Moooo

The experiment is over. We've decided to stop our Arganica orders after the trial run. Theoretically, I like the idea of having everything local/organic as well as those few items we purchase that are not local or seasonal (bananas, avocados) coming directly to our door. The convenience, the online ordering, someone else doing all the running around gathering items for me, the available variety...but...I miss doing these things for ourselves. I really enjoy the act of shopping and selecting. I don't mind making a few trips each week to collect what we'd like to eat. I like to meet and talk with our farmers at the market. I like seeing and holding the produce, deciding which cut of meat would work best, and having my kids see this whole thing in action. I think if I were working outside of my home, didn't have a scheduled Polyface meat/egg drop at our home each month or so, and didn't have the luxury of going to a nearby farmers market (a wonderful Smart Market) each week, and didn't have the convenience of an excellent grocery store (Trader Joes's) close by I would be more inclined to continue. Most of all, I think that the act of going about and acquiring our food this way helps our family appreciate what we eat. It helps teach our children where food comes from, and how hard real people that they know work to get food to our table. I don't want to lose those opportunities for convenience sake.

I remember about 15 years ago, I was working with a family in their home. I had a toy milk jug with plastic cookies that fit into the top, and when you tipped the jug it mooed. The older sister (maybe 6 years old) of the child I was working with said, "why does that milk moo?". I started asking her some questions about why she thought it might do that. We were getting no where, and finally I said "well, where does milk come from?" and she said "the refrigerator." Well, yeah, that's why she was confused about the mooing. I want my kids to grow up understanding where food comes from and how to ask the right questions of the folks who grow and process our food in order to be sure it is the right choice for them to eat. Now if only we could have a goat and some chickens in our yard...

Farm Fresh

Along with the changes in our eating habits, comes a change in our shopping habits. We do cook every meal every day 90% of the time, and extremely rarely use boxes or pre-packaged foods. Buying essentially meats, vegetables, fruits, freshness is a tremendous factor. We value organic and grass fed foods, local farming and producing, and seasonal eating. During the summer, we eat from our garden (and the planning has begun for this coming season!) and farmers markets. For much of the year our meat and eggs come from a farm. During the winter, our farm takes a break, so if we haven't stockpiled, we need to find meat and eggs that we can happily eat! We've gotten a bit spoiled in terms of quality.

Instead of shopping once a week at a big grocery, I now shop several times during the week at a farmers market and my local Trader Joe's. Sometimes I go out to Whole Foods, but that's only for stuff I can't find anywhere else that I am willing to shell out some cash for - that place is expensive! I had been frequenting the outdoor market on Saturdays, but with the winter weather, there were many Saturdays I skipped it. Now we have two weekly winter markets, one of which is indoors which makes me super happy.

It does seem a little crazy to make so many trips to the markets during the week, but I really enjoy the fresh, local food I can buy as well as the community. It's similar to shopping in Europe - you have to go to the bakery for bread, the butcher for meat... I like that. So what's the big deal about shopping at the farmers market? How is it different than a nice grocery store? What do people sell in the winter? I know you are just dying to know.

Our markets sell pork, beef, chicken , lamb, winter squash, onions, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, salsa, wine, bread, apples, canned items (pickles, relish, jams), baked goods, spices, coffee, eggs, milk (cow and goat), ice cream, yogurt, sauerkraut, butter... everything you need to cook a meal. I love shopping the market because I know my farmers! I can ask questions about how the animals are raised, what they are fed, what crops are sprayed with, how they bake their gluten free bread, where they process the sausage, etc. I love that I can decrease pollution and gas usage by buying locally. I love that some of the veggies were picked that morning, or the eggs were laid yesterday. I love that my food has no packaging (or very little), and I decrease what I send to the landfill that way.

Isn't it expensive? Food is our fuel. I am perfectly willing to spend money for good nutritious, fresh food that will help me feel great, run efficiently, and stay healthy. That being said, at Saturdays market I spent less than $40 and got a whole chicken, a dozen eggs, a pound and a half of bacon, a pound of potatoes, a pound of carrots, avocado salad (mmmm, that was good!), a few cookies, and some yogurt. Not bad. We had the avocado salad and potatoes last night with some steaks, made mini quiches with some of the bacon and eggs (we use these for easy breakfasts and snacks), and had the chicken tonight with leftovers for lunches tomorrow.

So head on out to the market! Talk to your farmer and eat well!

Tastebuds reset!

Our family has been eating either GAPS or Primal most (75%? maybe) of the time now. We still have some no no's in our pantry (pasta, rice, etc), but I for one don't really want them so we haven't cooked them just yet. We have had lots of veggies, but it feels like I'm the only one who really enjoys them.

Last Sunday and Monday we made an attempt to do the GAPS diet intro program. Essentially, you eat fresh broths (meat and/or bone) for a few days along with boiled meats and vegetables and probiotic foods. As you feel ready, you add in eggs, avocado, and a bench of other "healing" foods. This has been hard for Honey as he really only likes veggies raw, and those are off limits. Cooked veggies are his nemesis I think. Anyway, by Sunday at 7pm, I was so hungry I could have eaten anything, and Pumpkin was screaming because I think I wasn't giving him enough through my milk. So I bailed.

I don't mean to imply that I started eating crap, I just bailed on soup for days. We are all still doing well with out meat, veggies and fruits, and I know I feel pretty good. I've definitely lost my desperate need for carbs and sugar. Someone left ice cream in our freezer on Halloween and it has not been touched. By this time if we were not on this eating plan, that ice cream would have easily been history. I think Honey feels better too - less reflux as far as I can tell.

Peanut is still eating some grains and yogurt, but we have noticed that if she has a grain of any kind, she will eat very little of anything else. We've also noticed that she tends to get full fast on grains, even gluten free, and the rest of the day is a lot of me bugging her to eat. When she only does meat and veggies, she eats way more. I'm not completely sure, but I think she is also happier and less labile without grains. The decrease in her dairy (she could have survived on cheese alone before) has absolutely made a difference in her tummy and - not to be gross- bowel habits.

It has been fascinating to see how our tastes are changing. We had roasted squash this week which would have made me gag before, but I loved it! I'm finding carrots to be very sweet, and food to need little additional spice. Honey and I compared notes yesterday, and we had both tried a little milk chocolate after Halloween and found that it tasted a bit chemical and nasty. Dark chocolate is still wonderful as far as I am concerned!

At the end of this week, I was tired of cooking (we already do a lot of cooking, but the soup and stew and broth thing is really time consuming), so we ordered in. We decided to experiment a bit, and we had Five Guys burgers and fries one night and Chinese food last night. The burgers were good and pretty close to GAPS legal aside from the buns. Fries are of course out, but the strange thing for both of us was that our ketchup was way too sweet! We haven't had ketchup in a long time as we cut out tomatoes a while ago, so this was pretty shocking. We both felt fine though after eating whereas our Chinese food made us both a little queasy. That was surprising because I ordered steamed chicken and vegetables with brown sauce on the side and only had a tiny bit of sauce. You would think that wasn't hugely different, but I did have some soup and part of a spring roll, so who knows. There could have been soy and sugar and whatnot in there.

The most interesting thing this week though was Honey's lunch at Thai Basil. He always orders the spiciest food he can, and Thai has actually been spicy enough for him in the past. More often than not, what other people find to be really hot doesn't even phase him. Well, he couldn't really eat his Thai dish as it was far too spicy for him. So the readjusting of the taste buds is definitely happening here.

This morning we went to the farmers market to do our shopping, and for the first time we got everything we will need for the week for under $90 from the market. This may be the most exciting development. I'm thinking less about how to put meals together - it's easy because there are not a million choices - veggies and meat is really it. We are using every part of what we buy, either for a meal, stew, soups, or for compost when all is said and done, so I feel like we are living even more lightly. There is lots of cabinet space being freed up as we use up our flours and grains too - I'll soon be able to have space for jarred and canned vegetables in the pantry! Now, I'll have to learn to can...