January 7 2015

January 7 2016 Greetings My Friend In retirement I have wanted to be more holistic in my life with food, cleaning products and personal care products. It has been a desire of mine for a good many years and I found this to be rather low on the list to explore. With raising a family, working full time, going to college on a on and off again basis, it has not been a priority. When I started picturing my life in retirement I picked up this idea of a more wholesome way to live my life. I admit that the first several years my eating habits went south along with my dreams of cooking more holistic which was going to be my first priority. Now that I am established within my limitations I am slowly researching and applying some of the things I have learned. Until our kitchen is further along I know I won’t go full guns like making bread from scratch or canning fruits for jams etc. At present I for the most part shop the outside aisles and about the only processed meals I make would be mac and cheese with tuna or spaghetti sauce and noodles. I will never make noodles from scratch but some day I may buy noodles made from wheat. I am starting to find ways to shampoo my hair other than with shampoo’s off the aisle. I tried baking soda and water and vinegar and water to detangle my hair. I developed a rash on my back so I have moved onto aloe vera gel and this is working so far. I like flavored cream in my coffee so I have been searching for a homemade creamer to make. One recipe I tried tasted good for a moment and then I was unhappy. Today I am trying a cream with coconut milk, it seems good. I will need to tweak the sweetener part a bit more. The recipe called for maple syrup and I could not find any. I used truvia and it is okay. Due to so many allergies I am slowly using steam cleaning instead of a lot of chemicals. Junior cleans our floors with a steam cleaner mop and I have a handheld steam cleaner I am using in the bathroom. I see me using the handheld cleaner in the kitchen as it gets finished too. I truly believe these extra steps I am taking is helping me with my asthma and allergies. I still feel the congestion tug at me but I am able to be pro active enough so that I usually can get it under control. I don’t think my bronchitis days are over with the goal is to keep it minimal. When I do come down with bronchitis I hope I can recover quicker with these proactive steps. Time will tell if my theory is good or not. I feel like I have come full circle from my teenage years when to me the hippie movement seemed like a wholesome way to live. Looking back I see I was off base about the wholesome part. I still liked the no makeup look, flat shoes and less fussiness in the dress. I do remember seeing a back to nature way of life and eating. This is what appealed to me. Now that I have my feet under me again I plan on finishing what I started all those years ago. In the spring I plan on picking some of the wild fruit growing in our area and learning to make jam. I will plant a few more herbs to have fresh herbs on hand. I like the thought of using God’s bountiful foods more and less of man’s chemical laced processed foods. One step at a time I will get there. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet