The Country Living Fair - 2013

Do you have a 'bucket list'? I keep one. Mine's not so profound, and really, I keep it real and short term. 

One of the things that have been on my bucket list is The Country Living Fair. I told you, not so profound. But TOTALLY worth adding to YOUR list of fun things that you need to do. That is...if you consider gardening and gardening related lifestyle-things fun.

We (Husband, Daughter, and 8 other friends) went to the fair in Rhinebeck, NY. This was the first year for the Country Living Fair in NY. Basically, it was the magazine come to life and they did a great job with it! 

The seminars were fantastic! Bees in the Country Garden with John Benzinger, Sow What Now with Ken Greene, Handcrafted Soap Making with Anne Marie Craig, and Courageous Containers with Andrew Koehn were some of my favorites. 

Spectacularly creative vendors filled the fair grounds. This girl had to hold tight to her wallet because the credit card wanted to jump out more than one time. I gathered some great ideas to implement for the home and garden that I'll share as the season goes on. 

Here are some photos of my adventure along with videos of the soap making class:

Bee Keeping - John answered lots of questions I had.

Always learning...Sow What Now turned me on to a new tomato plant Cosmonaut Volkov, which I purchased.

Cari from HGTV's Cash and Cari. 

Fabulous container garden ideas, plus a couple of "new to me" plants. 

CROWDED! But that's the nature of these things.

Below, is a section of video from the soap making class. Ann Marie was a great teacher. Books she recommeded were The Soap Book by Sandy Maine, and The Hand Made Soap Book by Melinda Cross.

Would I go back again? You betcha! Did I mention that we were camping during this fair...and that rains from a tropical storm beat down on us? No? Tomorrow I'll fill you in on all the happy campers. 

What's next on my bucket list? The Mother Earth News Fair, of course. Who's in?

Enjoy the day-

We Love Our Bunnies!

So I received an anonymous message from someone who wants me to stop breeding bunnies due to an overwhelming number of them in shelters. I can see this as a real problem. Especially for the poor bunnies who were promised to be taken care of for their whole lives, only to be discarded when people become bored.

While this is only our first litter, we plan on interviewing potential new owners before they purchase our bunnies. It is a life long commitment for the life of the bunny. Daughter and I have also decided that in our policy handbook, we would end it with the disclaimer that bunnies may be surrendered back to us at any time.

Enjoy this video:

Pedigree English Angora Bunnies

Finally! We have babies! Bonnie gave birth to five beautifull bunnies on February 18th. We are selling them with pedigrees and they should be ready to go sometime around or after Easter. Here are some photos and videos of the week they were born. Check back to see how fast they grow!

We are located in Connecticut and welcome inquiries about purchasing our bunnies. Email me at chooserawmilk (at symbol) resetyourways (dot symbol) com.

Bonnie looks a little rough around the edges in the video above. It was taken shortly after she gave birth. She tore out a LOT of her wool and looked like a poodle and her face was pretty dirty too!

All potential new owners need to do their homework before purchasing an angora bunny. They are wonderful and cute, but need a lot of love and care.

Hope you enjoyed a little peek at our world-

GAPS Tips That Work For Me

I've been on GAPS Intro now for 14 weeks. Things are going along smoothly, it has WELL been worth the sacrifices. My Raynaud's is under control for the most part, my digestion is much better, I feel stronger, and my thinking is clearer.

What do I eat? Right now; soup, bone broth, fermented veggies, eggs (in soup), and avocados (again, in soup), and the GAPS 'milkshake' without the apples. I've tried to add back in dairy in the form of kefir, but the candida let me know it was there for sure!

 

Cravings, what drove my eating habits all these years, are long gone. Happy am I to get to the point where healthy eating is about nourishment and not entertainment. An easy road to get here? No way. But as I said in my last post: sacrifice a little today - to have an awesome tomorrow!

 

I have always love to cook, but quite honestly, GAPS cooking is really more like one of those reality 'extreme cooking' shows. It doesn't seem to end. Chop, simmer, eat, clean up, and repeat!

 

Husband and Daughter are both doing GAPS with me to help with their allergies. DRAMATIC results, but more on that another day.

 

Keeping up with the meals is a common GAPS complaint. So instead of a dirty kitchen daily, I cook twice a week! Cooking 4-5 big pots of soup takes me about three hours. That includes clean up.

 

Accidental soup is what I've usually made in the past, you know, the soup you make when you clean out the fridge -smirk-. I've come up with some 'formulas' that make planning and cooking soup less stressful, a list of 15 or so soups to choose from with all their main ingredients. This still leaves room for some creativity. I'll be posting my soup 'formulas' tomorrow.

 

Another GAPS tip that I'd like to pass on - don't start until you are ready! This means, if you don't have a pantry or freezer full of broth, don't start until you do! Even though you'll be filling the stock pot daily to make broth, there WILL be a time when you're running short. That will also be the moment when everyone around you is absolutely STARVING and bad choices will be made. Peace of mind is a back-stock of broth.

 

And yes. Make broth everyday. Keep it full and available. Broth - a well made bone broth - will fill the belly, help detox, make you look younger (collagen anyone?), provide minerals that you need, and a HOST of other beneficial things!

 

These are just a few tips that have kept us going, would love to hear if you have any!

 

Enjoy the day-

GAPS Diet? Me? Really?!

 

Yesterday, I hinted about the most exciting and helpful weapon I have in my arsenal to detox the heavy metals in a more natural way. Perhaps you've heard of the GAPS diet?

 

Let me tell you a little story first....

 

About four years ago, my friend Loretta excitedly called me to tell me about a book she wanted me to read. She, in fact, was so excited she was willing to drive the thirty minutes to my house to drop it off. When she got here, she told me that she'd be back to pick the book up in one week.

 

ONE WEEK? I couldn't figure out what the hurry was. Or, why I was reading it for that matter. The title was confusing for me and I really couldn't figure out how it applied to me. Gut and Psychology Syndrome? What was she trying to tell me? She knew I was struggling with Raynaud's Syndrome, did she think it was all in my head? The cover of the book didn't stop there: Dyspraxia? No. Autism? No. A.D.D/A.D.H.D.? Not that I knew of. Dyslexia? Nope. Depression and Schizophrenia? Uh, no..?

 

But alas, I did skim the book and YIKES! What a diet! The restrictions were unbelievable and how could a baker like me give up grains? I flat out rejected the whole idea. Little did I know, God had sent me a boat and I turned it away. Hind site...yada, yada.

 

Fast forward to 2012. The year started out with the news that my auto-immune disease and the host of other problems taking me down could possibly be because of heavy metal toxicity. Documenting this journey to hopefully help someone else who might go through the same thing, I couldn't quite figure out the new readers I was corresponding with: moms with autistic children. That is, until I read the GAPS book. I get it now.

 

We are all so connected and we really have no idea. Autism, A.D.D., allergies, eczema, asthma, rheumatoid, auto-immune diseases, you name it!....all these things can be connected to the gut!

 

The GAPS diet really needs to be announced before it's explained. It is a TEMPORARY healing diet. Remember the word 'temporary' and note the word 'healing'. If you had the opportunity to heal a part of you that is stopping you or slowing you down - would you do it? Even if it meant TEMPORARILY giving up things you loved to eat? Would you do it? Who wouldn't? Life is short. Too short. Why wouldn't you want to sacrifice a little today to have an awesome tomorrow? Maybe I should type that in all caps!

 

The whole diet can be found for free at www.gapsdiet.com, but I do suggest buying the book and reading the whole thing. I have been in what is called the Intro stage of this diet since October (because of who I am, everyone is different) and things are going very well for me. Slow, but very well. I truly believe that this diet can help restore my own detoxification system that's been broken for a long time. I'll still be helping it along the way with herbs and what-not and give updates as I go along.

 

So, if you happen to have a friend (maybe it's me right now) like Loretta who wants to help you have an awesome tomorrow....get in the boat, will ya? And bring your kids.

This post shared at : Simple Lives Thursday and Thank Your Body Thursday.

 

Enjoy the day-

P.S. check this out for GAPS tips that work for me!