The Spring Rush 2016

This is the time of year we call “The Spring Rush.” What this means is we have a LOT of outdoor getting ready for the gardening season work going on around the homestead and we are super busy as a result.

This week I have been cleaning up my flower beds; removing leaves, weeding and putting down bark chips. I put organic fertilizer on the flowering shrubs that are planted in the pea gravel around our home. I prefer to use homemade compost in the fall on the plants in the dirt beds, but have the best luck with organic fertilizer in the stones beds in the spring. Putting big buckets of dirt on top of the tidy pea gravel mulch would be counter-productive in my opinion.

Gene removed the pink foam insulation in the roofs of both of the chicken coops and got out our five birdbaths. We also put out the tropical plant in a pot that hides the ugly air conditioner on the front of our home that we store in our laundry room crawl space over the winter.

I sprayed the pink bench and the vintage record stand that will eventually hold flowers for a la flea market look for flowers this summer.

I also bought a flat of basil “starts” this week for lots of tasty fresh cooking and air drying. Each sunny day  bring them out into the sun to grow some more and at night put them into the pole barn in case of a light frost.

Last year I planted 12 starts and had delicious fresh and dried basil until February. This year I bought 15 starts in the hope I can dry even more. I have the best luck with my basil plants planted in pots using well composted horse manure so I will use this system again this year as well.

There is a lot of washing and line drying happening around here right now as well, after all it is spring!

Small House homesteader, Donna

P.S. Please note that I have apparently used up my space limit for photographs on my blog. I am not sure what I plan to do. To increase my space requires a commitment of $24.95 per month and I am not sure I am willing to do that. So posts may be without photographs for a bit.

Progress on the Hashimotos’ Health Front

I’ve been a bit quiet on my health progress of late. There has been a LOT going on around our homestead this spring. Anyone who homesteads understand about “the spring rush” time of year when the land and animals require a lot more seasonal work. On top of that, we took a 10 day trip to North Carolina to see our five and seven-year old granddaughters. While it as definitely fun, it put us a bit behind in our work schedule.

I’ve also been waiting for my latest lab reports to come back to report on the current state of my health. Just a quick aside if you are new to this bog; I’ve been fighting Hasimotos’ Thyroiditis, adrenal fatigue, throat nodules, high anxiety and  chronic physical fatigue. After twenty-some years of not feeling well and worsening exhaustion, I was finally diagnosed last November. My healing journey began then.

And the stark truth I have discovered is that it takes a lot of time and energy to learn about and heal from an auto immune disease.

Due to some very insistence internal itching, I recently asked for a series of blood tests to rule out the fungus known as Candida. I also took a blood test for food sensitivities that same day as that was recommended by my functional medicine physician.As I typically do, I researched both options heavily and then makeup my mind. I admit I was reluctant to take the food sensitivity test because I read of so many pros and cons and posts that it does not work; it is not dependable and so on. But in the end I decided to trust my doctor and at least rule this potential option out and get a better handle on what foods I am sensitive to.

As a child I had allergies and took the famous back scratch test when I was about age 12 to determine what foods I was having difficulties with. The test showed that I had food allergies to wheat and corn as well as environmental issues with grass, ragweed and dust. For four long years I took weekly allergy shots, in both arms at once.

As an adult, I pretty much “assumed” I had outgrown these allergies and because my symptoms were so mild I had honestly had forgotten about this issues. Fast forward to 1995 when Gene and I took the Loma Linda Medical Center based, CHIPS program through Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, MI where we lived at that time. This program was designed for those who had heart disease and or diabetes and we’re out of options. With heart disease and high cholesterol being a real issue in my family history, I thought adopting this diet was a positive preventative action for my heart and my life-long health.

This program introduced me to eating soy, drinking soy milk and eating high levels of whole wheat flour for its fiber. For the next 20 years I focused our meals not on meat but rather on soy and whole wheat flour grains found in breads, rolls, pastas and pancakes. Apparently this Western Medicine prescribed protocol ultimately harmed me and was a huge factor that contributed to my current chronic immune system disease.

It helped me to also connect the dots to here I was allergic to grass and wheat and I was eating the seeds of the whole wheat plant.  Given the fact that these altered grains that have been genetically manipulated, soaked in toxic chemicals and more makes these seeds and grains very hard to digest…Oh my poor GI tract.

I learned that rice, corn, wheat, dairy and sugar are causing me inflammation and I simply did not know this. My gluten sensitivity is apparently a gene pattern and my system is looking at gluten as an enemy not as a friend and the outcome was inflammation. And all this inflammation has seriously stressed my immune system.

If this topic speaks to you, I recommend that you read the book: Grainflammation  (grains equal inflammation) by Dr. Peter Osborne and this will be explained in further detail.

Thankfully from my tests I found out that I do not have Candita. And I found that while I have a few food sensitivities it is not the old ones I thought it might be. I am sensitive to; seaweed, eggs, black pepper and spices. Imagine my shock of finding out that after all this work to raise chickens for their organic eggs, I have food sensitivities to eggs!

I have completed 5 months on the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) and I am starting to feel a bit better. I cannot say I am totally well but feeling better is huge step forward for me.  I will still avoid grains, gluten, dairy and many others for now and until my symptoms are gone and at some point I make the decision to re-introduce these basic foods.

If you want to know more about AIP, consider looking here:

AIP RESOURCES:

The Autoimmune Protocol is a diet that helps heal the immune system and gut mucosa. It is applicable to any inflammatory disease. These foods on this protocol are anti-inflammatory and help the body to heal.

ARTICLES:

• http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2015/01/16/is-the-autoimmune-paleo-diet-legit
• What is the Autoimmune Paleo Diet? – AIP Lifestyle

https://aiplifestyle.com/what-is-autoimmune–protocol-diet/

Autoimmune Protocol:

• ultimatepaleoguide.com/autoimmune–protocol/

FACEBOOK GROUPS:

• https://www.facebook.com/AutoimmuneProtocolDiet

BLOGS:

• https://drknews.com/autoimmune-gut-repair-diet

AIP RECIPES:

• thepaleomom.com/autoimmunity/the-autoimmune–protocol

As always, thank for following!

Small House homesteader, Donna

New Catmint Boarder Garden at the Small House Homestead

Although this plant is called Walker Low, it really isn’t low growing but it is a stunning plant.

After several years of trying to divide and transplant Walker Low catmint (Nepeta-faasseni) with very mixed results I finally gave up trying to save money and I bought 20 plants for a planned border in my turn-around bed that I have been trying to create. I used the egg sale money I have saved from the past years.

My catmint perennials are coming up nicely after the long winter. 

Catmint, if you are not familiar with it is an easy-to-grow perennial that tolerates average to dry, moist soil. Their cheery lavender blooms look good when most other perennials are done for the season. They like half sun half shade and are hardy in zones 3-8.

Most catmints prefer full sun and well-drained, not overly fertile soil, although plants in hot summer areas do well with some afternoon shade. Related to catnip but much showier its gray-green foliage remains attractive throughout the growing season as well. Established plants are quite drought tolerant.

This morning we drove to my favorite nursery, Huntree Nursery in Glenn who had them ready for me. Huntree is a family owned seasonal nursery and a favorite place for many in our area to buy trees, evergreen and shrubs. In the fifteen years we have lived here I have purchased a LOT of plants from Huntree.

 Spring has sprung at my favorite nursery, Huntree Nursery, Glen, MI. 

In 1971 Jan and David Landry came to work at the nursery after graduating from Michigan State University. Nine years later they purchased the business. And the rest as they say, is history.

Today’s purchase of catmints will be the base of my new border.

Catmint Walker’s Low is famous for its wonderful fragrance, is deer resistant, attracts hummingbirds and butterflies’ and is bee friendly. Not really a low grower, ‘Walker’s Low’ will grow 24-30 inches tall and had no serious insect or disease problems. It is used in rock gardens, border fronts, herb gardens or naturalized plantings.

Catmint Walker’s Low is famous for its wonderful fragrance that butterflies, bees and cats love. Beautiful, lush, purple flower spikes start to appear in early summer and continue for up to 3 months. It’s a great perennial to add to your garden.

Catmint is a perfect plant for our homestead because it can tolerate our sandy soil and our on- again, off-again periods of drought. I love that it flowers throughout nearly the whole summer and into the fall season. Not only is it beautiful with it naturally rounded mounding shape and blue-green leaves, it the ideal herb to give to the chickens to eat too.

I picked them up in the morning and then I spent the day digging and planting.  They will grow for a few years into a splashy border and then I will have more plants to divide and transplant throughout my gardens.

Here are a few copyright free images if using catmint in the garden border. Isn’t this the most stunning plant when used in mass?

 

After mine fill in and grow I’ll be sharing an “after” photographs of our garden border at a later date.

Small House homesteader, Donna

 

 

 

Spring on the Small House Homestead – Photo Diary

Good morning! Spring is truly busting out all over on the Small House Homestead this month.

A favorite flowering quince bush bursts into bloom at my studio building. 

All of my forsythia shrubs were transplanted or propagated from tiny shrub starts.

Creeping phlox offers a splash of pale lavender and spreads.

Spring and its intense flowering beauty is what we in Michigan live for!

Daffodils and a burning bush in front of the pole barn.

Wild spreading violets in the vegetable garden. They will be transplanted when it rains. 

Our homesteads many flowers, shrubs, fruit trees and bushes are really starting to come alive!

Planted in 2015 , this peach tree replaced a tree that died from our high ground water flooding.

The low growing flowers and shrubs behind the three-season porch.

Our 5-acre homestead garden is a bloom with the fruits of fifteen years of my labor.

The newly planted (2015) silver lace vine on the trellis is putting out leaves.

Masses of wild purple violets bloom in the bird feeding bed under the dogwood tree.

Freckles and Snowball out and about enjoying the sunshine.

The playhouse in the spring; day lilies are growing again and the climbers are too.

Chalk drawings on the sidewalk speaks the language of spring.

I hope you enjoy a view of this week on the homestead and that you bloom where you are planted!

Small House homesteader, Donna

Moss on the Roof – Testing Wet and Forget Shingle Cleaner

The truth is that we are at an age now where we have to hire out some of the maintenance projects around the homestead. This is hard to do financially but I do not feel that we can risk Gene falling off of the roof and breaking a bone. Especially not during our busiest “spring rush” time of year! If Gene were to get injured everything from his heavy lifting to lawn mowing would end right now. Just not worth it.

This is one of the on-going challenges of senior homesteading. And to complicate things, Gene is suffering from either a pulled muscle or a hernia so he is not at his peak right now we well. His going up on the roof did seem like a smart decision currently.

The studio building has moss on the roof.

We have discussed that if one of us breaks a bone or is for some reason is seriously incap
icitated or needs surgery; we could be in huge trouble here. We have no family nearby that can pitch in to help and hiring a local handyman or helper for day-to-day work is next to impossible here. Staying able, fit and capable of keeping the homestead up is serious business when you are a senior homesteader.

This week we hired a contractor to help us with two roof related projects. The first project was spraying the roof moss on the studio building. I noticed last fall that this roof was green with moss and I got busy researching and talking to contractors about what to do about it. The word was, “Take care of it now or it will affect the life span of your roof.” So that project was added to our maintenance list.

Our goal is to kill off the roof moss and to stop it from re-growing and ruining our roof.  I looked at several options; one option contained bleach, the second Wet & Forget was the least toxic and caustic and The Stainhandler product is caustic. I can see using this on an old pole barn for example but not on my 10-year-old, well maintained studio building with beautiful landscaping surrounding it.

The contractor who built the studio building said bleach works best but we are 100% totally organic here and I know that bleach is toxic so this option was out for me. The sodium  hydroxide in the Stainhandler Roof and Deck Cleaner product was stated to be caustic and that meant tarping or covering the entire building in plastic sheeting to prevent any potential corrosion issues with vinyl siding, eves and gutters, cement porch floor, etc. That just sounded like a lot of time, work and money to me. htttp://stainhandler.com

So we decided to try Wet & Forget first www.wetandforget.com/product_wet_and_forget_outdoor.html and are crossing our fingers that it works for us.

Wet and Forget is a concentrated product that is designed to attack mold, mildew and remove stains from the roof.  It is non caustic, non acidic and contains no bleach. This does mean you have to repeat using it from time to time, but that is a trade-off I am willing to make.  Wet & Forget  is an easy to use, one-step product that does not require, scrubbing, rinsing or power washing. You dilute it according to the directions, spray it on your roof with a garden sprayer and you are done. I read the reviews and most of them were positive.

Frank the contractor spraying the Wet & Forget on the roof.

From the Manufacturer:
Wet and Forget has a unique combination of biodegradable selective surfactants for moss, mold and mildew stain removal on any exterior surface. When diluted with water and applied, it immediately penetrates the unsightly stain. Each time it rains, this safe, cleansing combination reactivates to gently lift the moss, mold and mildew stain without damaging the surface. Wet and Forget is an EPA approved one step process that requires no scrubbing or rinsing. It is non-acidic, non-caustic and contains no bleach. Be patient, Wet and Forget’s gentle cleaning action takes time depending on how heavy the stain is and results are visible over time. Remember good things take time, and Wet and Forget continues to clean for up to a year. No special equipment is required. Just apply Wet and Forget with a pump-up garden sprayer. After the first application simply reapply Wet and Forget at the first sign of moss, mold and mildew stains returning. Wet and Forget can be used on any outdoor surface. Some examples of these surfaces are: asphalt (black top), Astroturf, aluminum siding, awnings, brick pavers, composite decking, concrete, driveways, docks, fiberglass boats, fiberglass shingles, fiberglass hulls/topsides, green houses, gutters, inflatable dinghies, limestone, marble, marinas, natural stone, outdoor furniture, outdoor planters, paint surfaces, patios, patio furniture, plastic houses, recreational vehicles, retaining walls, sails, sandstone, shade sails, sidewalks, stucco, tennis courts, teak decks, textured finishes, tiles, tombstones, umbrellas (outdoor), vinyl siding and wood.

Our contractor said he used 6 gallons of this product for our roof putting three coats of it on the roof. He kept waiting to see a change but it did not so he put on another coat! Now we wait and pray that it does not rain for a few days!

Project 02 was to attempt to seal the leaks in our homes eves and gutter system. We have about a dozen leaks that required buckets under them and constant watching and emptying of the 5-gallon buckets. We put a new roof on our home in the fall of 2016 so this roof is sound and this leaking issue is not dangerous, but more annoying than anything. Every homeowner has an ongoing issue around their homestead and ours has been water…and after trying to get this leaking resolved for over four years, I wanted this fixed and fixed now.

Streaks are a tell-tale sign that moss is on the way.

The locals here tell me that eve and gutters is the leading cause of ice damns here in snow county. Roofing experts tell me it is because these houses do not have enough ventilation or insulation (or both) in their attics. We have had serious issues with ice dam here for years, so we have added them both; insulation in the attic, ventilation around the perimeter of the house and when we had the roof replaced in the fall of 2014 we added a long roof vent system. All of these changes have improved the ice dam and huge dripping ice cycles we have long experienced here.

Although it is not common practice to put eves and gutter on houses here in our area we needed to keep the water off of the limestone siding of our home and from around our foundation. When we moved here there was a lot of moss growing right on the stone siding and I could see that water was running right down the siding and splashing up onto the stones and onto the foundation of our home. That was not a good thing.

We stated by scrubbing that moss off of the siding, adding seamless eves and gutters and I designed the landscaping around our home so the water would flow away from the foundation and off and down the lawn. But the water flow problem off of our roof has been a fifteen year issue and specifically ice dam on the roof and leaking eves remained and are now an issue I hope we have conquered at last. The next big rain storm will tell.

Next I am going to investigate stain protector zinc strips to help keep the black streaks and moss growth at bay as well.

Small House homesteader, Donna

The Chicken Garden Project – Phase One – Getting Started

Like many gardener’s we have a new garden project going almost every year. This is how I manage to accomplish new garden projects with my current homestead work load. My working formula is that I work on this project an hour or two each morning and then I accomplish a little bit everyday!

Soil, straw and bark chips make up the base of my boarder garden. 

This year’s project is what I am calling the chicken garden. I plan to add some color and form on the North-end entry gate to our chicken coop and runs.  I also want to add some pizzazz and visual interest. I plan to only plant easy-care perennials so I don’t have more than the basic seasonal work to maintain them. These perennials have proven themselves to be low water and easy-care plant here already.

Just a simple stone and chip pathway lead to the chicken run.

In this case, I am going to transplant some of my standard “nothing will kill them” hardy plants from other parts of our property. I’ll be using the tried and true plants that I know can stand up to whatever weather Mother Nature Give’s us;  from drought to flooding. These are the perennials that have proven their merit over and over during the past 15 years we have lived and gardened here on our SW Michigan homestead.

The eventual recipient of the chicken garden.

Small House Homesteads Top Ten Hardy and Easy-Care Perennials:

1. Day lilies
2. Iris
3. Catmint
4. Black eyed Susan’s
5. Brown eyed Susan’s
6. Shasta Daisy’s
7. Butterfly Bush
8. Comfrey
9. Sedum (spreading and low growing)
10. Autumn Sedum Joy

The herb comfrey in full bloom.

My overall goal is to brighten the place up a bit when we walk out to the coop a half-dozen times a day. I also want to play down the ugly, gray cement blocks that hold down the greenhouse hoops. The blocks are super practical and make the low-cost side of this design work just fine, but I would like to pretty them up a bit.

I hope to soften down the hard lines of these gray cement blocks with green plants.

I started by amending the soil with good composted dirt from our compost bins and then added spent straw and topped with bark chips from the recent roadside clean up crew. Then I added six flat stepping-stones to a simple bark chip pathway that I put down to deal with the spring mud. The step-tones were once used in another garden location at once point. These stones resided for a few years in the bed behind our three-season porch but the shrubs there grew big enough to fill that open space and I was not longer using those step stones to get into and out of that bed.

Bark chips help to keep the weeds down as well as the moisture in the soil.

Before I could plant any flowers on our homestead I have learned I must seriously amend the soil and kill the grass that was growing there. Because our soil is super lean, sandy oak savanna soil that is also devoid of most necessary nutrients, so my garden prep process typically takes me a year or two to amend the soil before planting.  This small garden border is no different.

This great mound of bark chips will soon disappear.

My formula is quite simple; I add soil from the compost bins mixed with old soil from within the fire pit. Then I added some bark chips and mulch left for us by the local tree trimmers.  This tree trimming mulch includes pine needles and other greenery that will also help to amend our soil and add nitrogen to make a nutrition base for the flowers I plan to add in a year or two.

Another view of the “back forty.”The chicken run, the pool shack and of course, our girls!

While the amendments were doing their thing, I consulted a great book called Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard. By Jessi Bloom. This book is full of practical and beautiful solution for any gardener who wants to invite a flock into their backyard. It’s a great resource and give good tips and used many lovely color photographs for ideas and interest.

If you are considering landscaping in or around your coop or run here are a few relevant posts you might also enjoy.

• http://www.hobbyfarms.com/why-landscaping-your-chicken-coop-is-both-pretty-and-practical/
• Top Ten Plants for our Chicken Coop: by Tillys Nest at http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/05/top-ten-plants-to-grow-for-your-html/
• http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/09/landscape-gardening-with-chickens.html
• http://modernfarmer.com/2013/06/how-to-chicken-proof-your-garden/
• http://www.amazon.com/Free-Range-Chicken-Gardens-Beautiful-Chicken-Friendly/dp/1604692375

Enjoy!

Small House Homesteader, Donna

 

Two New Blue Bird Houses Go Up on The Homestead

Grandpa and granddaughter checking on the blue bird babies.

We have a nice small blue bird trail on our homestead. We have had three blue bird boxes set up on our 5-acres for the past decade and they have all been productive depending on the time of the year and the sunshine on the box itself.

The standard Audubon required blue bird box on a steel post.

Each season we have a pair of blue birds that mate and raise their young on our rural SW Michigan property. Most years these mated blue birds have at least two broods and most years they lay five eggs and one or two baby birds make it to maturity.

The hole must be a certain size and the side must open as well.

For many decades blue birds were threatened in our state but efforts of bird lovers from all of the US have helped to save them and to actually create a revival of blue birds as a species.

If you are interested in knowing more about the placement of bluebird houses you can find more detailed information here. http://www.dccl.org/information/houses/birdhouses.htmA female and male blue bird pair.

 There is nothing like spotting that flash of bright sky blue as the male bird streaks across the meadow and flies up to the canopy of our White Oak trees. These joyful and family orientated birds bring us a great deal of pleasure; from the very first high in the tree call the male makes i the spring to the flying out of the babies twenty-one days after the momma bird began to set on her eggs. Every step in the process is a joy to observe.

One of the two new blue bird houses resides in the east side meadow. 

We follow the Michigan Audubon Societies requirements to setting them up; how far from the woods, how tall and exactly how they are attached to the sturdy metal pipe to protect them from raccoons getting the eggs and this data has proven to be a great success. Additional detail can be located on their website here: www.michiganaudubon.org/

Gene using a pole hole digger to make the hole for the newest post.

This week we added two more boxes to our five-acre property making a total of five boxes on our homestead.

I realize of course that a bluebird pair here will not let another pair of blue bird nest on the same property but these other boxes will be available for chickadees, swallows and other songbirds to nest here.

 A close-up of the digger.

And more birds means fewer insects and bugs and more bird life to share with our grand daughter.

Let’s hear it for the blue birds!

Small House Homesteader, Donna

 

Dispersing of the Straw Bale Wind Block

This week I have been busy distributing the chickens straw bale wind block.

The straw bale wind block that collapsed after the winter snow.

Each fall we set up stacks of square-baled straw around our chicken coop and run with the goal of blocking some of the big winds we get here on the homestead. We live not far from Lake Michigan and we definitely get the results of a lot of lake related winds that we feel on our homestead.

Come spring I use these bales as mulch and distribute the wet straw around many plants and trees in the garden and the landscaped beds including our five-year-old baby pine trees.

Baby White Pines replaced those that were cut down.

As organic material straw will eventually rot and turn into soil, amending the existing soil as they rot. The clumps of straw also hold in moisture from the spring rains which will benefit whatever growing things they are spread around.

Our garden cart full of straw on its way to be distributed.

This year we were also lucky to be able to be the recipients of three (or possibly four) truckloads of organic materials cut back from our community’s roadside program. These are wood chips, pine needles and other brown and green organic materials.

The big pile of organic mulch that needs hauling and spreading. 

The stars all alligned this spring. I simple stopped and talked to the guys who were cutting and offered our property as the free place to dump them and requested that they be dumped in our meadow. Because they usually have to pay to dump these materials and often we have to pay to buy them; so this was a win for us both.

It is certainly a blessing to have these organic materials to work with in our garden, yard and landscaping. Both the straw and the green cuttings will save us money, time and vehicle wear and tear. And having the mulch on site will benefit all the growing things from plants to shrubbery that we have work so hard to plant and maintain.

Nothing is wasted here on the homestead!

Small House Homesteader, Donna

 

How Homesteaders Vacation

We took a rare 10 days trip off the homestead this spring. It’s been three years since we took a trip like this together but we in March we drove to North Carolina to see our granddaughter’s who live there. We took advantage of their Spring Break week to spend some quality time with them.

Our NC granddaughters, Kearnan and Chase.

I believe that most homesteaders either don’t take a vacation of they take what is known as a “stay-cation” -staying on their land but perhaps taking some time off and inviting friends and family over to visit.

The home of the airbnb we stayed in while in Marshall, NC.

Then we took a short 2 ½ day “vacation” to Ashville, NC for a few days get-away to sightsee and relax in the beautiful mountains there.  We enjoyed our first experience staying in an Airbnb and toured the Biltmore Mansion and gardens which made me think of the lavish life-style of Downtown Abbey.

The stunning Bitmore Mansion, Ashville, NC.

One of the questions I get asked is how to ever leave the homestead when you’re the responsible one for animals and everything else?  I do get it…it is really hard to leave!

Marshall, NC is on the Bluegrass Music Trail which meant free bluegrass music every evening.

Luckily our yoga teacher who happens to have three dogs shared the name of her dog setters with us.  I have found that we can get an animal setter if we are willing to pay the high fees and to plan a year in advance.

Easter egg dyeing fun.

It never easy to leave, but we have learned to plan for March or very early April before our main spring work had begun or the garden needs to be planted. Mid-September is a bit of a lull time for us as well, after the main garden harvest and freezing time of year but before the big leaf pick up of November.

Some homesteaders have responsible teenagers who wan maintain the homestead and animals for a week or two. Or, you might already have a trained intern to draw upon or a nearby farmer or neighbors with whom to trade-off chores when you have to be away. or you can try the Pet Setters Association who list bonded and insured setters at http://www.petsit.com

In our case we hire someone because none of the other options are available for us. We spend this money because it is very important to have a relationship with our grand daughters. This time we saved for almost three years to have the cash available for this trip.

We plan head for a training session of about two hours a week or so before we plan to leave town. We write out a very details “To Do” list, listing everything that needs to be done and detail instructions on how it is normally accomplished.

We also leave the name and phone numbers of a close neighbor who is willing to step in if necessary. We leave business cards of emergency workers including ones for the plumber, electrician and the furnace man in case of a mechanical failure as well as our vets name and number in case of an animal emergency.

We also clean the house, ready our setters bed and bedroom and stock the refrigerator. We double and triple check that we have plenty of animal feed on hand for the time we pan to be away.

It’s a lot of prep work on our account as well as advance planning, but its the only way we can feel comfortable that our animals will be well fed and safe in our absence. After all we feel it is our responsibility to make sure our animals are well taken care of when we are gone. Then off we go!

Small House Homesteader, Donna

Auto Immune Protocal Breakfast is Nutrient Dense

I have been on my new path to wellness for 5 1/2 months now. A part of this path is following the Auto Immune Protocol.

This weekend Gene and I drove into South Haven to the Winter Market yesterday. This is a small market during the cold winter months but a few vendors grow greens in greenhouses all winter long.

I bought fresh grown rainbow kale, two bags of spinach, two bunches of carrots and kale. My plan I to eat all of that between now and Thursday.

Another part of my plan is to cook and eat greens at all three meals each day. This is what the protocol recommends. This is nutrient dense real foods at their best!

This morning I sautéed onions, carrots, the Swiss chard and added coconut oil and two thick slabs of the local bacon we bought a few weeks back.  It’s a new mind-set for me to eat vegetables and meat for breakfast but this is what the protocol recommends. Ample healthy fats and protein keeps us full and feeling satisfied longer. Healthy fat is also necessary for our brains to work at their optimal levels.

It was delicious and I feel fully satisfied after eating this. And a lovely side effect is that I’ve lost a whole pants size too. Yahoo!

This functional medicine process is SO impressive. They have a way to get questions answered and to take care of serious health issues. After a lifetime of screwing  around with conventional medicine and not getting any answers, this is like a welcome breath of fresh air.

 

Small House homesteader, Donna