Simple Living 101

Update

2011-01-17T04:34:00.000-08:00

2 weeks into the paleo diet, and so far so good. I actually feel GREAT! No mood swings, a much better attitude. I am able to handle stressful encounters at work with a smile. Weight loss:) I can fit into my pants from 2 yrs ago again. Keep on trucking!

A list of our local farmers markets

2011-01-09T12:20:00.001-08:00

Support them if you can!

They are an important element of our community

http://www.buckscountyfoodshedalliance.org/sm_db_item.php?id=41&featuretype=news

Paleo diet the new wave??

2011-01-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

Remember Atkins diet, then it was South Beach diet and whole bunch in between. I read about the Paleo diet a year ago in this New York Times article
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/fashion/10caveman.html.

Which actually turned me onto the Crossfit workout
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/magazine/23wwln-medium-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

A crazy work out done in less than 20 minutes and if you aren't puking at that point you're a wuss!Exercises such as frog leaps with a 25pd medicine ball that you had to throw towards an unreachable target on the wall, were perfect to work out frustrations! I did actually enjoy that workout. It fit perfectly into my morning routine, until I started my new job in Princeton. Now I spend that time driving and listening to NPR, I guess my brain is getting a workout! I do miss the torture. I felt a sense of accomplishment and my muscles were getting toned. Anyway the Crossfit culture are big into the Paleo diet.

In a nutshell you eat only non processed foods, mostly meat, fish chicken vegetables but not beans, (apparently they are all toxic) fruits, but only the small berry kind and no sugar or salt. Some nuts are allowed, not peanuts (apparently that's a bean) butter good (depending on what article you read), olive oil good, but not for cooking. No dairy! I've decided to give it a try, although somewhat modified! The thought of never eating cheese or dessert simply depresses me!

Througout the years I have tinkered with all sorts of diets. Most of them based on this diet, however some were a bit restricting.

As much as I love pasta, bread, cheese, cakes and cookies. They always send me into a rollercoaster of being alert and tired, and always hungry. Eliminating them keeps me on an even keel, and I have noticed I am eating less.

It does come with some challenges, especially at work, almost everything is processed or full of sugar and salt
Even the "Healthy Choices" are really not so healthy, it's more about perception and making the customer believe they are eating healthy. I guess if compared to the other stuff offered then it is. There's nothing organic and the proteins are definetly not free range or grass fed. But I make do with big salads with veggies and occasionally a piece of chicken.

It's been about a week and I feel great! Not missing sugar, energy levels are up appetite has decreased.....

Better luck next year????

2010-08-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

It must have been beginners luck last year, when my vegetable garden knew no bounds, and gave us such a great harvest.

This year I find I have been plagued with just about everything imaginable. I have refrained from spraying any sort of scary chemicals, but now wonder if I should have! My biggest nemesis has been the groundhog, he continues to evade me. My neighbor across the street who is very trigger happy, continues to inform me of how many of "them" he has shot.....(from across the street I might add) So far there have not been any human casualties.

Today I decided to dig up some potatoes for dinner tonight. I removed the chicken wire that surrounds the raised bed, to keep those damn critters out, stuck my pitch fork into the ground only to come up empty, a second dig revealed some half eaten beautiful golden colored potatoes. I could not believe my eyes...I cannot figure out how that groundhog is getting in there. Perhaps he is digging a tunnel outside of the raised bed and gains access that way. What should have been an abundance of potatoes turned out to be enough for a dinner or two. I stood there totally defeated and cleared the entire bed! I took down the chicken wire.....not much use now, and prepared the bed for rest. I filled 3 wheelbarrows of compost and dumped it on the bed. I have resolved myself to the fact that I have lost the battle, and will learn from it and come back more prepared next year. I will have all winter to figure out how to keep them out!.

Meanwhile my gigantic pumpkin plant bit the dust, it rotted at the base and then the one pumpkin that survived rotted also. The only thing that IS thriving is the volunteer pumpkin that appeared in the spring and has grown and migrated all over the garden with many pumpkins! Go figure.....

I love Gino's Potatoes

Little by little

2010-08-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

Now that the inside of the coop is finished I am redoing the outside, originally I made the run larger but did kind of a sloppy job. I have learned to think about the project, really plan it out, and take my time doing it.The only thing left to work on in that equation is while I think and plan, I should really buy enough material to finish the job;) This became evident when I ran out of supplies yesterday......

As you can see it has a nice clean look to it, and easy access to get in and pick up Diana's egg that she lays underneath the ramp! It's a good thing I have a beautiful egg nesting box for the birds inside!!!!!

Chicken coop 2.0

2010-07-31T17:11:00.000-07:00

It has taken me an entire year to almost complete this project. But I finally finished the inside today. It's not like the birds lived in poor condition, but I wanted it to look more finished....you know like those pictures online or in glossy magazines:) Working full time and volunteering at the fire house limits time on projects. I know, excuses excuses, but it just seems hard to spend time off on things that need to be done around the house. However last week I felt defeated, everything seemed to be overwhelming. Our vegetable garden has been a disappointment this year, no matter how hard I try, I've been challenged by weevils, groundhogs and dear. Oh and some kind of grub that ate all of our zucchini plants. One day they were fine, the next day completely dead, rotten at the base. the weavels ate my tomato plants in I kid you not 1 day. Even though I have chicken wire attached around my vegetable boxes, the groundhog finds his way in and ate our purple pool bean plants and all the carrot tops. So needles to say it has been slim pickings, but I will be more prepared next year!!!!!

The coop had also been frustrating to me, all of it put together with spit and glue, all of it meant to be temporary until I found the time to address it. Weeks turned into months, I'm not sure what inspired me, but I finally got my act together and got to work.

Last week we added 2 African geese to our flock, this was on the heals of loosing Dolly our rooster. Once again the fox struck! However the girls don't seem to mind, they were starting to look a little worse for wear, from Dolly's daily attempts at mounting them. All of the girls had the same bare patch on there backs!. African geese apparently will protect the flock from any predators. This was explained to me when I asked the breeder if I should get a pair. " oh yes" he yelled! "You need the male to hold down the predator, while the female slits it's throat!" We named them Billy and Lisa.....

Poor Gwen and Josephine

2010-04-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

I got home early from work, and had the entire evening planned out. A chance to catch up on some garden stuff. Surround the new raised beds with chicken wire to keep deer out. Plant those potatoes. I was ready to start! While I was unrolling the chicken wire, I thought about Elise, a lady we met last year on the towpath, she too has labradoodles although about twice the size of ours. She had given me the chicken wire last year to wrap the other raised beds I made. No sooner was that thought gone from my mind, and she pulled up on our driveway. Cooper our black labradoodle was with me and excited to see them. Elise let Izzy her 95 pound dog out, he ran over jumped into one of my planter boxes and peed on one of its posts. She asked me where Milton was, In the house I said as I headed towards it to let him out, so they could all play together. As I walked up the driveway I realized our chicken and ducks were out, and as I turned to say to Alese"is Izzy OK with birds" he spotted them and took off in hunting mode. I ran after him, but to no avail. He grabbed Gwen off the ground and ran around the barn with her. I chased him screaming to let her go, but I was no match for his maneuvering around the yard. He finally dropped her, but only to grab one of the ducks. I was in tears as I continued chasing him, while all the other birds dispersed around the yard trying to find cover. He quickly dropped the duck, and I lured him towards me while I held the other duck. Stupid dog, thought I was going to hand him the bird. I grabbed him by his mane, I was shaking with rage and I wanted to choke him. Alese ran over and grabbed him from me . I spotted Gwen as she laid there on the lawn unable to get up her wings flapping . I picked her up and held her close to me, her heart beating so fast. I inspected her and found a small puncture wound on her leg, and her other leg was paralyzed. The rooster was so upset and very vocal about it, he took up refuge in the blackberry bushes, I gently tried coaching him out of the bushes and back to safety, it was so chaotic. Izzy was barking relentlessly in the car, and my dogs joined in from the kitchen. I wanted everyone to just shut up so I could calm the birds down. All the other
birds had gone into the coop, except for Elizabeth. I searched and searched for about 2 hours for her while carrying Gwen under my arm. She finally appeared after the rooster called for her. She had been hiding under the car, the only place I had not looked. Finally everyone was safe in the coop and I could turn my attention to Gwen. I took her inside, and as any good parent would do, put some neosporin on her wound and a bandaid. After David came home we placed her in a laundry basket with a towel to keep her warm. We figured the paralysis was caused by the shock, and hoped it would pass. Unfortunately it has been almost a week now and she has not moved that leg. She is still laying eggs, so she must not feel to bad. I made a box for her today, for now that's her home,on the window sill.

As if matters couldn't get any worse, on Saturday I stepped out of the shower and heard all this commotion from the rooster outside. It had all the sounds of yet another catastrophe in the making, I ran outside and spotted the culprit, a fox with Josephine,one of our ducks in his mouth. I could not believe my eyes. There was nothing I could do, except gather the rest of the birds and get them inside their coop. My neighbor who witnessed the whole thing, came over to console me and said, "I've been trying to shoot that fox for years!"
I felt bad for everyone involved. I don't want the fox shot, he was doing what a fox does. It's spring, and I'm sure he has young ones to feed. Just have to be a bit more vigilant and not let the birds out unattended. I made their outside run enclosure bigger, but they love to roam around the yard. Hopefully we can get another duck, so Diane the surviving one wont feel so lonely.

Chicks are growing up

2010-04-16T04:55:00.000-07:00

Our babies are growing fast. Already a week old and have doubled in size and showing feather growth. I had to cover the container with chicken wire, because they are already trying to figure out how to get out. Not yet little ones.....got some more growing to do. It will be interesting to see the dynamics between them and the older birds once we introduce them.

Our new chicks arrived today!

2010-04-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

Here we are April 7th and it has been 85 degrees for the past three days. I'm hoping this is not a sign of things to come. I want Spring back! My peas are coming up, so are my cauliflower plants, but I'm worried this warm weather will make them grow to fast and weak. Hopefully by the end of this week we will have returned to a milder temp.

I picked up our 4 chicks this afternoon, our plans changed a little from what we originally wanted I was a little late in ordering and the Araucanas were all gone. We got 2 Buff Cochins, they have feathers on their feet, and 2 Buff Minorca. They will be spending the next few weeks in our guest bathroom living in a plastic tub, heat lamp, food and water. Not a bad life. Our task now is to find names for them. I have also decided to upgrade their coop so when they are ready to join the others they will have palecious digs. Right now it's a bit white trash looking. Hopefully I'll get to that this week.

the way we eat

2010-03-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

I have always admired Jamie Oliver for his contributions, showing how easy it is to cook using fresh ingredients. One does not have to possess a culinary degree to eat healthy. For years we have been heading down the wrong path of nutrition and how our food is grown and processed. I hope he has as much success here as he did in England with his mission to get families to eat better. If even a small percentage of people changed their habits it would send a huge message to the large food corporations who only care about how much money they can make, and feed our addictions with simple sugars, and processed foods

I eat what I want, but try to buy local as much as possible. Just doing that creates a chain reaction of positive events. I support local businesses, there is less fuel used, due to low transportation costs. I know where my food comes from. There is less risk of disease and cross contamination. I know the vendors personally, and I participate in what is becoming a growing trend, getting back to basics. I grow my own vegetables, harvest my own eggs. It is very rewarding to live this way, the way it is intended to be (at least in my view)

http://abc.go.com/shows/jamie-olivers-food-revolution

24 savvy

2010-03-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

We contribute to this site every month, and it seemed fitting to post this on my blog

http://www.24savvy.com/articles/pennsylvania/03-24-2010/spring-has-sprung

First warm Spring weekend

2010-03-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

It arrived with a vengeance, and was received gladly, I am speaking of course about Spring and the incredible weekend we just had. it was such a treat to be able to spend the day outside and start getting things organized for planting. of course the temptation to stick seeds into the ground to soon is ever looming, and it took some major restraint on my part to stop from running to the nearest store to pick up some packets! Instead I started putting homemade compost on my vegetable beds, they will need to rest a little longer before I can start planting. It is a joy to see how all the waste over this past year has turned into a rich compost.

I'm sure we will be rewarded greatly as long as all the other elements are balanced.
I just finished ordering my seeds from
http://gurneys.com/default.asp

I've had good luck with them in the past, even when living in high desert areas.

I will be planting peas in the next few days, according to our friend Gina, March 17th is the date for those, I am about a week late, but I figured we live North from her so that should work :)

Probably will be ordering a few more chicks this year to add to our flock, I've narrowed it down to the following varieties. Dominiques

Silver Spangled Hamburgs

or white orpingtons

We also scored some old windows this weekend, that I going to use to build a greenhouse with.....that's going to be an interesting project. I'm hoping to make the whole thing out of recycled lumber etc. So, many searched on craigslist and driving around building sites looking for scraps!

a great site!

2010-03-18T04:52:00.001-07:00

http://www.buckscountyfoodshedalliance.org/

Spring has Sprung

2010-03-18T04:50:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything, not because I'm lazy:) But winter seemed to take a toll on me. Combined with my firefighter classes it has not left a lot of time for writing. However, it seems that now the days are getting longer I am finding renewed energy to put fingers on the keypad.

Yes, I am glad winter has come to an end, even though it is a time of rest, I found myself becoming restless! I would visit websites selling seeds to see when they start shipping. Our chickens and ducks too were becoming tired of being cooped up (no pun intended). last week I detected the first signs, the snowdrops I planted last year were peeking through the ground, the daffodils we bought at the Supermarket when we first moved here and I stuck in the ground when they finished blooming also are up. I had forgotten about those, so that was a real nice surprise. The make shift pond for the ducks has defrosted, and they finally got to swim again and clean themselves. They seem so happy now! I did seed some lettuce indoors, and have been harvesting some young leaves, yummy!

This weekend, I plan on throwing some compost on our vegetable beds and layout 2 more boxes. Even though I can’t plant officially until May 15th, it's time to get things started. We are also thinking about getting some more chicks this year, perhaps some unusual varieties. But not more than 4!

It is such a beautiful morning today, the birds are singing, black cat is sitting on my desk, and the sunlight is beaming in.

I'll try to post some pictures today

An old movement returning

2009-12-29T03:55:00.001-08:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8295443.stm

Sewing is the new hip thing to do!

2009-12-29T03:54:00.000-08:00

We just purchased a brand new sewing machine for 74 bucks from Craigslist!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8283615.stm

First Winter Storm of 2009

2009-12-21T10:49:00.000-08:00

Our house

Down Geigel Hill Road

The barn

Cooper

Milton

Toby

Christmas time at Longwood Gardens

2009-12-15T04:19:00.000-08:00

Even though it rained relentlessly last Sunday, we stilled braved the drive through freezing rain in the morning to see the beautiful displays at Longwood Gardens!

The beginning of a new hobby!

2009-11-24T04:22:00.000-08:00

My dad sent me 3 packets of seedlings last Spring from Ireland with Hellebores seeds, finally after waiting patiently, 2 out of the 3 packets have germinated. I just read that it can take up to 18 months to germinate. Not only that, it takes 3 to 4 years before you get a flower, but I think one can agree the wait is worth it. My dad specializes in these plants in Ireland. I'm hoping to get into it here and carry on the love he has for this plant.

this is what they will look like (hopefully)

http://www.hellebores.org/

Oprah the exploring chicken!

2009-11-23T05:03:00.000-08:00

"Do you have chickens" the voice came from the old man living across the street from us. We had been here 2 months now, and had yet to meet the folks who lived in that house. We had been hesitant to approach them and introduce ourselves. I had seen the woman a few times, she would sit in her car, and honk relentlessly until her husband came out to help her carry bags into the house. She followed with the aid of 2 walking sticks. She had long hair, mostly gray with reddish brown tips. Her husband would sometimes pass me on the way from the post office but I would just get a nod from him. They probably talked about us, and I imagined them sitting by the fire and saying things like, "who are those men living in that house, and where are their wives and kids." "All I see are those strange looking dogs with cruchies on their heads."

"Yes!" I replied, "We do". At the time we only had 2 chickens, Elizabeth the Araucana, named after Elizabeth Hasselbeck from The View, because she was very vocal and opinionated when we first got her. And the other chicken we name Oprah, because well, she was plump, black and compassionate. We had come home from running errands, only to find Oprah missing. With the help of John our neighbor from the new development of mc mansions behind us we searched the area in hopes of finding her. At first we thought the fox got her. he had been seen walking nonchalantly through our property recently, but there were no signs of a kill. Assuming those signs would have been splatters of blood on nearby bushes, that after swabbing with my CSI kit I bought from HSN would reveal poultry DNA. There wasn’t a feather in sight! Maybe she had been grabbed by a hawk, evidence of them was confirmed a few days earlier when I saw two circling around our yard, much like a discovery episode of Earth, waiting for a chance to dive down and swoop up our beloved birds.

"Is one of them black?” the old man asked, to which I replied with much hope in my voice, "Yes!" “Have you seen her, we seem to be missing her." He continued by telling us that she had crossed the road (Kent, don’t go there!) into his property and was walking along the creek, he had picked her up and threw her over to our side only to spot her a few hours later, back along the creek on his side. Both David and I, John at this point had given up and was back on his porch nursing a beer, telling his wife Kelly of brave attempts at trying to locate missing Oprah, traversed both sides of the creek trying to spot our beloved Oprah.

Properties here in Erwinna tend to just blend into each other. There are no fences our real visible separation between yards. Even though the old man gave us permission to walk on his land, we weren’t quite sure where it ended. Being new to the neighborhood we weren’t sure what the proper etiquette was. Now of course we know better, just as we had seen the old man come on our property a few weeks earlier and watch him cut daffodils, it became apparent that there were no borders and with good enough reason it was acceptable to "trespass". I noticed David was ahead of me and talking to another man, who also had seen Oprah, Cap who lives behind the old couple, thought he was dreaming and got his wife to confirm that yes indeed that was a black chicken walking across their yard. A few moments later I spotted her, pecking away at the ground not a care in the world on the towpath which was separated by a canal with Cap's property on one end. We could not figure out how she got over there, short of her flying to the other side. Yet chickens don't fly, or do they? A biker happened to pass by her, stopped and asked,” is this your chicken?" “Is she friendly?" He swooped her up under his arm, and brought her over to us. We spent the next 20 minutes talking to Cap and his wife about the neighborhood, who lives where, this house used to be the whore house, that house used to be a general store, until Oprah became restless in my arms. Once back in our yard, she resumed to pecking at the ground, no harm done. A few weeks later she disappeared again, unfortunately we never found her again.

So, the couples across the street are named, Pus and Millie, Millie grew up in the house we live in. She sometimes gets in her car, drives across the street to our house to give us apples, strawberries and blueberries. She loves coming in the house to see it and talk about what used to be here. She talks about her husband, "Daddy said.......now you don't mind that I call him that do you?” We in turn, give them eggs, or whatever we have plenty of in the garden.

Mr. Squirrell hit the jackpot!

2009-11-18T03:48:00.003-08:00

The other day I took the dogs for a walk in the woods behind our house, on our way back we took the path along the creek, and I filled a bag with black walnuts since they were in abundance along the creek's banks.

I left the bag brimming from the top on the patio table, thinking I'll just take care of them later. Last night when I returned from firehouse drill, David asked me if I had seen the walnuts outside. A squirrel had discovered the bag, and had gone through about half of them. Can you imagine the excitement he must have experienced upon discovering the mother load! As David imitated, mmmm, I didn’t know they opened a convenient store in this neck of the woods!

Lesson learned!

amazing story of hope!

2009-11-16T16:06:00.001-08:00

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/13/60minutes/main5635191.shtml

eliminate plastic bottles from your life!

2009-11-04T03:30:00.000-08:00

As I searched for a coupon to replace the britta filter I came accross this great site.

http://www.filterforgood.com/index.php

Trader joe's??????

2009-11-03T03:10:00.000-08:00

I am surprised that Trader Joe's is one of the companies listed in the latest beef recall.

http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/local_story_306105148.html

another sign we need to wake up and get back to basics

2009-11-01T13:54:00.000-08:00

I remember a few months ago I was having coffee at the Ottsville coffee house when an older gentleman striked up a conversation with me. We talked about David and mine transformation, and how fortunate we were to have realized the important things in life. He had just read an article on CIT, and how bad it will be for the economy when it falls. I agreed with him that we have not seen the worst of it yet. Here we are, CIT has filed for bankruptcy, not only do they provide lending for some major retailers, they also provided funds for small businesses. As we go into another Holiday Season, it will be interesting to see if people finally start to realize the true meaning of the Holiday Season!

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/cit-to-file-for-bankruptcy-soon/?emc=na