Instead of sinking into the couch cushions to tap out the highlights of our days together, after dinner each night I lay quietly and read for a while as I nurse Merritt to sleep, the sunlight fading until I can't see the words on the page. Many nights the darkness is my cue to call it a day too. If there's anything truly worth doing at the end of a long, long day, it is to go to bed early. Other nights, I slip away from my little Merritt boy and head up to the loft to catch up on work email or to finally look my husband in the eye and have a grown up conversation. There are far too few hours in the day.
The weekends have been crammed with trips to the farmer's market, day visits to Richmond for house hunting, and family naps. If our house selling experiment goes through we're looking to close in mid to late October. I have yet to fully embrace the reality of the effort required to pack up and move all of our belongings. I think I'm in denial.
I've read at least 20 books since June began (many thanks to Merritt's sleep routine). We've been so inspired by the words of Michael Pollan, Nina Plank, Barbara Kingsolver, and Alice Waters. What began as a mother's day project in the backyard has, in the course of one summer, completely changed the way we eat and redefined our relationship with the food that we bring to our table. It's been a quiet revolution. My former relationship with food might have been characterized as mediocre, at best. In forging real life relationships with our food, through the people who grow and raise it, we've found our place within our local food chain. I thought I loved food before, but I think now that I'm in love.
The kids and I have been traversing our county during the week to forage for local food dealers, and pick your own fruit farms. I've been thrilled and impressed with what we've found so close to home.
Has your Summer reading inspired you in any way?
I think we should all take a cue from you and live in the moment with our children. Too many days have gone by with my thoughts occupied by online projects or rather useless things while Lillian just plays around me. It's time to pare down to priorities and enjoy our little ones and pick up on other hobbies later....I read Nina Plank's Real Food a few years ago and I should pull it out again and reread it. She is a Grass-fed meat advocate and has a lot of interesting things to say about Saturated Fats from animal sources. For contrast I really, really enjoyed Dr. Fuhrman's, "Eat to Live" which is more of a plant-based diet and I read that last summer. I take Dr. Fuhrman's advice and apply it to how I personally care to make food choices. His philosophies, however, focus on disease/ cancer prevention... what he calls a "nutritarian" diet. http://www.drfuhrman.com/
ReplyDeleteOther than that I have only successfuly finished a couple Elizabeth Pantley books...and a book on Christian Spirituality called Anonymous by Alicia Britt Chole. It is one my favorite books.
Even though I would like to see you more often on your blog...I hope you have a wonderful time enjoying your family as it is :)
Ahhh Sophie! Addie June is noming on her Sophie full force these days!
ReplyDeleteI know EXACTLY how you feel about the unintentional blogging hiatus. I don't know if it's a summer thing or what, but our days have been so busy (and fun!) that I feel that I've lost touch with my little "inter-web world". I still try to post at least once a week, mainly to document something about what we have been up to this summer, but I used to really LOVE reading my blog list, and I still do, I suppose, I just haven't had the time. I feel kind of guilty about it though. Silly, right?
Heidi: it just makes sense, doesn't it, that animals fed their natural diet would be healthier and therefore a better source of nutrition? I read Nina Plank's Real Food and also her Real Food for Mother and Baby. Both informative reads, but I'm still formulating my personal values on this issue. I checked out dr. Furhman's book after you mentioned it at the pool a few months back--his approach with all the veggies makes a lot of sense too.
ReplyDeleteMama Tully: I feel guilty too! WHYyyyy!? I know why, but geez, another 2 weeks have gone by. :)
Well you know we want you to post something if we are reading your comment thread ;)....no pressure! And I agree wholeheartedly with you. Any animal food products I would consider truly natural and wholesome would have been feed a natural diet in a healthy, natural env't. Dr. Furhman's approach would probably make most sense when there isn't access to meat you would want to eat. Better a plate full of veggies and non animal protein than chicken from who-knows where and cheese made out of who-knows what ;) So if you can't afford good nutrition-rich meat, don't eat meat(?) (Makes me nervous about dining-out!)
ReplyDelete