Food Compromises

With a growing family of nine and a small income, we have to make some tough choices when it comes to our food purchasing.    Last night we did have roasted potatoes and winter squash from last season's gardens, but for the most part we still purchase most of our food.

If money was not an issue, we would be 100% local and organic, but we wouldn't be able to pay our other bills if we did this.  So choices have to be made.

On our shopping trip yesterday this is what we bought -

At a local small grocery store (we don't shop at the big ones like Price Chopper or Shaws) -
5 pounds of conventional rice
8 pounds of pasta
2 jars of spaghetti sauce (we used to buy cans of Hunts but realized they use corn syrup so we don't any longer) - next year we hope to can more.  Our tomatoes did not produce this last year.
2 bottles of Hunts ketchup (they do not use corn syrup on their ketchup) and we have some children that seem to want ketchup on nearly everything
1 bottle of olive oil
2 cans of organic diced tomatoes
1 64 oz bottle of cranberry raspberry juice (a brand that doesn't use corn syrup)
5 - 14 oz boxes of Cheerios - usually we buy two large boxes per week but these were on sale  (Our children alternate between this and pancakes for breakfast - Mike and I  and Abraham eat organic rolled oats for breakfast several mornings each week - the oats are purchased in bulk from the local natural foods store.  I have organic raisins on my cereal.)
1 can or Parmesan cheese
1.5 pounds of honey (raw semi-local - but not the really good stuff from our neighbor as it is just soooo expensive and with all of our tea loving children we can't afford it)
1 bottle organic red wine (can you believe they have some for 5.99?)
10 pounds of King Arthur white flour (this goes with our 25 pound of local Butterworks whole wheat organic flour)
1 bag of store brand chocolate chips
1 box of store brand saltines
1 can of coffee (we buy fair trade whenever possible)
3 pounds of butter (conventional)
2 pounds monterey jack cheese (we eat grilled cheese often for lunch in the winter)
4 boxes of organic mac and cheese (once per week for lunch in the winter and this crew needs four boxes)
1 pound of mozzarella (weekly homemade pizza)
1 Stonyfield organic yogurt (we usually buy our local Butterworks Maple at their farm once per week as well)
4 rolls of Marcal no chlorine, recycled toilet paper
1 container of seventh generation dish detergent

At the local Natural Food Store:
1 16 oz bag of organic corn chips
Drews organic salsa
cinnamon
4 - large organic onions - (we are going to grow many more of these this year our self as they keep well in the basement)
1 bag organic Flax seed meal (I use this in bread, cookies and on top of my pancakes and yogurt)
organic tofu

This should get us through most of the week.

I have granola from last week - I use organic rolled oats, wheat germ, sugar and honey, cinnamon, sunflower seeds, flax, oil and butter.  This goes on yogurt for mid morning snack.

We purchased organic turtle beans from Butterworks farm which we are having 2 - 3 times each week either with tomatoes and spices or used in soup or made into baked beans for our protein.

In addition, I buy a container of tofu to go with tomato sauce and pasta once per week for dinner.
Then, we buy local organic beef when we can afford it  - usually once every other week.

Our chickens only give us about 4 eggs per day right now - but that is enough for pancake batter once or twice a week and all of the baking I do.

Yeast, I purchase about every other week in bulk from the natural food store for our daily bread which ends up being 3/4 organic (with the Butterworks organic wheat and King Arthur white).

We purchase organic raw milk once per week after church at the farm after church and then do drink conventional milk the rest of the time - can't wait until we can milk our goats.

So all in all, we spend about $175 - $200 -per week on everything - that includes dog food, cat food, chicken feed and so on.

Our food does involve many compromises and we hope to do more ourselves each year, but this is where we are at right now.

Any other ideas to share?

Daily Practice

When we lived off grid in an old mobile home with five children and then for a year with our sixth baby, practicing gratitude became a habit for me.  I just knew that God had a plan for us and that He would not give me any more than I could handle.

So while carrying water from one end of the mobile home to the other to wash dishes or while scrubbing clothes by hand in the wash bucket or filling our "refrigerator" with a bucket of snow, or wondering how we would ever manage with yet another baby, I had a choose to either embrace what I had or be miserable.  I did often come to God in tears, but through it all, giving thanks daily and often became a habit.  I would thank God for the food we did have to eat, the clothes I was able to wash, for my husband and children, for a roof over our head, and so on.

Now that our lives are truly much more comfortable, I don't have to be working from the time I wake to the time I go to bed just to meet our family's needs, and now that our business is providing for us plus, now that our home has ample space for all of us, running water, electricity, a washing machine - it is so much harder to remember to give thanks continually - to remember that all comes from God.

I bought this book this past summer and have read it once, but pick it up often to re-read sections and now with the near year, I have begun my own thousand gifts journal.  I need to do this to remind myself of how much I have been given but even more so I need to do this to be reminded of how much I have to give.

"Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble.  Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.  The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring."   --Isaiah 58:10 - 100--

Warm wishes and blessings as you begin the work of a new week,
Tonya

(Ann Voskamp, the author or One Thousand Gifts, has a wonderful blog - A Holy Experience.)

Moments from the Week

skating on our pond

 father and daughter together at lunch time

 needle felting with Sarah and Abraham

 making penguins and snow people 

although the children say they all look like penguins

a new knitted pair of booties for Emmy

life is so good

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

Tonya

- 

Attitude Adjustment

I made up my mind recently to not be frustrated at the time it takes to continually help the two younger ones with their coats, mittens, hats, skates, etc.. and instead embrace the time by

praying for them, smiling at them, and being fully engaged with them for those 

precious few minutes.

Knitting Bag

Joining in with Ginny again this week.

Yesterday I sewed up this knitting bag using a pair of old jeans, some fabric from an old skirt and our handmade hemlock buttons.

On my needles I am working on another hat.  The one I was knitting for myself came out well.  I just love this simple pattern as it uses up bits of yarn and also I can include some more exclusive, hand dyed yarn such as this mix of greens that I bought from The Sitting Tree.  Just putting a band in each hat would make the one skein last for many, many hats.

I have also cast on some Peace Fleece DK weight yarn on size six needles to make a vest from this free pattern.

Finally, I have started to read Jane Eyre, I book I have never read but am excited to enjoy the rich language and to get my brain active in the new year.

What are your handwork goals this year?

Abby told me yesterday....

"I like home schooling."
"Why?" I asked.
Her reply, "Because I can finish my table work early and then do my chores - like take care of the chickens and goats and then sometimes fill up the inside wood if it needs it - and then have so much of the day to do what I would like - making sun catchers, drawing, and today - I am going to make a movie."

A New Year

What a wonderful year 2011 has been.

We were able to support our family of now nine with the work of our little home business.    A goal though for the new year is to be better stewards of our money - to save a bit for when the business does have slow times and for emergencies.   

We also want to balance the time on our business with time needed on our homestead - both our home, outbuildings, gardens, fenced in areas for the goats, and growing/planting more fruit trees/bushes. 

One of my homesteading goals is to make our own soft cheeses from raw milk from a nearby farm and to get our goats bred this coming fall so that we can start milking next spring.

This year also brought the birth of Emmy - oh what an amazing gift - both her birth and her sweet healthy self.  Through the hard pregnancy I learned to let go and to concentrate on what matters most and my goal in 2012 is to continue this - to be fully present for my family and to serve them selflessly. 

Already my hands have been busy this year with knitting and needle felting.  My personal goal is to spend more time in artistic creative pursuits - I enjoy drawing and want to work more with wool and wood.

I am so thankful for all the gifts 2011 brought and look forward to learning, growing and serving in 2012, and keeping myself always open to God's leading.

Wishing you joy and peace in the New Year!