I wish I could share a picture here... I got my first cow a week ago today!! I’m not that old, but providing all the meat for my family has been a goal of mine for a significant portion of my life, and this is a huge step! Is it crazy that I felt like it was my wedding day or something?! 😂😂😂
Our cow is a certified A2/A2 jersey, pregnant with an angus, truly grass fed and raised holistically. I’m thinking I’m gonna get a PMA to sell milk. IM SO EXCITED!!
Things are going great!! I think we are friends... she’s like a giant dog and follows me around everywhere and wants to be in the business, whatever I’m doing 😂
Thank you Tara for shining a light on these largely hidden truths. The reality we live is really is so apocalyptic and dystopian. There’s just so much manipulation, perversion of the natural world, and suffering, especially of animals. That is also what brought me to farming as so many others - Health reasons and anger over industrial farming. As you’ve said there’s also so much beauty and possibility. I just pray that messages like yours will be spread at such a massive scale that people could wake up to all the marketing and convenience that covers these ugly realities
Thank you, Erica. Troy and I were having a conversation this morning about some people we know who just prefer to live with their heads in the sand. They know things aren't on the up and up, but they truly just don't have the wherewithal to start taking on the tasks and responsibility needed in their lives.
I can understand this. Sometimes it's so frustrating, but with a little compassion, I can see how our conditioning to obey and be dutiful and to trust that we are being looked after by benevolent leaders that have our best interest at heart is maybe too lovely a feeling to let go. I don't think they'd put it that way, but I think that's what's at the heart of it.
But, and I think this is the key, when we have a connection to God and nature, to our spiritual truths with meaning beyond the physical, we can see that the world isn't evil and against us. There can be corruption and people with evil motivations intent on shaping the world and controlling us according to their desires, but they are not the world. They are not the truth. They seek to pervert the beauty and distort what's real. If we don't have that connection to what is pure and good, I would think it would be too overwhelming to really see. Because then, what is there? Maybe it's a case of better to live an illusion than have nothing at all. I think that's a powerful tool for the corrupters and profiteers and they know it. Best to keep us as far away from who we really are as possible. I worry that many will forget entirely. We can see it happening all around us. The figures for antidepressant usage, which exploded since 2019, are staggering. Even children now. Of course people are numb and unable to face things with resilience and resolve. Tragic, but handy.
I d like to confess - I would be the one, partly hiding my head in the sand, and its so difficult when you know and cant help yourself. The animal raising and plant food growing practises in my country ( eastern Europe) are soo bad... new farmers follow the industrial approach fully - doing all that is recommended. Old small farmers are so naive, that they want and try to follow big ones, while buying cheapest supplements, grains... and they feed their families the same food too. I know that it would be the waste of time to talk- the woman from my neibourhood I buy the milk from, still will be giving grains for her cow, still keeping closed in the dark barn in winter, still vaccinating and giving some drugs because the cow cant get ‘pregnant’...
So I am basically buying the same milk as people in supermarkets and the only quality improvement I can make is my raw cheeses and butter..
We made a big difference in meat quality, buying all cow and butchering by ourselves and avoiding the pork, while in our country raising free range pigs is forbidden due to the swine plaque, so all pork comes from big farm confinements.
But ! Next year we will start building fences and our plans start raising our beef cows in 2025!!! I am so eager to start this new life chapter!!!
Tara, I love how you said - if we don’t have that connection to the pure and good, it’s all too overwhelming. I think that’s why people feel the pull to live their life a certain way. We need that daily contact with simple truth to bear the modern world.
And it’s so true - I’ve worked in many homes in modern cities and I can’t tell you how many bottles I’ve seen of Flouxetine (Prozac) for children. It is ubiquitous
That's heartbreaking. Imagine having a child and not thinking their depression was worthy of remedying rather than just giving a pill. But then again, some just truly do feel that a pill is fixing something. Oh, that's so very sad.
Also, I keep coming back to the comment the doc made to your mom. I recently made a trip to my "family doctor' to request a blood panel after having two babies. One thing I requested was my hbA1c, as my fasting sugars were higher than I'd have liked in both pregnancies, and I come from a nastily long lineup of Type 2's on both sides.
I off handedly mentioned that I am not much of a carb or sugar eater, to which she looked me dead in the face and said " Well, that doesn't really matter. Calories in, calories out."
It certainly struck me to be ever more grateful that this isn't the system I choose as guru to guide me. Of COURSE my dad has been on meds for years and still has high glucose, when this person recommends he eat oatbran with stevia for breakfast-- but no raisins, because sugar. And no red meat or eggs, because cholesterol.
Anyway, all that to simply affirm that no, things haven't changed much!
Dear Lord! No, things haven't changed at all apparently. It's amazing how assured these doctors can be when they learn absolutely nothing about nutrition in school (and what they do learn is so upside down). It's funny that people will still ask Troy nutrition advice and he just shrugs and says "I do what Tara tells me" or "I eat what Tara feeds me". He knows a lot about nutrition now but none of that came from medical school.
We need so many of these conversations! None of us can get it right straight off, and it is a gentle evolution of educating oneself, finding new sources of real food practices and this takes time.
Keep writing about this so we can all keep checking back in with ourselves and our food sources. There are many ways out of Big Food/Big Ag, and I am soooo grateful I am out of it now and connecting with wonderful farmers. But it is always a work in progress, one day soon hopefully with some milking goats and meat rabbits on our little 3 acre plot.
This year I have worked hard on better sourcing. I'm not where I want to be, but it is much better and much more local. And I can tell a difference in my body. Not only have we lost quality food, but we don't even know what quality food should taste like anymore. This was my bid lesson. Carrots out of the ground versus carrots in the grocery store - massively different. And my body can tell. there is so much to be horrified at. But getting closer to sourcing all my own, helps a lot.
That's really wonderful, Emily. Everything in stages and even just getting to the point of recognizing the difference in our bodies is profound. Probably the most important thing of all.
I love this - everything you have written resonates deeply with me and the reason as to why we have our farm. I studied animal behaviour years ago learning my fundamental of raising our own food is to support their natural behaviours which means happy and healthy animals.
on this topic - chickens and eggs in particular, do you have notes and or writings of what you feed your chickens? I'm trying to do a deep dive and feed my chickens a nourishing diet with no commercial pellets. My girls have an amazing house which supports their natural behavior's while providing them with safety / security and the ability to free range daily on our property - the only area I can improve is diet.
I don't purchase meat, dairy or eggs - they are all raised on my farm. fruits and veg are coming along however, i honestly feel the food produced on our property is even more nourishing as there is great love and appreciation for our animals and every bit of energy taken to nourish and nurture.
You're in a blessed and rich place with your feed! Our birds go where they want as well. It's a big part of their foraged diet. That said, we also feed a mix of organic barley/wheat/peas with clabbered raw milk and the guts/trim of the animals we harvest. In winter they get this supplement added to their feed. In summer, they get some soured milk, but the vast majority of their protein is bugs. I weigh and measure and ratio nothing. It's all by instinct. I keep a close eye on their combs and plumage and egg quality.
You have written on this topic before, but I continue to be amazed and inspired by the way you develop the themes I so cherish. I could talk about this all day. It's a topic that comes up in my life often- I now find myself having to go into depth about sourcing food with well meaning family who want to contribute meals. It's not just non-gmo, it's not just growth hormone free... this is a layered and multidimensional way of living and eating that should be a central part of all our lives. But it isn't. When someone asks us what the price per pound our hogs ended up being, my husband and I simply look at eachother and lipsync "priceless". Like you said, you can't by this kind of love, this kind of planning and nourishment- you cant find that meat for sale. It's like Paul Check has said, what you eat becomes part of you- you take on the spirit and the soul of that animal. I guess I've always been fascinated by nutrition as well, and the way in which our physical and spiritual selves operate. So yeah, I loved this one 💛
Also. I'm at the Tara and Troy phase of aquiring the first farm (by the grace of God). After supporting local farms for years- gathering up raw milk and cheese, produce grown organically from a friends farm and wanting to improve certain practices. With a newborn, and three young boys, sometimes it feels like running in place, like the horizon is so wide and we have so far to go. But its a beautiful place to be, rich with experience and is not a race to the finish. I think part of this message is that we don't need everything all at once. The process of achieving such fetes as your's, Tara, involves rejoicing in the building, making careful choices that may impact us years down the road, embracing the pace of nature and that of God's design, and a willingness to remain inspired and amused despite the state of affairs.
Thank you for your beautiful comments, Megan. Your outlook is so beautiful and connected. You're so far ahead at coming to the place of aquiring your first farm already knowing what you know, having the values and objectives you do.
Do you have a place you're looking at? Have you found your farm? What an exciting time!
The food industry is a scary place! We're waiting for our rifle license to be approved. As soon as that goes through we'll be getting one and next year we'll have independent control on filling our freezer by hunting game. Our chickens are hopefully also laying eggs by then! I'm also determined to plant as many fencing in the ground as soon as the ground defrosts, so we can get some sheep!
I'm curious though Tara, I know you mentioned what exactly you feed your chickens (oats, whole wheat, peas, meat scraps, whey), but not really the ratios that you keep. I would be very interested for your grain ratio:) Or perhaps you have some good old articles to share on this?
I'm not sure what it's like there, but here we still have to be careful with hunting. I see the wild turkey and deer feasting on GMO corn and soy residues and the feed that hunters bait them with in many parts and we wouldn't eat wild game from there either. We have to be careful where we get our game from.
I'm sorry, I don't have a ratio for you. I just mix bags. Right now I'm getting great feed from our organic farmer friends that I augment with frozen, cultured raw milk and meat guts. I don't think it needs to be scientific when we add in the extra guts and bits. I think when you're relying solely on the legumes/grain for protein you have to be more precise.
I see your point. I haven't thought about it in that way. I know our neighbour at the end of the street feeds the deer silage or something that's not fed to the cows. Usually it's illegal to bait the game here. But one never knows what else they use on their fields and such. I suppose farming really is the only way to have most control over your food.
Alright that is also a good direction! Observing their eating behavior says more than a guideline anyways! Thank you for your reply😊
Absolutely love this. I have huge goals for feeding my family and they’ve only heightened since becoming a mom. I get giddy about this topic and could talk about it all day! Most of our family and friends think I’m nuts for how serious I get about where our food comes from, my goals surrounding it all and how we choose to own milk cows instead of upgrading our vehicle or how we own cows but live in a camper for the time being until we can build a small home of some sort that we want to intentionally plan out . Some tell me my lifestyle goals surrounding food aren’t possible and I’m like actuallyyy they are! Let me tell you about this incredible woman named Tara and how her family lives, she proves that it is possible!
Last summer we picked up some frozen whole chickens from what we thought was a good source but quickly realized that the farmer who sold them to us actually just bought them from an Amish and he had no idea what they were fed. It was my daughters first time trying chicken and both times she vomited it all up after a few hours. I kind of panicked thinking she is allergic but then one of my friends asked me if it could be what the chicken was fed. That was when I did more digging and found out about where the chickens came from. We haven’t been able to find a chicken source that we are comfortable with giving to our daughter since then but just a couple of weeks ago my husband was at a new neighbors house and they gifted him a frozen whole chicken and said they are pasture raised. So we cooked it the other night and the same thing happened to my daughter so I talked to the neighbor and asked her about her “pasture raised” chicken. Well, come to find out they are raised in her pasture and moved around but she gives them only a “small” scoop of grain for all 40-50 birds to peck at and share and she said “it amounts to barely anything for each bird”. So long story short, I’m hoping my daughters not allergic to chicken and thinking her body is just sensitive to how the chicken was raised and what it’s fed. I’m using it as a blessing as it pushes me towards my goals even harder. It proves that it truly matters what we’re eating and feeding our children. And also my husband and I have definitely committed to raising chickens in the spring as we always joke about how “you can’t have anything nice unless you make, build, or raise it yourself”. Which is kind of over exaggerated but we are just tired of the quality of things today.
I love your attitude. Yes, it's probably a little nutty that we have to go to such effort to source/grow/raise good food but that's a sign of the twisted times we're in not proof of our craziness :)
I don't think the grain is the problem, it's what that "grain" is that's the likely offender. Chickens do need grain. It will be interesting to hear how your daughter reacts to them when you raise them yourselves.
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”.
I've learned so much, following you, Tara...and a few others who live and lead as you do.
We have changed my Dave from a raging diabetic when I met him 22 years ago- to no longer being anywhere near diabetic through diet and exercise.
I am currently recovering from diverticulitis, and again, have changed my diet drastically and feel fabulous. My blood work is showing such great information, and I just needed to listen differently to my body to get better. Changes in diet in not only what I eat, but how I eat (smaller meals, a few more times a day, rather than 2 larger meals each day) were needed.
It's not magic...and yet, it is. It is the magic of how we care for ourselves and how we listen and learn from our own bodies.
We do not live on a farm, our environment is far different from yours, but we can do this wherever we are.
This is just so profoundly inspiring! I want to carry you two around in my back pocket and whip you out every time someone starts bemoaning their poor health and the crappy doctors and the medicines that do nothing. The problem there is the illusion that there's some big daddy that's going to fix us when we're being called to take the responsibility for ourselves. I'm so happy for you both, Jeanie.
That means so much to me 💛 I just cherish your wisdom. I know we're all just humans here, tinkering around, but I feel so connected to your words and your ways. We some how, by the good will of God, aquired this old homestead 2.5 years ago. It was a long time coming, set ablaze by the covid bs back in California. I'm so glad we were prompted to leave and to be forced to look for the land and a real foundation for real prosperity. The land has been untouched for decades, the well is deep and pure, there are ancient apple trees and a root cellar- all more or less neglected and overlooked. This was the first year we cared for hogs and processed them on our own land, chickens are happy and healthy, our favorite goat will most likely be kidding in the Spring, and we are mending old fences to bring in beef Cattle for the first time. I will have to scour your essays once more for the traits and markings of a good stock. Luckily we have a few leads nearby for heritage, hardy, breeds, raised organically. So much of this I can attribute to inspiration pulled directly from the sources you have shared. Thank you 💛 Honestly excited to take on the coming storms with the knowledge I've gained here and our hearts fixed on the truth. Happy New Year to you and yours.
I wish I could share a picture here... I got my first cow a week ago today!! I’m not that old, but providing all the meat for my family has been a goal of mine for a significant portion of my life, and this is a huge step! Is it crazy that I felt like it was my wedding day or something?! 😂😂😂
Our cow is a certified A2/A2 jersey, pregnant with an angus, truly grass fed and raised holistically. I’m thinking I’m gonna get a PMA to sell milk. IM SO EXCITED!!
Congratulations Emily! What an exciting time for you. How have things been going? Have you two become friends yet?
Things are going great!! I think we are friends... she’s like a giant dog and follows me around everywhere and wants to be in the business, whatever I’m doing 😂
Congratulations Emily! That’s so exciting! I would love to do this one day!
Thank you!!
It baffles me how much money is spent on all these nutrition studies and my usual reaction to them is "Duh".
So true!
Also really wishing I could post the picture here of my husbands grandma riding her beloved Jersey cow when she was a young teen!
Oh I would love to see that! I think you can post on the chat?
Thank you Tara for shining a light on these largely hidden truths. The reality we live is really is so apocalyptic and dystopian. There’s just so much manipulation, perversion of the natural world, and suffering, especially of animals. That is also what brought me to farming as so many others - Health reasons and anger over industrial farming. As you’ve said there’s also so much beauty and possibility. I just pray that messages like yours will be spread at such a massive scale that people could wake up to all the marketing and convenience that covers these ugly realities
Thank you, Erica. Troy and I were having a conversation this morning about some people we know who just prefer to live with their heads in the sand. They know things aren't on the up and up, but they truly just don't have the wherewithal to start taking on the tasks and responsibility needed in their lives.
I can understand this. Sometimes it's so frustrating, but with a little compassion, I can see how our conditioning to obey and be dutiful and to trust that we are being looked after by benevolent leaders that have our best interest at heart is maybe too lovely a feeling to let go. I don't think they'd put it that way, but I think that's what's at the heart of it.
But, and I think this is the key, when we have a connection to God and nature, to our spiritual truths with meaning beyond the physical, we can see that the world isn't evil and against us. There can be corruption and people with evil motivations intent on shaping the world and controlling us according to their desires, but they are not the world. They are not the truth. They seek to pervert the beauty and distort what's real. If we don't have that connection to what is pure and good, I would think it would be too overwhelming to really see. Because then, what is there? Maybe it's a case of better to live an illusion than have nothing at all. I think that's a powerful tool for the corrupters and profiteers and they know it. Best to keep us as far away from who we really are as possible. I worry that many will forget entirely. We can see it happening all around us. The figures for antidepressant usage, which exploded since 2019, are staggering. Even children now. Of course people are numb and unable to face things with resilience and resolve. Tragic, but handy.
I d like to confess - I would be the one, partly hiding my head in the sand, and its so difficult when you know and cant help yourself. The animal raising and plant food growing practises in my country ( eastern Europe) are soo bad... new farmers follow the industrial approach fully - doing all that is recommended. Old small farmers are so naive, that they want and try to follow big ones, while buying cheapest supplements, grains... and they feed their families the same food too. I know that it would be the waste of time to talk- the woman from my neibourhood I buy the milk from, still will be giving grains for her cow, still keeping closed in the dark barn in winter, still vaccinating and giving some drugs because the cow cant get ‘pregnant’...
So I am basically buying the same milk as people in supermarkets and the only quality improvement I can make is my raw cheeses and butter..
We made a big difference in meat quality, buying all cow and butchering by ourselves and avoiding the pork, while in our country raising free range pigs is forbidden due to the swine plaque, so all pork comes from big farm confinements.
But ! Next year we will start building fences and our plans start raising our beef cows in 2025!!! I am so eager to start this new life chapter!!!
Tara, I love how you said - if we don’t have that connection to the pure and good, it’s all too overwhelming. I think that’s why people feel the pull to live their life a certain way. We need that daily contact with simple truth to bear the modern world.
And it’s so true - I’ve worked in many homes in modern cities and I can’t tell you how many bottles I’ve seen of Flouxetine (Prozac) for children. It is ubiquitous
That's heartbreaking. Imagine having a child and not thinking their depression was worthy of remedying rather than just giving a pill. But then again, some just truly do feel that a pill is fixing something. Oh, that's so very sad.
Ah! The photos. I do love vintage photos.
Also, I keep coming back to the comment the doc made to your mom. I recently made a trip to my "family doctor' to request a blood panel after having two babies. One thing I requested was my hbA1c, as my fasting sugars were higher than I'd have liked in both pregnancies, and I come from a nastily long lineup of Type 2's on both sides.
I off handedly mentioned that I am not much of a carb or sugar eater, to which she looked me dead in the face and said " Well, that doesn't really matter. Calories in, calories out."
It certainly struck me to be ever more grateful that this isn't the system I choose as guru to guide me. Of COURSE my dad has been on meds for years and still has high glucose, when this person recommends he eat oatbran with stevia for breakfast-- but no raisins, because sugar. And no red meat or eggs, because cholesterol.
Anyway, all that to simply affirm that no, things haven't changed much!
Dear Lord! No, things haven't changed at all apparently. It's amazing how assured these doctors can be when they learn absolutely nothing about nutrition in school (and what they do learn is so upside down). It's funny that people will still ask Troy nutrition advice and he just shrugs and says "I do what Tara tells me" or "I eat what Tara feeds me". He knows a lot about nutrition now but none of that came from medical school.
We need so many of these conversations! None of us can get it right straight off, and it is a gentle evolution of educating oneself, finding new sources of real food practices and this takes time.
Keep writing about this so we can all keep checking back in with ourselves and our food sources. There are many ways out of Big Food/Big Ag, and I am soooo grateful I am out of it now and connecting with wonderful farmers. But it is always a work in progress, one day soon hopefully with some milking goats and meat rabbits on our little 3 acre plot.
Thank you, Natalia. It's amazing how momentum just keeps carrying us through once we get going.
This year I have worked hard on better sourcing. I'm not where I want to be, but it is much better and much more local. And I can tell a difference in my body. Not only have we lost quality food, but we don't even know what quality food should taste like anymore. This was my bid lesson. Carrots out of the ground versus carrots in the grocery store - massively different. And my body can tell. there is so much to be horrified at. But getting closer to sourcing all my own, helps a lot.
That's really wonderful, Emily. Everything in stages and even just getting to the point of recognizing the difference in our bodies is profound. Probably the most important thing of all.
I love this - everything you have written resonates deeply with me and the reason as to why we have our farm. I studied animal behaviour years ago learning my fundamental of raising our own food is to support their natural behaviours which means happy and healthy animals.
on this topic - chickens and eggs in particular, do you have notes and or writings of what you feed your chickens? I'm trying to do a deep dive and feed my chickens a nourishing diet with no commercial pellets. My girls have an amazing house which supports their natural behavior's while providing them with safety / security and the ability to free range daily on our property - the only area I can improve is diet.
I don't purchase meat, dairy or eggs - they are all raised on my farm. fruits and veg are coming along however, i honestly feel the food produced on our property is even more nourishing as there is great love and appreciation for our animals and every bit of energy taken to nourish and nurture.
thank you
You're in a blessed and rich place with your feed! Our birds go where they want as well. It's a big part of their foraged diet. That said, we also feed a mix of organic barley/wheat/peas with clabbered raw milk and the guts/trim of the animals we harvest. In winter they get this supplement added to their feed. In summer, they get some soured milk, but the vast majority of their protein is bugs. I weigh and measure and ratio nothing. It's all by instinct. I keep a close eye on their combs and plumage and egg quality.
You have written on this topic before, but I continue to be amazed and inspired by the way you develop the themes I so cherish. I could talk about this all day. It's a topic that comes up in my life often- I now find myself having to go into depth about sourcing food with well meaning family who want to contribute meals. It's not just non-gmo, it's not just growth hormone free... this is a layered and multidimensional way of living and eating that should be a central part of all our lives. But it isn't. When someone asks us what the price per pound our hogs ended up being, my husband and I simply look at eachother and lipsync "priceless". Like you said, you can't by this kind of love, this kind of planning and nourishment- you cant find that meat for sale. It's like Paul Check has said, what you eat becomes part of you- you take on the spirit and the soul of that animal. I guess I've always been fascinated by nutrition as well, and the way in which our physical and spiritual selves operate. So yeah, I loved this one 💛
Also. I'm at the Tara and Troy phase of aquiring the first farm (by the grace of God). After supporting local farms for years- gathering up raw milk and cheese, produce grown organically from a friends farm and wanting to improve certain practices. With a newborn, and three young boys, sometimes it feels like running in place, like the horizon is so wide and we have so far to go. But its a beautiful place to be, rich with experience and is not a race to the finish. I think part of this message is that we don't need everything all at once. The process of achieving such fetes as your's, Tara, involves rejoicing in the building, making careful choices that may impact us years down the road, embracing the pace of nature and that of God's design, and a willingness to remain inspired and amused despite the state of affairs.
Thank you for your beautiful comments, Megan. Your outlook is so beautiful and connected. You're so far ahead at coming to the place of aquiring your first farm already knowing what you know, having the values and objectives you do.
Do you have a place you're looking at? Have you found your farm? What an exciting time!
The food industry is a scary place! We're waiting for our rifle license to be approved. As soon as that goes through we'll be getting one and next year we'll have independent control on filling our freezer by hunting game. Our chickens are hopefully also laying eggs by then! I'm also determined to plant as many fencing in the ground as soon as the ground defrosts, so we can get some sheep!
I'm curious though Tara, I know you mentioned what exactly you feed your chickens (oats, whole wheat, peas, meat scraps, whey), but not really the ratios that you keep. I would be very interested for your grain ratio:) Or perhaps you have some good old articles to share on this?
I'm not sure what it's like there, but here we still have to be careful with hunting. I see the wild turkey and deer feasting on GMO corn and soy residues and the feed that hunters bait them with in many parts and we wouldn't eat wild game from there either. We have to be careful where we get our game from.
I'm sorry, I don't have a ratio for you. I just mix bags. Right now I'm getting great feed from our organic farmer friends that I augment with frozen, cultured raw milk and meat guts. I don't think it needs to be scientific when we add in the extra guts and bits. I think when you're relying solely on the legumes/grain for protein you have to be more precise.
I see your point. I haven't thought about it in that way. I know our neighbour at the end of the street feeds the deer silage or something that's not fed to the cows. Usually it's illegal to bait the game here. But one never knows what else they use on their fields and such. I suppose farming really is the only way to have most control over your food.
Alright that is also a good direction! Observing their eating behavior says more than a guideline anyways! Thank you for your reply😊
Absolutely love this. I have huge goals for feeding my family and they’ve only heightened since becoming a mom. I get giddy about this topic and could talk about it all day! Most of our family and friends think I’m nuts for how serious I get about where our food comes from, my goals surrounding it all and how we choose to own milk cows instead of upgrading our vehicle or how we own cows but live in a camper for the time being until we can build a small home of some sort that we want to intentionally plan out . Some tell me my lifestyle goals surrounding food aren’t possible and I’m like actuallyyy they are! Let me tell you about this incredible woman named Tara and how her family lives, she proves that it is possible!
Last summer we picked up some frozen whole chickens from what we thought was a good source but quickly realized that the farmer who sold them to us actually just bought them from an Amish and he had no idea what they were fed. It was my daughters first time trying chicken and both times she vomited it all up after a few hours. I kind of panicked thinking she is allergic but then one of my friends asked me if it could be what the chicken was fed. That was when I did more digging and found out about where the chickens came from. We haven’t been able to find a chicken source that we are comfortable with giving to our daughter since then but just a couple of weeks ago my husband was at a new neighbors house and they gifted him a frozen whole chicken and said they are pasture raised. So we cooked it the other night and the same thing happened to my daughter so I talked to the neighbor and asked her about her “pasture raised” chicken. Well, come to find out they are raised in her pasture and moved around but she gives them only a “small” scoop of grain for all 40-50 birds to peck at and share and she said “it amounts to barely anything for each bird”. So long story short, I’m hoping my daughters not allergic to chicken and thinking her body is just sensitive to how the chicken was raised and what it’s fed. I’m using it as a blessing as it pushes me towards my goals even harder. It proves that it truly matters what we’re eating and feeding our children. And also my husband and I have definitely committed to raising chickens in the spring as we always joke about how “you can’t have anything nice unless you make, build, or raise it yourself”. Which is kind of over exaggerated but we are just tired of the quality of things today.
I love your attitude. Yes, it's probably a little nutty that we have to go to such effort to source/grow/raise good food but that's a sign of the twisted times we're in not proof of our craziness :)
I don't think the grain is the problem, it's what that "grain" is that's the likely offender. Chickens do need grain. It will be interesting to hear how your daughter reacts to them when you raise them yourselves.
The photos do bring me joy 🥰
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”.
I've learned so much, following you, Tara...and a few others who live and lead as you do.
We have changed my Dave from a raging diabetic when I met him 22 years ago- to no longer being anywhere near diabetic through diet and exercise.
I am currently recovering from diverticulitis, and again, have changed my diet drastically and feel fabulous. My blood work is showing such great information, and I just needed to listen differently to my body to get better. Changes in diet in not only what I eat, but how I eat (smaller meals, a few more times a day, rather than 2 larger meals each day) were needed.
It's not magic...and yet, it is. It is the magic of how we care for ourselves and how we listen and learn from our own bodies.
We do not live on a farm, our environment is far different from yours, but we can do this wherever we are.
It can be done.
Knowledge is power.
Thank you for sharing yours with us.
As always, 💛✨️
This is just so profoundly inspiring! I want to carry you two around in my back pocket and whip you out every time someone starts bemoaning their poor health and the crappy doctors and the medicines that do nothing. The problem there is the illusion that there's some big daddy that's going to fix us when we're being called to take the responsibility for ourselves. I'm so happy for you both, Jeanie.
It's not magic but it is. Yes I feel this too.
That means so much to me 💛 I just cherish your wisdom. I know we're all just humans here, tinkering around, but I feel so connected to your words and your ways. We some how, by the good will of God, aquired this old homestead 2.5 years ago. It was a long time coming, set ablaze by the covid bs back in California. I'm so glad we were prompted to leave and to be forced to look for the land and a real foundation for real prosperity. The land has been untouched for decades, the well is deep and pure, there are ancient apple trees and a root cellar- all more or less neglected and overlooked. This was the first year we cared for hogs and processed them on our own land, chickens are happy and healthy, our favorite goat will most likely be kidding in the Spring, and we are mending old fences to bring in beef Cattle for the first time. I will have to scour your essays once more for the traits and markings of a good stock. Luckily we have a few leads nearby for heritage, hardy, breeds, raised organically. So much of this I can attribute to inspiration pulled directly from the sources you have shared. Thank you 💛 Honestly excited to take on the coming storms with the knowledge I've gained here and our hearts fixed on the truth. Happy New Year to you and yours.