There is a small group of people in our community who only grow and eat their own food. This is ALL they eat. We are not these people although I find that way of eating fascinating and would be game to try it some day when I have lots and lots of time. Over many years we have worked ourselves into being label readers. Believe me people, there are things put in our food that is not fit for consumption. There are certain things we just don't have in our home. We try to eat as naturally as possible, we buy from our local bulk food stores, we can as much from our garden as possible, we are trying our hardest to eat as much raw food as we can (although we are finding this quite an adjustment to our buying habits), Josiah juices every day. He has found this to help greatly with the sugar balance in his body plus it has helped with his chronic sinus infections. We started years ago, to weed certain foods out of our home. We don't bake with white flour. We've discovered the great properties of whole grains and our flour mill sits out on our counter always. One of Jamin's jobs is to grind our wheat berries. That's not to say we don't buy whole wheat flour from time to time but for the most part we grind it. I confess, if Jamin weren't here I would have to buy a motor for my grinder because I wouldn't have time to grind by hand.
Tom sells local honey so we have a lot of honey on hand. Honey is a huge allergy fighter when it's local to you. We have a neighbor who used to go to the Dr. once a week for allergy shots when someone told her about local honey. She started taking 2 Tlbs. a day and within weeks she found relief and didn't have to go to the Dr. One day she ran out and a friend brought her some from many states away (he was already down south), she started taking it and within a couple weeks her allergies were back in full force. After buying local honey her allergies cleared up once again. We have heard many stories like this, it may or may not work for you. Give it a try!
We use all natural peanut butter and we love fresh, raw milk. Jamin makes our cheese and whipping cream (oh man, is that good!!!), I make yogurt and Celia and I make kiefer. We home make our pancakes and soups. I know it takes extra time but lots of times we make a huge batch of it and freeze what we don't eat (pancakes and soups). I also freeze my own chicken broth. When you've boiled or roasted a chicken don't throw away the broth, make sure all the bones and skin are out of it then put it in a quart jar, not quite full and pop it in the freezer. It makes beautiful broth for soups and potpies. It's cheap and not full of sodium. We have our own chickens so we have farm fresh eggs every day. I know most people can't have their own chickens but there are plenty of farmers or organic markets all over this country you can get fresh eggs. We also raise our own meat birds. You all know the flowery tops on the celery stalks? I cut them off and dry them on a paper towel. After they are dry I store them in a jar, fresh dried celery for soups and dips. It's lovely!
We eat rolled oats or 7 grain. I have a wonderful recipe for homemade granola cereal. It makes a big batch you can put in a tupperware and store for a long time, although it won't last that long.
Our pantry dwindles at the end of every winter but we grab our garden gloves and cultivators and head back outside to start the cycle all over again.
