Here at incidentalfarmgirl you know I am a fan of doing things naturally and often the "old way" I love natural remedies, whole food from scratch cooking, gardening, canning, homeschooling, animal husbandry, and I am somewhat of a romanticist when it comes to days gone by. The term "crunchy" has been thrown around often with regards to women, or moms who prefer a more natural bent (it comes from the granola crunchy hippies way of doing things though I assure you...hippie I am not) and I have even posted granola recipes.
So to start off the new year I want to begin a series of 30 days to a more natural way of life. I will attempt (as life often gets crazy around here) to post daily tips for the month of January on ways to make steps back into the ways things were done before we over-industrialized every aspect of our lives and over-digitized our routines to the point of exhaustion.
So, I often get the question..."Where do I start? I want to get back to more natural basics, but how do I even begin when there is so much information flying at me daily about what is good, what is bad, I just can't sort it all out." This question abounds in every group or discussion I hear about living a life more natural. I gave this some serious thought and tried to remember when I first started really feeling the need to move back to basics, where did I start?
So to start off the new year I want to begin a series of 30 days to a more natural way of life. I will attempt (as life often gets crazy around here) to post daily tips for the month of January on ways to make steps back into the ways things were done before we over-industrialized every aspect of our lives and over-digitized our routines to the point of exhaustion.
So, I often get the question..."Where do I start? I want to get back to more natural basics, but how do I even begin when there is so much information flying at me daily about what is good, what is bad, I just can't sort it all out." This question abounds in every group or discussion I hear about living a life more natural. I gave this some serious thought and tried to remember when I first started really feeling the need to move back to basics, where did I start?
I started with butter. I know that this may sound strange but we all have to start somewhere. I just didn't like margarine or any of the other "fake" butters out there and I learned that in baking from scratch that REAL butter makes ALL the difference. So, if butter tastes so much better, why not stick with real natural butter?
Well, I think that our thinking became twisted back when the health and wellness community started telling us that "fat makes you fat" so we began coming up with all kinds of solutions for a low fat alternative to butter. We added all kinds of chemicals, weird ingredients and things I cannot pronounce and we declared it good because...well because...it was lower in fat. If you do any research now you will find that the health communities are starting to find that after years of touting low fat as the best for your body, they are starting to reconsider their former stance. (and by the way, do you often see fat farmers? Most old timers ate butter by the pound and what we are missing now is just the level of physical exertion they had)
So, that is where it started for me. No more fake stuff, if I want a buttery taste, we used real actual butter. It tasted so much better and I could pronounce everything on the label (pasteurized cream & salt). Even better when I can get my hands on whole raw milk and make my own butter, but for the most part, we just buy our butter.
That revelation of mine also has led to the use of other ingredients thought to be horrible for you. I have found a number of uses for our lard rendered from having a hog processed and I save my bacon grease just like I remember my grandmother doing when I was a child. There was always a container of bacon grease she added to. It is a great seasoning for vegetables, gravies, and I figure if it worked back then...why change it.
Well, I think that our thinking became twisted back when the health and wellness community started telling us that "fat makes you fat" so we began coming up with all kinds of solutions for a low fat alternative to butter. We added all kinds of chemicals, weird ingredients and things I cannot pronounce and we declared it good because...well because...it was lower in fat. If you do any research now you will find that the health communities are starting to find that after years of touting low fat as the best for your body, they are starting to reconsider their former stance. (and by the way, do you often see fat farmers? Most old timers ate butter by the pound and what we are missing now is just the level of physical exertion they had)
So, that is where it started for me. No more fake stuff, if I want a buttery taste, we used real actual butter. It tasted so much better and I could pronounce everything on the label (pasteurized cream & salt). Even better when I can get my hands on whole raw milk and make my own butter, but for the most part, we just buy our butter.
That revelation of mine also has led to the use of other ingredients thought to be horrible for you. I have found a number of uses for our lard rendered from having a hog processed and I save my bacon grease just like I remember my grandmother doing when I was a child. There was always a container of bacon grease she added to. It is a great seasoning for vegetables, gravies, and I figure if it worked back then...why change it.
Want to be sure you don't miss a single post in this series? Be sure to subscribe to my email notifications to get emails about new posts...top right corner of the screen, just add your email and you will also be entered to win a natural freebie at the end of this series!
