Milk does not do this body good

What is that old saying?

Something about making a plan and giving the Universe or God or whomever a laugh.

So after smuggly congratulating myself that I put up tons of food for the birth of my second child, it appears that said second child has a dairy intolerance. Not an allergy (yet) but she vomits copiously and has troubling digesting, and therefore expelling out the proper end.

Of course, nearly everything last thing I put up has cheese or milk in it.

But it is so heartbreaking to watch her struggle after I eat a serving of chicken linguine casserole - and I am committed to breast feeding her until two - so I am off the cow for now.

If anyone has suggestions for vegan cookbooks or resources or ways to replace items like butter with something else, I am all ears and eyes.

Cowboy is going to have fun eating all those lasagnas and chicken pot pies himself!

The only upside is how quickly the baby weight is coming off.

This is Bullshit

This whole H1N1 vaccine thing is bullshit.

In the state where I live, it is illegal to give a shot that contains the preservative thimerasol (mercury) to a child under the age of 3. Except for within the next 6 months. Our secretary of health lifted the mercury ban in response to getting more H1N1 vaccines to the population.

I get it. The single-dose preservative-free shots are more expensive, take longer to manufacture and are - by virtue of being single doses - less economical. The drug companies can respond faster with the larger dose vials that get more vaccines to more people. This is a good thing.

However, the momma in me - and specifically the hippie momma in me who is already skeptical of THE MAN and so many of his vaccines that we now give our kids (chickenpox, Hepatitis B to infants, you don't want to get me started) - is like, why the fuck would I give my baby something that is illegal to give her in any other circumstance?

Don't get me wrong. We vaccinate. Mostly. We are on a slower schedule. Missy did get her regular influenza vaccine this year. And I totally would give her the H1N1 vaccine except I cannot find a thimerasol-free version. Apparently I don't have the hook up.

Our friend's pediatrician in the next town has a few precious vials of the perservative-free vaccine but she is doling them out to her patients who also happen to be invited to her young son's birthday party next week. Alas, we are not on the guest list.

So what we've been doing instead is being social pariahs. We go to the park a couple of times each day for fresh air and a change of scenery but I chase Missy around with CleanWell hand sanitizer like a complete germ-a-phobe. Otherwise, no children's museums, no shopping, no zoo, no library.

Of course we are taking Missy into the lion's den tomorrow for her surgery. The staff have assured me they are on heightened alert for the flu and have very strict procedures. Still, I worry.

So I guess what I'm admitting - and I apologize and beg your pardon and all that - but until I can find someone who will give us the mercury-free version, I will be one of those people who relies on other kids getting their vaccinations to keep mine safe.

I really don't like playing it that way. But I like injecting my daughter with mercury less.

Harvest Season

I am exhausted. I should be sleeping. But I can’t. Every time I get close to falling asleep, I hear a "thwock" coming from my kitchen denoting that another jar of delicious, organic applesauce from Eastern Washington has sealed itself. And I get all proud and giddy.

So far we’ve put up:
- 15 quarts of peaches (see above)
- 16 quarts of pears
- 10 quarts of apple sauce...with more to come
- 15 pints of roasted tomato sauce, which is no small feat when you consider that it takes 10 lbs of tomatoes roasting for 6 hours to make 3 pints of sauce.

It is my first foray into canning. I am quite hooked.

This year, our family Earth Day goal was to join a CSA. At a local meet-the-farmers night, I got hooked into a locavore food network run by a young farmer wife who networks with other farms to bring local products to market. It is major off-the-grid grocery shopping. In addition to our weekly veggies & berries, now we now eat local cheese, yogurt, honey, grass-fed beef, pastured chickens & their eggs, pastured pork and have access to the yummiest organic pears, peaches, apples and nectarines for a fraction of what we would pay in the store.

It takes a bit of extra effort sourcing all this stuff and organizing it into meals but it is worth it when I watch Missy devour half a peach that we canned and then sign "more please."