Wow, where has this summer gone?

I have been meaning to post for weeks now but every time I make the time to do it something interrupts or I draw a complete blank as to what I should write about.

First the news: I had a very small garden this summer. And I didn't kill it. At least not right away. There are still a handful of tomato's valiantly producing in spite of some pesky ground dwelling critters determination to eat their roots. I now have a flat full of seedlings that are going to soon need homes in the ground and they will hopefully become my fall garden. Learning to garden is quite the joy to me especially when I calculate how much money I am saving growing my very own organic veggies vs. purchasing them.

Noelle has become quite the industrious/destructive toddler depending on how much guidance and direction she is being given. Her ability to understand multi step instructions and follow through on jobs like picking up all the dirty clothes off the floor, or unload the dryer into the basket for Mommy and a myriad of other tasks through the day amazes me. Her vocabulary continues to grow and occasionally she surprises me with a complete and understandable phrase.

I feel as though I have officially become one of those hippy earth Mama's you see walking around in the health food stores. All I need now is the tie dyed T-shirt, swishy skirt and dreadlocks...Haha, just kidding. Haven't gone THAT far over the deep end yet! This metamorphosis was made complete with the purchase of several pairs of Baby Legs for Noelle to wear this winter. Since I am cloth diapering many of the pants/blue jeans are not cut full enough to accommodate them so her winter wardrobe is going to mostly consist of long sleeved onesies with the adorable leggings below. They will also go really well with some of her cute dresses to keep her legs warm in cold weather. She is thankfully quite the hot natured little chica so I think the one layer of leggings is going to keep her quite toasty. Besides they look so cute sticking out of the Ergo! Nothing makes me feel crunchier than when I am carrying our cloth diapered daughter strapped to my back in the Ergo, in the kitchen while making bread from freshly ground wheat. Boy, have I come a LONG way!

Steve and I continue to stay incredibly busy. A new business venture this summer has taken up what little bit of spare time we thought we had before. We have a new catalog scheduled to come out in October for Beeyoutiful which means I need to get seriously busy and start organizing all the misc. components that need to be put together for the designer to work on. We also have several new products in the pipeline which is always fun but slightly stressful trying to make sure they are on board before their promised due dates in the catalog. Most days I wish there were three of me to get done everything that I need to do, and would like to do in the course of an average day.

I am looking forward to the cooler, crisp days of fall and the colors changing on the trees. We are seeing the first tinges of yellows and reds start to appear. Well, I should close for now. Had some super strong black coffee as a special treat after supper tonight and surprise surprise! Haven't been able to sleep. The ol' eye lids are starting to droop though so I had better get what little sleep I can before tomorrow's busy day. Will try to be more faithful to come back and post! Unfortunately Facebook has taken up my on-line socialization time much to the neglect of poor ol' Xanga. If you wish to get better, more frequent updates about what we are up to in our lives you need to join facebook! :D

Xanga is still my favorite though so I will be back. The novelty of facebook will wear off soon I'm sure, but the convenience factor will always be a draw.

I have had several people ask me where they can get Whey.  To my knowledge this is not something you can purchase by itself at a store.  It is however super easy to make at home and one "batch" makes enough whey to last the average user several months of use in various cultured recipes.

If you have access to Raw Milk use the following instructions.

1/2 gallon of raw milk
1 tablespoon plain Yogurt or 1 capsule pro biotics.

Mix together and place in a glass jar on counter and cover with clean cloth and rubber band.  Leave for 2 to 4 days until milk separates.  Line a colander with cheese cloth and place over a large bowl.  Dump milk/liquid into this and leave for 12 to 24 hours.  Tie up corners of cheese cloth, loop over wooden spoon and hang over gallon glass jar until liquid (whey) stops dripping out of it.  What is left in the cheese cloth can be salted to taste and stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.  The "whey" can be put in a jar, tightly sealed and stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

For those of you who do not have access to Raw Milk use these directions.

1 Quart of Plain (Preferably whole and organic) Yogurt

Line a colander with cheese cloth and place over a large bowl.  Dump yogurt into this and leave for 12 to 24 hours.  Tie up corners of cheese cloth, loop over wooden spoon and hang over gallon glass jar until liquid (whey) stops dripping out of it.  What is left in the cheese cloth can be salted to taste and stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.  The "whey" can be put in a jar, tightly sealed and stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

Let me know if anybody decides to try it!

TN is so beautiful in the Spring. The past couple of weeks of gorgeous weather have reminded me just how very grateful I am to live here!

We have started our first attempts at a garden. It has been haphazard at best but thus far the little plantlings look happy. We have in the ground 18 tomato plants. Yes, you read that right. 18. And yes, we are aware just how much even ONE plant produces. We arrived at the conclusion that we need to be growing our own tomatoes fairly recently. Our goal has been to eliminate as many store canned/processed items as possible from our diet. Over the past year or so I have been tackling one thing at a time and quietly changing our diets. The most recent change was the discovery that we can make delicious and super healthy salsa right here at home. Unfortunately the cost of said homemade salsa, especially when consumed in such large quantities and using organic ingredients very quickly adds up! So our solution to the bank breaking salsa problem has been to grow several of the main ingredients ourselves and can our own salsa like crazy when our hopefully bumper crop comes in.

There are also 9 cabbages that really took off just this past week. Beside them is a row of Cucumbers. Down by the newly planted peach tree is a water melon. There are also a couple of pepper plants as well. Yes it is a strange start for a garden and if you saw it you would probably think it even more strange. We have not done any of the tilling or mulching traditional gardening calls for. Actually we have hardly done anything at all. Thus far we have literally dug holes in the ground just big enough for the seedlings, mixed in some black forest dirt in with the sandy clay and watered well. Along the sides of the plants and inbetween we are layering cardboard. It kills the weeds, keeps the sun off the roots and holds moisture well. I anticipate over time the cardboard breaking down and becoming a layer of mulch.

We are now dreaming of what it would take to have a truly fantastic, organic garden complete with green house etc. Will probably only ever stay in the pipe dream stage but that is something we have always loved to do as a couple. Dream of possibilities. Figure out how we would make something work and how much would have to be invested vs. possible return. Being able to dream with Steve and figure out practical ways to make some of our dreams/goals/desires come true is one of the many reasons I so passionately love that man. Our lives are consumed to over flowing with work and ministry but we are so very blessed to be able to do it together.

I want to start posting some of our favorite recipes soon. Have been having so much fun converting old favorites into healthy new favorites without compromising too much taste and texture. In most cases we actually prefer the taste of the healthier versions now! I just found a recipe for homemade tortillas so will be adding that to our list of items to make at home now vs. buying pre-made. My only complaint with this "new" way of life is that it is SOOooo much more time consuming than simply running to the store and buying something when we are out. We are slowly adjusting though and are starting to see benefits in our health.