Buying Local

One of my goals for 2012 was to eat locally more. I think we are well on our way. We now spend more on local foods that we do at the grocery store, and it feels good to have a big pile of locally grown food sitting on our table.

The Switch to Raw Milk

Today we bought a share of cattle from River Cottage Farm. Because we are now owners of a cow, we get one gallon of raw milk a week. We have gone back and forth for the past couple of weeks about what dairy we as a family are going to include in our diet. The Paleo diet does not include dairy, but after a lot of research we were confident that if we were going to drink milk (which we decided we were going to do, with me eating and drinking dairy only occasionally for now) we needed the dairy to come from grass fed cows. One very important aspect of this diet is we don’t need to eat or drink anything that ingests grains in an unnatural way. Cows are not supposed to eat grain, so we don’t need to eat or drink from cows that eat grain.
We were going to go with raw milk from a local farm, but after learning they give their cattle some grain and getting some cautious advice from a friend we decided against it. Not feeling comfortable with the store-bought options because it is very difficult to find milk from grass-fed cows, we decided to buy a half-gallon of low temperature pasteurized, non-homogenized milk from another local farmer. They too give their cattle some grain, so we weren’t feeling too confident with that choice either. I had just about given up hope and thought we were going to have to give up milk altogether, when I learned about River Cottage Farm. They have grass-fed cows and lambs. They also raise and sell pastured chickens (and eggs), pigs, rabbits, and turkeys. After going out to their farm and talking with them about grass-fed raw milk, we decided it was the right move for us. Sure we know there are risks (which mostly occur when grain is involved) and we know it’s definitely not the norm, but knowing that the cows that provide our milk are antibiotic free, hormone free, grass-fed, and well loved makes us happy to own a share. Oh, and if you have never tried raw milk, it is absolutely delicious!

Chaney's Dairy Barn Tour

Today we joined several friends at Chaney's Dairy Barn for a farm tour. 

We got to ride a wagon over to the barn and then we learned all about milking a cow.

 After petting an adult cow, we all got to visit the baby calf outside the barn.

 We played in the kiddie corral for a bit and 

then Seth got to enjoy a very small scoop of ice cream.

 Of course, Seth picked the blue ice cream again. 

He sure loved it!

We had a fun morning!

Strawberry Pickin'

Today we went strawberry pickin' at Jackson's Orchard.

 We hunted and picked a few strawberries,

 but Seth and Silas really loved riding in the wagon most.

 Then we got to play. 

Bryan and Seth enjoyed a few slides on the Cider Slider,

 and then played on some of the other playground equipment.

 Silas got to stay in the shade and hang out with Nana.

We had a great afternoon!

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!!!

Our friends Lara and Lylah invited us over to their house today for a Derby Party. We had a fantastic time! After watching a racing clip from the movie Dreamer, we attempted making silks and then it was time for some racing.

We got the kids lined up...

 

and then they were off!

 (Yes, our horse does happen to be blue, 

but I think he turned out cute and I was out of brown paper bags.)

 Seth was very sad when the races were over,

 

  so Lylah came back to join Seth for some more.

Silas had a friend to hang out with, too.

 

 After our races we played in the water for the rest of the morning. 

We had a great time with all of our friends and are so thankful for them!

A Glimpse at My Day

At the end of each day,

 I look back over the photos I have taken and sometimes I just have to think

 wow, it's been a good day. Here's a glimpse at my day:

an almost completely local, Paleo breakfast 

(everything's local except the mushrooms)

 first day playing in the sprinkler this year

a tiny tomato peeking through the leaves

smiles from lots of swinging

adorable little boy underwear hanging on the clothesline

enough peonies to make a huge bouquet now sitting in my living room

 

I am blessed.

Tillery Tot School- Letter N

This week we learned about the letter "N." 

We started off practicing how to make the upper and lower case letter.

 We practiced counting our numbers and used our magnatab a lot this week.

 We made a capital N and then added a nest to it. 

We also included a bird and talked about how birds make nests.

 This week I pulled out a magnetic puzzle since magnets were so fun for Seth last week.

 We went on a letter hunt in some noodles. Since we can't eat noodles anymore I thought this was a great use for the ones still sitting in our cabinet.

 

We used our net to catch some letters. 

I would call out a letter and Seth would use his net to catch it.

 

 We also talked about Noah's ark a lot this week. We played with our Little People Noah's Ark after we read a couple of stories about Noah and the Ark.

 We colored a Noah and the Ark picture.

 Then we made an ark out of a paper plate. We colored 

a rainbow and added some printable animals and a Noah.

This week we are focusing on the letter "O."