Here in Michigan, fall has moved in and my garden has been done for a couple weeks. While I miss having so much free, ripe produce available for the picking I’m at least thankful that I don’t have to really shop at the grocery store- yet. Our local farmers market is open until Christmas, and even I was shocked at how much fantastic food was still available over this weekend.

Not just the usual root vegetables you might expect (carrots, yams, potatoes) and apples, cider, pumpkins and squash of course. But also celery, cranberries, onions, garlic, herbs, and lettuce. There were also still herbs available and wonderful fruits such as concord grapes (my favorite!) and watermelon.

Not to mention I was also able to stock up on my usual bread, cheese, and butter, and there were plenty of eggs, honey, syrup, and frozen meats available. So even though your garden might be done for the year, check with your local market to see if it’s still open. You may not have to settle for regular grocery store items and produce just yet!!

I’ve been skeptical of purchasing fresh, pre-packaged meat for a long time now for many reasons such as the use of hormones, antibiotics, preservatives, and unnatural feed as well as the general treatment of the animals. My personal preference is to purchase pastured frozen meat from a local farm or at least buy fresh from a local meat shop if I need something special.

My least favorite thing to do is buy meat at a local grocery store in one of those foam and plastic sealed packages. On top of all the other probable issues noted above with the meat, there is also the fact that carbon monoxide can be used to “gas pack” the beef. Similar to food dyes, this additive provides no extra nutrition or flavor, but is simply meant to mask the true condition of the meat for purchase as it can now look bright red and fresh for weeks (instead of graying and exhibiting spoilage).

Carbon monoxide is also used to produce the same effect for seafood. Question regarding the safety of this process has come up in recent years and one report even states that “the presence of CO can cause fish to accumulate dangerous levels of scombrotoxin or histamine and can mask a wide variety of pathogens in meat including E. Coli and Salmonella“.

Unfortunately, this leaves consumers at a serious disadvantage as with pre-packaged meats, we can only look to see if they should be fresh. It’s not until after we purchase the package that it’s possible to open and smell the meat which may help as another indicator of freshness.

This goes to show that farmer’s markets and other local resources make for optimal places to purchase beef (and fish if you live near the ocean). You can get to know the farmer personally and learn about how their particular meat is processed. Often times it is even possible to order large quantities of beef in advance from local farms to stock your freezer so you always have meat on hand and can thaw it out when you need it.

This is another thing to watch for when you buy meat from the store- I’ve noticed a lot lately that the fresh chicken available at my local grocery store is in the process of thawing. This means that it really shouldn’t be frozen again unless it’s cooked. Just one more thing to be aware of if you are purchasing something not to be used right away as freezing it may not be the best option.

http://onlygrassfed.com/frozen-not-gas-packed.html

One thing I’ve been noticing a lot lately is the abundance of food dyes in all sorts of items at the grocery store. While it’s certainly nice for food to be attractive, do we really need potentially dangerous chemicals to do this, and if so, at what cost to our health? To me, it seems unnecessary to use food dyes since they add no nutritional value or even taste. And while I expect to find food dyes in highly processed foods (and unfortunately even some whole foods- more on this below), I especially dislike how they are so prevalent in kid-favorite foods.

Take a look around on your next trip to the grocery store and you’ll see an enormous selection of fake colored juices, popsicles, ice cream, cereals, candy, cookies, pop, cakes, and snacks. The artificial colors are everywhere and can make quite a trap for shoppers who might very well buy based on looks instead of actual taste and nutrition (although food dyes don’t even begin to touch on the lacking nutrition in these foods).

But what really irks me about this whole set-up is that for any dangers in consuming food dyes, kids are really taking the brunt of the impact. Natural News states that artificial food dyes are produced from petroleum (obviously not something we’re meant to eat!) and that some colors have actually been banned in the past for causing cancer.

In addition, there is some still question as to whether the food dyes currently being used are even safe. CSPI states that the three most used dyes (Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Red 40) contain carcinogens. Some food dyes have also attributed to learning disabilities, ADHD, and violent behavior. This is pretty scary stuff just to make food look more appealing!

Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, consumers still have to be careful even if purchasing whole, nutritious foods (such as fresh fruits and vegetables) as some dyes are allowed to color foods that were picked before being ripe to give the appearance of freshness and nutrition. Shoppers can easily be fooled by a fruit, such as an orange, vibrantly colored unnaturally and without the true nutrition that should be present.

Overall, for mass produced food items, it’s not possible to tell the quality of a product just by looking at it. Instead, it’s important to know how the food was grown and processed. This is another reason for the importance of purchasing locally grown foods that are truly fresh as well as getting to know the farm’s practices so you can be sure of safe and quality products.

Luckily, there are also some more naturally produced foods which use colors derived from vegetables and plants such as beet juice and annatto. These natural dyes can often be found in organic products and in food items at health stores. There’s also plenty of delicious snack options that can be easily prepared for kids without artificial coloring. For example, try making homemade popsicles from blended fruit, smoothies, natural sodas, or homemade ice cream (even if you just use a banana to make it!).

And last, but not least, I have to share one more thing with you. A “fun fact” so to speak. Guess how the food dye called carmine (a.k.a. Red #4) is made?

With ground up insects. Beetles to be exact.

I’ll pass.

Although I drink my whole milk raw from a local farm that I trust, I sometimes find myself purchasing extra cream and other pasteurized (heated) dairy products at the store. I accept that these items are only available to be purchased pasteurized at this time, even at health stores, but I’ve recently learned about ultra-pasteurization of some dairy products that just seems so unnatural.

Natural News posted an interesting interview with Sally Fallon (co-author of the wonderful Nourishing Traditions cookbook) that touches on the pasteurization subject. She states that there are a couple of different ways to pasteurize which include the “holder technique” and “flash pasteurization”. With the holder technique, milk is heated slower and held at the desired temperature for 15-3o minutes. Flash pasteurization, however, is when the milk is heated quickly and the temperature is held for only a few seconds.

I’m not a huge fan of pasteurization as it is, and ultra-pasteurization, in my opinion, is at a totally different level. In this process, chilled milk is heated higher than the boiling point in less than two seconds. Sally Fallon states that you cannot do this in your kitchen because you will reach the boiling point of milk and and not be able to go higher than 212 degrees. However, with ultra-pasteurization, equipment is capable of getting the milk to reach temperatures up to 230 degrees. The reason this is done commercially is to extend the shelf life and try to rid the milk of bacteria that has become heat resistant.

But, remember, clean, fresh milk from pastured cows that are treated well and given good living conditions (of course, also free of hormones and antibiotics) contains enzymes and vitamins in the milk which make it a “live” product and good for us in many ways. In the past raw milk has even been used for medicinal purposes. Sally Fallon goes on to make another good point about ultra-pasteurization- if we are going to kill everything good in the milk, why bother to grass feed and raise cows organically to begin with?

If you would like to avoid ultra-pasteurized products, I recommend looking for this description on the ingredients list and general packaging of the item you are looking to purchase. Local, organic dairy products may also be a better option as some may use slower heating techniques and possibly not homogenize the milk as well. Kelly the Kitchen Cop also offers some milk recommendations and good brands to look for if you are buying from the store.

http://realmilk.com/what.html

Photo By: Chris69

I have been saving a freezer organization article I read in Better Homes & Gardens magazine for an embarrassingly long time (October 2009- eek) on getting and keeping a freezer organized. Not only does it help to ensure food is used up in a timely manner, but it also makes it easier to grocery shop and meal plan when you have a list of what you already have. It also saves time from digging deep into the freezer with all that cold air blowing on you. :)

I had really wanted a large freezer so I could keep healthy foods available throughout the year and also to have the space to purchase local, free range beef, pork, and chickens in large quantities. However, once I got one I didn’t really keep tabs on what I had and was using (or forgetting to use) so I have now finally taken the time to implement some of the organization tips from this article.

The first thing I did was take a full inventory of the freezer (yes, brrrr) and then sort it out by food type. I purchased a magnetic, dry erase marker board (as suggested in the article) to post right on the freezer, then added all of the information to it. The picture is a little dark since the freezer is in the basement, but this is what I ended up with.

The marker board works great because I can remove an item from the freezer and make a quick adjustment to the number available or I can add a new item very easily. So far I have remembered to do this each time and it will be important to continue to do so or the inventory will get messed up very quickly. This visual inventory also has brought to my attention that I actually have very few veggies frozen (will need to do more next year) and that I have an awful lot of berries to use up before this summer (healthy muffin recipe anyone?).

I also now have different sections in the freezer dedicated to certain items (berries on top shelf, etc.), but to take it a step further the article suggests labeled bins that can quickly be recognized and pulled out to grab something. If you have a very full freezer with a large variety of foods, this might be especially helpful. Plastic luggage tabs are suggested for the bins as they can be reused with a new label slid in if needed.

Now these are just a few tips to get started with organizing a freezer; please feel free to share if you have any others. I am fortunate to be able to buy produce locally when it’s the most fresh (and usually priced best) and now that I’m getting organized making sure I use it up efficiently is easier than ever.

If you are like most people who’ve experienced a natural health awakening over the past few years, (or maybe you’re still in yours – after all, education is a lifelong process!), you are aware of the dangers of fluoride, and you have  taken steps to remove it from your water supply.

To recap, sodium fluoride (not calcium fluoride, which is naturally occurring and remarkably safe) is an industrial toxic waste product that is regularly (and legally) dumped into U.S. public water supply. In other words, a chemical that must be handled with gloves and extreme caution in the lab is freely ingested by millions of people every day.  This realization is quite alarming when you consider that sodium fluoride contributes to “fluoridosis” (a grisly degeneration of the bones), several cancers, and the typical zombie-like, apathetic mindstate of the general population.

So you know you don’t want fluoride in your water. You avoid bottled water (basically packaged & sold tap water), you certainly never drink from the tap, and you’ve installed a home water-filtration system to ensure fluoride is out of sight, out of mind. But is it?

Consider this: if you are eating virtually any processed food or beverage, you are still ingesting fluoride (among a cocktail of other dangerous chemicals, including high fructose corn syrup, food colorings, “natural flavoring”, and more). Water is used to create a variety of processed products – and you can be sure that the company isn’t as strict about its water purity as you are.  From the link above, here are common foods that contain fluoride, and how much:

• Minute Maid OJ, 0.98 – 1.20mg/l
• Gerber’s Graduate Berry Juice, 3.0mg/l
• Classic Coca Cola, 0.82-0.98mg/l
• Diet Coke, 1.12mg/l
• Snapple, 0.29mg/l
• Lipton Ice Tea, 0.56 mg/l
• Kellogg’s Fruit Loops, 2.1mg/kg

Even fruits and vegetables can have fluoride content, if they are watered with water that contains fluoride. Of course, how do you know? An apple at the big box grocery store is thousands of miles from whence it came. This is another situation in which asking the manager won’t help, either.

Once again, the safe solution is to intimately know the source of your food, and don’t eat it if you don’t trust it. Buy from a farmer’s market, where you can ask questions directly to the grower. (That’s what I love about the dairy farm – they use well water, so there’s no fluoride on the property, and more importantly, my milk and eggs :) )

Invest in a quality portable water container and don’t leave the house without it. Extreme, maybe, but you can take it in steps. Just remember – there IS a war for your mind, body and soul, and you gain significant advantage by rightly taking control over what you put into your body. (The same way you can and should control your thoughts to improve your mental state naturally, not with drugs).

The more you can choose whole, fresh foods, and avoid choosing factory foods, the more confidence you can feel that fluoride and other deleterious chemicals are out of your life, for good.

If you’re looking for more information on fluoride in food and water, please check out our follow-up post on this topic.

I was lucky enough to run into a wonderful vendor, Dee Bellini, at the local Artisan’s market again this year. She is the founder of Bars by Bellini and has an offering of handmade natural skin care products that work extremely well. I’m writing this to tell you the best part-  you can now buy them online. She even offers free shipping for orders over $100 (and you could try out a lot of her products for that much!).

I won’t relay all of the ingredients on the labels of her products (since they are not all listed on her website and I wouldn’t want to publish anything she might not want online), but I am sure that if you needed to know the specific ingredients you could e-mail the contact address listed on the site. I will; however, describe my experiences with the products I’ve purchased so far.

The Lemon Buttercream Buff is a foaming scrub that exfoliates the skin and I use it about once a week. I bought the little tub last summer and it is only about half gone so you can see it can last for quite some time. It contains high quality ingredients such as coconut and jojoba oil as well as exfoliating agents. When I purchased this Dee noted that I would not have to use a moisturizer after it since it actually leaves the skin very moist. It certainly lives up to this although I do tend to still use an extra moisturizer afterwards because I like my skin feeling extra hydrated.

I have also purchased the Herbal Mask which is made with fresh lavender, slippery elm, comfrey, sea kelp, and bentonite clay. I simply mix a small amount of the powder with water (a shot glass works great for this) and then apply it to my face, rinsing off after about 15 minutes of drying time. It seems to really refresh and rejuvenate my skin. Sarah also recently purchased this, too, so she might have further comments to share.

I also use the Rosemary Lavender Toner which is one of my favorite products that I’ve had since last summer. It has a wonderful, relaxing smell and I simply pour a little on a cotton ball and run it over my face and throat. I could probably use this every day, but often forget and so I still have 3/4 of the bottle left.

And of course, I have saved what I think is the very best for last: the Goat’s Milk and Aloe Cream. Trying the sample at the market, I loved the light smell and the non-greasy , moisturized feel it left on my skin. Dee said that it is good for smaller, more specific areas such as feet. I noticed a huge improvement on my dry heels after using this at bedtime every night for a about a week. The moisture does not fade away, but seems to really absorb and last, unlike other foot lotions I’ve tried. According to the website, the goat’s milk works for strengthening, the aloe is soothing, and hempseed oil is added for moisturizing. It’s really been working great for me as during the summer my feet sometimes get pretty rough from drying out in sandals.

I truly hope that if you try out these products, you enjoy them as much as I do. If you happen to be in Grand Rapids area, you can even meet Dee and try the products at the regular Sunday Fulton St. Artisan’s Market.

In my efforts to allocate most of my food budget toward local growers this summer, I stumbled upon a great treasure, this printable list of West Michigan area farmers markets, complete with contact info, location and hours. The famous Fulton street market is listed of course; but others less well-known around Grand Rapids include Thursday’s Westside farmer’s market and Southeast Area farmer’s market, and even a market on the GVSU campus Wednesday afternoons.

The list consists of 27 markets in total and extends as far as South Haven, Muskegon and Montague, so keep it handy when you’re traveling or send to friends and family sprawled around the state. The next step would be to red-dot each market out on a wall map of West Michigan and devise a strategy for hitting all of them; there’s a market open every day but Sunday! We still won’t have long to rest though, as the next three months of Sunday’s Artisan’s market on Fulton starts June 14.

Summer shopping is finally here – in case you’re wondering why spend your spare change in town, check out the findings of this Grand Rapids economic study. Do I really need to make the case for local produce? Just in case, check out this piece on GMO’s. Knowing and supporting the source of your food is priceless!

Karen highly recommends

Well, today has been one of the most liberating Saturdays I’ve experienced in a few months.  The cow-share program we’ve recently joined was hosting a Dairy Essentials Class free to all members (classes are open to the public at a reasonable rate during the summer), and there were at least 15 of us there today.

The class was led by Karen (the Cow Lady!) and we also got to meet her husband Jeff for a quick minute. (Aside – we both agreed that this pair have a rare spirit of kindness and enlightenment, and a down to earth, accessible nature. We are so grateful to have found these remarkable people doing this good work for the community here.)

We then took turns introducing ourselves, and I was pleased to see many people my age in the crowd, as well as seasoned raw milk pros. Everyone had a unique story; one woman is severely allergic to commercialized milk, but she has never had a problem with raw milk since she started drinking it a few months ago.

Another woman (I apologize, I’m horrible with remembering names) had  allergies all her life, but when she started drinking raw milk a few years ago, she found she didn’t need to take her allergy medications anymore.

A few other people were talking about how difficult it is to get the picky eaters or ‘traditional’ milk drinkers in their life to even consider raw dairy as a real option. If you think you are at this stage, you may want to check out realmilk.org to help you make an informed decision.

I personally knew I had to stop supporting the commercialized food industry when I saw the video expose the humane society produced when they infiltrated mass-produced dairy farms last year (I’m not going to post the link because it’s terrible – but the treatment of an animal does ultimately affect the energy of that animal as food in your body). And when you research the commercial processing of the dairy product, including pasteurization, raw milk develops even more appeal.

Cows should be pastured and content, as they are at Lubbers. We happened to see the cows milking process today and had to comment on how robust and healthy they looked. The average commercial dairy cow lives 42 months – the cows on Lubbers farm easily pass 8-12 years, with one cow even giving birth at age 16!

The cows are milked twice a day, every day. The milk travels in stainless steel pipes, passes through two filters and is kept at a cool 38 degrees. The entire tubing, piping, and storage system is flushed and sanitized every three days.

We got our milk today and, thanks to what we learned in the Dairy Essentials Class, we are now able to make (all raw):

• Butter
• Yogurt
• Simple cream cheese
• Crème fraîche
• Sour cream
• Whipped cream
• Ice cream!
• Vanilla Extract

Karen demonstrated how to make butter, and it’s surprisingly simple:

Pour about a quart of heavy cream (you can collect it over a span of up to 2 weeks) into a food processor. Process until butter forms (varies; about 10 minutes). You’ll know when it’s yellowish and “set”, or solidified. There will also be a lot of liquid too; this is true buttermilk (not what any stores sell) and can be stored for a variety of culinary uses. Press all the buttermilk out of the butter with a wooden butter paddle (Karen gave each family one free at the class), salt with a little sea salt to flavor and preserve (I use Himalayan pink crystal rock salt, just don’t use sodium chloride, or table salt), and store in a container at room temperature.

Karen let us sample the butter she made and it was to die for – we also got to try batches she had previously whipped up of yogurt w/ three different types of cultures, cream cheese w/ two different cultures, crème fraîche, sour cream, and ice cream! The ice cream was unlike any ice cream I’d ever known, it was soft, rich, and I could really enjoy savoring each flavor of vanilla and maple syrup.

She also recommended a variety of books with further recipes including cheesemaking. Karen is just a wealth of information on practical applications of real food in your own life; if you live in the Grand Rapids area I highly suggest you seek her out and get to know more about this amazing food source. If you live somewhere else, look around your community and see if there is a local farmer you can support. As more customers make the switch, more farmers will rise to meet that demand. And you can be assured their standards of quality, cleanliness, and ethics are in line with yours – because you are right there, hands-on in the process. Knowing where your food comes from is a huge leap in a healthy direction. Now I’m just going to sit back with my glass of milk and revel in this sweet success.

Yes- we’ve done it. Tackled the replacement of yet another dangerous food in our lives- mass produced milk. What was a small local purchase years ago has turned into mass production, and the result is not just another sacrifice of quality for quantity. Instead, the horrendous treatment of cows in the mainstream milk supply has made it a dangerous staple in American households.

While cows used to graze in pastures and fields, mass produced milk cows are consistently fed a less nutritious diet and, in the past, even dead cows (thankfully, this is illegal now). However, it is legal for calves to ingest the blood of dead cows as part of their feed. Not only is that disgusting, but there is also the possibility that the blood could be from a cow that was sick and infected due to mistreatment. That said, it can’t be anything close to a healthy supplement for a calf.

In addition to the questionable diet, growth hormones are given to cows to make their udders unnaturally large so that more milk can be produced daily. Unfortunately, it would seem logical that these hormones injected into cows are also passed along into the milk supply. That would be in addition to any steroids, antibiotics, or pesticides that the cow may have also come into contact with before being milked.

Another factor of mass produced milk is the blood and puss that form on the udders when a cow is milked with harsh machinery. This also becomes a part of the milk supply and combined with the other elements above, makes it necessary for this milk to be pasteurized (or heated) before refrigeration and selling. Even with the pasteurization, the true contents of mass produced milk are unsettling as we are unaware of what potential consequences may result from them in the future health of the U.S. population.

Now, at last- what you’ve been waiting for- an alternative. This past weekend Sarah and I found our solution to mass produced milk right in our local community: Lubbers Family Farm. This farm offers cow shares to the public which in turn allows them to pick up either one or two gallons of fresh, raw (unpasteurized) milk each week.

We met with one of the owners, Karen Lubbers, who greeted us at the farms “Milk House” where she gave us a tour of the small building as well as the milking area and actual cows. During our short visit, a number of current members stopped to fill their weekly milk allotment into reusable glass containers.

As we toured, we asked questions and learned about the process and schedule of milking, how they cleanse their systems, what the cows are fed, and how they are treated. When possible (mostly in the summer), the cows graze freely in the pastures and are only fed a very small amount of grain. Seeing the facility firsthand and having the discussion with the vendor (something that would never happen with the mass milk supply) truly put our minds at ease.

Throughout our visit, the farm was alive with activity and the cows looked healthy and comfortable. Karen reassured us that if a cow did have a serious infection or issue requiring antibiotics that it would be taken off the milk supply until the antibiotics had safely passed through the cow’s system. She also informed that they send their milk to a third party monthly for testing and verification of safety.

The last, and best part, of the of the visit was tasting the raw milk. We had expected it to be completely different than our previous, mass produced milk experiences, but it was pure white, cold, refreshing, and delicious (almost sweet). We were truly relieved that it would not be hard to switch to this healthier, local alternative and eagerly took our contracts (required in Michigan for the cow share) to review in detail at home.

From our great experience, I strongly recommend searching out milk alternatives right in your local community. You may find that a better option for you and your family is only around the corner. Here is a great resource to check out your own local milk supply. If you live in the U.S., it offers basic information by state and then city. It is a wonderful feeling to purchase a product that is healthier and what it claims to be while supporting you local area.

*New York Times Bestseller “Skinny Bitch” by Rory Freedman & Kim Barnouin was used as a reference for this article