Arguments with myself

I argue with myself. Sometimes it feels like there are two of me.

One of me wants to be a physician with one or two kids in a big city with a big fancy house and a maid and nanny to go with it. This person likes fast and easy and agrees with traditional medicine. She wants a super successful husband with a nice car and fancy vacations. She can afford to buy local organic fruits and veggies, grass fed beef and free range eggs and chicken.

The other me wants to be a stay at home mom with at least six kids on a farm. She does not want someone else to clean her house or teach her kids. She homeschools, makes everything from scratch, grows most of it in her back yard. She has a dairy cow and chickens. She is into sustainable living. She works with her husband on the farm with the kids and that's all they need. She is suspicious of anything that hasn't been around for 200 years.

These two me's agree on few things. They both love Jesus. They both want to be healthy and do what's best for the family. But this looks different to each of them. One cares what the newest research says and the other wants to how things were done 50 or 100 years ago.

You may see me argue with myself on this blog about full fat dairy, raw milk, immunizations, the value of kids activities, etc, etc. And you can chime in with why you believe as you do. But please be respectful of both me's :)

I will never be able to be just one or the other. Somewhat because it is unlikely that I will be a rich physician or a farm wife any time soon. In this Jesus is showing me how to be content with the life He has for me. And right now with a tight budget and no farm, some of the choices I would like to make are not in reach.

Foods - Real and Unreal

Real Foods. I expect we all have an idea of what that means. I know I do. The stuff that is unprocessed and even my kids know all the things on the ingredient list. Common sense tells me these foods should be healthier than processed foods with unknown items in them. I have tried to buy organic foods when I could afford it and I have avoided margarine since I found out in college it was vegetable oil with extra hydrogen atoms blown into it. It seemed like our bodies might not know how to digest and eliminate foods that man created. Now, almost twenty years later I am beginning to hear of research that is indeed confirming what I have long suspected.

However, despite believing that the foods that God created for people to eat had to be better for people than the foods man created himself, for either time or money reasons I have not always fed myself or my family according to my beliefs. Bad Mom.

Now I am home and have more time to cook and less money to eat out. I have been learning to cook new things from scratch and started wondering how to research what my gut tells me. I have started by looking at other blogs for ideas and recipes.

I’ve learned to make chicken and beef broth, yogurt, egg noodles, bread and tortillas. I have even made bagels, cakes, pretzels, cinnamon rolls, croissants, graham crackers, and copy cat “wheat thins”.

I have started a compost pile.

And I tried to start carrots and lettuce in the garden. Twice. I have a lot of learning to do. And I plan to share my trials, failures, and successes here with you. Hopefully you will tell me what you are doing and trying and why so I can catch up with you.

I know there are a lot of blogs out there where others are sharing on these topics. But here are my favorites so far:

http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/
http://ourlifesimplified.com
http://smittenkitchen.com
http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com
http://gnowfglins.com/
http://www.littlenaturalcottage.com
http://www.oursimplefarm.com/
http://www.traditional-foods.com