Daily Archive

Okay, I think I’ve got all my ducks in a row and am ready for the final tally of April!

Cost of food per person per day: $10.85 That’s up considerably from last month because I’ve been working on stocking the freezer with grassfed meat. Now I need a separate freezer! I’ve also developed a kombucha habit which is seriously expensive ($5 for a 16-ounce bottle). To combat the expense, I made my own “mother” with this great instruction from Food Renegade. Mama Scoby is floating on top of a gallon pitcher of sweetened tea doing her thing and should be ready the first Saturday of May.

Relevant books read or re-read: The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan; Traditional Foods Are Your Best Medicine: Improving Health and Longevity with Native Nutrition by Ronald F. Schmid N.D.; Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets by Deborah Madison

Energy Level: Starting quite suddenly on the 17th, I experienced a wave of sleepiness at 4PM every day. I’ve been working my way off coffee, so the normal pick me up at around that time of day was out. If I was sitting down when it hit, I would immediately fall asleep. If I got up and started moving, my muscles would become weak and shaky much sooner than they would otherwise. I tried taking what my hubby calls a “power nap:” just 20 minutes of sleep. It helped some, but I frequently wasn’t able to get up after only 20 minutes. One afternoon I slept almost two hours! On the 23rd I was out shopping when it hit, and I confess: I stopped at Starbucks for a pick-me-up. It worked and I was able to finish my shopping trip and make dinner. It got better as the month went on, and by the end of the month I was once again able to go from 6AM to 10PM pretty much nonstop.

Visible health improvements: This month was marked more by shocking setbacks more than continued improvements. My mother-in-law’s visit really put a fine point on it for me. Now that I’ve had steady improvement for a while, having a sudden, measurable backward step was very educational! I gained two pounds this month and walked less than 10 miles. Now, I don’t want to blame everything on one week’s indiscretions, but I find it a little telling that until the 15th my health and energy levels were booming right along, but by the 19th I was sick, tired and my knees were hurting just like the bad old days.

Other notes: Rose’s eczema improved early in the month. Out of ideas for how to help her, we had her start sleeping upstairs on the couch instead of in her basement room. The improvement was immediate and substantial. I went looking for a possible reason and found mold! A hidden wall and corner of the carpet in their room had mold growing on it. I moved the furniture required, cleaned up what I could and sealed it off for now. It will require a much more thorough cleanup, including probably the removal and replacement of part of the carpet. While I was working, I probably stirred up the spores pretty well, because Rose had an immediate, large flare up. We are running several air purifiers in the room, including a UV purifier, in hopes of reducing the mold in the air as much as possible. It’s always something, isn’t it?

My stress level was also kind of high this month, as I prepared my oldest girl for a summer-long trip several states away. She’ll be fine, I know her well and trust the work her father and I put in loving and raising her. But there was shopping, mending, packing, chore charts to re-write, last minute words of wisdom to impart, a feeling that I wouldn’t be seeing her again in the fall (I fell in love with Colorado at her age, too) and helping her little brothers and sisters deal with the change. I found myself crying a little too easily from the combination of being tired and the natural negativity I fight. We’ve already had our first Facebook chat, and I’ve already sent off our first “care” package full of homemade “we love you” cards, new ear buds for her iPod and a stick of ostrich jerky. Hubby is, of course, playfully tormenting me by playing “Cinderella” by Steven Curtis Chapman at least once a day. If he doesn’t stop soon, I’m gonna pull out that old copy of “Butterfly Kisses” that made him misty when the girls were babies! Fair warning!

I was successful (except for the above Starbucks trip) in getting down to one cup of regular and one cup of decaf coffee a day. My May goal is two cups of decaf and no regular. I need to start walking more again. Starting May 1, I’ll be adding three tablespoons of coconut oil to my diet everday. I already cook with it and use it in my toothsoap and deodorant, so I figure that will give me a total of about 4 tablespoons a day, the amount recommended for weight loss. My farmer’s market starts up again May 20, and with it my meat and veggie CSA. YAY!

As for my May plans for this blog, I’ve asked a local beekeeper and farmer to write a guest post for me. He has had some interesting experiences this year and just from reading a short email he sent out, I learned more about beekeeping than I ever knew!