A lot of eBook bundles have crossed my desk and here are two more for you to consider. I know full well that you can’t buy them all, but I just want you to know about them in case one interests you. One is just perfect for homesteaders, and the other for fans of Kitchen Stewardship and real food cooking.

The first one is available just through tonight at midnight Pacific, so act now if you want it!

Homesteading eBook Bundle — Ends Tonight (Mon 5/20 at midnight Pacific)

Curious about livestock guardian animals (not just dogs), how to keep urban chickens, how to draw blood from a goat, how to make your own soap and possibly turn it into a business, or just interested in an old-fashioned lifestyle? This small, information-packed set of 5 helpful eBooks on homesteading — plus 2 bonus eBooks — is available through tonight for just $12.97. (Each book is about $2.50 and that’s not even counting the bonuses.)

Click here to purchase, or here’s what’s included:

Pioneering Today: Faith and Home the Old-Fashioned Way by Melissa K. Norris. Practical and easy methods to cook from scratch, garden, preserve your own food, and see God’s fingerprint in your everyday busy life. You’ll learn how to decrease your grocery and energy bill; improve your family’s health by cooking from scratch with over 40 delicious recipes; grow and preserve your own food; reduce your time in the kitchen without sacrificing taste and nutrition; and expand your view of God in your daily activities. Whether you live in the middle of the asphalt jungle or on the side of a mountain, you can experience the pioneer lifestyle and start your own homesteading journey. When you surround yourself with things made from the hand of God, you can’t help but see Him. 132 pages / Retail Value: eBook $2.99; Paperback $9.99

The Urban Chicken by Heather Harris. Learning how to raise chickens doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, Heather will walk you right through each step of the way, from choosing a breed to where it will live, all the way to processing. A simple, easy to read guide that will quickly expand your knowledge and making getting fresh eggs and meat from your own backyard seem like child’s play. 41 pages / Retail Value: $3.99

Livestock Guardian Animals from Rural Living Today. Would your farm benefit from a livestock guardian animal to defend your property and stock? You’ll learn how donkeys, llamas, and livestock guardian dogs deal with threatening predators. Read about the instincts, abilities, and limitations of each type of livestock guardian. Then evaluate your needs and make the right livestock guardian decision for your farm, ranch, or homestead. 23 pages / Retail Value: $2.99

Drawing Blood from Your Goats by Starlene Stewart. A helpful instructional guide which will walk you through the process of drawing blood from your goats, complete with photos, labeling instructions, how and where to send the blood for testing. Instead of calling out your local veterinarian and shelling out $$$, learn to draw blood yourself and save money on your homestead! 19 pages / Retail Value: $4.95

Making Hand-Milled Soap for Fun and Profit by Susan Godfrey. Includes instructions and 52 recipes to teach you how to make your own designer soaps at home! It also includes many tips and resources for making a profit selling them! 45 pages / Retail Value: $3.75

Bonuses! This bundle includes 2 bonus eBooks — Adventures with Kids! On The Farm by Chara Shopp, and the Beneficial Garden Wildlife eBook.

You can purchase the Homesteading eBook Bundle through this link. Available through Mon 5/20 at midnight Pacific, so better act now! (That’s tonight…)

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And now for the next eBook bundle. You have a little more time on this, about a week (until next Monday 5/27 at 8am Pacific).

Kitchen Stewardship eBook Bundle — 5 KS eBooks for just $7.40

You all know Katie from Kitchen Stewardship, right? Well, this week’s bundle (from Bundle of the Week) gives you a special opportunity to add five Kitchen Stewardship eBooks to your library at a fraction of their regular price! This collection of real food eBooks includes not just recipes but plenty of information to empower you on your real food journey — and it’s available at almost 80% off retail this week only. Plus, purchasers will receive a special coupon code to purchase Katie’s latest ebook, Better Than a Box, at just 50%!

From soaking grains and using beans to stretch your budget to dozens of snack recipes for busy families on the go and tasty desserts that won’t leave you feeling deprived, Katie’s eBooks offer recipes and kitchen tips for every meal of the day.

Even if you’ve already got one or two of these eBooks in your collection, this collection offers a great value for the remaining books. And you’re welcome to pass on your duplicates to a friend or family member to encourage them in their real food journey as well!

Click here to purchase, or here’s what’s included:

Healthy Snacks to Go (2nd Edition) by Katie Kimball. With over 45 healthy snack recipes and ideas including traditional granola bars, iron-packed Popeye bars, and a dozen “larabar” style variations, Healthy Snacks To Go is the resource you need for healthy snack ideas. Complete with time-saving tips, frugal options and allergy notes, plus diaper-bag friendly snacks that are toddler-approved, this will become your “go-to” cookbook to keep your cupboards filled with nourishing yet quick choices.

The Everything Beans Book by Katie Kimball. This comprehensive resource explaining everything you want to know about beans and legumes. In The Everything Beans Book, you’ll find recipes for homemade beans and rice, refried beans, wraps, Mexican fare, soups, pasta dishes, and even a dessert, plus frugal tips and substitution ideas! Beyond recipes, this ebook also offers over 20 pages of information to facilitate your new love of beans and make sure you can cook with dry beans without any stress.

Smart Sweets by Katie Kimball. Katie’s goal with Smart Sweets: 30 Desserts to Indulge Your Sweet Tooth is to give you options that are way better for you than you’ll find in the grocery store, usually better for you than another homemade version, and sometimes downright good for you. You’ll find less sugar, healthier sweeteners, whole grains, soaked and sprouted grains, no grains, probiotics and even some vegetables in these desserts recipes, without sacrificing taste or enjoyment!

Is Your Flour Wet? by Katie Kimball. In Is Your Flour Wet? Soaked, Sprouted, or Soured: Grains Recipes from Our Kitchens to Yours, Katie offers a basic introduction to soaking, sprouting and sourdough, plenty of how-to tutorials and more than 45 recipes from a variety of real food bloggers, including breads, snacks, pancakes and waffles, oatmeal, cakes and more!

The Family Camping Handbook by Katie Kimball. If you’ve always wanted to try camping as a frugal family vacation but are nervous because you have little ones, The Family Camping Handbook will show you how to survive and even thrive out in the woods with young children. You’ll find an overview to help you get started camping, packing and to-do lists and, of course, real food adaptations to standard camping fare. This ebook includes a total of 36 camping recipes and techniques, including paleo/primal/grain-free adaptations.

Click here to purchase. Available through 8am EST on Monday, 5/27.

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And that’s that! I hope you’ll find even one of these bundles helpful for you. Have a blessed day, everyone!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission of sales that begin at this post. Thanks for supporting GNOWFGLINS with your purchases.

In this episode of Know Your Food with Wardee, I’m taking listener questions, including:

• whether veggies continue to ferment in fridge
• whether it is possible to get botulism from ferments?
• ratio of salt in ferments
• if you can ferment Challah dough
• what’s recommended for a Candida yeast infection
• choosing between raw, local and organic, store-bought milk (the answer may surprise you)
• whether lacto-fermentation causes dental caries (due to lactic acid eroding enamel)
• what to do about possible allergic reaction to cheese
• the difference between my Lacto-Fermentation eBook and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Fermenting Foods

Plus I shared what’s going on at our place (getting the garden ready)!

Won’t play for you? Try here.

Mobile or desktop users, you can hear my podcast with Stitcher, on-demand and on-the-go. (What’s Stitcher?) You can also get it on iTunes or subscribe in the Podcasts app.

Listener Questions

Here are the questions I answered in this episode, in the order they’re answered (in case you want to skip around). The podcast contains my answers, plus if I mentioned any additional resources, they are linked here along with the question.

Nancy asked (via voicemail): Fermenting veggies, and put in the fridge. After a week, do they ferment more? I’m noticing that they seem more fizzy. Normal, healthy to eat? Possible to get botulism?

• Botulism in fermented foods article

Rebecca asked (via email): I took your fundamentals course the first time it was offered and I had a question about fermenting the ginger carrots. I wanted to know if you could do it without whey and if so how much salt is required. I tried 1 1/2T but it didn’t seem to ferment and tasted way too salty. Do you need a certain amount of salt to ensure a ferment and if so how much would that be? Any help is appreciated! It was also good to meet you when you visited Phoenix recently!

Batyah asked (via email): Shalom. I am wanting to know how to long to long ferment whole grain sourdough and ferment whole grain challah. I bring the Challah to Shabbat lunches and am wanting something healthier. If I put the dough I fridge for 1-4 days will that ferment the Challah? I know some put it in fridge for next day baking for ease but wondering if that ferments the dough also. I was just going to put my regular whole wheat sourdough with honey in fridge. For regular while grain sourdough can I just mix up a regular whole grain recipe and keep in fridge? Really having trouble finding long ferment whole grain sourdough. Will putting it in fridge for 24 hours ferment it? Do I need a special recipe? My community says my white flour Challah is the best they have had but we all are getting fatter and a lot of us have digestion issues etc. so wanting to thin us all out. I do realize regular whole grain sourdough Challah will be better than the other but really would like the entire dough made healthier (by souring). Thanks for any help you can give me.

Batyah, I asked on Facebook or links to sourdough Challah, but nothing came up that was sourdough (here’s a whole wheat challah that’s not soured). Check it out, though, because Tanner gave a tip for creating your own:

“Challah is defined by its quantity of eggs, I see no reason why you could use, one to two cups of low hydration starter, and at least 6 eggs, I think typical recipe uses 8, where the last two yolks are used for brushing the weave before baking.”

Then I asked Google, and here’s a set of recipes you can try (though you may have to sub whole wheat flour):

• Sourdough Challah — Sourdough Home
• Sourdough Challah — The Fresh Loaf
• Sourdough Challah — The Challah Blog
• Sourdough Challah — The Gingered Whisk

Karla asked (via email): I was wondering what you would suggest for a Candida yeast infection?

• GAPS diet
• GAPS diet series here at this blog
• Body Ecology Diet

Also coming up in June, the Heal Your Gut online class reopens.

Susan asked (via email):  I live in Tempe, AZ and I met you at church with Sonya on Palm Sunday! Here’s my question: If you had to choose between buying local, raw, jersey cow milk where the cow was eating non-organic and perhaps GMO feed and not on pasture VS organic, pasteurized, homogenized store bought milk which would you choose? The raw milk is only $5 a gal. and the store bought milk is a little over $6. The store bought milk is Organic Valley and the company says the milk comes from a CA farm where the cows graze.

My answer is in the episode. I’m curious whether anyone who have a different answer? Be sure to share in the comments!

Here’s the Genetic Roulette movie.

Mare asked (via email): Does lacto fermentation cause dental caries because lactic acid erodes enamel?

• Ramiel Nagel’s site: Cure Tooth Decay
• Ramiel Nagel’s book: Cure Tooth Decay
• Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price

Joseph asked (via email): Hi, we’ve exchanged a few emails before about sourdough.  Which I love, grew up on it living in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now have my own starter I cultivated here in Montana.  Still going strong, and have given some to friends, which I think you’ve seen from Facebook. I have a question, and wondering if you can help. I think I might be allergic to dairy. I’ve had rashes on my arms for over a year now, and thought it was gluten, but after having cheese I got really itchy. I’m a vegetarian, so cheese was a big part of my diet.  Just seeing if you might have any recommendations to help, or any advice.  I’ve gone about a week without dairy, for the most part (I’ve had a few instances of having something I didn’t know dairy was in), but my rash seems like it’s clearing up.  I’m a little lost with what to do.  One of my favorite snacks was cheese and crackers, or a nice bowl of homemade mac and cheese for dinner. 

• GAPS diet
• GAPS diet series here at this blog
• Body Ecology Diet

Also coming up in June, the Heal Your Gut online class reopens.

Natasha asked (via email): I recently received “The Art of Fermentation” for my birthday, but I was turned off by the fact there were not definite recipes to follow. I noticed on Amazon that you have The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Fermentation, but then I saw on your site that you also have the Lacto-Fermentation eBook. Which one should I purchase? We don’t want foods that are so funky no one will want to try them. I need things the kids will gladly try. We’ve had kombucha, yogurt, kefir, and other simple foods like that the children have enjoyed. They didn’t really enjoy beet kvass, fermented carrots, and a few of the other things I have tried from Nourishing Traditions. I don’t want to give up on fermentation though. I think we just need to try some kid-tested recipes.

Natasha, I forgot to answer on the podcast about the kid-friendly aspect. I can’t guarantee that your children will love everything in either book, but as a general rule, my recipes are kid-friendly. My family enjoys most of the ferments.

What’s Coming Up!

Next week I’m taking more listener questions! So get them in using the directions below.

Got Questions or Comments?

I’d love to answer your questions or share your comments on the air in future episodes. Here are the guidelines:

1. Share your name and where you live.
2. Share your website or blog URL (if you have one).
3. One question per voicemail — leave as many voicemails as you’d like.
4. Keep each question brief — like 30 seconds or less, if you can.

When you’re ready, click the button below to record your message.

If the button doesn’t work for you, visit this page to leave a voicemail. Or, want to use the telephone instead? Call 1-541-236-2330 to leave a voicemail with your question or comment. Or, you can contact me.

iTunes

I’d be grateful if you’d visit my podcast on iTunes and leave a rating and/or review. KnowYourFoodPodcast.com/iTunes or gnowfglins.com/iTunes This helps me make my podcast better and also helps others find it. Thank you!

For past or current episodes, check out the Know Your Food with Wardee podcast archives.

Subscribe to My Podcast via Email

If you’d like me to email you each time there’s a new podcast, use the form below to sign up. If you can’t see the form, follow this link to sign up. If you’re already any kind of subscriber here (newsletter, member, menu plan subscriber, ebook customer, etc.) — use the same email address we already have on file to avoid creating a separate account.

Anything to Add?

I would love to hear from you! What advice would you add to any of my answers? Do you have a good sourdough whole grain challah recipe? What milk would you choose if you were in Susan’s shoes? Please share what your answers would be to any of these questions.

Like this podcast? Please help me reach others by using the share buttons at the top of this post. Thanks!

We have noticed that quite a few blogs are not linking back to one of the Simple Lives Thursday host blogs (see guideline #2, below). If this is you, please realize that this prevents us from choosing you as a featured blog. Thank you for linking back to us!

The Simple Lives Thursday Blog Hop

Welcome to Simple Lives Thursday, a blog hop dedicated to simple living. “Consume less, produce more. ” So many topics fit: Gardening, raising animals, cooking from scratch, real food, natural cleaners, sewing, recycling, thrifting, a mindset of simplicity, saving a buck…

This blog hop is hosted by:

• Diana at A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa
• Alicia at Culinary Bliss
• Anette at Sustainable Eats
• And me!

Featured Posts from Last Week’s Submissions

We really enjoy reading your posts each week! Featured post bloggers, please grab the badge above and display it on your site! Link it to one of the host blogs’ posts for the specific week that you were featured.

Here are our picks from last week’s submissions. Thanks to all who participated — it is always hard to choose!

1. 25 Uses for Epsom Salts by Preparedness Mama. ”Think its just for bath salts and in-grown toe nails– think again! This little sprinkle of natural goodness is as versatile as MacGyver.”

2. Brie Baked in Gluten Free Pie Dough with Apple Pear Compote by Poor and Gluten Free.  “We ate the whole gorgeous, decadent, rich, gooey, flaky round of brie for dinner, using slices of pie dough to scoop it up!”

3. The Straw Bale Pallet Crate Garden- Simple, Attractive- and Cheap! by Old World Garden Farms. “So you have little space, little time, little money and you still want to garden.”

What will you share this week? We all look forward to your submissions!

Welcome back to another season of farm and homestead tours! I’m ready for more entries for 2013! Please read here for guidelines.

We’re heading down home… to your farms! Urban, suburban, or rural — whatever you’re growing and doing, we want to see it.

Welcome to the Down Home Farm Tours series. To see all the farms and homesteads featured in this series, click here. If you’d like to be featured, please read here for guidelines.

Welcome, Laurel Creek Farm!

Today you get to visit Laurel Creek Farm, a 21 acre farm in northeast Georgia. After talking about it for years, Anthony, Mandi, and their three young children left the city a year ago to move to their farm. You can visit the Laurel Creek Farm Facebook page here.

What is your name and the names of your family members?
We’re Anthony and Mandi. We have three children under seven whom we homeschool.

What is the name of your farm/homestead?
Our farm name is Laurel Creek Farm, named for where we met on a Missions trip in southeastern Kentucky in 2001. We’ll celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in September!

How long have you been farming/homesteading?
We moved from the city one year ago so we are brand new to the homesteading lifestyle but have adapted pretty well!

Share a brief description of your farm/homestead.
We have 21 acres of pasture and woodlands that also includes a small lake.

What are you raising, growing, and doing?
We currently have 4 cows. A jersey cow and her calf who we watched be born in December. and two heifers to start our meat herd with. We have 2 pigs we are pasturing and they are a blast to feed and interact with. We also have a bunch of chickens and have tried our hand at raising broilers but that isn’t our favorite. LOL  We had some pigs last fall that we penned up where our garden is this year and they did a lot of the tilling work for us as well as adding compost. We just started our garden and have potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, carrots and LOTS of tomatoes planted. We bought heirloom apple trees and blueberry bushes and got those planted, looking forward in a couple of years to a good harvest! We are blessed that the previous owners had planted muscadine vines (southern grape) and pecan trees and we also have lots of wild blackberries!

How did you get into farming/homesteading?
We talked about moving to the country for YEARS and then finally jumped in when we located this property last year. We started into the real food movement in 2006 when our oldest son was born. I wanted to make his baby food and when I googled directions first came across the term organic. It was a very short time later that we started buying raw milk and visiting farmer’s markets; once we’ve decided about something we tend to jump in with both feet.

Any future plans?
Our future plans include getting bee hives (hopefully in the next couple weeks) and continuing to expand our animal diversity. We want to follow Joel Salatin’s intensive grazing methods and really take care of our land. It’s been such a neat experience to learn how to take care of our own needs, we definitely aren’t self sufficient but would love to get closer to that as the years go by. I love hearing my kids call themselves farmers!

Do you have any funny stories to share?
A funny story about the pigs; when we bought our original pigs (they are now at freezer camp) the guy told us they were trained on electric fence and we had read that 2 strands of wire should keep them in… that would be a big NO! It was a disaster when we let them out of the trailer! One of the pigs went straight through the electric. It was just about dark and we realized that we had to keep them in the trailer overnight and then install fencing the next day!

Let’s Tour Laurel Creek Farm!

(Wardee: In the captions below, you’re hearing from the Mandi, as she tells you what is in each picture.)

This is our pathway from our front yard going towards the barn and chicken coop. We’ve done a lot of clean out to open up the view a little. We used manual labor for some of it, but then allowed goats access and then put pigs in the area to help root up some of the invasive ivy. While we want to allow animals to eat what they were created to eat and live in a natural way we also figure we might as well use them for yard maintenance at the same time.

Our muscadine vines. You can see some of our pigs in the background. They are under the pecan trees making sure we didn’t miss any nuts last fall.

Our first attempt at creating a chicken coop. Feeder and waterer hanging with a rope from the ceiling beams, branches and old closet rods across 2×4′s for roosting bars and old milk crates for nesting boxes.

Our cows.

In December we watched our Jersey give birth. Why she picked the muddiest spot in the pasture I couldn’t tell you. LOL!  We all stood outside in our pj’s and winter coats, with our camera, watching as she gave birth. It was an incredible experience and she did fantastic without any help from us.

This past fall several people donated their decorative pumpkin from their porch to our pigs! These are Ossabaw Island pigs, a heritage breed that makes WONDERFUL sausage with lots of flavor.

Our lake is stocked with catfish. It is so peaceful to watch ducks swim across the pond. We can see the lake from our dining room where we do school.

We picked almost 100 pounds of muscadines last year.

Just a small portion of the pecans we collected last fall. We are so blessed!

Doing our school work out in the back pasture while Daddy fixes fence. [Wardee: this is awesome!]

Our kids LOVE living out here! Even with all the extra responsibilities!

Thank you for sharing with us! We hope you enjoy your free thank you video, our gift to you. Plus, feel free to display the following graphic on your site. (Right-click and save to your computer, then upload to your site and link to this farm tour post.)

Please give Anthony and Mandi a warm welcome in the comments! Be sure to visit their Facebook page here.

In this episode of Know Your Food with Wardee, I’m joined by occupational therapist Susan L. Roberts, an autism educator and consultant and author of the book My Kid Eats Everything!. She helps children go from picky or problem eating to eating everything and anything — all through the most important rule of making meal times fun. We talked about her methods, the difference between picky and problem eaters, why children might become picky eaters, and inspiring stories of children who became adventurous eaters. Plus more!

Got a picky or problem eater? Why not try out Susan’s free 25-minute phone or Skype consultation? If you want to go further, Susan offers long-distance coaching. I also recommend Susan’s book, My Kid Eats Everything!, which I’ve read twice myself and highly recommend.

Won’t play for you? Try here.

Mobile or desktop users, you can hear my podcast with Stitcher, on-demand and on-the-go. (What’s Stitcher?) You can also get it on iTunes or subscribe in the Podcasts app.

About Susan

After more than 20 years of experience in school-based pediatrics, as well opening and operating a play-based pediatric clinic in Tucson, Arizona, I moved to New York to take a faculty position. This led to lecturing nationally on the subjects of Handwriting, Toileting and Mealtime Success. My clinical and research interests focus on the primary occupation of childhood, PLAY, and holistic approaches for achieving optimal health and wellness.

I enjoy traveling around the U.S. teaching parents and professionals how to have happy mealtimes full of nutritious food, and I love spending time with children and their families even more. Nothing beats the happiness of watching picky eaters become adventurous eaters, and seeing mealtimes transformed from battlegrounds to beloved family rituals. Through individual coaching, play experiences, and support groups we discover the art of raising happy children for a peaceful world.

Links Mentioned

• Susan L. Roberts — Susan’s website
• Susan L. Roberts on Facebook
• My Kid Eats Everything! by Susan L. Roberts
• Free 25-minute phone or Skype consultation
• Susan’s current speaking schedule

What’s Coming Up!

Next week on my podcast, I’m just taking listener questions, and I’ve got room for a few more. The instructions are just below.

Got Questions or Comments?

I’d love to answer your questions or share your comments on the air in future episodes. Here are the guidelines:

1. Share your name and where you live.
2. Share your website or blog URL (if you have one).
3. One question per voicemail — leave as many voicemails as you’d like.
4. Keep each question brief — like 30 seconds or less, if you can.

When you’re ready, click the button below to record your message.

If the button doesn’t work for you, visit this page to leave a voicemail. Or, want to use the telephone instead? Call 1-541-236-2330 to leave a voicemail with your question or comment. Or, you can contact me.

iTunes

I’d be grateful if you’d visit my podcast on iTunes and leave a rating and/or review. KnowYourFoodPodcast.com/iTunes or gnowfglins.com/iTunes This helps me make my podcast better and also helps others find it. Thank you!

For past or current episodes, check out the Know Your Food with Wardee podcast archives.

Subscribe to My Podcast via Email

If you’d like me to email you each time there’s a new podcast, use the form below to sign up. If you can’t see the form, follow this link to sign up. If you’re already any kind of subscriber here (newsletter, member, menu plan subscriber, ebook customer, etc.) — use the same email address we already have on file to avoid creating a separate account.

Anything to Add?

I would love to hear from you! Do you have comments or questions about what you heard in this episode? What has worked for you with picky or problem eaters? Please share below!

Like this podcast? Please help me reach others by using the share buttons at the top of this post. Thanks!

With all this talk of fertility and baby care  — the current natural fertility eBook bundle and last week’s podcast with Heather — I realized I haven’t ever shared our birth stories with you.

Actually, I’ve never written them down at all! Which is sad because my children are almost 16, newly 14, and 12-1/2.

It’s better late than never, right?

Before I get to the stories (which I will attempt to keep brief due to sharing three at once… yikes), I want to give some disclaimers.

First, what I share is my opinion. I am entitled to my opinions, and I certainly have them. But they’re just that — my opinions. My opinions. Please don’t think I’m judging anyone who feels differently or who has acted differently. I’m just sharing, not judging.

Second, I’m not a doctor or a midwife or a doula. Just a mom who’s had three babies. So I can’t — and am not trying to — give medical advice or pregnancy advice or birth advice.

Third, I’m not going to share doctor’s names, midwife names, birthing facilities, cities, etc. I’m also not going to do the minute-by-minute play-by-play of our births because I don’t remember those details any more and also I’m covering three births so it would get too long!

Finally, we didn’t have a digital camera when any of the children were born so in lieu of birth photos, I’m including photos of when the kids were young.

Baby A’s Birth

I was 21 when I became pregnant with A. Having been a vegetarian, I started craving meat and ate lots of Wendy’s chicken nuggets. We would go on to call A “nugget” because she was probably mostly chicken nuggets! We knew nothing at the time about a nourishing pregnancy diet. To put it mildly, I wasn’t eating well.

We checked out all the usual birth books and videos from the library, and my husband got pretty interested in home birthing. I, however, would have none of it. I wanted a doctor and a hospital because I was scared and not ready for doing anything outside the norm. Even so, I knew I wanted my hospital birth to be as natural as possible — i.e., no pain killers.

We moved states mid-pregnancy and had to find a new ob-gyn. He came highly recommended and voiced willingness to help us have a natural birth.

A week overdue, we consented to an induction. The post-induction hospital monitoring revealed Baby A’s heart rate was cut in half during contractions. Nurses called the doctor who, over the phone, simultaneously ordered a few physical manipulations in case the cord was pinched AND a C-Section as if it was a foregone conclusion.

There was no improvement in baby’s heart rate with the physical manipulations, so we signed on the dotted line, and I was prepped for a C-Section. That’s when my spirit pulled out of my body and I felt like I was hovering overhead watching these shocking events. C-Section? Never in a million years did I, did we, think we would be going there. I hadn’t even admitted the possibility, so it was a shock to be there.

All prepped and ready, the doctor was not yet there. Nurses had been paging him and when he finally showed up, he said, “Can’t I finish my pizza?” Yes, that’s what he really said. We heard it.

Okay, C-Section over, I’m in the recovery room feeling like I’d been run over by a truck, and also isolated, alone, cold, and still not back in my body yet. No baby to meet and no husband nearby.

Happily, Jeff was with Baby A. He would not leave her side.

Out of recovery, I met our first baby. I started feeling better and got back into my body.

Nursing was really hard (and stayed hard for two weeks). I hardly knew how to change a diaper, but since Jeff had taken care of lots of foster babies as a child, I received good instruction.

The doctor checked on us the next day (is it normal for doctors not to see you right after delivery?) and never said a word about the C-Section or how we felt about it. He knew very well where we stood, and I’m 100% certain he was just avoiding the issue.

He did say that he had found out why a C-Section was necessary. My placenta had not developed properly. He called it vasa previa. He drew a picture of it and I still have that picture around somewhere.

Baby B’s Birth

Not much later, I was pregnant with Baby B and my diet was not improved. Fast food, processed food, bad fats, sugar, you name it. However, I was ready to fight hard for a natural birth. I’m sure my husband was glad.

We started a Bradley childbirth class and within a few meetings had decided that home birth was for us. For me, it was mostly the fact that interventions lead to more interventions which tend to lead to C-Sections. I wanted to get out of that equation altogether. Plus, I wanted to stay home to give birth.

After very little searching, we found a wonderful, caring, experienced lay midwife. I’ll call her J. At the time, she had helped birth 1200 babies. She considered our birth history and felt there was no reason why we couldn’t try it. My parents loaned us the money to pay for her services (her rates were very reasonable).

We also had health insurance through an HMO, so I continued to go in for the checkups without telling them that we didn’t plan to use their services at the end — but would if we had an emergency.

For most of my pre-natal visits at the HMO, I asked for the staff midwife (not our midwife –  one on staff there) so I wouldn’t have to see a doctor very often. We maybe saw a doctor twice?

One thing the HMO required for anyone who’d had a C-Section was to take a mandatory class on VBACs — Vaginal Birth After Cesarean. I understand that now VBACs aren’t recommended, but they were then. And I think probably the HMO recommended them to keep their costs down?

I hated that class. It was good they encouraged ladies to consider vaginal birth (we all had the option to do whatever we wanted), but the language was so medical — anyone else hate the phrase “take the baby”? — and the recommendation to use pain medication so liberal. I guess when faced with moms who’ve not delivered vaginally, they think we’re all mostly afraid of pain.

Maybe we are afraid of pain, but I’ll tell you what I feared the most — going under the knife again. Having a callous, uncaring doctor. Not being with my child right after she was born. Recovering from birth in a hospital room where I couldn’t sleep and where people were coming in and out all the time. Someone telling me I had to walk when I’d just had my stomach cut open. Taking six weeks to feel even somewhat normal again.

So I didn’t enjoy that class.

Meanwhile, our midwife J came to our place frequently for in-house checkups. She was so refreshingly laid back and knowledgeable.

When I went past my due date, the HMO said I would have to be induced at a week late, no matter what. We hemmed and hawed about making the induction appointment, so they let it go for a bit. But then to appease them, we put an appointment on the books for when I was two weeks overdue (maybe it was a week and a half… I don’t exactly remember).

We didn’t intend to show up for it; we hoped Baby B would be born already. But she wasn’t! So I called in that I couldn’t make it and rescheduled for another week. And by that time, three weeks later (a day before the rescheduled induction), B was finally born. In the nick of time!

I have to say, it was fun to call in to the HMO and say, “Oops, she was born.” The nurse said, “You knew all along that you were going to do this, didn’t you?” And of course I owned up to it and said yes. She kind of laughed but she kind of chided me that it was very dangerous. I was just so happy that I didn’t care what she said.

How was that birth? Well, it was fast and furious. Remember we hadn’t labored or given birth before. We didn’t know how far labor was progressing but it seemed like I might have gone through transition — I had thrown up and it was pretty intense with contractions long and close together. I had spent most of the labor lying on my side on a futon mattress in a dark room.

We called J and said something to the effect that “things are happening and we think you should hurry”. This was during a storm, and she had quite a time getting to our house from hers (up the mountain).

By the time J arrived, Baby B was crowning BUT it was really strange because my water hadn’t broken; this was one of the reasons we didn’t think I was very far along at first. Instead of seeing her head, Jeff saw the bulging sack and was kind of freaked out by that. He told me to get my bottom up in the air and try not to push until J arrived. That was hard! When J got there she got the minimum things set up and then popped the sack and then I was pushing and then B was born on our bed. It was over so fast. Around 5 hours for this birth.

Then J went to the kitchen and made us scrambled eggs for breakfast and cleaned things up and we talked about what to do with the placenta (we buried it) and everything just felt so good. So right. Nursing went well from day one. (I knew what I was doing this time!)

Baby C’s Birth

With every baby, I got more and more confident. Jeff had been ready to think outside the box from the beginning, but I needed more time.

This time (with Baby C), we had no HMO for a fall-back but we knew we wanted J again as our midwife. She encouraged us to seek out a doctor who would be backup, just in case we ended up at the emergency room.

I called the doctor who had done my C-Section with A and he said no way, no how would he touch a home birth with a 10-foot pole. Well, he probably didn’t use those words, but that was the gist.

I didn’t try anyone else. We knew we could rely on the Lord. He’d been good to us so far and we put this birth in His hands, too.

Pre-natal visits were handled entirely by J. She came to our place or we went to hers. It was so laid-back and so wonderful.

Once again, I ate poorly. I guess in the scheme of things it was somewhat improved; more whole foods than processed, but still conventional everything.

This was the first pregnancy without an ultrasound so we didn’t know if C would be a girl or boy. That was fun. (If we had had another child after this, we would have chosen to be surprised this same way.)

Where B’s birth was fast and furious, this one was gentle yet intense (and short at 3-1/2 hours). The bathtub felt really good during contractions, and once again, transition made me throw up.

J was there in plenty of time and even brought a midwife-in-training to assist. While I labored but didn’t need them, they napped or read or just hung out in the living room. When it was time to push, Jeff called them to our bedroom and C was born on our bed. We slept and napped and nursed until morning. Then the girls came home (they’d been with Gramma) and met their little brother.

The View From Here

God showed us how very much He cares for us and our children! He gave us wonderful births and healthy children, in spite of my poor diet.

Our children are so precious and we’re thankful for each one and each birth. Even the C-Section. I never want A to think that I regret her birth. I don’t and I couldn’t. But having gone through it, I learned that I wanted to do things differently after that if I could.

Even though our children were are born relatively healthy, I’m sure my poor diet had consequences. What caused A’s funky placenta? And for that matter, the next two placentas — they were similarly wonky but not quite so bad. If I had eaten a nourishing diet would they have been perfect?

If I had eaten better, would my children not have had food allergies or food sensitivities?

What about my son’s eczema?

Or how my two daughters needed braces? (It’s too early yet to know whether my son will.)

So yes, I do look back with great thanks — but also I wish I’d done things differently. Not only my own pregnancy care, but how I nourished them in their first years.

Having said that, I know that every day presents an opportunity to get on the right path and it’s never too late!

Why Am I Sharing This Today?

One reason I’m sharing our birth stories is because right now (and for just a few more days) an incredible set of resources is available to help you prepare for pregnancy, overcome infertility, birth naturally, and nourish your baby in those critical first years — the Natural Fertility Bundle.

It’s put together by Donielle Baker (you met her in podcast #8), who has herself used natural methods to overcome PCOS and infertility. The bundle of digital resources contains 29+ eBooks, menu plans, and more for just $34.95 (retail value $450+). They’re about a dollar a piece. My Lacto-Fermentation eBook is included.

There’s a huge giveaway package of $1130, too!

Please hurry if you’re interested — the sale ends Monday, May 13, 2013 at midnight Eastern. That’s just four days from now. Click here for more info or click here to purchase.

Questions for you: What were your births like? What did you learn from them? What would you have done differently? What makes you look back on them and smile?

We have noticed that quite a few blogs are not linking back to one of the Simple Lives Thursday host blogs (see guideline #2, below). If this is you, please realize that this prevents us from choosing you as a featured blog. Thank you for linking back to us!

The Simple Lives Thursday Blog Hop

Welcome to Simple Lives Thursday, a blog hop dedicated to simple living. “Consume less, produce more. ” So many topics fit: Gardening, raising animals, cooking from scratch, real food, natural cleaners, sewing, recycling, thrifting, a mindset of simplicity, saving a buck…

This blog hop is hosted by:

• Diana at A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa
• Alicia at Culinary Bliss
• Anette at Sustainable Eats
• And me!

Featured Posts from Last Week’s Submissions

We really enjoy reading your posts each week! Featured post bloggers, please grab the badge above and display it on your site! Link it to one of the host blogs’ posts for the specific week that you were featured.

Here are our picks from last week’s submissions. Thanks to all who participated — it is always hard to choose!

1. How to Remove a Mole with Apple Cider Vinegar by Don’t Waste the Crumbs. ”Mrs. Crumbs and I have come to really like using apple cider vinegar (ACV) for a variety of reasons…”

2. The Banana Dog by My Lamp is Full.  “Breakfast: The most important meal of the day! If you are like me, it is also one of the most hectic.”

3. Re-Purposing Plaques into Pictures by We Got Real. “Ok ok, you silly little scratched up useless plaques, taking up space in my house. I shall do something great with you!”

What will you share this week? We all look forward to your submissions!

You know what… it’s time for me to ask for help! And who else should I ask, but all of YOU?

This is what I need: a set of committed, regular guest writers. All the details, my goals, and your compensation is listed below. When you’re done reviewing it, you can head here to the application.

The Details

• Position: Contributing Writers at GNOWFGLINS
• Obligation: Submit 1-2 articles per month in a timely manner (deadlines will be provided)
• Requirements: proficiency or expertise in traditional cooking or traditional arts, good photography skills, engaging personality, clear writing style, commitment to deadlines.
• Compensation: complimentary membership, performance incentives, and exposure to a wide audience.
• Application deadline: Monday, May 20, 2013.

The Needs / Goals

This is a short list of things I will review when selecting our team of contributing writers.

1. That we cover a lot of bases. I want to see a diverse set of expertise or proficiency covered by the entire group of writers. It might include some or all of the following: sourdough to cultured dairy to fermenting to general traditional cooking, seasonal cooking, raising animals, gardening, health and nutrition, food activism, personal care, and/or devotionals.

2. Good photography. Our writers should be able to provide good photos with all articles. Good light, good focus, good composition. And just so you know, I’m not a great photographer myself, so my standards are not that high.

3. Personality. Who are you? Are you funny, blazingly honest, witty, endearing? Do your special qualities shine through your writing and your stories? This is important.

4. Writing style. Though I’m not looking for people who write just like me, I want writing that’s easy to follow, simple yet concise, and of course, shows personality. (And I do edit for readability and clarity and to match the style of this blog, so there’s a bit of a safety net there.)

5. Commitment. Although I know that life happens, I’m looking for people who can commit and deliver on communicated deadlines.

These qualifications are the most important, but other items on the application will also factor into the decision.

What’s In It For YOU?

I’m glad you asked! I want our arrangement to be good for you, too! Here’s what you can expect if you’re on the team:

• complimentary premium membership at GNOWFGLINS (for as long as you’re writing for us)
• monthly performance incentives, to be determined
• exposure to thousands of GNOWFGLINS subscribers, readers, and members

And as time goes by, I think you’re likely to find personal benefits of your own!

The Application

Ready? If you think this position is for you, please click here to view and/or complete the application. I will respond if I need more information, or if you’re selected. I hope to make final selections by the end of May 2013.

Many thanks for taking the time to consider this, and for considering sharing your time and talents with us.

If you have any questions, please ask below. Also feel free to share this with others who may be interested!

Did you know that infertility is an issue for 1 in 8 couples? Conventional medicine has little to offer these couples, and many argue that conventional methods do more harm than good.

Thankfully, we have God-given natural methods to get healthy, prepare for pregnancy, improve fertility, and balance hormones!

And I’m happy to say that many of the best natural fertility resources out there are available right now for a limited time in one convenient package — at 92% off!

Yes, 92% off!

An entire natural fertility library, valued at $450, is available for just $34.95 through Monday, May 13, 2013 at midnight Eastern (just 8 days from today).

While the internet has seen lots of uniquely-themed eBook bundles come and go in the last 6 months, we haven’t yet seen on a bundle on natural fertility and it is sorely needed by many!

(Psst… coming in June: a natural mothering bundle.)

Here’s what’s included in the Natural Fertility eBook Bundle:

• 10 eBooks on fertility and health
• 2 eBooks that speak to the heart (bereavement and loss)
• 12 eBooks with real food recipes (including my own Lacto-Fermentation)
• 6 eBooks on pregnancy and birth
• plus bonus material
• plus a giveaway (times 2) valued at $1130!

Here’s the complete list of what’s included. Or, when you’re ready, you can click this link to purchase.

Know someone facing infertility (man or woman) who’d love inexpensive information on preparing for pregnancy, overcoming infertility, or balancing hormones? Please send them to this post or this page: http://gnowfglins.com/fertilitybundle

Welcome back to another season of farm and homestead tours! I’m ready for more entries for 2013! Please read here for guidelines.

We’re heading down home… to your farms! Urban, suburban, or rural — whatever you’re growing and doing, we want to see it.

Welcome to the Down Home Farm Tours series. To see all the farms and homesteads featured in this series, click here. If you’d like to be featured, please read here for guidelines.

Welcome, ImaginAcres!

Today you get to visit ImaginAcres in Rochester, New York. Meredith and Michael are homesteading on their city lot, raising vegetables, edible landscaping and even chickens — all in the city! Please visit Meredith’s blog here.

What is your name and the names of your family members?
We are Meredith and Michael.

What is the name of your farm/homestead?
ImaginAcres.

How long have you been farming/homesteading?
We have been homesteading for about two years.

Share a brief description of your farm/homestead.
Our homestead is located in the city. We live in a big old house that was built in 1922. We have a big backyard and a small front yard. Our backyard has three raised beds, a large vegetable garden, and tons of food growing in containers on our patio. We also have a large sun room on our top floor where we grow more food in containers, including spinach, lettuce, and herbs. We converted our shed in the backyard into a chicken coop and we attached a large run to it.

What are you raising, growing, and doing?
We have a flock of 12 chickens that we allow to free range in our backyard.  We converted our shed into their coop by building nesting boxes and roosts out of tree branches. This spring we hatched nine of their chicks in an incubator, and four chicks under one of our broody hens. It was so much fun!

In our raised beds, we grow tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, carrots, peas, and beans. We grow lots of herbs in containers on the patio. In the front yard we have lots of edible landscaping, including a giant lavender bush, a gooseberry bush, alpine strawberries, and creeping thyme.

How did you get into farming/homesteading?
I’ve wanted to be a farmer for my entire life. It’s always been my dream to be as self-reliant as possible and be surrounded by farm critters and thriving greenery. When I met Michael, he expressed that he had the same dream. We knew it would be years before we could move out into the country, so we decided to start farming in the city. We have crammed as much farming into our small lot as we can, and we’re striving to learn as much as possible in the city.

Any future plans?
Within the next two years we plan to buy a farm house and a lot of acreage out in the country. I’m dying to get some goats, bees, and cows. We’d love to be able to feed our animals and ourselves off our land and get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Do you have any funny stories to share?
Our second rooster came to live with us when she was a few months old. ‘Her’ name was Francesca and she spent her first few months being picked on by the rest of our flock. I noticed she had grown a considerable amount and her comb and wattles were quickly growing much larger than her flock-mates. One day I went out to feed the chickens and saw trying to mate with her mother, who had come to live with us at the same time. “Hey!”, I yelled, “What are you doing to your mother?!” It then occurred to me that this was no hen! Francesca’s name was changed to Frankie, and he went on to sire many of our current baby chicks!

Do you have a  sad story?
Our saddest day so far was the day we had to butcher our first rooster. We tried to find a home for him to no avail, and we’re not allowed to have a crowing rooster in the city. We took him to a relative’s farm and they trained us in this necessary part of farm life. Having raised him from a tiny one day old chick and having to see the end of his life was very hard for me, but it has taught me a lot about being a farmer.

Let’s Tour ImaginAcre!

(Wardee: In the captions below, you’re hearing from Meredith, as she tells you what is in each picture.)

The Farm. Our backyard in the middle of summer, a jungle of vegetables.

Spring garden. Our raised beds in spring — everything is just beginning!

Sunflowers. Growing sunflowers in egg shells, we sure have plenty of those to go around!

Summer beauty. Our trumpet vine growing up the side of the chicken coop.

Marley and Me. [Wardee: Such a cutie! Both of you! ]

Frenchie. Covered in Greek yogurt from her daily treat. [Wardee: Our chickens love cultured dairy, too!]

First Egg!

Big ol’ Frank, king of the castle.

The first sign of spring! Tapping trees for the first time was so much fun. [Wardee: I would looovvvvveeee to do this!]

Maple syrup. All of the maple syrup we made from our two maple trees in the backyard.

Homestead library.

Thank you for sharing with us! We hope you enjoy your free thank you video, our gift to you. Plus, feel free to display the following graphic on your site. (Right-click and save to your computer, then upload to your site and link to this farm tour post.)

Please give Meredith and Michael welcome in the comments! Be sure to visit their homestead here.