Introduction

The idea for this blog came as I continuously found myself looking for the same information to share with others or to use as reference and spending tonnes of time redoing the research. I thought "there has to be a better way " and tada! a new blog is born.

I want a place to put the information and websites we find so it is easy to access, to store recipes and write down my own creations that are excellent tasting so they don't get lost. A place to chronicle our journey as we move towards our goals of healthy, natural living. Perhaps it will help other families out there, and connect me to families that may have information I find helpful.

Recently, My husband and I were fruitlessly searching for a snack food (crackers) that didn't have MSG, or other additive and it took us an inordinate amount of time to search it out on the regular grocery store shelves. I think we ended up with a choice of 1 (yes one). It shouldn't be that hard to eat REAL food!

I have a horrible history with blogging, I go great guns for a short period of time, then life gets busy and I leave it by the wayside. I am hoping with this one I can utilize it to the best of its potential, and create a usable resource.

Here is a bit of history and info about us

We are a family of 9, My husband and I have 2 children together ages 18 months and 3 yrs, I have 4 girls from a previous marriage ages 19, 18, 16 and 15, the girls all live with us. My husband has a son from a previous marriage age 18, he lives with his mother. We also have my god-daughter and her baby living with us for a grand total of 10 in our home.

Sustainable living, healthy eating habits and being in good physical 'shape' have always been important to us. We want to leave a legacy of health and wellness, both in body and in the earth itself, to our children and feel the best way to do that is through example.

3 or 4 yrs ago we embarked on a journey to eat 'better' and that started with eliminating MSG from our diet. We eliminated most processed foods in that undertaking! Our journey has continued and we have eliminated not only MSG, but most preservatives. A couple years ago we stated buying 'naturally' raised meat (meaning no antibiotics, growth hormones, free range, grass fed etc.) and some organic products. We started to research why one would choose organic over non organic and which foods were most important to go organic with first and which ones were less "toxic" in how they were grown. That research process is ongoing.

The first thing we switched over to organic was cow's milk. The cost is nearly twice what it costs to buy "regular" milk and took a bit of adjusting! But once you get used to it, it becomes "that is what you pay for a jug of milk" . Last year we focused on buying locally and supporting our local economy. Our buying habits and the way we educate ourselves about the products we choose to buy have greatly changed in the last 5 yrs! We are continually adding new environmentally responsible products to our regular list of things to buy.

This year we are focusing on the move to wholly organic foods, with the caveat that naturally raised local food sources are preferable over imported food products. It's going to be slow going and I am sadly realizing that there are some things we may not be able to find organically produced, but its a start!

We have began to dig into the deep quagmire that is Genetically Modified Organisms and how it affects our food, our health and our earth. We are also further researching other food additives and their impact on health.

We would like to eventually only eat out at organic, local restaurants, but we have a horrible restaurant habit and that one may take more time to get under control. We have made it to local, privately owned establishments but so far this year we haven't made it to one to any of the 3 (or is it 4) organic restaurants available to us in our fair city.

I wouldn't say I am an activist, but I do write letters to producers both in praise -supporting sustainable farming/production practices and in critique of the ones that are not. I write letters to our government leaders, to the media, I pursue answers to questions that are sometimes hard to answer. I encourage every mother, every person who lives on this planet and is in a position to choose what types of food they eat to get involved in their food supply. I believe we change our world by living the way we desire it to be and create change by pushing for the things that need to be changed through our actions.