2nd post of the day!

Some of you have heard about this new book we found at the library called Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day. You have heard us say how easy it is, how there is no kneading and you really can have awesome loaves of bread with little effort (and we do mean little) and minimal time and NO kneading! (yes, that is right no kneading). Anyway I thought I would show you the fruit of little labor and I am attaching some pics of bread just out of the oven. Andy mixed the dough yesterday, I shaped the loaf this morning, let it rest, (actually forgot about it-and it still turned out) and it is beautiful! The white on top is flour and is called cloaking the dough, and makes it look authentic. It took a half an hour to bake and this is the basic white artisan boule recipe or master recipe. The website is http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/ and they have lots of info.

So we definitely recommend the book if you like bread, you are busy and are not especially fond of the additives in store bread OR the massive cost associated with the bread in the store without additives. ENJOY!

AHHHH beef.. Its whats for dinner!

We got a 1/4 cow and it is sooo cool.. It was raised on the same farm it's whole life and had no performance enhancing drugs.. I know it won't be hitting for the cycle or breaking the home run record or even winning a gold medal but its a cow so I hardly think all that extra effort is necessary. All it really needs to be able to do is chew some grass, produce some milk, fertilize a field or two and be a really tasty meal! I'm okay with it's underachieving! Anyway we got t-bone steaks for $1.80 a pound, hamburger, roasts, ribs, everything you could want, cut the way you want and additive free... Why weren't we doing this before?? AND we are not wasting gas going back and forth to the store to buy beef! Fantastic! Email me if you are local and want the info about the farm and how you to can have safe beef! Love it!
Here is a pretty interesting article about the grains used to feed the animals you eat (that is of course you enjoy eating animals-if not you only have to worry about pesticides and ground water contamination) http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/feed/
Bet you didn't know there can be trace amounts of arsenic in your chicken! YUMMY! LOVE that! Gee honey I didn't get enough arsenic today can you cook me up a breast, don't use to much oil, I am trying to watch what I eat!

The Nature Conservancy

I found a great charity website called the Nature Conservancy. It is a lovely website that has lots of information and their slogan is Protecting Nature, Preserving Life. It is a non-profit and their website is a vast expanse of information. If you join they also have a great magazine, which is how I found it (it was left in a waiting room). The pictures and articles are so wonderful you can't help but love it!
On another note... I am sure you all know how expensive things are and with 2 kids we try to save money any way we can. So we watch for sales on milk and if not we always bought milk in bags.... so there wasn't any on sale so I go to Kwik Trip with my trusty canvas bag to buy milk. I check out (with the scary total of $6.66 -I bought some bananas too- also not great as the amount of fuel that they took to get there for their .29 cents a pound negates any health benefit they may have-but they are easy snacks for kids---- Oh the internal struggle) anyway they ring it up and I felt good using my little canvas bag until I realized UGH there are now 4 little plastic bags in the canvas bag! Oh no, are they recyclable?? NOPE it turns out. So alas we go back to the plastic jugs that are at least recyclable. Interestingly there is this new CO-OP in Stoughton and I was looking at their website and they have milk, LOCAL milk, HORMONE FREE, local milk in GLASS bottles... it must be nice... I am jealous that we don't have such a place. I am jealous EVERYONE doesn't have such a place.... what do we as consumers have to do to get those things. It is hard to refuse that box store or even the grocery store when there are few options in a small town... but I am look and I will find them... and I'll let you know BUT it you know where there are options, PLEASE let ME know!

Added Content!

I have added some of my favorite feeds to the page! I especially like the Green Guide-from National Geographic, The Worldwatch Institute and the Green Trust, but they all have valuable information to share and I try to read as much as I can! Do you know of any good pages! Share them here!

Re-cycle vs. Re-use

So my fantastic cousin Craig has just sent me a great site that will help everyone in their quest for a better planet. http://www.instructables.com/ will tell you some great things that are totally useful and some that are a little questionable but very cool, but mostly is is all about HOW TO .....For example are you sick of the plain old colored hard boiled eggs for Easter, how about coloring them on the inside for lots of yummy fun! They inject the egg with food coloring BEFORE you boil it and ......yumm-o a blue egg...(or not so yummy if that isn't your thing) or a more useful "how-to" is making a self watering planter from 2-liter bottles, which is VERY cool! Plus there is a ton more on there and we all know there is plenty more to recycling than just throwing your cans in that blue bin. It is about find every possible use for something before you throw it out and have it end up in a landfill AND if you can't find a use for it surely someone can! Try freecycle.org and there are always people looking for really interesting stuff so if you post it ... they will come.....

Good luck and thanks Craig for filling us in! It is an awesome sight, and totally useful!

Clothing Exchange..

I am hoping to start a clothing exchange in our town. I heard about it on freecycle.org and went to the one they have at a church in Fort and it was pretty cool. Basically the concept is in order to keep clothing where it needs to be, on people and out of landfills, people bring clothes they don't use and set them on tables and swap them for clothes they can use. It is not an even exchange and there are a lot of clothes left over (that church stores them until the following time) but they could go to Goodwill or any other charity that can use them or save them but basically the concept is to get them used. It isn't just for people in need, though it is exceptionally nice for them to because they can come and take what they need and not worry about money, but anyone can use it and it is really just to stop from dumping stuff in landfills and to make sure things are getting their full usage value. What a great idea that girl had, or whomever thought of it! So anyway, I am trying to start one and had it brought up at church at the beginning of winter. I hadn't heard back and I sure they are busy with lots of other charities so I asked the gentleman who asked for me if I could try elsewhere, his lovely wife, suggested the elementary school principal and I have an appointment with him the 1st of April to discuss involving the kids. I think it would be great service work and probably fun! If that doesn't work I am going to go to the high school or the police station/ mayor's office or something because I think it is a great idea and can really help a lot of people AND help the planet. It is especially nice with the economy in the toilet at the present that people can just go exchange clothes or donate them and they go to whomever needs them no problems or red tape. Certainly there will always be those people who will exploit it but hopefully they are out numbered...
I'll keep you posted when I get it going... AND if YOU want to help email me!!! I am sure we can get it done together!
I also wanted to say I know that no one is probably reading this and that is fine mostly it is just a little notebook for us to look back on after we have made some changes and see what sort of impact if any it has made on us.... and maybe in the process we will share and idea with someone or two and maybe make some friends, if not oh well... we are still pretty happy and every day get happier still, I am becoming more positive (I know hard to believe but there are some real changes going on here) and it is amazing what teamwork can accomplish! Thank God I have been as blessed as I have been. I am pretty lucky to have a husband who says " You know honey, I was taking out the garbage the other day and I know noticed we have like 5 or 6 bags and so does everyone on our street (except for Lloyd of course-the 80yr old across the way), but where the heck is it going, especially if EVERYONE has 5 or 6 bags every week... maybe in a few years there will be monster garbage barges floating all over the ocean".... UGH WOW!! Thanks honey that is an eye-opener...but how awesome to have him think that way! As that wretched Hilton girl says "That's HOT"! ...
You can check your Eco-footprint at http://www.earthday.net/footprint
I bet you'll be surprised at the results! WE were!
Have a great day! and Think SPRING!

Journey to Planet Earth

So I had to watch this fantastic show for my Human Environmental Problems class and if you get the chance it is fantastic, plus it is narrated by the talented Matt Damon. We'll eventually watch the whole thing but we specifically had to watch the segment pertaining to the grasslands of the world and how they are rapidly disappearing. No, not from climate change, really from mismanagement and misuse in one way or another. Our own central plains bear the brunt of the decimation from being plowed under for crops and grazing excessively with little concern to how the perfect system God created works. Each system working in balance with another. Personally I believe that there is no way it wasn't all orchestrated by GOD. Certainly there is some truth in evolution, but not that we have evolved from sludge, I don't buy it. I don't even buy the timeline scientists give to support their theory of evolution because there is no way that such perfection happens by chance. Animals and people adapt to their environments as part of the system, but we see what happens when the perfect balance is upset and the resulting consequences. People see that obviously there is something going on with the weather and certainly it part of our doing, my theory is we have just upset the natural balance of what God intended and that our responsibility is to live better and take care of what we were given or the ramifications will be devastating. So whether you believe in happenstance or GOD the outcome is the same. We all live here and should tread lightly....
okay so it was a little preachy, but I just got done watching a really powerful thing and it affected me...
anyway I wonder what we can do about the grasslands?? How can we here in our little corner of the world affect lasting chance to bring balance and harmony back to earth. I know sounds so Utopian but maybe part of the chaos and anger in the world is only in part about some of what we think it is and perhaps it is all just little warnings to slow down and live better, be kinder to ourselves and our neighbor. There I go again... sorry..
If you get a chance watch the videos, they are kid friendly and can be seen on PBS
here is a link, check it out... http://www.pbs.org/journeytoplanetearth/

What do YOU think we can do to reduce the impact on the grasslands that are being destroyed by overgrazing, crop planting and the resulting erosion?