Rutabaga Girl

Win good books!

2011-12-18T15:03:00.000-08:00

Go to Food Renegade to win a couple of nutrition books!

Book review: The Patron Saint of Butterflies

2011-12-17T17:24:00.000-08:00

I read the book mentioned in the heading today. It featured two girls, Honey and Agnes, both raised in a cult/commune known as Mount Blessing. Honey hates the cult, but Agnes wants to be a saint. The two girls had been very close, but are drifting apart. Agnes' grandmother, Nana Pete makes an unexpected visit during a holy week, and discovers a sinister secret about the cult. She smuggles both girls and Agnes' brother Benny away after Emmanuel, the cult leader, does a botch job of reattaching Benny's severed finger, endangering his life. Honey is happy away from the cult, but Agnes wishes she were back in Mount Blessing, and is still trying to be a saint. But Agnes changes, and finally must confront Emmanuel.

I liked this book because it doesn't have ex-cult members becoming atheists upon leaving the evil cult. There was one other book like that but it wasn't as exciting. This book shows Agnes realizing she can be against the cult and still emulate her namesake Saint Agnes.

Random cuteness: Baby Dolphin!

2011-12-17T17:18:00.001-08:00

Random cuteness: Kittens nursing!

2011-12-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

Melt-and-Pour soap is easy and fun!

2011-11-24T16:56:00.000-08:00

I purchased 32 oz of soap base, molds, lavender fragrance, and some dried lavender/orange peel to make soap. So far I have made three batches of soap, two of them lavender and one of them tea tree oil. What I found interesting is that even though the instructions say you can get burned, it is only likely to happen if you use the microwave. Heating the soap to melt in a double boiler is more like when you have a candle at church, and some of the wax drips on to you. It doesn't hurt, but it feels hot. Now the microwave, it will make the soap hot enough to burn you.
You might say that making soap from a melt-and-pour base is not really natural. Granted, there are some strange ingredients in the base, but really nothing that wouldn't be in ordinary soap. It is also possible to purchase all-organic melt-and-pour base at Bramble clBerry. Also you can choose to use only natural coloring and pure essential oils as fragrance. I'm not quite a purist yet with the fragrance, but I'll probably be m when I have more money to buy the essential oils. Someday I want to have a business selling handmade natural soap, hand-dipped aromatherapy beeswax candles, and undyed handspun natural fiber yarns. That would be so cool.

What is Disney REALLY telling your child?

2011-11-24T16:43:00.000-08:00

I haven't really posted in a while - maybe because I've been busy spinning and just generally haven't had much to say. But this article really caught my eye and I would like other peoples' opinions on it.
This link tells of the messages in Disney films which are specific to young men. It seems as though in every Disney movie, the men are exalted for being physically strong and large, and are portrayed behaving in sexist ways toward women.
This link shows the messages Disney is showing to girls, which is basically that you have to be pretty, thin, white, etc. I would like anyone reading this post to comment on it about what they think.

Adventures in Crafts

2011-09-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

Right now I am spinning grey angora (SOFT!!!!), getting ready to knit a Swirl Hat out of handspun garnetted yarn that looks like candy canes, and sewing some red polka-dot slippers. I have three green jalepenos on my plant, which I need to pick soon.

Batt giveaway!

2011-09-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

There is this great website called Phat Fiber where you can win art batts! Today they are giving away a Lanitium ex Machina Eternal Love art batt. Go here to enter to win!

Wooly Days

2011-06-04T05:44:00.000-07:00

I spun, dyed, knitted and felted these fingerless gloves that I hope to sell someday. I am also spinning some Cormo-Romeldale fleece that I got at a fiber festival - check out the pics. I plan to ply it and knit up some nice soft socks. The wool is so dreamy to spin - Cormo is so on my sheep wish list!
In other news, the peas are being eaten and the squash and melons suffer from powdery mildew. I plan to use enzymes to kill the bugs and spray the mildew with diluted milk - heard about the second tip in Grow Great Grub, by Gayla Trail. Great book, she also wrote You Grow Girl. Grow Great Grub is definitely more guy-friendly, and has great tips for growing organic edibles in small spaces. So, what's going on in YOUR gardens and fiber workshops?

Musings of a Teenage Spinner

2011-05-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

I am carding and spinning my Suri alpaca outside where my allergies don't bother me. It is pleasant work, when the fiber doesn't get dirty. People come and ask what I am doing, and I try to explain: I am spinning, making yarn. One man remarked that you don't usually see kids my age doing that kind of thing. I know it must look odd, but I like how much more intimately involved you get to be with your fiber than just knitting. It does feel weird, however, that doing what people did to clothe themselves for thousands of years costs me most of my allowance.

Green Pastures GIVEAWAY!

2011-05-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

Enter here to win $70 worth of Green Pasture products including fermented cod liver oil and coconut ghee.

A dream to spin

2011-05-08T16:32:00.001-07:00

I went to the Indiana Fiber and Music festival last week, and got a pound of Cormo-Romeldale cross wool, and 12 ounces of Suri alpaca! I started spinning the Suri and it is tricky, but so soft and such a long staple length, it is just begging to be knitted into something lacy. I am also knitting a sweater from Ethnic Knitting Discovery (the Dutch Sampler Pullover, actually) out of some handspun a friend gave me. Fun stuff!

Milk can't make an optimist fat!

2011-05-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

Here's my logic: The cream is low-carb, and the skim milk is fat-free. So it's all safe to drink, and won't make you fat. :)
That is, of course, if you are an optimist.
Her's another one: An optimist says every cloud has a silver lining, but a pessimist says every silver lining has a cloud behind it.
An optimist sees the glass as half full, and a pessimist sees the glass as half empty, but they're in fact both wrong if it is slightly more or slightly less than 50% full.

Sad

2011-04-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we lost our gerbil, Pippin. He had been very sleepy for several days but we didn't think anything of it. Yesterday morning he was hunched over, had ruffled fur, and wouldn't eat even if we tried to hand-feed him. We did some internet research and fed him porridge, which he ate a bit of. We tried to give him some antibiotics for wet-tail but he wouldn't take them. He just got worse and worse and in the afternoon he stopped breathing. He is in the freezer and we will bury him in our garden plot at Blackacre Farm but he really is in pet heaven with our cat Debbie. They are friends because 'the lion shall lay down with the lamb' ought to also mean 'the cat shall lie down with the gerbil'!

Cultures for Health Water Kefir Starter GIVEAWAY!

2011-04-09T03:50:00.000-07:00

Wellness Mama is having a giveaway from Cultures for Health of water kefir starter! I have never made this but really want to! It is like healthy soda pop.

Spring Foraging Fun - Chickweed!

2011-04-05T17:07:00.000-07:00

I just learned how to identify chickweed - lobed leaves, starry white flowers(buds in my case!), fine hair on one side, and lack of sap when stem is broken. It is a bit tricky to pick it out among all the other weeds, but not too hard. I just gathered enough for a batch of sun/moon powered tea. Right now I am drinking sun/moon violet tea (from dried violets a friend got me from a middle-eastern store) and the taste is SO superior to the boiled water version. Chickweed contains natural saponins (you can use it as soap) which break down bacteria (and some people say fat cells too) and other nasties, a general nutritious detoxifying herb.
Today I also made cinnamon rolls - the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, but with stevia/erythritol and I added raisins. They were delicious!

Silly critter!

2011-04-04T13:23:00.001-07:00

So I had seven garlic plants growing outside in a 5-gallon bucket, right? Well now there are only six, and a hole where one was. I think it was a squirrel or a rabbit. Mom says the squirrel with garlic breath is the guilty one, I say I can't catch a squirrel to check! I hope whatever it was leaves the rest alone, though! Oh, and I planted some parsley which just started to come up!

MadeOn DIY lotion bar kit GIVEAWAY!

2011-04-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

Click here to enter a contest to win a $30 value kit to make your own lotion and lip balm! I'm so excited, I love making that sort of stuff!

Mini Cows!

2011-03-10T13:12:00.000-08:00

Mini Cows!
It turns out that Jersey cows used to be a lot smaller before people started breeding them to be bigger. These mini cows come up waist high and are adorable! They can give 1-2 gallons of milk every day. I want one!

The World According to Monsanto

2011-03-05T04:03:00.000-08:00

I just watched a documentary called The World According to Monsanto. You can probably guess from the name what it's about. I learned a lot of interesting and scary things, and lots of things I already knew. Did you know that the idea that GMO crops are 'substantially equivalent' to their conventional counterparts is totally made up? Or that rBGH gives cows mastitis and puts pus and IGF-1 in the milk? Or that small farmers across the globe have their families' health and business in danger because of GMO crops? Or even that Monsanto started out as a chemical company, not an agricultural one? Watch the film here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6262083407501596844#

What I'm Knitting

2011-03-05T03:57:00.000-08:00

I currently have nothing to spin, so I am knitting a top-down seamless raglan pullover out of brown Lion Brand Fisherman's wool. Maybe SOMEDAY I will actually manage to spin enough for a sweater! But for now I can just knit. I am almost done with the first sleeve, and my hair is a mess. You can see me modeling the unfinished sweater. I know it's a bit late for wool sweaters, but the last two years we have had a March blizzard - PLEASE not once the tomatoes are planted!
This post is part of Woolly Wednesdays at Spinspiration.

From old bike part to cool fashion accssory

2011-02-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

I saw this nifty craft idea, and my brother was sure willing to donate the bike tube in his room (which also doubles as an exercise stretch band). It is "up-cycled" - hehe, get it? 'Cycled'? Anyway, check it out - and the links with it! You are officially challenged to ascend to the next level of DIY crafting!

The Candy Conundrum

2011-02-01T12:39:00.000-08:00

As an enemy of refined sugar, I am by extension an enemy of processed candy. But it wasn't always that way. Even now I feel guilty looking at brightly colored yarn and beads that remind me of candy - and enjoying it. As a younger child, the two things that appealed to me most about candy were 1) the variety and 2) the affordability, not to mention 3) the freedom. Saving my own money to buy brightly-colored candy felt like a subtle act of rebellion and something that made me "cool", not like the boring child of a health food nut. It now disturbs me that there are so many "new" ways to deliver sugar into a child's system, such as "sour sprays" and lickable "candy stamps". The parallels between the candy world and the drug world also disturb me - in fact, some people are now marketing methamphetamine in candy form to children.
As a former candy-lover, I hereby offer tips for parents to detract from the lure of candy to their children.
1) Show them other sources of color. Try to get them excited about planting flowers, vegetables, crayons, beads, yarn, etc. I can tell you that color is a key lure of candy, or at least it was for me.
2) Show them other sources of flavor. Have taste-test contests with fresh berries, dried fruit, salty nuts, etc. Explain and demonstrate to them how natural foods are more interesting because each berry/nut has a slightly different flavor. Get them tuned in to this aspect of food. If they absolutely must have a candy at the store, inquire about what it is that makes them want it. If it is a red-hot, maybe sandwiches with tomato soup and baked apples with extra cinnamon will satisfy them. If it is sour, try them on real lacto-fermented pickles (if they are not veggie-phobic like I was!) and homemade lemonade. If it is chocolate, make homemade chocolate that is naturally sweetened. Homemade coconut macaroons dipped in homemade chocolate topped with almonds would make a yummy Almond Joy substitute. Be creative.
3) Give them other ways to spend their allowance money. The stores with gumball machines usually also have similar machines for superballs, which are a colorful, fun alternative to candy. Encourage them to save up for bigger things like toys and craft supplies (if the girls are into crafts, that is) and maybe make charts showing how this much work over this many weeks will earn enough money to buy this . . .
4) Last but not least, educate them about the dangers of refined sugar and artificial flavorings. They will most likely not care. Explain how abstaining from candy and Kool-Aid can help them get better grades in school. Emphasize non-food rewards or healthy-food rewards and don't forget to make occasional treats of homemade honey or maple candies. Explain the difference between good and bad carbohydrates and the importance of moderation. This will work best if said child is interested in science. If they are interested in history, teach them about the sugar triangle and other aspects of the history of refined sugar, emphasizing the unnaturalness. I cannot guarantee that these tips will work, but some of them might have worked for me had my parents tried them, and it is worth a try to tame your child's inner sugar monster.

Green Pastures Cod Liver Oil capsules Givaway!

2011-01-31T06:25:00.000-08:00

Cheeseslave is hosting a giveaway from Green Pastures of CLO/BO capsules. Click on the link for a chance to enter!
http://www.cheeseslave.com/2011/01/31/giveaway-green-pasture-cod-liver-oilbutter-oil-gel-caps/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Cheeseslave+%28CHEESESLAVE%29

Eye Candy

2011-01-21T15:22:00.000-08:00

Check out these beaded cuffs by Nelkin Designs!
https://id306.securedata.net/sandrasingh.com/merchantmanager/product_info.php?cPath=76_699_708&products_id=3321
I won't be buying this myself, but it is fun to look!

Urban Homesteading

2011-01-20T18:05:00.001-08:00

http://urbanhomestead.org/
This website is about a family in California, where there is a year-round growing season, and they grow 99% of their produce (6,000 lbs) on 1/10 acre (4,000 sq ft)! They also raise chickens, ducks, dwarf rabbits and dwarf pygmy goats. Check it out!

Green Pastures GIVEAWAY!

2011-01-20T15:15:00.000-08:00

Click here:
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/2011/01/210-green-pasture-products-giveaway/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheHealthyHomeEconomist+%28The+Healthy+Home+Economist%29
to enter to win coconut ghee and your choice of fish oil!

Quinoa Rejuvelac

2011-01-20T15:05:00.000-08:00

The blog Green Fertility has a recipe for quinoa rejuvelac. I tried the recipe and liked it okay, but this run I am using more grain and adding apple slices and grated ginger. The idea of adding fruit was from the book Fresh Food From Small Spaces: The Square Inch Gardner's Guide to Year-Round Food Production. I looked on the internet for a gluten-free version and found the quinoa recipe on GreenFertility's blog. I'll let you know how it tastes, and please let me know if you want pictures.

Felted Wooly Moccasin Slippers

2011-01-20T15:02:00.001-08:00

It only took me a couple days to knit these 'moccasins'. I found the pattern on Knitting Pattern Central. I doubled some Ella Rae wool with my scratchy handspun Lincoln, and the result was not too scratchy. For some reason they wouldn't felt by hand so I ran them through the dryer. I will give them to a friend.

Strawberry Soda

2011-01-20T14:26:00.001-08:00

No, the stuff in the jar isn't beet kvass. It's going to be strawberry soda.
I saw a recipe for blueberry soda somewhere on the internet. It was cultured using a ginger bug which uses white sugar, but I set out to use whey and natural maple syrup. Only one small problem: we were out of blueberries.
Enter strawberry soda.
I made a syrup of about 2 cups of whole strawberries (I think it would be more like one cup if they were cut up - there were a lot of air spaces) with tops removed. I used frozen. 1 qt of water and between 1/4 and 1/2 cup of maple syrup, boiled, cooled, and tasteless berries discarded. Poured into a quart mason jar and added 2 tablespoons whey and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. I'll let you know in three days how it tastes!

Grass is for cows!

2011-01-19T05:47:00.001-08:00

I like sprouts as much as the next person, but I draw the line at wheat grass. Some health food nuts, especially raw food people, like to drink wheat grass juice. I am not convinced of its benefits and here's why: you can't eat grass unless you're a ruminant. That is a basic fact of life. The juice has the indigestible fiber removed, but think about it - if you need something modern to process it to the point of edibility, how is that food? Food is something you can eat raw. Or boiled, or baked, or fried, etc. All you need to cook something is a pot or pan, a heat source (like a fire) and maybe some rendered animal fat for frying. Or water for boiling. But to juice wheat grass you need a hand-cranked or electric grinder, a complicated modern invention. Did people drink wheat grass juice a a hundred fifty years ago? I think not! If you are going to drink juice, use something squeezable like a lemon. Or cook the juice out. But why on earth would you need to mechanically extract the fiber? That is not natural! Cider mills have been around a little while, perhaps not long enough to be a good thing, but longer than wheat grass juicers. Grapes can be juiced by stomping barefoot in a bin. Lemons can just be squeezed. But wheat grass? Grass is for cows, not people!
However, if you want all the nutrients of grass and more, you can use one of the oldest grass-processing methods known to man: feed grass to cow/goat. Milk cow/goat. Drink raw milk. There's your liquid grass, right there, complete with vitamin C.

Ginger Ale Update

2011-01-19T05:42:00.000-08:00

I have tweaked my previous recipe to make the ginger ale fizzier - it happened by accident, really. Here is the recipe, modified from Instructables:
1 cubic inch piece of ginger, micro-grated
juice of 1 lemon (1/4 cup bottled lemon juice - the stuff from Costco rocks!)
1/4 cup real maple syrup
2 tablespoons whey (whey from straining kefir makes it extra fizzy)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 quart water
Mix all ingredients in a jar and let ferment for 3 days before sticking in the fridge. Strain before drinking.

REAL food nutrition E-course GIVEAWAY!

2011-01-14T17:12:00.000-08:00

Cheeseslave is hosting a giveaway of Food Renegade's Real Food Nutrition E-Course.
http://www.cheeseslave.com/2011/01/14/giveaway-food-renegades-real-food-nutrition-health-online-class/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Cheeseslave+%28CHEESESLAVE%29

Garden at last!

2011-01-06T17:45:00.000-08:00

I was worrying about the price of pots for my ambitious container garden, well, I worry no more! My family is renting a 30 x 30 ft community garden plot at Blackacre Farm, so I can plant stuff in the actual ground! I want to grow everything!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T14:35:00.000-08:00

It is Christmas Eve as I am writing this, but since at St. Michael we do a midnight Christmas service, it is as though the holiday begins tonight. We are waiting until 9 pm to leave, and we just finished Narnia and are about to put in A Year Without a Santa Claus. Fun Christmas movies, and if you're interested, Little Women and While You were Sleeping also include Christmas. Sadly, I never did finish that lace scarf. Too many mistakes. I also made a CRAPPY pair of Fair Isle mittens with numerous mistakes, so now I am making some wool socks that will probably be Fair Isle so I can improve my techniques. If you haven't read The Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmermann (actually it is a collection of newsletters) you must if you are a knitter. It takes you to another time where most if not all yarn was wool and patterns were a thing to design yourself or share, but not sell. It is among the most charming books I have read (the other one being Barbara Kingsbury's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which I am reading right now).
Strange though it may sound, as we have yet to celebrate Christmas, I am already anticipating spring! My sister accused me of wanting to have no Christmas in order to have 'plant season' year 'round. (No! I do not! Winter is what makes spring special!) But I am looking at the price of strawberry and raspberry plants online, and homemade potting soil recipes to save money. I am also cutting up grocery bags to crochet more plant pots and eagerly doing chores to make a few extra bucks before spring planting time. Well, I am off to do more knitting and plant research - Merry Christmas (Eve)!
Oh, by the way, that tomato plant in the bathroom is still alive, and I am hoping to keep it alive until spring - and also take the ginger out so it can GROW in the summer sun! And I have permission to weed and plant the abandoned church garden! Well, that's really all, this time!

Sprouted Flour Giveaway!

2010-12-15T17:11:00.001-08:00

Kitchen Stewardship is hosting a sprouted flour giveaway.
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/12/15/why-buy-sprouted-flour-giveaway-over-65-value/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kitchenstewardship%2FPgbo+%28Kitchen+Stewardship%29
Click the link to enter!

Adventures in Knitting : Arctic Lace

2010-12-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

I already made a scarf from Knitted Lace of Estonia, but unfortunately it is wrapped for Christmas so I cannot take a picture. I also checked out a book called Arctic Lace, which is about native Alaskan knitters, knitting with qiviut (musk ox down), the warmest softest fiber in the world! I can't afford that stuff, so I just am making a scarf with Patons Laceweight. There is a picture of one pattern repeat at the top.

Lacto-fermented Pink Lemonade!

2010-12-10T05:12:00.000-08:00

I love the lacto-fermented ginger ale recipe on Instructables, but I was out of ginger. So I omitted the ginger, doubled the lemon juice, and substituted maple syrup for the honey. Just one small problem, though. The whey was moldy! What was I to do? I decided to just dilute it and not ferment, but then it came to me - homemade beet kvass! It wasn't moldy and it had good bacteria, but the best part was that it made PINK lemonade! You can't even taste the beets, since it is only 2 tablespoons. Here is the recipe:
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp whey OR beet kvass for pink color
1 quart water
Mix all ingredients in a quart mason jar (or bottle, I suppose) and let ferment for 3 days. This is very strong, both sweet and sour, so dilute it 50/50 with water. Enjoy!
Note: I do not like this as much as the ginger ale!

Disturbing

2010-12-06T17:57:00.000-08:00

I will now make a public confession and say that at the age of 16 I still like Care Bears. I am always looking for something to watch while I'm knitting and Care Bears has none of the paganism of Sailor Moon (in fact, the only real negative I see is oversimplified psychology). It actually started a few weeks ago when I saw the movie and checked it out from the library. I had seen the previews as a child and they looked SO cool. Unfortunately, I fell asleep watching it and didn't see the end. But no matter, I can still watch the episodes on the Internet.
But let's cut to the chase. So I found out that they made a new Care Bear series, so I thought, oh goody, easily accessible Care Bears. But although the colors are brighter, the bears (from what I could gather from the 3/4 episode I watched) are WAY more prone to jealousy and selfishness and probably other sins in other episodes. But that is not as disturbing to me as the fact that someone decided to make them THIN. I am not kidding. In the good old-fashioned '80s version, the bears were furry, muscular, and had nice, round butts. In other words, they looked like (cute) BEARS. I repeat, BEARS. NOT colored stick people with teddy bear heads. I know it is just a cartoon, but if it is not okay for a bear to be a little chubby, what does that say about people? Must we all conform to this stick figure while eating a high-carbohydrate diet in 'moderation' and still not become anorexic? Or do they WANT us to become anorexic? Seriously, to me, this is just WRONG.

Food Renegade - Zukay's Kvass Giveaway!

2010-11-23T12:27:00.000-08:00

Food Renegade is having a giveaway of a kvass sampler pack - beet, beet ginger, carrot ginger, and vegetable medley! I have been making beet and am currently trying beet ginger. Enter here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/giveaway-kvass-sampler-pack/

Fruit Kimchi

2010-10-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

I love Sandor Katz's Wild Fermentation. I returned it to the library today but yesterday I tried the recipe for fruit kimchi. I didn't have any pineapple, grapes, pears or plums, but I used what I had on hand . . . results pending! (I did try some unfermented and it was very good.) I used two apples, a peach, a nectarine, 4 prunes and some raisins. I left out the cilantro, used bottled lemon juice and jarred garlic, and powdered ginger and chili. I also used cayenne instead of jalapenos, and the result was very spicy. Meanwhile I am trying to card and spin alpaca, reading library books, dreaming about next spring's container garden, and trying new food experiments. And one little tomato is starting to ripen! I know the plant will die before the flowers can become tomatoes, but I wonder what would happen if I took it inside? Also I am down to three radish plants, but the sweetpotatoes are doing well. If I get a harvest, what should I make out of them? Oven fries, fermented soda maybe?

Crabapple Sauce and a Braided Rug

2010-09-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I accomplished two things: Making a jar of crabapple sauce/butter, whatever it is called, and finishing a braided rug. It was easy to braid the rug once I figured out to overlap the rag strips instead of sewing them together. It ended up about the size of a mini trampoline. That was from a big garbage bag of rag strips. The crabapple sauce involved picking the crabapples, chopping off the stems and flower ends, cooking them, adding more water and mashing them in through a colander to remove the seeds and fibrous bits (mind you, this was learned partly through trial and error and got a lot more dishes dirty than necessary), adding cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and honey, and boiling it down. Maybe next time I will figure out how to take pictures of all the steps. Meanwhile, the tomato plant is making two tiny tomatoes and a few flowers, while a few radishes came up in the planters. And I had a weird dream about rabbits half the size of gerbils, and the other week I dreamed about pigs the size of guinea pigs. Weird!

All things fun and interesting

2010-09-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

Well . . . I finished my shawl on Sunday! I have a picture of it up there. I still haven't decided whether to keep it or give it away . . . guess I'll just keep offering it to people until I find a taker. And since that baby flying squirrel we rescued was so adorable, we now have two pet gerbils, Merry and Pipin! They are both boys, luckily.
Unfortunately, we ran out of Klonopin and I was feeling funny until today when we finally could get more. Klonopin withdrawal is not fun! But I feel better now and am so enjoying our brand-new pets. Obsessing about what to plant and where to find affordable seeds. Home Depot should have some. Crabapples are almost ripe. Thinking about purchasing the carding combs AFTER I run out of wool, which seems sensible enough. I want to get a late crop of spinach and radishes. Oh, the tomato plant is now blossoming. Frost, PLEASE wait to come until I get some tomatoes! Just a few?

How things are going (and growing) . . .

2010-08-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it is almost September and my tomato plant (yes, singular) is finally producing three beautiful yellow flowers. Knowing the weather around here, I might get a few tomatoes before it gets too cold. This one I actually started from seed . . . outside. That's why it isn't making tomatoes yet, because I planted it outside in late June. But I've never had any luck with starting seeds indoors. Trust me, I tried.
Other things in my garden: chammomille container, sweet potato hanging bucket, and purslane planters. I cheated with the purslane and just transplanted some wild weeds of it into containers with potting soil. Hard to believe they are a succulent, considering how plump and juicy they get with lots of water. I will probably only get enough chammomille for a few cups of tea, but it will be extra special because I grew it myself. The picture up top is how much dried chammomille I have so far.
As for other things, well, good news. I don't actually have schizophrenia. Just anxiety and depression. This is such good news! Glory to God! Nowhere near as disabling! We all hope I can go off the Geodon, me included of course! And I am working on the purple section of a handspun orange, red and purple knitted shawl. I dyed the yarn with Kool-Aid, and the orange came out a bit orangey-brown, since the wool was gray to start out with. There are a couple mistakes, so maybe I can keep the shawl if I can't find anyone to give it to. And the local apartment complex crabapples are getting ripe, so maybe my sister and I can go PICKING tomorrow!

Eating gluten again

2010-07-19T03:11:00.000-07:00

So I was convinced that eating a piece of regular bread would send me into a drunken, neurological funk. So I was apparently wrong.
It started with an ordinary supper of sausage and biscuits. Mine were gluten-free, and I think they were made of coconut oil, not lard. At any rate, they were too dry and starchy. I looked at the ordinary biscuits made with wheat flour and lard and said "Mom, you know what? I'm tempted to just ditch the whole gluten-free thing." She said we had plenty of things in the house for me to try. I was scared. I mulled things over in my head, and finally picked up a regular biscuit and took a bite. The taste was strange. It was like I could taste the baking powder, but it did have that gluten texture. I forced myself not to spit it out. I took another bite. I decided I didn't care for it, but I would see if I got sick. Did I? Nope. The next morning I had a regular biscuit for breakfast and didn't get sick. So now I am happily eating gluten again.
As I write this, I am staying awake for ANOTHER sleep-deprived EEG. Hey, it's all in the name of getting a diagnosis, right? I did see the neurologist. And finally I am hopeful that maybe someday the doctors WILL find out what is wrong with me.

Poor radishes . . .

2010-06-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I flubbed it again. Ok, lesson learned. Refusing to thin your radishes because you are selfish will get you ZERO radishes! If you are me, repeat that until it starts to sink in.
My radishes were not developing properly, the leaves would have been edible if they weren't so bug-eaten, and the two radishes that looked like they were starting to bolt had roots that were both underdeveloped and woody at the same time! I had to pull them all up and throw them away. Maybe next year I will try again with radishes. But for now, I am sick of them. Plants I still have: sweet potato (the leaves are bug-eaten but it keeps making new leaves and is pretty and viny in a 5-gallon bucket hanging from a plant hanger) and chammomille (lots of green, no flowers yet, but it's not even July so there is still plenty of time for that to happen) and a secret.
Do you want to know what the secret is? Okay, I will tell you. I have a tomato seedling outside (two, actually). I have never had any success with starting seeds inside, but these tomatoes are doing better outside in the summer than any of my indoor stuff ever did! I hope the growing season is long enough for the plant to mature, but if not I will try again next year!

Mint Soda Experiment

2010-06-17T13:22:00.000-07:00

A few days ago (and I was playing with the idea in my head long before) I decided to make a lacto-fermented mint tea drink. No kefir, no kombucha, just tweaked the classic ginger ale recipe (the one on Instructables using honey instead of sugar) to omit the ginger and replace the water with mint tea. And the whey came from raw milk, curdled with lemon juice and strained. (By the way, the "cheese" from this process tastes like lemon-flavored yogurt. Good with fruit.) And I brewed in in a mason jar. Now I'll be honest with you - It isn't fizzy. But it is nice and tart. Oh, another thing. You can kinda taste the salt. But the ginger ale has that too, and I LOVE it. If you can't get raw milk, strain commercial yogurt with live cultures. The way you strain it is: put a coffee filter inside a strainer and put it in a bowl. Pour the yogurt or curdled milk through the coffee filter and leave it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. You get "cheese"in the filter and whey in the bowl.
Now I am wondering how this would taste with chammomille tea. Or if I could make it fizzy by using something a little more "live" than just raw milk. Well, I have a yogurt experiment sitting in the sun outside. And in a few months my ginger should be ready to harvest, so I can make ginger ale. Good stuff. Love ta hear about your cooking experiments!

Kitten Wars!

2010-05-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

If you are anything like my little sister (go ga-ga over anything cute, especially kittens) you will love kitten wars! It is a website where there are two cat pictures and you vote on which one is cuter. You do this until you're bored. There seems to be an endless supply of matches.
http://kittenwars.com

Random little things . . .

2010-05-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a long time! I turned 16 over a month ago and I haven't posted since then. I had a chocolate chip cookie cake and my parents made the candles say 10000 (16 in binary!) which was so cool. And I got a huge bag of Lincoln wool to spin. It was from a sheep named Mary Todd. I made a PVC niddy-noddy and dyed some yarn red with Kool-Aid. Now I am trying to knit a simple lace shawl but keep messing up. Ugh!
A couple days ago I had a sleep-deprived EEG and an MRI. Luckily I fell asleep for the part of the MRI that scared me. I woke up and didn't have a needle in my arm anymore. Lucky me :) But I had to stay up all night so the tests had better SHOW something! Please pray for me about that.
We've had a lot of heavy rain that killed my lettuce and severely damaged my radishes, but I planted new radishes, sweet potatoes and chamomille, and now when it's about to rain I cover the radishes and chamomille with garbage bags so they don't get waterlogged or uprooted. I wonder if I can try again with the lettuce in the fall, since it a cool-season crop?

The Raw Milk Debate Intensifies

2010-04-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

As I hear about how Wisconsin is trying to legalize raw milk, the other side seems to be fighting back tooth and nail. They launched a new anti-raw-milk website, which the WAPF advises not to look at. What I want to know is, if raw milk is already so hard to come by because pasteurized milk is the social norm, what does the factory-farm-loving government have to fear? I mean, think about it. The government is also very pro-evolution, or at least it seems that way. So, then, whatever happened to survival of the fittest? If raw milk kills all the 'idiots' who drink it, then won't the 'sensible' pasteurized-milk-drinkers proliferate, leaving all the raw-milk-drinkers dead and gone? But they don't seem to think that way, do they? Which, in my opinion, shows much inconsistency on their part. People can be SO illogical.
Unless, that is, they have something to hide. Like they're in cahoots with ConAgra, maybe, and are only pertending to care about our health. If that is so, then I have to hand it to them. They are very deceptive and almost had us convinced. Maybe we are just a little too smart for them. Maybe it's the raw milk . . . just kidding?

Adventures in spining: cotton balls!

2010-04-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

So I figured out some tips for spinning cotton and spun some that came from a vitamin bottle. Now I bought two 200-pc bags of cotton balls for $4.24 at Walgreens. Two cotton balls makes this much yarn!

How to make a free item

2010-04-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

I am fascinated by the concept of transforming free or very cheap materials into usable items. With this I made a dish scrubby, crocheted from 2-ply handspun cotton (it came with a bottle of vitamins) and 'yarn' made of plastic mesh bags. I don't know how effective this tiny scrubby will turn out to be, but if it's a total flub, who cares? The materials were free, and the work was enjoyable.

A Beginner's Triangle Loom Mistake

2010-03-24T17:06:00.000-07:00

As soon as I saw a description and picture of a triangle loom, I wanted one. Who wouldn't, when you can do the warp and weft at the same time, and make shawls? It wouldn't matter how small the loom was, as triangles tessalate (they can be sewn together into a big triangle). And if I used handspun yarn, it could be an artisan craft! And the best part is, although they are quite expensive, you can make your own out of cardboard.
The cardboard instructions called for pins and a large piece of cardboard. I used a small piece of cardboard and toothpicks, yes, you got that right, TOOTHPICKS. Yes, my dreamy yet ever-frugal mind was convinced that every recipe, every pattern, can be modified. Well, let's just say it was a disaster. And did that stop me? No, of course not! I had to try making one of nails and a double-layer of cardboard. That was an even bigger disaster. The nails just popped out all over the floor. But finally, I managed to procure a $3 wood rectangle from Hobby Lobby, and Mom helped me put in nails. After my first attempt at weaving, it became clear that something was wrong. And then I realized that I had too many pegs in the hypotenuse! But finally, I got it right, and the picture below was the result. The picture at the top of the page is of what I made: a triangle that, when taken off the loom and pulled on the ends, made a BUTTERFLY! Now if I can only find a magnet to stick on the back, I'll be in business. Meanwhile, I will try more, using instructions for thicker triangles and weaving in the ends properly. But isn't it neat how mistakes can turn out with something cute? Well, at least every ONCE in a while . . .

Foraging fun - shotweed!

2010-03-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

I saw a lot of plants growing in my apartment complex that looked suspiciously edible. I thought they might be chickweed. So I brought a sample into the house and compared them with images of chickweed. Well, nope. Not chickweed. But I still didn't give up. I googled "edible plants" and came up with the answer - shotweed! So I picked a bunch, pulled the leaves off the stems, and washed them. They are apparently related to mustard and have a pleasant, bitter, spicy taste. Even my veggiphobic brother tried a leaf (he said he would eat it if he was starving, but only then). All parts of the dandelion plant, young plantain leaves and many other plants are edible. So next time you weed your yard - think twice before throwing ALL the weeds in the compost!
This post is a part of Fight Back Friday, hosted by Food Renegade.

No more GAPS!

2010-03-19T16:20:00.001-07:00

As you all probably know, I was on the GAPS diet. Well, despite the health claims for this diet, my mother thought my diet was too limited and was causing electrolyte imbalance/magnesium defeciency. So I added raw milk and buckwheat to my diet. And they didn't make me sick at all! Quite the opposite in fact, which makes me wonder why diets this restrictive are promoted as healthy.
But I can't blame the GAPS diet. I can only blame myself, since I was not eating meat, broth, or dairy. Maybe I would have been perfectly healthy if I was drinking a cup of broth a day, as recommended. But I'm not so sure. I don't know why the GAPS diet tricked me like this. I thought I felt so much better! Well, my current theory is that I felt better on GAPS because I was eliminating gluten. I still try to avoid gluten, but honestly? Sweet potatoes make me feel healthy, not sick! Maybe the GAPS diet is good for some people; and I am simply not one of them.

Spring has sprung!

2010-03-13T09:21:00.000-08:00

Daffodil shoots are coming up. Birds are flying north. And I already have some parsley and tomato seedlings started. I also planted lettuce in a cake pan outside, but it has yet to come up. But it is pretty obvious, in my opinion, that spring has sprung!

On what planet is THIS cruelty free?

2010-03-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

Apparently, scientists have proposed a "solution" to animal suffering in factory farms. They will genetically modify the animals' brains so they cannot feel pain. This way, they can torture the animals all they want and still label their meat "cruelty free". On what planet is this not cruel?
Seriously. I looked up "cruelty" in the dictionary and came up with one of the definitions being "causing injury". On WHAT planet is genetic modification of the brain in a hugely unnatural way NOT an injury? I mean, there are rare cases of children being born without the ability to feel pain. Know what happens to them? By adolescence they are covered in scars! So really the inability to feel pain is a disease in of itself, right?
What I don't understand is why people keep trying to come up with new ways of doing things that cause more problems than the old ways EVER did. Why engineer cows to NEED grain when the old cow breeds do perfectly well on grass (which, unlike grain, we can't eat)?
Sigh . . . I guess some people just never learn.

Food Renegade - win a sprout tray!

2010-02-16T10:44:00.000-08:00

Food Renegade is giving away a 3-tray stackable sprout garden from Cultures for Health. Click here to enter.

Cheap therapy

2010-02-15T15:37:00.000-08:00

There is a great website called http://www.craftbits.com/. It has a whole section devoted to "therapy crafts", which usually means just games with music and balloons and tea parties. But two of the ideas are absolutely wonderful and I just had to share.
The first one is a stress ball/yoyo. It is made by filling a balloon with flour, birdseed (haven't actually tried the birdseed) or a mixture of flour and water. Then you cut the neck off another balloon and stuff the first balloon in. This is a great stress ball. Make it a stress yoyo by tying and holding secure with tape a piece of thin elastic. THIS CRAFT ROCKS! I made one with just flour for my friend, with a cute crocheted smiley face drawstring bag. Then I made one with flour and water for myself. It is also a yoyo. If you have a trampoline, you can fling your stress ball yoyo at it and if you are watching anyone else do it, you can see the ball go splat and then return to its shape! It is very fun.
The other craft idea was to fill a balloon with 1/2 cup soil, 1/4 cup water, and some radish seeds. Use a funnel to fill the balloon, and then blow up the balloon. Hang it from the ceiling. You now have a miniature greenhouse! I just started one today, but I used sprout mix seeds instead of radish. Hope it works!

Aspies in the media

2010-02-12T06:37:00.001-08:00

In the autism community, I hear a lot of complaints about how people with Asperger syndrome are depicted in the media. A TV show will try to introduce an aspie character, but they will follow some stereotypes, such as lack of emotion. But here's what I have to say about all that: characters meant to have Asperger syndrome depict stereotypes. Indeed they do. I am in total agreement. But what about those odd people whom everyone loves? Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter? Flint from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs? (Isn't that such a cute movie?) The list is endless. Of course, these characters weren't created with a diagnosis of Asperger's in mind. But it seems that most people can relate to them; they are lovable. Maybe the producers only had nerdiness in mind, but what are the "nerds" of the 80s other than undiagnosed Aspies? So it is my opinion that if you try to make a character fit the criteria for an Asperger's diagnosis, you screw up horribly. But if the character is simply socially awkward in a lovable way, I don't think you can go too far wrong. It is these "hidden aspies" that, in my opinion, add depth to movies and TV programs.

My hen and chicks looks sad . . .

2010-02-06T13:06:00.000-08:00

I was getting worried. My hen and chicks looked like it was bolting. Then I was overjoyed to find out that that meant it would flower, produce offspring, and then die. But the stalk came off and now it looks so sad. Do you think there's any hope?

Helping Haiti in little ways

2010-01-29T06:40:00.000-08:00

It seems that everyone is wanting to help Haiti since the earthquake. When I got on Ravelry looking to see if there was any charity accepting items made with cotton yarn
(I got it for Christmas), I found that there were already groups set up that were trying to help Haiti. There ARE charities accepting cotton washcloths, which put my cotton to good use. Also someone is collecting toys for the children in Haiti, and I said I would help. This led me to make the most ADORABLE knitted bunny using sock techniques. Isn't it cute?

Coconut rocks!

2010-01-29T06:29:00.000-08:00

I got a GREAT recipe through the GAPShelp list. It claims to be from 'Cocoyo' but I googled 'Cocoyo' and nothing came up. Oh well. Here is the recipe:
5 cups boiling water
3 cups unsweetened dried coconut
1 tablespoon honey
Bring water to a boil. Add coconut and let it simmer. Turn off heat and let it cool to room temperature. Blend in the blender with the honey. Add culture and put in yogurt maker for 8-12 hours. If you use a nondairy starter then this recipe is completely dairy free. It tastes like yogurt, but it is coconutty and good. Also you don't strain the fiber out, but that just improves the texture.
I had heard that milk kefir grains would ferment any nondairy milk substitute, including coconut milk, but had never tried it. But since dairy kefir gives me a stomachache (despite being made from raw milk), I thought I would try making coconut kefir. The result? It takes two days to get nice and sour, but once it gets that way it has a distinct kefir flavor. It seems more sour than the dairy version, but that is to be expected. The fiber is still in there, so it sort of reminds me of sauerkraut. To be honest, it is not the most thrilling thing to eat . . . BUT it doesn't give me a stomachache! Which means the only dairy I am eating is ghee. Which is fine as long as I can have my coconut! While the kefir grains are not busy fermenting coconut, I let them sit in the fridge in milk. Oh, and if you make a batch of the coconut mixture, if you turn it into kefir you will have leftovers, which makes a great milk substitute! FYI: If you strain the fiber out, you will not get much milk because the fiber absorbs water like crazy!

Oops . . .

2010-01-29T06:27:00.000-08:00

I just found out that rutabagas are not GAPS legal. I wonder why. They are allowed on SCD. Does this mean I have to change my blog's name again?

Please pray for me . . .

2009-11-05T12:42:00.001-08:00

I got my Haldol increased and have been so tired I can barely function for part of the day. It doesn't seem to be working (except for putting me to sleep so I can't be hearing voices). Today I feel better, but I keep being confused, thinking I am evil, etc. I feel sorry for my family who has to deal with all this. But there is something comforting, which is that mental illness is physical and not spiritual. That is a very comforting thought. And now I think I will knit on my sweater for awhile. Sorry, I just needed to vent. But please pray for me.

Neurological weirdness . . .

2009-10-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

After coming back from a scout campout, my brain started to do funny things. First, I was hugging my dad goodnight, and suddenly ran away because I thought he was a creepy guy. Next, I threw my favorite stuffed bunny named Rutabaga across the room, and felt as though I would vomit should I eat a rutabaga. Isn't that weird?
Sometimes I don't understand why my brain does these things. I know it's part of the schizophrenia, and I know I should be grateful for not hearing voices, but still, it's hard. Sometimes I think the GAPS diet isn't working, or is pointless, or isn't worth it. But I know that's not true, because it is most likely thanks to the GAPS diet that I am not hearing voices. Not to mention my crappy medications and God's mercy.
At least I survived church today. I was worried. I learned that St. Dymphna is an intercessor for mental illness. I try to ask for her prayers. That is neat, I think.

Mahna Mahna

2009-10-12T06:48:00.000-07:00

This is FUNNY! It is apparently part of a Sesame Street episode from the 60s.
Here is the Muppet Show version:
Click here
Enjoy!

Foraging fun - crabapples!

2009-10-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

There are two crabapple trees growing in my apartment complex, and it is hard to resist going 'crabapple picking'. Yesterday I did just that, and laboriously chopped up the apples to make applesauce.(This is not for the faint of heart. But it is worth it in my opinion!) A batch of coconut-crabapple muffins is in the oven even as we speak, a strange combination of local/foraged food and imported tropical food. :)
This blog post is part of Fight Back Fridays.

Handspun Neckwarmer (no button yet)!

2009-10-06T15:18:00.001-07:00

Here it is, the first knitted thing from my handspun:

Ginger update

2009-10-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

My ginger plants are doing great! There are two shoots, each about 4 inches high, with leaves! I wish I could post pictures, but I can't get the camera working. Look on Google Images for 'ginger plants' and shrink what you see way down for an approximation. I am still hoping the third one will send up a shoot - there is an increasingly swollen sprout. Don't you just love watching things grow?

Adventures with socks

2009-10-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

I used to think I was hopeless with double pointed needles. But once I got so bored I tried, and ended up with a cute baby hat (even though it was acrylic . . . blecch). Now I can knit socks, and since this blog is lacking in pictures, I thought I would post some. My first socks:

More socks:

Here is my yarn!

2009-10-04T17:15:00.001-07:00

Coconut flour pizza crust

2009-10-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

I got this pizza recipe from Grain-Free Foodies, then tweaked it a little based on what I had on hand. It turned out a little fall-aparty, but was still good. Here is the recipe I used. Go to Grain-Free Foodies for the original.
2 eggs
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup kefir
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 clove garlic, crushed
I would have used the teaspoon of salt but left it out because I couldn't find it. Anyway:
Beat the eggs, then beat in other ingredients. Spread out the dough thinly on a pizza pan. Pre-bake for about 20 minutes (it may take more or less time, but you want a stiff crust). Top with sauce, cheese (or not) and your favorite toppings (I used mushrooms). Bake until the cheese is melted or until the veggies are crisp, or until the crust is completely done. Take out of the oven. Eat. This crust is, in my opinion, more like a thin-crust grain pizza than the almond flour one, despite being not quite as tasty. But almonds don't seem to do so well for me, so this one works great.
Note: The original recipe called for coconut milk. I didn't have any on hand so used kefir. I don't know how it would taste with coconut milk, but kefir makes for a sour crust. But that's what you use if you want to avoid dairy completely. Of course if you are not doing GAPS but would like to try this you could use fresh milk.
This blog post is part of Fight Back Fridays, hosted by Food Renegade

Spun my first skein!

2009-09-30T13:05:00.001-07:00

It was actually a few weeks ago, and I did a crappy skein that I had to unravel first, but you can see it on my Ravelry page by looking for starzo11's stash. (Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to post the picture and I don't know if this will work for non-Ravelry members.) It is purple and very slubby. But I am working on a better one.

My ginger plants

2009-09-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

I was grating ginger for a recipe and noticed the ginger was sprouting. So, knowing me, I planted it. Now it is sending up little green shoots of which I will post a picture as soon as I can figure out how to hook up the camera to the computer! I am so excited. Oh, and the spider plants are making babies too!

Changing my blog

2009-09-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

It's as simple as this: I decided it was time for a change.
When I first created this blog I thought it was cool to have Asperger Syndrome, so I called the blog "Aspies are Cool".
But now I wonder: how can a neurological impairment be "cool"? That just doesn't make any sense.
So I changed my blog to something that better reflects the real me: Rutabaga Girl.
Why that? For one thing, I think that 'rutabaga' is a funny word. And I like funny things. Actually, I think 'rutabaga' is my favorite word. And they are crunchy and delicious. I just thought I should explain why the name of my blog suddenly changed.

GAPS "Pumpkin" muffins

2009-09-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

I modified the coconut banana muffin recipe to use 1 cup acorn squash in place of the bananas, and added cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves for seasoning. They came out delicious! Here is the recipe:
Beat 6 eggs and 1/4 cup each of honey and coconut oil or melted butter. Add 1 cup each of mashed squash and coconut flour. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Make as muffins for 20-25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Enjoy!

12 year old girl speaks against abortion

2009-08-26T16:48:00.001-07:00

Here is a link to a great video on a girl who QUOTES HORTON (!!!)) in her speech against abortion. Seriously, it's worth seeing.

Contemplate this . . .

2009-08-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

Why is it that raw milk is either illegal or has to be sold under the label of 'pet food', yet raw meat, which is NOT well-known for having antimicrobial substances to go with its microbes, is legal? Meat is always sold raw, because you are expected to cook it. So why not milk? The FDA could advise everyone to pasteurize their own milk, and smart people who don't trust the FDA wouldn't listen.
Okay, I know this is highly unrealistic. But I am just making a point, really. Seriously, why is it so hard to get nutritious raw milk, yet so easy to get questionably safe raw meat?

Food Renegade - win free starter cultures!

2009-08-19T15:25:00.000-07:00

Click here to enter to win starter cultures, including kombucha, sourdough, and water kefir!

An easy GAPS breakfast

2009-08-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

Here is an easy GAPS-friendly breakfast: almond pancakes. Whisk with a fork an egg and some almond meal. I never measure it, but about enough to halfway fill a small bowl. I suppose you could also add honey and/or salt, but I haven't tried this. Put some coconut oil in a small skillet and cook as 2 small or 1 large pancakes. You may need to press down with a spatula after flipping. Serve with butter and/or nut butter and/or honey.

Delicious GAPS coconut muffins!

2009-08-09T13:08:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe on the internet, and modified it to make it absolutely GAPS legal.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If you don't have fresh bananas on hand, thaw a couple frozen ones in the following manner:
Put the frozen bananas in a bowl. Put the bowl in a bowl of hot tap water. When one side gets mushy, flip. Ta-da! A microwave free banana thawing solution!
While the oven is preheating and the bananas are thawing (of course you may not need to thaw if you have fresh ones), whisk 6 eggs (yes, you heard me, half a dozen!) in a mixing bowl. Whisk in 2 tbsp each of butter and coconut oil (I successfully used all butter, so I bet you could use all coconut oil as well if you needed non-dairy) and milk (I used water and they turned out just fine). Also add 3 tbsp of honey, 1/8 tsp of salt, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla. (I left out the vanilla because I didn't know the ingredients, and they came out just fine.) Stir in the bananas and 1 cup of coconut flour. Grease 12 muffin cups with coconut oil and bake (for around 20 minutes, I guess). Makes 12 muffins. Mom and I love them. Now if I could only get my brother to eat them . . .

Does everything have a use, perhaps?

2009-08-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

Did you ever have the notion that just maybe, everything is useful. It probably is because God is good. Anyway, I was reading a blog called GAPsters and found a use for that 'useless' weed plantain.
Plantain can be used as an itch remedy, apparently! Not that I have tried it, but according to the blog, you chop up the leaves and mix with olive oil for an itch remedy. But it gets better. If you get bitten by a mosquito or stung by a bee, and need an instant remedy, you can chew the leaf up, spit it out, and apply like a poultice. Isn't that neat?

No grains, no voices!

2009-07-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

After reading the Schizophrenia chapter in the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome, Mom told me not to eat grains. Since then (which has only been a few days) I have not heard voices. And I have yet to do the intro protocol! It is interesting how foods can affect someone's mind to this extent.

Win a free case of lacto-fermented salad dressing!

2009-07-29T16:16:00.000-07:00

Food Renegade posted this on her blog and there is a free giveaway. Just trying to spread the word (and possibly get an extra entry)!
Here is the link:Click here to go to Food Renegade and enter to win!

Obsessions, GAPS, and feeling blah . . .

2009-07-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

After reading the food renegade post on autism (that I told her about), Mom decided to order the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome. It tells you how to do the GAPS diet, which, for those of you familiar with both, is basically a Nourishing Traditions version of the SCD diet. It is so interesting I couldn't put it down and at night I couldn't wait till morning so I could read it more! This diet seems to be my only hope, as I am now on Haldol and no medication seems to work very well for me. Even Mom now admits that my meds stopped working when I made the switch from SCD to enzymes. So I just have to wait for Mom to read the book, which is fine, but depressing nonetheless. Sigh. And to top it all off, I read in the book that swimming pools are toxic chemical soups that are best avoided - just when our apartment pool opened, too! And there was me thinking swimming was a relaxing, therapeutic form of exercise . . . again all I can say is SIGH!

Soda tab Flowers

2009-06-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

I made these flowers by instructions I got off the internet . . . of course! But I had to modify them to make them work, as usual. So instead of crocheting the middle first, wound up crocheting the outside first, and then finishing like a flower on the KK flower loom. These are really easy and quick to make, provided that you have a lot of soda tabs on your hands!

Looms - not just for loops anymore!

2009-06-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

You can also use yarn instead of loops on a loom. I watched a video on someone's blog, so you should be able to find it if you google the right words . I have now warped the loop and in a few minutes will be weaving while I listen to a book on tape. Have fun weaving!

Loom loops - not just for looms anymore!

2009-06-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

I bought a plastic loom with a metal hook and a bag of cotton loops for just over $5 at Hobby Lobby. I made my parents several potholders and then got bored. So I was surfing the web and found a web site called makingfriends.org which has all sorts of cheap, nifty craft ideas. Using a technique called 'finger weaving' which a friend had already taught me how to do with yarn years ago, you can make everything from scrunchies to jump ropes to belts to rugs with loom loops. It rocks! My friend and I made each other scrunchies, and I am working on either a jump rope or a rug(Hopefully a rug). By the way, if you are out of loops, you can cut up old socks. I wouldn't know whether or not to reccomend for potholders, but they work for finger weaving!

Service Dogs

2009-06-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

I knew that service/therapy dogs existed for autistic children, but apparently now people are starting to realize that they can also be of benefit for the mentally ill. They are called Psychiatric Service Dogs, and can apparently do such things as prevent the owner from engaging in compulsive behaviors, comforting the owner/bringing him out of depression, etc. It is all very interesting.

Silly Me

2009-06-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

I bought a Knifty Knitter flower loom for $4.99 at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I immediately tried to make a turtle with it, and found that one of the pegs came out. After some experimenting, I found out that ALL the pegs came out. So I thought about gluing them in, but we were out of Superglue. So I posted on Ravelry, a great site, about it, and within less than an hour I got a response: the pegs are MADE to come out for easy flower removal. Sometime I might glue the pegs in, but for now I use tissue to secure them.

A Joyful Activity

2009-06-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

Last night we had knitting at someone's house who had a dog. We knitted outside. The dog's name is Barley and is very fun to play with. I chased him, he chased me, and we had a great time. My asthma didn't even bother me too much. The dog owner says running around is his favorite game, and said thank you for wearing him out. I felt happier than I had felt in a long time. Sometimes I think that if I had a dog, I would have no need for antidepressants - although I know it isn't true. Sigh . . .

SCD alternatives

2009-05-09T15:49:00.000-07:00

I have been feeling stressed out about going to camp lately. It would be a great spiritual experience, but would mean temporarily going off the SCD, which is NOT a good idea, from what I have heard. Good cause for stress and conflict, huh?
I finally came up with a good compromise - enzymes. My hopes are that the enzymes will enable me to go to camp, go off the SCD, and be healthier without all the fuss of eating different meals. I could, however, use your prayers. Thanks!

Delicious Stage 1 muffins!

2009-05-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

I was looking at a blog called "The SCD girl and her kid" and it has some awesome recipes that anyone early on SCD should try. Included was a recipe for carrot pancakes, which I had made before instead of squash pancakes. There was also a recipe for muffins. It called for 2 cups pureed fruit of veggie, so I used 1 cup each of applesauce and mashed carrots. I used the eggs, honey, and coconut oil, but omitted the cinnamon and vanilla. Best grain free muffins without nuts I ever tasted!

Church for the Neurogically Impaired

2009-05-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else with neurological problems such as autism or schizophrenia have difficulty with church? I know I do. Of course our church is liturgical, which is nice but is practically a recipe for sensory overload.
Today, at church, I kept feeling angry and frustrated for no reason, hitting myself and stomping my feet. At one point I even tried to crawl under the pew. I was quite embarassed afterwards, but what can you do?
In the end, my dad had to take me out and I ended up sitting with Mom in the choir loft. Then I was fine.
What could this be? How can I be having problems in one part of church and not in another? The only real factor was that my sister wasn't in the choir loft. She was bothering me. I feel so guilty for being bothered, which is an ongoing problem for me. And all I can do is trust God to forgive me.

A trip to Farmer's Market

2009-05-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

This morning my mother and I went to farmer's market. Or I should say one farmer's market, because it can't be the only one! There was nice fiddle music playing and we found local honey, eggs, beef, and lard! These things are hard to get. We also got vegetables and basil and cilantro to plant in pots, which I did. It was overall charming, and I commented: "This is how shopping should be!"

Yay! I'm back to spinning newspaper!

2009-05-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

I figured out the secret to spinning newspaper. It's all in the joining. You simply hold the unspun strands together and then twist them. So now I am back to spinning newspaper.

The $500 Question for Today

2009-05-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

People frequently make health claims for the 'Paleo diet'. This is supposedly the diet we evolved to eat, as hunter-gatherers, and is incedentally grain-free.
But what if you don't believe in evolution? What if you believe that God created everything around the same time, and that He taught humans to farm? What if the 'diseases of civilization' are not from civilization itself but from an unbalanced diet? It was my mother who brought up these questions, incidentally.
I do not believe that diseases of civilization do not exist, but I also do not think that cavemen were completely healthy, seeing as how they starved half the time, or at least many of them did. I think diseases of civilization are caused by newer things, such as pesticides and antibiotics. Not farming.
There is evidence that antibiotics and vaccines can cause autism. You can make an argument on either side, but I stand in the middle. I think that vaccines and/or antibiotics can make an autistic condition worse, where it may not have manifested otherwise. I also think that not all forms of autism are alike, and that the 'autism epidemic' may be from different things such as antibiotics, vaccnes, all combined with industrial food. But I am not a certified health specialist, so I cannot say for sure.
So maybe we would all be perfectly healthy if we ate properly processed, organic food and everything was in moderation. Maybe if the doctors didn't shove antibiotics at you to make you go away, there would be fewer cases of autism. Maybe if everyone prepared their grains properly and there was no such thing as packaged, processed junk, there would be no need for grain-free diets that are necessary for healing in some people. This is just a theory, but maybe. Just maybe.

Why I am on the SCD diet

2009-05-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

First you might ask "What is the SCD diet?" So first I will answer that. SCD is Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and the basic idea is that the only food you eat is easy to digest, so it doesn't feed bad microbes in your gut that cause brain problems. This means no grains, no sugar, and no starches (potatoes, tapioca, arrowroot . . .). Also the only dairy allowed is lactose-free. It has recently been approved as a treatment for autism and there is evidence that it can help schizophrenia. So what is there to lose?
I have been on this diet before for 'autistic' symptoms because I just felt awful. But after only a few months, I had a major psychotic break, was hospitalized and diagnosed with catatonic schizophrenia, and taken off the diet. I was soon back on the GFCF diet because I felt drunk when I ate gluten. But going back on the SCD diet was not the plan - until a friend of my mother's went on it. Mom flipped through the book, and before I said good night, I mentioned:
"You know, when I was on that diet, my brain and my tummy felt way better."
So now I am back on the SCD diet and all I am eating is meat, eggs, carrots, bananas, honey and Welch's grape juice. Do I feel deprived. No. Apart from occasional sweet cravings, I feel sorry for everyone else when I see the junk they are putting into their bodies. Not all of them are, so I am not trying to be judgemental. I just want to feel my best. And this is how I do it. It may not be the same for everyone, but this is what works for me.

A Spinning Misadventure

2009-05-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

So I asked for a spindle and some wool for my birthday present. The pair of spindles finally came in the mail. I had checked out a library book on handspinning, and it mentioned recycled fibers such as blue jean cotton or wool mixed with recycled plastic bottles. I wanted to see if these fibers were cheaper than wool, which can be pricey. So I searched and searched, and all the recycled fibers were at least as expensive as wool, if not more. Finally I stumbled across a website on making 'newspaper yarn'. I looked at the instructions and theoretically, all you had to do was cut newspaper into strips, twist it to make a leader, and twist the strips together with a spindle. Did it work?
No, of course not? The paper kept breaking. So that was the end of my 'new project enthusiasm'. I do admire the person who managed to pull it off though, and would be grateful for tips! So I will try not to be too pessimistic and wait to get some wool to spin.