The Blog
Until relatively recently, when refrigeration stepped in and simplified our worlds and before canning put our foods in suspended animation, we relied on ferments to preserve nearly everything. Vegetables, fruits, meats, dairy, and grains all have traditional methods of preservation, unique to each corner of the globe, that rely on a combination of time and microbes. The resulting product has a depth of flavor and an array of health benefits not found in the original food.
The chicken of the past was a rare bird. Literally, at least when it came to the dinner table. When Herbert Hoover promised “a chicken in every pot” should he win, he wasn't so much referring to the innocuous white meat that chicken has become today, but rather the exclusive meal that chicken used to be. Throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, chicken was rarely on the dinner table, unless an old hen happened to survive long enough to make it to the soup pot...
I first came across the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) about five years back when my husband was hospitalized for a major ulcerative colitis flare. He had lost a disturbing amount of weight and his digestive tract was so ravaged that he wasn’t even allowed to gnaw on ice chips. It took four days on IV steroids to calm his immune system and restore some order to his colon, and colon removal surgery was narrowly avoided.
I’ve long heard that goat milk is “better” than cow milk but not being a big milk drinker, I never bothered to wonder why. On the rare occasions I noticed goat milk in stores, it was either in yogurt form or far too expensive for my frugal self. Besides, should the occasional milk craving arise, we’re able to buy raw, grass-fed cow milk in our local market. So what's all the fuss about goat milk?
I was still in elementary school when my mom made her first trek to Medjugorge. She had recently been converted to Catholicism and was invited by her sponsor to join the pilgrimage to eastern Europe. It was a place of reported apparitions and deep, unshakable faith. And it must have been every bit as magical as she hoped because she's been praying ALL the rosaries ever since.
I used my lists to stay organized and goal-oriented, focused on priorities and reminded of commitments. I needed them to keep track of everything from the miniscule (FEED SOURDOUGH STARTER!) to the overambitious (Monday: work, paint shed, host dinner party, etc.). I tried all the strategies, such as the “could do/should do” model, the “urgent/necessary/it’d be nice” columns and the darling of the craft world, the Bullet Journal. I listed on envelopes, in notebooks, throughout day planners, and sometimes directly onto my hand.
