My Organic Journey - Bringing Home the Bacon

Saturday was thrilling. We drove out to Fenwood Farm and I think I smiled from ear to ear the whole time; It's rare that I get my husband out of his office due to school. Between that and bringing my son to a real farm for the first time was spectacular. We arrive to see a few couples leaving and pulled up outside a fenced area with 6 emus. One we thought was doing his morning prayer ritual only to see him get up and see two doing a kind of ritual. My son's first romantic encounter. The driveway was lined with trees and had to be 2 miles long. It was quite romantic. They also have large fields on either side for corn. We pulled up to a house where on the side was the store. inside was small but they had maybe 5 deep freezers and a sliding wall fridge with all kinds of different meats and cuts. To my surprise with every purchase they give you a bag of organic chicken bones for free. Saves at least 10 bucks and homemade chicken stock is the best. So far, I've made turkey sandwiches for anyone who wants and broccoli leek soup out of the homemade stock. At present I have the bones of a 20 pound turkey stewing for turkey stock. None of which I contemplate my demise while enjoying every bite. My goal is to make a few dishes. One I plan is a buckwheat pasta turkey salad and of course some homemade turkey soup. As the title says, I also bought organic bacon and breakfast sausage which I'll use when the urge takes me there. I'm sure it will be in the company of my wonderful family and probably some friends. I look forward to telling you more about my organic journey.

Fenwood Farms - My organic Journey

I got an email yesterday from Carol Fennema about my order for a humanely raised turkey.It's going to be ready for pick-up next weekend. I plan to roast it and use it for a number of dinners and lunches and maybe a midnight sandwich or two. I will also make an incredible stock with it that I can use for a variety of dishes and soups. I also got organic bacon. I've had organic bacon twice before and there is nothing like it. So here is how my quest for sustainable meat for consumption started. Well... I'll tell you why I went looking recently. I was going to order a Turkey for Christmas from Beretta Farms. I never got around to it and one of the reasons is because its all the way in King City which seems like quite a drive. It was also our first celebratory Christmas dinner and I decided on duck instead, which I already had in the freezer. In the new year I started looking for a local, organic meat CSA to subscribe to but I didn't find one that suited my budget and desire. I wanted not just beef but whole organic chicken or Turkey, organic bacon and beef in a combination box. I found wholeearth.com and stoddart.ca as well as looking through all the farms listed on the eatwild.com website which I found on Michael Pollan's website under the resource section. I finally came across Fenwood Farm and I can't, for the life of me, find the website that gave me a link to their farm but I'm sure glad to have placed an order via an online submission form. What pushed me over the edge to buy this turkey was that the price was not that much higher than a regular turkey you buy in the store. In fact,I bought a smaller utility turkey from a generic grocery store a few weeks ago. Cooked to perfection but every time I ate it I had this conversation in my head. Is this bird going to kill me? how was it processed? Did all the people involved in getting this to the store take as much care as needed to ensure I wouldn't get sick? When did he loose his wing? Why? Do I need to know? Instead of enjoying a perfectly cooked delicious turkey I was paranoid, I couldn't enjoy it to the fullest and maybe I was just lucky not to get sick. As Marion Nelson writes in her book "What to Eat" 370,000 people in the US every year get sick because of something preventable in the food chain. 5000 people die every year because of the industrialization of food. I had to get closer to my food source so I'm going to the farm to personally shake the hand of the person who has cared for my bird and then I'm going to enjoy it in probably close to 20 different meals. I'm going to walk on the grass that my turkey walked on and I'm going to be fed by the people who fed my bird. I'm pretty excited to embark on my organic journey. I feel like its an adventure and in some way I am becoming directly linked to my food. I am becoming an active participant in the food chain instead of a bystander. I am slowly coming out of the coma of food commodity. I'll let you know how it goes.

Toddler Pneumonia

My 18 month old son was diagnosed with pneumonia yesterday. I was 2.5 hours away doing a sales call and my husband was just under an hour away. I immediately called the doctor when our daycare provider (that baby whisperer) said his fever was back. This would have been the 3rd day that I had thought the fever was gone. We had 30 minutes to get to the Doctors office before the doctor was gone and I had his health card. Talk about a stressful situation. I knew if the pediatrician didn't see him the walk in clinic would require his health card.

Although, I didn't know it was toddler pneumonia at the time, I knew it was serious with a fever back again!

My husband arrived at the doctor's office and she was kind enough to wait in order to see my son. She quickly diagnosed him and sent us down for an x-ray confirming the infection in his lungs. Mild pneumonia, confirmed.

I was feeling really guilty about not catching it sooner. I thought he just had a cold because he was acting his normal self. Playing lots, running around. I knew he was sick because he wasn't sleeping well and he was coughing a little.

The Doctor prescribed him Amoxicillin 3mls 3 times a day and already the mucous is starting to come up. His nose if running more and I can hear it come up when he coughs.

My homemade remedies to sooth and help the antibiotics are:

steaming the bathroom for 10 minutes and clapping his chest and back with my hands for another 5 minutes 3-4 times a day. Including honey and cinnamon into his cereal before bedtime at night. Warm air humidifier in the bedroom during all sleep times.

Here is a helpful website I referred to when learning more on the illness: Dr. Sears  I also check this website for many other questions I have about the golden boy.

First Family Christmas

We started off small. Still no decorations, no tree, no stockings. But, at least we had our own intimate Christmas celebration.

The week before Christmas I decided I was going to have a private dinner for us, just the three of us. Being on a tight budget I thought about what I could make for dinner. I remembered the whole duck I had sitting in the freezer, he was there for the perfect meal. I get so sick of turkey after celebrating both US and Canadian Thanksgiving so I was relieved to have something different. I paired it with a double baked mash potatoes that I roasted in the duck drippings, smothered them in balderson white cheddar cheese for a delicious dish that will keep me happy for years. I think the rest of the fam liked it too.

We kept it small, no dessert. Duck, double mash potatoes and some veg. It was a perfect start to a new family tradition.

For Christmas morning I wanted to have a new tradition too. Lattes, a breakfast casserole and fresh, hot sourdough bread. Another hit that will remain our family tradition for years to come.

I am looking forward to adding something to the festivities every year. Next year we'll get adventurous and pick out a tree. Hopefully our delightful kitties will resist the temptation to get it horizontal too early and we'll enjoy it for a month. Maybe I'll even throw in a from scratch pumpkin pie, my babe will never get sick of that number.

What are your favourite things during the holidays that make it special and create cherished memories?

Without a Recipe

This week I attempted to make chili. Being pregnant I find that I have cravings but not the pickle ice cream kind. When I was pregnant with my first I craved lemonade to the point that if it wasn't the flavour I was looking for then my craving didn't stop until the taste was just right. I drank a lot of lemonade, in fact, I made a lot of lemonade!

Because I had made rib BBQ sauce the week before I went straight back to the same spices. Chipotle chili powder, paprika, Cayenne, pepper, cumin and garlic. I was headed in the right direction. Being a typical driver personality i didn't waste time measuring so I poured a bunch of black beans, navy beans, haricot beans and white kidney beans into a pot and started boiling... I then realized that I had a lot of beans so I split them into 2 pots to boil. An hour or so later I got my biggest (12 quart) pot out and mixed the beans, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, veggie stock, chicken stock, beef and onions and spices into this giant pot. It didn't take me too long to realize that if I kept this `on the stove it would be burnt on the bottom. Much like with any stew the longer it simmers the more flavorful it is so I stuck it in the oven and let it stew away for a long time.

I think part of my craving for chili was, in part, due to the fact that we're such a busy family. I work a full time professional job in sales and marketing and my husband is going to school full time. Not only that but he's a very detailed person that likes to make everything he does shine. So, he spends a lot of time on his readings and assignments. Because of this we end up eating a lot of prepared foods that are less than best. We are on a tight budget and have little time together so we try to make the most out of what time and money resources we have. Chili really filled the void.

I found that when I was on my mat leave it was important to find meals that were super charged with healthy ingredients and I wanted a freezer full of it so I could prioritize my time appropriately. I was really happy to have spent my pre-mommy time cooking so that I had that freezer full of healthy meals. I had about a month and a half worth. I suppose that's the point of this rant. Healing from child birth, managing this incredibly life changing event and trying to keep you head is all a girl can do. Cooking is way down on the list. It is one of the most important things to help you get back to your old self again as well as give your newborn baby the essential for the beginning of theirs. If your not such a good cook or don't know a whole bunch about how food can bring a wealth of health than ask for help. It's the best thing you can do for the whole growing family. They will all appreciate it and your body will benefit, inside and out.

Last Night's Dinner

I feel so grown up. I had a dinner party last night with 3 other couples. Our tiny house was a buzz.with 2 little boys and a great vibe. The house eventually got so warm we opened the patio window for the cold November breeze to cool us down. I had so much fun. The conversation was grown up as well. We spoke as if we knew anything about the world economy and a few good laughs of people who feel entitled to drive in the fast lane. The former was more heated which lead us to believe there are 3 things never to talk about at a dinner party. Religion, politics and driving in the fast lane.

Myself and another girl (not sure what to call us. I don't feel like a lady, so grandmotherly, and woman seems so formal. Maybe by using, most comfortably, girl I am not so grown up after all.) well, we're both pregnant with our second baby. My other 2 girlfriends I know would love to be expecting a newborn baby but their husbands are on the fence. Waiting for the perfect time that never comes around. I was lucky, we had a whoopsy. Now with one why not have 2!

So, dinner was amazing. My girlfriend made her healthy, delicious Thai salad with cabbage and carrots with noodles and sweet balsamic dressing, which I loved. She delivered it in a simple clear bowl so the colours of the salad complimented the rest of the spread. My expecting girlfriend's husband went to Global Cheese and must have spent a fortune on 4 different and delicious cheeses. I arrayed them nicely on a glass tray with my cheese knives I never use. We ate them with fresh bread that tasted homemade it was so good. The main meal and dessert I made. I decided on a really informal feast of ribs with homemade rib sauce and dry rubbed steak. I also made my own dry rub, it was goooood. One of my girlfriends is Celiac so I had to make a few adjustments with the rib sauce and dessert but it turned out for the better, especially the dessert. I made apple crumble but instead of the traditional oats, flour and butter I used nuts and it was spectacular. It was very healthy, not heavy feeling.

Since becoming a mom  I have become really food conscious. My husband teases that our kids are going to be food snobs but, I'm OK with that. So long as they value their bodies, and look at the food they eat without the word commodity. Yes, food is a necessity but it isn't disposable. My grandmother used to say, which my mother and I say now, waste not want not, which is a value I hold true today.

Overall, I think I'll do more grown up dinner parties from now on. The memories make it worth the effort and it's nice to have contributions to the meal that I didn't have to prepare myself.

Becoming a Mom

Its a right of passage into adulthood. Its like finally, I'm 30, no one can again call me kiddo . Then a baby comes and all of a sudden you're nieve and don't know any form of reality until this baby comes and once again, you arrive. No one can lessen what you have accomplished. Sleepless nights, prefering someone so fragile over yourself. You're your own hero and it feels good.

No author can tell you what is going to work or not work to soothe, comfort or bond with the little person that has arrived in your home, your world will never be the same again. There isn't a book or manual out there that is going to show you exactly how you do it. I do however reccomend askdrsears.com and while pregnant Dr. Oz's You Having a Baby. Both very practical, helpful and informative.

Take heart, pace yourself and ask for help. It take a village to raise a kid and you only have 5 years to do it.