Fermented Foods….Nature’s Gift of Life

Not feeling well? Dodgy tummy? Down with the flu? Sniffles coming on? Feeling moody, hormonal, unbalanced, unnatural, ungrounded, lack of energy, aches and pains….or just plain not with it? Weeelllll…..

Any of these (and perhaps all of these!) just may have a little to do with a complete and utter lack of (enough) living organisms within (your gut) and without (your skin) to see you through proper digestive processes, immune function, detox pathways and all else that needs to go on in our bodies.

So without further ado – here is some more of what I have been up to for these past few months but this time, with an added dimension. I wasn’t satisfied to just have the usual fermented foods….I wanted something with a twist LOL.

A few weeks ago I placed some veggies into one of my trusty demi-johns (it has a wide mouth – perfect to work with vegetables and fruits) along with some of my goat’s whey and water to see what I would get.

To be honest it was a pure experiment in taste. For years I have not really been all that ‘gone’ on some of the fermented foods, (I really love some things, but dislike the taste of others) so I really just wanted something that tasted, well, nice enough to eat.

The vegetables I used were beetroot, carrot, courgette, red onion, garlic and dulse seaweed….these were all grated and then placed in the glass jar along with ¾ cup of goat’s yogurt whey, a little sea salt and water.

That’s it.

I left them covered (sealed with the cap for the demi-john) for more then 2 weeks or so – but I tasted them every couple of days to see how they were progressing. And with each taste, they changed a little bit more – until the day arrived when I was happy with the taste.

Then I scooped them out and placed them into jars for the fridge. Right now the vegetable mix tastes sort of fresh, a tiny bit salty, a little sour/tangy/vinegary and lovely! I hope to have a couple of tablespoons on my plate each day with my meals.

My digestion feels better already! LOL

April

Fermented vegetables - ready for the fridge

Living Local - Beneficial Soil Bacteria

Today I was taking some homemade cheese out of the fridge (making Lasagne!) and noticed a bit of reddish mold had started to grow on it…..of course my mind immediately went to – I wonder what kind of mold that is? Would it make a nice rind on a cheese and how would I cultivate it!!!!

To be honest I have caught myself thinking like this over and over lately in all kinds of situations and realized that is fairly close to the mindset I would have had when I was growing up.

I don’t know about you, but if there was mold on cheese in my house….well, it was cut off and the rest was eaten. Then, there was a relative or two who would also eat the mold….but that’s another post!

Likewise, if there was a bit of mold growth on the jam…it might be stirred in as much as scooped out….most food was generally fresh and eaten fairly quickly, however, nothing went to waste, under any circumstances.

Milk that had gone 'off' was used in breads, baking and given to animals as feed. Wilting vegetables were used in soups and stews. Old, stale bread went into puddings, toast and bread crumbs. 

Our bodies should be able to tolerate low levels of naturally occurring organisms that grow in, around and on our food. But, one thing that must be pointed out here is these days most food is so far removed from ‘normal’ the organisms we might find on it are in themselves a disaster.

When we go to a modern day supermarket to get our carrots….they are all neatly lined up in a bin looking nearly identical to each other, as clean as a whistle with nothing to distinguish them from any other carrot. The same goes for pretty well all other vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and fresh produce.

Sterilized food. There is nothing living in there and the vegetables themselves are lacking in nutrients mostly because they are depleted of these beneficial organisms every step (from soil, water and lack of direct sunlight) along the way of this mass production.

This is why I spend my time in the garden, wild foraging and shopping in local farmers markets – my body requires real, living food in order to function at optimum levels. Not to mention just for basic health and survival.

One of the things I love about market shopping….we get as much as we possibly can from our local markets and of course, I am equally participating in this local community endeavor – is the lack of packaging, the variety and the life to be found there.

Our food is meant to be alive inside and out….which includes healthy, normal soil bacteria. Start getting your fruit, veg and some of your foods at your local farmers market….you will notice a difference in your digestion and your social interaction!

April

Sauted chanterelles with garlic & onions.....wild foraging in West Cork!

Healing Candida - Get Your Life Back in Your Gut

Over these past few weeks I have been fasting off and on – but on my food days I am eating a lot of fresh greens and produce from my garden.  It has been more then 2 months now since I decided to eat mostly wild harvested vegetables….

And for the most part we have succeeded in doing just that. Actually, last week I got a few vegetables for our upcoming Summer Solstice celebrations and this was the first sweet potato I have bought in months.

I then spent the weekend preparing some foods ahead of time for later this week – I have goat meat marinating in a lemon/thyme/brine sauce and have made the mustards, sweet breads and some cheese.

This week I want to finish up with everything so I can just sit back and enjoy my day when it comes. Hopefully we will get a bit of that sunshine back as well- we sure need it after all this rain!

One thing I wanted to mention here is how much my diet has changed over these past nearly 3 months since I did the mother of all cleanses (30 days on water and herbal teas). I knew then, when we finished it that something big had shifted and it has…

Since that time I am eating a wider range of foods including many things I haven’t had in well over a decade and longer. Because I had ‘candida’ or some type of IBS – my gut had become overly sensitized to nearly everything.

For those of you who have been through this over a long period of time….we make changes to our diets, cutting out certain foods and then entire food groups….but in the long term – the gut doesn’t heal.

It just becomes more sensitive to the new diet changes – and then we need to change it again. It was a never ending cycle for me and I wanted off. So what I did, as many of you know is start incorporating fasting into my lifestyle….

And the rest is now history. Over these past 3 years I have taken my gut back to zero and hit some sort of a reset button. The 'candida' (and all that went along with it) is no longer an issue – I am feeling better and digesting my food properly, I am drawn to new foods and have expanded my diet considerably.

I am eating many of the things I never thought I would eat again – mushrooms, cows cheese (organic), wheat and rye flours, yeasted breads (wild fermentation), muscadavo cane sugar, apple cider…..

It’s as if my mind, body and soul have released the ‘fear’ along with the toxins – cleared out the old lining of my gut (that clearly did not work, like, ever!), some of the old nasty bacteria, viruses and candida died off – and I started over.

It has been quite a journey….but, I feel I am only now starting to really discover what it means to live. Perhaps because for the first time I have ‘life’ deep inside of my gut – and I know it wasn’t there before!

I am living proof you can overcome candida, IBS, chronic fatigue, cancer - healing, shifting and taking your life back....and all without drugs, supplements, treatments - just clean water and real food for me please!

April

Gosling with extra security!!

Sterile Food, Means Dead Food

Yesterday turned out to be a fairly busy day with our goat's arriving we had a lot to get prepared, secure the fencing and shift into goat owner mode. Right now our little barn is filling up with all of these animals some of which will be invited for Christmas dinner....LOL.

Right now we are all adjusting to having some new animals around as well as something very different from what we are used to with all the birds. It turns out that while goats tend to be quite stubborn, they are also very friendly, easy to handle and gentle creatures. 

These 2 we have acquired are brother and sister (twins) who have never been separated having spent the last 4 or 5 years of their lives side by side. And treated very well I might add. Perhaps that is part of the reason they have such a nice temperament...

My hope is to be able to at the very least have fresh milk year round - and perhaps to breed the female so that we can grow our own little goat herd. But right now, a little real milk is great! The reason I use the word real is because of the taste...

I don't know if you have ever tasted shop bought pasteurized milk and then taken some fresh from a goat. It is actually quite remarkable because the difference is huge. Of course I could never help but wonder if all those things said about the negatives of pasteurization are true.

When you do the least amount of research on this topic one of the first statements to be found is this: 'Farms are not sterile environments' ; therefore they cannot be trusted as far as providing fresh milk that would be bacteria free.

That for me as as far as I need to go with this issue. Perhaps the main problem with our guts, digestion, immune system and health right now on this planet, is the fact that there are those who are determined to eradicate every living thing from our bodies....

We are meant to be living. Inside and out - with teams of healthy bacteria working together especially within our guts helping us to digest our food, make vitamins and synthesize useful nutrients. They also have a huge role to play with our immune function.

Or basically, we cannot function without them. This constant eating and drinking sterile food is killing us inside - because sterile food means dead food. 

Of course, drinking raw milk would only be something I would do from my own animals (I know their care, feed and habits). And this needs to be part of the larger picture here of healthy eating and living. 

Personally, I feel it has taken us a few years to get our immune systems back to where they should be to function in this world. I can only imagine how people are faring who take medication regularly, eat rubbish foods and otherwise do nothing to support these vital processes. 

It is time to get back to health everyone!

April 

Welcome to the goats!