It's official...

...I'm now a shareholder in a goat herd! After visiting three somewhat local goat farms, I was able to feel comfortable enough with one to sign up as a shareholder. The farm is immaculate and the animals are superbly cared for. The owner feeds grass and alfalfa hay as well as her own grain that she has mixed specially for them. It's got oats, flax, black oil sunflower seeds, and some other goodies that I just can't remember. She let Laina and I feed them organic animal cookies (the ones designed for kids - ha, I mean children) because she said the ingredients are better for the goats than the feed-store-bought "goat cookies". She is really big on proper nutrition for her goats, not only so they produce top-notch milk, but also so they can live long and healthy lives. I love that she cares so well for the herd.

There were also chickens, ducks, a cat, a dog and a horse. And she hopes to have extra fruit from her trees and veggies from her garden to distribute to share-holders next season. I love that! And yes, even with all these farm animals, her place was so clean. That, coupled with the great care she gives her animals, sold me on the farm.

I get to pick up our shares of the milk on Wednesdays, and last Wednesday was my first pick up. The milk is awesome and Laina keeps asking for "goat milk". It's really cute.

I know many people want to know why I am choosing to do this whole share-holder thing and get raw milk. The more I research not only this subject, but more and more about food in general, I'm convinced that eating as much raw food as we can is so beneficial to us. But, instead of re-hashing out all the details here, check out this great post I came across: http://www.cheeseslave.com/2009/08/24/got-raw-food-50-ways-to-increase-enzymes-in-your-diet/. The author of the blog talks briefly about raw milk in that post, and also has a link to "Top 10 Reasons to Drink Raw Milk" which is also very informative. So, in addition to the reasons she states, one other thing that I will add is that I love the idea of Laina going with me to the farm to pick up farm-fresh food. Milk for now, and hopefully all kinds of other goodies in the future. I want her to see where food comes from, in it's natural state, and appreciate the work that goes into producing it.

I have Zucchini!

I was out of town for almost 3 weeks and my wonderful husband took care of the garden for me. He put in automatic waterers which is super awesome! I returned to HUGE squash plants. They were so big they were taking over everything else in the garden. Yes, it is a small garden, but I was hoping to get some of my other plants growing, too.

I found out that you have to have two squash plants to actually get any fruit. Only one of my zucchini plants actually survived, and I also purchased a small patty pan (white squash) plant. I checked on the garden yesterday and didn't see any fruits, but tons of flowers. Today I decided to go out and pull up the squash plants, to allow the other plants some room. I pulled up the patty pan and had my hands on the zucchini plant ready to yank, when I spotted, lo and behold, a zucchini!! A big one, too! And there is a second one which is pretty small, and several more flowers which look like will produce fruit! Yay! Now my regret in this situation is two-fold. One, I hope the two squashes weren't actually pollinating eachother, and now I've in essence killed them both. And two, on closer inspection, it turns out the patty pan WAS producing fruit. Too bad it's withered up on the walkway now.

above you can see the biggest zucchini fruit. I think I'll either use it today or tomorrow. Mmm.

Here you can see the patty pan after demolition :(
At least I have room to plant some lettuce now.

Above is almost the whole garden. In the foreground (but behind the flowers) I have a Japanese eggplant. Behind and to the left is the zucchini, and behind and to the right is one of my cauliflower plants. I have 4 of those but none seem to be doing too hot. The leaves are pretty holey from the hail we had a while back (below).

My Anaheim chili pepper. It already produced one pepper a while back which I let turn red before picking it and trying it. It had some heat! This time I'm going to pick it while it's still green because that's how I think of Anaheim chilies.

Next year I think I'll do jalapenos instead of the Anaheim, though. I also want to try tomatoes next year, probably the little cherry ones. And I will try beets again. I have them planted way in the back, but I think they didn't get enough sun. They also got a lot of hail damage.

Look Locally

I just wanted to post a link I came across today:

http://www.localharvest.org/

This is a great site where you can put in your zip code and find all kinds of local farms - from produce and farmer's markets to cattle ranches. Check it out and see where and how you can support your local farmers!

Growing Good Things

I've never been much of a gardener, but with the help of a friend, I am going to plant my first vegetable garden this year. I am really clueless about gardening, so it's nice to have help and support from someone who's done it successfully before. We are going to plan where to put the garden tomorrow, and then I'll need to start preparing the site.

I've already got seeds started and it's pretty neat to watch them grow. I got little peat pots and planted seeds for bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and cauliflower. I also got seeds for beets but those will go directly into the ground later.

The reason I'm doing this is two-fold: first, a different friend of mine, Beth, was interested in doing joining a CSA (Crop Sharing Association, I think), and we were talking about possible sharing a "share". But there is a substantial cost involved (if I figured it out, I probably would actually save money in the long run, but it is a chunk of change up front). We also talked about growing our own veggies and sharing those. That is definitely the least expensive route to go. When I knew I could get help from my experienced gardener friend, I decided to give growing a shot. The second reason I'm growing my own veggies is that I know they will be more nutritious than what can be bought in the store (which has been grown who knows where in nutrient-defficient soil and travelled for who knows how many miles).

And I guess maybe there is a third reason, but I am hesitant about it - it may turn out to be very fulfilling to grow my own "crops" and eat what I grow. But I'm hesitant about this because if I fail and nothing grows well, then that will just be a big bummer. But I am hopeful that with the help of knowledgeable friends, I will be able to grow at least something edible!

Wish me luck!

Free Cooking Class!

I purchase Imagine broths and cooking stocks pretty regularly, especially since they seem to be on perpetual sale for two-for-one. Last month, I saw one box had a sticker on it saying I could get a free cooking class if I purchased three qualifying products. So, I purchased my three qualifying products, completed the online form, and wha-lah, my certificate for a free cooking class arrived!

You have to actually have the certificate in-hand to look up the locations, so I was figuring I would most likely have to go to Denver for my class (which isn't that far), but it turns out there is one even closer! I am so excited and will be calling to book my free class tomorrow!

Check out the details here!

Hearty Banana Date Bread

I knew I wanted to make banana bread - I had 2 bananas sitting on the counter getting browner by the day. Laina doesn't like to eat them once they start to get too soft, so these ones were destined to be bread. I also have a humongous tub of pitted dates. Hadley's no less - way out here in Colorado! I have great memories of taking road trips with my family growing up and we would always stop at Hadley's if we were driving towards Palm Springs. Their date shakes were a special treat! I had no idea they were so widely distributed now.

Anyway, on with the story.

So I needed to make banana bread. And I had a huge tub of dates that, even though Laina and I love dates, we would be hard-pressed to make it to the bottom of. So I had this wild idea to make banana date bread. I searched online for a recipe that would suit my fancy. I wanted it to have, of course, dates and bananas, and preferably be healthy. Not finding anything I liked, I decided to improvise. The following recipe is my own concoction and I'm pleased to say it came out wonderfully!

Hearty Banana Date Bread

1 cup regular flour (I use unbleached white)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped dates
2 very ripe bananas, mashed (mine were med-large)
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1/8 to 1/4 cup agave nectar (I started with 1/8 cup but ended up adding a little more)
1/8 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x4" loaf pan with cooking spray. Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. Stir in dates. In separate bowl, beat bananas, oil, eggs, agave and water until smooth. If the batter is too thick you may need to add a bit more water. Stir wet mixture into dry mixture and mix well. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for approx 55-60 mins, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool a few minutes, slice and enjoy. I store mine in the loaf pan on the countertop covered with foil.

Book Report: How to Get Kids to Eat Great and Love It!

How to Get Kids to Eat Great and Love it, by Christine Wood, MD, was recommended to me by a couple different people.

In general, I feel like Laina is a good eater and will usually try whatever we put on her plate. Lately, that has been changing a bit. She does still eat a pretty wide variety of foods, especially grains - she loves them all, in any form. She also loves dairy products, fruit, and some veggies (peas, please!). The problem I'm running into is that she is less likely to eat veggies that she is not familiar with (and sometimes even those she is). So, thought I'd check this book out. The local library did not have it, so I had to put in a request for them to acquire it from a different county's library. It came and I read through it fairly quickly. Part of that haste was knowing that I wouldn't be able to renew it since it's an interlibrary loan and it HAS to be back on the due date.

Some of it was good, some of it was ok, and some of it was outdated. It was published in 2002, but already there are newer studies challenging some of her claims (like new studies on food allergies and how it may not be necessary or even beneficial to delay introducing certain "highly allergenic" foods). Dr Wood places a lot of emphasis on the Food Guide Pyramid, which I don't necessarily agree with. (It's ok as long as you realize that the grains and breads forming the base of the pyramid need to be whole grain. And, good fats should not be limited to the "use sparingly" category.)

Over all it was educational, had some good info, and I think will help me. One thing that makes a lot of sense and that I definitely will remember is that as a parent, it's our job to provide healthy meals, and it's the kid's job to eat it. She said children are very good at regulating their hunger, and if they don't eat as much as we feel like they should, that's ok. On some level I already knew this, but it's helpful to hear it from a doctor.

The book is divided into three sections. Section A contains information on what in our environment is detrimental to our and our children's health and how antioxidants in the diet (and through proper supplementation) are so important in fighting off environmental toxins. It's the basic background to why we need to be thoughtful about what we put into our children's bodies.

Section B takes the reader through each stage in childhood from infants to adolescents and gives tips on how best to approach feeding and nutrition in each stage.

I found Section C the most interesting. Titled "The War Against Diseases - Now & Long into Adulthood" it talks about how different nutrients play a key role in preventing and even improving different conditions such as allergies, asthma, exzema, ear infections, sinus problems, and attention deficit disorder.

Over all I do recommend checking it out. It's a good resource and there is definitely more that I did agree with than those few parts I didn't. Setting up the proper foundation for healthy eating and living is so important and has the potential to protect our kids from degenerative disease and obesity. The book reminded me of something I read somewhere else (I think from "Healthy for Life", which will have it's own review in due time) - in America, we live in the land of plenty, are overeating, yet starving nutritionally. It is making me more and more want to move out to the country, milk my own goats and farm my own food like my parents did when I was young (see pic below, me and my mom in the late 70s). For now, I'm going to be extra conscientious of what I buy (try to buy organic as much as possible), where I buy it (farmer's markets), and how I prepare it. Then, to make up for what we still lack from our foods, we are taking high quality nutritional supplements (which will be another review I'm sure).

Goat Farm and Raw Milk

I took the family out to visit a goat farm yesterday (this semi-crappy picture is the only one we took and it was taken with a camera phone). I have been researching where in the Denver area you can get raw milk, because I've never seen it in stores. My parents had goats for milk when I was a preschooler (Candy and Licorice..."sweet" goats that I wish I had pictures of to post here), and then even after that my brother and I were raised on raw cow's milk (my brother had milk "allergies" which is generally an inability for the body to digest pasteurized milk properly).

I have discovered that it's illegal to sell raw milk in Colorado, but there are several farms where you can basically purchase shares in a herd (goats around our area, though I did find cow herds elsewhere in CO) and then you are entitled to a portion of the milk the herd produces. If you're curious as to why I am looking for raw milk, the short version is that milk, as God created it, has beneficial properties and enzymes, much like yogurt. The pasteurization process however kills off the good and the potentially bad and you are left with something that really doesn't resemble milk anymore. Just like human milk, cow and goat and every other mammal's milk is sterile. Contamination occurs as a result of improper milking, handling, and/or storage of milk. Here are some links if you are interested in researching this further:

A Campain for Real Milk
Raw Milk Association of Colorado
Drink It Raw - an article about how raw milk is the only illegal food in NC and why obtaining it is more difficult than buying marijuana

The goat farm we visited had a lovely little herd of Nubians, as well as some egg-laying hens and cute kittens that Laina loved. There is a waiting list to become a shareholder in the herd. We sampled the milk and some soft cheese that the owner made, and both were delicious. They were nothing at all like the "goaty" tasting pasteurized goat's milk and cheeses available in the grocery store. The owner explained how everything is kept very clean and how they have their milk tested for bacteria levels every month.

Besides the health benefits and the general "goodness" of raw milk, there are a couple other reasons I'm anxious to get started in this process of becoming a herd shareholder. It will be a step away from big business and government regulations, and a step towards nature, the local farmer, and being "close to the earth" (wow that really sounds hippie-ish). Also, it will be so much fun to visit "our" goats every week when we pick up milk and will provide Laina with a wonderful opportunity to learn about farming and country life. Now I just have to take a look at our budget and make sure we can fit it in, and also wait for the paperwork and contracts to be emailed to me so I can get on the waiting list!

Honest to Goodness!

I wanted to post a link to the Mama Manifesto's Honest Kids Thirst Quenchers. They also talk about the Honest Teas, but I am more excited about the kids drink at the moment. Since we're being honest here, the real reason I am posting this here is because by doing so I have an entry into their contest to win some Honest stuff! Yay! So check it out. The Mama Manifesto is one of my favorite blogs to read and I hope you like it, too.