This stage of our paradigm shift was actually thrust upon us when Angel was diagnosed with a variety of food intolerances. I thought I was doing pretty well before that. We made our own bread, stayed away from most prepared foods, and purchased “high quality” products at the grocery store. But it was incredibly eye opening to see how food was impacting her behavior and her ability to have positive relationships. I never would have believed it unless I saw it in my own child. We began with the GAPS diet. I wish that I could have been more committed to GAPS, but it just didn’t work out for a number of reasons. However, once we started to clean up our diets, we realized that nearly every one of us was experiencing symptoms of poor diet. The food we were eating was not nourishing our bodies – in fact, it was leading to poor function. And it wasn’t just food. What were we breathing? What were we absorbing through our skin? A few struggled with mood and learning challenges in response to specific foods. I was dealing with an autoimmune condition and noticed that my physical symptoms were directly related to the foods I was eating. In order to make feeding the entire family more manageable for me, we switched to a mostly Paleo diet. It can still be a challenge in many ways, but is much more straightforward and is simpler to implement for everyone. It has also opened us up to other integrative health choices, like making our own natural soaps and cleaners and using essential oils to treat allergies, pain, and cold symptoms.
Sometimes these changes are less expensive than the conventional option and sometimes they are much more expensive. Our personal goal is to develop a better understanding of where our food comes from and to make all of this more sustainable. This inevitably led us to homesteading. At first, we were prepared to buy acres and acres of farmland, but then reality set in. What are we willing to give up to make this happen? Is it financially feasible for us right now? Can we achieve our goals with something more like an urban (or suburban) homestead? We began thinking all of this homesteading business through by learning from the amazing family who runs Polyface Farms. Then Bee asked if she could start a meat rabbitry. So, we have started with some meat rabbits and we go from here…
Rabbits! Rabbits! Rabbits! by Bee
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