Worth the Investment

I enjoy spending my time making real food, nontoxic cleaners, and homemade gifts.  But I realize that some of you might not be quite convinced.  Yet.

Source: modernalternativemama.com via Melisa on Pinterest

Maybe you aren't willing to invest the time, because you just don't have that much time to give?


Below is a breakdown of the time I spend making things from scratch, separated by category.  Judge for yourself if the time required is worth the benefits.

TASK	TIME REQUIRED	FREQUENCY
LAUNDRY SOAP	10-15 MINUTES	EVERY 4-5 MONTHS
HOUSEHOLD CLEANERS	2-5 MINUTES	EVERY 2-4 MONTHS
GARDENING (TO GROW PRODUCE)	5 MINUTES	DAILY-EVERY FEW DAYS, DEPENDING ON SEASON
MEAL PLANNING	10 MINUTES	WEEKLY
DEODORANT	5 MINUTES	EVERY 5-6 MONTHS
TOOTHPASTE	5 MINUTES	EVERY 2-3 MONTHS
BREAD BAKING	5-10 MINUTES	DAILY
STAPLE ITEM COOKING (SAUCES, EXTRACTS, ETC)	1-2 HOURS	EVERY 2-3 WEEKS
COOKING	15-45 MINUTES	DAILY

A few notes:

• These are average times, so some days I spend 30 minutes on something and then don't have to deal with it for a week.  Because of my hectic days chasing a toddler, I tend to do parts of things in few minute increments.
• I use very few recipes for household cleaners.  For me, making cleaners usually means putting vinegar and water in a bottle, and maybe adding a few drops of essential oil.
• My garden is entirely in containers, so I probably spend less time than others would because I don't have to weed or prep the soil as much.  
• I spend the majority of my time in the kitchen.  By far.  But as my experience with cooking from scratch increases, so does my efficiency.  If I turn on the oven, I keep it on and group together some baking projects.  Or today, as I made pancakes for the freezer, I also sliced and peeled apples for applesauce.
• I do not currently soak grains for bread.  I have begun soaking grains for other baked items, such as pancakes.  But I primarily use this book for bread baking (and it really does take just a few minutes a day):

Well, there you have it.  This is the price you must pay to know what is in your food.  This is the cost of keeping chemicals out of your household and personal care products.  You can buy organic everything and all natural cleaners and beauty products, but the only way to know for sure what goes into your body and your home is to do it yourself.  

What do you think? Is there something on this list you can find time for? Is it worth your time?

Day 4: Distinctions

Here's the thing:  don't dismiss this home made stuff because you feel like you are not creative or are not interested in crafts.  Home made can mean a lot of things, and have a lot of benefits too.

MYTH #1:  Home made just means crafts.
Let's get one thing straight.  I am not a crafter.  Never have been.  I have recently been thinking a lot about this, because some of what I do may be classified as crafting.  I don't think so, and here's why:  my husband put it best when he said, "Crafting is an end unto itself."  Couldn't agree more, DH.  Thanks for putting it so succinctly.  I make things to serve a purpose.  Instead of running to the store every time we have a need, I try my best to make a suitable alternative with things we already have.  The glorious internet helps a lot with that.  I get a lot of great ideas from simple google searches, pinterest, other blogs, and my real life friends.

MYTH #2:  Home made takes too much time.
A few simple changes, like swapping sink and tub cleaner for baking soda, take no extra time, and you don't have to worry about keeping specific cleaners in stock.  With menu planning, I don't spend significantly more time making meals than I did before.  I do spend maybe 2-4 hours per month making staple items, like dressings and sauces, but the great thing about those is that they can be made in large batches and frozen, so you always have something handy to grab.

MYTH #3:  You need specialized equipment and/or skills to make home made food.

you see tomatoes, I see pizza sauce

The most specialized piece of equipment in my kitchen is my immersion blender, and everything I make I've learned myself from cookbooks or the internet.

MYTH #4:  Home made doesn't save that much money.
Face it:  convenience is expensive.  I spend a fraction of what I used to spend on food and cleaners, even while buying high quality foods like freshly roasted nuts and grass fed beef.

MYTH #5:  Non-chemical cleaners don't do the job.
Chemical cleaners have known carcinogens.  Do you want that in your house?  Vinegar and hydrogen peroxide are both natural alternatives that effectively combat mildew and mold, which are two tough things to get rid of.  We haven't used store bought laundry soap in years, and our clothes get perfectly clean every time.

laundry detergent

What other myths are keeping you from taking the home made plunge?  How can you change that right now, today?

Day 2: The Why

In this world of convenience, it may seem like too much trouble to make things.  It seems so much easier to buy whatever we need:  food, clothing, home decor, it's all at our fingertips.  But with all this convenience comes a price:  we spend more, so we need more money.  We work harder, longer, and make our schedules tighter and tighter.  We become too tired and busy to be bothered with home made anything, so we continue to buy convenience items.  And so on.

And the kids?  Well, we're working too much to be able to pick them up from school, so they must go to some sort of after school program or activity.  This, too, gets expensive.  And busy.  Too busy to bother with a meal at the table, so dinner is in the car on the way home from sports practice or day care.  The cycle continues.

It was not too long ago that I never would have conceived of making something at home, from scratch.  I mean, this is the modern world.  Why take 10 steps backwards to the way my grandparents did things when we have all of these options available at the grocery store, or even better, on the internet?

But you know what?  The more the cycle continued, the more tired we became.  The more tired we became, the more we were tempted to just use the television as babysitter to our children.  And my always thin patience was so fragile that there was no telling what would set me off.  But it wasn't until we became serious about being debt free a few years back that I started looking into frugal alternatives to all this convenience.  And then the floodgates opened.  Shortly after our debt-free journey, I read some interesting books about the food we eat.  I started examining our needs vs our wants.  I started to realize that there is no reason I must buy into modern consumerism, and there is no reason we must run ourselves ragged for a lifestyle that wasn't really making us happy.

We started scaling back our schedules.  We started trying to make convenience items like household cleaners and basic pantry items.  And interestingly, we didn't feel deprived at all.  We found time for meals together, for enjoying each other's company.  We started feeling healthier, less tired.  We had more disposable income to save for things we really wanted.  And we were happier.

We still are.

SOAPBOX SUNDAY

In Defense of Food

or

What I Should Have Said

Recently I was having a conversation about an acquaintance regarding things we should and should not eat.  This person was surprised to learn we still eat wheat products.  He himself is an advocate of healthy eating, trying to avoid hydrogenated oils, reading research regarding soy products, etc.  He said that while they still eat gluten products, he feels like they shouldn't and desires to move to gluten free eating in the future.  While I share his sentiment for establishing good eating habits, I was speechless when he asked if we still eat wheat.  The answer, of course, is yes, we do, and I said as much.  But I had a hard time articulating myself under the pressure.

Later that evening, as I was thinking about that conversation, I found my answer.  I was frustrated that it took me so long to think of such a simple answer, and that I didn't have the chance to communicate our philosophy on eating.  

Fortunately for me, I have an outlet to communicate myself.  This person does not read my blog, but if he did, this is what I would say to him (if I had thought of it at the time).

We don't avoid foods.  We just try to eat real food.  Wheat is not bad.  Ingredients you can't pronounce are bad.  Transporting food across the world is bad.  Knowing what is in your food (making it yourself) is good.  Even if it has wheat, gluten, or *gasp* sugar.

We make a point to use ingredients in their most natural forms.  This includes, but is not limited to, fresh, seasonal vegetables, unbleached flour, unrefined sugar, alternative forms of sweetener such as pure maple syrup and honey, fresh organic cheeses, etc.  

In practice, this means we end up making a lot of our food from scratch.  We still like to eat snack type foods, but our goal is to have control over what's in those foods.  So, my google list includes recipes for crackers, granola, granola bars, etc.

So, yes, we eat wheat.  Yes, we eat sugar.  And we savor every bite.

SOAPBOX SUNDAY

Habits

Today my whole family ran a race.  I ran an adult race, and my husband ran with the kids in a pint-sized race.  The boys were so very excited to run today...they've been wanting to run in a race since my husband and I ran our first one a year ago.  They did a spectacular job, and the oldest is already planning his training schedule to run his first 5k.

This morning, before the race, I told the boys they needed to eat breakfast.  Boy #1 thought very carefully about what to eat, and when I asked him why, he replied that he wanted to make a good choice that would be healthy and give him lots of energy for his run.

I love this age, the age where my habits and activities interest my kids also.  Of course, they have their own interests, but at this point we as parents are deeply influential regarding what our kids want to spend their time doing.  It's a huge responsibility too, if you think about it.  I mean, bad habits are easily picked up. What I do and encourage them to do will shape them as they become adults.  And it won't be long before they don't want to do what I do, so I'd better make the most of it and cherish the time.

So, I ask myself, and I ask you, what will it be?  

Outdoor lover or inside stay-er?

Active or not?

TV watcher or book reader?

Solo or team sports?

Smoker or health nut?

Fast food or home cooking?

Traveler or homebody?

Everyone agrees these days that both nature and nurture play a role in the development of our children.  The question is, how much of each?  I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to take a chance that my influence doesn't matter much.  I'm going to act like it means the world.  

Because, in the end, it does.

SOAPBOX SUNDAY

The Safety of the Womb

I once worked in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  One of my responsibilities as an occupational therapist was to meet the infants' sensory needs so they could achieve a state of deep sleep, because in deep sleep their bodies were able to heal and/or mature.

And their sensory needs were always the same:  to have a small space where they could feel their boundaries.  Because those boundaries made them feel safe.

And so we wrapped those infants in special wraps called snuggies (yes, that was the technical term).  We wrapped them tightly, with their hands right next to their faces, because putting their hands next to their cheeks was a way to self-soothe.  We made sure there was something close to those hands and feet so that when they ventured to reach or kick, they would feel something, something that gently pushed back.  In short, we mimicked the womb.  

My own full term babies were the same:  they needed to reach out and feel something, like when they were in the womb and would push the wall.  They needed those boundaries.

And they still do.  Kids push boundaries for safety.  They want to feel something, they want that something to gently push back.  To let them know where they are, where they stand.

I recently watched a fictional TV program where the subject matter was about inner city kids.  Troubled kids.  One child was talking to another and said, "I can't go anywhere.  She has me on a short leash these days."  And the other one answered, "At least you have a leash."

No matter what my kids say to me as they get angry at me for setting limits, they want and need those limits.  It will help define them as they grow.  Kids with no boundaries have no safety net, and they grow into teenagers with no boundaries or safety net.  I don't yet have teenagers, and even with boundaries I am not so delusional as to think it will be easy.  But if I wait until my kids are teens to start imposing limits, then I've waited too long.  I've let them flounder when I should be holding them close.

And so I'll keep showing them their boundaries.  They will grow up aware of their limits.  And I won't take it personally when they tell me I'm no fair.  And I'll love them.  Always.  And I'll keep believing that some day they will stop telling us that we're no fair.  They'll get it.  And they'll love us back.

SOAPBOX SUNDAY

Food Wars

I went to an organic cheese making workshop the other day.  I went because I thought that a cheese making workshop in the Netherlands is like a pasta making workshop in Italy or a wine tasting in France.  Gotta do it.  Plus, it would be good material for the other blog I write, the personal one about our family's adventures in living abroad.

As part of the workshop, we toured the organic farm that actually makes and sells cheese.  It is a working, for profit farm that is located in the middle of a huge park in the middle of the city.  Strange, but it somehow works.

As we toured the small farm, I got to thinking about the books I've read about sustainable farming, whole foods, and corporate organic.  I was reminded that there are people in the world who still feed their cows grass, not corn.  I was reminded that there are still farmers who allow their chickens to roam in and out of the henhouses at their leisure, and that these chickens produce more and higher quality eggs in exchange for their "freedom".  Grass feed cows are the standard here in the Netherlands, and yes, the meat tastes different than we are used to.  It tastes how beef should taste, because cows were meant to eat grass.  And if they eat grass, then they don't get sick and have to take antibiotics.  And if they don't have to take antibiotics, then there is nothing to debate about what those antibiotics do to the cows and to us when we eat that meat.  

And the milk.  I'm not much of a milk drinker, but the milk here tastes unlike anything I've ever had.  Fresh.  My family can't get enough of it.  I don't know for sure, but I am guessing it has to do with the happy grass fed cows, and the fact that they don't process their milk as much here.  Doesn't last as long, but that has not been an issue for this family.

And then I started thinking about how we want our kids to know where food comes from.  To know that food is grown or raised, not just packaged in a grocery store.  To know that we can grow or raise food too.  And I made up my mind right then to visit this farm with them, and to return often.

In short, ever since I started reading these kinds of books, and making an effort to eat less meat, more whole foods, etc, food is tasting like food.  Not like manufactured, engineered food product, but like food.  And it is delicious.

I've talked about Michael Pollan's Food Rules, but may I also suggest The Omnivore's Dilemma.  It is a good starting point to learn about how far we have come from growing and cooking real food.  There are other books too, but this is one of the most well known.

I'm not yet to the point of making my own organic cheese at home, but for until then I know where I can get it.

SOAPBOX SUNDAY

The Brain Body Connection

I wrote the following article for a moms and toddlers group newsletter.  Over my years in the professional world, I have gotten scores of referrals for kids with motor delays only to discover that the skills they are lacking are simply ones they haven't been exposed to.  If a child is never allowed to color, how will he ever be able to hold a crayon?  Read on:

The Brain Body Connection

By Tracey L. Davis, MOT, OTR/L

Pediatric Occupational Therapist

Abilities Developmental Consulting Services

In this information age, we as parents are better equipped than ever to engage out children in activities that stimulate their mental development.  What books should we be reading?  What music should we play?  When should we start teaching alphabet letters?  Any of these questions can be answered with a quick search on the internet.  Schools are introducing academic tasks earlier and earlier, and children are starting school younger and younger.  And yet we keep asking the question:  what more can I do?

Many times, in our quest to help our children develop their brains, we forget about their bodies.  We let play time be play time, and learning time be learning time.  But motor development is not only important, it is essential.  Research shows a direct link between motor skills and cognitive development.  Vestibular stimulation (movement) increases expressive language (speech).  Typical development begins with gross motor, then fine motor, and finally speech and language development.  This is because the connections that need to be made in the brain to develop mental skills are activated through motor and sensory play.

We know this to be true, and yet we choose one in favor of the other.  We overstimulate their brains and overprotect their bodies.  We push information into their heads and hold back their legs.  

How can we encourage development of both the body and mind?  We must let them do.  We must let them be.  We must let them try.  Climbing, jumping, sliding, and yes, even falling.  They all provide information.  Information that makes neuron connections in the brain.  Coordinating arms and legs to climb a ladder provides instant feedback to joints, muscles, and nerves.  What a child does with this information is called a motor response.  Motor responses originate in the brain.  Motor play time is learning time, and it starts in infancy.  But it doesn't end there.  School aged children need this same kind of motor feedback just as much as toddlers, for knowing how gently to place a block on a tower without toppling it over is the same skill that keeps a child safe when climbing the monkey bars or navigating through a crowded classroom.

Obviously, we must keep our children safe.  But there is a difference between helping them be safe and keeping them from trying a new skill.   Our small children might not yet be ready to do, but they are always ready to try.  

What are you fighting for?

Everyone fights for something.  Every day.  If you say you don't, you are lying or in denial.  Some battles are silly, and some aren't.  But whatever it is, it takes up your time, energy, and resources.

My current battles are to keep on top of my daughter's 3+ week illness, keep race training a priority in this awful weather, and keep my sanity while my husband is away.  These are all worthy battles for me right now, and they are worth fighting for.  But recently while I have been fighting these fights, I am picking others.  Ones that aren't worth it.  Mainly involving my kids.  I'm getting caught up using my energy and resources on things that don't matter in the Grand Scheme of Life.

Or do they?  I don't know.  I mean, it doesn't really matter if the boys take their toys back upstairs.  And yet it does.  Because if I ask them to do it and they don't, then it becomes more then just toys.  Or even if it's just forgetfulness (rather than disobedience), it adds chaos to my life to have to deal with something I shouldn't have to deal with.  Argh.  What to do, what to do?

I don't know.  But I do know that each morning I have to get up and decide what I'm going to fight for.  I truly have to choose my battles.  And I have to stick to it.  Finish the race.  There are larger things at stake than picking up toys, wiping snotty noses, exercise, and yes, even sanity.  But little things pile on top of each other and create bigger things.  And those bigger things define me as a person.  As a Believer and Lover of Jesus.  As a Mother to my Children and a Wife to my Husband.

And so I fight.  I fight to protect my family.  And to do that, I need to keep them healthy.  And I need to keep me healthy.  And so I wipe noses, and I exercise, and I preserve my sanity...and on and on the cycle goes.

What are you fighting for?  What matters to you?  Is it worth your time, energy, and resources?  Does it help make you the person you want to be?

And now, I must go.  My daughter is fighting for my attention.  And she wins over this blog any day.

Food Rules

Did you hear about the nutrition professor who lost 27 pounds on a diet of twinkies and other hostess cake products?  It's true.  He ate one cake every 4 hours (and veggies at the dinner table so the kids didn't stage a coup over their own dinners).

He wanted to prove a point, which he did nicely:  Diet is about simple math.  Calories in vs calories out.


Sure, we can complicate things by talking about cholesterol, fat content, which foods turn to fat faster than which other foods.  But at the end of the day, we need to consume less calories than we eat.

A couple years ago, we embarked on a journey that put this concept to the test.  We started caring about the quality of food that went into our mouths.  And we stopped caring about fat, sugar, etc.  We read a couple of excellent books on the subject, the last sharing the title of this blog post.  The result?  We follow a few very basic "food rules" most of the time.  Here are a few:

1.  We read labels and steer clear of food with ingredients we cannot pronounce, or ingredients that our grandmothers have never heard of.
2.  We eliminate, or try to, foods with hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup.
3.  We make whole, grown food the core of our diet.
4.  We eat meat rarely, if ever, and if we do, we try to eat grass fed meat (this is simple to do in NL, as all meat is grass fed)

What does this mean for our cooking and eating habits?
1.  We make most things from scratch.  Among the staples:  homemade bread (surprisingly easy), sauces, and soups.
2.  We don't eat many packaged and processed foods.
3.  We rarely eat out.
4.  We use real butter, real sugar, lots of carbs, and we don't care.

What has this meant for our waistlines?
1.  We have lost weight and are now to the point where our bodies are settled in a healthy weight zone.
2.  We hardly ever weigh ourselves.  Our bodies tell us if we have eaten something not so great.
3.  We run a lot and enjoy it.
4.  We are in the best shape of our lives.

We do not always follow these rules.  We are not unrealistic in our expectations, nor are we hypocritical in our promotion of these rules.  We have kids, and we have weaknesses.  We all love cereal, which is probably one of the most processed foods out there.  We are not yet at the point to give it up, so we have been slowly decreasing the amount we eat and replacing it with more whole food options.  And packaged foods are so easy to bring on road trips.  So we make them treats, not the norm, and we read labels.  I'm the crazy lady in the cracker aisle who's there for 10 minutes to choose one box.  Oh, and we love love sweets.  So...we bake a lot.  But we're still healthy and happy, and homemade cookies are infinitely better than store bought.  Just saying.

Yes, it takes more time to cook.  Yes, it takes more planning to make lunches.  But if something is important to you, it's always possible to make the time to make it happen.

SOAPBOX SUNDAY

bread dough and marinara sauce

Hooray for Domesticity

As I've gotten older and now have a family, I've come to care more about the things that come into our home.  This includes cleaning products, food, entertainment, etc.  And I've come to the conclusion that simpler is better.

Of course, simpler is also more complicated.  I would like to just buy convenient everything, hire people to do my stuff, and forget it.  EXCEPT...

I CAN'T PRONOUNCE MANY OF THE INGREDIENTS IN CONVENIENCE FOODS
More specifics on this later, but basically, if I can't pronounce it, it's not real food.  I'm not judging the convenience food buyer...we all do what we have to do.  But it's a decision that we as a family made, and we're sticking to it.  However, because of that, I make stuff from scratch.  It takes time and planning.  And recipes.

I HAVE A TODDLER.  And she gets into everything, of course.  We're at the learning limits stage.  I don't want to constantly worry that she is going to somehow get into the hazardous chemical cabinet that is our cleaning supplies.  So I make my own.  It takes time and planning.  And empty spray bottles.

I AM NOT CURRENTLY WORKING OUTSIDE THE HOME.  So there's not really a good reason why I can't do this stuff myself.

But the best reason of all:

MY KIDDOS DON'T LIKE THE "CONVENIENT" STUFF.  Since we were moving, I was buying a lot more easy meal kinds of things.  Two nights in a row, my boys didn't like what we were eating (tomato soup and spaghetti, respectively), because it was too sweet.  They prefer the soup and sauce I make.  And the bread.

I am not Mrs. Sally Homemaker.  I like to work outside the home, and I hope to work here a little.  And we still buy our fair share of yummy processed foods, so don't peg me for a hypocrite.  But since I've made the decision to spend time making sauces and cleaners and breads from scratch, it's working out for us.  I feel good about the things my kids eat, I don't worry about them ingesting poison, and I make our own convenience foods.

So, let's hear it for getting old and domestic.  Hip, hip, hooray!

SOAPBOX SUNDAY

Measure twice, buy once

I will admit that I am container crazy, but only because if I didn’t admit it, my husband would spill the beans.  I purposely stay away from The Container Store so that I don’t end up filing for bankruptcy. 

That said, I can also tell you the most important lesson I’ve learned about containers:

IF YOU DON’T BUY A SPECIFIC CONTAINER FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE, THE CONTAINER ITSELF CREATES MORE CHAOS THAN IT SOLVES.

It’s true.  Don’t get sucked into the “what great containers, these will help me organize everything” argument.  Many people (excluding me, of course) fall into this trap and load up on great containers only to find that they don’t fit what they were intended for, or they don’t fit into their designated space.  Or maybe they were bought without any intentions in the hope that having the container would somehow make the person who bought it more organized.

Don’t do it.  Figure out what you need by creating piles of categorized items and measuring it’s volume.  Then, measure the size of the storage space to determine what you can accommodate.  You may end up with a few smaller containers, but if they fit your stuff and in the correct space, they will eliminate much more chaos than that one box that won’t fit anywhere but your dining room.