Tonight's Imbolc dinner!

I had potato soup in a bread bowl last night with friends to celebrate Imbolc, but wasn't sure what to do tonight for just me and Sprout.  I found some sprouts in the back of the fridge that needed to get eaten, and while I was searching for a good salad dressing to use with them, I found this site: http://sproutpeople.org/
On that site, I found a recipe for a sprout snack that includes throwing some herbs and salt and pepper with a little olive oil into a mix of sprouts.  You can see it here. I only had clover sprouts, but they're surprisingly nutritious and packed with protein! So I mixed them up with a chopped up tomato and the herb blend and it's sooo yummy!

For the 'main' dish, we'll be having roasted potatoes and yams flavored with some salt and pepper, butter, rosemary, and thyme.  It smells SO good in here.
For dessert, we'll be having some honeyed milk that I'll make with the raw milk I got today from a local dairy.  The cows looked so happy (well, as happy as cows can look) munching on their green hay and wandering around their big dirt field.  I saw a calf with his mamma, and Sprout excitedly said hi to them all.  It didn't smell like sewage, like the crowded grain-fed farms smell.  It smelled like happy cows, green food, and sunshine. :)

Tonight I will be trying a new way of eating: mindfully.  I have been reading The Way of the Hedge Witch, and it has a lovely section on how to bring magic into your everyday cooking and cleaning. I've come across this philosophy before, but magic is really my preferred language at the moment, so it really sunk in this time.  Eating mindfully basically consists of focusing on your food while you eat--don't rush through it, or think about everything else, or eat without even looking at it while you watch TV or surf the internet. Take the time to actually feel the gratitude you have for the good food in front of you. Inhale the aromas and let your imagination go to the root origins of your meal, or whatever makes you fully appreciate what you're eating. Tonight my mind will take me to walk in sun-warmed potato fields (barefoot, of course!), following the living sprout nutrition into my veins, and back to the lovely farm where I bought fresh, raw milk this morning. Enjoy your food tonight!

The Joys of Barefooting!

My new obsession requires the purchase of.. NOTHING!  I have been walking around barefoot as much of the time as I can.  I go shopping barefoot, walking to the mailbox barefoot, driving barefoot, and of course I'm always barefoot inside the house.  I've caught a few odd looks, but no one has complained, even though I also go barefoot at church.  I think I really love my ward though.  They seem to accept me in all my weirdness, and it's a wonderful thing that I know not everyone can find.

(these are not my feet. my feet are less hairy.)

Why barefoot? 

1. It's healthier!  I feel my tendons and muscles stretching and strengthening, and the soles of my feet toughening up enough to handle whatever the outside throws at me.  My lower back has loosened up considerably, just because I've been walking differently.  I expect my knees are also being given a break as my feet are no longer a source of heavy impact and shock on my joints.  I just feel better. There are numerous benefits outlined in the linked article above, and I encourage any readers to look into barefooting to help heal things like joint problems, or plantar fasciitis. It's also almost impossible to develop any kind of fungal infection or athlete's foot when your foot is not enclosed in a sweaty, germy shoe.
2. I get to connect with the Earth every day.  In my pagan paths, I'm very connected with Nature, and the spirit of Earth.  I constantly try to find more ways to feel connected to the rhythms of seasons and cycles of this wondrous place in which we live, and walking barefoot is an easy way to absorb some of that special energy that can't be replicated by humans.

3. It's cheap! I have always, always hated buying shoes.  It's so hard to find shoes that are comfortable, affordable, and attractive.  My criteria for comfortable are many: they cannot slip off my heels, my toes have to have room to wiggle and move about, they can't dig into my heels or any part of my foot, there can't be support in the wrong places (sadly, I often find myself shifting my foot around even in my Vibram FiveFingers because the left one doesn't fit quite right), and the list goes on.  It's also nigh on impossible for me to walk in high heels, and they hurt my joints (not a shocking fact).  Barefoot goes with almost everything!  While I don't see myself running about barefoot in the snow (at least not for long periods of time), pretty much every other situation is barefoot-able.  I'm working on some barefoot sandals that look something like this, so I'll have something nice to wear for church.  I may make a few more pairs because they won't annoy me and I can make them exactly to my own specifications.  Also, some people in our culture do freak out at barefoot people, and the barefoot sandals can somewhat hide the fact that I'm barefoot.

4. I want to.  I've always loved being barefoot, and it's a badge of pride for me to be just a little bit different than the status quo.  I was born that way.  So there you go.

The Deliciousness of Green Stuff

8:35 PM

Ever done a green smoothie cleanse?  Apparently you can do month-long fasts, eating only raw green and fruit smoothies.  Not really my cup of tea.  Sometimes I need a grilled -cheese sandwich (I am actually looking into the GAPS diet, but that's a whole other post). I like to do wimpy cleanses that only take a day--24 hours of raw vegan food in the form of green smoothies and some handfuls of raw nuts to make sure I'm getting enough protein and fat.  I feel lighter and cleaned out by the end of the day, and it can help knock a sugar binge out of my head.  When I'm organized enough, I have a green smoothie for breakfast, and I drink the other half with dinner.  I've made smoothies several times for my family as the vegetable with our dinner and they've been consumed with gusto, even when they're more green than fruity.  And if my two year old will eat it, you know it's family-friendly.

Here are some ideas for creating your own green smoothie (taken from various places, some of which are linked at the bottom, and some from an iPhone app called Green Smoothies that I highly, highly recommend):

1. Start slow! You won't want to keep drinking them if you have to force them down.  A good ratio to start with is 3 parts fruit to 1 part greens.  You may worry about the sugar, but you're probably getting much more nutrition from that smoothie than you would with a limp pile of steamed green beans.
2. Greens that are great: kale, spinach, swiss chard, lettuce (all kinds), beet greens, celery (not my favorite, but some people like celery), parsley (in limited amounts! Find a recipe!), and pretty much anything you would put in a salad.  Make sure to rotate your greens--if you eat spinach for a week straight your body is going to have buildup of alkaloids that can be harmful.  Read here for more information.  Also, with chard and kale, make sure you don't add the stems or thick ribs--they're very bitter.  Greens can be frozen in ziploc bags if they're starting to wilt, and only take a few minutes to thaw out for a smoothie.  The nutrients won't be AS good, but it's still better than something canned (in my humble opinion).

3. Fruit that's great: mangos (make it nice and sweet and add a great texture), bananas (perfect for texture), peaches, pears (a good sweetener), apples (they make things a little chunky, like applesauce, but are good for sweetening things up), pineapple (great paired with mango and/or banana), berries (blackberries and raspberries can be pretty seedy so avoid those if you don't like that), and pretty much any fruit that you love to eat.  Frozen fruit works well too.  A word of warning: persimmons will eat your blender alive if you don't have a really good one.  They will turn your smoothie into a weird, mucousy texture that gets so thick it can bind up the blade on even an upper middle-class blender.
4. Order of operations: This is what I've found to work for me, using my regular non-fancy blender.  I add the cut up fruit first, with a little water if it won't mix well.  Then I add the leaves slowly, occasionally taste-testing to get it just right.  Then I blend on a higher speed (the smoothie setting usually) for about a minute to make sure it's as smooth as I can get it.  Then I pour it into a quart mason jar and screw on a plastic lid so I can shake it before I pour it if I need to.  I've found that the gravy shaker thing that my mother-in-law gave me years ago is perfect for keeping a smoothie shaken up while on the go.

Last but not least, here' s one of my favorite recipes:

2 mangos

1 banana

1 pear

2 cups spinach

(I add more spinach now, but it's still quite yummy!)

Core the pears. Blend it all together into a blender full of DELICIOUS HEALTHINESS. Enjoy!

So, what do YOU do to organize yourself?

I consume massive amounts of information on how to make my life into a simple, clean, organized, and calm state of existence.  I lost count of how many apps are on my phone to help me remember to do laundry, complete homework, and even make sure Sprout gets enough attention from me (I tend to get caught up in housework...)
Life hacks! Housework checklists! Freezer inventory! Filing systems! Clouds! Calendars! Day planners! Fiteverythingyouwanttodoinonesingleday!

Yeah. My house is sometimes clean, sometimes not.  Dinner might be on the table by 6, and it might even be nutritious.  I think I'll be able to earn A's this semester, but next semester I'll be going from coasting along on the lower division quiet country lane with only 13 credit hours to the scary highway of upper division credits, clogging my brain with 18 of them.  I'll still be married, I'll still have a toddler, and I will still reign supreme as Empress of Laundry and Kitchen Queen.  I will still have a strong interest in following my spiritual urges and in taking courses on magical things.  And I will still be a perfectionist (or at least, a wannabe perfectionist...).  I will demand of myself a report card lined with perfect grades.  Oh, and I will need to lose some weight and get super healthy, with perfect sleeping habits.  Oh crap.  It's past my bedtime.  Someone help me...

Calling all Earthlings!!

Links to other earthy blogs

Simple Mom Life Hacks

The Brighton's Kitchen

The Nourishing Cook

Green Smoothie Girl

Heavenly Homemakers

Cookus Interruptus 

Keeping a toddler entertained. Inside.

First of all, this saved my sanity yesterday.  I am still on the lookout for more things to do.  I have asked some friends, and I have thought of a few things myself as well.  Here's our problem: I have one toddler.  One.  Tree is excellent at playing with him, but I find myself wanting to do dishes or laundry instead.  I know, I know, I know, these are precious years bla bla bla.  But honestly?  It kind of feels like it did when Sprout was a newborn.  Everyone told me to soak up that time and really enjoy it.  Well, constant battles with thrush and mastitis and nasty sleep deprivation are just not conducive to enjoyment.  He was a shrieking, pooping, eating machine.  Not exactly enjoyable.  It wasn't all bad, but it was a difficult time to which I would not want to return.  So anyway.
I am trying to find ways to enjoy the toddler years.  There is much more to enjoy, but playing toddler games does not come naturally or easily to me, so I'm looking for help.

What we did yesterday:
-made bean bags out of socks and dried beans.  then threw them around at stuff and into bowls.
-made the living room into an obstacle course
-sprinkled baking soda scented with lavender essential oil all over the living room (yeah... eventually I'll vacuum it up, too)


The days are still hot here in the desert, and going out in 100 degree weather is too draining for everyone involved.  I do not want to even think about how much TV we have watched.  I still cling to the ideal of NOT using the TV as a babysitter.  And as I write this, Sprout is watching Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (his choice).

Here are some ideas other people came up with:

-finger painting/body art with pudding
-forts (we've done this, though really Sprout just likes to tear them apart)
-puppets
-bubble baths
-yoga videos (we've also done this, with some hilarious results)
-cornstarch and water goop
-dance parties (we've done this, but it's kind of exhausting lol)

Cooking awesome stuff

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

Cookus Interruptus

Just a quick shout-out to an awesome recipe site.  Today's recipe that's calling to me is the salad dressing page.  So more like five or six recipes.  But you should never eat naked salad, and I'm heartily sick of buying bottled stuff from the store.

http://www.cookusinterruptus.com/blog/?p=2406

Bugs!

MONDAY, JULY 18, 2011

To spray, or not to spray

A couple of nice young men who reminded me of missionaries came to our door this evening selling pest control services.  They're organic-based, great customer service, and only $30/month.  Apparently around here pest control is something pretty much everybody does--it's like a utility bill.
My first inclination is to say "YES YES YES! Get rid of the creepy bugs and the scorpions that I can't see!!"  But then I have a couple problems:
1) We are starving college students right now and really don't need the bill when we haven't even seen any pests around the house except a couple ants that aren't bugging us (get it? get it? hahaha)
2) Shouldn't I be trying to live IN nature?

So the first problem pretty much means we aren't getting pest control because the husband has control of the purse strings (which I have absolutely no problem with, btw.  We'd be in a cardboard box if I was in charge).

As for the second problem.  This is not my natural habitat.  I don't belong in a desert, I belong in a forest on a mountain somewhere overlooking a lake.  Lots and lots and lots of trees.  But I do believe that every creature and creation has a spirit.  The earth has a spirit, plants have spirits, the creepy bugs have spirits.  They all have the right to a life and pursuit of happiness.  They deserve to fulfill the reason for their existence.  The fact is, they really aren't hurting me.  I don't even see them, so there's no serious anxiety problems.  They aren't biting us, or eating our food.  Shouldn't I just let them alone?  Live in harmony with all living things?  How can I proclaim to love nature when I am at war with little creatures just because they make me want to run away screaming or jump on a chair?
I can't relax in nature if I'm getting attacked though.  Going out at night in a green area around here is just asking to be swarmed with something.  I can't even take a walk because there are cockroaches skittering across my path every two feet.  It's not a very peaceful thing, and makes meditation difficult, to say the least.  Large bugs make my skin crawl.  Especially when there are a lot of them.
So now I'm at war with myself.  Fortunately I don't have to find a resolution to this war any time soon, but it's really making me think.

The weight loss post

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

A mundane sort of post about losing weight

I do not do well with schedules.  I'm one of those people who will follow a diet and exercise program rigorously, to the point of obsession, for about a week.  Maybe two.  Then I start to reward myself for doing so well.  Not that food is a reward, really.  It should be about survival.  I WANT it to be about survival.  I do like to enjoy what I eat, but my new mindset needs to be that it is fuel.  
I've considered a juice fast, but I'm not entirely sure what I did with my juicer.  Also, I think that would go terribly.  I like to chewthings.  That's what teeth are for.
Here's my new idea (my new AWESOME idea): I am going to write down everything I ought to be doing onto slips of paper.  I will then put those papers into a hat and mix them up and pull one out every morning.  I will only do one thing each day, but I will do it WELL.  I'll have an exercise pile, and a food pile.

Some examples:
no sugar today
no sugar including fruit today--add more veggies
no carbs today
green smoothie for breakfast today--heavy on the 'green'

p90x cardio video today
40 minutes of laps in the pool today
1 yoga session today
walk to classes today instead of taking a bike, take the long way
no internet except for schoolwork today

If something really doesn't work with the day's schedule, I'll just put it back and pull out a different one.  I think it may work, because it's so unpredictable.

Any suggestions on things to add to my hat?  Any ideas for a ritual/spell I can create to stay focused?

starting weight: 182 lbs

An Introduction

I spend a lot of time writing about my faith journey, and the emotional fallout of growing up human.  In order to preserve the tone of Spiral Grove, I created this blog for my other elements.

Fire ~ intactivism, lactivism, and any other cause to which I become attached

Air ~ my educational studies (which are awesome, in case you were unaware)

Earth ~ my recipes, housekeeping tricks, and the day-to-day life of being a mother to a thriving 2 year old, and wife to a man who eats stuff

Should you feel the need to probe the corners of my brain devoted to other things, head on over to Spiral Grove.

Spirit ~ self actualization, faith journey, how to mix Mormon and Pagan without losing balance

Water ~ sometimes angsty words on the process of letting buried emotions come to the surface and coming to terms with the world and reality I inhabit