Day 19 thru to 29!! What the??!!

O.K so who is to blame for the poor writing on the Blog??? Yah your right it IS me, BUT I can honestly say i would LIKE to blame my cousin Sonia and our friends the Peakers fo coming and visiting and distracting me with fun outings and many, many good times. That and impending lack of sleep is causing me to slip into an inability to process enough thought to put on the screen. I can tell you that on Thurs Aug 19 we got hit very hard with hail...much to my dismay. The up side was hearing lots and lots of new swear words outta my mom's mouth! Never knew she had it in her! All the greenary got pretty holely, but we are able to salvage a bunch! My goal this week is to pick what i can and process. There are a few beans, some more broccoli, mabey some peas?? Would really like to try and dry our herbs and mom brought more peaches and apples from the market. Going to make apple pie filling and canned peaches. Would love to figure out a way to make hashbrowns and freeze them...not sure! We have been eating peaches like mad...Sonia probably consumed enough to make her pee peach juice, oh yuck really? Lark, that's dad's humour sorry...It was wonderful having her here, our children adore every inch of her and we all wish she would leave that horrible place that is Vancouver...kept trying to pawn cowboys off on her..haha! We were able to teach her the ways of the kitchen to though. we made bread, cinnamon buns(i know but they are SOOO good, peach cobbler and many other recipes...My friend Ale who was also here is my co pilot in the kitchen. She has taught me so much about food, gardening, cooking and baking. Why the jerks moved back to SASK is beyond me?? So it was great! We got to do lots of things with the kids that we wanted to do, Calaway Park, the Zoo, Drumheller...Oh man, the girls went wild for the dinosaurs...Molly insists that she was "nervous" of them but she liked them. Berlin with her wierd appreciation for scary things just laughed her evil mad scientist laugh whenever it got dark in there. And Riel smiled his toothy smile, just waiting for his night time payback!

Day 18

There is a hazy smoke that has been lingering throughout the day today from the fires in British Columbia. It leaves you feeling sticky and smelling like you have been at the campfire a little past bedtime. Everyone seems lethargic. We rode the horses and they didn't want to move so quickly today and the girls little legs just did not have it in them to kick hard enough to spring Hopper into action. We laid pretty low today, catching up on a few things around the house and doing puzzles and reading books, a sure sign that winter is just around the corner. I forget so fast how the pace changes in the summer. Much less inside craft planning and entertaining the kids with my silly shake your booty song...much more outside random activities, riding, gardening etc...I have to say the weather makes you either a very busy, rushed person or a very cozy, laid back person. I love the summer it just really seems to have the "hurry up and have fun" attitude. But winter...winter allows for breathing. It is so rewarding to bundle everyone up and go for a walk and then come inside for homemade cocoa and cookies. Ahhh but i am sure i will be complaining about the blowing winds and dropping temperature before the snow flies. In our nature as Canadians right? So this morning we made crepes and then for lunch i rolled up some fresh cut ham in the leftovers. The girls loved them and called them "piggies in a blanket" We had a side of leftover soup, to which the girls replied, "AGAIN" and I realized that i'd better make a new soup soon! Dinner was sausages with a medley of steamed veggies and bread with butter. Not much as we blasted to Olds to buy Molly her new bike (very exciting you know, it would be nice if she rode it though!!) Tried to go for a swim but the hot tub and water slide were not working so we bribed the children with an ice cream to do it another day..it worked.

Day 17

I got my butt whooped today by two ol' hippie's in the garden today...my mother and a dear friend came and showed me a thing or two about harvesting and processing. They were thinning carrots, picking and shucking more peas, weeding and pulling broccoli and cauliflower. I cannot for the life of me think of a better feeling thatn gardening beside a pro like Meryl Wood. She has been in my life for as long as i can remember. I used to run naked in her garden with her children. She is a true horsewoman, one who taught me a thing or two in that department as well. She is more of a familty member than anything and it was so great have her here showing me what i can do with the overwhelming production that is the garden. Mom cooked lunch, broccoli and cauliflower soup and biscuits to die for! which was greeted by Berlin with "but MOM, that soup gives me a HEART ATTACK!!" (like she even realizes what that is...) We bagged and froze a lot of veggies, the kids rode horses. They are almost slightly obsessed lately. Meryl brought her grandkids over who are also our close friends. The foour girls played until they were red in the face!! Good times! I just pan fried pork on fresh salad with sour cream and dill dressing, sided with green beans out of our garden for dinner. They are late but we think we will still get more...Perhaps we might sit in front of a movie tonight???

Day 16

Homemade tortillas? They were very difficult to knead...maybe you need oil, perhaps the substitute of butter does not work??? Tasted great though, a little thick as we were madly trying to roll them out and cook them before the kids heads started turning! I filled them with sliced pork chops, onions, garlic, mushrooms, green peppers and chopped jalapenos from the garden. Sour cream at the end made it creamy and so yummy! Kinda a mix of stroganoff and fajitas. My critics loved them!! We went to the Butcher Shoppe in Airdrie and decided i LOVE that place, so many beautiful meats and cheeses made in house and always local!! The garden is producing too fast for me, i might be drowning in peas soon. The girls and I are out there everyday picking berries and veggies. The other day i was hollered at by the girls to "COME QUICK!!" I run out in my pj's and muck boots only to find a dead gopher amongst the corn. A sulking cat was brooding i the background...no doubt disturbed in the middle of his meal. I acted accordingly and....screamed like a girl!! I thought that damn cat was useless? Know i guess I am forced to keep him around. The girls, of course were intrigued by the whole ordeal. The questions really began to pour in...then we had to have a burial, then we had to talk about whether great grandpa was buried and why? Then we had to discuss the options of cremation as both girls were disgusted by the thought of being in the ground with the bugs and worms...long conversation, let me tell you! Always an adventure with the Hamilton's!!!

Day 13, 14, and 15 (shush i'm a tired lady!!)

Sleep, oh blessed sleep, where are thee...have you left me forever? My son is NOT sleeping, therefore I am not sleeping. Which, in turn makes for a confused, delusional, downright silly mama! This 100 mile diet is teaching me patience...ALL I WANT IS COFFEE and SUGAR DAMMIT!! wow, sorry, not sure where THAT came from! Oh yeah i remember now, from not having COFFEE AND SUGAR!!! So confession time again... I had an ice cream on the weekend (not local) Man was it good...SO gooooood! I was totally out of it with Riel not sleeping and trying to get everything done. Mom saved my butt and cooked alot! I made our bread and that was about it...mom stuffed our Hudderite bird and it was yummy, her stuffing is to die for!!! She made a fresh salsa out of the garden, made a HUGE coleslaw (double YUM), chicken soup with homemade noodles and steaks with mushrooms and green peppers fried in the pan. I have realized that my mom is like the Einstein of cooking, she once made a CAKE on an electric frying pan...what???/ So anyhoo, today i got back into it all and slacked off with good ole' grilled cheese for lunch, and pancakes and bacon for dinner. Let's ease into things right? On a side note, i took a load to the dump today and realized we really have cut down on our kitchen garbage scene...very cool. Also realized that it is NOT cool trying to wrestle hundreds of feet of smooth wire fencing into the back of a half ton truck by yourself. Your children learn some interesting new words and enjoy laying on the horn at the MOST inconvenient times...really? Other note, cheap greenhouse from Home Depot $100.00, trying to get it apart and into a full truck, priceless...night nights.

Day 12

All i can say about today is...GET ME OUT OF THE KITCHEN! It really felt crazy today with the cooking. We made buns, lasagna noodles (whole wheat homemade), and carrot soup...ugh, i was excited in the morning and dead tried tonight! Homemade lasagna was a huge hit though and we even had guests over for it. The rain makes the day go slower though, in a way i like it. I feel like time is passing too quickly. Our children are changing so fast, everyday they surprise me with something new they have learned...their little bodies are stretching up like the sunflowers in the garden! Fall for us means many things; good solid horseback riding with no bugs and less heat, birthdays for our "fall baked" children (Oct, Nov, and Dec) and garden harvesting and processing. It is my favorite season by far. The leaves changing colors, cozy nights, and slowing paces...o.k, o.k getting a smidge ahead of myself i know. Must enjoy the moment right? So I am grateful for my amazing parents who help us endlessly. They are coming up this weekend to break their backs for the hundredth time on our little 5 acre money/time pit! Mom has offered to stop and get some local grub at the market and we will roll our sleeves up and make food for the family together. I love cooking with my mom in the kitchen. She has done all of this in the past...everything from making her own EVERYTHING...to living in a school bus with no running water, IN THE WINTER! She is such a woman, i look up to her in every possible way. Dad and Jonathan have a realtionship built on slave labour and endless advice. The two of them have accomplished so much together in the past 4 years. I feel blessed that my husband can call my father his close bud! They will be working on the fencing this weekend, they had just finished my dream arena last week, again feeling very spoiled. With Love Tonight, Goodnight.

Day 11

Today i am braving COSTCO for dog food and a few non food related items. I am sure it will be difficult to go through the isles and buy the usuals...What i am really finding is that we are not going threw NEARLY the waste and recycling that we were before. I have been thinking about my opinion on recycling in the last few years. I have always thought that it seems counter productive to utilize so much energy and use up so many resources on reuseing products. I think maybe the answer is to not BUY the products with so much packaging in the first place...don't have it, don't need to deal with the waste? The canned fruit and vegeables, popcans and such for recycling, they have been non existant. Our milk containers and SunRype Apple Juice are basically the only thing we are taking in these days.

Day 10-oooooh into double digits!!!

O.k Really feeling like we are getting into this thing. I have to say cooking has been...dare I say it??? FUN! Being able to make something out of things that we have to WORK to get is so intriguing. The kids and I have spent many fun hours baking, picking, experimenting with food and dishes. We now go to a store and begin conversation with people about food and where it has come from. Seems like everyone has something to give. The butcher at COOP in Airdrie did a search on Spolumbo's sausage for me and he also offered a movie I should watch, Food Inc. Must rent this as so many people have told me it is worth watching. Jonny was home for the morning so we got to eat breakfast together. We laugh at what is the chaos at our house first thing in the morning. Everybody NEEDS something, RIGHT NOW! Breakfast was sausage, crepes with a yummy raspberry syrup form Pearson's Farm out of Innisfail and fruit with...you got it whipping cream. My goodness if I thought i was going to lose a few pounds on this, i had another thing coming. Butter, cream and full fat dairy is going to drive me to the hospital with clogged arteries. No, we have lost a few pounds between us, regardless of the delicious milk products. It's just funny how you can easilly go through certain products. Eggs, milk, cream, butter, flour are in the house for no longer than a couple of days before restocking! The cost of local food should be interesting when I figure out our grocery bill for the month. It will definitely be higher as we have been trying so many new meats, cheeses and such! I made stuffed peppers for dinner with ground beef, Foothills Creamary "Quark" Cheese (it's a soft cheese, mix between cream cheese and ricotta) onions, garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes and herbs. I sided it with Beet french fries baked i...no doubt, BUTTER! Threw some dill on them and they were really great!

Day 9

So we got back to reality today...we actually got back on Sunday night from the wedding. But because we had no milk, flour or butter, we extended our vacation from the diet another day...I have to say cheating felt HORRIBLE. I didn't like it one bit. The food was awsome at the wedding, but everywhere else was gross. We tried to stay away from fast food. But this was difficult in a small town like North Battleford, SK!!! Coop in Airdrie re stocked our house with the staples needed and today we got back to business! The kids did not want to partake in the broccoli/cauliflower soup i made for lunch...scallywags. They ate fresh bread with honey for snack along with peas and carrots out of the garden and cucumbers from local Shelly's Greenhouse! Our garden truly is incredible...everyday i can appreciate what it gives to our family. The potaoes, herbs, garden greens, the list goes on and on. I have to say preparing meals with such a bounty right outside my door really has not been so hard. We shucked peas yeasterday in the sun, ate raspberries and strawberries off the vine and picked flowers for our kitchen table. The kids and Bow really love playing in the corn and sunflowers...bow hides and the girls seek! Riel has also been getting his daily intake of mineral from the dirt he ingests! Gotta love it! We had delicious Spolumbo's suasage tonight out of Calgary, but Coop sells it. Yummy!

Days 6, 7 and 8

WEDDING- No 100 Mile Diet!

Day 5

Will we ever get sick of eggs on this thing? We are packing for North Battleford, SK today for a wedding. Excited to go as it will be a much needed break, although very concerned for what we are going to eat while away! We will not be trying to maintain the 100 mile rule...sad, but it will just be too difficult. I will however be packing a 100 mile travel pack for Friday. Lots of raw veggies, beef jerky, homemade bread and lots of water. The kids are so excited for a trip. They will see lots of kids and get to eat cake! It can't get any better than that. I am nervous about putting sugar into the family, they have done so well up to this point! Jonny has lost three pounds this week and the kids are starting to get used to the new food theme...After this week-end i'm sure we will have to start all over.

Day 4

Really? is it only day 4??? So today's lesson? PREPAREDNESS!! Never take your three children under the age of 4 berry picking at nap time and then expect them to hit Superstore and Airdrie Farmer's Market. And, NEVER think for a moment that when you are on the 100 mile diet, you SHOULD be able to grab a quick bite for supper at the market...just does not happen. Then Karma goes and kicks your ass with VERY cranky children in the truck for the 20 minute drive home and have to prepare a locally grown meal...I felt so bad for our children, they really are troopers! The market was a success. Bought veggies from Innisfail Growers. $31.50 will get you cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, two lg bags of carrots and some green peppers. Dietz Meats out of Medicine Hat (I know a bit far, but tell that to your STARVING children) will really gauge you wallet with a large package of pretty tasty jerky for $20.00! Found a great egg grower out of Linden and she is very reasonable, Oxyoke Farms. My big find was the Homestyle Foods Inc out of Bowden, AB. They carry Pearson's raspberry jam as well as a concentrate lemonade from local fruit! Berry picking was wonderful, grandma came always and eager and ready for an adventure!!! The girls really can't get enough of her and her antics! We went to a farm just outside Cochrane. Meals today; pancakes AGAIN with fruit. Jonny cooked up leftover pasta at lunch, only took 15 minutes to heat up under the hood of his truck!! For real!!! I had granola and berries with yogurt and the girls had leftover soup! Crazy dinner was a scrambled egg pizza...I'll tell you about another time??? So that was it! Another day gone by, have to say i feel great with the lack of sugar...my kids on the other hand, did have a hard time in Superstore though. At one point Bur leaned over to Grams and said "I think I NEED sugar Gram??!!"

Day 3

Yawwwwwwn...so tired. Need more sugar in diet, or maybe i don't! At this point i'm not sure what i need...our children have taken a turn for the worse tonight. Not food related, age related. The girls are just going to bed now, 10:00pm, Yikes no wonder they are hairy canary!!
Today was pancakes with local organic Bison breakfast sausage. heavy cream on top, so good. Lunch was basically leftover chicken on greens with a slab of bread with butter. Blueberries from B.C. with the house favourite Bles world vanilla yogurt. Also had Highwood Crossing's sunflower granola to snack on...dinner was great, everyone loved it, homemade fresh spaghetti meat sauce. Local tomatoes, mushrooms. Onion, garlic, basil, oregano and parsley out of our garden. Also made REALLY great homemade pasta. So easy too! Thank you mom for planting such a lovely herb patch! Side salad with dill/garlic dressing again! Blueberries again for dessert. Also went picking at our local bank today, they have 2 choke cherry bushes that were ripe with fruit...kids came back covered in juice! Jonathan and i are really feeling like this may be leading us somewhere major in our life. The more we talk about all aspects of this and the benefits, we feel like we could make a huge lifestyle change. Not sure what that means quite yet, but is always exciting taking on a project with my family. I am so blessed to have them and feel like together we really can do anything!

Day 2 (for real!!)

O.k. My life as we know it has doubled in stress since we started this thing...not only do I think i am the most diabolical mother EVER! I think, why? WHY AM I DOING THIS???

And then I remember, I am a mother and I feel like I must sacrifice for our children! They don't know what or where their food is coming from and it is my job, no, my MISSION, to teach them. Also, I am a wife. A wife to a lovely man who cares for me in more ways than I can explain. But if I want him to continue caring for me, i will need feed him. This is a challenge when ALL he wants is a bag of NIBS and a can of coke...really?! So all day yesterday i had this INCREDIBLE headache...due to stress no doubt. All I could do to keep my head from imploding was to keep cooking... The baking is driving me INSANE! I bake for our family on a weekly basis. Rarely would you find a box of store bought cookies on a regular day at our house. But this no salt, no rising agents is literally killing me slowly and painfully...I made a loaf of bread yesterday that you could quite easily break a tooth on. no joke. I will give you the recipe though...here it is: don't bake without RISING AGENTS!! I separated the eggs and added the beaten egg whites last, but when you bake with your own HEAVY whole wheat grain. It just cannot rise with only eggs. Substituting honey for sugar works amazingly well and i will do this as a regular practice from now on because it is pure, natural product. Using melted butter instead of oil? LOVE IT! Again healthier choice as it is not processed like oils are. But yeast? oh lovely sweet, airy yeast, what will I do without you???

So I feel like I should share what has been going on in our house today...The children have had SunRype Apple Juice, SunRype fruit bars and we ALL ate whole wheat baking powder bread with our soup at lunch. Pretty bad eh? As Jonathan and I laid in bed last night (starving of course) we decided that the children should not have to go without fruit, so we extended our diet to include B.C fruit. Also, i will eventually be baking with rising agents as it much to painful to go without. I figure; the loaves that i have tried over the past couple of months just do not cut it. And also, my goal is to make my own product on a regular basis. Which means it must TASTE good, so that the family will EAT it??? right? A little bit of guilt but we are thinking of this diet as a challenge and we are trying our best to succeed in a way that is practical and sustainable for us. That being said it is a real bummer finding our our U-Pick farms did not have yields on their strawberries and raspberries. SOoooo, we are going to pick Nan King cherries at our local ATB treasury tomorrow. They have two trees in their yard!! Also, going to a u-pick outside of Cochrane for strawberries that may have survived the bad season. As well Saskatoon's will be getting ripe o the vine and the growers are positive about their outcome!

Right, so with the cheating off my chest i can let you in on our food for today...for breakie we had eggs. I do scrambled with cheese and cream and green onions out of the garden. We added pea meal bacon from The Butcher Shoppe in Airdrie. For snack the girls had fruit bars and bread with honey. Lunch was great, a soup that was completely out of OUR garden. Squash from last year, potatoes, parsley, onions and garlic with a chicken stock i had frozen from a Hudderite bird i made a while back. YUM. Ate it with the baking powder bread with butter and it was quite satisfying...For a afternoon snack I made blueberry/oatmeal cookies and the girls snacked on raw veggies. Dinner was potatoes sliced thin and baked in very hot oven with loads of butter. Much like a chip, very tasty! And my mom and dad brought out local bison ground meat as well as some bison sausages. They found these at Planet organic. Our salads are always picked right out the backyard...carrots, beets, onion, celery, sweet peas with spinach and head lettuce. We dress is with the very best sour cream out there. Vital Greens organic, and tonight we added dill and garlic form our garden.

So that's a wrap. I will leave you with the last thing that came out of my husbands mouth last night in bed...no no it was not I love you Honey...it was "No i didn't brush my teeth, I am saving what's in there for sustenance in the night!!!!

Day 1

Today we started our day with oatmeal. Highwood Crossing out of Aldersyde, Alberta is a locally run, certified organic, family based company. They have a huge range of grain products including white and whole grain milled wheat flour, rolled oats, pancake/ muffin mix and more. They also make flax and sunflower oil as well as a hot cereal mix. We ate the Organic rolled oats with honey and milk, with a spoonful of yogurt. Vital Greens is a certified organic company that believes in non homogenized dairy products. When speaking with the owner, Joe. I was so impressed with the passion he and his family had for delivering wholesome product. He briefly taught me the process of making butter if need be and also a little about the reason for not homogenizing his milk. He believes that the process absolutely strips the dairy of vital nutrients as well as changes the product and does not allow for the natural separation that occurs in the milk. We bought the 1% milk from Community Natural Food in Calgary SW. It tastes more grainy, but way more creamy. The honey is available at many different local growers. The girls have been snacking on raspberries and a few strawberries out of the garden, the problem solely being they cannot (or will not) keep clothes on. They run naked amongst the vegetables. Our peas are ready for picking, and they hardly make into the bin, the kids are devouring them! For lunch we ate eggs, with cream, cheese and green onion. With a biscuit on the side...I replaced the baking powder with 3 eggs and used no salt and honey for sweetener...they ate it, sort of...So for dinner I have planned to make a honey/garlic baste to put on chicken breasts BBQ'ed with potatoes out of our garden and salad...Yogurt for dessert. So the children seem really hungry, they don't really understand what is going on and why they can not have a granola bar. They are eating what we give them (except Bur would NOT eat the oatmeal!) It's just they want ketchup with their eggs, pancakes with syrup and the list goes on and on and on...not sure if this was the best thing to do for them. Feeling guilty about it all...We will try a bread recipe this afternoon and see how that goes. Also, for butter we are using Foothills Creamery and eggs are local bought at the Farmers Market in Calgary. Have to find a local egg producer, but this shouldn't be too hard. All and all, i am feeling o.k. a little stressed with everything else going on in our life. But the adventure has started and there is no turning back now!!!