Welcome to the 30 Days of Change Blog Carnival hosted by Living Peacefully With Children and Hybrid Rasta Mama. In celebration of the New Year and forgotten resolutions , we're sharing the results of our 30 day commitment to addressing one habit the we either needed to eliminate, reframe, or include in our life. We hope you are inspired and energized to make one positive change in your own habits.
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Hi, I'm Jaye Anne and I want to tell you about my 30 days of change... sniff... I smell...
LOCAL FOOD! (crash, camera flips over, falls on ground. View is sideways as you see me transform. I now have crazy hair and am holding heirloom squashes.)
LOCO LOCAVORE HERE!
Our local feast: steak and delightful delicatta squash |
The LoCo Locavore took over for 30 days in our house and it was even EASIER than that puny Jaye Anne thought it would be. Check it out-- The first week there were apples, potatoes, and these delicious sweet squashes. They had the thinnest skin that could be eaten. The eggs were still bright orange and brought such richness to my proteinated breakfast. This was the first week we made homemade pizza. Instead of tomato sauce (tomatoes are hard to come by honestly in January), we used pumpkin as a saucy base.
our custom sausages that included kidney, heart and liver |
(I transform back, and pick up the camera daintily.)
As I was saying, the change was easier than I thought it would be. It was not stress-free, however. We had intended the kids to be eating locally as well, but there were some allowances that we had to make halfway through. Part of the change I had intended was sitting down to dinner every night as a family, and making food for the kids during the day (they head over to my mother-in-law's for the morning). I think all this was more than I could chew. I knew it would be though; sometimes you gotta do a lot of things and see what sticks to your routine. This was part of that figuring out what works for us at this point in time.
watermelon radishes: brightness in the dead of winter |
Sitting down to dinner has stuck pretty well, fortunately. There were a few days in the beginning that the kids protested (read: we ate dinner while both of them screamed in their chairs), but eventually, they both started to enjoy it. They began to eat better at the table than in front of the TV, mostly because they were not running around distracted.
We did end up getting them some snacks that they had been eating on a regular basis prior to the change. Honestly, some of the snacks they enjoy the most are healthy (seaweed and applesauce) and come in a user-friendly package. This makes my life easier and decreased stress for me is an overarching goal. Plus, I think there is just something about seeing my kids eat that just makes me happy. I like giving them good options and taking the stress off everybody. I learned a lot in what is important to me when it comes to them, and how to accommodate their needs and wants with my own goals.
Locavore Superbowl Menu:
Marinated chicken drumsticks
white and orange carrot sticks, cut sweet turnips with creme fraiche ranch dressing
homemade tortilla chips fried in lard
guacamole and salsa from the farmer's market
apple pie
So what are we going to do? Keep going with this. My Saturdays are my zen times when I get to go to the Farmer's Market and our milk farm. I also get to have my weekly cup of coffee (yes, there is fair-trade, locally roasted coffee at my market!) and enjoy a baked good made by neighbors. My farmer buddies always remember me and even accommodate special orders (like 12 pounds of pork fat for lard-rendering). At the end of the day, I feel like what I have gotten back from this is far more than I have paid for it.
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Please take a moment to visit the blogs of our other 30 Days of Change Blog Carnival participants. The links in this list will be updated by the end of the day.
- Finishing off 2012 depressed and negative, Survivor decided to start 2013 off with positive actions and attitudes. In her blog Surviving Mexico, watch as she discovers how to overcome the disasters and find the adventures in living again.
- Mrs Green from Little Green Blog spent her month not just meditating, but prioritizing it in her life ...
- In The LoCo Locavore Takes OVER, our family went completely local for 30 days... IN JANUARY. Read about how we fared on our local fare. Spoiler alert! We didn't starve. You can also find Wide Awake, Half Asleep on Facebook.
- Mari from Honey on the Bum relates how she came to the conclusion that she should stop picking apart her body, and figuratively, her life, and briefly discusses some challenges on the way.
- Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares how she made two changes; stepping outside of her "comfort food shopping zone" and starting a food storage program. You can also find Jennifer on Facebook.
- Mercedes at Project Procrastinot demonstrates new sticktoitiveness when she joined the Ultimate Blog Challenge in January. You can also find Project Procrastinot on Facebook.
- Maintaining a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy can be overwhelming. Join with Shannon at GrowingSlower as she takes back control of her health during her second pregnancy, all while parenting a toddler!You can also find Growing Slower on Facebook.
- At Living Peacefully with Children, Mandy has been working on making time every day just to breathe and be.
Also part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Fridays.
What a great challenge. We try to buy a lot of our food locally. This is generally easier for us in the summer, when local farmer's markets abound.
ReplyDeleteWe tend to be pretty "go with the flow," but we do try to sit down together for dinner. It is sometimes the first time my children have seen their father, who works outside the home, all day. It's a great time for us to reconnect with him.
I bet the kids will catch on to eating locally the more you do it. It was a big transition for us not to eat in front of the TV after we had BabyE, but it has been a really rewarding practice. It was probably a little easier for our little one since he was only 2 months old when we started! Though to be honest, DH and I still do miss watching a show with dinner some Friday nights!
ReplyDeletePerfect challenge, especially at the beginning of the year! I am lucky enough to either forage or purchase 85% of our food locally. And of course, summer makes it practically unnecessary to go anywhere but our neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteIt also warms my heart to see you make the transition to sitting down to dinner. That is huge in my book! I grew up with family meals and it is something that is very important for me to share with my little family now. I think it makes such a huge difference in your familiar relationships.
Hats off to you for foraging! I am too scared to do it right now but it's coming up on my list of things to learn about :-)
DeleteMmm, I love sausage! And I'm so intrigued by the watermelon radish! That sounds great! I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle last year and it was inspiring. I don't know if I could manage it, not entirely and not just yet anyway. Good for you!
ReplyDeletegreat challenge. This is something I think of often myself, but as a veggie I'd struggle. if I was a meat and two veg girl I'd be ok as I live in farming country, but my sources of protein are things like lentils and chickpeas. It's something that is on my mind a LOT; thanks for sharing your inspiration.
ReplyDeleteWarm wishes
Rae aka mrs green @littlegreenblog.com