Staple Meals: Breakfasts

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Since we have 8 kiddos in our home and lots of appointments and life is REALLY busy, I haven’t been coming up with lots of brand new recipes. Instead, I stick to my staples. I’m not going to type up full recipes here, but I want to give you an idea of what we eat around here. 🙂

Dear Wal-Mart, How I Define “REAL Food”

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I was shopping at your store today and had not eaten lunch on time (this was my fault). I was starving in your store, and more than that, my head started hurting and I couldn’t think straight because my blood sugar was so low. I was at the Happy Valley Store (Oregon), which does not have a full grocery department, but a small one. Even with a small department, I assumed there would be *something* I could eat. I have allergies and sensitivities, and preferences that limit my choices in food. I only eat what I would call “real food,” and unfortunately, I had a difficult time finding any at your store today. When I am out and about and looking for some quick nourishment, this is what I look for:

The Hygiene Hypothesis

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Several weeks ago, we found out that Farm Princess is severely allergic to peanuts. The doctor mentioned that more and more people are becoming allergic to peanuts, and I asked him why that is. He said that there are two thoughts on this subject:

1. It is because of the way we process nuts in our country (I will cover that in another post)

2. It is because of the Hygiene Hypothesis

When life happens, ideals go out the window…

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I’ve written lots of encouragement 🙂 here for staying on the GAPS diet and doing everything “just right” (I’m a first born–a rule follower–a perfectionist). Today, I’m writing about how to let the perfection go when you can’t do everything “just right.” This is our second night with 4 precious new children in our home. … Read more

Teaching Kids about Sustainable Agriculture

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We’re farmers, so it may seem obvious that we ought to be incorporating agriculture into our homeschool, somehow. We get plenty of hands-on experience, that’s for sure, but I want my kids to understand why we do things the way we do them.

Last week I checked out some books from the library about Sustainable Agriculture, and the Science of Food. Food is a big deal. Most of the population in our country does very little in the way of providing for their own food. I don’t believe everyone has to be a farmer, but I do believe that it’s wise to be aware of (and to teach our kids about) how we get our food, the best practices to use (or to make sure we’re supporting), etc. Joel Salatin said,

Food and Grace

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I’m not talking about praying at the dinner table. 🙂 Today we had our homeschool co-op, and I learned that two of my boys were “teaching” the other kids that their snacks were unhealthy, and that donuts are full of chemicals (I told them about the Krispy Kreme Deconstructed article that I had read), and that if everyone just ate like us, they’d be healthy….

I had a talk with my boys about GRACE when we got home, and about judgement. And about not telling people “you’re wrong for doing such and such” because people don’t usually learn or make life-changes that way, and it just simply isn’t polite. Farm Boy 1 said “I just want everyone to be healthy.” For him, I think it’s a matter of compassion–he wants to fix every problem in the world. He thinks by telling people the problem, they’ll automatically want to jump on board and fix it and everyone will have a good, healthy life. Farm Boy 2 wants to make sure everyone knows the RIGHT way to do things. He’s got a bold personality and he’s not afraid to tell people what he thinks is right and wrong. I’m thankful for his strong stance against the many wrong things in this world, but he needs to learn to temper his boldness with some grace.

How to Wash Eggs

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Farm Boy 3 and I taped this video. Both Farm Boy 1 and 2 were holding cameras, and I went with the one that Farm Boy 1 had been holding, even though I had been looking at Farm Boy 2’s camera. Oops. Well, I’m not great on camera, but you can at least learn how to wash eggs from this! 🙂