Update

This is what happens to a $20 bike from a superstore when your kids like to take it "offroading" and off jumps.  (Yes, my 3-year-old goes off (small) jumps.  He'd go off bigger ones if we let him, but we're good parents and make sure the jumps are very small.)

Close Up... The tires were solid foam of some sort, and the spokes were plastic.  Several spokes broke.  CP was still trying to ride with it like this, until he got too frustrated, and brought it to us saying there was something funny with his tire.  You think?

Thanks Grandpa (and Grandma) for sponsoring his new (well-built) bike from our local bike shop.  He opted for the next size up, which is good, it will last longer, although his older brother is a little jealous that CP's bike is the same size as his.  The only down side of the bigger bike, is that it will probably take him longer to learn to ride without training wheels since it's bigger.  Where's that kid's helmet?

Phew, there it is..

Other things I've been doing:

Pruning the grapes.  You can't see how much better they look from this angle, but you can see the piles of vines I cut off.

Taking care of the chickens.  They're getting big.  They also go through their water dishes fast.  We need to get the big one out so they're aren't so thirsty when I go out to refill things.  These chicks are 5 weeks old now.  Maybe 6.  Old enough that they're moving outside as soon as we can get the coop done.

The babies are two weeks old now.

Goals or Resolutions?

I'm not a big fan of New Years resolutions.  Especially the generic ones that get broken by January 2nd.  When the government passes a resolution, we all know it's pretty meaningless.  I do have some goals that I'm working for this year however (some of them are kind of generic, but I like having lots of things on my to-do list because then I have more to cross off- especially when I would have done those things anyway)...

Suburban Homestead Goals:

Help my Mister build a safer chicken coop, and order new chicks in the spring.
Bug my Mister until he builds a beehive (before the bees arrive in april).
Learn how to take care of the bees, and harvest the honey.
Learn about things I can use beeswax for.
Grow and can as much produce as possible.

Other Goals:
Learn to ride my bike outside without falling over or crashing into anyone/anything.
Learn to fix a flat/change a tire
Run a marathon.
Spend less than we earn.
Build our savings.
Get rid of clutter (have a garage sale at some point).
Clean365
Find ways to spend meaningful time with each kid everyday.
Do one nice thing for my Mister everyday (even if it's just making the bed)
Try to shop local first.
Plan ahead for dinner.

Pork Chops

Several months ago I posted about my thoughts after reading Animal Vegetable Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, and In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan, and also watching Food Inc.

Food Inc. especially really got to me, and made me think about what we are eating, and what the real costs of our food are. Rates of diet related illnesses keep going up, which is turn pushes up the cost of health care for everyone. The way the food we eat is grown or raised should really be considered. Is it sustainable? Can we continue to live the way we do and take care of the earth like we have been commanded to?

Back in December I started looking around for local sources for sustainably raised meats. At the time, the only things I could find were beef (which we don't need, because we get our "beef" from hunting), and pork. My family went in on a pig, and we picked it up on saturday.

Sunday for dinner, we cooked some pork chops (sprinkled with garlic salt and lemon pepper), made gravy from the drippings in the pan, ate the last of our indoor-salad-garden, made mashed potatoes, and steamed some carrots and broccoli with a little lemon pepper. It was the best dinner I've eaten in awhile. Here's a couple of the pork chops pre cooking...


And here are some while they're cooking (we experimented with the cast iron pan and the regular pan- the cast iron seemed to brown the outsides nicer than the regular frying pan, but the regular frying pan was better for making gravy out of the drippings)...


The last time we had pork chops was several years ago when they were on sale at costco, I don't remember them being anywhere near as flavorful.

We ordered a whole pig from Christiansen Family Farm, and recently placed an order for some chickens as well. The neatest thing is that they've added a CSA option, where you can pay, and then receive enough meat for your family for the whole year (I think you can break up the deliveries so you don't have to store everything in your freezer). They offer grass fed beef, pork, chicken and turkey. The CSA's come in 3 different sizes depending on how big your family is or how much meat you eat.

They also have a blog, and it's fun to read through about their experiences living on a farm, and including their small children in the farm chores.

Where to Get Milk?

As I've been researching meat and the sustainability and health issues surrounding the way most meats are "grown" currently, I've also been looking at milk. I read an article on webmd that was a study on children fed organic dairy products versus traditional dairy products, the study found that children who ONLY consumed organic dairy products had a much lower rate of asthma and allergies than children who at any amount of traditional dairy products in their diet. I'm not quite ready to switch to organic dairy entirely (and I think in the article, it wasn't just the organic label that was important, it was that the dairy cows were pastured, therefore healthier, and didn't need antibiotics- antibiotics being my biggest concern).

I've been doing some reading on milk and where it comes from. Costco organic milk is a "great deal" at nearly $3 per half gallon. Unfortunately, today I read this: wholesalers and major "organic" brands are continuing to sell milk and dairy products labeled as "USDA Organic, even though most or all of their milk is coming from factory farm feedlots where the animals have been brought in from conventional farms and are kept in intensive confinement, with little or no access to pasture.

The Organic Consumers Association is expanding its boycott of Horizon and Aurora organic dairy products to include five national "private label" organic milk brands supplied by Aurora, as well as two leading organic soy products, Silk and White Wave, owned by Horizon's parent company, Dean Foods...Aurora Organic supplies milk for several private label organic milk brands, including Costco's "Kirkland Signature," Safeway's "O" organics brand, High Meadows, Giant's "Natures Promise," and Wild Oats organic milk. Aurora Organic received a failing grade from the Cornucopia Institute's survey of organic dairies for its practice of intensive confinement of dairy cows. For pictures of Aurora Organic's operations, follow this link. The Cornucopia Institute recently blew the whistle on Aurora Organic's greenwashing and its bogus certification of animal welfare.

Additionally, its been revealed that much of the soy for Dean Food's White Wave tofu and Silk soymilk products are sourced abroad, primarily from Brazil and China. Environmental standards and workers' rights are routinely violated in these two countries.

Anyone know of sources for milk that comes from cows not treated with routine antibiotics? Costco was going to be my source for milk. I don't care about the organic label, I just haven't found any non-organic milk that meets my requirements.

It's making me tired.

UPDATE: I think we're going to go with Rosehill dairy. It's a local, small scale dairy, and I feel fairly comfortable with the way the cows are raised and fed, and with the quality of the milk.

Book Review and Zucchini recipes

Several months ago I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I think I've probably posted about it before, but my Mister has also read it recently, so we've been talking a lot more about being self sufficient and commenting on what we'd give up if we were to live that way. (We both recognize that we couldn't do it where we live now, and we'd have to move to the country somewhere.) For example, as I bite into a twix bar, my Mister says, "you couldn't eat those anymore", or as he mixes up a glass of gatorade after a run, I say, "that would have to be one of our exceptions to the "no food we don't grow ourselves or buy from a local source". It's a fun game, really. 

It's a fascinating book, and I really recommend it especially if you have any interest in gardening or self-sufficiency. It really makes you think about where your food comes from. It will also make you want to make your own cheese and grow asparagus.

One other thing it has made me think a lot about is eating foods during their season. Right now is the season for zucchini and tomatoes, so we've been eating those things a lot. Here are a few "recipes" we've been using a lot. I don't want to let anything go to waste, and these dishes are easy (I love one-pot meals) and different enough that I'm not gagging thinking about eating zucchini again tonight. Feel free to post your own zucchini recipes as well.

Summer Stew refers to anything thrown together with ingredients right out of the garden.  (2013 update: I'm going back through old posts to add pictures, so as I remake these meals, I'll add photos)

Moroccan Summer Stew

Saute olive oil, garlic and onions in a pan.  Add chopped potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini.  Add enough water to steam the potatoes and cover (you may want to let the potatoes steam for a bit before you add the zucchini and tomatoes so they aren't total mush).  Add a can of garbanzo beans, and several good shakes of cumin (add enough that you can smell it) and some salt and pepper to taste.  If it's too dry, add a little more water so that there's enough "sauce" to moisten the couscous you serve it over.  (I recommend couscous, but quinoa is good too, rice might be okay.)

Italian Summer Stew

Saute olive oil, garlic and onions in a pan (do you sense a theme yet?).  Add sliced zucchini, and tomatoes.  Add water if there isn't enough from the tomatoes to make it saucy.  Add oregano or basil (fresh basil from the garden is wonderful), and salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and simmer until zucchini are softened.  Add a couple of handfuls of pine nuts and two or three splashes of balsamic vinegar.  Serve over pasta.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Un-Stuffed Zucchini

(you can also stuff them, in which case you cut a huge zucchini in half, scrape out seeds, fill with the following mixture, top with cheese, and bake in oven for however long it takes for the zucchini to cook all the way- I'm helpful, I know- my mom can comment and tell everyone how long this takes- but my experience is that the kids eat the stuffing part and leave the zucchini part, so I've started making my stuffed zucchini un-stuffed)

Cook however much ground burger you want.  I think I usually use 1/2 pound, but it really doesn't matter.  Add garlic, and onions.  I like to add a little beef bouillon too. Saute, then add chopped zucchini, tomatoes and a cup or two of rice (depending on how many people you are feeding and how big your pan is).  Add enough water to cook the rice.  Cover, and cook on low for 20 minutes or so (until the water is gone and the rice is cooked).  Salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle with cheese (I like mozzarella), and serve.

Grilled Flatbread Pizza with zucchini: Recipe here.
Ratatouille: Recipe here.
Pizza: topping idea here.

10%

Buy Local Week starts next saturday, November 29th and runs through December 6th. Local First, a non profit organization supporting local businesses suggests shifting just 10% of your purchases to locally owned stores. That 10% can make a huge difference in our local economies.

Why is shopping local so important?

From the Local First website:
Locally owned, independent businesses reflect the character of our communities. Owners of local businesses live here. They are our neighbors. Their products and services support and sustain the needs of our residents, and they play a vital role in our social networks. In fact, local businesses mirror who we are and what we value as a community. They help to create a sense of place. Emerging research demonstrates that local and independent businesses generate more than three times the return to our local economies than do national chain stores. This is because business owners typically purchase support services (marketing, accounting, legal, design) from local firms and are often better employers, who pay living wages and offer benefits. Additionally, profits from local businesses tend to stay in our communities. Local businesses offer the greatest opportunities for jobs, innovation, and other community contributions, which improve the quality of life for local residents. Over the last several years, global trends and market forces have resulted in consolidation, mergers, and acquisitions in many business sectors. Growth among mass merchandisers, internet retailers, and big-box stores, ultimately reduces the selection and diversity of products and services available in our communities. With such intense competition, the market share of goods and services sold by local and independent businesses has eroded, in some cases, dramatically. Many communities and countless urban and rural main streets that only a few short years ago featured thriving local- business districts are now in decline. The result is less choice for consumers, a growing sameness of design, of products, and of services, less opportunity for innovation, fewer living-wage scale jobs and reduced reinvestment back into our community. Decaying main streets and homogenized neighborhood commercial zones are blighting many communities and taxpayers struggle to reclaim the vitality and the culture that these businesses helped to support.

Shop Local

This past Saturday my Mister and I did a little shopping. We needed some tools, so we went to Ace Hardware in North Salt Lake. They had just about everything we needed, and what they didn't have, they ordered for us, no extra charge. Plus, they gave us the online price on one tool, which saved us nearly $10 on it.

In talking to one of the owners, we learned that sales are down $50,000 this month compared to the same time last year. Partly the economy, people just aren't spending as much (which is a good thing, IMO) but largly because of Lowes. I've been to lowes, but when I think about what kind of community I want to live in, I picture small, locally owned stores where people know what they're selling.

Next time you need something for a home improvement project, or a kitchen item (they have an impressive selection of kitchen tools), or if you want to take a class on decorating or cooking, check out Ace before you try a big box store. Support our community.

(I also have to add, that I saw a special brownie pan that makes every piece an edge- I've said for years that there ought to be one, and now there is. I almost bought it (two actually), maybe next time.)