
"I choose convenient fast food over my child's health."
"I'm too busy to devote the time it takes to recover my child."

I cannot wrap my mind around this way of thinking. Prior to starting the GAPS diet, Sam's behavior was so out of control that I was willing to try almost anything. I was worn down and exhausted (both physically and emotionally) from constantly arguing and disciplining my son. I didn't care if a dietary change only gave us one HOUR of peace a day. Even if it gave us the most minimal improvement, then it was worth it. I actually have a lot more respect for someone that dismisses the diet by saying, "I'm glad it's working for them and I'll keep it in mind for us later, but I think we're going to try something different right now."

I don't know if what I'm about to say is right or wrong, but it's how I feel:

I don't have the time or the patience to go out and "convert" everyone. I am more than willing and happy to spend time helping someone recover their child from autism...IF they are truly interested in doing what it takes to recover their child. For all the others, I simply try to shake the dust from my feet and walk away. So Erin, based on my own experience my advice would be to: Move on and make yourself accessible to those that are interested in listening and then acting.

If there's anyone out there that I can help by sharing our family's experiences, then PLEASE don't hesitate to contact me at janicegaps@yahoo.com

Affording the GAPS Diet Grocery Bill

2011-11-09T09:45:00.005-06:00

Today I received this comment on my post about Sam's Autism Improvement on Video:

Anonymous said...
Hi Janice.

I have just seen this link posted on a Facebook page. I'm really curious about how this works.

My son is 6 and he has Aspergers. I have tried homeopathy but it didn't work.

He has a good diet but due to his condition I am unable to work, and we live on just my partners wage, therefore don't have money to buy organic etc foods...

I'd love some advice on how to get started xx

I figured I would just put my answer in its own blog post since it's likely to get a little lengthy!

First of all, like yours, our family is a one-income family. So, I hope that our family's experience will be useful to you.

I know this is obvious, but I'm going to point it out anyway. The first thing our family did to free up funds for increased food costs was to look at other areas of our budget. We had to figure out what areas could be decreased so that our grocery budget could increase. For instance, we do not pay for any TV service whatsoever. Doing without a cable/satellite bill and other things like trash service have freed up money that can now go towards good quality foods. So, first of all I'd look to find other areas of your budget that can be reassigned.

After analyzing and making changes to the budget, we had to go through and define our priorities. While I would love to eat only all organic fruits and vegetables and only pastured meat and only grass-fed dairy and only local raw honey and..you get the idea. Realistically I purchase my fruits and vegetables SOME organic and SOME conventional. For our meat I purchase SOME pastured and SOME conventional. I have to make some concessions because we just can't afford to do everything perfect. So, I would suggest that your family decide what is your highest priority and make decisions accordingly.

Here's were I currently acquire our foods:

Meats
I purchase chicken in bulk once a year from a farm that raises pastured poultry. I buy one year's worth all at once because there's a huge cost savings by buying in bulk.

I purchase conventionally-raised local pork from a local butcher. I buy 1/2 a pig at a time, again for the cost savings. (Would love to have pastured pork, but it's very hard to find and also very expensive. Priorities..)

I purchase hormone/antibiotic free beef that is grass/hay fed (no grain) from a friend. I purchase 1/2 a cow at a time, again for the cost savings.

We raise our own rabbits and butcher them ourselves for meat.

My husband will be deer hunting this year and will (Lord willing) get one or two deer.

Fats
Whenever we purchase our beef and pork, I always ask to be given the fat from the animal. Then I render the fat myself in order to get a lot of good lard and tallow. The processors that I use don't charge any extra for providing the fat.

I purchase my pure olive oil and extra virgin olive oil from Sam's Club. It's not organic, but it's what we can afford. (Obviously, this is lower on my list of priorities.)

I bought my coconut oil in bulk from Nutiva. I think I purchased something like 10 or 12 gallons last time in order to get the best discounts and free shipping.

Finally, whenever I cook any meats, I always save the fats. We make burger patties and I save the fat to add to mashed cauliflower. We cook bacon and I save the fat to season green beans. We bake a pork loin roast and I save the fat to scramble eggs in the next morning. I roast a chicken and I save the fat to add into soups. Nothing gets wasted.

Fruits and Vegetables
Oh, there's so many sources for these foods. Of course we grow some of our own in our garden and orchard. However, we don't yet come anywhere near providing all of our own fruits and vegetables. I still purchase a lot.

I purchase non-organic avocados ($0.69 each), lemons ($0.25 each), and cauliflower ($1.99 each) from Aldi. They have great, low prices on their conventionally grown produce.

I purchase organic carrots from Kroger. I can get 5 pounds for $4.99 usually, but this week they were on sale for $3.99! I haven't found anyone else that beats their prices on organic carrots.

I purchase non-organic brussel sprouts ($4.97 for 2 pounds) and mushrooms ($3.98 for 24 ounces) from Sam's Club. I also get organic baby carrots ($3.98 for 3 pounds) and organic spinach ($3.97 for 1 pound) from Sam's Club.

Each month I place an order with Azure Standard. Having them deliver locally has been a huge blessing for our family. Every month I purchase all of my organic frozen green beans, broccoli, and peas in bulk. I also get organic onions and organic miniature pickling cucumbers for all the fermented pickles we consume. This next month they have a great deal on butternut squash. It's not perfect quality so it's sold at a discounted rate. I don't care if my squash looks pretty or not, so I'm stocking up by buying 40 pounds. Keeping an eye out on those good deals and stocking up then really does save our family quite a bit of money.

I also utilize our local Farmer's Market. This summer I was able to purchase a lot of organic green peppers. It's so difficult to find organic green peppers in stores, so I snatched up whatever I could find at the Farmer's Market. Then I dehydrated the green peppers. I now have enough organic green peppers to last our family until next year's growing season.

I know there are other foods that I haven't listed, but you get the idea. Basically, I make a point to keep track of food prices so I can recognize a good deal. Whenever I run across a good deal, I stock up. Yes, it costs more one time, but then you don't have to buy any more for quite a while. Also, our family has found that buying good quality food motivates us to learn to provide it for ourselves. I see how much money I spend each month on produce and it spurs me on to produce a larger, more successful garden.

It also takes time to research and find new sources for good quality foods. You may have to settle for conventionally-raised beef until you can find a source for good quality beef. Networking with other like-minded families can be beneficial. I've come across many resources this way that I wouldn't have discovered myself. It's great when friends contact me to let me know that they've found a good sale. Oftentimes, a group of friends can make a bulk purchase together in order to receive a discount and then divide everything up amongst themselves.

Ultimately, I think the best thing is just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Small, continuous improvements will eventually get you somewhere. At least you're moving in the right direction.

Anyway...Anonymous, I hope that helps get you started. If I can help in any way, please don't hesitate to contact me.

(This post is proud to be part of Real Food Wednesday.)
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/11/real-food-wednesday-11092011.html

Shawn's New "Farm" Truck

2011-11-05T14:01:00.004-05:00

I have a happy husband today. After two years living on our homestead, Shawn finally has a farm truck. Up until this point he has hauled hay bales, chickens, rabbits, and every other farm-related item in the back of his Ford Explorer.

We purchased the truck from a young man in town. Besides being useful, it's also all decked out with pretty chrome extras and big, bad tires that my brothers would describe as "beefy." The previous owner even added stereo speakers behind the seats. I've teased Shawn that he must be going through a mid-life crisis. He just turned 40 and now has the truck of a 20-something year old.

I think he's secretly excited to go to the local lumber store. The workers there have been teasing him for two years saying, "WHEN are you going to get a truck?!?"

The only reason we were able to get this truck now was because Shawn's mom sent an unexpected check to us..so, Colette THANK YOU for helping us out with this!

David's First Tooth!

2011-10-28T13:44:00.002-05:00

Can you believe that this little bitty baby already has his first tooth!?! I couldn't believe it today when I discovered it. I know that he's been drooling and gnawing on things a lot lately, but I figured it would still be quite a while before he actually got a tooth. The other children didn't get theirs until they were 7-9 months old. David isn't even 5 months old yet! He's growing up so fast..too fast!

Welcome to America! Land of Assassinations and Checkpoints

2011-10-20T16:35:00.008-05:00

(Ooops! Editing to add that this is yet another thought-provoking post from my dear husband. --Janice)

I scanned the news stories today and was horrified by what I read. U.S. backed assassinations, warrantless searches on our highways, and an insult to our World War II veterans caught my attention. I want to share my thoughts on today’s headlines.

Everyone is talking about the death of Qaddafi. Let’s begin with that. In February 2011, Islamic fundamentalists began the process of seizing control of Libya. Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi was removed from power so that Al Qaeda could take over the country. It wasn’t enough to remove him from power, but this week he was hunted down and murdered. It has been widely reported that a U.S. predator drone fired on his convoy at which time Qaddafi took cover in a drainage ditch. Rebels dragged him out as he begged for his life and Qaddafi was shot in the head by his American-backed Al Qaeda terrorist captors. He yelled, “Don’t shoot!” and asked, “What did I ever do to you?” as he was shot point blank in the head.

http://thenewamerican.com/index.php/world-mainmenu-26/africa-mainmenu-27/6855-un-obama-fighting-alongside-al-qaeda-in-libya

Nobel Peace Prize winner Barak Hussein Obama then went to the Rose Garden of the White House and praised the assassination. This is the same president who, just days earlier, expressed outrage over an alleged assassination plot by a used car salesman in Texas who supposedly was planning to attack the Saudi and Israeli embassies under the direction of Iran. So Iran is evil for planning assassinations but we are noble and justified when we kill leaders of other sovereign nations.

We don’t just kill foreign leaders; we also assassinate Americans. Last month, American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki was assassinated by the American C.I.A. for his alleged terrorist connections. Simply being labeled a terrorist is a modern day Bill of Attainder where you are declared guilty without a trial. Just months following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Awlaki dined with top officials at the Pentagon. If he was such a threat, why not arrest him when he arrived for dinner? As an American citizen, wasn’t he entitled to due process? I’m disturbed at how few people even question his assassination.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/20/al-qaeda-terror-leader-dined-pentagon-months/

Before you celebrate the assassinations of these terrorists, remember how many Americans fall under the definition of a domestic terrorist according to this administration. In the past few years, homeschoolers, raw milk purchasers, gun owners, libertarians and returning veterans have been labeled potential domestic terrorists. How long until a predator drone attacks your home and you are dragged out and shot when you fall under the criteria to be killed on sight? By the way, these drones are already being used to conduct surveillance within the United States.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/surveillance/2011-01-13-drones_N.htm

This madness began earlier this year when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown with U.S. assistance so that the Muslim Brotherhood could control Egypt. Then we decided that Muammar Qaddafi in Libya had to go as well. Mubarak and Qaddafi, as bad as they were, at least could be dealt with. Mubarak attempted to cooperate with the U.S. and Qaddafi had been successfully scared into submission over the past few years. Egypt and Libya were of little threat to American interests. But now, with radical terrorists controlling those countries, we now have a serious problem. Egypt, the Suez Canal and the large oil reserves in Libya are now under the control of complete lunatics due mostly from our actions. This was not an act of stupidity, but rather an intentional further destabilization of the Middle East by Obama.

In news closer to home, the era of TSA checkpoints on highways has begun. The Transportation Security Administration will now be conducting random searches of vehicles on U.S. highways. The TSA VIPR Teams are currently operating in Tennessee. We’ve surrendered to the notion that boarding an airplane voluntarily suspends our Fourth Amendment rights. Now, simply driving down the highway may result in the same level of warrantless searches. As with air travel, the American public will moan and groan for a few weeks, then sheepishly submit and accept their fate. Based on the treatment of Qaddafi, raising your hands and declaring surrender at one of these checkpoints may not save you from roadside execution.

http://tennesseenewspress.com/2011/10/19/tsa-checkpoints-now-on-tn-highways/

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/15725035/officials-claim-tennessee-becomes-first-state-to-deploy-vipr-statewide

In other news, the U.S. Forest Service has ordered the removal of a World War II memorial monument from Big Mountain in Montana because it includes a statue of Jesus. The monument has stood for 60 years in the park with no complaint. We side with known terrorist groups in the overthrow of Egypt and Libya while destroying monuments to an entire generation who sacrificed so much to free the world from evil.

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/forest-service-evicts-wwii-memorial.html?test=latestnews

Our government openly assassinates foreign leaders and American citizens. We have suspended the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures if we dare travel by airplane and even automobile. We are offended by a 60-year-old monument to our World War II veterans, but not offended by the actions of our government which are very reflective of the tyranny those WWII veterans fought so bravely against. Do most of us care? Sadly, no. We are much more interested in the World Series and Dancing With the Stars. We can't be bothered with such trivial issues when the big ballgame is on.

I don’t even recognize the United States anymore. Shame on those who are behind this tyranny and shame on the rest of us who do nothing about it.

Wisconsin Judge Ruling: No Right to Raise, Grow or Consume Food of Your Choice

2011-09-23T17:17:00.003-05:00

(Another thought-provoking post from my dear husband. --Janice)

Earlier this month, Wisconsin Judge Patrick J. Fiedler issued a response to the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund regarding the Constitutionality of food rights. In his response, Judge Fiedler stated “Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow.” He then went further stating, “Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of their choice.”

So, what does this mean? You have NO right (according to Judge Fiedler) to raise animals, crops or even an orchard or backyard garden. You have NO right to choose what food you eat. The government has the right to mandate or prohibit the consumption of any food.

What would motivate Judge Fiedler to issue such a shocking ruling against food rights? Well, a quick Internet search reveals some clues. Within days of his ruling against food rights, Judge Fiedler announced he has decided to retire and will resign his position as judge September 30. He will go into private practice, as an attorney for the Axel Brynelson Law Firm.

I did some research on the Axel Brynelson Law Firm and found that in May 2010, the firm represented Monsanto in a lawsuit concerning a DNA patent. So, within days of ruling that Americans have no right to produce and consume the foods of their choice, Judge Fiedler is hired by a law firm that represents Monsanto. What a coincidence!

We Had An Earthquake Here!

2011-09-23T08:43:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was an exciting day. Around 6:30 last night I was in the living room folding laundry and talking to Shawn. Shawn was holding David. All of a sudden we heard a loud sonic boom. I said, "What was that?" Immediately the house started to shake. I started screaming at the children to "Come here!" (They were playing in Sam's bedroom.) Shawn started yelling, "This is it! This is it!" (He thought the New Madrid fault was finally going.)

Then it was over. It really only lasted a matter of seconds, but that was plenty for me. Sarah's little heart was racing when we all congregated in the kitchen.

Shawn immediately called my parents (who live closer to the New Madrid fault) to see if they were all right. They said they hadn't felt anything. Then I called a girlfriend to see if she had felt it. She hadn't felt anything either. Then we started second-guessing ourselves..Could something have crashed out in the pasture? Why didn't anyone else seem to feel this thing that was so very, very noticeable to us?!?

We finally discovered that we did, in fact, have a 3.6 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter was only about 8 miles away from us.

When Shawn went outside last night to put up the animals he noticed a few things that were out of place in the barn. The previous homeowner had used the barn's rafters as a place to store old plastic pipe and boards. Shawn noticed that some plastic pipe had been shaken out of the rafters. He also noticed that some firewood and a stack of plastic buckets had been knocked over. The only evidence that we found inside the house was that one picture frame had fallen over in our bedroom.

Exciting, scary times. One good thing though...it does force Shawn and I to revisit our earthquake preparedness. What do we need to improve upon? Are we adequately prepared if this quake had been larger and more damaging? Are you adequately prepared if your area starts shaking?

20 Incredible Colleges for Special Needs Students

2011-09-22T07:53:00.003-05:00

College is still a long way off for our children, but I've been asked to place a link here about "20 Incredible Colleges for Special Needs Students." I hope this is helpful for some that read my blog.

http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2011/09/21/20-incredible-colleges-for-special-needs-students/

The Great Sunflower Seed Incident

2011-09-21T06:46:00.008-05:00

So...yesterday Andrew was at an event with other children. Of course I took a GAPS-friendly snack for him to eat, but the other children there had their snack of apples and sunflower seeds. Immediately after snacktime, Andrew started breaking out in a rash and his left ear started swelling up. His behavior was fine and he wasn't having any difficulty breathing..he just looked awful.

My first thought was, "Oh no, what did he eat?!?!" However, I was assured that he didn't put anything in his mouth other than the food that I had brought. So, next I started to wonder if he had possibly been stung by something on the ear. However, he was indoors the entire time and not one of the many adults there had noticed him crying out at any point as if he had been stung. I even asked him if a bug bit him and he told me no.

So, this is what we've finally decided is the most likely explanation...

Even though the other children were eating a healthy snack of apples and sunflower seeds, the sunflower seeds were store-bought and processed. This means that the ingredients included a lot more than just sunflower seeds. I found this list of common ingredients online:

SUNFLOWER KERNELS, SALT, SUGAR, CORNSTARCH, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (FLAVOR ENHANCER), DRIED YEAST, GELATIN, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, PAPRIKA, ONION AND GARLIC POWDERS, SPICES, NATURAL FLAVOR

Anyhow, the theory is that some of the artificial ingredients/oil were transferred to a toy by another child. Andrew must have somehow picked up the residue on his hands. Then he proceeded to scratch his ear, which immediately began to swell, turn red/purple, and get hot. Shortly after that exposure his face, neck, and torso began breaking out in whelps.

I took these photos about 2 hours after the exposure. The rash had actually improved a bit on his face and neck. At 5 hours after exposure his ear was still just as hot and red and swollen as before and the rash had continued to spread to his feet. He was obviously itchy, but otherwise acted normal. This morning, however, everything is fine. His ear and body look absolutely normal.

Sometimes I get so focused on making sure that the children don't consume processed foods. It's easy to forget that these foods can still harm sensitive children in other ways. I'm glad it wasn't any more serious, but it was a good reminder as to why we are doing what we are doing. There are very valid reasons why we avoid processed foods.

SAHM earning $165 to use at Amazon.com via SwagBucks

2011-09-14T08:11:00.006-05:00

I may not be out in the workforce earning an income, but this is my stay-at-home mom way of helping to support our family. Likewise, I think that SwagBucks would be helpful to many of those that read my blog.

I've been using SwagBucks for 10 months now and in that time I've accumulated $165 in Amazon gift cards. I've been able to purchase books, food, and gifts with that money. It's really come in handy. I wanted to take some time today to show you how I did this so you can see if it's something you might utilize. I started off slowly..only getting $5-$10 per month, but the past few months I've been getting $25 in gift cards each month.

When I first started using SwagBucks I installed their toolbar into my internet browser. It's just a thin little strip at the top of my screen that provides a search engine and shows my current SwagBucks total. Now, each morning when I open up my internet browser I automatically get 1 Swagbuck just for having the toolbar installed.

I utilize the toolbar's search engine as I'm on the internet throughout the day. For instance, if I want to check my email I will use SwagBuck's toolbar to search hotmail.com instead of directly typing it in. Several times throughout the day I'll receive SwagBucks for utilizing their search engine. I've gotten anywhere from 7-29 SwagBucks just for searching the internet. Also, you don't just get this reward once a day. If you search often enough, you can get SwagBucks for searching numerous times throughout the day.

Every day they have a different Daily Poll available. I place my vote in the poll and get 1 SwagBuck each day.

Each day I visit their No Obligation Special Offers page (NOSO). It gives a couple pages of offers and I always hit "Skip" because I'm not interested in any of the offers. After I've looked at all the offers and "skipped" them I receive 2 SwagBucks. Looking at the offers takes less than a minute...it's not very time consuming at all.

Then I go to their Trusted Surveys page. They usually have several surveys available. I usually don't meet the demographic that they're looking for so I don't qualify for most of the surveys. However I do receive 1 SwagBuck for each survey I attempt to qualify for. A time or two each week I will usually qualify for one of the surveys and I will receive anywhere from 50-200 SwagBucks for completing the survey.

SwagBucks has internet-printable coupons available as well. If you print off their coupons and redeem them at a store, you will get 10 SwagBucks for each coupon you redeem. I don't use this all that often since we don't use many of the commercial products. I have however used the coupons for things like toilet paper and facial tissue. I like it because I save money and get SwagBucks at the same time.

Finally, they have an area on their site called SwagBucks TV. It's an area that has short little (approximately 1 minute) video clips preceded by an advertisement. I get 3 SwagBucks for every 10 videos that I watch. I keep our laptop on the kitchen counter and, throughout the day as I'm working, I will keep the little video clips running. There are all kinds of different types of videos: entertainment, news, food, health, etc. I always run the Pets & Nature videos because I don't mind if the children see videos of animals on the computer.

There are other ways to acquire SwagBucks, but I don't utilize them. You can check into those yourself and see if they'd be beneficial to you.

Here's their official site on how to use SwagBucks:
http://www.swagbucks.com/g/how-it-works

Anyhow, for every 450 SwagBucks you accumulate you can redeem it for $5 to use towards a purchase at Amazon. Of course, there are other places you can redeem your SwagBucks (Barnes & Noble, Home Depot, Paypal, CVS, etc), but I've found that Amazon is the best value for us. You can get just about anything on Amazon and the credit doesn't expire in case you want to keep accumulating credit for a more expensive item. You also receive free shipping if your order is over $25. Free merchandise (using SwagBucks credit) and free shipping is a great deal for us.

So, now I'm going to shamelessly ask that, if you are interested in joining SwagBucks, you use my name as a reference. You see, I acquire SwagBucks by referring people to the site and having them utilize it. If you are interested, please use this link to sign up:

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/SAHMville

Also, if this is confusing to you, please don't hesitate to ask me to clarify.

A Walk on the Property

2011-09-12T13:11:00.009-05:00

Friday evening we went on a family walk around the property. We did this a lot last year, but haven't been as good about doing it since David came along. It was really nice to get back out there.

The first thing we discovered was a young buck that was dead out by our pond. It was still fresh enough to be stinky. That gave the children a lot to talk about for the next day or two.

Remember my last post about making elderberry tincture? Well, I'm not 100% certain, but I'm thinking that we just might have elderberries growing on our property. I need to research this some more, but I suspect that this might be elderberry. If anyone can shed some light on this, I'd appreciate the input!

Walking back to the Forbidden Meadow was especially pretty because the entire pasture there was full of these pretty yellow flowers.

I'm still really excited about having Passionfruit (Maypops) on our property. However, I have yet to actually harvest any for our own use. It seems that the deer have taken possession of them so all I ever get to see are small green fruits.

Out in the woods we were surprised to see that a tree had fallen right in the middle of the path we normally walk.

It couldn't have happened too long ago because the leaves are still green. Looks like God is providing next year's firewood!

Making Elderberry Tincture

2011-09-09T13:40:00.009-05:00

This was my first time attempting to make elderberry tincture. It was really easy and I wanted to share it with you.

Elderberry tincture is said to be effective in treating colds and flu. There are even commercial drugs, like Sambucol, made with elderberry. However, since we try to avoid commercially-sold drugs, I made my own medicine using God's provision..the elderberry.

First, I purchased a big bottle of vodka and 1 pound of dried elderberries. The instructions I had said to split the pound of elderberries between three quart jars. Then fill the jars with vodka. (Of course, I ended up not buying enough vodka, so I could only fill two jars until we went back to the store to buy more.)

Then you place the jars in a cool, dark area and let it sit for 7-10 days, shaking the jars every day or so. Now, I found lots of different sources that say lots of different things on the amount of time the mixture should sit. I've read everywhere from 7 days to 6 weeks. I chose to let mine soak for a little over 2 weeks. Really the only reason I let it go that long was because my third jar was started at a later time and I wanted to finish all three jars at the same time. (Remember, I had to go buy more vodka...) So, my first two jars actually soaked for 16 days and that third jar only soaked for 10 days.

I kept my jars in my cabinet with our drinking glasses. It was dark and cool in that cabinet, and I opened it often enough that I would remember to shake the jars whenever I went to get glasses out of the cabinet. So, yesterday I finished the elderberry tincture. (I guess my camera date is wrong because I know that I took these next pictures yesterday, Thursday the 8th.)

Anyhow, first I put my colander over a bowl and poured out the contents of the three jars. Then I placed the strained liquid into clean jars. The strained liquid only filled up two jars since the berries were no longer taking up space.

Finally, I added labels to my jars and put them in our medicine cabinet.

If I need to use this for the children I intend to place the recommended dosage in a glass of water and maybe even add a little honey to it if the children don't want to take it.

We're very rarely ever sick so these two jars of elderberry tincture should last us a while. The vodka will keep it useful for years.

I encourage you to do some research on elderberry tincture and see if it's something you'd be interested in providing for your family.

Farm Clothes vs. Town Clothes

2011-09-08T08:00:00.004-05:00

I was looking through some of my posts from the summer and I realized that my children are pretty much wearing the same clothing in every picture! Instead of leaving everyone to believe that I let my children wear dirty clothes day after day, I thought I would do a post on Farm Clothes vs. Town Clothes.

When we lived at our other home I had a couple pair of "play clothes" for each of the children, but the majority of their wardrobe was made up of nice little outfits. After moving out to our property though our wardrobe changed. Now the majority of the whole family's wardrobe consists of stained and ripped clothing that you probably couldn't give away at a yard sale. We all rotate through 2-3 outfits out here on the farm. What's the saying..."One to wash, one to wear, and one to spare." I just don't see the purpose in dressing everyone in decent clothing so they can get ruined by getting mud-stained or ripped on a fence. So, we look like a raggedy mess out here on the farm. Also, I will absolutely hang onto Sam's rough-looking farm clothes so that they'll be there when Andrew grows into them. I'm not going to dispose of perfectly battered and well-worn farm clothes!

Anyhow, the kids get excited when they get to put on "town clothes." Since the kids and I only leave the property about once or twice a week, it's a real treat to get "dressed up." I'll leave you with a picture of the children in their town clothes. I know I'm biased, but I think they clean up nice!

Cheating on GAPS

2011-09-07T12:57:00.006-05:00

It's a bad day. A really bad, bad day.

Last night our family went to a meeting. After the meeting there were refreshments: fruit, cake, cookies, punch, water. I watched Shawn eat his little plate of goodies and I was tempted. So I told him that I would just go look at the food table. Of course I ended up coming back with some of the fruit and a few non-GAPS treats. When the meeting wrapped up, the ladies started cleaning up and asked if anyone wanted to take any of the extra refreshments home. I grabbed a small plate for Shawn to take into work with him today.

I woke up this morning after Shawn had already left for work. Do you know what he did??? He left three of the cookies sitting on the kitchen counter! He actually left some of those things home for me to eat. So I ate them...all of them. I dunked those chocolate chip cookies in my coffee this morning and I scarfed it all down eagerly. I enjoyed it. They tasted so good. I miss cookies.

Now I hurt. My head is absolutely throbbing. I have no energy. I do not want to cook. I do not want to clean. I do not want ANY noise. I have no patience. I feel like I am barely functioning through a mental fog. My vision is literally a bit foggy too. I also feel engorged today (which is not normal) and David isn't nursing well. Apparently he doesn't care for cookie-infected milk.

Was it the grain from the cookies..or the sugar...or the artificial additives? I don't have a clue what exactly in the cookies is bothering me, but it has hit me hard. What's even worse is that I KNEW that I would be paying for giving into the cookie temptation, but I did it anyway.

I don't know if this post will do any good for others on GAPS, but it is something I need to go back and read each time I'm faced with temptation. Cheating on GAPS makes me hurt. It's not worth it.

This post is linked up to Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/09/real-food-wednesday-9711.html

Our New Rabbit Shelter

2011-09-06T11:37:00.008-05:00

I don't know about you, but our family spent Labor Day weekend by doing an immense amount of labor on the farm. This weekend we completed a lot of projects.

The first thing Shawn wanted to complete was our new permanent rabbit shelter in the garden. We previously had the rabbits in the chicken run with a tarp set up over them for shade. The tarp was a very temporary solution though. It shredded quickly, so Shawn went to work building an actual shed to house the rabbits. We decided to put it in the garden so that their droppings were right where they would do the most good.

The rabbit cages that Shawn built were extremely heavy. So this is the way that he came up with to move them. Sam was a big help to Shawn.

Here's the new rabbit shed out in the garden. The only part to complete is that small bit of guttering on the end.

This is the water catchment system that Shawn set up at the far end of the shed. It'll be nice having that water nearby for the rabbits and some garden usage.

We also managed to rebreed on of the does this weekend and clean up the barn and chicken run area where the rabbits used to be. Then we spent the rest of the weekend weeding the garden.

Since I was busy being pregnant and dealing with a newborn, I really let the garden go this summer. This weekend was when we made up for lost time. It felt so good to be working outside again! We found that our carrots managed to survive their weed-infestation and we picked the first of our green beans. I'm pleased to see that our green pepper and tomato plants look like thet're actually going to produce something. I had almost given up hope that we'd get anything from them.

The weather was absolutely perfect for working outside. It was hard work, but it was also very enjoyable.

Jimmy Hoffa Openly Calls For Violence

2011-09-05T20:21:00.005-05:00

(Another post from Shawn today...See what happens when he gets a three-day weekend! --Janice)

Are there any union members living near your home or at your place of work? If so, I’d suggest you watch your back around them and be sure not to divulge any personal information to them. Their Marxist mobster leader Jimmy Hoffa has declared war on us, literally.

While delivering an opening speech for Obama at a Labor Day union rally in Detroit, Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa declared that union members are at “war” with the Tea Party (a common name now given to Americans who want smaller government). His thirst for violence and plans for the future were revealed in this speech.

“President Obama, this is your army,” stated Hoffa. “We are ready to march. Let’s take these sons of bitches out!” Of course, "taking a person out" is the common mafia term for murder. The socialists attending the rally cheered at his declaration of war. As you can see, complete government domination of our lives is not enough for them. They must eliminate anyone who does not support their socialist agenda.

Obama then took the stage, stating he was proud of Hoffa and called for “shared prosperity.” Of course, “shared prosperity” is just another way of calling for redistribution of wealth, a founding principle of socialism.

We are living in very dangerous and frightening times. I encourage every freedom-loving American to prepare for what is coming. The socialists are no longer behind closed doors plotting away and working behind the scenes to destroy our freedoms. They are now in the open. They have a president who publicly supports their agenda and they are admitting they are declaring war on us.

It will be up to us to win this war and protect the Constitutional liberties so many have fought and died for over the past 235 years. The union thugs should be careful what they wish for, because there are millions of Americans who will not lie down and be "taken out." If this army of Chicago mobsters marches up to the gates of my farm, the next gates they will enter will be the gates of Hell.

I’d suggest Hoffa and his band of thugs rethink their ill-conceived suicide mission. The mafia should stay in Chicago and continue shaking down local business owners for protection money. They may control certain cities in this country, but the mob doesn’t have the numbers to declare war on the entire United States population.

“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun”. Isn’t that what you mobsters like to say? Well, fine. You’ve set the rules for this war, you better be prepared to live (or die) by them. Hoffa, you have called on your army to take my family out. You have my attention. You are a coward who calls on others to do your dirty work. May God have mercy on any fool who comes to my home following your orders!

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/09/05/jimmy_hoffa_at_obama_event_on_gop_lets_take_these_son_of_bitches_out.html

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/09/05/obama_talks_shared_prosperity_to_union_workers_at_labor_day_speech.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/06/14/obama-if-they-bring-a-knife-to-the-fight-we-bring-a-gun/

Wood Is Now Illegal In The United States

2011-09-03T14:01:00.002-05:00

(Shawn was inspired to write a post today...enjoy! -Janice)

Just when I thought the government controlled every single aspect of our lives imaginable, a new shocker comes along. The government has yet a new enemy, people who have property made of wood. There are already cases of people having wooden guitars seized if they can’t produce documentation proving the origin of every piece of wood within the instrument. The feds are even conducting SWAT raids to seize contraband wood. Hitler and Stalin didn’t even seize wood from the people.

Henry Juszkiewicz, CEO of Gibson Guitar, reports that his manufacturing plants in Nashville and Memphis were raided by federal agents on August 24, 2011. The feds are claiming Gibson violated an Indian law that requires wood from that country to be assembled there. However, Gibson has written authorization from the government of India to export their wood to American to be manufactured in Tennessee.

Interestingly, only Gibson Guitar, owned by a Republican, has been raided. Other guitar manufacturers using the same wood, owned by Democrats, have not been raided. This follows the Obama Justice Department’s track record of targeting political enemies. The feds even had the nerve to inform Gibson Guitar, in writing, that their company should leave the United States and suggested they move their manufacturing to Madagascar. Apparently the Obama Administration is actively supporting job growth in Madagascar, while working to eliminate American jobs.

This story is so bizarre, you have to see it for yourself. Please visit the website below and view an interview with the CEO of Gibson Guitar as he describes the SWAT raid and the government’s war against personal property made of wood:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlexJonesChannel#p/a/u/1/2E-tXQ6kQoU

If you own ANYTHING made of wood (which we all do), then you need to take this VERY seriously. Of course, this actually has nothing to do with wood. The government is finding every excuse to dominate our lives and bully us into submission. Since everyone owns furniture, guns, tools, crafts, and even the materials which make up your home that contain wood, this is another justification to raid your home, seize your property, and levy fines against you when Big Brother decides you need to be reminded who owns you.

Amazed at the Blog Visits

2011-09-01T10:30:00.005-05:00

I continue to be amazed at the number of people that are visiting my blog in order to see the videos of Sam's autism improvement. Just yesterday I had visitors come here from:

British Columbia, Canada
Newfoundland, Canada
Alabama, U.S.
Illinois, U.S.
Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Georgia, U.S.
Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia
Virginia, U.S.
Ash Sharqiyah, Saudi Arabia
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Buskerud, Norway
Gullbringusysla, Iceland
Texas, U.S.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Wisconsin, U.S.
New Hampshire, U.S.
Budapest, Hungary

All of the above visitors looked at the posts of Sam's autism videos. In addition to that, in the past week I've had visitors from Brazil, Denmark, India, Australia, Netherlands, Poland, Philippines, Hong Kong, London, California, Washington, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio come here looking for GAPS recipes and autism resources.

It's neat to see the international autism sites that have posted Sam's videos. The only words I can read on the sites are "autism" and "SAHMville," but then I see Sam's smiling face on there as well. He doesn't realize how big of an impact he's having on people around the world.

Some Cuteness for Grandma Colette

2011-08-31T12:24:00.005-05:00

Sarah and Andrew like to dress up in their police officer costume. Here they are with the costume split between the two of them.

Here's David doing some cute baby talk. He's babbling so much nowadays.

I think Sam has asked me about five times so far today, "Is it October yet?" He's really looking forward to you and Papa Mac visiting.

Homemade Sausage Seasoning

2011-08-30T13:19:00.006-05:00

Since we don't produce our own pork yet I still have to find an outside source to purchase it. Obviously, with our GAPS diet, I'm not purchasing sausage from the store. However, I'm also not even able to purchase it from our local butcher because of the seasonings that are used. I don't trust that the seasonings are GAPS-friendly, so I choose to make my own sausage seasoning. Actually, it works out better because I can get plain ground pork from our local Mennonite butcher cheaper than purchasing ready-made sausage from the same business.

Our family likes the following recipe:

6-1/2 Tbsp. sage
2 Tbsp. sea salt
5 tsp. pepper
5 tsp. red pepper flakes
5 tsp. fennel
5 tsp. marjoram
2-1/2 tsp. ground mustard
2 tsp. garlic powder

Place all ingredients in a small jar and shake until well blended. This recipe makes enough to season about 10 pounds of ground pork. For each pound of pork used, add 1-1/2 Tbsp. of sausage seasoning. It is a bit on the spicy side, so if I were going to alter the recipe I would definitely put in fewer red pepper flakes instead of more!

YouTube Video Recommendations

2011-08-29T20:12:00.004-05:00

In the past Shawn and I have enjoyed watching some BBC television shows that recreate life in different time periods. Each series has actual archaeologists and historians living the life of that time period for a full year. These shows are available for free on YouTube. So far we have watched Victorian Farm, which is about life in the mid-19th Century.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ts0Rwnn2yg

We've also watched Edwardian Farm, which is about life just after the turn of the 20th Century.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H10TJT87BaU

We have enjoyed both of these series immensely. They're delightful to watch while being educational at the same time.

We've also been wanting to see a third series that was made using the same historians/archaeologists, but it hasn't been available on YouTube. Well, this week Shawn just happened to check again and we were excited to find that it's available! So, we're now in the process of watching Tales from the Green Valley. It is about life in the year 1620.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNlaG2Tv3zU

I can't recommend these enough. What's especially nice is that these are made with actual historians...professionals that are enthralled with life in the past. Other shows that we have watched have had more of a drama-filled "reality tv" feel to them and we just simply do not care to watch that kind of show. This is a wonderful change from the norm. If you do get to watch them, let me know what you think!

A Fix To Blogger Troubles

2011-08-28T08:15:00.003-05:00

I posted earlier about my technical difficulties with Blogger. In order to publish a new post I had to first save it as a draft and then publish it from a separate page. I wasn't able to edit my posts. I also wasn't able to comment on my own posts.

Well, Shawn and I figured out the problem. Apparently Internet Explorer doesn't work well with Blogger. If I use Google Chrome I can do everything I need to with Blogger. So, in case anyone else has the same problem...switch from Internet Explorer and see if that helps!

Canning Applesauce

2011-08-26T09:55:00.008-05:00

I don't like canning. However, I'm very grateful for all the yummy fruit we have growing in our orchard and I refuse to see it go to waste. So...yesterday I canned.

We still have more apples to pick, but here's the first picking from one of the trees.

Those are some of our pears in the jars. I ended up with 18 quart jars of dehydrated pear slices. Also, see that beautiful apple! That's the biggest apple that we harvested this year. It was too pretty to turn into applesauce, so it was set aside for eating fresh.

As much as I dislike canning, I will admit that this year was easier than last year. Over the past year I have acquired several tools that made canning easier. Last year I used my big pressure canner as a water bath canner. However this year I was able to use a real water bath canner with a rack and that made it much easier. I also acquired a handy apple peeler/corer/slicer since last year. It made things go so much faster!

I had to fiddle with the appropriate thickness for the peeler blade, but once I got everything set correctly it was a little bit fun to use this tool.

First you just push the apple onto the three-pronged rod and spin the handle. The apple is then peeled, cored, and sliced all at the same time.

Then you just slide the finished apple away from the core.

The kids loved the sliced apples. Sarah kept calling them "yo-yo apples."

From that basket I ended up with 13 pints of applesauce. (In the back is some salsa that I'm fermenting for Shawn.)

Whooo, I am so glad that's done! I wish I would have taken a picture of my kitchen after the canning process was finished. It looked like a bomb had gone off. Just one of the reasons why I dislike the canning process, but really like the feeling after it's all said and done.

A Resource For Autism Information

2011-08-25T07:21:00.003-05:00

This morning I checked my email and had a request to make this online resource available to those that check my blog. I'm not a user of Twitter so I don't know how exactly this works, but I was impressed with the amount of links available and the descriptions of the links. I do hope that a visitor to my blog might find some help through this link:

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2011/08/24/60-essential-twitter-feeds-for-following-autism-education/

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

2011-08-24T17:28:00.005-05:00

Recently I read the book Surviving Off Off-Grid by Michael Bunker. In his book, Mr. Bunker urges readers to look at the benefits of living an agrarian life free from modern "conveniences." I especially liked that he used Scripture to point out why an agrarian lifestyle is pleasing to God.

I don't think anyone would be too surprised to find out that I'm drawn to an agrarian lifestyle. Perhaps I get that from my Dad. He farms. However, he farms for a living which includes things like combines and tractors that cost more than our house! I'm still interested in working the land, but on a much smaller scale than my Dad. I'm not looking to feed the entire world. I just want to produce enough from our land to feed our own family. I strive to be self-sufficient. For those reasons, it shouldn't be surprising that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I'm all set to start up a Christian Agrarian Separatist community now. Mr. Bunker's book is very motivating.

I just want to casually mention...the home closest to our property is for sale. Anyone want to buy it and help start up a Christian Agrarian Separatist community? We're good neighbors...I promise!

GAPS-Friendly Spanish Squash

2011-08-21T19:07:00.006-05:00

I recently stumbled across a yummy recipe on allrecipes.com. Of course I changed it up a little bit to fit our diet. We really liked it so I thought I'd share it today.

My version calls for:
2 pounds of ground beef
2-3 Tbsp. of fat (tallow or lard)
3 yellow squash, sliced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced (I also added 3 small sweet peppers from our garden this time.)
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
Sea salt and pepper to taste

1. In large skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef.

2. While beef is cooking, place fat in another large skillet. When fat is melted and hot, add squash, onion, and green pepper. Saute until tender. **See note below**

3. When vegetables are tender, add them to the ground beef. Then also add tomatoes and spices to ground beef.

4. Mix together and cook for 5-10 minutes until tomatoes are soft and everything is heated through.

**This can easily be a one-pot meal. It's not really necessary to cook the vegetables separately. The first time I made this I cooked everything together in one skillet. It still tasted great. However, the squash got very "smooshy" when it cooked with the beef. By cooking the vegetables in a separate skillet, the "smooshiness" is avoided.**

Enjoy!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday.
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/08/real-food-wednesday-8242011.html

Blogger Problems and a Response to Pam

2011-08-19T09:01:00.004-05:00

I have problems with Blogger. I can no longer edit previous posts. I can't even publish a post without first saving it as a draft and then publishing it from the "Saved Drafts" page. Also, I cannot respond in comments to anyone that has posted a comment to me. So...with all that said, I received an amazing comment from Pam in my previous post. Since I can't comment on my own posts for some reason I decided to make my comment to Pam its own separate post. Here's the comment from Pam:

Hi Janice,

What a fantastic coincidence. I'm visiting your blog to thank you for sharing your story and videos of your son Sam. I had learned about GAPS a few months before seeing your videos on Cheeseslave, but it wasn't until watching those videos and reading about your family's experience that I finally ordered the book.

Now we are on it as a family, and our 4 year old son, who has an autism diagnosis and seems(seemed) to share so many similarities with Sam, is emerging from the fog. He is 19 days on the diet. A month ago he wasn't conversational. Today he asked "why" questions, asked me how I was doing, shared and played with friends, told us all the things he wanted to do today, played with his younger sister, and kept us up to date on his feelings. And that was just today! We can get out of the car in a parking lot and not worry about him running off; he waits to hold our hands instead. The other day I noticed he was upset and when I told him he looked upset, he told me he was and what had upset him. He didn't tantrum. Instead, he showed self-control and expressed himself verbally. We still have a good ways to go, but my goodness, we are getting somewhere!

Even though we don't know you, we talk about you and Sam and how you have inspired us. Our family thanks you and Sam so much. Thank you for sharing your story and thank you for having the courage to never stop looking for answers.

God bless,
Pam

Pam...I am so happy that you are finally getting to know your son! Isn't this an amazing time!?! Seeing that much change in NINETEEN days! I'm so excited for your family.

Before starting GAPS I remember several times when I asked God why MY child had to be created with autistic traits. I remember having a breakdown at my friend's home because I was so overwhelmed dealing with Sam's meltdowns and antisocial behavior. I remember sobbing, "I don't even know my own son!" I couldn't understand why Shawn and I were chosen to parent this child...we were so underqualified. I never thought I would ever look back and actually be THANKFUL that Sam was created with all his difficulties. However, whenever I get comments or emails like yours, it makes me very proud. Instead of Sam's difficulties being a trial for our family, I now see them as a path to help many other families.

Thank you for your comment and thank you for sharing your son's healing with me. I would really like to keep in touch with you. Please keep me updated as your son continues to heal. I'm so excited for your family!

Take care,
Janice

Oh...on a sidenote...if anyone can tell me how to fix my Blogger issues, please let me know. I'm getting really frustrated with it!

An Awesome Email I Received

2011-08-14T13:52:00.002-05:00

I received this in my inbox today:

Hi Janice,

I wanted to thank you SO much for posting the videos of your son Sam before and after GAPS. When I saw the before ones they were so familiar to me especially the body movements and perseveration. I had previously thought there was no way we could do GAPS due to him having food allergies to about half of the approved foods. Your videos were so amazing that I read a little more on it, realized those allergies may heal and started the next morning. I really did, :) I knew about making broth as something we had done in moderation in addition to so many other things to try and heal him. Other than that I had no idea what I was doing and stayed up late every night cooking and trying to figure it out until my book arrived. On the 2nd day, my son woke up a completely different child. No sensory issues, no hyperactivity, talking calmly and having 2 way conversation. It has been 12 weeks now and he is so much improved that nearly everyone notices the difference. We still have a long road to healing but I am so hopeful that he will fully recover.

Even better, I shared my journey on an online community called Gentle Christian Mothers and to date about 20 other families most from that board but several I knew elsewhere have started their journeys to healing on GAPS!!!!! From so many things, autism, food allergies, autoimmune disorders.... the list is just endless. So thank you from all of us for sharing your journey so that others can find healing. I often wonder how Sam is doing and hope that you post an update soon.

Amy

This message from Amy gave me happy tears. I love hearing that other parents have taken this diet seriously and seen healing in their children. Like Amy said, the GAPS diet can be helpful in resolving so many different health problems. I'm glad Sam's videos have been helpful to others. Oh...and I promise to get another Sam-post up soon. I should take some more video of him...

Homestead Happenings

2011-08-10T08:58:00.017-05:00

Recently our family met a wonderful couple at the Farmers Market. They were nice enough to invite us out to their homestead so the children could visit with their sheep and goats. We had a great time. It's so nice to find like-minded individuals that live so close! They're interested in organizing a group of locals that desire to live self-sufficiently and sustainably. It would be so, SO nice to have that resource available locally.

Also, we recently discovered that we have Passion Fruit (sometimes called Maypops) growing on our property. Shawn found this unripe fruit when he was out mowing trails. I love finding wild edibles on our property! Of course the fruit is edible, but I've also read that the leaves and vine make a great tea.

Finally, we've been **cough** fortunate to have acquired another kitten. Apparently someone dumped the little thing off at our gate. Also, we're not certain if it can walk or not since Sarah has decided it must be carried around everywhere she goes. So, this now brings our kitten-count up to seven. Anybody want a kitten..or two?

Oops, I Almost Forgot!

2011-07-31T12:20:00.003-05:00

(Blogger's not acting right and won't let me edit the previous post, so I have to add this in on a post by itself.)

Shawn butchered two of our roosters all by himself. Even though he's helped others with butchering, this is the first time that he butchered any of our own flock. I was able to use the feet to make super-nutritious gelatin-filled chicken stock. The kids got a kick out of eating "Rooster Soup" for several days after the butchering.

Now scroll on down and read the rest of what we've been up to the past two months!

So, It's Been Almost TWO Months!!

2011-07-31T11:03:00.010-05:00

I bet you thought we'd gone into the Witness Protection Program or something, huh? Actually, I've just been really overwhelmed lately. Who'd have thought that homesteading would be difficult with a 6 year old, 4 year old, 2 year old, and newborn?

I'll just give a synopsis of what's been going on around the homestead.

We have a new baby chick!

The pears are being harvested. (This is just what could be reached on ONE tree. We still have to pick the top of that tree and another tree.) Looks like I'll be canning and dehydrating a lot next week.

Shortly after David was born I dehydrated 2 quarts of cherries from our cherry trees. We're also starting to get apples from our trees. I harvested the peaches, but we dealt with brown rot again this year, so I was only able to harvest about 25 peaches. I've got to figure out how to eliminate brown rot.

We have rabbits that need to be butchered starting next week.

Shawn has set up the first of our water collection barrels.

And he just recently got our outhouse completed.

We also managed to obtain a nice collection of old farm tools.

On the not-so-great end of things...Shawn now has his first experience with poison ivy. He says that he used to be able to roll in the stuff and not get a rash, but this week he developed his first rash. Apparently he got into some while clearing out the weeds near the barn while he put in the water collection barrel. Also, we recently purchased a 55" LCD flat-screen TV....but not for us. While visiting my parents, Shawn was attempting to show Sam how to work their Wii game. Since neither Shawn nor Sam have any experience with the gaming system, they managed to actually hit Mom and Dad's TV with the controller. After doing research online we now know more than we ever wanted to about the TV's very fragile liquid crystals and that Wii's wriststraps are there as a safety feature. We've also learned that our family is just not cut out for fancy gaming systems or electronics.

So, next week we'll be busy butchering rabbits, preserving pears, and putting in the Fall garden. We'll also be starting to homeschool the kids starting tomorrow. Always something to do...

I'll end the post with pictures of some cute kids!

David's Homebirth Story

2011-06-06T15:09:00.004-05:00

I want to say up front that I absolutely love birth stories. The process that God designed for a baby to enter this world just enthralls me. So needless to say, when it's MY CHILD'S birth story, I go a little over the top. So here's your warning...if you can't handle the nitty-gritty details of the birth process, stop reading now. I'm going to share the good, the bad, and the ugly of the amazing birth of David Jacob.

On Tuesday evening (May 31st) I was getting ready for bed. It was around 10pm and I went potty one last time before crawling into bed. However, this time was a bit different because on the toilet paper I noticed a little bit of light pink coloring. I've heard of "bloody show" before, but never experienced it with any of the other three children. I knew that this might mean something, but didn't want to get my hopes up. My official due date was still several days off (June 4th) and I tend to go over. So, the thought of me actually delivering early wasn't taken too seriously.

However, the next morning I went to the bathroom again and noticed even more distinct redness on the toilet paper. I went about our usual morning routine. I got the kids up and dressed and started making breakfast. I was having some contractions, but that wasn't unusual. I'd been having daily sporadic contractions for quite some time. I did, however, start to write down the frequency of the contractions at 8:17am. They were averaging about 15 minutes apart. I called the midwife to let her know what was happening and she said that these contractions could taper off just like all the others had, but to keep her informed since I'd had the little bit of bloody show.

By 10am the contractions were still coming on and they had changed to being every 10 minutes apart. I'd never had regular contractions continue for several hours, so Shawn and I started to really think today might be the day. I sent him into town to get a few last minute groceries that would be needed just in case baby did decide to come. At noon the contractions were coming every 7-9 minutes. They still weren't very strong contractions. They certainly didn't keep me from doing things around the house and taking care of the kids. They were noticable, but that's about it.

We put the kids down for a nap at 1:00 and I phoned the midwife again. She urged me to take a nap while I had the chance and call her to check back in after naptime. So, around 1:30 I laid down for my nap. I did try to doze off, but the contractions would come around just about the time that I would start to fall asleep. So, I laid there having non-painful contractions every 7-9 minutes. I was having another of these contractions at 2:10pm when suddenly my water broke. I vaulted out of the bed, grabbed the phone, and raced to the bathroom. As I sat on the toilet I called the midwife and exclaimed, "I think my water just broke!" She told me to stay calm and she would be heading our way shortly. She advised me to lay back down on my left side and wait for her to arrive. Of course Shawn was outside dealing with the animals so I made my way to the garage and proceeded to yell at him until he came running back to the house. He helped me change out the sheets on the bed then I crawled back in and began to wait on the midwife.

This was an entirely new experience for me. With the other three children, I had always had my water artificially ruptured in the hospital after being induced. As I laid there in bed I kept waiting for the first serious contractions to occur. I was concerned that the baby would be born before the midwife could make the hour long drive to our farm. My heart was racing, so I called my friend Amanda to tell her the news. She offered to come get the children and, after discussing it with Shawn, we decided that we would really appreciate that. Fortunately, I only had 2-3 extremely mild contractions before the midwife arrived at 3:30pm.

Once the midwife arrived and Amanda left with the children, my contractions picked back up to what they had been prior to my water breaking. I really believe that my body stopped the labor process until the midwife arrived and the children were gone. Once everyone was where they were supposed to be, I was ok with proceeding with the birth. The midwife confirmed that the amniotic fluid was clear, so we didn't have any worries about the baby passing meconium. She also checked the baby's heart rate and declared that everything looked and sounded great.

At 4:14pm I started timing contractions again at 7-9 minutes apart. The midwife urged me to keep myself busy with normal activities. So, I started a load of laundry, cleaned the living room and dining room, and went about preparing supper. Contractions slowly came more closely together so that by 6:00pm they were 4-5 minutes apart and starting to demand my attention. Whenever a contraction came I would have to stop my activity and breathe my way through it. At 6:30pm I had supper ready. We started to eat but I couldn't stand to sit down so I stood at the kitchen table and ate baked chicken, boiled carrots, and steamed broccoli for supper. During supper the contractions were coming 3-4 minutes apart.

Throughout the afternoon I had been writing down each contraction in my household binder where I keep my weekly to-do list. The dining room table is on one end of the room and the counter with my binder was on the other end of the room. At 6:45pm I had another strong contraction and finally said, "You know, I just don't feel like walking to the counter to write that one down." The midwife chuckled a little bit and said, "Janice I think we've established that you're really in labor. You don't have to write each one down anymore unless it helps you somehow." She urged me to try to empty my bladder and then we could check the baby's heart rate again. (It still amazes me that I was holding a new baby a mere 13 minutes after this conversation.)

I made my way to the bathroom and closed the door. As soon as I sat down on the toilet there was an immediate change in pain level. Apparently I started making noises that caused Shawn to rush into the bathroom. I had involuntarily started pushing. When Shawn and the midwife came into the bathroom I was paralyzed on the toilet. I was having an extremely strong contraction and couldn't force my body to stand up. All I could do was PUSH. I'm pretty sure I was hollering something like, "God help me!" and "I can't do this!"

After that contractions passed, Shawn and the midwife helped me walk into the bedroom. My mind was still not functioning (which is normal for me during transition) so I was more-or-less brain numb at this point. They got me to the edge of the bed and Shawn sat on the bed to physically support me from behind. The midwife had me reach down and feel the inch or two of baby head that was protruding out of me. This really reassured me because even my pain-numbed brain was able to process that the baby would be coming out soon and the pain would be ending soon. The midwife turned to grab a tablecloth for the floor at the same time that I screamed, "It's head is out!" This is the first delivery where I was actually able to see the baby's head emerge. The on-the-back position at the hospital didn't make it easy for me to see a baby being born, but this semi-standing position definitely gave me a better perspective. The midwife spread the tablecloth on the floor and caught David's body within moments of one another. All of this happened less than five minutes after I walked into the bathroom. I was immediately able to lay back and relax on the bed while holding my newborn son. The placenta emerged a short nine minutes after David arrived. David was latched on and nursing 17 minutes after his arrival.

I had very little blood loss and only a slight little tear that didn't require stitches. The recovery from this delivery isn't even comparable to the other deliveries. I flat out feel good!

David is now five days old and still doing very well. He does have his days and nights mixed up, so we're not getting a lot of sleep. The kids are being so sweet and gentle with him..even Andrew, who I was worried might be jealous.

So, that's David's birth story. I'm definitely a homebirth convert for sure now!

It's A Boy!!

2011-06-06T15:00:00.008-05:00

I'm finally getting around to announcing the arrival of David Jacob. David arrived on Wednesday, June 1st at 6:58pm. He weighed 7lbs. 14oz. and was 21-1/4 inches long. He is perfect and wonderfully healthy. I'm bouncing back rather quickly too.

I do hope to get his homebirth story posted soon. It was an absolutely amazing experience that I can't wait to share.

My Interview On Blog Talk Radio

2011-05-14T14:57:00.004-05:00

Today I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Starlene Stewart. Starlene has an online radio program about the GAPS diet. Several weeks ago she asked me to be a guest on her show and today was the big interview day. I was so nervous at first, but Starlene is very easy to talk to, so my anxiety disappeared pretty quickly.

Here's the link to the interview. It's right at an hour long.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gapsjourney/2011/05/14/janice--son-with-autism-healing-with-gaps-diet-1

Starlene is also doing GAPS. Her blog documenting her journey can be found at:
http://gapsdietjourney.com/

Got Raw Milk?...Then Prepare to be Raided!

2011-05-01T18:36:00.001-05:00

The government has always targeted people who value independence. Gun owners, homeschoolers, midwives, certain religions and similar groups represent people who reject the notion that the government should dictate every decision of our lives. In the past few years, a new target of their hatred of independence has emerged…..the organic dairy farmer. The term “milk raid” is now part of the American lexicon. Both farmers and consumers of unpasteurized milk (the milk EVERYONE drank until a few decades ago) now must live in constant fear of harassment, searches, seizure of property and arrest.

While it is impossible to know how many people fall victim to these raids each year, here is a list of some publicized dairy raids:

Spring 2004 – Organic Pastures Dairy Company – FDA raid seized customer records

March 2006 – Cincinnati, Ohio – Ohio Dept of Agriculture raids a parking lot where participants in a cow share program were raided, leading one member to be hospitalized for post-traumatic stress disorder

October 2006 – Michigan – 453 gallons of milk, $7000 worth of kefir and butter, personal cell phone and wallet of Richard Hebron was seized on Interstate 94 by Michigan Dept of Agriculture agents

August 2007 – Pennsylvania – Mennonite dairy farm raided seizing $25,000 worth of dairy products and equipment

2007 – California – customers of Organic Pastures Dairy recruited by FDA to wear wire taps to catch Mark McAfee selling unpasteurized dairy pet food

April 2008 – Pennsylvania – Second raid of Mennonite dairy farmer Mark Nolt

December 2008 – New York – Meadowsweet Dairy raided

December 2008 – Ohio – Stowers family farm raided by SWAT team, wife and small children held at gunpoint for several hours, the father was serving in Iraq at the time

April 2009 – Missouri – Sting operation by Greene County Health Department against Bechard family for selling raw milk

October 2009 – Georgia – 110 gallons of milk seized by Georgia Department of Agriculture while being delivered to customers

March 2010 – Wisconsin – Max Kane ordered by Justice Department to surrender customer and financial records concerning cow share program

April 2010 – Pennsylvania – FDA raid at 5 a.m. of dairy farm for having “too many cows” to provide milk for his own family

May 2010 – Minnesota – Minnesota Department of Agriculture raids Hartmann family of Gibbon for selling raw milk

May-June 2010 – Wisconsin – Vernon Hershberger’s dairy farm raided 3 times by agents of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, confiscating his computer and business records

June 2010 – California - Heavily armed raid of a private organic food buying club (caught on surveillance tape and available on YouTube)

June 2010 – Minnesota – Rae Lynn Sandvig’s home was raided by 7 Minnesota Department of Agriculture agents on suspicion of “distributing milk” - her neighbors were threatened by agents

June 2010 – California – Sharon Palmer raided for the third time

August 2010 – Missouri – Morningland Dairy of Mountain View raided resulting in the loss of 68,957 pounds of cheese

March 2011 – Minnesota – Alvin Schlanger arrested by St. Paul police and vehicle seized for dropping off dairy to customers

April 2011 –Pennsylvania - After a year-long sting operation, an Amish farm is raided for selling raw milk

Notice that these dairy raids are becoming more frequent and increasingly involve the use of SWAT teams. It is only a matter of time until someone is killed in these needless raids. The FDA reminds me of the ATF under Clinton, who raided and killed gun owners to promote a political agenda. Organic dairy is the latest enemy of the bureaucrats. A soon to be released documentary deals with this issue: http://farmageddonmovie.com/

The government controls virtually every aspect of our lives. They are now attempting to control what we choose to eat, even grow on our own property. The government even controls our churches who have agreed not to mention political issues from the pulpit in exchange for a tax free status. Jesus and the Apostles were imprisoned and/or killed for refusing to be silenced. Where is such courage today by our churches?

The government controls how we raise and educate our children, our religious sermons, the weapons we own, our health care choices, how much income we are allowed to keep, what we possess during public travel and now what food we are allowed to consume. If something doesn’t change dramatically and quickly, any hope for freedom for our children and grand-children will be lost forever.

I Think We're Getting A Reputation

2011-04-22T21:39:00.003-05:00

So we've lived here on our homestead for a year and four months...and apparently that's long enough to where people have started remembering us.

The first instance occurred when Shawn called Sears to set up an appointment to have his lawn mower serviced. The guy on the phone asked for directions to our property. Shawn started giving them and was promptly interrupted when the Sears guy said, "Oh yeah, I remember, you're the gun people!"

The second instance was with the UPS delivery guy. Not too long ago he made the comment that, "It doesn't matter when I show up here, you and your wife always have a gun on."

So apparently we're the gun-toting homesteaders.

I was telling these stories to family recently and my cousin got tickled when I explained that I've been having trouble wearing my gun belt lately because of my belly getting too big. I went on to say that I've let my gun belt out about as far as it would go and I think I'm nearing the end of being able to put it on. Apparently my cousin thought the mental picture of short, very pregnant Janice chasing children and chickens while wearing a Smith & Wesson model 66 .357 magnum was funny. So, instead of leaving him with the mental picture, I thought I'd just show him the real thing.

Here I am in all my very pregnant, gun-toting glory:

Now some of you may be wondering, "Why on earth is she carrying a handgun around all the time? Is she expecting some sort of trouble?" Well, of course I'm not expecting any trouble. If I were, I'd be carrying my rifle. Silly people...

In Case You Missed It..My Interview with Cheeseslave

2011-03-18T16:09:00.004-05:00

Even though this happened a month ago, I never did get around to linking it up from my blog. So, in case some haven't already seen it, I wanted to post about my interview with Cheeseslave.

After seeing Sam's videos on my blog, Ann Marie from the Cheeseslave blog asked to interview me. I agreed and here is the resulting post from her blog:

http://www.cheeseslave.com/2011/02/16/autism-recovery-with-the-gaps-diet-one-mothers-story/

The response from that post was phenomenal. My little blog had visitors from all over the world. I went from averaging 20 visitors a day to over 1300 a day. Since then I've discovered Sam's story being linked up on numerous other websites, including some in other languages!

The most amazing part of the entire ordeal was reading the comments from those that found hope in seeing Sam's videos. I think it's very easy to brush off someone's claims that a dietary change can effect neurological function, but actually SEEING change on video really makes a statement that's harder to refute.

Finding the GAPS diet has been such a blessing to our family. Being able to share our experience with others only blessed our family further. Thank you to Cheeseslave for getting our story out to a wider audience and thank you to the many other bloggers/facebookers (is that a word?) that have shared Sam's story online.

Our First Walk of 2011

2011-03-17T19:59:00.010-05:00

We love walking around our property and this evening was the first time this year that the weather's been nice enough to do it.

First we made our way out to the pond. We were amazed at how full it looked. Late last fall when we came out here last the pond was horribly low due to drought.

Water was flowing from the springs and the creeks were full. Just like the pond, this is a sight we hadn't seen for a long time because of last summer's drought.

The kids enjoyed getting to explore the woods once again.

Cat enjoyed himself also.

Andrew lagged behind everyone else because he was busy picking up every acorn he could find on the ground.

The kids have loved having Shawn home from work this week.

Changes Around Here

2011-03-17T14:52:00.008-05:00

Hi all! Spring seems like it might really, truly be here finally. It's 75 degrees and windy today...wonderful! The daffodils are blooming, the Bradford pear trees are trying to bud out, and the roses are showing the first signs of life. Shawn has been busy around the property lately. He's been doing what projects he can with the weather being dreary and cool. Here's what he's been up to:

Shawn has been busy building rabbit cages. Earlier this week he was able to finally go get our rabbits. We now have two does and a buck. They're New Zealand rabbits that are supposed to be especially good for meat production. One of the does may already be expecting, so we may have our first litter in early April. The kids are excited to have huge rabbits and I'm excited to have a supplemental meat source!

Shawn's also been busy expanding our garden. He took advantage of the soft ground this week to put in new posts for the expanded garden. We now have a garden that is 70 feet by 80 feet. Today it was finally dry enough that he was able to till it up a bit. I told Shawn that the garden looks great, but now all we have to do is plant it, water it, weed it, harvest it, and preserve it!

In other news, we're getting about 14 eggs a day out of our 18 hens. I'm researching what to do with grape vines that have been nearly abandoned for years. I don't have a clue how to go about pruning vines that are out of control. I'm in my third trimester of pregnancy now. The baby moves around all the time. According to my pregnancy books, the baby should be around 3 pounds at this point. We're branching into uncharted territory in the garden this year. I've ordered seeds for peanuts and a variety of herbs to put in a culinary and medicinal herb garden. We're also going to attempt to grow corn and sunflowers to supplement our animal feed.

Big plans...now let's just see if we can keep up with them!

Reducing the Electric Bill

2011-02-10T10:33:00.006-06:00

Now that we've been in our home for a year I am able to go back and compare electric bills. Last year, our electric bill due in February was our first full month's bill out on our homestead. Last year that bill was $259.43. When we received this year's bill due in February, the total was only $124.21. That's a difference of $135.22!!!!!

Needless to say, I was absolutely giddy to see the reduced amount. Especially since, last year at this time, we were freezing inside our home and this year we're been cozy and warm through the winter.

The first change we made to increase our home's energy efficiency was to have more insulation put in our attic. Early last summer we realized that there were spots in the attic that had ZERO insulation in them. So, we remedied that as soon as we were able. Then, in the fall, we invested in some custom-made insulated curtains for the south side of our earth-berm home. Just using these two improvements helped a lot because we were able to live comfortably in our home without any heat source until the latter part of fall. When we finally did have to have heat, we used our woodstove. This time last year, we were just moved in and we relied solely on the central heat for the majority of the winter. I cannot explain to you the difference between heating our home using central heat versus wood heat. Despite having vents in every room of the house, the central heat could run constantly and never get the chill out of the air. On the other hand, when we use our wood stove (which is in the kitchen at the opposite end of the house from the bedrooms), the entire house has a warm cozy feel to it. It makes no sense to me that the woodstove can keep the bedrooms at the other end of the house warmer than heating vents can.

We don't use the woodstove during the daytime. I think that our home is now well-insulated enough that the residual heat from overnight use, combined with the sunlight coming in the southern windows, keeps our home a cozy 70 degrees in the daytime. See all the sunlight coming in those windows! It's currently 15 degrees outside with a couple inches of snow on the ground, but the sunlight makes it so nice and warm inside. Our thermostat is showing that it's 73 degrees inside!

When Shawn comes home from work in the evenings he loads up the woodstove and we use it through the night. I've also stopped using our clothes dryer for the most part. I've started doing laundry in the evenings and setting up our dryer racks overnight so the clothes can dry in front of the woodstove. In the morning the clothes are usually dry.

All of these changes have really added up and I'm so happy with the investments we've made in our home. After being really disappointed in our earth-berm home last winter, I can now say that I am thrilled with the savings we're now seeing!

Making Vanilla Extract

2011-02-09T13:58:00.007-06:00

Today I was due to make some more vanilla extract, so I thought I would share the process with those that are unfamiliar with it. I've made vanilla extract in the past, but I needed to make a new batch that matched up with our GAPS diet.

I began making our vanilla extract back when we took corn syrup out of our diet. The vanilla extract that I had been using contained corn syrup so, instead of searching for one that was pure, I decided to just make my own. It's really a simple process that takes very little time. The lengthy part is waiting for it to be ready to use.

I started off by purchasing a 750 mL bottle of vodka and 1 oz. vanilla beans. I'm not particular about the type of vodka I purchase, but I do like to get good vanilla beans. I purchased my beans through Mountain Rose Herbs.

I opened the vodka and poured out a bit of the liquid so I would have plenty of room for the beans.

Then, using kithcen scissors, I took each of the vanilla beans and cut them in half down the length of the bean. I left about an inch or so intact at the top of the bean. Then I placed each bean in the bottle of alcohol.

After all the beans were placed in the bottle, I poured in some of the liquid that I had previously removed. Of course, not all of it would fit, but most of it did. Then I placed a label on the bottle showing the date that I started the extract and the date I expected it to be ready for use.

I like to let my extract sit for two months before using it. I just sit it up in a cabinet and give it a little shake every so often when I open up the cabinet and see it sitting there.

Here is the newly made vodka-based vanilla extract next to a rum-based vanilla extract that I made back in August. (Rum isn't allowed on GAPS..that's why I needed to make a vodka version.) The extract will take on a dark color over time, so eventually my vodka-based extract will look like what the rum-based one does now.

Anyhow, that's all it takes. It's really easy to make your own vanilla extract and then you don't have to worry about any hidden "badness" in there.

An Autism Improvement on Video

2011-02-05T16:25:00.011-06:00

Hello strangers! Yes, our family is still in existence! Blogging has taken a back seat for a while. For the last month, our family has been strictly following the GAPS diet in an attempt to heal Sam of autism. It's very time-intensive, but very worth it in my opinion. Today I was looking back through old pictures and found some videos that I had taken a year ago. In those videos Sam had a lot of difficulty controlling his body. He couldn't focus well enough to answer simple questions. Then I took a video from today. I think the change in one year is pretty substantial.

Here are several of the videos from February 2010. In the first video, I was trying to get the kids to send a Valentine's message to Grandma Colette, but Sam was too excited to participate. When he watched the video today he just kept giggling at himself. I asked him why he was laughing and he said, "Because I'm clapping funny!" I then asked him why he was clapping funny in the video and he replied, "Because I was excited!"

And, finally, here's the one from today. There's been so much improvement in his ability to have a conversation and his ability to control his body better. He's certainly not healed of autism, but I'm so proud of how far we've come. Notice at the end of the video that he finally sends a message to Grandma Colette that I was trying to accomplish in the video from a year ago.

During the time of the videos from last year (February 2010), our diet was about 70-80% Weston Price. I was really just starting to feel comfortable soaking grains. We ate a lot of potatoes and corn and rice and oats. I baked a lot using soaked wheat for bread, pizza crusts, tortillas, muffins, pancakes, etc. The kids loved to snack on fruit and homemade yogurt with honey and berries. In April 2010 we went gluten-free. I did notice an improvement in Sam's social behavior at that time. He seemed to show more interest in playing with other children. However, he still didn't seem to understand exactly how other children played together. Unfortunately, that change didn't seem to last because I noticed a regression despite maintaining a gluten-free diet.

In October 2010 we went straight into the Full GAPS diet and stayed on it for 8 weeks. During that time I noticed a few small changes, but nothing that jumped out at me. At that time I couldn't justify limiting our diet for the miniscule changes that I saw, so in December 2010 I took us back to a gluten-free Weston Price diet. We were on that diet for almost a month and it was the most miserable month that I've had in a LONG time. Sam's behavior was awful. He lost control of his body. The humming and hand flapping and clapping escalated. He even started biting the other children, which had never happened before. Apparently Full GAPS had been helping, but I didn't realize it until we had abandoned it.

So, in desperation, our family started doing the GAPS Introduction diet on January 10, 2011. We've now been on the Intro diet for 4 weeks. You can see the improvement in the last video. Sam still has moments of humming and clapping when he gets really excited. He will occasionally have a meltdown over something insignificant but those instance have dramatically decreased. Before starting Intro, Sam would wake up at 5am every morning and lay in his bed for hours humming and clapping. I would have to get up several times and tell him to quiet down so he didn't wake the other children. Starting on Day 2 of GAPS Intro, Sam's room has been blessedly quiet in the mornings. He sleeps more soundly, often until 7am. His body is now capable of being still.

So, needless to say, I am IMMENSELY pleased with the outcome of doing the GAPS Intro diet. If, after only 4 weeks, we've seen this much change..what can we expect after four months on the diet? I am just amazed that all of this is possible simply by eating foods that God created.

This post has been linked to Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop!
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/02/real-food-wednesday-2911.html

It's Coming

2010-12-22T21:22:00.004-06:00

(Lately I've been totally uninterested in blogging. This is largely due to the third subject that Shawn covers in the following post. Basically, I just don't want to give Big Brother anything to read, even if my teeny little blog is considered small potatoes. Anyhow, so no one believes that I've abandoned the blog, my dear husband has decided to write up the latest post. So, here you go... - Janice)

Over the past two years, we have watched the federal government grow in power at an astonishing rate. I was going to begin this post with a brief overview of some of the things the federal government has taken over, but the list became too lengthy. Let’s be honest, if you’re not aware by now of this radical shift in federal power, I doubt you’re bothering to read a blog post about it. So while I preach to the choir, we know that the federal government is becoming more powerful each day.

Over the past few weeks, Obama’s agenda has shifted into hyper-overdrive. For example:

TSA Gestapo
Airline passengers are being subjected to what can only be described as a sexual assault by TSA agents. By the way, did you know that TSA agents have NEVER caught a single terrorist in 8 years? They refuse to profile young Muslim males with ties to terrorist supporting countries, but insist that fondling the breasts of 85-year-old grandmothers and viewing nude images of 12-year-old girls will keep us safe. It is all to condition us to agree to be mistreated, and it is working.

Nuclear Disarmament
The START Treaty is nothing more than the implementation of what Obama promised during his campaign, that he would work to eliminate our nuclear weapons. This treaty will, of course, be completely ignored by our enemies, while we foolishly begin eliminating our weapons. This is as absurd as a police department signing a treaty with a local drug gang to eliminate various weapons carried by police if the criminals promise to do the same. Don’t forget, it was Obama who stated during a debate that he would never use nuclear weapons, even if we were attacked by nukes.

FCC Seizure of the Internet
Obama appointees declared that the Federal Communications Commission now has regulatory authority over the Internet. Just like that, suddenly the Internet is viewed the same as television and radio, all subject to government approval. So called “net neutrality” will give the government control of search engine results, the content of websites and power over internet service providers. Libertarian and conservative oriented people have used the web to share information and exchange ideas for years due to the left-wing dominance of most other media outlets. This is exactly why they are taking it over. How soon before blogs like this one be removed by the FCC?

Controlling Your Food
The Food Safety Modernization Act gives the FDA unprecedented powers to control every aspect of food production in this country. The seeds you plant, the use of chemicals and fertilizers, how food is grown, what foods are allowed to be consumed, the sale of foods, how animals are raised, etc… are now under the control of the federal government. This is a huge threat to organic, home-based farms and natural foods. See the following link and watch the video: http://farmageddonmovie.com/
I fear that the next “Waco” type incident will occur during a food raid. The aggressiveness of the SWAT-style food raids introduces violence into a non-violent situation.

Radicalization of our Military
Perhaps the greatest challenge to a potential left-wing dictator rising to power in the United States has been the traditionally conservative U.S. Military. Obama has implemented what I predict will be a successful plan to quickly transition our military into a primarily left-wing organization. The allowance of openly homosexual people in the military will do two things almost immediately, reduce the number of conservative minded recruits which have traditionally joined the military and dramatically increase the number of homosexuals who join the military. I can see joining the military becoming an “in thing” for gays, as they quickly begin dominating our armed forces. Obama then has a military force that shares his radical views.

ATF Preparing to Ban/Seize Semi-Auto Firearms
The ATF is now tracking the sale of semi-automatic firearms with a detachable magazine. The ATF not only requests this information for the future, but also on sales of such weapons over the past 10 years. They are making a list of Americans who owns these firearms. We all know what they intend to do with that list. By the way, this announcement came within weeks of Obama appointing radical anti-gunner Andrew Traver as the next director of the ATF.

These are things that have occurred within the past few weeks. For those who believe the new Congress will stop this, I have news for you, they can’t. The Republicans don’t have the votes to override a Presidential veto and most of Obama’s agenda will be carried out through executive orders and administrative actions by agency appointees. The things we have feared the most are here and/or coming soon. Are you prepared?

A quick word of caution…before discussing these things with acquaintances, keep in mind that 52.9% of the people who live and work around you voted for these things to happen. Be careful who you speak to, we live in a dangerous time.

Comfy Cozy

2010-11-29T15:17:00.008-06:00

"Comfy Cozy" is what the kids say when we put them in their warm pajamas. That's exactly how I'm feeling today, comfy cozy.

This is what it looks like outside.

(Yes, these pictures are taken through my living room window. I'm not going outside today if I can help it.)

Despite the yuckiness outside, this is what it's like inside my home. This is the reason I feel comfy cozy today.

I've closed up my thermal curtains to block out the cold, rainy outside. There's a nice warm fire going in the woodstove. Of course, the Christmas tree makes my home feel more cozy too. I'm just really content today. I'm loving the provisions God has given us and wanted to share.

If you're experiencing a dismal rainy day today too, I hope you're in a comfy cozy spot as well.

A Sarah Funny

2010-11-20T19:27:00.003-06:00

This evening Sarah was rummaging through the cabinets while I was working in the kitchen. She was asking questions and I was half-listening because I was busy working. So, when she held up a platter and asked, "Mommy, what's this for?" I quickly answered, "Oh, that's for deviled eggs."

She got real quiet then.

Finally she looked up at me and whispered, "Mommy...why do you make them for the devil?"

Living In An Energy-Efficient Earth-Berm Home

2010-11-18T06:24:00.004-06:00

When we moved to our homestead this past December, we really didn't know what to do with our earth-berm home. We knew that it was supposed to be more energy-efficient, but we had no clue how to make it energy-efficient. We thought we would just move in and see tiny electric bills from that day forward. We were so disappointed when, last winter, we simply could not keep this house warm. I was miserable. I would get out of the shower and almost freeze to death before I could get dressed.

Since then, we've discovered that our attic insulation was very sporadic. So, late this summer we had more insulation put in. We also recently added thermal curtains to most of the windows on the south side of the house. (The north, east, and west sides of the home are built into the ground, so if there are windows, they are the small "basement" type.)

I'm pleased to say that, with the improvements that we made this year, we just recently turned on our heat for the first time two days ago, on Tuesday November 16th. Now, I never really paid attention to when we turned our heat on for the first time in our old home, but I'm pretty certain that it was well before mid-November. I've also been comparing our electric bills from our old home. I was pleased to see that this month's electric bill was $78.19 compared to this time last year at our old home at $102.41. Figured into our $78 bill now is an outdoor light with a $8+ dollar monthly fee that we didn't pay for at our old home. So, I'm pleased to be seeing a savings so far and I'm looking forward to this winter to compare last winter's bills. However, our goal is to be totally independent of the central heat at some point. We'd like to solely heat with our wood stove as we gain more experience with it and Shawn gets a larger stockpile of firewood cut.

It's also taken some time to figure out how to "work" our earth-berm home. I discovered that, in the summer, I needed to open the windows as soon as the sun went down and the temperature dropped. Then, in the mornings I needed to close all the windows and curtains in order to keep the cool air trapped inside our home. It did make a difference, and fortunately, with our skylights and small northern windows, we still had enough light entering that we didn't have to use the electric lights too often. I will admit that I wasn't excited about this plan because I didn't want to feel like I was living in a cave for the entire summer's daylight hours. However, I discovered that I really spent very little time inside in the summertime. There's way too much stuff to do outside in the garden and orchard at that time of the year. So, coming inside to a cool, relatively dark home was kind of nice.

In the winter, I will need to do the opposite. In the mornings once the sun comes up, I open the south-facing curtains to let the sunlight come in. Doing this helps the house to heat up. In the evenings I close all the curtains up and the heat from the sun is trapped in here to help keep us warm through the night.

So far, things seem to be working well. Granted it's only November. I guess the real test will be February when it's bitter cold, but I'm optimistic.

A Work In Progress

2010-11-14T13:14:00.002-06:00

I'm not a very patient person. Here's yet another way in which God is trying to teach me patience. Now that the weather has turned cooler, Shawn and I have started focusing on fixing up the inside of the house. Up until this point, we've spent most of our energy working out in the garden, orchard, and root cellar since the weather's been so nice.

This bathroom is our current work in progress. It's coming along little by little, but not quick enough for this impatient woman. I don't like it when things are halfway-done. Since we have to make improvements as funds become available, I'm just going to have to get used to this eclectic bathroom combination. We have the lovely purple wallpaper border and blue bathtub/shower from the home's previous owners combined with the yellow and blue ducky decor from our old home added to the new tan/cream flooring and green cabinets that we've just added since moving in.

On the to-do list is to remove the wallpaper border then paint the walls a tan color that has a hint of brown in it. Then I want to stain the closet door to match the wood trim. I plan on getting an oversized shower curtain that will totally hide the blue bathtub/shower until eventually we're able to replace it with a neutral colored one.

I think it'll look nice when everything is eventually done. I just have to learn patience in the meantime I guess. I don't like learning patience.

Exceptions To "Store What You Eat & Eat What You Store"

2010-11-11T10:00:00.004-06:00

Shawn and I have approached our Emergency Preparedness by following the above idea.."store what you eat and eat what you store." Basically, what this means is that you only store up the items that your family consumes on a regular basis. Then you rotate through the oldest of your stores while replenishing what's been used with newer product. For example, there's no point in stockpiling mass quantities of canned beets if no one in your family is going to consume them unless they're actually starving..but, if your family does like to eat canned peas, then stock up on those and rotate through by earliest expiration date.

Recently, Shawn and I were able to attend a Survival & Emergency Preparedness Expo. It was a wonderful event that allowed us the opportunity to mingle with like-minded individuals that understand the importance of being prepared. At that event I was able to see that Shawn and I had followed "store what you eat and eat what you store" to a point where we were lacking items that would be beneficial in an emergency situation.

You see, our lifestyle is different than most. We don't use a lot of products that typical families do. Our food choices are different. Our cleaning supplies are different. Our way of treating illness is different.

After thinking this over a bit, I've decided that we needed to add some things to our inventory. Bleach, for instance, is never used in our home. However, in an emergency situation I can see the benefit of having it. Over-the-counter children's medicines that we avoid because of the artificial colors and flavors could be invaluable in an emergency situation when a doctor isn't available and herbal remedies weren't effective. Canned vegetables are used very, very rarely in this home, but I think the importance of having them in an emergency situation is pretty obvious.

So, I'm putting this out there to get everyone to think about their own individual situations. Are there things missing from your household that you would wish you had in an emergency situation?

Sam's First Lost Tooth

2010-11-11T06:44:00.003-06:00

After what seemed like forever, Sam's tooth finally fell out while he was eating an apple. He's not one to wiggle and pull and jiggle the loose tooth until it falls out. He really doesn't pay any attention to the loose tooth at all. He simply adjusts his chewing to the side so it doesn't bother him and moves on with life. So, needless to say, when his baby tooth did finally fall out, its replacement was well on its way to being fully in!

Here is Sam showing off the crater left by his baby tooth and his new big boy tooth that came in behind it.

A Walk In The Woods To See The Toilet Tree

2010-11-11T06:31:00.011-06:00

Ok...I'm guilty of playing catch-up again. Here are some pictures of a family walk we took since my last post.

Here are Daddy and Sarah patiently waiting for Momma and the boys.

The kids were excited to find what they call "The Toilet Tree" in a dried-up creek bed.

And here's why they call it "The Toilet Tree."

Sam and Sarah found some of the year's last flowers.

Daddy and Andrew leaving the flower-pickers behind.

A Homeschooling Adventure

2010-10-28T09:13:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, we joined some homeschooling friends to visit a nearby Wildlife Refuge. It was a beautiful day for it..not too hot and not too cool. Between the four families, we had eight children in attendance. The oldest of the eight was only six years old, so I don't think anyone was too surprised that we didn't see any actual wildlife! I'm pretty sure the Wildlife Refuge was emptied of all wildlife by the time our noisy children left. However, we did still have a great time and the kids did get to learn a bit about nature and wildlife while we were there. After a picnic lunch, we all took off on our walk.

The Refuge had a very nice boardwalk area that went through the swamp. (Which was also nice in keeping the children corralled!)

The Refuge is under construction, so eventually the nice boardwalk ended, but we were able to continue walking the path.

The children found animal tracks in the mud and we had a good time identifying them. We found coyote, deer, and raccoon tracks on our walk.

On our way back we found some neat pods on the boardwalk that must've fallen from one of the trees. One of the moms took them home to see if they could be identified.

It was a really fun day for the kids and myself. It's always nice to get together with other like-minded families. I'm very thankful that we have a strong homeschooling community in my area.

More Photos for Grandma Colette

2010-10-26T16:30:00.016-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted photos for Grandma Colette, so here you go!

Here is Sarah playing with one of the kittens. This is the girl one which my creative children have named Catty. They named the boy one Cat. Yes, my children get their creativity from me.

Sarah helping with the okra harvest

Andrew eating beets for the first time

This weekend the kids were excited to have their cousins come visit. Here's Sarah taking her cousins to the barn to find eggs.

Here's Alexis looking beautiful at the top of the playland.

Andrew and Kaylee playing on the seesaw

That police car got a workout on Saturday

My sister and I tried to get a picture of all six kids together, but these were the best I could come up with. It's hard to get six children to say "Cheese" at the same time!

You know, it's hard to get three children to say "Cheese" at the same time!

Shawn took the kids on a trail ride while my sister, Kaylee, and I walked behind

We made a stop so Shawn could show us his deer stand

Throwing this one in because I think it's cute (Yes, when my daughter is sleepy she puts one thumb in her mouth and puts a finger in her belly button.)

That's all I have for now Grandma...enjoy!

Homemade Cleaners

2010-10-25T13:56:00.004-05:00

Since I'm feeling crummy today and have no motivation to clean, I thought that I would at least post about cleaning. That makes my lack of productivity less bad, right? Right?

Anyhow..we avoid commercial cleaning products for two reasons. First of all, because we want to avoid the toxic chemicals that are in those commercial cleansers. Secondly, it's cheaper to simply make your own. So, here are my homemade cleanser recipes:

Wood Cleanser
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white vinegar

Place in spray bottle and label, "Furniture Polish." I use this on all of our wood furniture, including the nice antique stuff. Sometimes I spray it directly on the wood and other times I spray on a rag and then apply to the wood. I also use this on my kitchen's wood floor after I've mopped. It gives a nice shine to the wood.

Glass Cleaner
1 cup rubbing alcohol
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. white vinegar

Place in spray bottle and label, "Glass Cleaner." I use this on all mirrors, windows, computer and tv screens.

Toilet cleaning
For the toilet, I simply sprinkle some baking soda in the bowl and scrub with a toilet brush. Then flush. Then I clean the exterior of the toilet using undiluted white vinegar in a spray bottle.

Tub/Sink Cleaning
I sprinkle some baking soda in the sink/tub and scrub with a scrub brush. The countertops around the sinks can be cleaned with the undiluted vinegar.

Mopping
I simply fill my kitchen sink with super-hot water and then pour some white vinegar in. I'm not even sure of the measurement...about three "glugs" from the gallon jug of vinegar. It doesn't have to be exact.

I like keeping things simple and this type of cleaning doesn't require any special purchases on my part. I can simply use what's on hand in my home. Also, I don't have to worry about the kids helping me clean and being exposed to toxins. I know that many may worry about germs and such in our home since we don't use commercial disinfectants or bleach, but our family has been blessed with good health. We are very rarely ever sick, so this type of cleaning can't be doing too bad of a job!

If you try any of these recipes, let me know what you think. Also, if you have a good homemade, non-toxic cleaning technique that you love, please share it with me.

Where Do They Get This Stuff?

2010-10-21T13:21:00.000-05:00

I think, compared to most "normal" families, Shawn and I are strict about exposing our children to worldly things. We have zero television channels, we homeschool, we don't go to restaurants, we don't listen to popular music, we don't keep up with sports, and we have a fairly small, close circle of friends that have lives similar to ours. All in all, our children are pretty buffered from the world.

So, when I hear Sam say, "Come on Sarah, let's go to Taco Bell and get some tacos!" I've got to wonder where on earth he came up with that. The last time we ate at Taco Bell was probably more than two years ago!

Then I overhear Sarah as she's playing with her dolls, "Oh, the baby is hungry! I better get her a BOTTLE!" Granted, she's probably witnessed other babies being fed with a bottle, but she's never seen her momma feed a baby with a bottle. Why do I never hear her say, "I better go nurse the baby!"

I guess there are worldly things much worse than Taco Bell and baby bottles...but I'm still left scratching my head.

So...make me feel better. What things have your children said or done that make you just shake your head and wonder, "Where did you come up with that?"

GAPS Pumpkin Muffins and Cupcakes

2010-10-20T07:15:00.003-05:00

We started our adventure on the GAPS diet a week and a half ago. Well, right off the bat we had a birthday party to attend, so I had to come up with a safe birthday treat for my children. Fortunately, I was able to take our GAPS pumpkin muffins and have them serve double-duty for the birthday party. Here's what I did:

Pumpkin Muffins - Makes 2 dozen

12 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 cup honey
1-1/3 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins or use muffin papers. Whisk together first five ingredients, then add in melted coconut oil by slowly drizzling it into the bowl, whisking as you add it. (Doing it this way keeps the melted coconut oil from cooling too quickly and turning clumpy.) Add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Spoon into muffin pans and bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Hint: If you used muffin papers (which I do because I only have aluminum muffin pans) be sure to let your muffins cool for a few minutes before peeling the papers off. If you choose to eat them immediately, the papers will stick to the super-hot muffins and you'll end up having to spoon your sticky muffin mess out of the paper...I know this from experience!

So, the morning of the birthday party I made Pumpkin Muffins and we ate a dozen of them for breakfast. The kids loved them, no surprise there.

Then I took the remaining dozen and topped them with this frosting recipe:
http://www.healthhomehappy.com/2010/10/simple-meringue-frosting-refined-sugar-free.html

Finally, I sprinkled a little cinnamon on top of the frosting to make them pretty. They were a huge hit! The pumpkin keeps the muffins/cupcakes SOOO moist.

These would be perfect for all the parties that happen this time of year. If you do try the recipe, let me know what you think!

This post is proud to be part of Real Food Wednesday at
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/10/real-food-wednesday-102010.html

Training Our Bodies To Accept Poison

2010-10-18T16:34:00.007-05:00

Recently I was pleased to see the latest copy of Wise Traditions appear in our mailbox. Wise Traditions is the quarterly periodical that is distributed by The Weston A. Price Foundation. At the front of the publication are several letters sent in by readers. One of the letters was from a lady in Canada. In her letter she explained that in the last three years her family has switched over to a diet consisting of whole, unprocessed foods. Prior to making this dietary change, the family ate processed foods on a daily basis with no ill effects. However, since improving their diet three years ago, her family can no longer consume processed foods without having adverse reactions such as nausea, vomiting, flu-like illnesses, and behavioral issues. The letter's author then goes on to explain why she believes that her family is now having these reactions.

This letter got my brain churning and I've been hashing out a post for several days now. Shawn and I have noticed that we now have reactions to processed foods similiar to the author of the letter. We've often wondered why this occurs now when it did not when we were eating the Standard American Diet, so it was interesting to read the letter in Wise Traditions and see her ideas.

Here's our belief as to why we're now sensitive to processed foods:

We believe that processed foods are loaded full of poisons that God never intended for us to consume. We believe that Americans have done a superb job of training their bodies to accept these poisons, even to the point that our bodies now crave the substances that ultimately harm them. Just as an alcoholic can train their body to accept poisonous levels of alcohol, the average American has trained their body to accept poisonous levels of food additives and chemicals. A couple of years ago when our diet was almost 100% processed food, our bodies were so used to accepting poisons on a daily basis that they no longer sent out warnings that we were doing something harmful. Now that we've changed our eating habits and allowed our bodies to heal, they are now capable of sending out distress calls when we put a poison into them. For us, those distress calls include nausea, eczema, fatigue, weakness, and dehydration. I think that when we consume foods that God put on Earth for us to consume, then our body works the way He designed it. Likewise, when we misuse God's creation, our bodies cease to work in the way He intended.

Some may say, "Well, when you break everything down, EVERYTHING is created from something that God created, so how can it be bad?" I agree that everything in existence ultimately came from something God created. However, just because God allows something to exist doesn't mean that He approves of it. Man was able to discover a process to murder unborn children. Everything involved in that process is derived from something that God created. I would argue that abortion is a misuse of God's creation. Likewise, I would argue that the chemicals put in processed food are perversions of God's creation. The easiest example is artificial food coloring. Did you know that artificial food dyes are made from petroleum? Yes, petroleum that God placed deep within the earth. The same stuff that was floating all over the ocean in the Gulf Oil Spill. Would you allow your child to jump into the Gulf of Mexico and swallow up some of that crude oil or drink a spoonful of gasoline? Of course not! Why is it ok for us to give our children petroleum in processed food, but it's not ok to give them a spoonful of gasoline? I cannot come up with a reason as to why gasoline is harmful to drink, but petroleum-based food additives are perfectly safe.

Some others may be saying, "But there have been studies that have shown that these products are safe to use in food, so they must be safe." I would say that just because "they" say that something is safe doesn't mean that it is. Look back at all the pregnant women that took thalidomide to help alleviate their morning sickness. We now know that thalidomide caused those women's babies to be born with serious physical birth defects. That drug was once deemed safe for use and we were shown that that position was wrong, wrong, wrong. Man has been proven wrong time and time again. I believe that God has always been right and will always be right. I am not willing to let my children consume petroleum-based food colorings and thereby allow them to be guinea pigs in the next thalidomide science experiment. We will stick to eating God's food because I trust that God knew what He was doing when He created all.

I want to close by saying that, if any of this makes sense to you and you desire to rid your body of the poisons that man tells you are safe...please don't be discouraged if it takes you a while to achieve it. In today's society, having the desire to make that change is a big deal in and of itself. Baby steps have helped our family achieve so much and I highly recommend the effectiveness of taking those baby steps. It's unfortunate that training our bodies to live without daily poisons is such a difficult process, however I believe that it will be worth it in the end. Just take the baby steps to get there and see how much better you feel once you've rid your body of the man-made poisons that are in it.

Why the Ministry of Truth Would Love the E-book

2010-10-18T11:28:00.003-05:00

(I do have ideas floating around in my head for another food-type post for tomorrow and a yummy GAPS recipe for Wednesday's post. However, today I just don't feel like writing them out, so I'm pleased to present another guest post from my dear husband. - Janice)

How many of us, during high school or college, read the book “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell? If not, or if your memory has faded over the years, here is a quick review:

The novel, written in 1949, predicted what life could be like by the year 1984. Every aspect of life was dominated by Big Brother, an all powerful dictator who literally watches your every move via surveillance systems. Mind control and propaganda were administered by the Ministry of Truth, who revised history, altered documents and photos and insured every aspect of society was molded to support the agenda of Big Brother. The book basically expressed a fear of totalitarianism by an all powerful government with the ability to control not only people’s actions, but their thoughts as well.

Now, keep the theme of that book in mind as I describe a recent discussion of college instructors on the value of e-books. During a discussion concerning rental verses purchased text books for students, the option of e-books came up. Immediately, many instructors began praising this new technology, sparking a brief conversation on the subject. As I listened to the comments and descriptions, I heard some predicting the end of physical paper books in the future and how “green and environmentally friendly” that would be. Some spoke of how wonderful e-books are in relation to the immediate ability to edit the books, correcting mistakes and adding updates as needed. No one would even know the mistake or update was made, as the corrected version immediately replaces the old version online.

As usual, I found myself to be the lone wolf, the only person in the room who did not seem to view this latest technological advancement as anything other than manna from Heaven. I could not help but think how much easier censorship will be once all books are electronic. You don’t have to physically go door to door and collect the books like the Nazis did, all the government would have to do is hit the DELETE button on some master system and poof, no more book. How soon until the latest version of the Ministry of Truth searches e-book by e-book deciding what we should or should not read? “This book is offensive to ….” and “That book promotes anti-government views.” and so on. What isn’t deleted would be modified. I would predict the Holy Bible would be a prime target of selective editing. Within a few generations, no one would even know the original version anymore.

You may call me paranoid, but I can see this becoming reality. Even George Orwell didn’t predict the ease to which the e-book could make his nightmare come true. Take some time and read “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, and get the e-book version, you have to love irony.

Life Around the Homestead

2010-10-17T06:51:00.008-05:00

I admit it, I've been slacking lately. I'm now 7 weeks pregnant and the yucky feelings are starting to show up. I have very low energy and waves of nausea come and go throughout the day. I find myself craving some foods and being revolted by others. So, blogging has taken a backseat for a bit. I'm grateful that Shawn was able to put his guest post up for me and will probably have him fill in the gaps a little more until I start feeling 100% again.

We did have a good time outside with the kids earlier this week. It's times like this when I think the children really resemble country kids as opposed to the more city-fied children that we moved out here in December. The video is of Sam driving his police car around the property with Andrew's Tonka truck tied to the back. Then Andrew sat in the back part of the Tonka dump truck and was having a great time as Sam towed him around the property.

Then of course, Sarah had to have a ride too! (This video starts off sideways, but quickly goes vertical.)

Finally, here are a few more fall pictures that I've taken around the homestead.

Who Does Obama Trust?

2010-10-13T21:25:00.002-05:00

Another guest post from my dear husband...Enjoy!

Please take a moment to consider the following decisions recently made by the Obama Administration:

This year, Obama made the decision to cancel all further orders by the U.S. Air Force of the Lockheed-Martin F-22 fighter jet. This is the world’s most advanced fighter jet, considered untouchable by other fighters. In other words, if your air force is flying F-22s, you control the sky. About the same time Obama decided to deny our military this advanced fighter, he decided to approve the sale of F-22 fighters to Saudi Arabia. (I believe this decision was made after he bowed down to the Saudi king.) In addition to the F-22, Obama also approved selling 84 F-15 fighters, weapon system upgrades for 70 current F-15s, 70 Apache fighter helicopters and 72 Black Hawk helicopters. No nation (including the U.S. or Israel) will be able to effectively stop the Saudi Air Force.

While this decision was being made, the Obama Administration decided to prohibit the sale of World War II era rifles to U.S. citizens. During the Korean War, thousands of surplus M-1 Garand and M-1 Carbine rifles were transferred to South Korea. Now that these rifles are very outdated, the South Korean military has no use for them. The South Korean government announced plans to sell 87,310 M-1 Garand rifles and 770,160 M-1 Carbine rifles to American licensed gun dealers. Gun collectors were thrilled to learn these highly desired, historic rifles would be made available.

The Obama Administration blocked the transfer of these rifles, citing a “threat to public safety in the U.S.” if the public was allowed to own these rifles. Keep in mind, we are talking about 70-year-old semi-auto rifles. The M-1 Garand holds 8 rounds, the M-1 Carbine holds 15 rounds, and function like any other semi-auto rifle. Despite the ordinary, common design of these rifles, Obama and his cronies call them “assault weapons.”

So, let’s put this in perspective….Saudi Arabia (home of 18 of the 19 9/11 hijackers) is trusted with the world’s most advanced fighter jets, but American citizens are not trusted with 70-year-old rifles. Even more disturbing, the Obama Administration has changed the U.S. position, previously taken by the Bush Administration, on the United Nations global gun ban. The U.N. treaty to ban private possession of small arms is set to go into effect in 2012, with the U.S. now fully on-board. Assuming everything does not go the hell in a hand basket before then, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

It is interesting to consider who Obama considers his trusted friends and who he considers his enemies. As gun owners, it is clear how he feels about us. No matter how the elections turn out in November, gun ownership will continue to be threatened over the next 2 years. Obama doesn’t trust citizens who own guns, and for gun owners, the feeling is mutual.

And Yet ANOTHER Addition

2010-10-12T06:42:00.005-05:00

Well, since we were finally able to share this with family over the weekend, I guess it's now ok to put the news here. If everything goes well, Baby #4 will be arriving in early June. The books tell me that the date will be June 3rd, but given that I tend to go over with my babies, mid-June is probably more likely. I'm still very early in my pregnancy, but I'm not one to keep babies a secret. So far I'm feeling great, a bit more tired than usual, but overall I'm feeling very good. This will be the first baby to come since our family changed its eating habits, so I'm curious to see how our new diet affects my weight gain and energy level this time around. Anyhow, just wanted to pass along the exciting news!

I'll end the post with some pretty Fall pictures that Shawn took around the homestead this weekend.

Another Addition

2010-10-06T17:49:00.005-05:00

Apparently last week was "dump your animals on our property" week. We didn't get the memo, but seeing that we acquired two cats and a dog last week, an announcement must've gone out that we just missed. This young dog showed up with his hip bones protuding and every single rib showing. He obviously hadn't been fed in a while, but he was such a sweet thing, that we decided to put him on probation to see if he was suitable to stay here. So we watched him and avoided naming him just in case he turned out to be unfit. He's done well with the chickens and the cats and the kids. He isn't a "barker," which is good. The only time we've heard him bark is when some other stray dogs started snooping around our fence's perimeter.

So last night we decided that we should go ahead and give him a name. I had gotten in the habit of calling him Buddy. Sam and Sarah are adamant that his name is Doggie. Andrew just calls him Woof-Woof. Shawn and I thought it over and I think we're naming him Striker, after a very heroic dog. It's our hope that our Striker will turn out to be just as loyal and courageous as his namesake.

And no, I'm not going to tell you the story behind the heroism of the famous Striker. His real-life story is well-known. I'm anxious to see if anyone reading this knows why Striker the dog is a canine that no freedom-loving American should forget. If you know, leave a comment and tell us!

The Joys of Homeschooling

2010-10-05T13:15:00.004-05:00

We went to Wal-Mart today. We were standing in the checkout line when the cashier looks at Sam and says, "Why aren't you in school today?" Sam doesn't answer, so I reply, "We homeschool." She looks back at Sam and says, "Oh. Well then what are you going to do today when you get home?" I reply, "Well, today is Town Day. We've come into town to run errands and do Storytime at the Library." She says, "Oh, well that's nice...At least he's dressed nice like he's going to school."

I grit my teeth while I smile, take my receipt and leave. Today is one of those days that I tell Shawn to weld the gate shut when he gets home.

Our Family Vacation

2010-10-04T10:12:00.017-05:00

This weekend we went on an impromptu trip to Branson. Family vacations are rare for us, but it happened to be Shawn's birthday as well as Homeschoolers' Weekend at Silver Dollar City so we decided to have a getaway.

I am so grateful that Shawn stumbled across a website while searching for lodging. He found condos for rent at http://www.bransonweekend.com/
The owners own several condos and they rent them out to families. I cannot recommend these condos enough. They were perfect for our family. Each of the condos is decorated with individual themes. We stayed in The Ranch House and the kids just absolutely loved that they got to stay in a house that cowboys lived in! The condo was a 2 bedroom, 2 bath unit with a full kitchen, dining/living room, covered deck, and laundry. I thought that getting all this for $100 a night was a great deal. Anyone that has ever tried to put three small children in a small motel room will understand how GREAT a blessing this was for us! The kids were actually able to MOVE here! We had space! Also, with our food issues, having the kitchen was a must. I was surprised to see that the condo included everything that we could possibly need: laundry detergent, flyswatter, Ziploc bags, books, movies, magazines, light bulbs, a stepstool for the kids' bathroom..you name it, it was there. It didn't feel like we were staying in a rented room. It really felt like we were invited into someone's home. It was nice and cozy..nothing was lacking.

First thing the kids did was discover the toys that were in the condo. Yes, the owners even have toys there for the kids! They loved that big stuffed horse, which also means they fought over it..constantly.

By having the kitchen there, we were able to spend absolutely nothing on food during our entire trip.

The kids had their own cowboy bedroom. Boy, did we have trouble getting them to go to sleep Friday night. They were SO excited!

We spent Saturday at Silver Dollar City. The kids were fearless and inexhaustible.

Needless to say, we may have had trouble getting the kids to bed Friday night, but Saturday night we didn't hear a peep out of them. We left the park and went back to the condo. I had put a chicken and some vegetables in the crockpot before we left that morning. So we got back and ate a quick supper of crockpot chicken and salad.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the inside of the condo. It was decorated so nicely on the inside and the view from the deck was beautiful. If you go to their website you can see more of the condo that I didn't get around to photographing. I can't wait to go back. We've now found a favorite place to stay. I foresee us getting the season pass for Silver Dollar City in the next couple years. Going there is a great getaway for our family.

When Nations Die

2010-09-29T08:39:00.005-05:00

(I'd like to present another thought-provoking post from my dear husband.)
-Janice

One of the most eye-opening topics that I discuss in my law enforcement courses deals with the downfall of great empires and nations. We study the social control systems used by the Babylonian Empire, Hebrews, Egyptians, Greek, Roman Empire, French and the British Empire. All of these nations once dominated most of the world. As with all world superpowers, they eventually collapsed.

In 1994, John Nelson Black wrote a book entitled “When Nations Die: The Warning Signs of a Culture in Crisis.” In this book, Black examines the history of the world’s former dominate nations and identifies common features that signaled their eminent doom. The following 10 problems began to plague each of these nations just prior to their collapse: (my comments follow each)

1. A Crisis in Lawlessness

While many may point to the lawless behavior of citizens, I would point out the lawless behavior of our elected officials and judges. Too many bureaucrats operate with complete disregard for the Constitutional limitations placed upon them by our Founding Fathers. Our court system freely legislates from the bench, with a single judge overturning the majority of voters in a state. State sovereignty is for all practical purposes a thing of the past and we allow the government to do things that would never be tolerated if committed by the average citizen. Instead of respecting our Constitution, too many in our government view the Constitution as an out-dated obstacle that must be ignored for the sake of a progressive agenda.

2. Loss of Economic Discipline

Our government continues to accumulate an alarming amount of debt. In less than 2 years, the Obama Administration has raised our national debt to over 13 trillion dollars. Obama racked up more debt in 421 days than the Bush Administration did in 4 years following the start of 2 wars. CBS News has reported that our national debt will surpass our total national economy in 2012. In other words, it is becoming impossible for our nation to ever get out of debt. It doesn’t require an economics degree to see that our growing debt, combined with new expenses such as national health care, has become unsustainable. Social security is already paying out more than it brings in. Our government’s addiction to spending other people’s money has caused our nation’s economy to become the largest pyramid scheme ever devised, and we’re watching it collapse like a house of cards.

3. Rising Bureaucracy

The government gets bigger and bigger each year, continuing to encroach on our freedoms. Congress and state legislatures pass thousands of new laws each year, almost never repealing old laws. We are living in an increasingly legislated society. EVERYTHING is regulated in some way. Prior nations could not comprehend the amount of bureaucracy we live under today. Author and radio host Mark Levin refers to those promoting this rising level of bureaucracy as “statists.” Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm said it best with the title of his 2007 book “Everything I Want To So Is Illegal.”

4. Decline of Education

While we continue to spend more and more money on public education each year, our country continues to have high drop-out rates, violence in schools, “dumbing down” of curriculum and high school graduates who are illiterate. As a college instructor, I am horrified at the lack of basic fundamentals (reading, math, history, writing) expressed by my students. Many public schools have become nothing more than social clubs and politically correct recruitment centers. Students can’t read, do math or understand our nation’s history, but they are experts on the topics of global warming, sexual liberation, web-surfing, and who’s who among Hollywood celebrities and professional athletes.

5. Weakening of Culture Foundations

A major issue within the weakening of culture foundations is the loss of a common language. As a society becomes multi-lingual, cultural divisions grow. This is further harmed as those within a nation begin rejecting a common national bond, instead seeking identification with outside cultures. Instead of calling oneself an “American”, it is now trendy to be identified as a hyphenated-American. Multi-culturalism has replaced the melting-pot philosophy. Immigrants are no longer encouraged to assimilate, but rather to hold on to the values of their former homeland. We are a nation divided by various cultures who have no desire to respect the founding principles that made this country strong.

6. Loss of Respect for Tradition

While there are many examples of this, let’s use an issue important to our family.. natural foods. Not only have most people lost respect for the way food was grown, raised and prepared just a few decades ago, but they support efforts to prohibit traditional farming and ranching. There are organic farmers being sued by chemical companies for planting crops that have been contaminated by a neighbor’s “big ag” farm. Dairy farmers are even being arrested by health departments and the USDA for selling unadulterated pure milk. People are laughed at if they refuse to soak their garden in every poisonous substance known to man. Modern cattle farmers actually believe that cows are supposed to eat corn feed and not grass. How in the world were crops grown and livestock raised before the big chemical companies came about? Oh how soon we forget the traditions of our past.

7. Increase in Materialism

One of the primary reasons Americans are in so much debt is our obsession to own the newest electronic gadgets and latest clothing fashions. It is like we are in a contest to see who owns the most toys before we die. How many Americans struggle to make their mortgage, grocery and utility payments, yet seem to have every entertainment and communications gadget. Only in America do we have people considered below the poverty line who own 2 vehicles, multiple flat-screen TVs, Blackberries, lap-top computer with Internet, satellite channel service, video game units and closets full of clothes.

8. A Rise in Immorality

With many of these lost nations, sexual perversion was prevalent just before their collapse. Multiple sexual partners, homosexuality and pedophilia were common practice. Today, it seems everything is dominated by sex, homosexuality is now considered trendy and cool, sodomy is now a civil right and the courts are ruling in favor of gay marriages.

9. Decay of Traditional Religious Beliefs and Rise in Alien Religions

Since the 9/11 attacks just 9 years ago, I have witnessed what I consider to be one of the most bizarre religious transformations in the history of the world. Instead of “mainstream” Americans becoming more cautious of Islam, it is instead being embraced and defended. The number of Americans identifying themselves as Muslim is skyrocketing. In addition to traditional Islam, the radical “Liberation Theology” religions of pastors such as Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan (which are closely associated with Islam) are spreading out of the urban areas and prisons and throughout the country. Our own President has stated we are no longer a Christian nation and has described the United States as one of the largest Muslim nations in the world. The media and politicians are constantly telling us that Islam is a “religion of peace” and we must be tolerant of the growing influence of Muslims in our country. I’m sorry, but following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, if FDR would have gotten on the radio and described Japanese Shinto as a religion of peace and called for tolerance, he would have be hauled off to a mental hospital. I would suggest everyone start familiarizing yourself with Islamic Sharia law now so you’ll be ahead of the game when you’re living under it.

10. A Decline in Values and Loss of Respect for Human Life

This loss of respect begins with the most vulnerable, the very young and the very old. Euthanasia, infant abandonment, and primitive forms of abortion were becoming common with these nations. When someone becomes inconvenient, just get rid of them. Grandma is getting old, just pull the plug. Have an unwanted pregnancy, just get an abortion. With stem cell research, you can even get paid to have an abortion.

In Conclusion:
Needless to say, it doesn’t require a degree in history or political science to quickly recognize that we suffer from all 10 symptoms. Is it too late to divert from this doomed path? If we resign to the belief that most people have no interest in changing our direction, then what do we do in the meantime? Not a pleasant issue to ponder, but I assure you, ignoring this issue will not make it go away.

A Weekend On The Homestead

2010-09-28T06:30:00.013-05:00

First off, I guess I should start by showcasing the two newest members of the farm. Apparently, someone decided to gift us with (otherwise known as "dump") these two cute little kittens. Fortunately, we didn't have any and could use a couple of mouse-cats in the barn, so we're going to go ahead and keep them. The kids, or course, are in love with them. So, we now have an orange little boy kitten and a black/white little girl kitten...no names yet. They're slowly getting used to us and getting braver, wandering out from their hiding spot more and more. Shawn's even gotten to touch both of them.

This week Shawn's manly new manual saw came in. I say it's manly because, wow, it looks big and "beefy" (that's a word my brother made up...you know "beefy," big and stout, makes a man grunt like a caveman when he sees it). Shawn went down to the woods to get some firewood, and the kids just had to go, which meant that I had to go because Shawn can't watch 3 kids and cut firewood at the same time. So, we all trekked down to the woods.

Shawn got to work on the firewood

The kids and I took off for the trails in the woods

We made it to the Mule Pond, and the kids found the "Look Momma, the most huge leaves in all the world!" They were proud of them. Of course, after the picture, they got dropped to the ground.

This is how they came running out of the woods, hand in hand. Sam being the big brother and helping them find their way out.

Andrew and I were walking on the paths later, and we heard Sarah saying to Sam, "Momma's coming Sam! Hurry, hide!"

Apprently, if they can't see us, then it's a good hiding spot!

Oh, how many times a day do I see this image?

Shawn's woodpile is growing. You can see the small bow saw he was using compared to the big manly saw he has now. He says the new saw is so much more efficient.

Here are my country kids on Sunday. Sarah's eating an apple she picked from one of our apple trees and Drew is giving her a leisurely ride around the yard while she eats. See their jackets? It was downright chilly on Sunday. I spent a large part of the day pulling out the kids' fall/winter clothes and putting away summer things.

So, there you go, our weekend on the homestead. It was uneventful and productive...just the way I like it!

Why You Should Avoid Artificial Food

2010-09-23T11:47:00.005-05:00

PLEASE open up the link below.

http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/09/got-petroleum.html

It's a link to a blog that I view on a regular basis. The post goes over a science experiment that a teenager did. The teen took wheat berries and soaked them in different mixtures before planting them. She used different food colorings, aspartame, and finally a control group in water. Then she planted the wheat and monitored the growth progress of each. It's amazing to see in the photograghs how food colorings and aspartame effected the growth of the wheat.

So, my question is...if simple wheat berries are effected this negatively by artificial dyes and sweeteners, what does that mean it is currently doing to your body?

Fitting Two Pieces Together

2010-09-21T14:23:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I feel like the blog is getting pulled in a multitude of directions. We discuss recipes, homesteading, autism, healthy eating, and preparedness/survival in addition to other odds and ends.

I mentioned in a previous post that we're gearing up to start the GAPS diet in October. Our primary reason for doing this is that (I pray) it will help Sam's autistic behaviors and Andrew's belly troubles. However, us doing the GAPS diet is also a preparedness measure. You see, the idea behind the GAPS diet is not that it's a permanent way of eating. The diet eliminates certain foods for a time in order to give the gut time to heal. After healing has occurred, then you can reintroduce the foods that were once offensive. Some might be saying at this point, "Okay....so what's this have to do with preparedness?"

Well, so far our family has put away some foods that we can no longer eat. Wheat and even brown rice cause negative side effects for our boys. Imagine being in an emergency situation and having food available, but knowing that if you give that food to your children, they're going to suffer. Their bellies will be full, but then you'll be left dealing with humming, hand flapping, loud repetitive talk, and diarrhea. Not fun to deal with EVER, but DEFINITELY not wanted in an emergency situation. So, while our main goal in doing the GAPS diet is to heal our sons, another goal is to make life in an emergency situation easier.

I can attest that storing away food for an emergency is very difficult to do when you have special diets to work around. It's my hope that the GAPS diet will heal our boys and therefore make emergency food preparedness an easier task.

Is there any health-related issue in your family that is a hindrance to your emergency preparedness? Is there anything you can do about it now so that it's not a huge ordeal when times are not so easy?

7 Basic Firearms That Every Freedom-Loving Self-Sufficient Prepper Should Own

2010-09-18T09:24:00.020-05:00

Gun knowledge is not something that I'm very proficient at, however my husband loves the topic. Recently, some have expressed an interest in more hard-core emergency preparedness/survival topics, so I drafted Shawn to write a guest post for me. Even though this is a vast change from the normal SAHMville posts, I hope you enjoy it!

As a law enforcement and firearms instructor, I am often asked,
“What firearm(s) do you recommend for….” To cover every situation or need that may arise for a firearm, I recommend that everyone have at least these 7 firearms available:

1. .22 Caliber Pistol

With rising ammo prices, it is difficult to target practice often with centerfire weapons. A good .22 pistol and rifle (mentioned later) provides an affordable way to maintain your shooting skills. The .22 pistol can also be used for small game, finishing off a wounded larger animal or for use when the loud report of a larger caliber is not desired. While there are many options to choose from, here are my favorites:

Walther P-22
The best thing about the P-22 is that it is built to function and feel like a larger, full-size handgun. This helps maintain your skills in combat reloading since the magazine release, decocker and slide are set up like a full-size handgun.

Ruger MKII (and similar)
For over 50 years, Ruger has produced one of the most popular .22 caliber handguns. There are several models that have evolved over the years. All of them are high-quality, dependable and affordable rimfire handguns.

2. .357 Magnum Revolver

The primary handgun for law enforcement during the mid to late 20th century was the .357 magnum revolver. They are very dependable, accurate and easy to use. While a revolver has a limited capacity compared to a full-size semi-auto, there are some advantages with this old workhorse. Lighter and cheaper .38 special ammo can be fired in a .357 mag, shot-shells work well and there is no fear of malfunction or bad round bringing the weapon to a halt. If a round of ammo fails to fire, simply pull the trigger again for the next round. With a little practice, speed-loaders can be used quickly and are a must if you carry this gun for protection.

My personal favorites are the Smith & Wesson model 19 (blued) or model 66 (stainless) as well as the Ruger Security-Six and SP-101.

3. Full-Size Combat Pistol

If you only own one handgun, it should be a full-size combat pistol. By “full-size,” I mean a barrel length of 3 ½ to 5 inches with a capacity of no less than 11, preferably 15 or more. I would avoid “odd” calibers such as 10mm and .357 Sig which would prove difficult to find in a “hit the fan” situation. Stick with military and police calibers (9mm, .40 caliber, .45 ACP). These rounds are common and can be purchased in bulk from various suppliers. I would have no less than 6 magazines, keeping 3 loaded at all times, rotating the mags each month to avoid excessive wear on the springs. Don’t forget a variety of holsters including a military flap holster, shoulder holster and high-quality law enforcement grade belt holster so that the pistol can be carried in whatever manner is needed. Don’t forget magazine pouches and a sturdy belt.

The Beretta Model 92 (U.S. Military M-9) 15-round 9mm is built on the same frame as the Model 96 11-round .40 caliber

The Glock Model 17 17-round 9mm is build on the same frame as the Model 22 15-round .40 caliber and Model 21 13-round .45 ACP

There are more options available in this category than any other. Dozens of companies make high-quality combat pistols. My personal favorites are Glock and Beretta. Many may wonder why I have not listed the popular 1911 pistol……well, like it or not, it is out of date. The single-stack 7 or 8 round magazine, single action and excessive weight fail to meet today’s demands. The slight increase in knockdown of a .45 compared to a .40 does not outweigh the fact the 1911 has less than half the capacity of a full-size .40. I’ll take 15 rounds of .40 or 17 rounds of 9mm in a gun battle any day over a mere 7 rounds of .45. Most people under-estimate the number of rounds fired in actual combat and over-estimate their accuracy in such a situation. Trust me, you want a higher capacity. There is certainly nothing wrong with owning a 1911, but it should not be considered your primary combat handgun.

4. .22 Rifle

For most of us, our first firearm was a .22 rifle. I’m sure more .22 rifles are sold in this country each year than any other class of firearm. It is a must for every home. As with the .22 pistol, it is cheap and affordable to shoot on a regular basis. With today’s high velocity rounds (CCI Stinger/Velocitor), the .22 long rifle has surprising range and effectiveness compared to the low velocity rounds we grew up shooting. What other firearm can you still buy 1000 rounds for under $50? Also, hike 3 miles with 250 rounds of .22 long rifle in your pack, then hike that same distance with 250 rounds of .308; the ability to carry a greater amount of ammo becomes obvious.

Ruger 10/22 with Tapco stock and 30-round magazine

The German made GSG-5 with 22-round magazine (HK MP-5 Clone)

Henry Survival Rifle (AR-7) – 8-round magazine (15-round mags are available)

A good .22 rifle will cost between $200 and $500. I recommend you consider the most popular .22 on the market, the Ruger 10/22. This reliable semi-auto has every type of high-capacity magazine, stock and accessory imaginable. For a military-feel right out of the box, I would suggest the GSG-5, built on the frame of an H&K MP-5 sub-machine gun. The GSG-5 provides a less expensive means of training with a military-style rifle. Finally, the Henry Arms Survival Rifle (the latest version of the AR-7) is a unique rifle that disassebles into the stock and is so light weight it will actually float. Remember, if you are carrying a .22 rifle, be sure to have a larger caliber handgun with you.

5. 12 Gauge Pump Shotgun

I’ll admit, I’m not a big fan of shotguns. Oh they have their purposes, especially for bird hunting, but they are very over- rated for self-protection. Despite that, I still recommend you include one in your collection. The versitility of the shotgun is its best feature. Switching from birdshot, to buckshot, then to slugs completely changes the purpose of the weapon. The limited range and limited capacity of a shotgun pushes it back to a secondary weapon in my book. I recommend a pump-action 12 gauge with no less than a 6-shot capacity.

Mossberg 500/590 series come in a variety of configurations, ranging from 6 to 9 shot.

The Remington 870 Police remains the most popular self-defense shotgun.

6. Military-Style Auto-Loading Rifle

The single most important firearm in your collection is the military-style auto-loading rifle. While at least one of these is vital, I would strongly recommend at least one per every person in your household capable of shooting. While a variety of calibers are available, stick with the primary military calibers (.223, .308, 7.62x39mm). These 3 calibers are sold by a variety of suppliers in 1000 round cases. (Cheaper Than Dirt, Sportman’s Guide) Popular military-style rifles include the AR-15, AK-47, Mini-14, Mini-30, HK-91/93 clones, M-14, M1A1, and M-1.

.223 and 7.62x39 rifles typically use a 30-round magazine, while the larger .308 will typically use a 20-round magazine. I would recommend no less than 8 spare magazines per rifle. Avoid keeping magazines loaded for extended periods of time, as this will weaken the spring. Parts kits for these type of rifles are readily available. Lets face it, we live in very uncertain times with a variety of possible threats. A good battle rifle with pleanty of ammo and magazines is the only weapon you could realistically defend your home and family with if faced with multiple, armed invaders. If you live in a state that prohibits these rifles, MOVE.

Don’t wait, these rifles could be banned at any time. With anti-Second Amendment types currently in control of our government, a semi-auto ban or 10-round capacity limit is no doubt on the horizon. These rifles truly represent what the Second Amendment is all about, an armed civilian population cabable of defending liberty from both foreign and domestic threats. They are the insurance that protect our other liberties. I see owning a military-style rifle as more than just my right, but my duty as an American citizen. I love this rifle’s ability to quickly identify those for liberty from those for tyranny. Those who hate freedom, hate these rifles and those who want tyrannical control want to ban them.

The AR-15 has become the hottest selling rifle since the anti-gunners took control of this country in 2008. With every imaginable accessory widely-available, the rifle can be set up in hundreds of configurations. The standard .223 (5.56 mm) is a very effective round due to it’s high velocity. There are dozens of calibers available from a variety of manufacturers. In all my years in law enforcement, I was always conforted knowing I had an AR-15 within reach in my patrol car. If I could only have one firearm with me in a survival situation, it would be the AR-15.

AK-47 (7.62x39mm) – The rifle mentioned by name during Obama’s first speech following his election as a target of his desired gun bans. That alone should make anyone want to run out and purchase one just to prove we value freedom more than he opposes it. For those not familiar with the performance of the 7.62x39 mm, it is ballistically similar to the popular 30-30.

If you’re a history buff, the .30 caliber M-1 Carbine and .30-06 M-1 Garand are battle-proven. The M-1 carbine has a standard 15-round magazine (30-round mags are available) and is effective at up to 100 yards. The mighty M-1 Garand has an 8-round internal magazine and is effective at distances beyond most shooter’s ability or sight. At over 10 pounds, the M-1 Garand may not be your first choice for hiking long distances but will stop any living creature walking on Earth. The .308 caliber M-14 with it’s 20-round magazine is another historic military rifle that many shooters love.

7. Long-Range Bolt-Action Rifle with Scope

Every shooter needs the ability to reach out and strike targets at long distances when the need arises. This calls for a high-powered bolt-action rifle with a good quality scope. These rifles are also effective against large game and in situations where your assailant is wearing body armor or behind cover. While there are dozens of calibers to choose from, I strongly recommend that you stick with standard military and police rounds. The .308 and .30-06 are the most common high-powered ammo on the market and can be easily purchased in 1000 round cases, unlike other rounds such as the .243, .270 and .300 Win Mag that are only available in 20 rounds per box.

As with all rifles and shotguns, avoid wood stocks. Synthetic stocks are stronger, lighter weight, scratch resistant and come in black, green or camo. It is better to use a “tactical” rifle for hunting and target shooting than to use a “hunting” rifle for tactical operations. Plan ahead on how you are going to carry spare ammo, since most bolt-actions have internal magazines. A variety of looped shell holders are designed to carry on a web belt or even the stock of the rifle.

The Remington Model 700 is popular with law enforcement and hunters.

An inexpensive, yet very reliable and powerful rifle, is the 8mm Mauser. This was the primary battle rifle for the Germans during World War II. These old surplus rifles can be purchased at half the cost of current production bolt-action rifles. A case of 8mm ammo should last your lifetime.

CONCLUSION

Examine the firearms you currently own to determine where your deficits are. Start a firearms/ammo budget and begin building your collection. Don’t forget plenty of ammo, a gun without ammo is an expensive billy club. You may also want to purchase a gun safe. If you have young children in your home, make certain that all firearms are completely inaccessable to them. If you keep any firearm loaded for home defense, have a keyless entry gun box or an unchambered semi-auto in a secure location. Firearms are like automobiles and power tools, very useful and helpful , but potentially dangerous if not handled safely. Finally, under no circumstances should a firearm be available to a person who has recently consumed alcohol or any mind-altering drug.

I hope you found this information helpful. I plan to submit additional guest commentaries in the future assuming they are approved by the webmaster, who also determines my meals and ammo allowance.

A Blessing From A Friend

2010-09-16T21:21:00.001-05:00

Tuesday morning I was able to visit with a friend that I hadn't seen in several months. We've spoken on the phone several times, but this was the first time I'd seen her in quite a while. This friend is also someone that we worshipped with prior to our move in December. She was actually Sam and Sarah's Sunday School teacher the majority of the time.

I was with all three of our children and she was with one of hers. She had been supervising the children and then walked over to talk to me. Early in the conversation she said, "Janice, Sam has really changed!" I smiled and told her that it has been amazing to see how much more social he is now. He actually talks TO us instead of AT us. I can ask him questions and he will answer the questions instead of simply repeating some line from a tv show or movie. My friend's eyes got teary and she said, "Janice I can remember back when I had him in Sunday School. A good day was when Sam would simply pace round and round the table humming and patting his chest. Look at him now! He's over there playing with the other children! I've only seen him flap his hands once the entire time. What are you doing differently?"

When we moved we were already avoiding all artificial additives in our food and she knew this. I explained that we had only omitted gluten a couple months ago and so many good changes have shown up since then. Then, she asked if we were still planning on trying the GAPS diet. I told her that we were committing to a 30-day trial in October. She replied, "Well, if just going gluten-free made this much of a difference, I can only imagine what the GAPS diet will do! I don't think you'll be able to distinguish him from any of the other children once you've switched over to that!"

This conversation was such a blessing to me. Shawn and I see positive changes in Sam's behavior, but to have someone else notice it is such a huge deal to us. I can remember a day, back in February or March I believe, when Sarah and Drew were napping and it was just Sam and I in the living room. Sam was lying in the floor staring out the living room window. I sat next to him and asked, "Sam, how old are you?" I received no answer. I asked again, but again, no answer. The third time I asked him how old he was and held his chin so he would look at me. He replied, "Sam." I said, "No Sam, how old are you?" He replied, "Sam." I said, "Sam, look at momma...how...old...are...you?" He said, "Sam."

There was NO getting through to him back then. He knew I was speaking to him, but I don't think he understood what I was saying. Now I can ask him how old he is and he will look at me, hold his hand up and say "Five years old."

So, Jill, I want to thank you so, so much for being a wonderful blessing to me Tuesday. I really do appreciate your kind words, they meant a lot to Shawn and I.

Odds & Ends

2010-09-15T13:25:00.010-05:00

I took some photos over the weekend...there's really no good theme to lump them all together, that's why I titled the post "Odds & Ends." I just wanted to share some pictures, so here they are:

Here is Sam, Sunday morning after Shawn "camped" out in the back yard with the kids. I think they had a good time with Daddy.

I don't think I've ever shown this before, but this is the woodshed that Shawn built earlier this year. Shawn doesn't own a chainsaw, so everything that's in the shed was cut by him by hand. I know it's not enough for this winter, but he's continuing to work on that. There are enough trees on our property that were downed by the ice storm to give us several winter's worth of wood, it's just a matter of getting them cut up. I joke that if the house collapses from an earthquake, we could always go live in the woodshed for a while!

This weekend Shawn set up a tent back in the new orchard part of our property. He and the kids went "camping" overnight. They loved it. Shawn also finally set up the outdoor cooking set that we purchased recently to make sure all the pieces were there. This is the set we'll use for camping, but also in case of emergency if we don't have access to electricity for an extended period of time.

The set has bars of differing lengths so that pots can be placed close to the fire for quick cooking or further away from the fire to be kept warm. On the left, it has a lifter and a rack for hanging cooking utensils. We also purchased the rotisserie attachment as well as an elevated grill. The grill is set up so that it can swing over the fire and then be pulled back off the fire if you need to fiddle with the food. I'm really pleased with it and can't wait to try it out!

This weekend Shawn mowed some additional paths on our property. These paths now give us access to parts of the property that we'd never been able to walk on before. These last two photos were taken at one of the highest points of our land. You may be able to make out the house near the center-left and the pond off to the right.

So, that's our weekend in a nutshell..nothing too exciting, but thought I'd share anyway!

Our Favorite Chili Recipe

2010-09-15T12:59:00.005-05:00

A while back a good friend shared her chili recipe with me. Ever since then, it's been our family's favorite. Those of you that know my husband, know that he's a picky eater. There are several things that he doesn't like to eat and soup is one of them. He likes his chili to be nice and thick, definitely NOT soup-like. This recipe even gets Shawn's approval!

Here's our favorite chili recipe:

2/3 c. dry pinto beans
2/3 c. dry red beans or kidney beans
2 lbs. ground beef
1 c. onion, diced
2 tsp. garlic, minced
1/4 c. green pepper, diced
1/3 c. chili powder
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1-1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 c. shredded spinach

The night before, sort dry beans, place in pot, and cover with warm water. Let soak for 12-24 hours. The next day, after soaking period has lapsed, drain, rinse, place back in pot and add water to cover beans. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for approximately two hours or until beans are soft.

After beans are cooked, begin browning ground beef with onion and garlic. Drain if necessary. Combine all ingredients together and simmer until done.

The addition of the shredded spinach thows some extra nutrition into the dish, plus I think it makes it looks prettier with the flecks of green in there! If you like your chili to be "soupier" than we do, then you could simply add in more tomato sauce. However, Shawn loves this chili because it makes the best Frito Chili Pies. This is the way he prefers his chili: Fritos covered with chili, then topped with shredded grassfed raw cheddar cheese.

This was the perfect meal for the small-scale camping trip he had with the kids this past weekend.

This post is proud to be part of Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/09/real-food-wednesday-91510.html

Wonderful Monotony

2010-09-11T22:13:00.004-05:00

Today I made a trip to the big city. It had been six days since I left our property. I think some people's jaws may have just dropped to the floor at the fact that I just spent nearly a week at home. However that's really not all that uncommon. We live far enough out now that it is a decent undertaking to go into town. If I'm going to load up all three kids and drive 35 minutes into town, then I need a pretty good reason. Also, I'm going to make real sure that the trip into town is worthwhile. I plan my stops and try to get everything done in one trip. I think it's a little funny that the kids now know which shoes are their "town shoes" and which outfits are their "going to town clothes."

Ten years ago, if you had told me that I needed to spend six days at home, I probably would've balked. What in the world would I do at home for six days? Well, I guess what I do now could be considered monotonous. However, I really enjoy the monotony. I don't like drama. I enjoy life rolling along at a nice, even pace. Doing the mundane is a joy for me.

Living in this rural area gives me a chance to stay home and live a wonderfully monotonous life. I while back I made up a schedule that fit our family. I have it up on the refrigerator. Momma and Daddy's chores are printed in black and the children's duties are printed in red. If the kids ever fuss over doing something, I point to the list and say, "See what time it is...It's time for (whatever they're fussing about.)" It works for my kids and makes life easier for me. Anyhow, here's our daily schedule:

7:00-8:00
Children: Computer time
Momma: Bible study, then fix breakfast

8:00-9:00
Eat Breakfast at 8:00
Children: Clean off table, get dressed, brush teeth, make beds, then play with toys
Momma: Get dressed, make bed, wash dishes

9:00-10:00
Children: Movie time
Momma: Morning chores, feed chickens, start laundry, meal prep

10:00-11:00
Snack time at 10:00 then take honey medicine
School time – read books, play games, study outside

11:00-12:00
Children: Play with toys
Momma: Prepare lunch, check email

12:00-1:00
Eat lunch at 12:00
Children: Clean off table, clean up toys
Momma: Wash dishes

1:00-3:30
Children: Quiet time in bedrooms
Momma: Afternoon/outdoor chores then computer time

3:30-4:00
Snack time, then outside play time

4:00-5:30
Momma: Prepare supper
Children: Daddy time/School time

5:30-6:30
Eat supper at 5:30
Children: Clean off table then play outside
Momma: Wash dishes, sweep floor
Daddy: Put chickens to bed

6:30-7:30
Children: Bath time then play with toys
Momma: Tomorrow’s meal prep

7:30-8:00
Family time, then clean up toys

Every family's list will look different, but this one is working for us right now. It really has been helpful in keeping our monotony productive!

Living Off The Land

2010-09-09T09:45:00.004-05:00

If you get a chance, I really recommend that you watch the video on the link below. The video is less than 7 minutes long. It's all about a family in California that grows all its food on 1/5 of an acre. ONE-FIFTH!! It's a very inspiring story and I wanted to share it with you.

Video:
http://wimp.com/livingland/

Here is the family's website:
http://urbanhomestead.org/

According to the website, their property is 1/5 of an acre, but they grow over 350 different vegetables, fruits, herbs, and berries on only 1/10 of an acre. That's over 6,000 pounds of food. WOW!

I do read that they are vegetarian, so I obviously don't agree with their entire lifestyle, but what they've managed to achieved in their garden is phenomenal.

Becoming A One-Income Family

2010-09-08T15:58:00.010-05:00

(Below is our story of how we became a one-income family. It's my hope that those that are questioning whether or not they're able to do it will be able to read our story and see that it is definitely possible.)

I'm sure that I am not the only SAHM that's ever heard the phrase, "Some people just aren't as lucky as YOU are. We don't all get to stay at home like you do." I have bolded the words "get to" because those are the words that irk me the most. You see, I was not handed my life as a SAHM on a silver platter. A lot of hard work and sacrifice has gone into attaining the lifestyle we now have.

Shawn and I married in 2003. He worked a full-time job. I worked a full-time job. We had no children. We had a mortgage, two vehicle payments, and credit card payments. We went to the movies at least once a week. We went out to eat at least once a day. We went away on week-long vacations. I got a pedicure once a month, fake nails put on twice a month, and highlights done about every three months. I even OWNED a tanning bed. (Yeah, I looked good back then!)

In 2004, after one year of marriage, Shawn and I moved for his job. We moved to a town that was an hour and a half away from our previous home. Even though I didn't have a job lined up yet, we purchased a home and moved in. I put in a few job applications. Two weeks after moving, I found out I was pregnant with Sam. Now, it seemed a little wrong for me to apply for jobs only to tell my possible employer that I would be taking maternity leave in nine months. So, Shawn and I made the decision that I would not be going back to work. However, we had just taken out a new mortgage expecting two incomes to be coming in. We still had two vehicle payments and credit card bills. They had to be paid somehow...SO, we had to make some changes.

Some changes were immediate and others were more gradual. We immediately had to stop all eating out and going out to the movies. We immediately cancelled everything except dial tone on our home phone..no caller ID, no call waiting, not even long distance. We purchased calling cards from Sam's Club for long-distance coverage or else I just used my cell phone. We could no longer afford for me to get all "beautified" on a regular basis. No more pedicures, no more fake nails..I was still able to keep my highlights, but I ended up going to the local cosmetology school to get those done. I had to give up the Clinique make-up and instead bought the cheaper stuff at Wal-Mart. I learned to coupon and got really, really good at it. I went for a while without health insurance. When it comes down to health insurance versus food/utilities...food and utilities win out. Shawn had always had a membership to the shooting range before our financial situation changed. He had to give that up. He was a hard-core Dr. Pepper drinker. While I still purchased soda on occasion back then, Shawn had to learn to like the generic versions of his favorite soda. When his boots got a hole in the bottom, we didn't go out and purchase a new pair for him. We found a local man that repaired boots and we got them repaired. Our clothing started coming from yard sales or Goodwill or we received them as gifts. Shawn and I stopped buying each other Christmas, birthday, and anniversary presents as well. In addition to all that, Shawn took on a part-time job teaching night classes for another college.

Some may wonder how these tiny little changes could've possibly made a difference. Well, I can tell you that they did. Not only did we manage to survive on one income by saving a penny here and a penny there, but these changes caused us to completely reevaluate the way we handled money. Suddenly I had a bright spotlight shining on our budget and I had to pay attention to it at all times. Living this lifestyle forced me to view our budget in minute detail. I had to plan out gifts and oil changes and even stamps. Everything was figured into the budget. By making these small changes not only were we able to survive on one income, we were able to survive while we paid off both vehicles and all of our credit card debt (which got up to over $11,000 at one time.) It did take several years for us to wipe out all of that debt, but we were finally able to do it. We are in a better financial situation now than we ever hoped to be while we both had jobs. Now, our only debt is our property and we are trying to get it paid off as quickly as possible.

We became a one-income family very suddenly and it has turned out to be a great blessing for our family. We find value in small things now and (I feel) have our priorities in a better place. Having to stick to a very strict budget causes you to really consider what is and is not important in your life. When you have to search to find enough money to cover food and utilities, suddenly television, movies, and the latest electronic gadgets don't seem quite so important.

What really amazes me is that Shawn and I now tend to choose the less expensive option even when we could afford a more expensive one. For instance, we could probably afford for me to start getting fake nails again. However, at this point I would feel silly wearing fake nails. Please, if you are reading this and wearing fake nails..please don't be offended. It's just that now I would rather give up a fake nails budget and put that money aside for an extra mortgage payment or to add more insulation to the house. Our financial situation has now improved but the lessons and priorities that we were forced to submit to have now become our preference.

So, I guess all of this is why I get a little irked when someone comments that I "get to" stay home. No...I don't "get to" stay home...I'm able to stay home because we've worked hard at it.

Shawn's Favorite Meal

2010-09-07T17:15:00.009-05:00

Last night I made Shawn's favorite meal for supper. I figured I'd share it with you all today since it's such a big hit at our house. I enjoy serving this to my family since it employs so many aspects of a healthy, traditional diet: grassfed beef, animal fat, soaked rice, soaked beans, organic vegetables, etc.

Shawn's favorite meal consists of Spanish rice, refried beans, and guacamole with tortilla chips. A disclaimer on the Guacamole recipe though...I don't use a recipe to make the dip. I just throw everything into a bowl, so my measurements on the recipe are just estimates where I "eyeballed" what I seemed to be putting in the bowl.

Spanish Rice

1 cup uncooked brown rice
2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp. acidic medium (whey, yogurt, kefir or buttermilk)
2 Tbsp. lard or tallow
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped green pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
1 cup frozen corn
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
2-3/4 cups water
Chili powder, salt, pepper, and cumin to taste
Fresh cilantro, chopped

Place rice, 2 cups warm water, and acidic medium in covered dish and leave in warm place for at least 7 hours.

Later, after soaking time has finished:
In large skillet over medium heat, heat fat until melted and hot. Strain rice from acidic water. Add rice, onion, green pepper, and garlic to hot fat. Saute for 5 minutes or until onions are tender. Add the ground beef and cook until browned.

Add corn, tomatoes, and water. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 50 minutes or until rice is cooked. Season with chili powder, salt, pepper, and cumin to taste. Add freshly chopped cilantro and stir.

Crockpot Refried Beans

3 cups pinto beans
8-1/2 cups water
1 onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

The night before, place 3 cups dry pinto beans in a pot. Cover beans with warm water and allow to soak 12-24 hours. After soaking, drain water, rinse, and place in crockpot. Add all other ingredients and cook on high for 8 hours. Drain out most of the water. Mash beans, adding some liquid back in if needed. Can be portioned out and frozen for later use.

Guacamole

4 ripe avocados
1 lemon or lime, juiced
1 tsp. sea salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c. onion, minced
1 Tbsp. cumin
1/3 c. fresh cilantro, minced

Combine avocados, lemon/lime juice, and sea salt. Mash together with potato masher. Add other ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate one hour for flavors to blend.

We add good, pastured, raw cheddar cheese to the crockpot refried beans. We do eat our guacamole with tortilla chips purchased from the store. The best that we are able to find are organic, non-GMO chips that are fried in sunflower, safflower and/or canola oil. I'm not to the point of making my own tortilla chips yet, so this is what we use now!

I hope you enjoy this meal as much as my family does!

This post is proud to be a part of Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/09/real-food-wednesday-9810.html

Summer Recap: Part 2

2010-09-07T13:55:00.015-05:00

I had so many photos of our trip this Summer to Oklahoma that I thought I'd just give it a post in and of itself. We had such a fun time visiting Grandma Colette and Shawn's grandparents.

Summer Recap: Part 1

2010-09-07T13:18:00.018-05:00

Since I officially feel like Fall is here, I guess I ought to go back and post the Summer photos that I never got around to. Grandma Colette should really enjoy this one!

Fall Is Here!

2010-09-05T09:40:00.019-05:00

We had such a wonderful, productive day yesterday. The weather was cool enough that we were able to go the whole day with the doors and windows open on the house. We worked hard around the property trying to get things ready for winter. Shawn collected some firewood, we cleaned up trees, and then ended the day with a walk around the property.

We made our way over to the Mule Pond, which is a small little pond that is filled by one of our springs. It has been so dry this summer that the Mule Pond finally dried up.

Here is Shawn standing in the hole that is usually filled with water.

Here you can see the dried-up Mule Pond a bit better. We'd really like to find out exactly where the spring bubbles up from the ground.

There's still a lot of beautiful wildflowers to be seen.

Then we made our way back to the second spring. We call it the Deep Spring because it basically looks like a deep well. We love the way it looks.

It's also nice that it retains water even when there's very, very little rain.

Cute grandbabies for Grandma Colette to see.

The pond was down really low, so it was easy to see the tracks of the animals that have been coming to get a drink. Here you can see tracks from deer, turkey, and raccoon.

I also ended up washing the fleece blankets yesterday that Aunt Angie made for us. I always keep these in the vehicle during the Fall/Winter in case of an emergency or just if the kids get cold. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the "tent" that was made from the blankets hanging on the line.

Anyhow, that was our day. I enjoyed it so much that I thought I'd share. I hope you enjoyed it too!

I Feel So Homesteader-y

2010-08-06T09:17:00.004-05:00

When we bought this property 7-1/2 months ago, I had certain activities in mind that homesteaders do...a stereotype of what a homesteader is. It's really nice to look at my daily schedule and see that I'm now performing those activities myself instead of reading about others doing them.

I've been busy lately hanging laundry on the line, making homemade laundry detergent, cooking eggs from our own chickens and potatoes from our own garden, canning apples from our own trees, and ordering seeds for next year's garden.

Shawn has been busy battling weeds in the garden, cutting firewood, picking okra and green peppers, repairing the chicken coop, feeding chickens and collecting eggs, and trapping the animals that are trying to steal all our apples.

There's such a feeling of contentment after spending the day canning. I cannot say that I particularly enjoy canning, but I do feel good after the long day's work. I'm sweaty, achy, and probably stinky, but I actually have something to show for it.

I canned the six quarts of apples on Wednesday and then attempted making apple jelly yesterday. The jelly never seemed to gel though, so it seems that we have a lot of apple syrup instead. Looks like we'll be having pancakes for breakfast tomorrow morning.

The most wonderful feeling though, is the happiness I get from the kids' excitement.

Sarah begging to go help Daddy feed chickens and collect eggs.
Sam coming to me and asking, "Can I help you make jelly?"
All three kids scrambling to get their shoes on so they can help pick apples.

THOSE are the awesome moments that I'm enjoying most of all.

Does Prepping Mean We Don't Trust God?

2010-08-03T20:41:00.003-05:00

I came across a wonderful post that addresses the above question.

http://autonomy-and-faith-collide.blogspot.com/2010/07/time-to-load-up-pantry-past-time.html#comment-form

I agree with her assertion that Scripture calls us to be prepared.

I do believe that God wants us to be prudent in our decisions concerning the future. I believe that Proverbs 31:21 points out that one of my duties as a woman is to ensure that our family is prepared. That verse states:

"She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet."

To me, this means that I should take precautions before an event occurs so that my household has nothing to fear. Now, whether that event is an ice storm or an economic collapse..the premise is still the same. I have a Scriptual obligation to make sure my family is prepared.

Just some thoughts..things to think about...

We Have Eggs!!

2010-08-02T09:40:00.003-05:00

Woo Hoo, so excited!

Shawn went out to the coop this morning to let the chickens out and found these three little surprises waiting for him.

No, none of our chickens laid the stick of butter...I just put it there for a size comparison.

Anyhow, we're excited. Of course, it figures that I just purchased 10 dozen eggs from the farm this weekend. I foresee us eating lots of eggs.

Editing to add in another picture. When I went out to put the chickens away last night I found a 4th egg in the coop. Then I put all the new eggs in the carton with the eggs we just bought from the farm. You can really tell the difference in size when you compare them in the carton!

Canning 101

2010-07-29T13:50:00.008-05:00

I've been saying for a LONG time now that I would like to learn how to can food. Well, yesterday I finally did it! We all went outside yesterday and picked the peaches off the last peach tree.

As usual, Sarah was a great helper.

But it didn't take long before she found a way to be rewarded for her hard work.

I never fully realized how time-consuming and messy canning was. My kitchen was a disaster. At one point I just had to step back and take a picture of the momentous process.

I had pot of boiling water to dunk the peaches in and a bowl of ice water to plunk them in so the skin would come off. I had a bowl to put the peelings in and another bowl of lemon water to keep the peeled peaches waiting. I had a cutting board for the peaches, a bowl for all the yucky spots, another bowl with lemon water to put the halved peaches in. Then I also had a pot to heat up the peeled, halved peaches, a pot of boiling water to cover the peaches once they were in the jars, and finally the pressure cooker that I used to boil the filled jars. Whew....

So, after six hours of work...yes, it took me six hours to do this. Apparently I am NOT a "natural" when it comes to canning. Anyhow, after six hours of work I ended up with...drumroll please....

FOUR, only FOUR quart jars of peaches! My children could eat one or two jars just by themselves in one sitting!

I will say that our peaches did have quite a few bad spots. With this being our first year growing an orchard, we definitely have some learning to do. Little worms did some damage and we also suffered from brown rot. If I hadn't had to cut off so much yuck then I'm sure the processing would've been faster and ended with a larger quantity. Oh well, I guess this is what has to be done if our family is going to have organic peaches. However, next year I might try dehydrating peach slices instead of canning!

Emergency Preparedness

2010-07-21T10:59:00.004-05:00

Lately, Shawn and I have been spending some time discussing the many scenarios where emergency preparedness would be life-saving. First I have to admit that, while I write this post hoping that everyone seeing it will glean information from it, my primary reason for writing this is so that my own friends and family will be better prepared. I love them. I worry about them. So, I want to take this time and try to save them from discomfort, pain, and grief.

We became really motivated to start preparing for an emergency after the Ice Storm of 2009. After about the third day of the storm, Shawn made a trip in to Wal-Mart. What he saw in the store made us change the way we prepared for emergencies. He noticed that, after only three days, the shelves were already extremely bare. There were customers in the store openly crying because they were so overwhelmed by not having electricity for three days. He overheard a conversation where a lady was telling a friend that she'd heard a rumor that one neighborhood in town had power. The lady's family was trying to figure out if they knew anyone in that neighborhood so they could go stay with someone that had electricity. This lady was desparate to find someone, anyone, with electricity. One of Shawn's co-workers told him that most people in his neighborhood left to stay with others. He was pretty much the only person that stayed in their home. Shawn's co-worker personally had to run off a carload of men that were driving up and down the street looking for empty houses to loot. All of this happened after just a few days during the ice storm. We know some people that were without electricity for more than two weeks.

After that incident Shawn and I really started to work through what we would do if we were put into a desparate situation. I would really like it if my family and friends would start asking themselves the same questions and take actions to ensure that their families are taken care of in an emergency. As much as I would love to say, "If something bad happens, then you all just come to our place..we'll take care of you!" That response is really just not practical. You must be prepared to take care of your own family in case of an emergency.

So, if there's another ice storm this winter:
Do you have a reliable supply of drinking water?
Do you have a way of keeping your family warm if there's no electricity?
Do you have enough food to get through several weeks?
Do you have a way of cooking/preparing the food if electricity is out?
Can you protect your family and your home if looters come into your neighborhood?

If the BIG earthquake occurs:
What will you do for water if all the pipes are broken?
If the roads are impassable, are you able to survive with no outside assistance?
If your home is destroyed, do you have alternate shelter for your family?
If someone is injured, do you have the skills or tools necessary for treatment?

Like I said earlier, I would love it if we could provide sanctuary for everyone, but we just can't. Since I won't be able to help my family and friends during an actual emergency, this is my way of helping. I urge you to prepare now. If I can help you now with your preparations, please know that I am willing. Of course there's plenty more that you can prepare for besides ice storms and earthquakes. However, I think preparing for a natural disaster is a great starting point for most families.

Another Update

2010-06-30T14:04:00.009-05:00

Since it seems that I'm incapable of posting with any type of regularity lately, I think it's more reasonable for me to just give updates from time to time. We've been on our property for six months now. I've discovered that this time of year is extremely busy if you're trying to grow a garden and keep an orchard alive! So, with that said, this is what we've been up to...

Andrew is turning into a great little homestead helper. (Isn't he a cutie!)

The chickens are now free-ranging in the afternoons. This photo was taken on their first day out of the pen. They spent that first day going no further than the shade of the barn, but now we often see them up by the house later in the evenings. I love that they're helping control the bugs around here and we've noticed that we're going through less grain feed than before.

Shawn spent several days cleaning out the root cellar. The previous owners left a lot of unwanted items behind when they left. So, after Shawn sorted through the old bicycles, mildewed clothing, Reader's Digests from the 70's and 80's, and jars of mysterious liquids...this is what we were left with.

We know that we have to find where water is coming in and fix the leak, then kill off the mold that's in there, possibly replace the shelving because of mold, and replace the exterior door. Just more stuff to add to the "To Do" list.

Shawn already managed to build a very nice woodshed and some crates to use in the root cellar. He loves building things with wood and is really quite good at it!

Finally, I'm pleased to show off our first ever potato harvest! For being our first year growing them, I thought that we had a pretty good crop. We're estimating that we have about 50 pounds of potatoes. The crates that Shawn built will stack one on top of another and we're putting them in my laundry room for now. The laundry room is on the north side of our earth-berm home, so it's built into the ground and stays pretty cool all the time.

Other than this we've been spending our time watering the orchard and garden since we haven't had any rain on our property for about two weeks. We're also trying to control the weeds in the garden by putting down newspaper and covering it with straw. Oh, the areas we already have done look SO much nicer! We're starting to pick blackberries and enjoy some on a daily basis. I'm researching putting in a fall garden. I have some empty space in the garden now where the potatoes were and I have several raised beds that will be empty once I pick the garlic and onions soon. I'd like to go ahead and put something in their place instead of letting it sit empty. We've also been spending a lot of time with the Sears repair man since the brand new Craftsman riding lawn mower that we purchased two months ago breaks down every single week...but that's a long rant that would be a whole post by itself. Needless to say, I'm starting to think that we should've saved our money and just invested in a couple of goats instead!

Anyhow, that's the most recent update and the closest I get to having an "excuse" for not posting more often. We're still loving our busy, sweaty, itchy, achy, productive lives as homesteaders!

Sharing Something With You

2010-06-22T21:09:00.002-05:00

I found this blog post and enjoyed it very much. Like the author, I've found that becoming more self-sufficient and firm in my beliefs has been very empowering. Anyhow, I wanted to pass it along in the hopes that you would enjoy it too.

http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2010/06/dont-be-scared.html

A Fermenting Party...What's That?

2010-06-08T20:06:00.018-05:00

So, yesterday I had a great time when some friends came over here for a Fermenting Party. What's a Fermenting Party you ask? Well, according to us, it's when a group of crunchy-granola ladies get together to make sauerkraut, ginger carrots, and ginger beer. Foods served during the party included grassfed beef stew, black cherry kombucha, organic blueberries from the garden, and 70% Lindt chocolate. Talk during the Fermentation Party included words like: probiotics, bacteria, and yeast.

You know, when I go back and re-read the above paragraph it sure makes us sound a little nerdy or wierd or something, but that's ok...I had a great time. Oh, and of course I took pictures specifically for this blog post, so that adds to the nerdy factor too I suppose...oh well.

We started off by dragging in all the supplies that they brought along with them. Here Rachel and Amanda are starting to research the process we're about to start.

Here's our huge box of organic cabbage that we all went in together to purchase. A total of 21 heads of cabbage that travelled all the way from Oregon for us to enjoy.

We decided that it was good organic cabbage when we saw this healthy worm feasting on it. Surely, if it were doused in pesticides this little guy wouldn't be around.

Then we got to work processing the cabbage. Amanda worked nearly all day long with an adorable bundle of extra weight strapped to her back. Ava was so content throughout the whole process.

The food processor that Amanda borrowed from her Mom was a HUGE blessing. I can't imagine how long it would've taken us to do all that work by hand.

My job was to be the "sqoosher." This involved me adding sea salt to the cabbage and squeezing it to break down the fibers. At this point, Rachel went insane and decided that a picture of me had to be on the blog. So, here I am, in all my non-photogenic glory in the process of "sqooshing."

The kids enjoyed the party too.

More processing

More sqooshing

After all the hours (yes, hours!) of processing and sqooshing, getting to the point of filling our jars felt like a huge milestone for me. I thought the green cabbage, purple cabbage, and carrots all combined made it turn out real pretty.

When it was all said and done we had a total of 4 gallons of sauerkraut, 4 batches of ginger beer, and some ginger carrots. I'm really looking forward to the ginger beer. It certainly doesn't sound appealing to me, but the ladies assured me it's not really beer...it's more like ginger ale.

Then we had to take care of the clean up, but I'll spare you pictures of that. Take my word for it though, my kitchen wasn't pretty after the Fermenting Party.

Lessons learned for next time:
1) Start earlier! They arrived at my home around 1pm and we didn't finish until after 10pm. Granted, we did visit while we were working and that added to our time, but it also made it much more enjoyable and I wouldn't change that a bit. Next time though, I think I'll invite everyone over and just make a day of it.

2) Only use wide-mouth canning jars. It was harder to tamp down the sauerkraut in the regular-mouth jars. The wider opening allowed us to use our hands to tamp.

3) Bring more lids. We started getting creative at the end with finding methods of covering the jars for travelling home. We foraged for lids and once those were all gone we had to resort to plastic wrap and rubber bands!

We had such a good time that we're already planning another Fermenting Party for the fall. We'd also like to get together to make soap and process apples (assuming Shawn and I manage to keep everything alive until harvest!). Thank you ladies for coming over. I loved it and cannot wait to do it again!

This post has been linked to Real Food Wednesday. To get more information on preparing healthy foods for your family, click here.
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/06/real-food-wednesday-6910.html/comment-page-1#comment-69125

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes...

2010-05-30T12:32:00.004-05:00

Earlier today Shawn was telling Sam and Sarah the story of how God created everything. As he was describing the Garden of Eden with all of its plants and trees and flowers and animals, Sarah piped up and said quickly, "Be sure to watch out for snakes!" Knowing what we know about later events in the Garden of Eden, maybe she understands more than we give her credit for...

Then at lunchtime, we were reviewing with the kids. Shawn asked Sarah who created the Earth and outer space. She quickly replied that God did. Then he asked what the first man's name was. She quickly replied that it was Adam. Then he asked her where Adam lived. She thought for a moment and replied, "The farm of Eden." Close..

Then Shawn turned to Sam and started reviewing with him. Shawn started off by asking him who created the Earth. Sam replied, "Grandma Colette."

We had fun listening to the kids' accounts of Bible facts, but I still don't think any of the cute-ness today compares with when Sarah was sitting in the back of the van singing a church song. She sounded so cute singing: "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of...Grandma!"

So, Grandma Colette, you should be flattered. Sarah may get you confused with Jesus, but Sam gets you confused with God!