duckminifarm.com Blog

It’s really a sad thing when people are mourning wild “horse families being torn apart,” yet at the same time we have thousands of children who need permanent homes. Yet the roadblocks to adopting children (in this country and otherwise) are so prohibitive.

The diet is really working. I wish I’d weighed before starting it, but I’m more interested in losing inches. I can now have fruit, which is good.

We had a delicious Tilapia last night. I browned it a little in Canola oil, then baked it in the oven with a little cheese and some tomato bullion on top. It was really very good with a salad.

One thing about this diet is that you don’t eat as much. I eat about 1/2 of what I used to. Of course I have snacks, but on the whole I feel full and am loosing weight.

I respect some animals rights groups because some of them have really brought the welfare of animals to the public’s attention. I DON’T like it when they humanize animals in an attempt to pull people’s heartstrings or manipulate them. Sometimes the results of this are downright funny when you really look at them.

I just read this [excerpt below] from a Yahoo News article about wild horses.

[Elliot Katz, president of California-based In Defense of Animals, said Obama should grant the Nevada horses a holiday reprieve until the legality of long-term holding facilities is determined.

"While the president is enjoying the holidays ... (we) ask him to think of the horse families who are about to be torn apart forever in the BLM roundup," Katz said. "With the stroke of a pen, he can stop the terror that is about to befall the majestic wild horses of the Calico Mountains in Nevada."]

Wild horse families “torn apart forever?” Give me a break! What do they think happens to young stud colts: they’re usually driven from the herd when they mature. If they stayed, then they’d be breeding their mothers, aunts and sisters, so it works better that way. Female horses may still be in the same herd, but Mama is going to run Sister off a little when the new foal is born. Horse “families” aren’t human “families.”

Then there’s the matter of the “terror”. Certainly being put into a pen is probably terrifying for these feral horses. But so is a violent thunderstorm or a predator. BLM roundups aren’t the only “terror” in these animals’ lives. I once saw a disturbing video where a herd stud killed a defective newborn foal. These animals aren’t gentle “Bambis.”

The BLM probably DOES need to have a better plan. Apparently they don’t have a good plan for these horses. Also, too many people adopt these horses without knowing what they’re getting into. I often see them offered for sale, many times having been too much for their idealistic [young] owners to handle.

We had a horrible storm yesterday with lots of rain and tornadoes in the area. Strong winds ripped part of the roof off a house in Longview. The poor animals had to go without their supper; it was raining too hard to feed them (the goats would rather go without feed than get wet anyway.)

As for our diet, it’s still going well. I had a very bad spell a few days ago and had to modify the diet. I had gotten to where I couldn’t sleep anymore. I had to start adding 1/2 an apple. I felt like I was going crazy. It may have something to do with low blood sugar or something.

Christmas is now upon us. We’ve already had one big meal (here at home, and we were able to stay on the diet) and we’ll have another one tomorrow. Sarah is so excited she can hardly stand it.

Still plugging away. No matter WHAT the book says, it’s pretty challenging. Breakfast is really difficult. Stephen used to take bologna sandwiches for breakfast almost every day. They were easy to eat. Now we’re trying to be creative….he doesn’t like lettuce so the lettuce-wraps are out.

As for me, the smell of eggs cooking in the early morning is almost too much. I don’t care much for eggs, and now I’m eating them almost every day. Today I had sometime different: a stir-fry with eggplant and other veggies and just a tiny amount of shredded chicken and 3 crumbled pieces of bacon.

Am I losing weight? I don’t know. I don’t usually go by weight. I can’t fit into my size 12 jeans yet, but I’m definitely more toned. I can feel the difference. I know that some of this is exercise, but I’m sure the diet helps. I’m simply eating less, and I don’t feel so awful after meals. (I’m not having those horrible fatigue spells any more.) It’s amazing what God has helped me accomplish.

Yes, we tried it tonight. No, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had thought. It was actually okay, and the squash is really cool to prepare.

I haven’t talked a lot about our homeschooling lately. I’ve changed some things.

You know, it really IS hard to think outside the box as regards education, especially for people like me. I’m a pretty cut-and-dried person: read, learn it, take a test on it.
Sarah is more like: listen to it while wiggling, sing about it, maybe remember NOTHING about it the next day, maybe remember it perfectly or maybe remember some trival fact you didn’t even know she heard. Her homeschooling has been as much an education for ME as it has been for her.

Right now we’re studying the Colonial Period in American History (in this household you KNOW she’s going to get plenty of history). She’s having fun with it, I think, because one of our books has lots of crafts.

Today we talked about Colonial dress (17th century), tomorrow we’re going to talk about 18th century dress and about occupations. We’ve learned a cute song about the 13 Colonies to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

As for math, she’s tickled that she can so easily multiply by 0 and 1…..some of the 2s are even easy. This is good because math facts are still pretty slippery. The math stories we’ve made up work the best.

She aced her spelling test today. I almost wish the words were a little harder. The hardest ones today were “barn” and “road.” That’s not a challenge. I may start taking her spelling words from words that she has trouble reading.

Her Bible Reader is still missing, but we have plenty of other readers. She’s been reading some folktales in one reader, and we’ve also read out of the Pathways (Amish) reader. She likes me to read her out of a vintage book called Animal Babies. Sometimes she’ll read a paragraph and I’ll read a paragraph. Reading still seems to tire her alot.

We’ve been studying Christmas Carols, too. She’s learned a few new ones, and we’re working on a puppet play for church. She’s a natural.

Her puppet is a coyote named Alpha. She’s really great making him move…sometimes too realistically. Today she was making him lick himself. I told her if she DARED do that when we were in church I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions.

No one tells you these things BEFORE you become a parent.

I love Christian homemaking sites. I really do. I love the soothing music (usually), the floral “wallpaper” and cheerful blogs.

I try to be a very optimistic and cheerful example of a Christian homemaker. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Honestly, most homemakers I know don’t live in immaculate houses and drink tea out of bone-china cups every day at 4 p.m.

At 4, I’m usually getting ready to go out to feed the animals before starting on supper. Yes, I still call it “supper” sometimes.

Right now, I have a mountain of laundry (makes me think longingly of the Bible verse that says that if we have faith, we can cause a mountain to be cast into the depths of the sea…I would settle for the depths of the washing machine.) Sarah wants to crochet, but I’ve told her she’ll have to wait for a little while. We still have to make up her bed, too.

Then I’ve got to feed animals.. and Sarah has to check her rabbits. Then we’re going to try to make a chicken and eggplant dish for supper. I’m still trying to learn this new low-carb cooking. I don’t know if I’ve lost any weight, but I certainly haven’t gained any and I AM eating healthier.

I also got in 30 minutes of exercise today….NO, not unloading feed, either! I mean the exercise bike and lifting the little free-weights.

I might as well list some of these…..

Regular Cocoa
Jelly & Jam
My Homemade Bread (I’ll modify it later)
Mashed Potatoes w/ Gravy
French Fries
REAL cherry pie and other pies
Sweet Tea
Real candy and chocolate bars
Fried Chicken
Chicken Fried Steak
Popcorn (glycemic-wise) isn’t even that healthy of a snack.
Mac & Cheese
Nacho Chips at Restaurants

Also gone are the days of me “easily” making a bowl of cereal in the morning or a peanut-butter sandwich at lunch. It will just take some getting used to.

Freedom to just grab stuff easily off the supermarket shelves.

Some of these foods (above) I really won’t miss THAT much.
(I know there are sugar substitutes, but NONE of them so far really cuts the mustard completely.)

The PLUS side (well, I’m trying to stay away from the PLUS side, actually. When I started to out-grow my size 14 pants I felt that I HAD to do something. For the first time in my life I was starting to get weight on my midsection. I didn’t like it.) But, realistically, the pluses will, I hope, include better health, more energy, long lifespans with better quality of life…..no diabetes and less chance of heart trouble…..and I hope I’ll feel better about my body again. I haven’t noticed has much trouble with fibro since I began. I’ll just have to see if that lasts.

I’m up starting a new load of wash and got some soup for a snack. I exercised for 30 minutes tonight and I’m proud of myself. This has just got to become a habit.

If someone was approaching this diet rationally, they would 1) clean out their pantry 2) find and organize diet-friendly recipes 3) restock the pantry before even beginning. THAT would be the logical thing to do. Also, they’d start the diet on a weekend or other time-off, because the headaches, etc. can be annoying. PLAN what you’re going to have in place of rice, potatoes, bread, cereal etc. otherwise you feel rather adrift in meal planning. PLAN that it’s often going to take you longer to cook meals, because you’re learning new recipes.

There are lots of food options, even at Phase One, you just have to learn about them.

So far, so good, praise be to God.

It really takes a complete overhaul of your “comfort food” menu.