Observations on Books and Authors

I have always loved to read and really would read pretty much anything to keep from being bored. In fact when I was just a young squirt spending time at my grandfather's farm the only thing to read the the Market Bulletin from the Department of Agriculture and Progressive Farmer. I read both, cover to cover...issue after issue. So with all of this reading that I have done during my lifetime, I certainly do have some favorite authors. Two of these authors have an uncanny knack for telling a whole lot of truth in a work of fiction. First I will tell you who the authors are, Robin Cook and Michael Crighton. Robin Cook is a physician and writes a lot of "fiction" books set in the medical field. Many times the story line of the book is about some new research or drug or procedure. I remember one book of his, I read years ago just when antidepressants were starting to hit popularity. In the book, these researchers developed an antidepressant but couldn't get funding to test it. So they tested it on themselves. At first they felt wonderful, then they started to notice they were changing both physically and behaviorally. However, the drug was addictive and they couldn't stop taking it because it made them feel so good. I won't go through the whole book and each and every thing that happened but in the end the drug changed those that wouldn't stop taking it into reptiles, devoid of emotion and human feeling. Years after reading that book, I had talked to some women who had stopped taking their antidepressants on their own because they stopped feeling emotion. They stopped laughing, crying, getting angry, etc. So was Robin Cook trying to get some truth out using a work of fiction....I think so. Sometimes the only way to get people to see and here the truth is to put it into a work of fiction. Then they might start thinking. I recently read one of Michael Crighton's last books...State of Fear. Awesome book and so well researched. One of the best research jobs I have ever seen in a work of fiction. However, getting back to the book. The book is an expose' on the global warming turned climate change scam. It is mainly centered around an an evironmental group and a multibillionaire, but the parallels to what our government is feeding us currently is not an accident. Maybe Crighton wanted a few more people to wake up to the fleecing we are getting through this charade and the potential fleecing down the road before it is too late. I highly recommend this book. While it is a work of fiction there are tons of footnotes, citing sources that the characters refer to in the book. Crighton clearly did his homework. Sometimes I guess the only way to tell the truth so that people will listen is to present it as a work of fiction. Sad isn't it? What does that say about humanity and our incessant need to be entertained instead of informed? I like authors that get me to think and challenge myself. If I hadn't already seen the scam behind "global warming" I certainly would be taking a hard look at that theory after reading the book. So just a few observations about books, authors, and truth hidden in fiction. God bless.

I'm Back to the 21st Century!!!

Well, I am back from our technology free week. It was great. It amazed me at how much more we were able to get done around here and how much more time we had to play together. The girls spend the afternoons laughing, giggling and playing with each other instead of like zombies in front of the television. My oldest, who says she hates to read and it is always like pulling teeth to get her to read finally found a book in our personal library and from then on each evening had her nose stuck in a book. I got a lot of sewing done and almost have a complete spring and summer wardrobe for the little one. Just a couple more play dresses for around the farm and finish church dresses and I will be done with her clothes and can start on clothes for the oldest. Who knows this year I might be able to get something made for myself. I would love a couple more skirts and tops or a dress or two. Some of my work stuff is getting pretty frazzled and worn. We have a good start on the stuff for next months consignment sale and will probably finish that up soon. I did not get to my crafting supplies, but will soon. I finished a book that I had been reading little by little for about 6 months. This week was my littlest's birthday, she turned 3. She received several books and a set of cards (of her very own) and was thrilled. I made her a cake, but my mom decided she needed a "store bought" cake with all the decorations. So we have two cakes here and nobody wants the store bought cake. I am sorry, but it tastes like...well like..plastic. Once you start baking your own and have eaten home baked from scratch for so long those store bought birthday cakes just don't taste so good. Of course, we won't tell mom all of that. It would hurt her feelings. So I don't know what to do with that cake. Anyway, next weekend will be busy as we have rabbits to butcher and a goat to butcher. I am getting ready for no buy February in that I have made a small list of things that I am low on that will need to be replaced before the end of the month. We are also getting close to spring kidding season so I think I will get some milk in the freezer for the couple months when the goats are dry. I sure will miss my rich sweet goat milk, but organic cow milk isn't too bad. Regular grocery store milk simply is not an option as it tastes foul and looks foul too. I certainly do not need vegetable oil in my milk. I got my seeds ordered and will be starting seeds soon for our spring vegetables. We will get the garden tilled in the next couple of weeks and put out the compost that has been cooking since last summer. It is wonderfully cooked and looks lovely. As far as no technology week, we will keep doing that each month until we can get rid of the tv altogether. Hopefully, by the end of summer! At least that is my goal. Well, it is time to go tend to the critters and get the morning milking done, so I will have to write more later. I have several blog ideas so maybe I can get some of those done this week. God bless.

No Technology Week

Today starts the day of our no technology week, so I will be MIA for the week. Please feel free to read some of the past blog posts and enjoy some of the blogs of my friends. You will find the links to their blogs in the right hand column under "Blogs I follow". Enjoy and have a great week. I will see you all next Monday with loads of blog posts, I hope. God bless and take care!

February=No Buy Month

Since spring comes fairly early here in the south and I will be starting spring seedlings soon (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, etc.)we typically have one month during the last of winter in which we do not purchase anything except for gas for the cars. This year it will be February. We will eat completely out of what we put up last summer and fall so that we have room for new produce that will be coming soon. This is a really good way that I have found to keep stocks rotated out and to make sure that nothing is "lost" in the vast depths of the freezer. I remember at times that my grandmother would find the peas that had gotten lost and forgotten and I have done the same myself. It is no fun to find food that you worked hard to grow and put up that has gone to waste. Of course, the chickens are very happy to clean up that waaayyy out of date food for you. However, wouldn't you have liked to enjoy some of it yourself. So in February the only thing that will be purchased will be gas for the cars. Anything eaten will be out of the freezer and pantry to make room for the new season. I challenge you all to at least get to the point where you could have a no buy month as well. No, it doesn't really save you money and that is not the point. The point is to have a good time to make sure that stock is rotated out and to see how well prepared you truly are. We always tend to think that our preps are in good shape for whatever the world might throw at us. It is in testing ourselves that we find that we have a few holes. So in February I will be able to find where those holes are at and hopefully get them plugged up. God bless you all, Kat

The Overeating Syndrome

I have noticed several commercials lately that talk about reasons people overeat. Things like eating because you feel down or because you feel lonely. Then they say don't worry about gaining weight because of this, just take this little pill and the fat will melt away. Well, something is wrong with this picture. If people are eating for mental reasons rather than physical reasons (ie, they are hungry and need the food) then they need more help than just a pill to make the fat go away. That won't solve the problem. Instead of encouraging people to get help for the issues that are causing them to turn to food as a mental and emotional stimulant, they are simply treating the end result which will never go away if the initial problem is not helped. I know we have all turned to food at some point to deal with emotional stress. I myself once ate an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's peanut butter and chocolate ice cream in college when a boyfriend broke up with me. A pint may not seem like much but that is some really really rich ice cream and a pint is certainly a whole lot. My point in all of this is that if a person eats because of emotional/mental stress or anxiety then that is what needs to be treated rather than the end result of gaining weight. However, these commercials make it seem like it is ok to overeat when you are stressed or anxious, just take a pill so you don't get fat. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this picture? If you eat to combat emotional or mental problems, then find out a way to fix the problem. Get help if you need it. Taking a pill to get rid of the fat will not solve the problem that started you on that road to begin with. Have a happy healthy year and God bless.


*Disclaimer- once again I am not a doctor nor a nutritionist. Please see your doctor if you are having issues. Thanks

Thoughts on losing weight and diets

Oh I have have been reading so many people talking about that age old new year's resolution to go on a diet and lose weight. Commercials on television are overflowing with all sorts of gimmicks. So I thought I would post my thoughts on weight issues. First, some of us are genetically prone to be chubby. I am not talking about obese, I am simply talking about on the high side, or slightly over what the medical community likes to call normal. In a world that shows superthin underfed folks as beautiful this can be tough on others who don't fall into that category. So every year thousands upon thousands of women go on "diets" and vow to lose weight. Many of them are successful at least for a little while. My view is that one should vow to live a healthier lifestyle instead of looking for a quick fix. Diets are unhealthy, I don't care which new low-carb, low-fat, low whatever you proscribe to. They simply are unhealthy because they are taking away something that your body might need to function. I will give you an example. My sister was on a certain diet that was low carb for a long time. She started experiencing bad daily headaches many turning into migraines and she stopped losing weight. She went to doctor after doctor that simply gave her a new pill to try to get rid of the headaches. I told her to get off that diet and start eating a balanced diet with fruits and vegetables, which had been eliminated because of this low-carb stuff. Her body was out of balance and it was trying to tell her something. She finally listened to me after all the guinea pig pill remedies were exhausted and the doctors had no answers. She ate a banana and the next day she didn't have a headache. As she added back all the foods that she had eliminated she began to feel better and have more energy, the headaches all but disappeared. She was killing herself trying to lose weight and wasn't even accomplishing that very well. She and I both are prone to be on the chubby side. My daddy was chubby, my grandaddy was chubby, and so forth and so on back through the generations. I gained a lot more weight with my last pregnancy simply because I was confined to bed rest due to hypertension issues. The older I get the harder it is to get the weight off. One thing I remember though is that my grandfather was healthy. He worked hard physically, he ate what he wanted to eat, and he lived to be 90 years old. If he hadn't developed Alzheimer's and started having mini strokes (common with Alzheimer's) then he probably would have lived longer, but it was his time and the Lord called him home. One thing he always said was that everything was a balance, don't eat just one thing and don't eliminate things necessary. In other words live healthy by getting some physical exercise and eat a balanced diet. You need fat, you need carbohydrates and you definitely need all the vitamins and minerals contained in those foods. A couple of years ago I started really watching what my family consumed. I started eliminating processed foods and store bought junk foods. I lost a little weight that first year but not much. This past year, I got a whole lot more exercise with the large garden and the added livestock care. I eliminated more things from our diet, especially artificial sweeteners. I went back to whole foods. We use all natural ingredients now. Things like raw sugar, honey, whole wheat. We added more nutrient dense foods to our diet like carrots, beets, and other roots vegetables. Guess what, I haven't watched anything that I have eaten I have simply eaten good whole food and eliminated as much processed, pre-sweetened, "plastic" foods from our diet. We drink whole raw milk from our goat and eat full fat butter on our potatoes and toast. This year I lost 35 pounds and simply did not try. I still have some weight to lose and I am sure that it will come off this year until my body reaches a balance which is healthy for me. I don't try to fit into a mold, I want to be healthy for me. I have found that when you eat more nutrient dense foods in a well balanced regimine then you don't have those cravings for something and you don't overeat because the food that you have eaten keeps you full. When your body has what it needs then you don't feel the need to eat more. Now everything I have talked about doesn't even address the mental issues of people who over eat. These are simply physical issues being observed. So my thoughts are that if you want to lose weight take a good hard look at what you eat. Are you eating more processed food or whole food? Is your diet well balanced and nutrient rich? Do you get any exercise? You cannot lose weight in a healthy manner without burning more calories. I have a few more posts on this issue that deal with different aspects. So keep an eye out for those. God bless and take care.

*Disclaimer- I am not a doctor nor am I a nutritionist, these are simply my thoughts on the weight loss issue and not to be taken as medical advice. Talk to your physician or a nutritionist about your particular situation. Thanks.

Goals for 2010

I don't make New Year's Resolutions simply because they are rarely kept for very long term. One thing that I do, however is to take a long look at my goals where we are at in accomplishing those long term goals and what I would like to accomplish for the next year. The difference between goals and resolutions is simple. A resolution is set in stone in your mind and so when life throws a brick at you and knocks you off course, you lose your map and can't ever find your way back to the path toward the resolution. A resolution is something that must always stay within sight right in front of you or is lost. A goal is something that you can see at some point on the map. And you see that there are many paths to that goal. So when life throws a brick at you and knocks you onto a different path you simply take a different route toward the goal on your map. A goal is a point in the future that you will someday get to even if you can't immediately see it physically. So, all that being said I have sat down with my journal from the past year and this and thought about our and my goals and what I would like to see accomplished this year. So here they are:
Grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ, work to come closer to Him and what He wants for me.

Have more patience with my husband

Plant a new orchard

increase the size of the garden, grow some new varieties of tomatoes, and more sunflowers

Spend more time sewing

At least build the outdoor oven, would like to have the whole summer kitchen but....

Raise ducks and turkeys for the freezer

Incubate more eggs to increase the size of the flock

Keep only one spring doeling! Butcher all bucklings and sell extra doelings

Get one to two inches of compost spread in the goat pasture, garden, and orchard pasture

Increase the compost piles (both size and number)

Get firewood cut and stacked earlier in the year

Make time for target practice

spend more time with the horses

have more family game nights

rebuild the solar shower (outdoor summer shower)

plant a berry patch

thin out the pine thicket

get rid of excess clutter

My goals are relatively simple this year and some things like the orchard and berry patch probably won't be complete, but a start would be great. Things that are homesteading goals I really don't mind doing in small chunks and simply taking my time to get them complete. This year I would at least like to add a couple of apple trees to the orchard pasture and get some blackberry bushes for the berry patch. Of course, in the long run I would like more than that but starting is good on a homestead and when you are working within a budget sometimes you must take it slow to get toward the eventual goal. The pine thicket has been a goal of our for a few years now, but the underbrush has made this goal almost impossible. However, thanks to the addition of our small goat herd this year they have happily taken care of much of the underbrush and we can now see areas that we can start to get in and thin the trees. Pine trees grow like weeds around here and this stand has taken up a large portion of one of the pastures. It also starts to present a fire hazard after so much time. Since it runs along the outside fence line I would like to keep it there and keep the larger healthier trees. However, I don't want a pine beetle infestation and don't want a fire and don't want to lose my large pasture so it needs to be thinned and if we at least start that will be a good accomplishment. My personal goals really are things that I work on continuously, but it is good to really sit down and think about just those goals sometimes. It keeps them clear and to the front of my mind when things get so busy around here. Once I have thought long and hard about where we are and where we want to go then I put my goals down in my journal and think about ways that I can possible accomplish those goals or at least work on them. For instance, I have found a local supplier for the orchard trees that I would like to have. I know the cost of those trees and so I will save my writing money and sewing money in order to purchase what I can. Same thing with the berries. That way those things will not eat into the household budget or money that we save for emergencies. Getting rid of some of the clutter that we have is a big priority this year. When my mother in law passed away a couple of years ago most of her things were brought up here. I have been slowly getting rid of those things and using what I wanted to keep. She was a huge collector and has some fabulous things and some not so fabulous things. I know I brought box after box after box of pyrex up here and cannot possibly use it all. So I think I will put the pyrex in the country store and if anyone wishes to purchase it at reasonable prices then that would be great. She also did loads of crafts and I brought all of that stuff up here. However, I know that I cannot possibly use all of it and some of it I just don't want to pursue so I will put those craft supplies up also on the country store blog. I do believe that bartering is great and so these things will be offered for trade or sale. Barter to me is a win win situation. Just getting rid of the boxes of those two items will be a huge step toward decluttering our little farm. Well, that is about it for goals this year. I think if I accomplish all of that then I will have accomplished quite a bit. So what are your goals and aspirations for the coming year?