So, I put the title out there for you to see, so if you are reading this now, at least you have been warned.
We bought eight Cornish Roasters and 25 Dark Cornish Roosters this spring. Happily, we fed them, housed them, watered them, and now they are ready to feed us. (Yes, I deliberately changed focus there.) They are fighting with each other, and pushing the other chickens around, although Annie our little Belgian Quail Antwerp bantam hen stands up to them admirably. Their usefulness is nearing an end.
Dave, Lazar and I are readying the equipment and in the next couple of days we will be 20 chickens lighter. We will keep a couple roosters for the flock, but the vast majority are going in the freezer. The Cornish Roasters were butchered by Weston Meat Cutters. The Dark Cornish Roosters are going to be butchered by us. The season is late and with both Dave and Lazar to help me it will go pretty quickly. Lazar and I did a couple earlier this summer. It was long and tedious work, between plucking and such.
They will give us chicken for the winter and plenty of Buffalo Wings for our gatherings. Chicken soup, roast chicken, chicken pot pie, chopped liver and a plethora of other dishes are awaiting those roosters. I feel kind of like Bubba from "Forest Gump" but we love our chicken here at Willard's Farm.
One last thing, after we cull out the roosters, we will still have over 30 chickens, between Lazar's fourteen or so bantams (small chickens that a big on attitude) and our laying hens. Plenty to keep us in eggs this winter. Currently, we are just starting to see the uptick in egg production as this years new chickens are starting to lay eggs. Little bantam eggs are so cute.
If you are in need of eggs, give me a call...
Friday, November 30, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Update from the land of GAPS
Haven't posted for awhile. Why? Because life happens around here. We have chickens, children and general mayhem to commit, so often times something takes the back seat. Happened to be the blog this time.
So, what's been going on? Well, we raised eight Cornish Roasters, a less overbred version of the chickens you get in the supermarket. We had them butchered and have been enjoying good eats thanks to our hard work and their kind sacrifice.
Summer came and went with me having shingles twice. Aggravating and most unproductive. I need to manage stress better is the lesson I received. The kids were fine, but I really, really needed to get better and stay better.
I did some research on different eating habits. The kids and I felt better since starting out on eating much more, well, deliberately. But, I still had those two bouts of shingles. Onto the Interweb I went. I discovered a woman named Sarah who's blog is called The Paleo Mom. I read and read, it seemed so clear. Then, I considered the ramifications of doing the full monty, which I really thought we needed to. You see, we had been having some interesting symptoms. We all had bloated abdomens, Phyllis had added a couple of new food sensitivities and Lazar was having painful joints and I could barely walk some days. Sarah highly recommends the Paleo lifestyle and it seemed like the right choice, except according to the symptoms we were experiencing, we should also add the SIBO/AIP option, that would dramatically limit our foods. I sat with that for a few days and realized that I would have issues with that, but the kids would be hard pressed to do something that intense. She also wrote about SCD and GAPS, but I skipped over it thinking we would just skip them. So, I tabled it, thinking that we would go to the Paleo Diet.
That brings us to our grand experiment. I was fighting some intestinal thing, and did some research on the symptoms. While chasing down that rabbit hole, I rediscovered SCD as a possible way to deal with what I was experiencing. Since I had heard of this from The Paleo Mom, I decided that serendipity had come to call, and this was my message. I read the information, and it seemed like a more workable option for us. Then, I went back to The Paleo Mom and read about both SCD and GAPS. The minute I read about the GAPS diet it clicked. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride realies heavily on some of Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" which I read over ten years ago and have used the techniques ever since. The GAPS Diet is all about healing your gut, in fact it stands for Gut And Psychology Syndrome. She has used this to treat kids with autism. I wasn't working with autism, I was working with people with potential gut issues, asthma and someone with multiple allergies. Phyllis had reacted with a rash and itching from pineapple. Dr. Natasha claims that this diet will heal the gut and may allow you to eat things you could not eat. Was it worth the chance for Lazar to be pain free? Was it worth it for Phyllis to be able to eat tomatoes, eggs, kiwi, pineapple and citrus? Was it worth it to see if I could be healthier? We all answered "YES!!!"
This is a long post, huh? On the third of October we began our odyssey. We removed all grains including corn, legumes (except lentils, black beans and white beans that have been treated ala "Nourishing Traditions"), all sweeteners except honey, potatoes both sweet and white, parsnips, all chemical additives, milk, unaged cheeses, anything from a bottle or jar (meaning processed), chocolate and some other oddball things that I won't go into here.
You may be thinking, "How awful!" Yes, feeling sick all the time was awful, having Lazar in pain all the time was awful, and seeing Phyllis developing new allergies was awful. But, this diet has turn us around! Phyllis is stabilized, Lazar's pain level is less and I am feeling much better. We all have lost weight, and each of us experienced a lessening of our bloating. Within a week, I lost four inches off my waist. Pretty amazing!
How do we do it? Well, my dad is not doing this diet, so he gets potatoes, one of his favorite foods and macaroni and cheese and other things like hot dogs we avoid. But, we eat well. Like tonight... we are having GAPS pizza with provolone cheese (mozzarella is GAPS illegal), veggies and sauce. We are most excited. My dad and Dave will be eating regular pizza.
Some wonderful things have come of this. We are eating a ton of veggies, we are satiated far more easily and eat much less. Why? Because our bodies are getting nutrient dense food that serves to satisfy us well before junk would. Later I will blog about our experience at KFC. It's funny and very enlightening. But, suffice it to say that we know that eating this way is better for us and our bodies. Yes, we are tempted sometimes. Phyllis had chocolate for Halloween and could not get to sleep until 2am. We discussed it the next day and she realized that her little soiree had consequences. No worries, just a little lesson on how much better she felt following the diet. I had occasion to travel and I could not be 100% legal to do so. I had some things that were not allowed and some things that were pretty close to how I should be eating. It was more or less unavoidable, but it set me back some. I only had a month under my belt, so I just restarted my process. Will I cheat again? Probably not. I have lost over 10 pounds in a month, without trying and without feeling like I'm missing something. I am looking at possibly a year or two on the GAPS Diet, but the kids should be able to start adding things back in about six months. Now, that is doable!
I will try to be more careful in blogging here. My computer is back up and running, so life is easier to blog that way. I will keep you posted. We are about to eat dinner, so wish us well, and happy, healthy eating.
So, what's been going on? Well, we raised eight Cornish Roasters, a less overbred version of the chickens you get in the supermarket. We had them butchered and have been enjoying good eats thanks to our hard work and their kind sacrifice.
Summer came and went with me having shingles twice. Aggravating and most unproductive. I need to manage stress better is the lesson I received. The kids were fine, but I really, really needed to get better and stay better.
I did some research on different eating habits. The kids and I felt better since starting out on eating much more, well, deliberately. But, I still had those two bouts of shingles. Onto the Interweb I went. I discovered a woman named Sarah who's blog is called The Paleo Mom. I read and read, it seemed so clear. Then, I considered the ramifications of doing the full monty, which I really thought we needed to. You see, we had been having some interesting symptoms. We all had bloated abdomens, Phyllis had added a couple of new food sensitivities and Lazar was having painful joints and I could barely walk some days. Sarah highly recommends the Paleo lifestyle and it seemed like the right choice, except according to the symptoms we were experiencing, we should also add the SIBO/AIP option, that would dramatically limit our foods. I sat with that for a few days and realized that I would have issues with that, but the kids would be hard pressed to do something that intense. She also wrote about SCD and GAPS, but I skipped over it thinking we would just skip them. So, I tabled it, thinking that we would go to the Paleo Diet.
That brings us to our grand experiment. I was fighting some intestinal thing, and did some research on the symptoms. While chasing down that rabbit hole, I rediscovered SCD as a possible way to deal with what I was experiencing. Since I had heard of this from The Paleo Mom, I decided that serendipity had come to call, and this was my message. I read the information, and it seemed like a more workable option for us. Then, I went back to The Paleo Mom and read about both SCD and GAPS. The minute I read about the GAPS diet it clicked. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride realies heavily on some of Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" which I read over ten years ago and have used the techniques ever since. The GAPS Diet is all about healing your gut, in fact it stands for Gut And Psychology Syndrome. She has used this to treat kids with autism. I wasn't working with autism, I was working with people with potential gut issues, asthma and someone with multiple allergies. Phyllis had reacted with a rash and itching from pineapple. Dr. Natasha claims that this diet will heal the gut and may allow you to eat things you could not eat. Was it worth the chance for Lazar to be pain free? Was it worth it for Phyllis to be able to eat tomatoes, eggs, kiwi, pineapple and citrus? Was it worth it to see if I could be healthier? We all answered "YES!!!"
This is a long post, huh? On the third of October we began our odyssey. We removed all grains including corn, legumes (except lentils, black beans and white beans that have been treated ala "Nourishing Traditions"), all sweeteners except honey, potatoes both sweet and white, parsnips, all chemical additives, milk, unaged cheeses, anything from a bottle or jar (meaning processed), chocolate and some other oddball things that I won't go into here.
You may be thinking, "How awful!" Yes, feeling sick all the time was awful, having Lazar in pain all the time was awful, and seeing Phyllis developing new allergies was awful. But, this diet has turn us around! Phyllis is stabilized, Lazar's pain level is less and I am feeling much better. We all have lost weight, and each of us experienced a lessening of our bloating. Within a week, I lost four inches off my waist. Pretty amazing!
How do we do it? Well, my dad is not doing this diet, so he gets potatoes, one of his favorite foods and macaroni and cheese and other things like hot dogs we avoid. But, we eat well. Like tonight... we are having GAPS pizza with provolone cheese (mozzarella is GAPS illegal), veggies and sauce. We are most excited. My dad and Dave will be eating regular pizza.
Some wonderful things have come of this. We are eating a ton of veggies, we are satiated far more easily and eat much less. Why? Because our bodies are getting nutrient dense food that serves to satisfy us well before junk would. Later I will blog about our experience at KFC. It's funny and very enlightening. But, suffice it to say that we know that eating this way is better for us and our bodies. Yes, we are tempted sometimes. Phyllis had chocolate for Halloween and could not get to sleep until 2am. We discussed it the next day and she realized that her little soiree had consequences. No worries, just a little lesson on how much better she felt following the diet. I had occasion to travel and I could not be 100% legal to do so. I had some things that were not allowed and some things that were pretty close to how I should be eating. It was more or less unavoidable, but it set me back some. I only had a month under my belt, so I just restarted my process. Will I cheat again? Probably not. I have lost over 10 pounds in a month, without trying and without feeling like I'm missing something. I am looking at possibly a year or two on the GAPS Diet, but the kids should be able to start adding things back in about six months. Now, that is doable!
I will try to be more careful in blogging here. My computer is back up and running, so life is easier to blog that way. I will keep you posted. We are about to eat dinner, so wish us well, and happy, healthy eating.
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