Occamstazer~Work hairdos and a blog you've got to read!

[Occamstazer]

Ok, I'm jumping on the bandwagon, I want to do the ss journal, too

A little background on me:
I'm female, 23, and live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama with my significant other of 3+ years. We have four dogs, a load of chickens, and 3 guineas. I'm in my last semester of undergrad, hopefully soon will have a degree in biology! We sort of live in the boonies, which I love. Link goes to a pic of our house, if you're interested.
http://occamstazer.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-house.html

When I was a kid, my dad and I lived in the middle of nowhere, Nevada, and spent every free second hiking. I'd like to get back towards this lifestyle, and I don't doubt the dogs would appreciate it too. My dad was a bit of a health nut, we were veggies, fish, and nuts peeps. I do recall being shocked when I came to college and saw friends casually eating burgers and fries (I wondered if perhaps it was a special occasion )

After learning more about insulin, blood sugar, and my own personal quirks, I think I'm probably someone who is very sensitive to sugar. If I ate a candy bar, I'd literally fall asleep in 15 minutes, then wake up and eat everything in the house. So, my intent here is to keep a food journal, even if no one ever reads it, because a bit of accountability will do me good. I'll probably also include random animal-keeping tidbits. I welcome any and all advice and critiques!

 

[TanksHill]

Welcome. We have some dome houses like your around my area. I think they are pretty popular up in our local So. Cal mountains as well. Maybe because of the snow and the roof lines.

Congrats on your degree. I look forward to hearing more about your adventures.

gina

 

[meriruka]

The house pic is cool! Is the design decorative or does it have a purpose? (energy efficient, etc.)

 

[Wifezilla]

If I ate a candy bar, I'd literally fall asleep in 15 minutes, then wake up and eat everything in the house

Oh HECK yeah....do I understand that one!

I had ballooned up to almost 300 lbs. Back to closer to 200, but I am old and really tall. I would like to drop another 20-30, but I am just enjoying not being food obsessed or worrying about my head exploding from the high blood pressure anymore. Keeping my carbs below 50g/day has been very good to me

 

[abifae]

*

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

hey and welcome!

good thing you are figuring out the food thing now! wowza -- i'm about the same.. i couldnt figure out why i always felt so crappy in the mornings until i was about 30. then i realized that drinking a glass of OJ just to be able to function wasnt normal and if i ate more protien (thanks pigs!) i'd feel and function much better. now i'm a no/low white sugar and flour kinda gal who grows her own meat products.

whoot!

looking forward to reading more. and i love to say "Tuscaloosa"

 

[Occamstazer]

You guys are all really welcoming on here
This morning started out well.
3 eggs, scrambled with a bit of parmesan cheese and parsley.
Church with fam, stomach didn't roar during a prayer even once!
Went to an italian place for lunch, nearly died of longing over the pasta dishes, decided to have the salad with grilled chicken and ranch.
Then I screwed up and ate some of DBF's tiramisu
I'm not hungry tonight, but I plan on eating some steamed green beans with lemon pepper later.
The hardest thing is going to be breaking myself of Crystal light. Health gurus, how do you guys feel about Splenda and things of that nature? If I don't have Crystal light, I make iced tea with Splenda.

About the dome home, I love living here, but it has some downsides. The location is...crittery, and not in a good way. Despite being very clean, I'm at war with the mice in the walls. I'm winning, but it's a near thing
The power bill here is half or less of what it was in the leaky old place I lived at before, it's very efficient. The way sound carries can be a problem since two people live here, and sometimes one wants to sleep when the other doesn't :/
It's a very safe design for this area, it's about as impervious to tornadoes as a structure can be, and trees have fallen on it before but they simply roll off and no damage.
Overall though, I wish I'd known it was here in the first couple years of college, it's heaven compared to most other housing options. 30 minutes from school, but I get to live in the country and it costs half of what in-town housing costs. Plus no drunk, loud frat boy neighbors!

I've read lots of freemotion's fermented foods wisdom on here! I love yogurt and keifir, but could someone fill me in on kombucha? What's it taste like, what's it for, etc?
Thanks for listening to me ramble

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Great house!
We have a dome waaaay down a dirt road. They had to put up a fence to keep people from stopping in the driveway & taking pictures of the place.

Kombucha tastes somewhat like apple cider vinegar to me. I drop a couple of ounces in my regular (iced) tea or use it in place of vinegar in an italian type salad dressing. Sometimes I make up a week's worth of free's chai tea concentrate on page 3, only with vanilla instead of ginger

It is for general health, digestion & immune boosting. Check out this thread and this short one.

 

[Occamstazer]

Well, today's project was a success!
I made lard
I was at the store today, and the butcher was happy to give me a big pile of fatback. I don't have a meat grinder, so I tediously chopped it into little bits, and then put it on the stove. I got a few suprises when it went BANG! in my face towards the end, but nevertheless I got everything strained into a jar. The cracklin's are drying on a bit of paper bag. I think I'll salt them and put them on the salad we'll be having for dinner, yum.
I plan to make freemotion's wheat crackers with the lard

And please, somebody talk me *out* of ordering a batch of meaties from Ridgeway hatchery, they have a great deal on Cornish X right now.

 

[TanksHill]

Ok making lard sounds really great. Now was this butcher at the grocery store or was he a real butcher at a meat shop? This is pork right? How much did the fat cost? If it's ok to ask.

And please explain how it went Bang in your face. I hope there were no injuries.

gina