Twenty Babies

I am so fucking mad right now. I am shaking so hard I can hardly type. Twenty babies were killed today. Who are you blaming? The government for not having tighter gun control laws? The state for not helping its mentally ill citizens? One of the victims who was a "strict" mother?!?! When you point a finger, three are pointed back at you.

When will we all understand that we are doing this to ourselves? Some madman isn't just coming in a killing our children.

We are! WE! ARE!

Every fucking time we turn on that television, video game, or ipod touch to have some "me time" we are destroying a part of our childs' brain. Every time we don't feel like cooking and pick up fast food, we are destroying our childs' brain.

Do you let your child (CHILD!!!) play Black Ops? Halo? Your child? Your. Baby. Do you let them watch violence on TV in movies? Read it in books? Then not talk to them about it? We are doing this. To our own children.

On the rise: Cancer. Murder. Obesity. ADD. ADHD. Autism. Bi-polar disorder. Rape. Substance Abuse. VIOLENCE.

Take a stand for your children. Take a stand for yourselves.

We don't know what GMO's do to our bodies. Research barely knows.

We don't know much about what TV and video games do to our brains. Read some research not paid for by the Ad Council or Nielsen Ratings people. (The link is just one of many on the subject. This one is by Mary G. Burke, M.D., published in the Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter.)
       
"While watching VEM (visual electronic media), children are often left alone, and tend not to turn to their parent when scared. With more and more time spent in front of the screen, children have less opportunities to experience "inter-subjectivity." We have to be concerned that this loss impairs our children's empathy and capacity to form social relationships." Mary G. Burke, M.D. (The bold face was added by me.)

We don't know what all that junk food does to their developing brains. READ! Learn! We are responsible for this. I am responsible for this.

I am not a perfect parent. I yelled at the boys today. I fed them pizza. I will never be perfect, but I do not ever want to pick my CHILD up from school in a body bag and I don't want you to either.

We are responsible for this. We are responsible for letting our priorities be Snooky, Apple, Nike, NBA, NFL, Halo, Black Ops, McDonalds, Kraft, Coca-Cola, LaBron James, Lindsey Lohan, glorification of the Hunger Games, vampires.

Our real priorities are feeding our children food WE grow so WE KNOW! what it is grown in. Playing games with them. Gardening with them. Throwing snowballs with them. Going to their plays, concerts, poetry readings. Not fucking pulverizing their brains and deafening their ears with television. Not desensitizing their emotions violent video games and movies. Not medicating because it's the quickest way to get kids through the doctors office to keep HMO's happy.

Forty plus parents. Eighty plus grandparents. Countless brothers and sisters. And TWENTY babies. All suffering or dead. Families will be torn apart. The children left may be orphaned by proxy.

When will you take a stand and say NO MORE!?!?!?

With Fall

Fall at Lake Mary. I didn't take this picture, but you bet your bottom I will be out photographing this year. 

Here it comes; the inevitable change of the seasons. Fall is making it's way to Flagstaff and my brain is slowing down and I am looking inward. Watching the yellowing aspens twinkle in the sunlight, my thoughts are no longer on vacations and outings, but on my home and my family.

I feel like I received a great lesson in gardening in this climate and, next year, I should be able to harvest enough food to preserve, not just eat right away. I was able to preserve just a bit of basil from the farmers market, which will be mighty handy in the coming months. I am also freezing some hatched green peppers today to use when our winter needs a bit of warmth.

A few weeks ago, Tris, the boys and I collected about two cords of firewood and will be getting two more cords in the coming weeks. It was an amazing day that taught me how well our family works together. We were rewarded the next day with a movie treat. The family that works together, plays together. That's for sure.

Last weekend, we drove from our abode in Flagstaff, Arizona to Grand Rapids, Minnesota. More lessons on the road, for sure, but again we pulled together as a family and made the trip fun and somewhat leisurely. We went to Minnesota because Tris sister, my sister, Cassie, married her best friend, Clay. It was an amazing ceremony and one that Tris and I had dreamed up for ourselves. The perfect wedding, if you ask me. The love on the grounds of that camp must have been felt for miles away because my heart is still singing with it. Being with Tris's family can change a life. Being part of it is a blessing beyond measure.

I am looking forward to rosy cheeks, wet boots, knitting warm mittens and socks, wearing sweaters, sledding, snowball fights, splitting wood, collecting the fall harvest, learning to build cold frames, reading by the fire, hot chocolate, tea, warm soups, advancing my crockpot cooking skills, baking pumpkin pies from scratch, anything pumpkin really, and having friends visit.

Here are some recent pics:

After our wood collecting. Family is the best thing ever.

My loves and our one day haul...well part of it, nicely stacked and ready for splitting. 

Warm woolys I finally finished for Tris's birthday. Here's to more!

Some Garden Pics Because I Can

Cheery Cherries! Yum yum!

Pumpkin blossom. Nature is so perfect!

Top pumpkin: sugar pie. Bottom pumpkin: Jack-o-lantern.

Heirloom: Mr. Stripey

Heirloom: Green Zebra

This is the most updated picture of the summer veggie plot that I have. 

Fall Greens

I have been turning, working and enhancing the soil in our new fall greens plot for two days now. Let me tell you, nothing says sexy like the smell of rotting alpaca manure smeared all over your hands, legs, and feet!

I sowed seeds for peas, carrots, red lettuce, green lettuce, chard, kale, english breakfast radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, and celery.I think that's it. With the help of Jen at Native Plant and Seed, here in town, I chose all short season varieties. They are also organic and even some are heirloom, grown and harvested in Cornville, AZ. I will be plopping in a few herbs for pest protection later this week.

Here are a few pics from the soil amending fun!

Me turning the soil. Apparently, Tris needs to clean her camera lens. 

The soil is finally turned!

That's alpaca poop on my foot. 

The seeds have been sown. Notice that the rows are crooked? That's because I do nothing straight! 

Borage

Borage is a flowing herb. I planted it in the strawberry bed to bring pollinators to the garden and hopefully to use it for it's herbal properties. I did not expect it to be one of my favorite plants in the garden. It's quite beautiful. 

You can see the foliage looks weed like. 

The flowers are indigo and star shaped. 

It's pretty nerdy how much I think this flower is amazing!

Since I have been wanting to use borage, so it doesn't die in vain, I did a bit of research. I will cite the book I used at the end.

• The Romans steeped the flowers in wine. They believed that it gave them courage. (I think it gives my beans courage to grow big.) 
• To reduce a fever, you can steep a tablespoon of chopped leaves in one cup boiled water and drink. 
• Edible flowers used by colonial woman to decorate soups and salads. 
• American colonial people relieved back pain with a syrup of yarrow, borage, and brandy and then drunk with gun powder (Seems like enough of this would cure any pain). 
• Also called comfrey
• To enhance mothers milk, drink a tonic of 1 Tbsp. crushed fennel seeds, 1 Tbsp. red raspberry leaves, and 2 Tbsp. chopped borage leaves. Steep in 2 cups boiling water for 15 minutes. Strain and drink a cup daily. 
• For relief from varicose veins, use a compress made from witch hazel bark, marigold flowers, yarrow leaves, borage leaves or roots, burnet root, and horse chestnut. (If you want the exact recipe, leave a message and I will post. 
• Ancient greeks also believed that borage cleaned the body after illness by eating the leaves. They grew three different varieties. 
• Leaves and flowers steeped in wine to drive away melancholy (hmmmm....duh.)
• Leaves made into a poultice to help heal bruises.
• Flowers are made into conserves to alleviate hoarseness
• Roots, after a thorough cleaning are steeped in oil and applied to gangrene or staph skin infections. 
• The Asians used herbs in fortune cookies instead of little papers. Getting borage meant that you would have the courage of your convictions. 
• Self seeding
• Seeds can be used in a compress to heal the skin
• Attracts bees to your garden
• The affirmation of encouragement that borage symbolizes is, 'I learn to stand on my own.'

The book I used is called Mother Nature's Herbals. I am in love with the book and the borage. I learned a bunch writing this and I will be gathering all parts of the plant to dry and use as the need arise. I am super happy I got to share this with you!!

Words to Live By

"The more we penetrate the spheres of nature, the more we become aware that what surrounds us in it is of an overwhelming wisdom. What we call scientifically an ecosystem, is penetrated by wisdom so that all parts serve the whole in the most economic way." ~ Farms of Tomorrow Revisited (Steve McFadden and Trauger Grow

Slow Cookin' My Food

It's been cool enough in the evenings to have a warm meal, so this week, in anticipation of my semester starting, I have begun to experiment with crockpot meals.

Sunday Night: Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup. The basil for this recipe came from the farmers market and was super flavorful. Plus I blendered the rest of the basil with some olive oil and froze it in ice cube trays so I could use it later.

Monday Night: Crockpot Mac and Cheese. I paired this with streamed broccoli and a salad.

Tuesday Night: Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chile. The only crock pot portion of this recipe is the black beans, but making them in the morning will be healthier than opening up a can, plus, I can freeze the extras or can them. Since it is Tuesday, I have not tried the chile, as it won't be even made until later today, but the house smells divine, as it has the last few days, from the beans cookin. The chile recipe is coming from a book called, The Vegetarian Family Cookbook.

In anticipation of using the slow cookers for many meals this semester, I bought a second one at the trift store yesterday. It is the one my mom had when we were coming up. It is much smaller than the one I have been using, so I plan to use it for oatmeal or Strawberry French Toast Casserole. Mornings are the hardest in the winter because nobody wants to get up, plus making a hot meal is super time consuming and I don't want to get up that early. Lazy mom moment.

I have been getting most of my recipes from a blog called 365 Days of Slow Cooking. There is a section for meatless and one for desserts and sides. Yum.

The boys biological father wants to start feeding them meat, regardless of the health risks, and I cannot stop him, but I can feed them a shit-ton of nutritious foods when they are here. I am excited to try more things. I have them all pinned on my Life Force board on Pintrest, if you are interested in following me. My pintrest name is jencody. I should start a Two Queer Hippies one, but i already don't have enough time. Peace and full bellies to you all!

Summer Gardening

It's been a summer packed with work, gardening, work, kids, work and cooking. In June, Number 3, Tris and I planted our plot at the Izabel Street Community Garden. I did a good deal of research about companion planting to produce the biggest yield.

Number 3 and I weeding before we sow

Number 3 wielding a pick ax

I split the garden into two sides. In the smaller side, we planted strawberries, green bush beans, borage, and marigolds. The marigolds are the only non-edible, non-useable plant in the garden, but they bloom all summer, attracting pollinators and they ward off unwanted pests. The beans fix nitrogen and deposit it into the soil, where the producing strawberries, in need of a ton of nitrogen, pick it up and make more sweet delicious berries. The borage is an herb that I will use once it has run it's life cycle, but it also has beautiful blooms that attract the pollinators. We added a barrier of chicken wire to separate the two sides.

The day we planted. We sowed some seeds and planted some starters.

Week Two respectively. You can see the chicken wire at the top to prevent the pickling cucumbers from taking over the strawberry patch.

In the larger side, we planted non-native sunflowers (the big ones with yummy seeds), pickling cucumbers, patty-pan squash, pie pumpkins, jack-o-lantern pumpkins, zucchini, tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, and marigolds. I am finding out that our soil lacks nitrogen, so today I will be adding some blood meal to get the pumpkins growing. (The plot next to ours, that is almost all alpaca manure, is making amazing pumpkins! Luckily, it's a community plot, so we can harvest our fall pumpkins from there.) 

Week 3-4. The beans and borage have sprouted and the sunflowers are taking off!

Week 4-5. Taken from the sunflower side, so you can't see the strawberry side.  I will post a more updated pic later today.

The monsoons have been doing most of the watering, but they are also watering the weeds. The whole family went out to the garden for some weeding fun last Saturday. I love them all so much. We started with our own plot, then we weeded the paths in the whole garden. Number 3 and I went out yesterday and cleared a whole section of the garden that was over run by an invasive weed, called Dispersed Knapweed. It's a prickly SOB. My arms are beat up, but I am looking forward to another two or more hours of weeding today. I want that garden to look amazing!!! 

Green beans that started in the last few days. I think we will actually be able to make more than one meal from this yield. 

Our home garden is also growing beyond expectations! We have six varieties of organic and heirloom tomatoes that are fruiting right now. The cherries are starting to get red, so I am thinking this weekend we will be feasting. We will have to save some for Number 3 or he will be really sad. I learned at one of the gardening seminars supported by Foodlink, one of the sponsors of the Flagstaff Community Gardens, that our tomatoes need more room and more soil and that they are perineal. After they are finished fruiting, we will transplant them into 5 gallon buckets and move inside the mudroom for the winter. They can tolerate 40 degrees F cold. I am looking forward to an even bigger crop next year!   

She's all grown up.

The Brussels Sprouts are starting to form. They are so cool looking!! I will be planting more of them in our fall garden, at the second plot I acquired at the community garden. I will also be planting lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, cabbage and more beans. My hope is to build cold frames so that I can continue to garden these greens throughout the winter. I will keep you posted on what the plan is for that. Last, but not least, I harvested last years pearl onions a few weeks ago. I have to confess, I haven't used them yet, but I will in my salad tonight. 

Brussel Babies. They are a smidge bigger now.  

Some of the onions I harvested. 

Looks like we will be homesteading on city property for the time being, but I don't mind. In fact, I love it. I get to meet other gardeners, attend seminars, and eat at potlucks. Plus I get to walk to the garden every day and get a bit of exercise. Life is good. 

Nothing Says Summer Like...

Kettle corn. (And corn on the cob and barbecues and watermelon and farmers markets.)

I love to snack and so do the kids. I don't always want something healthy, although I should. Traditionally, you can only get kettle corn at festivals or maybe the market, but I refuse to pay 5 dollars for a tiny bag, so I decided a few years ago, after watching a vendor at an art festival make it, that I would try and make homemade kettle corn. It worked. Thought I'd share my technique with you.

You will need:

a soup pot

oil to cover bottom of said pot

popcorn

sugar

and salt to taste

I make my popcorn stove top style, I will never change that, so I am going to write this as if you have never done that. 

1. Heat your oil on medium-high heat. (Take it from me, high heat will only catch your oil and possibly your kitchen on fire. Sorry Mom and Dad.) 

2. Drop in ONE or TWO kernels, cover and move the pot in a circular fashion over the burner. When the tester kernels pop, you are ready to cover the bottom of the pan with more kernels. 

3. After the kernels have been exposed to oil for 15-20 seconds, maybe longer if you are patient, maybe shorter if you want to try and make unconventional caramel corn, add sugar. About a 1/4 cup. I use a bit less. Cook and move in a circle on the burner. If you see fire, your oil is too hot. I have linked some tips for putting out a grease fire. If you smell burning popcorn, you are either done cooking or you need to turn your heat down. 

4. Use common sense, when the popping slows down, you are done cooking. Salt and move to a big bowl to enjoy. 

Any questions, you can email me or comment. I'm probably not being as thorough as I should be...

Tuesday Yummyness

Chinese Sesame Salad. I will come back later to post the picture of this dish. It is so good and a favorite. I make everything from the dressing to the baked tofu. It's very easy.

Baked Teriyaki Tofu

Preheat oven to 375. Toss all three in a bowl. Cover tofu with liquid. Spread evenly on cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes:
16 oz firm tofu
2 Tbsp soy sauce (or Braggs)
1 Tbsp sesame oil

The Dressing

Mix together:
1/2 cup vegan mayo
2 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce (or Braggs)

The salad is:

Iceberg lettuce sliced thinly (or I like to use cabbage, either red or green)
1 red bell (diced)
1/2 bunch green onion (sliced)
1/2 bunch cilantro (chopped)

I prepare all of these early, then at supper time, I put all the ingredients together and add:
1/2 cup of sliced almonds

That's it. Easy Peezy. Tomorrow is Number 3's 9th birthday. We are having sourdough pancakes with sliced strawberries and bananas and real whipped cream that I will whip myself. That's the only part not vegan. I will post that recipe tomorrow. For now, I am off to the Farmer's Market in Flagstaff to get $.79 strawberries and other fruits for the fruit kabobs little man is sharing with his class.

Ask And You Shall Receive

I posted a picture yesterday of the dinner I made. I made lentil soup served in a bread bowl. One person asked me for the bread recipe and when I went to pull up the blog for where I posted it, I realized I never did. So I will. Someone else asked me to post the recipe for the soup, so I'll do that too.

The bread recipe was published in Mother Earth News a few years back. I love that magazine, so if you ever want to know whet to get me for Christmas, a subscription to that would be grand. It's the easiest bread I have ever made and I have made a lot of bread. It takes 5-10 minutes to make, then a couple of hours to rise on it's own, then a minute to form, 40 to rise again and thirty to cook. You spend less than 10 minutes with the dough itself. How cool! Each batch makes four good sized loaves and the longer it sits in the fridge, the better it tastes. You can even get crazy and make sourdough bread and pizza crust. Last nights bread bowls were Italian herb.

The lentil soup recipe is as follows:

Boil for 1 hour:
1 cup rinsed lentils
4 cups of vegetable broth

Saute` until tender in different pan:
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 diced celery ribs
1 carrot sliced
1/4 onion diced

Reduce heat of veggies, add: (Then saute` two more minutes)
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp. garlic
1/4 tsp. thyme
pinch of cayenne (I don't like spicy, so I don't add this)

Add veggie mix to lentils then add:
1/4 cup tomato paste

Simmer for 5 minutes; add salt of you need to.

Tonight we are having vegan Chinese Sesame Salad. I will post that in a second. Now that classes are done for the semester, I have more time to cook and more time to blog. On Sunday, after Tris left for work, I made a meal plan and a shopping list. I figured out what I had and what I needed for my fare, so I only spent $62 for 7 dinners with leftovers!! I hadn't meal planned before, but I am going to start, after this weeks savings and delicious dinners. Most of dinner is finished before the kids even get out of school. I am even ahead on Wednesdays meal. Eating well feels good!!!

Adventures in Sprouting Day 3 Photos

I skipped Day One photos because they were boring. Here's day three though! They're growing!!!!!!!

Last night, I started a jar with clovers and broccoli sprouts. I will be keeping you posted on those too! I know I am geeking out about these, but I didn't expect it to be so easy to do. If I wasn't supposed to be in O Chen in 30 minutes, I'd write more. Also, I must depart.

Happy Sprouting!

Container Gardening

Tris and I worked hard on Saturday afternoon to plant 12 tomato plants, 6 cabbage, 6 Brussel sprouts, 11 pea plants, several potato plants, and 1 blueberry bush. We researched how to grow in Flagstaff, consulted books and got dirty. I am expecting a lovely bounty come May or June on the cold weather plants and late July on the tomatoes. I have no idea about the blueberries. I'm guessing not this year. We used any container we could find, including an old sled for the shallow rooted lettuce.

We are staring to think about chickens again. And I am secretly hoping to figure out vermaculture this summer. Also in the works are thoughts about a greenhouse and raised bed garden. The Two Queer Hippies are back!

Adventures in Sprouting

As if I don't have enough to do with the end of the semester just 4 weeks away, I started sprouting alfalfa. I was in my local expensive store, you know the one, when I came across their home sprouting section. All I had to buy was the special lid with holes (it fits the wide mouth mason jars I recently acquired) and some seeds. Initial cost: $15. I have been soaking and rinsing since Sunday night and my sprouts are beginning to sprout! I am going to buy another lid and some different seeds today. I may actually be able to sell my sprouts at the farmers market this summer if I can master growing them!! Here are pictures of soaking and day two. They're boring, but the daily chronicle should be cool in the end!

Soaking

Day Two

Keeping Myself Accountable

I am on day 2 of the 21 day yoga challenge! I am loving every minute!! Who else has joined me?

Also I am still not eating sugar. 23 days!!!!!! This week, I am going to make no sugar, vegan mini-cheesecakes. I am super excited about them. I'll post pics and the recipe for you. It came from a delight little gem of a book I picked up at Bookman's called, Sexy Bitch. I'm in love....

That's all I have for now.

Peace and Love

Let's Talk About Plastic Bay-Be, Let's Talk About You and Me

Watch this first, then discuss....it actually makes me cry every time I watch it. 

What'd ya think? To some of you this isn't new, but to a bunch of you, this is a horrific new detail in our environmental disaster. 2 MILLION BOTTLES EVERY HOUR IN THE U-fucking-S ALONE? WHAT THE FUCK????? Seriously??? It doesn't have to be this way!!! Remember when you were a kid and your parents had snack duty for your AYSO soccer game? If you are as old as I am, they brought the team orange cooler filled with Tang and some sliced oranges, not 30 fucking Gatorade bottles, mini sized to start out a new generation of fat kids, and 30 individually wrapped crap-tastic snack whatevers.

Think people! Do you need all those plastic bottles? Do you need to have anything, but one bottle, glass (you can find them for $5 at Ross) or stainless steel, that you carry around with you all the time? Do you need that crappy soda? And if you do, can you fill it up at the fountain, in your own cup? Even aluminum is better because it can be fully recycled. Think deeper. Do you need a plastic bag at the grocery store? Can you carry out your small items or bring your own bag? For you in Phoenix, the Roadrunner farmers market sells hand made t-shirt bags for $1!!!! Buy 10. My friend Alli makes them. I have one and I love it!

All that packaging that goes into processed food production, is it really necessary? The answer is no! There is actually an award for food processing companies who have the best packaging, best meaning most plastic used, not best for the environment. Hey all those veggies you buy in the produce section and wash, do you really need to put them in plastic bags just to take them home? They are already full of the store personal and shoppers germs and you are washing them anyway, why take the bag too? It does nothing to keep your veggies longer, I promise. Make your own produce bags, and if you're not crafty, buy reusable ones at Target or support a work at home mom who makes their living reusing and selling things like this on the Internet.

Let's reduce in 2012. Just me and you. It will catch on. Look how neon clothing has made several comebacks in fashion! This can be done! Write to your favorite store bought cookie maker and tell them you won't buy their cookies any more until the reduce the packaging, or better yet, make your own! You, yes you!, can make a difference. Please, watch the video again and give it a thought. What else can be done to reduce this massive death trap? I'm all ears and heart. I will follow any other suggestions. (I'm not accusing you, I'm just a bit worked up.)

100th Post!

So to celebrate my 100th post, I thought I would share a muffin with you. And in honor of my processed sugar ban, these are sugar free, but very sweet!! My new favorite muffin!!!!!!! Like so favorite that I made six yesterday, ate three and a half, shared the other two and a half with the boys and today made twelve more. The intent is to eat them over the weekend, but I'm not sure if all twelve will make it past the night...

Introducing Honey Wheat Muffins!!!! They are easy to make and healthy and sweet, sweet, sweet!!!! And when I get around to buying whole flax seeds to make egg replacer*, they'll also be vegan!! (Substitute non-dairy milk for regular.) Yahoo!!!!

I've also been making fresh loaves of bread since yesterday. If you aren't familiar with the 5 Minute Bread recipe, acquaint yourself immediately! I first found the recipe in Mother Earth News and that's the recipe I still use, so please, for all that's good and holy, follow the link and make your own bread! Seriously no kneading and fresh bread daily!! The article is a bit wordy, but there are recipes galore in it! The actual bread recipe starts on page 3. Guess what? You can freeze the dough, but why? It keeps in the fridge for up to two weeks, as if. But, the longer its stays in the fridge, the more sour it gets. Hello??? Could it be a more perfect way to give yourself and your family a delicious, nutritious snack?

Okay, the benefits of making your own muffins and bread: You know what's in them and where it came from. You can make them the way you like, like without crappy sugar the fucks with your brain and liver and kidneys and fat cells. I made the bread with half organic white flour, half freshly ground wheat flour (Thank you, Anneka!!!) and half a cup of flax meal. There is no waste, like no plastic to throw away to contribute to the Plastic Island. So many good reasons!!! Start baking!!!!

Hey busy people!!!!! All of these freeze, so with a quick thaw you can have the best food ever!!

*To make your own egg replacer, boil a couple of teaspoons of flax seeds in a couple of cups of water. It will start to thicken up a bit and look and feel like goopy egg whites. Strain the seeds, or keep them in as I usually do, and used 1/4 cup of replacer for every egg your recipe calls for. Hello fiber, goodbye maimed, mutilated, overworked and abused hens!!

4 Minute Shower

In the interest of doing more for the environment, I have been talking to a few people about they do. Many things I already do, or don't, but a four minute shower is not one of those things I do. So I timed my last two showers. This is what I can accomplish in 1 four minute period: the first shower I did all my soaping and I shaved. The second shower, I just soaped and sat for what seemed like 10 minutes with the water on my head. Both times I also brushed my teeth. I haven't washed my hair yet and don't intend to for a few more days, so you'll have to wait for those results.

Challenge for you: Can you take only four minutes showers for the rest of the month and compare your water bill from December? I'm with you in this. Lets see how much water we can conserve!!

21 Day Yoga Challenge

Since I forgot to post a link on yesterdays blog, here it is today! It's through Yoga Journal Online and it's FREEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! The best kind of gift you can give yourself!!

Yoga Journal emails you in the middle of the night, so when you wake up in the morning, your days lesson is right there on ye ol' laptop/desktop. Download promptly and do. That's it. There are anywhere from 30-60 minutes. My plan is to save an hour for the whole thing every morning and the days it goes shorter, I can also meditate. Good luck all!!!

Motivation

My motivation waxes and wanes. I'm not sure what it's dependent on, but I do know that I am heavily motivated so far this year to get back to my truth. To get back to me. Just me. I have a plan for today.

• Purge anything that is unnecessary 
• Stay off the processed sugar, 16 days today!!
• Preserve $40 worth of seasonal food per month, in the winter having to buy it from the organic store, in the summer from the farmers market
• Start storing water
• See where else I can cut down on my dependence of others, like utilities
• Raise bees
• Start a garden in the community plot
• Take the 21 day yoga challenge
• Write letters instead of text or email
• Build my hen house
• Knit to make money and possibly to have a booth at the farmers market, so I can save up for boarding season
• Learn to snowboard
• Visit my family
• Write on the blog more often

Now this may look like a resolution list, but I have attached no expectations or pressure to them. I like to think of this as a motivational list. I will get to check things off my list as I go, or not, or maybe even add to it. As the song goes, it time to "push the cocksucking boulder up the motherfucking hill!"

What is on your motivational list? Anyone want to take the 21 day yoga challenge with me? It starts on the 9th. Does anyone even read this anymore? Haha! I have been a bad blogger!