Fall Is Around The Corner

Happy September everybody!! 

We've been having some rain lately.  Our tally from Isaac was almost 3 inches.  So that was nice.  And not a single gully washer!!  ;-)  There's talk of more rain in the forceast tonight and tomorrow.  Yay!

Everything is greening up nicely again.  Seems odd that normally, at this time of year, everything is turning brown and getting ready for fall.  What's "normal" anymore anyway?  :-P

For DH's birthday and our 31st anniversary this past week we were gifted with some money from DH's parents--and I have gleefully already spent my share of the booty!!  I was wanting to put in some fruits and ornamentals in a few of the limited spots that need some TLC around our place.  We miss our blackberries, raspberries, apples and peaches from the old place and wanted to try to stuff a few things in here at the new place.  I was searching for a small, disease resistant apple tree and discovered a new source of admiration and desire!!...

I bought (pictures are all from their website)...

Liberty Apple Tree

Small tree

Disease resistant

Crisp, sweet and tart.

Self pollinating!!

Perfect!

Elderberry Combo

2 different types for pollination.

Not only are the berries my heart's desire but

the leaves can be dried and crushed to put on

squash plants to repel Squash Bugs!  Yippee!!

Ours at the old place would have bore properly this year.

Dwarf Sand Cherry

Interesting history: A treat for the Westward

Pioneer as they crossed the Prairies.

Pink Rosa Rugosa

I've been wanting some of these for a long time

for those large, edible hips.  :-)

Mixed Butterfly Bush

Sadly, the one that Son #3 bought me for Mother's

Day a few years ago died after I dug it up when we

moved.  :-(

Chinese Wisteria

I've been wanting one of these vines for awhile but

have been afraid of how they can run wild.

I'll have to give it a go and hopefully it'll be

spectacular!

The prices were fantastic!!!  I'm going to go bonkers waiting for them to ship in November though!  :-)  My order qualified for 2 free trees so I'm hoping we'll get something wonderful!!  We shall see.  I'm excited!

Aside from this I am trying to figure out where to plant my fall garden and WHAT to plant.  I saw a neat idea on Pinterest for using an old trampoline frame for a garden coldframe/greenhouse.

The tutorial was at HowDoesShe but I didn't have any luck

getting to it.  I'm surethat DH can figure out how to design it 

easily--It's what he does.  :-)

(when he's having a good

day and isn't doing something else!)

But isn't this cool?!?!

If we decide to do this I will certainly post about it!

Fall is my most absolute favorite time of year!!  So much to do!  How about you?  Do you have any fall dreams or projects in mind?

A Birthday Gift From "Nature"

As I was wandering through my gardens yesterday evening I noticed that some of the tomatoes I had been keeping my eye on (and hoping that they would be ready for my birthday!) had indeed ripened--a couple of my Indigo Rose and some of the little volunteer hybrids (though they have remained true to the storebought parent) that Daughter #3 grew herself.  Then, to my surprise, there were some of the Chocolate Cherry tomatoes ready too.  Yippee!!!  What a delightful birthday present!!  We have never harvested tomatoes of any type this early--EVER.  So I'm super excited!  And there are gazillions more on the vines biding their time too.  I'm looking forward to a bumper crop this year!

The red tomatoes are my daughter's hybrid offspring.

The purple tomatoes to the left are the Indigo Rose (7 and 8 oclock positions).

The smaller ones are the Chocolate Cherry tomaotes.

They were totally delicious!!!  :-)

I have my 5 quart crockpot full of cucumbers culturing in brine that I will have to move to quart jars (and into the refigerator) tomorrow.  Another batch will take it's place.  I hope to be able to do at least this same amount weekly for the duration of summer and fall.  I haven't tried one of the pickle slices yet but the brine is extremely tasty!!!  I will try to post pictures in the next day or two.

More Garden Stuff

Seeds are happily stratifying...

Do you see my heirloom pumpkin to the back left

of this picture?  I STILL have not got around to

processing it (it's so pretty!).  And that's not all.

I have another one (plain orange) in the schoolroom

too that needs processing. 

(blush!) 

I'd like to pause time for a week (or month)

and just catch up on everything I'm behind on!!

I won these beauties on eBay. 120 seeds of Wisconsin heirloom pickling cucumbers. I've never grown the black spiny kind before. I've read lots of good things about them. Fingers crossed!!

I'm starting to go through my seeds to take inventory. So many seeds I'd like to buy but alas, no money. I will do whatever I have to do to buy these though...

Indigo Rose Tomatoes from Territorial Seed Co.

Oh!!  These are so exciting!!

Perhaps I should rename my blog "Heritage Homestead GARDEN Ramblings". ;-)

Time to Start Stratifying Seeds

I was reminded today that I needed to get my seeds stratifying--which basically means to put them through a winter of sorts.  To read about how to do it you can go here.  Some years I remember to do this but most years I forget until it's too late!!  By happy chance I came across a reminder today!!  :-)  Since we've moved I will be starting all over with many of the perennials that I had at the other place.

So here's what I'm going to put into the fridge for some chilling...

Amado Coneflower
Joe Pye Weed
Munstead Lavender
White Japanese Rose (rosa rugosa)
Valerian
Stinging Nettles

I will be planting inside shortly...

Precoce D' Argenteuil Asparagus
Naranjilla (a tropical garden berry)
Victoria Rhubarb
Australian Brown Onion
Red Burgundy Onion
Southport Red Globe Onion

The Onions will grow to be sets to place in the garden later this spring.  I've never grown onions from seed before so this ought to be interesting.  :-)  I'm also planning to sow some Stevia and grow it as a houseplant.  I've tried sowing it before and it never grew so we will see what happens.

A gardener's work is never done!!

I'm Still Here... Barely :-)

Not a lot of time for the computer nowadays.  Still unearthing, sorting, packing and moving a lifetime's worth of accumulations for a family of 12.  Why are we such packrats anyways??  You'd think that I grew up in the Great Depression or something!! 

It's looking like we will be able to stay in this place for another couple of months (which is a good thing with the snails pace at which I'm getting things done!) but we're hoping to be totally moved by the first part of June.  Hopefully it's not just wishful thinking.  Seems like everytime I'm getting somewhere some distraction comes along.  But such is life--well, mine anyway.

Here's the latest additions to our family...

There are

• 5 Americanas (Easter Egg Chicken): green, blue, or pinkish colored eggs
• 5 Golden Laced Wyandottes: brown eggs
• 5 Welsummers: dark brown speckled eggs

All are pullets (females: hens) ordered from Cackle Hatchery.  Or at least they are supposed to be.  Sometimes we get a cockerel (male: rooster) by mistake.  But if we don't end up with a male I'll have to go to our local farm supply store and buy one.  We like the protection they give to the hens and want our eggs to be fertilized. 

We've had them for a few days now and they're doing great!!  We love having chickens.

On a health note...
As if I didn't have enough trouble with my blood sugar (keeping it down), I've been worried lately about Son #3 keeping his high enough.  Hypoglycemia and diabetes both run in our families (and usually go hand in hand at different stages of life). 

He gave me quite the scare yesterday!!  He and Daughter #2 were staying over at the Cousins house for the weekend and had went to WalMart.  Some of the Cousins were donating blood at the Mobile Red Cross site there and Son #3 was waiting for them when he got to feeling really lousy.  He decided to go into WalMart and buy a soda figuring that his blood sugar was too low.  Well sure enough!  He said he got in the door and woke up on the floor.  He said that there was no one around and he must have come out of it really quickly.  Sadly he busted up his chin and broke a tooth.  To do his momma proud, he refused to go to the hospital (stubborness, dislike of doctors, and lack of money appears to run in our family!).  My sister has a lot of good practical, hands on medical knowledge so I had her do a assessment to see how he was and she said that his chin could probably use stitches but he was refusing to go.  So they put some Tienchi Powder on the wound with some added liquid Band-aid.

He'll probably have to get some work done to the broken tooth soon.  It was in the back (probably weakened by a cavity) so it's not noticible.  I told him that he was very fortunate that he didn't bite of his tongue or something!!  (DH had a cousin who fell down and bit his tongue clean down the middle--longways.  Yeah, really.  Go figure!)

What a ham...

Happy Mother's Day!!!
We are not celebrating this year for various, personal reasons.  But I hope all of you have a wonderful Mother's Day!!

I'm hoping to be able to catch up on all the blogs that I follow soon!  I sure miss everybody!!  :-)

Falling off the Wagon...

Well, there I was--doing so well.  Yesterday I just felt off and checked my blood sugar after lunch and it was up to over 250.  Sigh.  Just was eating what I should be.  Go figure.  So I went and got my prescription renewed and took a pill.  Then I got aggravated and  frustrated and ate a piece of cherry pie!!  Sigh.  So today is a new day, right?  And what did I do?  I ate another piece of cherry pie this morning.  OK, so I'm mentally picking myself up off the floor, giving myself a good kick in the hind regions, and starting anew!! 

I've been working for some time to try to not "reward" or "punish" myself with food.  Many of us do.  Sometimes it's just this subconscious thing and we don't realize that we've done it until the damage is done.  I have many other enjoyable--or not so enjoyable--activities that I can use to reward/punish with so it's always kind of shocking when I catch myself after the fact.  Duh!  OK, so this is a new minute!!  :-)

Seeing Some Progress

Well, I didn't begin the Reversing Diabetes diet as soon as I had planned but I've begun and am seeing some progress all around.

• My fasting blood-sugar results were 148 this morning with not having had medication for several days now.  I ran out of pills and just ran with the whole thing. 
• My normal (most of the day) diarrhea from the medication is gone now.  Yippee!!
• Nausea from the medication is gone now.
• The pain that I had been having along the underside of my arms (started when I began taking the medication) is gone now.  I've had it before off and on even when I wasn't taking the meds but it was way worse while taking them.
• I'm exercising because I know it's part of the "program" and needs to be done since I have to get my blood-sugar lower--not relying on the meds to do all the work.
• I'm enjoying many of the "forbidden" carbs that I thought I couldn't have anymore.

There are still lots of things that I need to work on in working toward more healthful eating but I wanted to give a quick update.  I'll share some of what I'm doing when I have more time.  Also you can check out Dr. Whitaker's blog...

 http://blog.drwhitaker.com/blog/reversing-diabetes

Reversing Diabetes

 This is the new book that I am reading.  I'm not seeing real progress with what I was doing with Suzanne Somers Somersizing program and actually feeling worse with my blood sugars falling too low when I take my medicine as prescribed or seeing it creep too high when I "improvise".  My goal has always been to actually reverse the diabetes and get off the medication--so this book is really making me feel like I can do it.  Only thing is that it's the total opposite way that I eat.  It's high carb and low fat and low protein.  For this salt lovin carnivore it's a drastic change.  Conventional wisdom tells me that a high carb diet just isn't for a diabetic but the results that he gets from his patients...  Well I just gotta try it!!

I know it seems like I'm just kind of hopping from one thing to another but when you have a doctor who just tells you to be a good girl and do what he says and don't worry about any of it--when you know that there's a better way...  And I'm not one to go to the doctor anyway!  I've always tended to do things "my way".  So this is me just trying to get everything figured out and get on the path that will take me to my desired destination.  I've just hit some dead ends and construction along the way.

So on the 26th I plan to start this new way of eating and see if it works the way I hope that it will.  I'll be posting updates.

A Bit Frustrated

I confess that I've been a bit frustrated lately with my medication.  If I take my glyburide/metformin combo twice a day I have low blood sugar crashes and I'm forced to eat carbohydrates to keep my levels up.  If I take just one pill a day (usually at the noon meal) my blood sugar reading just kind of creeps up until I'm back to having to take 2 a day--until I start crashing again. 
I'd love to go to my dr. and try to get his input but he suffers from a "God complex" and finds it hard to believe that the average person could understand health issues without having been to medical school.  And I suppose I can see his reasoning since I was silly enough to get myself in this mess in the first place.  So I just kind of try working things out on my own until I'm forced to go in for a visit.

My next step is to cut my pills in half and take a half twice daily.

I'm still working on Somersizing and trying to combine my foods correctly eating mostly Pro/Fats.  I'll try to post some of the recipes I've been enjoying in the next few days.

Scrambled Eggs with Mushrooms and Onions

This is a great example of a low carb breakfast that I enjoy as often as I have time to make it...

Scrambled Eggs with Mushrooms and Onions
1 Serving

Ingredients...
1 Tablespoon butter divided in half
4 Baby Bella mushrooms
1/2 Medium onion
1 teaspoon Soy or Tamari  Sauce (optional)
3 eggs
Salt (optional)

Directions...
1) Slice mushrooms and onions and saute in 1/2 Tablespoon butter in a small nonstick or cast iron pan.
2) When nearly soft add the Soy or Tamari Sauce and cook a couple of minutes longer.
3) Remove from pan and reserve in a small bowl.
4) Add other 1/2 Tablespoon butter in pan and scramble the 3 eggs using a pinch of salt if desired.
5) Arrange eggs on plate and top with reserved mushrooms and onions.
Enjoy!!

This is more of a Somersizing (pro/fat) recipe and easy to tweak with more or less ingredients and other veggie additions possible.  I added a whole chopped tomato with a little salt (we use Real Salt) for a nice filling breakfast. 

Note:  Mushrooms are not a Biblically correct food.

An Update...

Lately I'm feeling like I'm getting a handle on this diabetes thing. I'm consistently remembering to take my meds and doing well with drinking enough water and eating well.

The doctor had prescribed a Glyburide/Metformin combo in August. I've been doing well on that except that I do get hypoglycemia more times a week than I'd like. This is not something that I want to be on forever as I fully intend for my health to improve. But for now it is working pretty good for me.

I'm pretty sure that my body is still producing insulin but my cells are resistant. I don't want to remain on the Glyburide for more than a few months as it causes your pancreas to secrete more insulin--and I certainly don't want to wear my pancreas out!

I'm hoping to try out the herbal remedy Gymnema (which is about a quarter of the price as the prescription medication I'm taking) in the next few months and see if that works as well. It would be nice if I could take that instead of having to rely on prescription drugs. It also helps to curb sugar cravings which I do get from time to time.

My diet tends to run pretty low-carb. I am attempting to incorporate the Schwarzbein Principle Diet into my life. I'm eating at least 3 "square" meals a day and usually have at least 2 snacks in there somewhere throughout the day. I've looked at Suzanne Somers Somersizing program but think that it's not the best option for me having diabetes. The Schwarzbein Principle will take longer for me to achieve weight loss but is more practical and feels more natural.

My adrenal glands are shot as well so I am working towards healing those too--trying to keep my stress low and get enough sleep are the small goals for now. It all takes time. I didn't get into this mess in a day and I won't get out that quickly either.

I'm hoping to post a "typical" days food plan and some recipes soon.

Full Moon Feast

I'm reading this wonderful book titled "Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection" by Jessica Prentice.

I am really enjoying the stories about how our ancestors ate and the connection to seasonal eating through the "monthly" moons. In my quest to eat a more traditional diet this is really helping me to feel the passion for growing my own food and preserving our abundance for winter using my dehydrator--a more traditional approach to preservation--rather than canning or freezing.

I am just so loving this book!!! :-)

The Schwarzbein Principle

Does anyone else find dietary advice on healthful eating confusing?  So many conflicting opinions on what is good and bad--to eat or not eat protein, which oils are good for your body and which aren't, who's diet plan to follow...  The list goes on and on.

Right now I am reading the book The Schwarzbein Principal: The Program

My goal, whenever I read a book, is to glean the information that is relevant to my situation and that matches up to the ideals that I hold to be true.

Much of this program speaks to my "traditional foods" frame of mind by encouraging you to eat foods that you can "pick, gather, milk, fish or hunt".  I believe that there is wisdom in living and eating as close to nature as possible.  My heart's desire is to prepare foods in the ways that our ancestors did before all of our modern convenience foods and gadgets.

However, I find that the recommended amounts of food to be a bit too high.  I cannot eat that much food and to "gag it down" seems like an affront to my body's wisdom.  As always I come back to the "moderation in all things" philosophy.  I'm not afraid to eat--and eat a lot.  I just have a hard time digesting so much food.

I bought the accompanying cookbook and look forward to using many of the recipes in the future.

A God of Second Chances

It wasn't long (perhaps only hours) after that extremely high blood sugar reading before my body was mourning the loss of my old, SAD (Standard American Diet) food.  The thoughts of withdrawing from caffeine, sugar and flour (refined carbohydrates), fried foods, fast foods, etc... were frightening to say the least.  I knew that I was harming myself by eating these foods and yet I would always tell myself that "I'll do better tomorrow".  Once you start down that dark path of poor eating it's hard to get back onto the right one.  Those foods are so highly addictive.

I remember praying for forgiveness and asking the Lord to give me a second chance while envisioning a miracle healing that would show readings on my meter to be below 100.  The Lord ignored my promises to do better and oaths of righteous eating.  :-)  It was so hard to envision life without that garbage (though for many years we've done without all of that food that had been working to kill me).  How in the world would I make it without at least a baked potato or bread for sandwiches?  I prayed and pleaded "Please Lord give me a second chance".  Then suddenly I realized He HAD given me a second chance.  Not the one that I was asking for, of course.  But I was alive, breathing and yes, hungry.  My second chance was to start over with foods that will heal my body.  God, in His infinite wisdom, had taken away the ability to abuse my body with bad foods--for which I am now so thankful.

I still have a very long way to go but I believe that all of this is ultimately for my good (Romans 8:28) and that I am now capable of following the path that the Lord will lead our family down.  I am finally free of the hold that those sugary, fatty and highly processed foods had over me.  I'm starting to feel like I can think again and my brain is not so fuzzy.

My next big hurdle to jump will be weaning my children off of this stuff.  It will be harder than weaning myself since there won't be the immediate life or death fear factor behind the effort.  It makes me sad to know how well we used to eat compared to how far we've fallen.  But with God's help we will accomplish the task since I know it is the right thing for us to do.

Life is Challenging

Just thought I'd pop in and give an update on what's been going on in our lives--the stuff that has kept me from blogging. :-)

DH had back surgery on July 22nd and is now 3 weeks into his recovery. For several weeks before the surgery he could hardly get out of bed for all of the pain he was experiencing. His only way of coping was the promise of surgery (and lots of pain meds that weren't helping like they used to). I have pretty much been his round-the-clock nurse for weeks now (...in sickness and in health, for better of for worse...). Fortunately he is mending nicely and working hard to not do too much. In fact he was able to clean the calcium deposits out of the hot water heater and replace the heating elements yesterday. Hooray!! So nice to see him happily busy again. My prayers have been answered!! For a Type A guy, being immobile and in pain is a REAL pain!! :-)


Unfortunately I've had my own health crisis as well. Over a month ago, after a stressful conversation with a family member I was feeling way, WAY too stressed out. I took some Tylenol PM before bed and slept for about 18 hours. When I got up I realized that I was starving and made a huge dinner of fried chicken and the works. After eating I felt really crummy. In fact I was feeling like I was about to die or something. A little voice whispered to my heart "check your blood sugar" and it turned out to be 521!!! I WAS about to die. I'd like to say that I went to the hospital and was treated and everything is groovy now but that's not how it went.

Everything is lots groovier now but it has been a lot of hard work of DIY insulin resistance self care. I fasted for 24 hours after that high reading and have went totally sugar free (meaning no sweeteners except for Stevia and a little Agave Nectar) and refined carbohydrates. At first I was totally raw for 2 weeks but being raw makes me lose my eyesight. After trying many times in the past to go raw and not being able to see after a week or so, I have had to accept that my body needs protein. So I added some meat into my mostly raw diet and within a couple of days was seeing definite improvement in my eyes (pun intended!).

My morning readings are now in the 170's and 180's as long as I don't cheat. I did go ahead and make an appointment with my doctor (whom I don't like). I see him on the 18th. I don't want to go right to insulin shots and hope that I can just do some form of pills. I'm confident that my blood sugar will continue to fall on it's own by adhering to my strict diet but I would like to eat an occasional "normal" meal without my readings shooting up into the 300s like it does now.

I have a lot of healing to do and am doing lots of research. Being into the traditional foods movement (which I haven't had the money in the past year to continue practicing--perhaps it may be why I'm having these problems) I am looking into the The Schwarzbein Principal. I've ordered some books and look forward to reading them.

Add all of this to daily life and it's pretty chaotic. I am working to care for my body and maintain way less stress in my life by praying and practicing contentment more. I had let myself get out of hand with my eating and feeling stressed--but that's in the past. I cannot let my past failures get to me. Every day is a new one and I have to be responsible now in a way that I formerly wasn't. In a way I am thankful for the new challenges to force me to be more than I am if I'm left to my own devices. That's just kind of the human way, isn't it? :-)

Lemon Tree Update

Last May I posted this picture of Daughter #3's Lemon Tree (grown from a lemon seed she planted when she was just a toddler) in bloom.

After a very long wait, here is what we were rewarded with. This lemon was really big and fragrant. There are couple more to harvest that are almost ready too.

I've been told that lemons from trees grown from seed are small and full of seeds. Not so in this case as you can see. Very juicy!! The flavor wasn't as strong as some lemons that I've eaten (yes, around our place we eat lemons!!) but still very tasty.

It would be nice if Daughter #3 enjoyed gardening a lot more because she has a very VERY natural green thumb (it's almost supernatural!!). So much so that I'm green with envy!! I have to work hard at growing things and they languish away under my care. I try so hard to achieve a small part of what just falls into her being. Sigh. It's a good thing that I love gardening!! ;-)