Front Porch Farmer

Ten Minutes

Ten minutes of magic just happened here. I walked outside to see what the racket was. The boy and the dad were throwing a super bouncy ball on the roof and chasing after it. Pure joy was beaming from little guy's face. Giggling as he raced his dad for the ball.

I joined in but after a couple minutes the game evolved. A bat began swooping nearby for mosquitoes and so began phase two. We began tracking the bat and when it got close we'd toss the ball in his path. The bat of course went for the ball every time! Luke was thrilled to be interacting with a wild animal he's only seen in books.

It's those little unplanned things that make up a childhood. Peace y'all.

BBQ Chicken Legs

Tonight I'm trying something new for me. Nothing exotic- I just don't cook a lot of chicken and rarely have I made chicken legs. However, these organic legs were on sale so I'm giving it a go.

First I'm browning them in a skillet with butter. Next they go in a very hot oven at 500 degrees for a about five minutes. Then I'm basting with BBQ sauce and broiling almost at the highest setting the remainder of time. I'm estimating it will take about 15 more minutes.

I found the recipe on Foodnetwork.com and it had a 5 star rating. I'm about 7 minutes into the broiling part and my goodness look at that second picture! Looking great!

Update: you must make these. Taste is great and man look at the finished product!

Pretend Play

As we speak, Luke and I are outside playing restraunt with his Little Tikes grill set. I'm obviously half way playing (bad mom) as I write this.

I am the customer. He is the chef. What a great opportunity to learn about making healthy food choices! We've done this a lot, but I never really thought much of it. I'm just a teacher at heart and usually weave lessons into our play time.

I asked him for a menu of his healthier choices. He obliged by drawing a full stay of weird combinations five year olds think of:
Veggie pizza with a fried egg
Butternut squash with a hamburger patty
Hot tea, water, or coffee to drink

Weird, but healthy. He even offers me a gluten free cookie. Sweet boy knows Mommy can't have gluten.

So maybe next time you're playing together, throw a lesson in with it. Kids learn my modeling behaviors. Its important they learn the right ones.

A Crappie Mother's Day

This has truly been a wonderful day of relaxation. My sweet boys (husband and son) made me an omelet with enough ham and peppered bacon to feed the state of Georgia to start things off. This was followed by a huge cup of coffee laced with butter and creamer. We did absolutely nothing for a couple hours before heading to my aunt's lake for a picnic lunch and fishing.

We spent hours just eating, sipping wine, and pulling crappie out of the water. Crappie are fish by the way. I'm a country girl (although with a mix of hippie) so I don't know if that's common knowledge.

Maybe. But then again, it bewilders me people don't eat biscuits all over the US.
Crappie probably is a southern name for these particular fish. I'm having a hard time picturing a man in Connecticut saying , "Let's go catch some crappie!"
Yeah, you pronounce it just like you had a crappy day.

I, however, didn't have a crappy day. I hope yours was wonderful too.

Homemade Bath Products

It all started with a little "Secret". For years I've heard rumors, as maybe you have, that commercial body deodorants are full of nasty chemicals. Finally, a couple weeks ago I looked at the ingredients list. Well hell. I didn't know what any of it was. And still I do not.

Honestly, that's enough for me to act on. I don't like not knowing what I'm getting in the products I buy and use. So what began with cleaner eating has now gushed over to my bathroom. I'm experimenting with more natural, simple bath and body products.

Your skin is the largest body organ. It's designed to protect your innards (LOL) by keeping bad things out. Think radiation from the sun...it also allows good things to enter. Maybe enough sunshine to produce Vitamin D or minerals from sea water. Unfortunately it seems I've been assaulting my system with a bazillion chemicals, many considered carcinogens. Whatever sits on the skin soaks in. Not good in many instances.

Yeah, I'm thinking that's over and done with for me and soon for my family. Right now I'm experimenting with homemade deodorant, the no shampoo method of hair washing, and a batch of freshly made toothpaste.

I truly thought I'd end up being the the stinky, greasy chick and run back to my store bought products quickly. I'm a week into using my own deodorant and shunning shampoo. It seems I'm socially acceptable still on the cleanliness scale. Tonight was my first use of homemade toothpaste and my mouth is dancing as we speak.

I'm looking forward to tinkering with my recipes and soon will introduce them to my familia.

Why? I trust myself and my motives over a corporation any day. My interest is my family's well being and not profit. Plus, it's fun! Well, it is to me.

Don't Blow It

Well, I just blew it and allowed temporary gratification get the better of me. Four chocolate chip cookies later and I sit here dreading the possible side effects.

GLUTEN BOMB INCOMING!

I'm hoping the gluten gods will see I'm remorseful and give me a break this time. Doh! As Homer Simpson would say.

Prevent this kind of mishap by being prepared with easy healthier for you options and by not skipping meals. Oh and not allowing yourself to wallow in a bad mood helps too- I'm guilty of all three presently.

So, in hindsight I shouldn't have skipped dinner or at the very least I should have had a plan for what I'd eat later. I could have had a Lara Bar, some corn chips with salsa, even a whole bar of dark chocolate would have been better. My knees ache for days after gluten. My skin breaks out. My stomach is a mess. I get lethargic and blah. Just a few of the fun things that happen.

Bad mood fix? Oh with my 20/20 hindsight I see I should have moved around and done something enjoyable. Instead I chose to lay around and think about feeling upset. I wallowed in it like a pig. Oink.

OK. I made an error and have thought of solutions for future temptation. Let's see if I can apply it next time. Acknowledge and move on.

Later y'all-

Shaping His Future

No pressure, but every choice I make, every day gently shapes the future reality of my son. Every time I'm too distracted to play, too tired to make a proper meal, lose my cool to little boy antics, I set an example. Thankfully, the same is true when I am at my best.

BuhBuh TV

We did it. We cut the cord to cable/satellite television. For an entire month we have survived without the news telling us we live in the most horrible times, without commercials telling us what snack crackers need to be in our pantry, and even without a play by play of our beloved Atlanta Braves. The baseball games are the only part I'm not kidding about. We kinda miss that, but not enough to shell out $85 a month.

We do use the Internet for streaming some content, but we choose what enters our household! No more intruding blah blah blah about the trendy political scandals! Hooray!!! No more toy ads enticing Luke to want more and more! Hooray!!! No more flashing Big Macs in my face to make me drool! Hip Hip Hooray!!!

As I sit here alone on a rare occasion, I don't hear anything but the frogs and a train. It's calm. I'm calm. And I'm $85 richer every month.