Real Good Real Food

In the last few years on the farm, I've been slowly moving my family toward the consumption of "real food." During the daytime hours (and pre-dawn hours, and after dark hours, and sometimes at ungodly times of the night...I work full-time) I slave over homemade breads, soups, salsa, relishes and yogurt from scratch. I purchase organic milk, grow most of my veggies in a great big garden, and I am looking seriously into goats and hogs in the spring. I have even started to make my own cleaning supplies...I am on a real soapbox regarding the consumption of chemicals/processed foods in my home.

But...

At night I sometimes hide out with highly processed boxes of movie theater candy that I stash way up high and to the back of my spice cabinet. I like to sort them into brightly colored groups of purples and red #40 and blue raspberry blue and order the pairs in an obsessive compulsive frenzy. I like the sound they make when I shake the box.

I will NEVER give up the sugar filled store bought orange juice I fell in love with at the same time I fell in love with my boyfriend even though its unbelievably expensive. The promise of a cold glass of it beside my farm fresh eggs is sometimes the push I need to stumble out of bed in the morning. Most mornings I could not even begin to create my overly pretentious real-food breakfasts without it.

When I travel for work I eat more fast food than any "real- good real-food mama" would publicly claim, and I travel for work fairly often.

BEER. Self-explanatory.

There are others too...dark chemical secrets hiding in my closet.

Craving white sugar crystals the way an addict craves meth, trying in vain to find a 5 minute dinner when we have football and girl scouts and I wasn't home from work until 6:30 so we run into town to get convenience store pizza, plus basically anything unhealthy I can get my hands on during that time of month.

It's a process...to de-process; and sometimes a difficult one. Yet it is where I find myself, on a mostly upward and sometimes dangerously grumpy downward spiral, constantly improving, constantly learning, constantly experimenting to find a balance between health, convenience, budget, and happiness.  I've been fast tracked recently; after my blood sugar was tested. Words like pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome and A1C levels were spelled out with warning glares from my doctor and I am going to have to work harder to find foods that are not only whole, but healthy.

So bear with me, and read with me. I will share successes, and failures, and great recipes along the way. I'll share some of the farm with you too. So keep posted, friend me, follow me, join in and comment, and watch our little farm grow into a self-sufficient modern homestead, making healthy food and lifestyle choices, and friends along the way.

Until next time,
Cassie