natural parenting center

coconut sugar

We have a five pound bag of coconut sugar sitting in our kitchen and it makes me happy just to look at it. Here's the lowdown on this nutrient-dense sweetener:

Coconut sugar is the crystal form of the sap which has been tapped from the coconut flower blossom. The sap flows into bamboo containers and then it is gently heated in woks to evaporate the water. Because of the minimal processing, the taste and texture can vary from batch to batch and even between packages. It tastes sweet with a hint of caramel.

Coconut sugar is classified as a low glycemic food ensuring no spikes in blood sugar. It can be substituted 1:1 for other sugars and used in pretty much anything. We've been using it for tea parties, muffins, pancakes, and cakes (made with coconut flour).It is a rich source of potassium, magniseum, zinc and iron and contains vitamin B1, B2, B3 and B6. It contains 16 amino acids and is highest in Glutamine (useful in healing injury and illness) and also contains Inositol (beneficial effects on nervous system and development of healthy cells).

Unlike many other sweeteners, coconut sugar is a traditional food and may be helping small farmers as well.

Enjoy!

october moments

I feel such a stunning array of emotions during this month of falling...

::delight breathing in deep lungfulls of moist, crisp air which tastes like the color orange

::blissful overwhelm with the abundance of apples, plums, tomatoes, potatoes, nourishment from the earth in every shade and flavor begging to be pickled, frozen, dried, somehow tenderly kept longer than just this one moment of ripeness

::spilling over gratitude for days like this past rainy sunday of cider pressing with friends, drinking in the golden brown explosion of fresh sweetness and laughing along the hours of turning the weathered crank and scooping bucketfulls of pomme de mush

::timid dread for the months of darkness ahead, bundled inside separate houses, each of us alone in our little world of children, struggling to convince chubby toes to wear tights and boots and layers and layers and layers

::fierce determination to keep us all healthy, already seeing that the forces of seasonal change are bigger than my dropperfull of echinacea, trusting that winter is an immune builder somehow

::excitement for holiday plans to drive north to be with family

::joyful for the creativity of making holiday things, starting already

::restless which seems to be a fall thing for me, resisting the earth's wisdom to call me inside myself, to embrace quieter rhythms, to trust the cycle of death and darkness and let that be too, instead wanting to flee on travel adventures, to shift and heave and demand even bigger changes, to shed old skins like the trees letting loose their leaves

::eager to celebrate and honour, like the leaves call to bring forth their most stunning display before they set themselves free of all earthly bonds

::sad to let go of the dreams of summer which never came to bear fruit

::and happy, to be here, feeling these feelings, riding the waves, with two strong legs and a beating heart with fingers that smell like pumpkins and apples.

in our kitchen

Interested in Natalie and Nathan's Parenting E-Course? Rachel Turiel at 6512 and Growing blog is giving away a spot for free. Go on over and check it out. Her blog is lovely! Good luck.

 

sourdough crumpets

Oh what a delight these are! I was just wishing for some kind of recipe that uses more sourdough culture because I have been loving making the bread using left over whole grains which are fermented from Cynthia Lair's Feeding the Whole Family. So...when I discovered this recipe in another favorite book, Full Moon Feast, I had to try it right away. Basically you take the culture, add a little milk, salt and baking soda, then melt some butter or lard (we used the last of our dear farmer friend's gift lard), spoon into mason jar lid rings in the pan until bubbly, then complete cooking in warm oven. 

So delicious! Even more yummy as french toast with this peach chutney and some homemade yogurt mounded on top.

The peach chutney was a combination of recipes from Nourishing Traditions and Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning. These jars are sterilized using a much less intensive method of washing with baking soda. I also tried one jar of a lacto fermented variety of peach chutney which has crispy pecans and raising in it. It smells delicious and after two days, we just put it in the fridge. It will last a couple of months in there.  This was the last of the peaches as the rest are all dried up, as it were, visually less than gorgeous but tastily, more dreamy than you can imagine.

roasting beets with garlic and fresh herbs

oh the vamatoes, as Saschy calls them. Dehydrating, roasting, turning into ketchup, sauce, freezing. The cacophany of color and scrumptiousness at this time of year nearly sweeps me off my feet. Though actually it lands me on my feet until the late hours each night. Gratefully and with gladness, feeling like a queen surrounded by glorious riches.

basil, chopping, tossing with salt, and immersing in olive oil. Love, love love learning these traditional ways of preserving the harvest. They are much less intensive and more alchemy-ish, with magic and mystery bubbling beneath the surface.

And peppers. Will you tell me any ideas you have for preserving these gems? So far, I am roasting them in the oven and that's as far as I've got. I was thinking of removing the skins and making one batch of roasted tomato/pepper sauce and then trying to put the roast peppers in jars preserved in oil with herbs. Other thoughts? I'd love to hear them. 

Most of this bounty has come from beloved farmers at our market who have set aside cases (and cases) of seconds for me. This means there is a spot or two on each, so easy to remove and a fraction of the cost. 

Oh...I also wanted to ask any of you for a salsa verde recipe, if you've got one. The bucket of tomatillos is awaiting. 

I love that these children get to see all this putting up of the harvest. Life, in all its rhythms, unfolding.

thankful

Right now, I am humming with happiness for...

::a breakfast of fermented millet bread with cinnamon and cardomon fresh from the oven, slathered in coconut oil and plum butter made from our plum tree and a smoothie of goat milk kefir, blueberries and strawberries from the freezer and homemade applesauce

::my sister, in all her radiance and for many reasons, one of which is her ability to transform this little home into a sacred space, decluttered and shimmering with little bits of beauty everywhere

::the pile of dirt in the backyard...it's such a happy thing to spend money on

::this great earth and all that it gives us, this season of exploding trees and gardens

::every irritation and annoyance that I feel and how it points me to stories I am telling myself which are stale and untrue, every time

 

More essential than accomplishing

I've had several overall wearing days in a row. There was the epic moving day where three of us hauled our entire Feeleez business one box at a time from one storage location to another. My thighs still have a string of little stepping stone like bruises where I leaned the corner of each 48 game-full cardboard beast when my arms were about to give way.

Yesterday, two of my brave and hearty mama friends and I pickled 50 lbs of dilly beans, a feat never before accomplished. It was a six hour marathon with kids awake, even. The night before was 300 pickling cukes (remind me next year to plan on maybe HALF that many!) into kosher-style brine and also gallon jugs of lacto-fermented ones. Nourishing Days describes more about that if you are interested. Some of them also got chopped into a bread and butter style from Putting It Up With Honey. 

Throw in painting one wall of the downstairs, knitting up a hat, and all the various regular happenings of each day (like making meals, pushing squishy bottoms on the swing, and negotiating near hysterical battles between one boy and one girl, I know), you could say that I've been getting lots done.

It has something to do with no longer being pregnant or holding an infant or walking around with a toddler in tow or stopping multiple times a day to nurse. It has something to do with this time of year, anticipating winter, wanting to freshen up the indoor spaces and relishing in the bounty of harvest, wanting to fill the root cellar with local treasures. 

Whatever it is, it has me thinking about accomplishments. It does feel good to get stuff done. It's easier to feel satisfying when I fall into bed at night and can list off the completed tasks for the day, rather than those days of babyhood when the entire day was spent sitting in a chair or standing and rocking and holding or those long days of early pregnancy lying on the couch wanting to throw up, weeping at the discomfort of it all. Those days are ones when, to the outside world, and as a result to our culturally trained productivity-is-everyting minds, I didn't get anything done. How strange that growing a human being somehow doesn't count. 

So now I am in a different phase. Expansive spiralling. Yet, those days of stillness grew something essential in me. Something that allows me to now see things differently. To see myself and what I do differently. I look at all this doing through a different lens, realizing that how I do each thing (which equates to who I am being as I do each thing) matters. At the end of the day, when the shelves are lined with pickles and the dehydrator full of apple slices, does it even matter if I wasn't present for each slice of the bean stem of it or if I wasn't kind to my children when their own water was boiling?

Presence is my meter, kindness is my criteria. Otherwise, it's all just kinda less sweet.

 

 

i feel happy

::there is a gorgeous stack of fabrics hanging over the back of the torquoise wooden chair i am sitting on, waiting to become skirts, curtains, pillows and shirts, mostly some variation of the vakini (bikini according to saschy) and grass above

::granola is baking in the oven made of oats, amaranth, sesame seeds, coconut, coconut oil, molasses, coconut sap, crispy almonds, crispy walnuts, cashews then they will meet up with some help seeds and ground flax

::sage and oregano clusters are hanging in the kitchen, drying

::in baskets on the counter sit apples, peaches, tomatoes, tomatillos, onions all ready to be eaten as is and dried and made into salsa verde 

::this weekend we will pick up 50lbs of green beans and 300 pickling cukes then dive in for a marathon canning session 

::the downstairs wall is freshly painted pale lime green and the can of aqua paint sits ready for the nearby root cellar wall (did i tell you that we discovered that root cellar after the basement flooded and we ripped out the dry wall in the exact spot that i imagined putting one??)

::the kids are naked under a tarp in the yard asking for me to make their third pot of tea (rooibos caramel and peppermint and lemon balm picked from the garden) for their tea party

::my mom is packing for a trip to france

::my sister is packing for a trip HERE

::we are going to the farm tomorrow

::we are about to leave for playgroup at the park

::i am almost finished knitting a hat for a friend

and, and, and...i am alive. that's the best part.

what is happening for you right now?

 

coming home to apples

We have been back home from our trip to the ocean for over a week, arriving to blazing heat and smoke. What a contrast from balmy sea breezes and the gentle shade of west coast cedars. Leaving behind my sweet friend Kelli and family and so many memories of my own childhood, returning to what we now call home.

It is tempting to think either/or and to get lost in longing for what was, to wrinkle my nose at what is. I realized, though, the vast grace of allowing myself to think and. I can love this and that, river and ocean, these friends and those friends, life now and life then. And even more, more that I haven't even considered. I can love all of it. I don't have to choose or long for or think less than. Trusting that where I am is enough.

So we settle back into this. As the temperatures release themselves a little, taking the edge off the smokiness in the air, I remember this is my very favorite time of year. Oh the bounty...

We tried out these recipes and loved them. The mincemeat one is delicious, pretty much a meal in each slice. I'm always looking for ways to use up green tomatoes since this short growing season ensures an abundance of them. If you try these recipes out, let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Apple Pie with Orange
8 cups peeled thinly sliced apples

1 tbsp orange juice

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp freshly grated orange peel

Toss all ingredients together in bowl. Place in baked pie shell and cover with pie dough. Bake at 375 for 1 hour or so.

 

 

Green Tomato Mincemeat Pie

1 cup water

1 tsp salt

2.5 cups chopped green tomatoes

2.5 cups peeled and chopped apples

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins

3/4 cup  turbinado sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp molasses

1/4 cup flour

In small saucepan, bring water and salt to rolling boil and add tomatoes. Blanch for 3 minutes. Drain tomatoes and place in large bowl, adding in lemon juice, walnuts, raisins, sugar, spices and lemon peel. Drizzle molasses over the filling and stir. Sprinkle flour over ingredients and toss gently until uniformly coated. 

Roll out pie dough larger than size of pan. Place in pan and add filling then gently fold edges of dough over filling to give it a homemade harvest-y look. Bake for 45-55 minutes at 375 until crust is golden and filling bubbles. Cool and enjoy.

Both recipes adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts.

turning upwards

I am amazed. The other day, I was feeling sad and noticing my thoughts spiraling into the prickly abyss where nothing good happens, I have to strenuously figure every little thing out, and there is no easy answer to anything. 

Somehow I have these stuffed full pockets, areas of my life where somehow I think that my basic formula for joy doesn't count. These pockets are like some kind of "rules don't apply here" areas where I automatically go totally unconscious which basically means I end up in my head, stuck and feeling rotten. Maybe it's money or relationships or car mechanics. 

Then, with a little nudge, it occurred to me that the formula for joy applies everywhere and to everything. Thank goodness. Phew. Hallelujah. Ahhhh. 

And it worked. I got clear on my intention, (this can be general or specific and is basically what you want to have/do/be) sent them like little missiles into space, then let the Universe take over while I diligently began turning my thoughts upwards. I looked for things that felt good to think about. These things don't have to have anything to do with whatever situation is feeling stressful. That's the amazing thing. I thought of raspberry peonies. Burying my face in a hundred ripe, full, exploding blossoms. Drinking in that sensuous nectar.

I immediately felt a whole body shift upwards. Then, as is always the case, delightful things began happening (or were happening all along but I finally turned myself towards and opened my eyes.). The situation which was causing me stress changed. I quit trying to control it. I let myself be surprised.

Ten things:

1. Raspberry peonies

2. Stupendous girlfriends

3. Plane tickets to Vancouver Island in August

4. Tanned toes

5. Purple pea flowers morphing into peas

6. Tangible changes in kindness towards myself as a result of Magical Mothering E-Course

7. Raw blueberry pie with cashew cream topping

8. Loosening my grip on how things turn out and feeling content as that water flows through my fingers

9. Greens from the garden, greens in the smoothie, greens everywhere

10. Two small humans who dance with me every day.

What's your list of Ten?

xo

 

 

 

Eating God

I have been a compulsive eater for most of my life. Essentially, this means...

::I ate when I wasn't  hungry

::I ate past feeling full

::I didn't what I really wanted

The number of books that I've read about what I should eat could earn me an honorary doctorate in something, maybe Eating Rules. Each rule set comes with a tidy label, too..vegetarian, macrobiotic, raw foodist, Nourishing Traditions or Weston A. Price, blah blah blah. I wrote about my declaration of shedding labels here. Funny thing is that you can find evidence for EVERY WAY OF EATING IMAGINABLE. I'm talking about honest to goodness "scientific proof" for the validity of eating any food or following any food eating system possible. Isn't that a little curious?

Most of my eating has been for the purpose of losing weight or changing my body in some way. That means restriction of some sort which is always an automatic set up for bingeing which is always an automatic failure of said original goal. The problem for me has been that ALL of these rules are external and equate to me giving the authority of my own body over to outside experts.  

I remember being 12 years old and eating cookies and spitting them out to try to get the taste without the calories. 

Being pregnant was the first time that I can remember that I ever let myself actually want what I wanted and have it. The power of giving myself that kind of permission to TRUST MY BODY, to trust every craving and to eat food for pleasure, to savor without counting fat grams or calories, was radical. It is radical. 

The problem with any expert advice is that  ALL of these rules are external and equate to denying the authority of my own self. When I read Women, Food and God, I wept. A Lot. Relief, regret, inspired, scared, simply being moved by the beauty and honesty of Geneen's writing. 

Then I began to look at these children I love.  Geneen has seven Guidelines for eating which boil down to this:

1. Eat when you are hungry. Eat what you want.

2. When you are not hungry, feel your feelings.

When we eat like this, it is like we are Eating God. We love ourselves with food. (Why not love ourselves with EVERY thing we say and do and think? But we'll save that for the E-Course-two days left to sign up.) That is what I want to give these children: an unwavering trust in themselves and their bodies.

It's certainly not the kind of parenting advice we see too often, let alone witness first hand. Thankfully my dogged hunt for inspiration in this arena has turned up some gems like this and this and this. 

So, we are starting here with a new tradition of Morning Feasts:

They wake up excited and ask, Can we have another feast today? Though, honestly, it could just be that we are all actually outside eating in the sunshine that is just as nourishing and fantastic.

Letting them choose what they want to eat feels scary and thrilling to me. Is this another adventure in radical trust, like the computer watching episode? I don't know. I keep coming back to trust and autonomy and I am willing to play at the edges of nurturing their inner authority because I know that the strength of the safe and loving container within which I hold them is powerful.

The dominate paradigm of control is not working for our planet, and I am not willing to perpetuate it within our family by standing guard at the fridge. There are ample opportunities for children to come up against the limits of living in a physical body in a physical world and I will stand by them as they navigate these experiences of authentic adversity (more on this to come), rather than create unnecessary power-over experiences which build resentment and anger and block their own intuition and self-trust.

In the meantime, may I move from fear (terror?) into trust that they know what food their body needs and when. May I nurture their inner knowing of how to love themselves with food. One step at a time as we see where this leads us.

 

 

the living kitchen

Our kitchen counter is a buffet of aliveness, with bottles and jars of bubbling, frothing, fermenting, multiplying living things. Our recent delight is water kefir. The picture above shows the grains and the one below is the new jar filled with sugar water and grains ready to work their magic and turn it into a sourish, bubbly, pro-biotic loaded yummy drink. Read more here

Since the grains grow prolifically (though I do believe they will do even better when I replace that metal strainer), we are sharing and trading with friends. I remember that inspiring bit in Radical Homemakers which was a significant paradigm shift for me: changing our homes from places of consumption to places of production. 

The water kefir is living beside kombucha and yogurt and then at other times becomes roommates with cultured sour cream and sourdough and other nourishing goodness. I'm glad to be part of a community where I can access real food and learn from wise foody sisters and brothers.