I Bought a Dairy Cow! Milk for sale!

I am so excited, and wait 'til you hear why, it's so nerdy. I don't even care! Well, I am now the proud owner of a 1/2 share in a herd of cattle at Johnson's Acres Dairy Farm! This dairy farm has (by FAR) the best prices and flexibility for all-grass-fed milk. The 1/2 share entitles me to half a gallon of milk per week, and I am able to buy things from their other inventory as well. They sell raw milk from cows that are never fed anything but grasses....a concept so simple, it's amazing to see how far we've strayed from that! Cattle are made to eat grass, it's what they digest well, but they get fed things like corn, soy, and other fillers that make them fat and encourage milk production, but they also get sick. It seems logical that if we want healthy food from animals, they should be healthy themselves in order to be good for us. That's just the way I see it. So, I have filled out a "Cow Bill of Sale" and everything and feel a sense of ownership. I pay "Boarding Fees" for my 1/2 share of cattle (would love to know what percentage of a cow I now "own") and am, thus, allowed to consume milk from the cows as they are legally mine! Basically, the laws in Colorado prohibit the purchase or sale of raw dairy milk, but people are allowed to own cattle, board them, and let other people do the work of making the milk available, and then drink the milk from their own cattle. Strange way to get around it. I am intrigued by raw milk, don't necessarily know I would have opted to consume it were it not the ONLY all-grass-fed milk in Northern Colorado.  So, if I sprout a third arm or become violently ill, I'll be your guinea pig and let you know so you can use my experience to decide if you like the idea or not. The only thing about this delivery system that's not real convenient is that I have to go pick it up each week, but I figure, you'd go to the grocery store to pick up this stuff, so why not take a little extra time to go get it from someplace close to my house. I am crossing my fingers that one day, they'll deliver to our house. A girl can dream.

We also order 1/2 a gallon of milk from Longmont Dairy, and it's delivered along with other things (from yogurt to artisan cheeses to lemonade and seasonal beverages) to our house once a week. We've been receiving Longmont Dairy milk for a little over a month, now, and it's noticeably tastier than the milk we'd been buying at the store. We really like it! As I have said before, Jason's not a big "organics matter" kind of guy, but he's all about getting the best taste from his food, and as I am on a quest to find the best food, we land in the same place. Seriously, the veggies from our garden? Ah-mazing! (I'll update soon with some pictures, it's going crazy out there!) Farmer's Market goat cheeses? Notable difference from things that have been sitting in packaging at the store forever. And the list marches on. The fresher the food, the better it tastes.

The second photo on this page is of the product list we can obtain from the dairy. We won't be getting eggs from them because I have a local guy who charges about $.50 less per carton, and that's nice, not to mention, local is better, in my opinion. Several of the other things on this list are pretty appealing, though! Seriously, if you ever want some of this stuff, just let me know, I'll add it to my order and you can pay me for it. The beef, while pricey, seems to be excellent stuff, and I am pretty thrilled about the honey, as well. And salmon. Yum. I am also more than happy to go get eggs from the farm where I pick mine up every week and you can come get them from me and pay me back for them. They're $4.00 per dozen, and when compared to other organic, local eggs, it's not bad in terms of price. You get what you pay for, that's my philosophy. And it makes my day to say thank you to the hens that laid the eggs each time I go get more eggs. There they are, clucking away, and I just thank them as I walk off with the yummiest eggs EVER. This is another step in my journey towards a deeper relationship with every bit of food I eat.

Here are some of the herd of which I just became a joint-owner!
Cute, right?! I eventually got to the place where I couldn't stand buying
milk because I knew the cows were not handled nicely or fed the right things
and I didn't feel right about it. This is my alternative to the previous problem!
Thank you, cows!

I am now feeling inspired and might do a blog post about the egg farm I go to, just include some photos and information. It is truly awesome to go there and know where my food comes from. I am reading Michael Pollan's book: "In Defense of Food" and another one of his called "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and have been very intrigued with the material and what I'm learning. He prescribes, get this, a well-balanced diet. Weird, huh? No gimmicky "don't eat this" and "eat tons of that" thing. Just "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." I can do that....I think. I can at least work to understand it and then strive to do that. It's much harder than it sounds, especially in this culture where more often than not, things are dyed, heated, given "nutrient additives," and have some downright scary things thrown into them. The majority of food is very processed. Very.

Some call me a hippie, but I'm really not. I am just very interested in nourishing my body the way God intended me to nourish it, and in doing so, I am working to connect myself to the origin of each food item I eat. "The Omnivore's Dilemma" is very eye-opening as it explores the food chains we eat from. This style of eating does not revert back to an older style, but is rather a post-processed foods reaction. It's a new thing altogether. New technologies are not shunned, but things are done in a more natural manner. I like it.

I would recommend reading any and all of Michael Pollan's books. His approach is SO sensible. Food is meant to help our bodies perform the way God intended, and it is also intended to draw people together and encourage community. In general, food is meant to strengthen us. And there are ways to let it do just that.

Who ever would have thought that eating would become so complex that we would need to do serious studying just to make sense of it and understand what's on our dinner plates? It's amazing and mind-boggling to me just how far we've strayed from "knowing" our dinner. Where most Americans get awfully squeamish at the thought of seeing their food alive before consuming it (in the case of animals, anyway) and grow nostalgic upon seeing plants growing food as if it's some long-lost idea or idyllic dream. That's how it should be. That's been a very eye-opening realization for me. Food is grown. Meat has a face. It just does. That shouldn't be so shocking and taboo to us. I decided a while ago that if I couldn't handle being present for the butchering of a particular kind of animal, I shouldn't eat the meat from it. I now eat a lot less beef than I used to as a result. Poultry is very different for me, but I still eat it without hesitation after having a chance to kill my own chickens on a few different occasions in Africa. While it was sad, it connected me to my food in a different way for which I am extremely thankful!

Just like meat was once alive, the soil is connected to every loaf of bread, every bowl of cereal and every Cheeto and Twinkie. What kind of soil are those things grown in? How are they handled? What is the life-story from the ground to a bag of Cheetos (and what IS that orange stuff?) on the supermarket shelf? That interests me greatly. I feel like it should interest all of us as it really defines who we are through our interactions with the Earth that God gave us. Do we respect it and treat it with the care He asked us to show, or do we treat it haphazardly and close our eyes when the reality becomes too unpleasant?

Cheers to a birthday without allergies

I went to my garden today and realized that I have sorely neglected it lately. I water it every day, but apparently, right now, it needs much more than a daily dousing. So, I drenched the thing. I spent like 2 hours digging and churning soil so it would moisten all the way through, I filled the trenches I've dug between the rows with water again and again and again. And I planted some new plants!
Most exciting of which is popcorn! I found blue organic popcorn on Amazon.com and decided to give it a go. I am expecting it to grow like regular corn (which I have at about my shoulder height right now just a few feet from where the popcorn has been planted) and then dry out and be harvested about the same time pumpkins are harvested and voila! I will have home-grown popcorn this winter. Tomorrow, I am planning to go out and water it first thing in the morning (6am) and again at night. If I take care of it, I hope it'll take care of us, too. :) It's been a little weird watering it lately because the person we share the house with was worried about the cost of watering. It's not bad, really, and when you plant more costly things (like artichokes, eggplant, tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, etc), it really pays off. But I don't want to be out there watering all the time if it annoys her. She has the primary access to the back yard, so it's me in her back yard. Oh well, she gets to eat from it, too, and enjoys it, so I should get over it and water my poor garden.

Tomorrow's a new day.

For my birthday this year, my wonderful, sweet husband got both sides of our family together to get me a VitaMix blender (professional series...the thing has a logo that says "Culinary Institute of America" on it...which probably means nothing, but makes me giddy inside just a bit) and a CrockPot slow cooker. Now that I have a slow cooker and realize the emense benefit of it, I can't really understand what I've been up to all this time without one. YAY! I now have the most amazing kitchen in the world. I can make fresh juice, amazing things in the blender, and cook sumptuous meals while I get other stuff done all day. Only one thing holding me back from truly basking in the glow of the new kitchen items.....my juice fast.

Oh, the juice fast lingers on, and every day, I tell myself that this is a two-month (relatively short) period of time in which I am resetting myself and after this is over, I can start living in a healthy, balanced way and enjoy good health. This is how I get through the day. It works.

So far, I have lost almost 20 lbs and have had no allergies this June. For me, that's HUGE. Since high school, every June has become increasingly more challenging. Last year, my birthday was an antihistamine-buzzed blur of sneezing and Jason making lovely plans which I could barely witness or experience through teary eyes, a red (raw) nose, and fits of sneezing that left me needing to sit down. My allergies have historically crescendoed on my birthday. This year, though? Nope!

I had a momentary itch in my right eye for like ten seconds on my birthday. Marked difference. I also decided to go ahead and eat some real food on my birthday. And a day later, I had a day of sneezing and hayfever. It was worth it, of course, but still, notable. So, this juicer has saved June for me. I am back on track with losing weight and have had NO allergies whatsoever in the last day or two since I re-started the juicer. It's amazing to really think about the fact that God gave us fruits and vegetables as food, and He knew that those things would provide our bodies with the ability to maintain optimum health. And we decided to "improve" on those food items and look where it's gotten us. The US has so many allergy problems, so many diet-related health issues, and such pained immune systems. We eat processed this and canned that and freeze-dried those and none of us know the actual source of our food. It makes me really sad.

This summer, I am on a quest to learn where my food comes from and to change the way we eat and begin consuming almost exclusively, only things we can trace to their source. This means a lot more cooking, a lot more legwork for every purchase, and a lot better prices, health, etc. Jason is excited because he has been on his own quest for the best-tasting food. He's found that through elimination of processed foods, and finding the most local, organic, fresh foods, we get the best products. Funny how two different quests lead to the same destination.

Since I am eating just juice, and Jason is being fed mostly fresh fruits and veggies, homemade (not canned) beans, fresh salads, etc, we aren't consuming much that we can't get at our local Farmer's Market in Golden. This week, I'll have to take pictures and post them. It's a beautiful menagerie. Once I am finished with the juice fast in August, I will begin buying milk and eggs and such things from local farmers. I've found a couple of sources for eggs (which I have yet to visit to compare) and am still on the hunt for a good dairy in our area. For me, it's important how the animals are handled, for Jason, it's important that the food is FRESH so it tastes the best. Both things mean finding people here who sell those items. We'll see where that takes me! I am planning to begin making and keeping my own yogurt, mozzarella, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, ketchup, etc. I have the most beguiling things growing in my garden and the hope there is that I'll have enough tomatoes, tomatillos, okra, edamame, corn, peppers, squash, collard greens, etc, to freeze and store over the winter that we can eat from our garden for a decent portion of the year. That means now is crunch time! It's a very back-in-time feeling to be planning to put away the summer's produce for winter when there won't be anything to pick in the garden. It's exciting and fun and a little thrilling. And now I have this incredible kitchen full of things that enable health to the fullest. I am so blessed to have a husband who sees the value in this kind of stuff as much as I do, and who believes in me. He views these appliances as investments in our future. Sweet man.

Food for thought. I am reading Michael Pollan's book, "In Defense of Food," and I am really loving it. A lot of new understanding of food and its relationship to our modern life has come about through my reading. If you're looking for a good read, give it a look. (sorry, no pictures today, I am not that organized)

Construction zone

 The Final Day For This House

 The house across the street is being torn down today. This is the place in some of its final hours. When we first moved into this house, we were hopeful that one day, our neighbor would tear down his house and build something a bit nicer...you know, help us out with our property value just a little. Well, today, our dreams come true! The house is cute, but delapidated. The roof is caving in (even though, oddly, in this picture, everything looks fine), the walls aren't straight, and it's in a general state of poor repair.

This is the same house from my yard. You can see the planters I put in earlier this year. The trailer in their yard (to the left of the house) is where the homeowners will be living until the new house is finished. I think they're planning to move back into their home in just a couple months. They're building a duplex because, apparently, we live in the land of duplex homes. Seriously, almost every house in our neighborhood is a duplex, there are even a few quadruplexes. Our "neighborhood" is more like a zoning nightmare that leaves things up for grabs. We technically fall into three different zoning areas, so none of them claim this space and it is officially zoned as "the country." Some neighbors own chickens, goats, ducks, horses, etc. Some neighbors have chain link fences, some have nice cedar fences, some have picket fences, some houses are mansions, some literally have walls made of tarp. This neighborhood is truly an interesting place. In the past few years, our street has begun to pick itself up. First the house beside us was built--a fancy duplex with nice landscaping, then we began remodeling our house (a process that won't be done for several years as we still have landscaping, replacing of the fence and the house's siding, rebuilding the front and back porches, and adding a carport), and now our neighbor across the street, Keno, is knocking down his home and making his space more presentable. I have hope that this place has a lovely future.

The Garden

This is my garden today. Off to the left of it is my compost bin I purchased through Craigslist for only $50. It is a really nice double-sided composter. Since I am doing a juice fast right now, I am making a lot of compostable waste...you know, the stuff that usually makes your trash stink? Well, throw it outside, layer it with newspaper, cardboard, yard clippings and dead leaves and it doesn't really stink, you have great dirt for next year's garden, and your garbage can ceases its stinking and messiness.

This is my garden a little closer up. I should take a picture with me standing in it some time. You can't really tell from the picture, but the plants are getting absolutely huge! On the right is the corn, next to it is soybeans and okra, then asparagus ferns which won't produce for a couple years. There are tomato baskets (the red things) and between the tomatoes, basil is growing. It's a companion plant for tomatoes. Further left at the back are my artichokes, tomatillos in the front, and then peppers, garlic, onions, lettuce and other greens, and back where you can't see is all of my vines, so cucumbers, zucchini, cantaloupes, watermelons, squash, etc. Beyond the end of the garden are my raspberries and blackberries.

These are my greens from the other end of the garden. Close up, I have kale, then collard greens, then broccoli. In the second row, there is rainbow swiss chard, then lettuce. And between the greens are my carrots. They're thriving! Everything is. I am wildly surprised. I fully expected this garden to grow maybe 25% of what I planted. But everything, with the slight exception of habaneros and a few herbs, are growing rapidly!

This is one of my zucchinis. This plant is currently making about 6 of these beauties. These things grow like a weed in Colorado. I have a really tasty and simple recipe for making them into an appetizer. Then, of course, there are all the zucchini breads and things like that, and it's pretty great in juice, too. Maybe tomorrow I will give a quick run-through of my favorite zucchini recipes. You can never know too many when running a garden in this state!

My raspberries! One of my favorite memories as a kid was going into the raspberry thicket in our back yard and just eating raspberries, then picking rhubarb and sitting in the shade. As a kid, you can fit all the way back in the thicket, so you feel invisible. I planted two raspberry bushes in the hopes that by the time I have kids big enough to hang out in the yard, there will be a thicket worth getting lost in for a while. For now, I have these green little guys waiting for the sun to turn them red and juicy. In a couple years, I also hope to have enough of these to make pies and jams and preserves.

Cantaloupes. Yum! There are flowers all over these bushes. I started them indoors in about March. They're not as big as I would like, so next year, I think I'll start cantaloupes, tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, celery, carrots, and soybeans indoors in January. Then, they'll be plenty large by June and ready to bear real fruit. This summer, my vines are kinda doomed to a life on the ground, but next year, I hope and plan to get a trellis built so they can climb and the melons can be held in a kind of makeshift hammock made of old shirts and sheets and such. I'll put it on here when I finally get that done.

Lettuce and broccoli. We've had several tasty salads (well, Jason has, I have had LOTS of juice) from the lettuce here. When this is all gone, I plan to put in red lettuce in its place. Having lettuce in the yard is never a bad idea, and the fence we have around our garden is a rabbit fence, so we might as well go crazy growing things.

Fridge Installation Gone Full Construction Zone

New fridge after the battle for installation.
Looks really nice!

Old fridge waiting to be removed

This past weekend, we obtained a new refrigerator. We found a deal through Excel where they'll pay you $50 for an old fridge as long as it still functions, which ours does, but is on it's last leg. So, in a couple hours, Excel is going to come get the fridge and pay us for it. Jason's brother, Jeramyn and his wife, Tamara, have a fridge they wanted to get rid of, so we struck a bargain. In exchange for the fridge (and the work to move it into our apartment), we helped them paint their entry way (and set up/take down scaffolding).
Here's a picture of the old fridge and the new fridge. Old fridge is on the left, new one on the right.

New fridge inside. So much better
for organization!

Old fridge inside. Not many shelves or spaces
for organizing and storing things.

Our old fridge began making these awful "ka-chunk!" sounds whenever the cooling system would turn off and this week, it's developed the trend of whining and making a high-pitch sound. A couple weeks ago, we went to get ice cream out of it and found a tub full of cold mush. It's time for a new presence in our kitchen. This old fridge will get to live a new life somewhere else until it finally gives up the ghost, and we get to be the proud new owners of a previously loved fridge that meets our needs much better!

New freezer! So orderly! I know where
everything is!

Jeramyn standing beside the disassembled
stairs inside our house. This was as
the guys were re-installing the stairs.

The new fridge is the exact size of the space we had available, and a bit larger than our entry way. Jeramyn and Jason ended up taking off the stairs (wooden stairs) in our basement entry way, and removing the doors from the fridge just to get it inside. It took from about 10am until 5pm on Saturday to get the fridge even into our apartment. It was 105 degrees outside and the house was almost as hot inside.

Then, there was the issue of the microwave needing to move 1/8 inch. The fridge fits in its place with no extra give room whatsoever, but the microwave caused some consternation. The picture on the left is as far as we could get the fridge in until we moved the microwave.


See the space here? Crazy, right?











Yeah, the entire microwave was removed twice and re-installed twice just to make space for that little overlap! The fruit of our labor finally paid off with a nice, snug fit between the appliances. The only small issue remaining which needs to be addressed is that the microwave doesn't really want to open well.

The way the hinge opens means it runs into the side of the refrigerator each time it's opened. Some cabinet will have to be shaved off and the microwave moved probably another 1/8 inch to make this a better fit. Luckily, we really don't use the microwave that often, so we have no real rush about that. I am just so excited to have such a system for organizing our food. Bins for everything and even a water dispenser on the door. Aren't we fancy? :)