Well, here’s Roc, age five weeks.
This could be the last time He’ll be able to see where he’s going until his first shearing/plucking.
It’s just amazing how fast their hair grows.
Why, I remember when he was just a little guy, eyes still closed and barely a gloss of hair to hint what colors he or his sisters would be.
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When Jay finished installing the stacked washer/dryer, it took some serious, one-time gymnastics to get out from behind the machine and water heater.
It wasn’t till we finished celebrating his escape that we realized a screwdriver had been left behind.
Elisha took the chance to go where no man would go again, then cheerfully informed us he’d be happy to stay there the rest of his life.
I’ve wondered a long time what to call this… lifestyle we’ve taken on with the move just over a year ago.
It’s something I’d consciously wanted for over five years, and probably on some level since I was a kid (what little girl doesn’t want to be surround by cute furry things that she’s in charge of?).
Okay, maybe the necessity of both components is unique to me.
But somehow a herd of rabbits and a flock of chickens is hard for me to name.
It helped when I took over the animals’ daily care (my good husband had been doing it all as a gift to me, but that meant the only time I interacted with the animals I was managing was during breeding and birthing. It felt too unbalanced).
We are in the process of planning a garden, and a rather extensive first-go, at that; but even the seed-starting is a month or two away, and doesn’t seem quite real.
Then, yesterday, we jumped at the chance to get our own milk goats. And now, with that addition, calling our place a little homestead seems legitimate for the first time.
We had a power-outage last night. Lasted something like four hours. [Okay, I checked with Jay and he says it was more like 2.5 hours. {shrug} still the longest one we’ve had. I think.] So we got to see how prepared we were/n’t for emergencies.
We have our woodstove, so heat wasn’t a problem, and our kitchen stove is propane, so we have the cook-top at least (the oven requires electricity).
With everyone clambering for food, I decided (feeling clever) to make pancakes for dinner.
But then was thwarted by not being able to find my scale
It was in a back corner. Someone else must have put it away. (Silly person.)
And while that should scare me into transitioning my recipes into dry measures (cups), I think I’m just motivated to buy extra batteries for my scale. You see, having learned the variation possible in each batch of flour (the 70/30 version at least) I prefer the consistency of weights.
So we had pancakes for breakfast instead. I took pictures 😉
One of the few things eating advisers agree on is the value of eating foods without labels. Foods that look the same (or nearly so) when you prepare them as when they were grown: vegetables, meat, dairy, fruit, even fats. Everyone may quibble over the best kinds of these, or the “correct” ratios, but all will agree you will be stronger and healthier if these dominate your food-choices.
None of these whole foods contain gluten in their original form.
In point of fact, very few “real foods” contain gluten at all. Gluten is a specific protein that only appears in a limited number of grains: wheat, spelt, barley and rye.
That doesn’t sound too bad, right?
If you have a “whole foods” approach to eating– the type where you maximize label-less foods– you are well on your way to going gluten free “the easy way.”
Shirley Braden of gfe (gluten free easily) writes about this all the time. I heartily recommend her blog for food ideas and encouragement for the newly
shell-shockedGF transitioning, especially her (PDF) tip sheets that include such hope-inspiring titles as 50 GF foods you can eat today, and 50 meals that are gfeGO. Benefit. Be encouraged.
The difficulty in going gluten free, then, isn’t the limited number of foods available. The difficulty comes down to relearning. New basics. New habits. Too many of our go-to food are contaminated, and most of the ostensible replacements are prohibitively expensive (if we’re being sensible) and/or a huge disappointment pleasure-wise.
Eventually, if you want to be happy as GF-for-life (GFFL), you’re going to have to make peace with your kitchen, and the amount of time you will spend there, for the rest of your life.
The food you make, the skills you will master, will strengthen you. You don’t have to embrace it right away, but prepare your mind for it. Anticipate it. Look forward to the time when the work that is hard now will become the invisible step to your new favorite meal.