Shifting Gears....

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

I've been giving a lot of thought to this bogging business lately.  I have to admit I have been struggling a lot with the idea of blogging lately.  But a comment from a reader (you know who you are) really made me think about it this week..  It has been coming for about 2 years, it has to do with the one sided-ness of a blog.  I am open and willing to share every detail of my life with others.... probably more than anyone really wants!  But I find myself losing connectedness with my friends because while they know everything about me, I know relatively little about what is going on with them.  This is something that has bothered me about blogging ever since I started, but lately I have been trying to focus on building stronger relationships through Send Out Cards, and I am surprised, and disappointed, at how weak some of these connections are.  I do really owe an update to everyone, and I do know how many people read and enjoy my updates, but haven't been able to make myself sit down and do it... one of those things that when you delay, it only becomes harder.

My lack of updating has not been for lack of topic to tell you about.  Mike's family came to visit shortly after my last post.  Such a momentous occasion, complete with photos, deserved a post.  We were so tickled to have his 3 sisters, two brother-in-laws and parents all visiting for the weekend.  What a special treat for us.

After that of course we enjoyed the holidays, Thanksgiving here at the ranch again and Christmas at home followed by a two-week trip away from the ranch, to Albuquerque, visiting all of my family, New Years in Phoenix, hunting quail with all of Mike's boys, followed by a visit to Mike's parents in Salt Lake, and a Send Out Cards meeting.  It had been so long since we were gone for so long, without worrying about animals at home!

BECAUSE, most significantly, we delivered our last alpacas to their new home in Wyoming in December, they took the dogs too, and coincidentally the trailer as well.  Since then we have been finishing projects around the ranch, and selling equipment/supplies and are on the verge of putting the ranch on the market. (Not really needing 35 acres, 4 outbuildings and especially a couple thousand dollar mortgage.)  (If you know someone looking for a ranch in Colorado, send them to http://www.alpacaranchforsale.blogspot.com/)

Where we will end up... no one knows.  We keep kicking around options, but we don't want to make any decisions yet.  As long as we end up someplace with good water, and good high speed internet, we will be fine.  We got rid of the chickens because they were not laying well this year, and costing more than buying free-range organic eggs at the store.  So aside from a few feral cats that are around here, we have no animals to care for.  We enjoyed the animals, but now are still getting used to freedom again.  We even joke about not keeping sourdough starter because we don't want that kind of responsibility! 

I noticed last week, riding up the chairlift, that A) we were skiing for the first time in three years, B) I had recently hit a bucket of balls at the golf coarse for the first time in 6 years, C) square danced for the first time in 25 years, D) Went Geo-caching for the first time in 4 years... I asked Mike why we stopped going out and "doing fun stuff" he said "Alpacas" (As in time and money sucking).  Wow, food for thought.

(Click to enlarge)

***and Shifting Gears Now!***
AND NOW...   I love that you all read the blog.  I do apologize for not writing more often... in the meantime I have decided to shift gears, especially since I can't write about alpacas anymore.  You know that we have been on this journey to improve our health through better food choices and holistic philosophy.  Lately I have even considered becoming a food advocate.  Somewhere on the path we joined an organization called the Weston Price Foundation.  This organization is based in principles for eating discovered by .. no other than Weston Price, a dentist in the early 20th century who discovered improved health in indigenous peoples of the earth with certain diets.  We believe that many of the illnesses we see plaguing our society today are an unintended consequent of modern convenience food that the American diet embraces.  While trying to answer the needs of a growing population, we have all but destroyed our food sources and that may just destroy us.. but I digress.  Weston Price Foundation promotes a cookbook called Nourishing Traditions (by Sally Fallon).  I've run across it in many kitchens, although haven't found many people cooking much from it.  Some of the principle of Weston Price way of eating are very different from what I am used to.  Recently we got our own copy of the cookbook, and rather than let it sit unused on my shelf, I want to try everything in the cookbook, and blog about my findings here. (Yes, ala Julie/Julia).

In the process of starting this project I found another site doing exactly the same thing, (http://thenourishingcook.com/), but as someone pointed out to me, there are a billion blogs talking about the cute things their kids say, and yet that doesn't stop the next person from doing the same thing... No doubt mine will be different, and besides that it who cares if it's not.  The goal here is to try to incorporate some of the principles of the diet into our regular diet.

I'd like to say I'd keep my comments to that topic alone, but I know that is a lie.  So I'm shifting gears, but still driving the same car.. Want to come along?