Our Backyard Homestead

The Incredible Egg

I was a business major in college and adored my marketing classes.  For many years, I believed that the organic label on food was nothing more than a clever marketing scheme to get people to part with a few extra bucks to "feel" like they were making healthier choices.  I have since learned so much about our food supply and am certain that organic, whole food choices are worth every penny.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words so I thought I would post a little evidence in the matter.  The above picture is of eggs from two different sources.  The light yellow yolks are organic eggs from the grocery store.  The dark, orange yolks are what eggs should look like when a chicken is being cared for in the way they were intended to live.  Grocery store eggs, even organics, are from chickens kept indoors their entire lifetime.  Chickens were meant to be outdoors and roam for bugs and other little creatures.  Our chickens have even eaten small snakes they have found in the yard!

Right now, we are not getting enough eggs from our chickens to feed our family so I had to scout out a local co-op so that I could buy eggs from free ranging chickens.  As the picture clearly shows, the effort is well worth it!

If you have not already seen the movie Food, Inc. I highly recommend making the time to watch! 

An Amazing Story; How your diet impacts your health

A few weeks ago, I came across the TED video of a physician that was nearly crippled by multiple sclerosis.  She had the very best medical care and was taking the latest and greatest drugs, yet her health was continuing to rapidly decline.  Whether you suffer from migraines or much more serious health problems, I urge you to make the 18 minutes to watch her inspiring story and the very simply laid out diet that she recommends.

Our family has been trending much closer toward the diet she recommends over the past year and we have seen a huge change in health.  I was having frequent migraines but since going wheat free, have had one!  I believe that the one that I had was directly related to a wheat cheat.  I also had frequent acid reflux for as long as I remember.  Since changing our diet, it is gone.  I have energy levels that I hadn't seen since I was in college.  Chronic pain, GONE!  The list is long of improvements, and that is only me.  My child that has inspired every baby step away from the Standard American Diet that we have taken is a entirely new child! 

Chia, the mighty seed

Have you heard of chia beyond the Ch Ch Chia Pet?  Evidently the Aztecs were on to something with this little wonder.  It was so valuable in their culture that it was even used as currency.  One serving (1 TBSP) of this tiny seed contains 20% of the recommended daily amount of dietary fiber.  Chia is the richest plant source of Omega 3s, it is high in calcium, magnesium and much more. 

We have been experimenting with incorporating it into our diets and the results are impressive.  I originally ordered some because I had read that it was useful in baking bread.  We actually started using it as an egg replacement after we began our elimination diet and were no longer eating bread or eggs.  In recent weeks we have been testing it as "chia fresca" or a chia drink with the seeds soaked in water and a bit of juice for at least 10 minutes.  The seeds form a gel and it takes a bit to get used to drinking it, but the entire family is now asking for their chia drink!  I have also incorporated into smoothies, baking and as previously posted, used it quite successfully as egg replacement for waffles.

Now for my story of how I know the chia and the dietary changes we have made are helping.  On Monday morning, I woke up at 3:30 a.m.   Wide awake, determined to fall back asleep.  However, something was making me itch, I thought it was a stray hair, stealthily making me miserable.  When I finally opted to get out of bed at about 4:15, one look in the mirror, revealed the source of my early morning.  I was covered in a red rash and itching from head to toe.  I ended up with a nice morning for a leisurely quiet time and for checking some items off of the to-do list before the kids were up.  I enjoyed a cup of coffee and a glass of chia fresca.

Our day was filled with activity outside of the home and off we went at 10:30 a.m.  When their school day finished up at 5:00 p.m., my son begged to go to the soccer game of all of his friends.  I had been up since 3:30 and my only caffeine of the day was metabolized by 8:00 a.m., oh and let's not forget that I was still itching from head to toe.  But, he really wanted to go and since our schedule had not allowed for him to play on the team, I decided we could make it.  Now, prior to our elimination diet there is not a chance that I would have had the energy to say yes! 

Not only did we have a great time at the game, but he and I then went to Whole Foods for dinner and to grab a few groceries.  I didn't return home until after 8:30 p.m. and still had enough energy to get the groceries put away and finish a few items not yet crossed off of the day's to-do list.  This is so drastically different than how I have felt in the past decade that I am still shocked by the day. Now, if we can figure out what caused the hives...

I know that the diet has been the biggest factor in returning my energy levels to where they should be, but I believe that the addition of chia has also been a help.  I don't mean to make it into the wonder fix all remedy because it is not.  If I was still eating processed food, I am not sure how much benefit I would see, but based on all that I have recently read, I believe it is truly the superfood it is claimed to be.

In closing, there is a great story of an endurance experiment with chia.  You have to read about halfway through to get to the story of the group that decided to climb Mt. Wilson.  Half of the group ate nothing but chia during the 36 hour climb and the other half ate whatever they choose.  You can click here to read the outcome as well as lots of other info about the mighty chia.

Teff, my new favorite grain

Taking a break to re-hydrate from a major garden work day.  Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post pictures of what was our Bradford Pear, now nicely mulching the garden!  I am about halfway finished covering over the "weed patch" that has haunted me the past three years.  Yea for progress!!

Since I am so far behind on blogging, I thought I would share a quick entry on our new favorite breakfast.  In checking out the gluten free grains, I picked up a bag of teff grain last month.  The tiny, brown seeds kind of scared me, so it sat unused for a while.  This week I felt inspired to try it as a hot cereal.  The entire time (15 minutes) that it was cooking, I was thinking that we were going to hate it.

Much to my surprise, the cocoa looking porridge had a wonderful flavor and we all loved it so much that I had to cook up a second batch!  A tiny squirt of honey and a pinch of coconut palm sugar sweetened it nicely and both days that we made it, there have been no left overs.  I love that one serving contains 20% of of your RDA of iron and 24% of the RDA of dietary fiber.  There are lots of other great benefits and I encourage you to read more in this great article! 

I just ordered 10 pounds and assuming the product and service are good I will be sure to share the link because it is not a cheap grain to buy from Whole Foods.

What if???

A child in the 70/80s, I can remember all of about three kids I went to school with through the years that had major allergies or health issues.  This come up in conversation recently with more than one friend and it seems I am not alone in this memory.  So if we were healthy kids with no allergies or health issues, why are we giving birth to a generation of children with peanut allergies, milk allergies, egg allergies, wheat allergies and a host of health issues?  Why does nearly anyone I know, especially if parenting a boy, have experience with reactive airway disease with their young children?

What if the very food we are eating could be to blame?  What if by simply changing your diet, you might be able to pack away the nebulizer for good?  What if modern food science has shortchanged us and genetically modified foods have genetically modified our children?  Yes, that is a bit of an extreme conclusion, but I was pleased to read an article in a mainstream publication about the possibility of rising rates of gluten sensitivity.

Although much remains unknown, it is clear that gluten—a staple of human diets for 10,000 years—triggers an immune response like an enemy invader in some modern humans.

A new study in the journal BMC Medicine may shed some light on why. It shows gluten can set off a distinct reaction in the intestines and the immune system, even in people who don't have celiac disease.

"For the first time, we have scientific evidence that indeed, gluten sensitivity not only exists, but is very different from celiac disease," says lead author Alessio Fasano, medical director of the University of Maryland's Center for Celiac Research.

I highly recommend reading "Clues to Gluten Sensitivity" over at the Wall Street Journal website.  Recently, Matt has recommended to more than one patient that removing wheat and/or dairy from their diet, might just be the answer to lingering health problems that have not been solved by modern medicine.  The feedback he has had from patients seems to align exactly with the article.  The experience of our family with our elimination diet this past three weeks has turned us into a healthier family nearly overnight.

I have so much more that I want to research and write about on this topic, but for now I ask you to read this article and consider if you or your children might benefit from a gluten free trial.  What do you have to loose?  This coming from someone who has been suffering with chronic congestion and sinus infections for most of the last decade.  Even with seasonal allergies causing much havoc right now, I have not been able to breathe like this in years!  Literally the congestion would be so bad some mornings that I felt I was suffocating.  I don't know yet if it is dairy, gluten, corn or soy contributing to my issues, but without a doubt I am 99.9% improved since we began our elimination diet. 

I fought going nuclear with our diet because it seemed too hard in an era of modern food conveniences.  Now I regret not doing it years earlier!  It likely would have spared my children much agony had we done it long ago. 

A nursery worth the drive

On Friday, the kids and I headed down to Dallas to visit North Haven Gardens.  We bought our first two chickens there nearly two years ago and I remembered being impressed with the selection, helpful staff and quality of the plants.  My memory was not playing tricks on me, on Friday I had no less then five different people ask if they could help me.  The employees were extremely knowlegable and it was obvious they enjoyed their jobs.  Best of all, the nursery is extremely organic friendly.  While I love my local feed supply store, it was so nice to be in a place where they didn't look at me as if I were from another planet for asking about organic products.  As a matter of fact, when I asked about their recommended fertilizer (not specifying organic), it was an organic product that she pointed me to.  Check out their page on growing edibles, it appears to have lots of great and helpful information!

I broke my self imposed rule of not growing tomatoes this year when the kids starting asking to bring some home.  Each child picked out their own variety or two, so it looks like I better go get my new growing bags in place.  I had already picked up two Early Girl plants from the feed store but forgot to bring them in when our temps dipped down to 28 early yesterday morning.  Oops, by afternoon, it was quite obvious they did not appreciate the brief period below freezing.  One of the employees I talked to at North Haven told me that tomatoes do not like temps any lower than 40.  I plan to put the plants I bought in pots and let them grow for a few more weeks before transferring to the garden.  After all, we did have this on March 21 last year:

Six inches of snow on March 21, 2010

There's a garden hidden under there!!  Fortunately, the blackberries survived being under that drift although they were already leafing out and we had a bumper crop last summer.

 

Baby steps

In the three media interviews that we have done, the main thing I have attempted to stress to the reporters is that we took baby steps to get where we are today.  Our journey actually began with eliminating red dye from our son's diet.  He was premature and has suffered some significant health issues as a result, including surgery at two months and two hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses.  When he was a baby, I began to suspect that the red dye in his medication was causing extreme hyperactivity, yet he was also on breathing medications and oral steroids (both known for insanity in mom caused by hyperactivity in the child) so it was hard to pinpoint.  One night his reaction after a dose of really red Tylenol was so strong that there was no denying the link to red dye.  And thus, our baby steps began.  From that point, it has taken us six years to get to where we are today.

Another issue I would like to clear up from our interviews is the misconception that we are self-sufficient.  At this season in my life, that is not even my goal.  If there is anyone growing a garden in Texas that is able to be completely self sufficient, I would love to meet you because this is a HARD climate to work with and I could really use a mentor.  I try not to be jealous of my sister up north who can toss in a few plants and be drowning in produce a few months later!  My goal is to learn all I can about how to garden in Texas so that as my kids get older and my mommy duties begin to change, I can devote more time to the garden should I choose.  Right now my main priority is educating and raising future leaders of our great nation.  I hope by having a garden, they will learn a solid work ethic and learn to enjoy what real food tastes like. 

The most recent article stated that we only buy 25% of our food from the grocery store.  This is accurate, but does not mean that 75% comes from our back yard.  We buy our whole wheat grains from a co-op, most of our meats and milk come from straight from the farm and our eggs come from the backyard.  Right now the main reason to visit the grocery is for produce.   Later this month, the local farmer's market will be open.  Between that and the garden, we should be seeing the inside of the grocery much less frequently. 

A wonderful way to expose your children to nature and help foster a love for gardening is to visit a pick your own farm over the summer months.  My parents had a large garden when I was young, but after we moved from South Dakota our main exposure to gardening/farming came from visits to pick your own farms.  The kids are already making plans for us to visit East Texas for blueberries this summer!  Our peaches last summer came from generous friend with a bumper crop on their many peach trees. 

I hope to get some links set up to the books that have inspired us to continue our journey of baby steps.  In the meantime, Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle was one of the first books I read on the subject of eating local and becoming more self sufficient.  While I am not in agreement with all of her views, it was an eye opening book and really made me think about our industrialized food system.  A much less gentle primer would be Food, Inc., which I believe everyone should see.

In the next few days, I hope to get some pictures of my watering system, as well as discuss how I built my raised beds.  Most of the garden was built without my husbands help and I am not exactly handy when it comes to building things!  If you are thinking of a garden this year, start small and add as you go.  If you live in Texas, don't make any plans without first making a plan for irrigation.  I started with just three raised beds and have added to my space each year.  I also want to dedicate some time to discussing my love for mulch as it is what allows me to spend minimal time in the garden once everything is growing for the season.  The mention in the recent article of spending an hour per week caring for it was specific to maintenance and did not include time for picking.  Last summer, much of the month of June we spent 30-60 minutes every other day picking blackberries.  Now that I don't consider work!!

One giant step

Little did we know that our journey away from the Standard American Diet (SAD) began with the birth of our sweet nine year old daughter.  Within hours of her birth, she began not just spitting up, but vomiting.  The first three months of her life were misery for her and for me, helpless to understand what pained her and exhausted from a newborn that never stopped crying and slept very little.  Because she was gaining weight, the pediatrician dismissed my concerns.  Matt was working 100+ hours a week in his intern year of residency.  When he was home, he was exhausted.  Besides, none of his training in medical school addressed the link of nutrition and health beyond the basics and as related to treating diabetic patients. 

Thanks to the internet, when she was six months old I finally made a connection between her extreme fussiness and a milk protein allergy.  Being that she had never had formula, this meant the milk protein was coming from my diet.  I initially switched from cow's milk to soy milk but she became even fussier.  I don't know if the statistic has changed, but up to 40% of children that cannot tolerate cow's milk will also be intolerant/allergic to soy.  Now that much is coming out about the negatives of soy, I am very thankful that she didn't tolerate it.  As she got older, it seemed she could handle yogurts, cheeses and butter.  It was not until we switched to raw, unpasteurized milk that she and also her also dairy intolerant younger brother could make the transition from rice milk to cow's milk.

However, at many seasons over the past nine years, she and more recently her brother, have struggled with reflux and GI issues, seemingly related to food.  Allergy tests revealed some minor allergies, but after a time avoiding those foods (eggs for her, peanuts for him) they were given the all clear to go back in to their diet.  Endoscopy, allergy tests, prescription medications, etc. etc., it seemed our kids were headed for a lifetime of tummy troubles. 

As we began to take baby steps to eliminate some of the modern convenience foods and other processed foods from our diet, we began to see improvements.  The switch to raw milk seemed to provide improvements in their health and, for the first time ever, our daughter could have milk without vomiting.  The more baby steps we took, the easier it was to take that next step.  At some point in the past three years, our diet came to look rather radical from the SAD.  Yet, nagging issues remained.  Our son continued to battle reactive airway disease and was covered in eczema.  Our daughter still suffered periods of reflux.  Deep down I felt that an elimination diet would be helpful, but was so overwhelmed with how to make it happen.

Ten days ago, at our daughters request, we took the plunge and decided to see what would happen if we eliminated wheat/gluten/corn/soy/dairy/eggs/chicken/beef/pork free for at least two weeks.  Once we make the two week mark, we will likely begin to add some things back in one at a time to see how they are tolerated.  I must say, though it has been a lot of work cooking three meals a day from scratch, I am loving the way I am feeling.  My sinuses are clearing up.  My ears that have been chronically itchy most of my life are no longer itchy!  My energy level is improving and I have shed a few unneeded pounds! 

I have seen some evidence that the dietary changes are helping the kids as well.  The Tornado's bumpy skin is clearing up which is huge!!  On Saturday evening, I cheated and added a little butter and sour cream to mashed potatoes.  Our daughter vomited upon waking on Sunday morning.  We stayed home from church assuming she was coming down with something, but as the day went on it was clear that her troubles that morning we caused by reflux and not a virus.  It seems possible that the dairy we thought she was tolerating could be what has been causing her issues all along.  We pray that in time we will have a clear answer for both of the kids.  In the meantime, we are learning to become practically vegan with a little bit of fish and turkey on the side. 

To help in our new mostly vegan efforts, I picked up some beautiful lettuce transplants yesterday.  Hopefully in the next few weeks, we will be harvesting our salads from the back yard!

 

Wow, we made ABC news!

When we were interviewed by an AP reporter back in December, it didn't exactly cross my mind that the story about our family would run nationally!  Here is a link to an adorable pic of Anna:

http://tinyurl.com/49abd8t

There is a link from the picture to click to the article or you can click here to see read it.

Of the three media interviews we have done, I believe this one to be the most accurate with one glaring exception.  We never indicated that we grow all of our own produce.  Every year we learn a little more, but we would be very hungry if our backyard garden was our sole source of produce!

As we begin another season in the garden, it is my goal to keep the blog a little more up to date as our gardening journal.

A great deal on organic fruit!!

I am so grateful for several wonderful days of rain last week!  I took pictures of the garden gone crazy yesterday and plan to get back to blogging, that is after the tomatoes get a little more attention.  However, this week I am blissfully drowning in 25 pounds of peaches that need to be processed before they rot.  Today I tackle peach and mango chutney.  If it is good, I will post the recipe.

If you wish to buy all organic produce, but like me, it is next to impossible to find decent strawberries or raspberries at a price that doesn't break the bank, now is your chance to stock up!!  I was at Costco yesterday and they have the most beautiful 12 oz packages of organic raspberries for $3.65 and 4 pound packages of organic strawberries for $7.99.  While a price tag of $8 seems high, when you break it down to $2 per pound on the strawberries it is a steal!! 

I bought some extra to either turn into organic jam or to freeze for winter when such produce is not available.  However, at the rate the berries are disappearing, it might just all get eaten fresh....and that is okay too!!

Edited to add a picture of the yummy goodness bowl of berries each of us had for lunch.  Outside of picking your own, I think they are the best tasting berries I have ever bought from a store.  I frequently question whether or not organic is really worth it.  For many reasons, the answer is yes, however today the reason is taste!!  Conventional berries will never taste that good!!  Now run to Costco and get some for your family while the very short berry season remains!