End of December Update

I skimmed through my entire blog over the holidays to remind myself why I started this diet and to recall exactly what I've experienced up to today. The blog serves as an excellent diary. I have certainly come a long way.

In my very first blog post I wrote that I expected to achieve more than a few goals from this journey ...

1) lose a few pounds by cutting out the unhealthy food I eat
2) expand my recipe list (a must if I want to stay sane while eating the same foods over and over again) and
3) achieve greater independence from the food market that includes so much pre-packaged, over processed, foods

Here I am at the end of 2010 and I believe that I've exceeded all of those goals and then some.

1) my current weight is 157 pounds which is down 39 pounds from the start of the diet
2) I now make soups, stews, noodles, ravioli, angle food cake, breads, crackers, various cheeses and many more things ... all from scratch
3) other than flour, sugar, vinegar, oil and a few other supplies .... I don't buy anything else. I create very little waste and almost 100% of the waste I do produce is recycled or composted.

I was considering introducing a few new goals but I've decided that I don't need to. The 100 meter diet is what it is .... self sufficiency on a sustainable basis. Everything else I want to achieve or explore falls under the "plus more" part of the blog's title.

So heading into 2011 you can expect more posts on sustainable living as well as more "plus more".

Wishing you a very happy New Year!

Home again and recharged

We were away for a few days over the holidays and it's nice to be home again.

Shortly after we got back home I took a butternut squash pie out of the freezer and I was surprised to see a smiling face greet me when I set it out on the counter to thaw.


I think it's a clear sign that I need to try harder to maintain a positive attitude for the remainder of the 100 meter diet.

While we were out of town it simply wasn't feasible for me to stay on the diet. I didn't over indulge but I did enjoy some of the treats of the season. It was a nice break and I feel recharged to take on the remaining 5 months that I have ahead of me.

What a difference a week makes!

Eggnog

I whipped up this eggnog recipe for a Christmas Eve treat.

Ingredients:

2 fresh eggs
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 cups goat milk
2 drops vanilla
A dash of ground nutmeg

Separate the egg whites and egg yolks into two separate bowls. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar to each bowl. Use a whisk to beat the egg yolks and sugar together until smooth and creamy (about a minute). Using electric beaters whip the egg whites until they form nice peaks (just like when making angle food cake).

Combine the contents of both bowls together and add two drops of vanilla and two cups of milk. Whisk thoroughly and serve with a dash of nutmeg on top.

Mmmmm .... eggnog.

I hope this weekend brings you peace, happiness and good cheer.

Merry Christmas everyone!

It isn't all roses

I'm feeling rather tired and grumbly these past few days. It's certainly not the ideal way to head into the Christmas weekend.

I brought this on myself by deciding to get up at 3 A.M. Tuesday morning to view the lunar eclipse on the winter solstice. I was hoping the event would enlighten me in some way but all it did was make me extremely tired because I didn't end up getting back to sleep that night.

I woke up Michael and Matthew at 3:30 A.M because I promised that I'd let them see the show for themselves. They thought it was extremely cool and they fell asleep quickly once I put them back in bed.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I'm feeling worn down on the winter solstice. It is after all the shortest day of the year. The days start getting longer from here on out ... that's the silver lining.

A few more decent nights of sleep will make a tremendous difference but until then I expect to remain grumpy and grumbly.

Just for the record ..... at this very moment I'm sick of goat milking, I'm tired of pickled 'anything', I don't want to see another slice of zucchini loaf and even the mention of chicken noodle soup makes me cringe.

On the bright side I'm in the perfect state of mind to truly appreciate the upcoming family Christmas feast. Bring it on!

Winter milking ....

Every evening Barb or I head out into the cold, dark night to milk Lucy. I always apologize to Lucy for my cold hands that are about to touch her skin. She doesn't seem to mind ... well, at least she doesn't show it if she does.

It's a peaceful experience, milking that is, and as long as Lucy isn't in a 'kicky' mood it only takes about 10 minutes to get 4 or 5 cups of milk.


By the time I'm done milking her my hands are no longer cold. They are toasty warm. I really appreciate that warmth .... almost as much as I appreciate the milk.

As usual, I thank Lucy and put her back in her stall for the night. Then I head back into the house to pasteurize the milk ... that is until this weekend. This weekend I decided to go natural and stop heat treating her milk. So far I've made yogurt and cream cheese from unpasteurized milk. Everything tastes absolutely the same as before.

Making this change means that I have to get past the phycological fear that whispers in my ear that "unpasteurized milk is unsafe". I don't believe that it's unsafe but it's still a leap of faith. I know the risks, having done my research, but I have complete trust in my source of milk ... Lucy. If I suddenly get ill I'll reconsider this change but for now I'm pushing on because it simply feels right.

What do you think about this change? Am I crazy or right on track?

Enjoying the season

Pond skating is what country living is all about .... there's nothing like it.

We've had a number of pretty cold days lately so we laced up the skates and got a head start on the pond rink this past Saturday. We heard a few cracks while shoveling but nothing that made us feel unsafe.


This week is suppose to remain unseasonably cold so we should get a lot more ice time in this week.

We've also been getting into the holiday season by doing some holiday crafts and putting up our Christmas decorations.

Barb made a lovely wreath the other day using cuttings from around the property. She tries to make one or two every year. They last a very long time and they always look beautiful.


Michael got into the spirit as well by making a colourful holiday mug as a craft while at a friends birthday party.

This will be his new hot chocolate mug that will get put into action after spending an hour or so skating on the pond.

He did a great job!

Geoengineering

Have you heard about geoengineering yet? It's the science devoted to using technology to manipulate the Earth's environment to combat global warming.

One of the potential geoengineering methods suggests spraying microscopic sulphur particles into the stratosphere to blockout some of the Sun's rays from reaching the Earth. This will cool the planet's temperature.


Interesting concept but will it work? Actually it already has ... almost 200 years ago. In April 1815 Mount Tambora (Indonesia) erupted and released many tons of sulfur vapour 43 kms up into the stratosphere. The sulfur vapour effectively blanketed the globe and blocked out enough of the Sun's rays to cool the planet by an average of 0.4 to 0.7 C in 1816.

That doesn't seem much cooler does it? But that small change in temperature had a devastating impact on some regions of the planet. Many people, livestock and crops perished. 1816 is also known as the year without a summer and the year of poverty. Not only does Mount Tambora prove that this method of geoengineering is possible but it also serves as a warning that we'll be trading one problem for another.

To be honest, geoengineering will bring a whole host of problems for the world to contend with. With lower global temperatures some regions will see less rain fall. That reduced rainfall may result in lower crop yields and reduce the fresh water supply. This will increase tensions between various nations that depend on that water supply for survival. That's far from a win win scenario.

I struggled while writing this post because I'm not sure why I'm even bringing this up. I guess I simply wanted to state the obvious that we aren't doing enough to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we are spewing into the environment. Trying to geoengineer a solution might buy us some time but it isn't going to fix the problem.

We need to do more .... by doing less. Less burning of fossil fuels ... less driving ... less flying ... less industrial fertilizers .... less industrial corn fed beef ... the list goes on and on. So please, go out there and start doing less. The less you do the more you'll be helping spread the word.

Will a planet of 7 billion people start doing enough 'less' to avoid geoengineering? I doubt it. But we have to try.

Busy .... with no time to blog ....

I've been finding it extremely difficult to devote any time to blogging lately. You may have already noticed. But rest assured I'm still here and still on the diet.

I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen trying out new recipes. Here's a quick update on what I've been making.....

I'm not a big fan of liver but since I have 2 pounds of it in the freezer I have to do something with it. So the other day I whipped up a quick goat liver curry. I was surprised that it turned out quite nice. It won't make my list of top 10 favourite meals but it was a nice change.

I used goat liver, onions, tomatoes, salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, cloves, paprika, garam masala, turmeric, and cinnamon.

This past weekend I revisited the wonderful cream cheese recipe I made a few weeks ago. Same results .... amazing flavour! I used 2 liters of goat milk and I get 1 liter of whey (I save for making pitas) and the rest is a creamy, tasty cream cheese.

Since I now had a good supply of cream cheese I started to get a craving for some fresh bagels. My niece has a simple recipe that makes 32 snack size bagels. I borrowed the recipe and made 16 bagels instead of 32 (bigger is better, right?).

They turned out more like buns than bagels so we called them bungles.

They taste like bagels ... soft and chewy. I ate the first 5 'bungles' and cream cheese in less than 15 minutes. The craving was that intense.

Recently I also took a stab at making some goat meat ravioli. I simply used ground goat meat with various spices to taste. Nothing fancy but boy is it delicious.

What I didn't eat immediately went into the freezer. It comes in handy for a quick and easy meal. I'll definitely be making this again soon.

You can see that I'm starting to branch out a little bit by taking on new recipes. I have to keep things interesting or I'm going to go crazy on this diet. If you have any suggestions on what I should try next please let me know! I'm always looking for my next favourite meal.

End of November update

Six months behind me with six months to go! This diet actually seems to be getting easier too. Go figure.

My official weight is unchanged from last month at 156 pounds. I'm happy with that weight and I'm now used to my new 'shape'. I still need to tone up and build some muscle mass back but that can wait for another day.

The fear I was developing that I was going to waste away to nothing has subsided ... I think I've found my equilibrium. That feels great ... truly it does.

That's the good news and now for the bad ...... it's cold being skinny!

For as long as I can remember I've always had a good heater. I'm the guy that wore shorts and a T-shirt in the middle of winter. I was rarely cold. Those days appear to be long gone I'm afraid. I've come to realize that I never really had a good heater ... what I had was good insulation. That extra weight was keeping me warm.

I'm too much of an energy conservationist to turn up the heat at home so I'm doing what I've told the rest of the family to do in the past ... Put on a sweater!

C'est la vie. In the end I'd rather be chilly than chubby.

100 meter cheesecake

I've been so extremely busy this past week that I haven't had a chance to do any blogging. But late last night Barb baked me a 100 meter cheesecake that turned out so spectacularly good that I just had to tell you about it.

Barb bakes a mean cheesecake so when she gets going I simply get out of her way and let her weave her magic. Here's what I saw her do ....

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh goat cream cheese
1 cup sugar with a dash of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 fresh eggs
2 cups goat yogurt
1/4 cup of goat butter
1 1/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs


Obviously the graham cracker crumbs aren't 100 meter diet compliant but it's such a small violation of the rules that we'll let it slide ;)

Normally Barb would use sour cream instead of yogurt but the substitution worked well in this recipe.

She mixed the butter and the graham cracker crumbs together and lined the cake pan with them. She used beaters to mix the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Like a kid, I got to lick the beaters .... Mmmm, I knew this was going to be good.

Next she folded in the yogurt and poured the entire mixture into the graham cracker shell. She placed the cake pan in the oven and baked it for 1 hour at 350 F. After the hour was up she turned the heat up to 425 F for about 15 minutes.

I feel absolutely spoiled. She's such a great baker ... thanks Honey!

Blowing their minds ....

Occasionally, instead of reading a bed time story to Michael and Matthew, I'll give them a classroom style lecture on topics that I feel they're old enough to start to comprehend. These topics tend to be quite 'deep' and sometimes, but not always, the message sails way over their heads. I held a particularly good lecture just the other night. The topic was ''Space. It's mind numbingly big" and their little brains tried ever so hard to keep up ... I thought they did exceptionally well.

I started out the lesson by telling them that I was bored on the train ride home that night and a question popped into my head "What is the most distant object we can see in the universe?". I used my Blackberry to google an answer and I asked them if they wanted to know what I learned. "YES!" was their answer.

The data may be stale but I told them that we, humans, can see distant galaxies that are over 10 billion light years away from Earth. That's a mind numbingly far distance so I spent a few minutes trying to explain how far away that is. Light travels at a speed of approximately 300,000 km / second ... so, if we travelled at the speed of light it would take us over 10 billion years to reach these distance places. By comparison light from our Sun takes about 8 minutes to reach us. It's difficult to tell if someone can grasp the vastness of this distance but I know the kids understood it was extremely far away.

As their brains attempted to digest that distance I hit them with the next 'bomb'. So, if it took light over 10 billion years to reach Earth that means we are actually seeing 10 billion years into the past. Questions started flying from their mouths ... I don't get it? How is that possible? What does that mean?

The questions they asked took my lecture on to topics about quasars, black holes, dark matter and some theories developed by Einstein and others postulated by Stephen Hawking. It warms my heart that my kids share my passion for pondering about the cosmos. You can almost see the wheels turning in their heads as they try to absorb these concepts.

Some may think that this is a cruel and unusual punishment to hold these lectures as bed time stories. Obviously I don't feel that way. I've always had an interest in the universe and I would have loved to have someone tell me stories about it when I was a kid. Back then I had to settle for Star Trek and Star Wars as my source of information. I actually studied physics for two years in university until I decided that the topic was more of a hobby than a career choice ... for me at least. I am determined to get my money's worth out of those two years by teaching as much of it as I can to my kids. I'm stunned by how much they retain ... their minds are truly sponges.

But the biggest pleasure I get is from blowing their minds for the first time. That's priceless.

Goat milk hand lotion

I was so impressed with the quality of the goat milk soap I've been using that I thought it was time to branch out and try to make some goat milk hand lotion. Of course, this is the season when the air gets a bit drier and my tender hands are in need of some moisturizing lotion ... so the timing is perfect.

As usual, I scoured the internet in search of the simplest recipe I could find. This is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

1/8 teaspoon Borax
1/4 cup cold goats milk
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon beeswax
1/2 cup aloe vera gel
1 teaspoon vitamin E oil
10 drops of lavender oil

Pour the goat milk into a small pot, add the Borax and bring the mixture to a scalding temperature. Remove from heat.

Next, in a separate pot, melt the coconut oil and beeswax together. Then slowly add the melted mixture to the milk and Borax. Mix together well using a whisk. Add vitamin E oil and the scented oil. Allow everything to cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, add aloe vera and whisk well one final time.

Once the lotion was completely settled the solution went a wee bit chunky. It still works quite nicely as a hand lotion since the oils melt quickly once they touch your skin.

I have noticed that the lotion tends to stay on your hands for a few minutes longer than the store bought lotions. But, in the end, this lotion is better for you since it has no harmful additives or preservatives and does a great job moisturizing.

I'm sold ... I'll be making this again when I run out.

Kinder egg rant

There's a kinder egg commercial running on TV right now, maybe you've seen it. The message is .... it's not just about the chocolate and the toy ... it's about the time you spend with your children and the wonderful memories you're creating.

Touching, very touching.


However, I couldn't help wondering how that scene would play out in our house.

I know exactly how it would go. It would end up with me complaining about yet another disposable plastic toy that will only get about 3 minutes of play time. It's happened before ... I'm sure it will happen again.

I don't like sounding like a broken record but my kids know how I feel about plastic .... no matter how small it is. I've talked to them about the negative impact plastic has on the environment and they know all about the massive islands of floating plastic in the oceans. I haven't banned them from having plastic but I certainly want them to think about what they purchase that contains plastic. I challenge them to consider whether they really 'need' something made of plastic or if they can find a non-plastic alternative .... even if it may be more expensive.

For example, the last time this topic came up was last week when the kids were looking at a Walmart Christmas flyer. When they showed me their choices I couldn't help sighing and asking them if we could have a plastic free Christmas this year. At the very least I asked them not to get me anything that has any plastic in it .... including the packaging.

It's tough being a kid. The plastic toys are so cool and everyone has them. Heck, we have a lot of them ourselves. But I still believe it's important to challenge the kids to think before they bring more plastic into our home. It may not sink in immediately but I think it will be in the back of their mind for the rest of their lives .... now that's a memory I really want them to keep.

Now I still use plastic myself, unfortunately. I even wrote about using plastic wrap in my olive oil cracker recipe a few blog posts ago. I struggled with that at the time but I decided to leave it in the directions. In hind sight I should have used a resealable container. As the kids say .... "My bad".

A simple custard

My mother was up for a visit the other day and we had a conversation about the types of foods she remembers eating as a child. One of her memories included a simple custard dish that her mother, my grandmother, used to make when my mother was young.

I recalled seeing a simple vanilla custard recipe in my Junket rennet recipe booklet but I really didn't know what custard was so I didn't give it any thought. After hearing my mother talk so fondly about my grandmother's custard I knew we had to give it a try.

The recipe couldn't be any easier so we gave it a try with some fresh goats milk.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 rennet tablet (dissolved in 1 tbsp of water)

Heat milk to 100 F and add the sugar and vanilla. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Then add the dissolved rennet and stir for only a few seconds. Pour directly into dessert dishes and chill in the fridge before serving. That's it.

Five months into the 100 meter diet and I learn about this simple gem! I'm sure my grandmother followed a different recipe but this one is good enough for me ... for now.

One of the reasons I started this diet was to expose myself to new recipes. No matter how simple they may be. Actually, simple recipes are probably the best ones to learn because they form the foundation for more complicated dishes. So I truly appreciate having this simple custard recipe in my repertoire.

Thanks mom.

Angel Food Cake

I started this past weekend out with one recipe in mind ... angel food cake. However, before I could make angel food cake I first needed to make 3 batches of egg noodles so I could save up 1.5 cups of egg whites.

Because it's chicken noodle soup season I decided to turn two of the egg noodle batches into cute shapes for the soup. It takes significantly more time to cut out all of the shapes but with some help from the kids the time went by fairly quickly.

Once the egg noodles were done the way was clear to make the cake!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Sift the sugar, salt and cake flour several times to ensure a fluffy cake.

Place the egg whites in a large mixing bowl and beat them with electric beaters until they are fluffy but not yet making peaks. Add cream of tartar and vanilla and continue beating the egg whites until the peaks form.

Next, sift a quarter of the dry ingredients into the egg whites and fold the mixture together. Once the batter is mixed add another 1/4 of dry ingredients and repeat until everything is thoroughly mixed.

Transfer the batter into an angel food cake pan and place in a preheated oven at 350 F and bake for about 40 minutes. That's it!

Now, most recipes also call for 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract but I prefer it just with the vanilla.

If you decide not to make the egg noodles first you'll have to find a use for all the yolks ... lemon meringue pie comes to mind but I'm sure there are a few other recipes you can find. Personally, I believe that egg noodles and angel food cake should always be made together ... they're a perfect combination.

Olive oil crackers

Here is the recipe for the olive oil crackers that I made last week. These are really quite good and very simple to make. Please give them a try ...

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 2/3 cups flour (I used 1 cup white and 2/3 cup spelt)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
A pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
Dried rosemary and/or sea salt

Place the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add water and olive oil and work until the dough forms a ball. Place the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Next, rework the dough and divide into balls of approximately 1 tablespoon size. This works out to about 16 balls. Place the balls under an overturned bowl to keep them from drying out.

On a floured surface, roll balls as thin as possible. Sprinkle additional flour on the thin dough to keep it from sticking to the rolling pin. Place on a large un-greased baking sheet.

Brush each lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle with sea salt and rosemary to taste. Pre-heat oven to 400 F and bake until dry and golden, about 6 or 7 minutes.

When you're done you should have about 16 crisp and tasty olive oil crackers. You can roll them oblong, round or use your imagination.

They have the slightest hint of 'heat' due to the black and cayenne pepper. Add more if you want them a bit spicier.

I hope you enjoy them!

End of October update

I find it hard to believe that I've only completed 5 months on the 100 meter diet. It feels like a lot longer and I'm starting to think that I should have made this a 6 month challenge instead of a full year :)

Even with my continued effort to take in more calories I still ended up losing 2 more pounds. I'm now down to 156 pounds bringing my total weight loss up to 40 pounds.

The weight loss is certainly slowing down but I would like to see it stop all together. I hope that in November I see my weight stabilize so I don't have to consider any changes to my rules. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

Even while I'm still slowly shrinking the farm is slowly expanding. We picked up this little guy yesterday. He's a young billy goat (an Alpine / Toggenburg cross). He was advertised as being 8 months old but I suspect he's likely only around 5 months.

He's very skittish and nervous but I'm sure he'll settle in quickly. The hope is that he matures quickly and will be able to father our next batch of kids. We'll see ...

By the way, we decided to name him Donkey because we thought he looked more like a donkey than a goat.

Welcome to the homestead Donkey!

A week on the 100 meter diet - Day 7

Breakfast: 2 slices of toast with red currant jam and a glass of goat milk.

Lunch: The last 2 muffins, a yogurt and a glass of goat milk.

I was busy outside working after breakfast and I didn't have any time to make a substantial lunch.

Dinner: Chicken and egg noodles with a tomato sauce.

In the afternoon I spent a few minutes making a simple tomato sauce and I added the remaining chicken. It hit the spot.

I threw all the chicken bones and scraps in a pot of water and made some chicken stock. I haven't had the time yet to turn it into a chicken noodle soup but I'm half way there.

So day 7 marks the end of the tour of my 100 meter diet. This diet can be repetitive at times but I do try to keep things interesting. I try to use my imagination as often as I can but usually my biggest issue is time .... I don't have enough of it.

Speaking of time ... I'm being pulled away to get messy and start carving some Halloween pumpkins with the kids.

Have a happy Halloween!

A week on the 100 meter diet - Day 6

The week ended on a busy note so my meals went on auto pilot as a result. My breakfast for day 6 was a yogurt and two more muffins. I only have two muffins left and they'll be gone tomorrow I'm sure.

Lunch was left over chicken dinner with my last piece of cake.

Dinner was the same as lunch .. more chicken, potatoes and butternut squash. It's surprising how many meals I can squeeze out of a scrawny rooster.

I will likely turn the remaining leftovers into a chicken noodle soup for Day 7. I'm getting a bit bored of the same meal for lunch and dinner plus the weather is getting colder and a hot soup sounds just about perfect.

The highlight of my day was my late night snack. My wife found some of my frozen pizza in the freezer ... I had totally forgotten that it was there. She warmed it up and brought it to me ... I was so thankful to have it.

Nothing like watching Friday night tv with a goat meat pizza. A perfect way to end the day ;)

A week on the 100 meter diet - Day 5

Breakfast : 2 red currant muffins with yogurt and a tall glass of goat milk.

These muffins are going fast!

Having them around means I can get a few extra minutes of sleep in the morning since I don't have to get up and make something to eat. I appreciate those mornings.

The rest of the day was a bit hectic so I wasn't able to get any pictures of my lunch and dinner.


Lunch: I had the last of my egg noodles with goat meat, potatoes and onions. A slice of anglefood cake for dessert.

I'm surprised the anglefood cake has lasted this long. The kids are in the habit of asking if things are "100 meter" ... they don't want to eat too much of 'my' food even though I encourage it.

Dinner: 2 chicken drum sticks with potatoes, butternut squash and a side of pickled zucchini. A big glass of cold milk to was it all down.

My wife cooked up one of our summer roosters. He was fairly scrawny but decently tender. Chicken will be on the menu for a few days until it's all gone.

As usual, my night time snack consisted of a couple more muffins. Like I said at the beginning .... the muffins aren't going to last very long :)

A week on the 100 meter diet - Day 4

Eggs, eggs and more eggs .....

Breakfast: A thick slice of French toast with maple syrup and a large glass of goat milk.

French toast is one of my favourite breakfast meals. It only takes a few minutes to make and it doesn't feel like you're eating eggs. Since I tend to eat a lot of eggs it can get a bit monotonous.

Take today for instance, you can plainly see it's mostly egg based foods. But if you hide the eggs in french toast and egg noodles you hardly notice it at all.

Lunch: Left overs from last night's meal (fried egg noodles with goat meat, potatoes and onions).

Dinner: Two fried eggs, sunny side up, with a piece of toast for dipping.

I made a nice rustic log cabin out of the toast strips ... just like I do when I make the kids their dip in eggs. It's a shame my computer 'ate' the picture.

My wife made these red currant muffins for me as a treat ... Mmmmm. She made them with soft spelt flour and I ate three for my night time snack, along with a slice of anglefood cake, a tall glass of milk and two yogurts.

I think she saved my day .... She always seems to know exactly when I need a little extra help :)

The yogurt maker is running again now, making more yogurt for the rest of the week.

A week on the 100 meter diet - Day 3

Breakfast: 2 slices of toast with some red currant jam and a large glass of goat milk.

We have two red currant bushes on our property that produce a bountiful supply of red currants every year.

We've created a tradition with some friends of ours where we supply the red currants and they lend a helping hand to turn the currants into jam or jelly. We share the spoils between us.


Lunch: 2 fried egg sandwiches.

A very boring lunch, I admit, but I'm fine with that.

Dinner: A Hungarian inspired dish (which I can't spell). Fried egg noodles, potatoes, onions and goat meat. I had a glass of goat milk and more anglefood cake for dessert.

This is one of the simplest
and most delicious dishes that I know. My wife makes it from time to time but instead of goat meat she uses bacon.

You simply chop and fry some onions and then add some cubed potatoes, cooked egg noodles and salt and pepper to taste. I have enough leftovers for two more meals.

For my night time snack I had 2 goat yogurts and a glass of milk.

A week on the 100 meter diet - Day 2

I started day 2 off with four goat milk pancakes topped with 100 meter maple syrup and a small glass of milk. The great thing about pancakes is that they freeze very well and they only take a minute or so in the microwave to warm up. A great time saver.

You may recall that I made 4 jars of maple syrup this past spring. I'm currently working through jar number 2 and I expect to have enough syrup to last me until the end of the diet. Making the syrup was a lot of effort but I'm glad I did.

For lunch I had some leftover bow tie egg noodles with tomato sauce. Normally I'll bring a little extra food for lunch but this serving was big enough all on it's own.

This is the last of my bow tie egg noodles. I made several batches a few months ago but I didn't really like them much. They take far to much time to make and they don't cook well in the middle. I've figured out that they taste much better the day after you cook them since they get a little more time to soften up.

Two more goat chops were on my dinner menu, as well as some butternut squash and some pickled zucchini. The pickled zucchini recipe turned out really nice and it adds a certain tangy sweetness to the meal.

For dessert I had more of my anglefood cake. I like to freeze the egg whites that I have left over from making egg noodles. Once I have 1.5 cups saved up .... Presto .... I have an anglefood cake! I love how that works out.

For my night time snack I finished the remaining crackers and two goat yogurts ... Mmmm.

A week on the 100 meter diet - Day 1

A common question that I get from people is "What do you eat on your diet?"

So, for this week, I'm going to keep notes on everything I have so you can get an idea about what it's like being on the 100 meter diet. I'll start with yesterday (Sunday), here's what I ate:

Breakfast: Goat milk yogurt and two slices of zucchini bread.

I wasn't much of a yogurt fan before I started the 100 meter diet. But now I have at least one yogurt a day, either for breakfast or for a late night snack. I absolutely love it. I usually make 6 jars (1 litre) every 2 or 3 days.

Unfortunately, zucchini bread doesn't last long around here because I eat it up so quickly. It's a great anytime snack.

Lunch: Toasted fried egg sandwich and a large glass of goat milk.

I knew a simple sandwich wasn't going to hold me over until dinner so I made some crackers in the afternoon, for a snack. I found the recipe in a magazine months ago but hadn't found the time to give it a try. It was easy to make and they really tasted quite nice.

I wish I had some cheese already made to go with the crackers. No such luck this time.

Dinner: Two goat chops, baby potatoes, pickled beats and pickled yellow zucchinis. For dessert, a couple of slices of fresh angle food cake.

Now, I don't eat this fancy
everyday but whenever I have goat meat I try to make it a little extra special. I cooked six goat chops on the BBQ so you'll be seeing a variation of this meal on Monday and again on Tuesday. That's pretty typical for this diet. I try to start off the work week with a couple of meals already made. It takes the stress out of trying to figure out what to have when I walk in the door.

In the evening, my snack was another yogurt and a few more crackers. Those crackers aren't going to last very long at this rate :)

I'll admit that this doesn't sound like a lot of food but it's more than enough for the new me. The old me could have finished off everything in one meal sitting. Crazy but true.

10 Years Ago ....

Back at the end of 1999 my wife and I lived in town, in a small one bedroom apartment. We were expecting our first child while actively looking to buy a home where we would be happy to raise our future children. We were eager to share our lives and dreams with our children but we would have to wait a few more months until we actually became parents.

We had so much to share, however, that we simply couldn't wait ... so we decided to write our future kids a letter that described our lives without them and gave them a glimpse into the type of home we hoped to provide for them in the future. We addressed the letter to "Baby" and mailed it to our apartment. Once delivered, the letter quickly went into our memory box and there it stayed, sealed, for over ten years.

We've been waiting for the right moment to give the kids the letter and over this past weekend that moment finally arrived. During dinner, on Saturday night, we were talking about all the work that needs to be done around the house before the snow arrives. It was then that Michael asked us the simple question "Why did you pick this house to live in anyway?". Instantly I thought ... this is the moment ... they're ready to read the letter! I told them that Mom and Dad had answered that very question 10 years ago .... before we even bought this house. That peaked their interest so we quickly dug out the letter and opened it up to read to the kids.

We found two notes in the envelop, one written by me before we bought our house and one written by my wife, after we bought the house.

In my note I spoke of the upcoming Y2K scare, the price of gas, and where we both worked at that time. When it came to our future home I simply said "We are looking for a house but we haven't found anything we like yet. Right now we would like a country property with about 5 acres or more with a pond and a fireplace. We'll have to wait and see what turns up."

In my wife's note, written two months after mine, she describes the home we bought by saying "It will be the only home you know for many years to come. It has two ponds, a fireplace, a double garage and 4.5 acres of land. It will be perfect for you and your future siblings to run around and grow up. You'll love it! We take possession of the house 8 days before your due date. It will be a very busy time :)"



All three of our children were born in this very house, with Michael being the first, born exactly one week after we moved in. They are growing up with lots of space to explore and with many wildlife creatures to learn about. We wanted them to be connected to the house and to the property where they live and I believe we've accomplished that.

I also believe that now is a good time to write another letter to our future selves, this time as a family. I would like the kids to write a letter in their own words and describe what it's like growing up in our family and how they want to live their lives in the future. I think they'll appreciate looking back and reading the letters in 10 years time, just as we have enjoyed looking back to the year 1999.

It's a great family bonding experience .... why don't you give it a try too?

Survivor

One of our weekly family rituals is watching Survivor on Wednesday night. We enjoy the challenges and the struggles the players have to contend with in order to survive 39 days in the game. The show is a topic of discussion around our dinner table as well. We often talk about the game, the alliances and how we might do things differently.

Last night, the reward challenge was a cage containing three chickens. Two hens and one rooster. A very good reward indeed. The winning team took the cage back to their camp and quickly decided to eat one of the chickens for dinner. We all agreed that that was a reasonable decision because the rooster really doesn't have a role to play since there isn't enough time to hatch out any chicks during the show. After all, the game is called Survivor not Sustainability.

When the team selected the chicken to butcher we all started screaming "Stop! Not the hen! Somebody tell them they grabbed the hen!". Apparently nobody on the winning team could tell the difference between a rooster and a hen. We we're stunned.

As the kids got ready for bed the topic of discussion was "When do you think they'll figure out they ate the hen?". In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter. They'll miss out on a few extra eggs between now and the end of the show but it won't have a significant impact on their diet. Someone will likely figure it out, and once they do, they'll regret having eaten the hen first.

Thanksgiving weekend

We had our Thanksgiving celebration this past weekend and I was happy to leave my diet at home for the day. It was great to taste brussel sprouts, carrots and turnips again. Everything was so delicious it was hard to decide where to start but I was up to the challenge. I even had a nice piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream ... Mmm. My taste buds were thankful.

Before we packed up to head home, my sister-in-law gave me this 'barn art' to take back to our homestead. When we were in B.C., back in May, we visited an organic vegetable farm where the out buildings were decorated with interesting odds and ends. I imagined that each item had a story behind it. Well this is my first piece for my barn art collection and I really like. I've always thought we could use a tractor around the farm and this one is the perfect size. Thanks Jen!

After I hung the barn art we got busy working outside planting some fruit trees on our property. We've been tallking about planting some trees for a few years now so we're happy that it finally happened. We planted a sour cherry, two pears and two apple trees. They should start producing next year, if all goes well. It took about three hours to get them in the ground but, as usual, it will be worth the effort when we dig into our first 100 meter apple pie next year.

I couldn't help thinking "Why didn't we do this sooner"? Oh well, at least they're in the ground now!

Nobel Prize for Medicine

The Nobel prizes are being announced this week and the prize for medicine was announced on Monday. The prize was awarded to Robert Edwards, a British scientist, who introduced in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to the world. The first IVF baby was born on 25 July, 1978, and since then more than 4 million babies owe their existence, in part, to IVF.

That's a lot of babies.

Now, if the human race was on the brink of extinction, due to infertility, I would agree that Mr. Edwards would have deserved significant recognition. However, that is not the case. The current estimate for the global human population is just below 7 billion people.

That's a lot of people.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love kids. When I see a newborn baby I can't help feeling hope and happiness for the future. Maybe, just maybe, this newborn will change the world for the better. But when I think of 4 million babies I can't help picturing 4 million new future consumers with hungry mouths to feed.

Our economy and industrial food model welcomes, and expects, continual growth in the human population. It needs more people to sell products to ... from that perspective IVF is a wonderful breakthrough. But if you are of the belief that this model is unsustainable, which is what I believe, the results of the IVF breakthrough are simply adding to the problem of over population.

More and more people are talking about developing green technologies and reducing global warming and I think that's excellent. But I believe that the root of these issues comes from over population. We will never be able to effectively deal with these global issues until we deal with the concept of a sustainable world population. There are simply way too many people on the planet.

As a society, I don't believe we're ready to talk about over population yet. But one day, whether we like it or not, the issue will need to be addressed. Until then, I hope that more and more parents focus on raising children with values that are based on sustainable living and not consumerism. By doing so we will be giving our children a better foundation from which to make some really difficult decisions.

It's a tough topic, I know. But it's a topic we need to be thinking and talking about.

Creamy ricotta egg noodles

I took a stroll through the garden before dinner last night, hoping to find something edible this late in the season. I came across some baby yellow zucchinis that inspired me to make a creamy noodle dish.

I put a cup of goat cream in a sauce pan and turned the heat to low. Next I added the ricotta cheese that we made last weekend with salt and freshly cracked pepper corns to taste. Once the ricotta blended with the cream I added the baby zucchini medallions to soften for a few minutes. The final step was to add the cooked egg noodles, mix everything together and let it sit for a few minutes before serving.

It was a surprisingly tasty meal. Slightly tangy and very creamy. The zucchini added a nice texture and flavour. I'm going to have to take a stroll in the garden more often ... I don't want to miss any of these treasures!