As we worked to teach our foster children simple living skills and boost their level of awareness, we found ourselves stumbling upon frightening tidbits of information that sent us first shivering, weeping, and thumb-sucking in the corners but then angrily protesting like marchers in a PETA parade (except we are clothed and omnivorous).

The following video contains disturbing footage and facts.  It may not be suitable for all audiences.  Please keep that in mind before watching.

Modern egg production practices seemed very Brave New World to me ... only less humane. At least in Brave New World the lower castes were periodically hosed with soma-gas to get high and thus forget how horrible their lives really were. No such luck for the factory-farmed egg laying hens.

But how do we keep from supporting these industries?  Labels?

Labels are so comforting, you know?  I feel instantly validated when I’m pushing a cart full of products plastered with labels declaring my support of free-range and organic animal products.  Labels are my friend, and I am guilty of trusting them.  Oh, and I should feel guilty because behind those labels lies a sad truth.

The only way to ensure that you are not actively supporting horrifying industrialized farming is to look for a local supplier.  Search for “pasture-raised” chicken eggs.  If you find eggs sold locally, ask to see the chickens and facility – they should welcome you with open arms.  Here’s the scoop:

• Cage free. No legal meaning, but some egg farmers think the term is less misleading than “free range” (see below), which suggests happy hens pecking for grubs in the barnyard. If the barnyard is in Minnesota and it’s January, that ain’t gonna happen.
• Free range, free roaming. Here’s the U.S. Department of Agriculture definition of these terms in its entirety: “Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.” In other words, there has to be a door, and it has to be open at least part of the time. The chickens don’t necessarily have to take advantage, and they often don’t. UK researchers studying commercial poultry farms say only 15 percent of chickens who have the opportunity ever leave the henhouse. The secret, they say, is to plant shade trees in the barnyard, under which the chickens can shelter. (Supposedly this reminds them of their ancestral forests. Whatever.) Others say, let’s not make this too complicated–if you want the chickens to go outside the henhouse, put their food outside the henhouse. Not that “outside” is necessarily any Garden of Eden. In January 2003, Consumer Reports noted, “When we visited one free-range chicken farm a few years ago, we found a penned, 10-by-30-foot patch of dirt topped with chicken manure and grass.” The USDA hasn’t established criteria for the size of the “range” or the amount of space per bird, so things can get nearly as crowded outside as inside. Free-range chickens are typically debeaked, just like the caged kind, and the males are killed as chicks, since they don’t lay eggs.
• Nutrient-enhanced. Claim to have higher levels of an omega-3 fatty acid, vitamin E, or protein because of ingredients added to feed. (Omega-3 content is boosted by adding flax, marine algae, or fish oils.)
• Pasteurized. Eggs are placed in warm water to kill bacteria, then shells are waxed to prevent cross-contamination.  Such eggs are sometimes used in hospitals and nursing homes and are suitable for recipes that call for raw eggs.
• White vs. brown. Color comes from the hen’s breed. In general, white hens with white earlobes lay white eggs, while hens with darker feathers and red earlobes lay brown eggs. Brown hens tend to be larger and need more feed, which can mean a slightly higher egg price. There’s no difference in flavor.
• Organic. Laid by hens whose feed is made with minimal use of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and commercial fertilizers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sets the standards. All eggs, organic or not, are free of hormones, and there’s no nutritional edge to organic.  This in no way implies that the chickens were not kept in concentrated confinement (read: battery cages).
• Vegetarian. The laying hens were not given food containing animal proteins.  This also has nothing to do with the humane treatment of these beautiful animals (who are, naturally, omnivorous).
• Pasture-raised. Hens eat feed from pastures but don’t always roam free.  They may be kept in pens that are moved around pastures or are free to roam the pasture within the fenced areas.  Backyard chickens often fall into this category (like our chickens, who roam around our back yard freely but are owned by non-commercial folks who won’t pay to have them certified as “free farmed” though they certainly qualify).
• Free farmed. This term, which has been trademarked by the American Humane Association, means that a farm complies with AHA standards to ensure that its animals are free of hunger, unnecessary fear and pain, etc. Earning the “free farmed” label involves an initial inspection and annual recertification. It’s the most rigorous program I’ve found, but unless you visit the farms yourself you’re still basically taking things on faith.

Labels to look for when searching for eggs from pasture-raised or "Free Farmed" poultry:

• Certified Humane  – This label is not easily obtained and by watching this video you will see why I am such a great fan of this certification.
• American Humane Certified – “Free Farmed” label – with the understanding that all animals should be treated with care and respect… one of the first organizations to become an advocate for the rights of those who have no voice
• Locally raised, farm fresh, beyond organic, chemical-free – Write down the information and contact them.  Request a tour and ask for their website.  If they don’t offer tours (which they may not do because they are swamped with work), conduct a drive-by investigation during the day.  Are there chickens hopping around an open field?  Do the chickens appear to be healthy and fluffy?  Is there adequate shelter, shade, and water provided

A recent article in Mother Earth News revealed the benefits of eating pasture-raised chicken eggs.  The numbers are staggering.  This is not the label on an overpriced GNC supplement — these are nutrition facts comparing eggs from pasture-roaming, bug-eating, dust-bathing, happy chickens to eggs from factory-farmed chickens.  Get ready:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• Two times more omega-3 fatty acids
• Three times more vitamin E
• Seven times more beta carotene
• Three-to-six times more vitamin D

This is HUGE.  HUGE, I tell you!  If this is not the “ah-ha” moment where you thunk yourself in the head and go… “I have a yard, perhaps I should keep my own chickens” or “I should find me some pasture-raised chicken eggs” then I don’t know what else to say except to reach through the computer screen and thunk you on the head myself.  Don’t think I wouldn’t do it, too.  :)

Or if we lived closer to one another, I would force you to take a dozen eggs home to simply taste the difference.  It’s truly remarkable.  The eggs our chickens produce are phenomenal.  The flavor, texture, and color of the yolks… *sigh* I want to write a love poem just thinking about it.

Of course, as a GRIT reader, you have joined a rare and wonderful network of people who genuinely care about animals and land.  A quick scan through the reader blogs on this site and it is blaringly obvious that GRIT readers and staff wish to be good stewards of the earth.  We are the caretakers of creation... not simply farmers, hobbyists, gardeners, growers, or enthusiasts. 

http://www.razorfamilyfarms.com

When creating trendy outdoor living spaces... don't forget to give the chair rungs some flare.

Break up the monotony of green grass with tasteful lawn ornaments.

Adding accents to flowerbeds keeps spaces interesting and also serve as a great places to hide your spare keys. Dual purpose landscape-design details are always a plus.

A classic country item like a barrel or trough can easily be converted into a fountain. To keep water from becoming stagnant, it is a good idea to install a windmill water pump.

When updating your country kitchen, keep in mind that faucets are one of the most important components of your kitchen area. Select a faucet that is not only functional but also gives your kitchen a customized look especially when matched with a unique and stylish spout.

If you choose to carpet the bedrooms of the house, be sure to select shades to compliment any color or style of furniture.

The garage should be outfitted with workbench and storage. Artwork may be added to define the space. Remember to bring the outdoors in with elements of nature in every room.

Be sure to also visit Lacy over at  Razor Family Farms .

We love gardening but I wouldn't say that we are pros.  I'm fascinated by the term "expert gardener" since I think it is an oxymoron similar to the classics: government organization, adult male, affordable housing, cable service, and decaffeinated coffee.  The simple fact that we, as gardeners, are always learning makes even the best gardener an amateur in the face of dramatic weather changes, invasive insect pests, and blights.  When gardening: expect the unexpected.

I love oxymorons.

Each year, we must pull a Tiger Woods and rethink our strategy.  We spend the off-season studying up, aching over plant placement, sunlight, drainage, soil composition, and potential hazards.  We draw from the lessons learned in years past as well.  Let me waltz you through our basic garden start-up pictorally (and with steady commentary from yours truly, after all it is my GRIT.com soapbox):

We plan out where and when we are planting each vegetable (I painted it with watercolors because I have entirely too much time on my hands) and then set up a table in the driveway to fill the minigreenhouses with seed starting soil and seeds.

We start our seeds in minigreenhouses.  These often grace the shelves of large hardware and gardening stores.  We love them.  I use them year after year in my kitchen window.

Shouldn't every window look like this?  Why doesn't Southern Living or Better Homes and Gardens show this stuff?

When we can no longer keep the lids on the minigreeenhouses without bending the seedlings, we transfer them out to the garden and cover them with wide mouth canning jars.  These work as makeshift gardening cloches (which can be read about in the GRIT article, "Get Your Garden Growing Early").  It only makes sense to use canning jars because the produce will ultimately end up in those jars anyway.  Why not?

As the garden grows, I'll be showing you some of our tricks to getting more plants in less space.  In the meantime, I'm offering one lucky commenter a copy of Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression.  How about that?

Want more Lacy? Check out  Razor Family Farms !

Getting children interested in and passionate about sewing is more than just buying those huge plastic needles, colorful yarn, and throwing down some crisp construction paper. That just aint gonna fly next to all the other stuff competing for your child’s attention.

Having recently become foster-to-adopt parents, Josh (my husband) and I began working to come up with creative ways to get the children to take an active role in simple living. This is no easy task. Nope.

We started by taking baby steps: cooking, baking bread and cookies to give away, and making up a batch of homemade laundry detergent. The children loved each task and seemed to grasp the beauty of ownership when presenting their homemade goodies to friends and family. The words “I made these just for you” build so much confidence. Yet there was so much more to our lifestyle than simply cooking and creating household cleaners.

Just as any other thrifty and active family, we have a constantly growing mending pile. In fact, it expands to rapidly that one might think that it enjoys regular exposure to radioactive waste. As I pulled out my trusty sewing machine to tackle ripped jeans, torn sleeves, displaced pockets, split seams, missing or broken zippers, and countless button issues – I realized a huge department in our lives that we had yet to introduce to the children.

Sewing.

Sewing is a foundation block of our household. I’ve made drapes, pillows, quilts, tablecloths, aprons, washcloths, towels, clothing, and countless other money-saving items. I haunt the local flea markets and yard sales for scrap fabric all summer long. As a military wife, I end up sewing various patches and name tapes which saves us quite a bit of money. But how to get my new children on board?

First: fabric selection. For girls, find fabrics with glittery threads and cheerful patterns. For boys, find bold colors and strong masculine patterns. All of the selections must be easily washed and durable with great textures. Once you have gathered an assortment of these fabrics, let your children pick out their favorites.

Second: project selection. Keep it simple and useful. If your girl cares only for soccer -- please don’t force her to make a pot holder. If your boy loves all things indoors, don’t insist that he sew up a flag for his tree house fort. Let your children be your guide. My advice? Begin with a drawstring bag. Regardless of your child’s interests, they will love special bags to stow away their marbles, armies of little toy soldiers, doll clothes, favorite scented markers and colored pencils, and treasured rock collections.

Third: make it fun. Play some music that you can all sing along to and get to it. Keep in mind that you may be doing a lot of the work yourself (depending on the ages of your youngsters) but that’s okay. Tell them everything you are doing as you do it. Pretend to be a television sewing guru. Use different accents. I like to pull out my best Robin Leach voice and be their guide as we place pins and measure seams. The fact that I am pretending to host Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous beside a gargantuan mending pile does not escape my notice. That’s just how we roll at our house.

Depending on the child, you may allow them to use the pedal, thread the needle, put pins in place, guide the fabric, and all that jazz. Don’t worry if they royally botch the project – it doesn’t matter! The important thing is that you are getting them involved in a sewing project and remember that kids (and adults) learn from their mistakes.

An easy and small drawstring treasure bag using fat quarters:

- 1 fat quarter (18”x 21” fabric sections)

- approx. 1 yard of ribbon, yarn, or some sort of cord (you can get really creative here)

1. From your fabric, cut one piece that is 6" x 6" (6.5" x 6.5") and one piece that is 9" x 21" (10" x 24").

2. Place the right side (RS) of square facing up, lay the corner of the rectangle about halfway down the square, RS facing down. Sew it in place using a ½” seam allowance starting ½” from the start of the rectangle. (All that “right side” business means is that the pretty sides of the fabric are facing each other.)

3. By carefully folding your work, continue sewing the rectangle to the square until you have made your way back around to where you first attached the rectangle with ½” to spare.

4. Turn your work and sew up the bag stopping 3” from the top to create a lidless cube, of sorts, with a “V” shaped gap at the top. Now, fold the edges of the “V” over ¼” and sew them to the back side of the fabric. This is where the drawstring ties. It’s okay if it isn’t perfect. No one is judging you. Least of all: me.

5. Fold the top down 1 ½” with your cord/ribbon/yarn/string in the fold. Feed the string through the “V” and tie the ends together so they do not slide back through the channel for you to fish out later. Pin the flap down and sew it all the way around.

6. Turn your work right side out and admire your handy work. You are one fine individual.

Check out these awesome instructions for a drawstring backpack made from fat quarters by Wendy Coburn.

These darling bath bags are so easy to make! You have options... you know how I love options! When I make these, I like making a matching towel. Then you have a set that is wonderfully soft, warm, and inexpensive.

MATERIALS:

Approx 3 yards of 100% cotton flannel or very soft light weight knit or woven terry cloth or fleece

Fleece, flannel, terry cloth binding

DIRECTIONS:

Cut 2, 1 yard (36 inches) pieces of fabric. If your fabric is a standard 45 inches you will now have an approximately 45 x 36 inch rectangle.

Lay your two pieces of fabric wrong sides together (so that the print/right side is facing out). Trim the pieces so that all edges are straight and they are the same size.

Using the fleece binding, bind the edges of the towel.

To make a matching wash cloth cut two 12x12 inch pieces of fabric from the other yard of fabric. Place the fabric wrong sides together and bind the edges with fleece binding!

To make the drawstring soap sack:

Cut out two 12 x 12 inch squares.

Zigzag the edges all the way around.

Place one square on top of the other so that the edges match up and with printed or "right sides" together. Pin in place.

Sew three sides with a 5/8 seam.

Cut the ribbon or string you want to use with plenty of excess string for tying purposes and fold the unsewn top down over it (around two inches). Pin in place.

Sew the flap down all the way around the piece and then turn it right-side-out.  

Voila! You have a nifty little soap holder for the bath with matching towels.

Don't forget to check out the Razor Family Farms Web site.   

 

 

Nothing says fall in the country like a slice of sugar cane syrup cake still warm from the cast iron skillet – smeared with sweet cream butter. One bite and you’ll find yourself transported to a “boiling house” of cut stone with a long handled spoon and the hum of bees drawn to the scent of the steaming sugary goodness.

As the cane syrup cake melts on your tongue, you can almost picture the mule running the mill as washed sugarcane is chopped by the revolving blades and then crushed.

You can feel the heat of the water as someone adds the pulp and begins the hours of stirring and storytelling.

Or you could visit Westville Village, Georgia and see it in person. They make sugar cane syrup there and sell it in their 1850s country store. The taste? Heavenly.

I’m guessing you’ll want a recipe. Am I right? This stuff is all kinds of delicious.

Sugar Cane Syrup Skillet Cake

1 stick (4 ounces) softened butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
2 cups cane syrup, more for serving
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
Dash of nutmeg
½ cup buttermilk or sour milk
2 teaspoons vanilla or buttered rum
½ cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Melt some butter in your cast iron skillet and paint the walls of the skillet by tilting the skillet or using a pastry brush.

2. In a mixer, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add in syrup and eggs. Mix thoroughly.

3. In a bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, and a dash of nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients mixture a little at a time alternating with buttermilk and mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla or rum.

4. Pour batter into the still-warm skillet and bake 45 to 60 minutes, reducing heat to 350 degrees once the cake is in the oven. Bake until springy to the touch. Cool in pan for a few minutes. Serve in slices with butter, a sprinkling of chopped nuts and some cane syrup.

Tell me that you are not aching to try a slice. If you make it, could you call me so I can have some too? You think I’m kidding -- ha! Call me.  I'll be there in ten minutes flat.

Be sure to visit the Razor Family Farms Web site.   

Many of us grew up in the largest generation: the Clorox generation. Our earliest memories of cleaning usually involved using bleach and water. The use of bleach defined cleanliness for us – the stinging nostrils, burning cuticles, and noxious fumes – and yet, no one ever seemed alarmed at its use. Of course, bleach isn't all bad. A bottle of bleach means clean drinking water in many parts of the world, good times in swimming pools, and very white clothing. So, why all the fuss?

Bleach is kryptonite for allergy and asthma suffers. Bleach also mixes with common household cleaning products to create some dangerous situations. Examples? Oh, I got plenty of those!

Mixed with ammonia ... bleach releases a gas that can cause your lungs to stop functioning. Where is ammonia lurking that bleach often mixes with it? Toilets. Urine contains ammonia, right?

Mixed with dish soap ... bleach produces mustard gas. That's right, the stuff from World War I that caused severe chemical burns, conjunctivitis, temporary blindness, bleeding and blistering within the respiratory system, and (in some cases) cancer. Not cool, folks.

Mixed with organic matter ... bleach produces chloroform. Chloroform? Yep. Inhaling chloroform vapors depresses the central nervous system of a patient, causing dizziness, fatigue and unconsciousness. Prolonged exposure can harm necessary (and kind of super-important) organs like your liver, kidneys, and skin. Chloroform is also a cancer-causing toxin.

So, what can we use instead of bleach?? Easy-peasy, y'all!

Here's the recipe:

12 cups water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup hydrogen peroxide

Mix. Add 2 cups per wash load or put in spray bottle and use as a household cleaner.

 

You can use grapefruit juice instead of lemon juice. Whatever floats your boat.

 

I got this bottle of hydrogen peroxide for less than $1. One bottle like the one above contains about 2 cups of hydrogen peroxide. So, we're keeping it appealing to the budget.

 

There we have it. Fresh as an Irish water fall. No noxious fumes. No burns. No fear.

 

Load this stuff into an old vinegar jug and/or a household sprayer and start your cleaning engines!