When I was several years old we moved from a large city to a small Vermont town near the Canadian border. Adjusting to this new farm family life took some time but soon I found myself taking full advantage of the education that homesteading would give her. Early lessons, after school activity, came from both parents and a grandfather with farming backgrounds. Hands on learning relating to where food comes from, how it should be raised, caring for the environment and healthy eating styles was an every day thing.
This is the knowledge brought forward into adult life. Raising meat sources like poultry, beef and pork was a tremendous learning experience, from animal husbandry to the final processing of the product. Milking cows by hand, churning butter for the family, splitting wood for heat, canning and processing the garden vegetables were just a few things that might happen in a day.
Growing up reading books like Carla Emery’s Encyclopedia of Country Living, Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew and the magazine Organic Gardening. As an adult she has continued her interest in organics, healthy nutrition and physical fitness.
Most of the family meals were prepared at home, using very little sugar, salt, processed or chemically altered foods. As much as possible was grown organically in her gardens or purchased from local farms.
Currently, cooking with many recipes personally developed through years of experimentation. Many times inspiration comes from the series of cook books in the bookcase. The cookbook collection spans from Tosca Reno’s Clean Eating to Paleo and back.
Our typical protein choices are from local grass fed farm-raised meats that use permaculture and/or symbiotic farming. (click these links for more information on organics, permaculture of symbiotics; see also the organic consumers association or for a great Ted.com talk by Michael Pollan watch the Omnivores Dilemma ) Her household is always working to improve its ability to remain healthy both inside and out by using green cleaning chemicals, composting and recycling as much as possible.
I’m not sold in many of the popular weight loss diets, I don’t see long term weight management due to their limited food choices and short term focus. Most diets do not correct eating behaviors, resulting in the dieter’s return to the eating habits responsible for the original weight gain. If you want your body, and health to change, you have to change how you are treating your body. Daily exercise along with learning healthy eating habits is the best approach to maintaining a healthy weight.
Growing up in a physically-demanding environment, which included: haying, feeding, cleaning and maintaining livestock; gardening and preparing log wood used as a winter fuel source.
Adult life meant finding the means to stay fit in an urban environment. Strength training and increased her knowledge of exercise studying as many sources as she could find. Initially, she worked with trainers to develop proper form, learning various lifts and techniques. Over the years, she experimented with various exercise protocols until she found the one that worked for her. She has learned that time changes how her body responds to both physical activity and her nutrition; this process of aging is an evolving experience which requires continued learning that allows her to make adjustments as needed.
This blog serves as a means to share the information I’ve learned over time. Bodynsoil writes about her life experiences with fitness, nutrition and gardening in her blog
www.bodynsoil.com/blog/.
Please feel free to read her articles, ask questions and leave comments. Suggestions regarding topics that would interest you or questions about her health and fitness journey are always welcome.
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Great post Janet, I never knew you grew up that way, pretty cool! I hope you continue to spread your wisdom and educate the masses about healthy eating/living because your stuff rocks 🙂
Thank you Jamin, I really appreciate your feedback and thoughts. I loved your piece on factory farming, keeping spreading the word and hopefully people will become more aware of where there food comes from and do the right thing.
Howdy!
Just discovered your blog and am in the process of reading some of your articles…love them all, so far.
I applaud your choices for nutrition, however, would call your attention to one misnomer in the healthy eating category.
You only buy local “organic” meat…I would suggest a tweak to this…buy local “Grass Fed” beef. While organic fruits and veggies are truly the way to go, beef is different. Organic beef is still fed grains, albeit organic grains, which are not healthy for the bovine digestive system. Grass/forage is a cow’s true diet…plus you get the added benefit of Omega 3 fat that is eliminated through use of grain feeding…Please keep buying local…It is a huge benefit for the small “ag” producer.
Thank you for commenting on my blog and your thoughts, is this the sentence you are referring to: “Her typical protein choices are from local farm-raised meats that use not only organic practices but also permaculture and/or symbiotic farming.” I do say that we use farm raised meats but I do like your suggestion on the grass raised as that is what they are. The farm doesn’t use chemical fertilizers and operates organically, the same way we always raised our animals when we were younger. Buying local is something we enjoy doing, bartering as well, If have too many berries and my neighbor has too many veggies we swap and everyone is happy..
Now I am off to your blog to see what you are writing about, the title sounds very interesting.
Yep, that was what I was referring to…sorry for the misinterpretation. I spend a lot of my time trying to correct the misrepresentation, by “Big AG”, of so called “Certified Organic”…and am a staunch believer and supporter of independent, local agriculture.
Just as you are trying to educate on the symmbiotic relationship between food and fitness, so too am I, trying to educate on how the food industry works (against the “indie” producer), how beef should be produced, and to try and give a “face” to “those who are doing it the right way”.
I am a huge supporter of Farmer Markets and CSA’s…with a bias toward cattle producers.
Chow!
P.S. I now have your blog on my daily read list…
We love our farmers markets and CSA’s here in Vermont, each town picks a different day during the week for their farmers market so that you always have a fresh selection each day.
The odd weather patterns and various activities cropping up I have been putting serious thought into downsizing my vegetable gardens and working with a CSA instead. After a long wet spring I lost a lot of my plants, that is always frustrating. What we do really well with this property is berries, I just came in from picking 3 quarts of red raspberries, now time to clean and freeze them.