The Whirly Girl

Real Food

Posted by: candace on: January 23, 2010

Last weekend I made Sally Fallon proud.  At least, she would be if she knew me and knew that on Saturday I ventured to a farm outside of town, that I had tracked down online, and came back with an ice chest full of raw milk, free-range eggs, and pastured meat.  I”m just a little proud of myself.

I’ve been casually looking for sources for milk and meat and eggs for a while.  A lot of my recent internet reading has been about “Real Food” and why you should eat it, the evil that is factory farming and the nastiness that is grocery store food, and how bad corn syrup and soy products are for your health.  I agree with all of these things.  I also l-o-v-e shopping at my grocery story and have a sweet tooth.

However, we have been slowly journeying towards more wholesome and less refined food.  I love cooking and baking, so I’m not doing anything out of the ordinary, just experimenting with different methods, recipes, and ingredients.  A lot of those ingredients actually come from the so-called evil grocery story, because I happen to live near a very good one.  I do love it so.

As much as I love the grocery store, I also loved the farm we visited yesterday.  The unassuming, down-to-earth owner talked to us about how he used to run a commercial dairy, but a few years back decided to start selling his milk raw to customers that drive more than a mile down a gravel road to get to it.  This is what my car looked like after we did:

And he talked to use about what he is learning about raw milk and how he wants to start making and selling cheese when he retires from his job in town this spring.  And yogurt–when a 60-something dairy farmer in rubber boots talks to you about “just experimenting with making yogurt”, how can you not be sold? 

We bought milk full of lovely cream, risen to the top.

We bought free-range eggs from happy chickens.  One of them was even green.

We bought t-bone steaks and ground lamb, and then the owner threw in a package of sausage as a bonus.

While we giddily made our way  home (well, I was giddy and Scott was very calmly happy about his steaks), we were impressed with the the complete lack of negativity with which this man spoke.  He told us all about his products and methods and the benefits of raw milk and free-range eggs, all without speaking ill of grocery stores or pasteurized milk or farmers that use pesticides.  Our 20 minute conversation with this dairy farmer was more convincing than all of my research put together.  I think we’ll be back.

Wrist Warmers with Self Striping Yarn

Posted by: candace on: January 7, 2010

I finally learned how to knit with three needles last month and here is the, admittedly blurry, result:

I used this pattern from this website that I recently stumbled across (and really, really like!) and self striping Big Mexiko wool yarn.  My aunt Myra gave me this yarn about six years ago, when I first discovered knitting, and it sat patiently in my knitting basket until last month.  I am so pleased with the result.  There a few holes and rough patches, especially in the first one I made, but now I feel like I know what I’m doing with three needles.  I started another pair in grey last weekend and will attempt the version with a thumb this time around.  I have to say the pictures of the first pattern drew me to it: I have that same sweater, in grey, and drink that brand of kombucha.  When she saw the pattern and pictures, one friend said, “It’s you!”

I wasn’t sure how warm wrist warmers would actually be since your fingers aren’t covered but I’ve discovered they really are useful, especially when you’re typing or doing anything else that requires your fingers.  I’m predicting I’ll wear them at work a lot as I travel between my six classrooms of varying temperatures.

Hello, 2010

Posted by: candace on: January 5, 2010

I felt tentative about making resolutions for the new year, mostly because the secret ones in my head seem really big and hard and scary even without writing them down.  So, instead, I have a few things that I would “like to do” this new year.

  • I would like to use the grain mill attachment I got for Christmas on a regular basis and grind all of our flour.
  • I would like to learn how to make cheese.
  • I would like to continue my journey in Real Food.
  • I would like to be an avid reader again.
  • I would like to take the trip to visit friends in Canada that we’ve been talking about.
  • I would like to learn to use my grandma’s sewing machine, passed on to me at Christmas, to make lovely and useful things. 
  • I would like to make things nice enough to be able to sell someday.
  • I would like to blog interesting and thoughtful ideas on a regular basis.

There are my tentatives.  They seem more enjoyable than the more exercise, less coffee, organization goals I have attempted embracing at the start of previous years. 

Happy 2010.

Farewell, 2009

Posted by: candace on: January 5, 2010

My mom always told me that life keeps getting better, not that it was bad in the moment, but that there are continually things to look forward to.  A lot of good and happy things happened this year, so what will 2010 hold, I wonder.  I have some goals for myself and Scott and I have a few things we’re planning for.  But before we get into that, here’s to 2009.

I started knitting on a regular basis and am even getting better at it.  Next step, cables.

We went on an Easter weekend camping trip to Big Bend National Park.

My sister and her boyfriend got engaged, then graduated from college the next month.

Scott and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary.

I learned how to make kombucha, and have even kept it up.

We successfully grew a (small) container garden. 

Scott smoked not one, but two, briskets.

We figured out how to throw fun parties in our yard.

Lastly, we paid off one of my student loans.  I wrote the check on Dec. 31.  This loan was a small one, compared to our others, but one step closer to being debt free and one monthly payment we don’t have to make anymore! 

So long, 2009.  You were a good year.

Drying Herbs

Posted by: candace on: November 9, 2009

We have quite a collection of dried flowers scattered about the house, ranging from my wedding bouquet to hydrangeas cut from our plant in the front/only flowerbed.  This theme of decor comes from that fact that Scott used to work part-time at a friend’s flower shop and the fact that we usually let fresh flower arrangments sit until they are either gross or nicely dried, then toss the gross and keep the other.  I’ve recently moved this slight compulsion over to our herb plants.

Though winter is still quite a ways away from our central TX town, I’ve been thinking about how to not let all our herbs (sage, basil, parsley, thyme, oregano, mint, and spearmint) whither and go to waste when it finally does get cold.  Therefore, my new hobby is drying herbs.  This is how, or at least how I, do it:  

1) Pick long stems from herb plants.

2) Rinse with running water, spin in salad spinner, then lay on a towel to dry completely.

3) Gather together small bunch of stems, 4-6ish depending on size, and tie at  bottom with twine.

4) Put stem-up in brown paper lunch sack, leaving tails of twine sticking out of the top, then sides of sack together with stem in the middle (keeping leaves covered helps preserve the color, or so I read somewhere).  If you can hang herbs in a space that is consistently dark, you can skip the paper sack step.

5) Using the twine tails, tie the sacks somewhere to hang 2 weeks for herbs with small or medium-sized leaves and 3 for herbs with large leaves (like sage).

6) When dry, pull leaves off stem and store in glass jar.  Be on the look out for mold, which will grow if there is any moisture left in leaves.

I put up a drying line in our office because it’s the most ventilated/most drafty room in the house.  So far I’ve had success with mint and spearmint, sage, and oregano.  The mint leaves make very good tea: cram a tea ball with them and steep for about 10 minutes for fullest flavor.

Kombucha Side Effects

Posted by: candace on: October 20, 2009

I have been drinking kombucha every day for about a month, mostly homemade with a few store-bought bottles when I’ve had a few days between batches.  I have also watched my face break out every day for about a month.  At first I blamed it on stress and going back to work after summer, then I thought perhaps the hormones of my middle schoolers were rubbing off on me.  Then, last week, my mother called to report that she and my aunt, who had jumped on the kombucha bandwagon three days prior, were also sporting some adult acne. 

Based on what I’ve read, this could be a visible sign of kombucha’s detoxing effect.  That is fantastic, of course, but will I continue to have the face of a 13-year-old until ALL the toxins are out of my system?  I ask that because I know I am still ingesting less-than-healthy, “toxic” things and it seems to me that the detox pimples will continue until there isn’t anything, or very little, left to detox.

I had already started making some changes in the way I cook as I began learning more about nutrient-dense food and so forth: more unrefined sweeteners (palm sugar, evaporated cane juice), even more produce, whole-grain flours, etc., etc.  I do know, however, that I am far from making Sally Fallon proud, and wonder if my blemishes will continue until I meet her standards of nutrition.

While I may have a bit more to cover up when applying makeup on work days, I do know that I have not gotten the flu or any of the other bugs my students are currently sharing.  I am not drinking Diet Coke every day anymore and have stopped buying it at the grocery store.  I don’t think I’ve been quite as tired after work as I have been in years past.  All that to say, I think kombucha is here to stay in my house, breaks outs or not.  I’m working on incorporating more “non-toxic” foods into my diet and hopefully my once-clear skin will emerge in time.

Health in a Jar

Posted by: candace on: September 29, 2009

So.  I successfully (I think) brewed by first batch of kombucha.  First, I grew the “mother”.

 

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Then, I transferred it into ceramic pitcher of sweetened tea and store-bought kombucha (I need to get a big glass crock) and let it sit.  I think it looks like a jellyfish.

 

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I used apricot ginger black tea, because it was the only organic black tea I could get my hands on when I needed it.  When it was ready to be bottled, I poured about an inch of apple juice into bottles first, before transferring the kombucha.  Then I sealed them tightly and put them in a dark pantry for two days, after which I put them in the fridge and have been drinking kombucha every day since!

My kombucha is much sweeter, and with a significantly less strong taste, than store-bought.  It was fizzy, though not as much as I would have liked.  I did notice that the serving bottled in an old kombucha bottle was the most fizzy, presumably because it had the tightest fitting lid.

All in all I’m pleased with the results.  I’m hoping a daily dose will help ward off the flu and any other illnesses we have been passing around at school.  My next batch, currently bottled and sitting in the pantry, was made with plain organic black tea and a 1/4 cup less sugar and flavored with grape juice.

While my explanations were vague here, I followed these instructions and with very good results.

Writing Elsewhere

Posted by: candace on: September 26, 2009

The start of the school year and a new round of school vs. home has kept me away from internetland as of late.  On Thursday, however, a guest post I wrote about using leftovers appeared on The Sassy Saver.

It Runs In The Family

Posted by: candace on: September 15, 2009

Last weekend many family members on my mom’s side gathered for the wedding of one of my cousins.  While sitting at the reception I asked Scott for the lip gloss he put in his pocket for me since I wasn’t carrying a purse.  They immediately bonded in their mutual purpose.

 

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you would never know they are only related by marriage

 

Yes, it is Mary Kay.  Because we are good and proper southern ladies.  And my aunt sells it.

Teacher Goals

Posted by: candace on: September 9, 2009

Goals for the semester:

1. Don’t get swine flu.

2. Drink kombucha instead of diet Coke.

3. Dress like a grownup.

4. Don’t be cranky with students on no-lunch-break days.

5. Introduce classes to 30-second dance parties.

6. Leave school by 6 pm.

7. Invite officemates over for dinner.

8. Finish lessons plans before leaving on Friday.

9. Bring stellar lunches for Lunch Bunch (more on LB later!).

10. Only eat a moderate amount of chocolate from the “teachers aide” drawer.

 

Older Entries

    • jenadams: Stalking you again. I love the knitting website. I wanted to thank you for it. Jen
    • Emily Wells: Those look so fun - and cozy! I am impressed! (Irrelevantly, I love the ring on your finger, too.)
    • deb: Sounds like you've hit a home run! Congrats on this :)

     

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