Is Spring in the Air?

It's that time of year again when I start to think of all of the things that I am going to do outside. For those of you reading this that aren't from Saskatchewan, it is -34 Celsius with a windchill of -45 Celsius. This makes planning the yard and garden difficult for me because I tend to "dream" about all the possibilities in an attempt, I think, to block out the freezing reality.

Never the less, I have already started many garden plants in the house and have run into a small snare. I don't want to fertilize my home grown plants (that we will be eating) with chemical fertilizers. I am looking for a convenient and easy way to make fertilizer to use on things like lettuce, bell peppers and even zucchini. I would use kelp or fish or even the chicken manure from the barn but they all smell foul (no pun intended) when used in the house. Any suggestions would be welcome.

As for the vegetables themselves. We are successfully growing: homesteader peas, black zucchini, beets, carrots, tomatoes, parsley, garlic, bunching onions and strawberries. We are already eating the very dwarf peas and it looks like the zucchini are about to bloom. We started everything the second week of January.

We have just planted the second planting of Tomatoes, Peas and a new batch of herbs and Jalapenos. The first plantings of Jalapenos didn't make it nor did the Rosemary, Artichoke or eggplant.

As for what we can eat now: the mixed lettuce, peas, beet tops, parsley and within days the zucchini blooms (or we could let them grow and see if they make it to full vegetables.

It is all very exciting. I think that we will start some pansies and violas and see if we can make pretty salads. Maybe the kids would like that.

Maybe the weather gets as bad as this so that people like me get motivated at the right time to get the garden veg that needs to be started now started. I really could use a break from this really really cold weather though.

Milk from Cow to shelf

I have had the opportunity to speak to the neighbours that used to have dairy cattle. They couldn't continue to supply milk. It wasn't affordable for them. I did learn that there is a lot of detail and attention that goes into dairy farming. Everything has to be just so and this makes sense because of concerns for TB and other bacteria that can make the milk unsuitable for drinking.

I also received a reply from the Dairy Farmers of Canada. They provided me with much information concerning care of animals and quality of milk. Concisely, they say the same thing about care and attention as our neighbours and add that grain fed to cattle is determined by region. They also mentioned that grain is carefully given to cattle because of Stomach problems ( I think this refers to blotting though I am not positive).

Having said all of that I now question more than ever the processes that milk is subjected to once it gets to the production phase. This is truly becoming quite a complicated subject.

Now that the kids are no longer sick I am going to attempt again to get in touch with Parmalat. In the mean time I am going to look into the processes milk goes through just to be shelved in the store as a drinkable product. Also, I am still looking into the difference between Organic Milk and regular milk but I guess now I also need to look into Raw milk and Raw milk products.

Starting with the neighbour's information that when the pasteurization of the milk destroys enzymes that aid in the digestion of dairy.

Little Things

I am by no means a gourmet cook. I likely will never be anything close to one but I do enjoy more and more accomplishing a meal that is both healthy and balanced. This was not always the case.

When I first started cooking without non-stick coated pots and pans everything stuck to them. It didn't matter what I was doing nothing came out of the pot or pan. I ruined a very good pot when I actually burnt rice in water. I still don't know how that happened. poor pot.

I wanted to share some of the Little Things that when I started this lifestyle change were not, at least to me, obvious.

1. I didn't know that a stainless steel pan needs to be cured (heated with oil) slowly like one would ready a cast iron pan before using it. Heat the pan and then add the oil. Only cook the food once the oil is hot too. Then the food doesn't stick, usually.

2. Using a hand blender that cleans quickly is an easier way to add vegetables to meals (especially when the veggie choice is presently not a favorite with the kids).

3. Substituting ingredients is not a scary task at all. I used to think that just because I didn't have one or two of the ingredients I couldn't make the recipe. I have found great substitutions both on the internet and from friends. Now I make substitutions quite a bit more.

4. Sugar. This is the newest revelation for me. There are so many sweet substitutions out there now that I am beginning to feel that their isn't any real need to eat sugar even though it is in EVERYTHING I am starting to realize that we don't need to add it to things.

Eat well. :)

Village on a Diet

I forgot to mention in my last post that my husband and I have just seen an episode of "Village on a diet". Initially we didn't want to watch it because it appeared to be a program about dieting. this program is about lifestyle change. Encouraged lifestyle change and there is someone in that village that pretty near represents any lifestyle change approach I could think of.

I wanted to mention this program in my last post because of the communal approach to change. This community is taking on huge changes, and yes they have much help that many of us will never see when making our own changes, but they are making changes together. The program is interesting to me because it is also motivating. To see someone (or in my case I relate to one or two things about many of the participants)go through something and then overcome the challenge or fail at it and then try again, helps.

This television program is very like the Innate lifestyle program that I am trying to convert my lifestyle into. No sugars, fewer but healthier grain choices, better mind set, more water and lots and lots of easy exercise.

If you haven't heard of Village on A Diet you should check it out. Maybe it will be the small piece of information that you need to motivate or direct.

Community Health

I had a recent eye opener that left me a little dazed.

I came to this small community only three years ago. I didn't really know that many people and none of them really well. I had some preconceived idea that the community was responsible for welcoming us and helping us get to know them. This didn't happen.

A friend of mine recently joined an organized religion. This particular community of individuals made my friend and her family feel very welcome and loved especially in their time of great circumstance. It really was little wonder that she and her family are as happy as they are now because they are not alone. They can concern themselves with lifestyle changes and know that they are "looked after", to a certain degree. As a result they are making great changes through hard work but their spirits are high. It may sound corny but I don't know how else to put it.

It is my opinion that all organized religions focus on community. How to coexist in trying and exceptional times. The great epiphany for me was that we, each of us, is responsible for making our own community. I was lost when my husband and I moved out here and I waited for someone (community/town) to find and help us out. What I didn't consider was that I wasn't going to be apart of the whole if I didn't just get out and do something. While I was wallowing I forgot to look after myself and just wallowed.

I mention this today because I have been re-energized by this idea. I am empowered to make greater personal change and I haven't even changed my current community standing, I just want to now. The sole idea that the whole, what ever the whole might be is enough. I find that there is a self importance to community involvement whether the community is a town, a religious group, family or even a large group of close friends. It makes it a little easier to change with a support group. I don't know why but there it is.

The Health Care Outcome

As a young child I had a very good family doctor. Dr. Kinear (Sp?)was gruf and loud and didn't take any biting from little girls who didn't want to get their vaccinations. So all the unpleasantness of yesterdays excursion to the Emergency Ward was taken with stride, I think.

Showing up at the Emergency to have myself and children examined for a cold was not well received. The first question they ask as you come in the door is "Why are you here"? Having to tell them that I didn't know what I was up against with the vomiting and the coughing and the frequent trips to the bathroom for all of us didn't do anything for their threshold.

The doctor was the real treat. I haven't met anyone else, who like my grandmother, can chastise, belittle and sooth without changing tone or volume. None of my direct questions were actually answered, I was told to purchase Imodiem and Children's gravol to deal with the violent attributes of whatever we actually have and we were off.

Not a pleasant experience but effective I suppose. So, I could go to bed last night knowing that my children were looked at by a doctor and presumably have nothing that is life threatening. Regardless of having taken them to Emergency when the family doctor wasn't available for more than a week.

Just doing the best I can.

Saskatchewan health care and colds

I don't suppose I'm alone in saying "What the heck is going on". My children and I have been sick with what I thought was a cold for the past two weeks. It is either not a cold or it is crafty and bouncing back and forth between each of my children and myself just enough to keep us miserable and raw nosed.

At this stage I thought that it would be a good idea to see the family doctor to find out just what is going on. Sounds simple enough. The next available doctor wasn't our family doctor but a resident and not available for yet another week. That's a long time to wait with two sick children under the age of four and you yourself not even close to par. I voiced as much to the poor operator on the other end of the phone, in a voice raspy and likely difficult to understand. My options are to stay home and continue to take in fluids to the point of drowning or seek assistance at the Emergency Room in the nearest City (half hour drive from home).

Seeing a doctor seemed like a good idea before "Emergency Room" was thrown into the conversation, but now? Does this mean that I am one of those people that runs to the doctor at every sniffle or that I am being overly concerned with the state of health my children and I are in? What if I'm not and nobody can tell for sure unless we see a doctor. Does this sound like a cyclical thought process to anyone else?

I don't know if the conflict of interest is with the Medical Clinic or with me. I suppose that it depends on your point of view. I sure do feel confused about it though.

We stayed home yesterday because I couldn't talk myself into an hour round trip to the Emergency Room just to wait there with two sick children for who knows how long all for a "Cold". Now I can't but help think that that was their plan all along. I started to wonder why I couldn't see the doctor until next week anyway. Was it that the doctor didn't want to see a patient or was it something else. It was my mother who was the one likely to have hit the nail on the head with "their offices are filled with patients that have chronic disease". This makes sense whether it is correct or not. The only time I really end up in the Doctor's Office is when I have to have something scheduled anyway like an annual physical or something.

I really don't know why I was so upset. We are all still sick today and I am that much closer to packing everyone up and going to the Emergency Room to address this silly "cold" but I am still going to keep the appointment for next week with the family doctor, Just in case.