A long time ago I started writing about all of the random things I was reading about and experimenting with – from natural parenting to my real food journey to cloth diapering to homesteading.

Here we are years later and I’m grateful for all your support, comments, feedback, and help. In our off-grid journey your support of this blog is helping provide an intermediate means to support our family via our advertisers, cookbook sales, free-lance writing opportunities, and the Papa’s upcoming projects.

You have turned a hobby into something that has truly blessed our family in trying to break free from the system that entangled us. I can’t possibly describe our gratitude for your simply being here.

What was that about the Papa’s upcoming projects you ask?

One thing you might not know is that my husband has worked tirelessly at many ventures over the past six years in order for us to get out of debt and live our version of the American dream. One of those ventures has been to design the book cover, web site, and YouTube trailers for the upcoming fiction series The Last Pilgrims.

And, frankly, I think this book cover is just stunning. I should preface that with the fact that he often asks for my honest opinion on his design and creative work and I pretty much always give him my honest critique… which is often difficult (and not always flattering)… but he knows that when I say "I love it!" I really mean it.

Another project that he has in the works is bringing you more multimedia content documenting our off-grid journey. We hope to bring you documentation of how we’re attempting to build a sustainable off-grid homestead. Not because we’re experts, but because we figure if we can do it then many people can.

Supporting Independent Publishers Hits (Our) Home

The Last Pilgrims is independently authored, published, designed, and marketed. Much like Surviving Off Off-Grid; which the Papa also helped design, publish, and market; this book is an excellent read that needs your help to get an audience.  There is a great post on The Last Pilgrims web site about why you should care about this type of independent effort.

My husband estimates that if just half of you, our loyal readers, purchased the book on 2/24/12 it could probably launch the book to near #1 on Amazon.com. This could mean great things for The Last Pilgrims, and would obviously support our family as well.

And in case you are wondering what the book is really about and whether or not it is really worth your time and money, I have a full book review coming up next.  Other bloggers are also beginning their reviews, which should provide some exciting variety and perspective.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the preview of the new book cover.  Check out the web site he created, and have fun watching the new book trailers on YouTube.  Someone I know very well is also in the book trailer (aka – The papa).

And if you need graphics work, video trailers, or web site advice please contact us and see how we can help.

Perhaps a disclaimer is in order: not liable for anything said when hormonally possessed and at 40+ weeks gestation.

I doubt I am the first woman nearly two weeks over her "due date" who is pretty much fed up with the hoopla. Nine months ago you excitedly get a positive pregnancy test, have a date calculated based on your last cycle, and then gleefully look forward to the miracle that is being pregnant.

And then it happens. About two weeks before your due date everyone starts asking if you’re "ready". These people are simply asking if you have gotten every little piece of junk polka-dotted in green, blue, or pink together so that your baby can rest easy in their 200 square foot nursery. Either that or they’re asking if you’re ready to have the baby by that arbitrary 40 week due date and if not certain doom will arise.

It’s really not their fault, they are either ignorant or brainwashed. The former I can understand. Before I had babies I had no clue as to the ins and outs of this pregnancy thing. The latter I have a hard time accepting.

Birth As Business

Birth in North America is a big, complicated, medical business. Business as in people are making money off of your body carrying a child and being part of one of the most miraculous things we get to witness on this earth – childbirth. Business as in bottom lines, supply and demand, market manipulation and ruthless number punchers.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually think there is a time and a place to utilize medical facilities as a part of birth, and perhaps at some point I may be telling you of my experience in a hospital or with a c-section. I am also sure their remains a steadfast group of reasonable OBs who really do care more about healthy, natural births than pushing you through the system like a car bumper in a manufacturing facility.

After two homebirths and another one imminent, however, I have fallen in love with the wisdom, care, and support provided by midwives. In fact never was I more thankful to have asked a midwife to be a part of this process than when I lay on our bed, complications arising, blood pressure dropping, and our now sturdy three-year-old’s heart beat unable to be found.

Our skilled midwife kept her head, helped me get the baby out, and avoid any unnecessary interventions. I do realize it could have ended differently, though. But even if we are going to talk about the bottom line, I have found homebirth to be a whole lot more affordable than the hospital estimates I have seen.

Industrial Birth

This whole business of birthing thing really wouldn’t be such a problem if simply opting out changed everything. Because you still have a nation full of people to which birth is a medical condition that can be solved scientifically and medically.

It is no different than the big business of industrial foods or the industrial way of life in general. We have taken something that is good, natural, and God-given and decided we can do better. Then we muck it up to the point where our food is poison, our lifestyle is unsustainable, and one in three women have to have their babies removed via major surgery. ONE IN THREE.

Perhaps it is my raging hormones or the fact that if one more person asks me if there is any news, if the baby has come yet, or if I am worried about being "late" that I may use the phrase bleepin’ due date rather than stinkin’, but why aren’t more people fed up with the system?

Oh, and next time around I think I’ll skip creating or sharing a due date and have a due season instead. I’m sure it’ll be all the rage in the pregnancy magazines, just you wait.

"I would think you would be really depressed if you went from this way of life back to the way we used to live," The Papa said the other day while we had lunch with friends.

Looking back at our life just over three months ago the contrasts are huge. Where once there was electricity there is now minimal solar power. Where once there was running water there is now a hose connected to a solar-powered pump (a luxury by many standards).

Our solar-powered refrigerator is the size of a very small freezer, a freezer is something we are currently living without, we go to the bathroom in a homemade composting toilet that consists of a bucket and a toilet seat, and I have not taken what y’all might consider to be a "real shower" in over three months.

But these, frankly, are things that shouldn’t matter when pondering the "how then shall we live" question. Every now and then I daydream of showers and washing machines and flushing toilets, but then I remember one of the many reasons that we are here.

Freedom.

I see it in my husband’s face when he spends his day working with his hands, building things, digging holes, preparing soil for a garden. He no longer has to pretend that what he does every day is okay even though it disconnects him from his family, his faith, and his reliance on God.

I see it in my precious children’s perspectives when they tell me they didn’t like it when Papa used to have to leave for work every day. Giving them our time, and struggling daily not to be hypocrites, is all I know of to give to them.

The Price Thereof

About 95% of the time I don’t miss the old, easier way of doing things. We were fortunate enough to start with nothing more on our land than a camper and a catch water system. The process of building up the very basic infrastructures of life is incredibly important, I think, in the process of realizing what you truly need and what, frankly, you can live without.

But that doesn’t mean that things aren’t hard sometimes, even if you can see the bigger picture.

The only food we are producing is one egg per day and a baby winter garden that won’t be ready for harvesting for quite some time. Neither of us has a job working away from the homestead. Until we are truly producing, we feed our family with the not-very-consistent proceeds from this blog, the free-lance writing and editing jobs I have done, and a very exciting new project The Papa has been working on.

There is savings, used for bigger projects or midwife payments, but we are hoping to save that for infrastructure.

When the Rubber Meets the Road

We are trying to trust the Lord to provide in every instance. But you realize really fast that saying "I trust the Lord for our provisions" is much easier when you are selling your soul to a corporation for a paycheck than it is when you actually step out of that cocoon and start making an attempt at an obedient life.

But isn’t that the point? Nothing worth anything is easy and nothing worth anything comes from staying where you are simply because it is comfortable.

And what is the point of comfort and money if it comes at the cost of true freedom in being able to live one’s life according to one’s conscience?

Since we have been eating more grains I have been experimenting with alternative flours. You know, anything but white or whole wheat flours. These guys are a bit tricky since they often lack gluten, but if you are willing to experiment you can find some really awesome new flavors in baked goods.

This oat flour banana bread, for instance, gets its nutty flavor from 100% oat flour. The touch of sweetness comes from nothing but mashed ripe bananas, and the crunch comes from delicious, high protein nuts.

This recipe isn’t soaked, sprouted, or soured, though, so it could certainly be improved upon. Sprouting the oats before drying and grinding might do the trick. It does make for a nice quick bread that is gluten, dairy, and sugar-free, though. Check it out at the Plan to Eat Blog.

Speaking of Healthy Whole Grains…

Use the coupon code SPROUT20 by February 7th and receive a $20 discount on the Healthy Whole Grains e-course, where you’ll learn to soak, sprout, and sour whole grains.

One thing I have found since we moved off-grid is that we simply need to eat more filling, hearty, and dare I say starchy foods. When we first got here that was simply bread and butter, corn tortillas, or plain old oatmeal.

Now that my cooking situation is a bit more set up I have been getting back to soaking and fermenting grains. The problem is that our cabin can swing drastically from 70-some degrees during the day and 30-some degrees at night, which would be why my sourdough starter just wouldn’t cut it.

So I decided to give our oats a ferment and see what happened. The results have been great and dare I say low-maintenance, surviving even in our crazy climate and with my lack of daily feedings. The porridge is definitely sour in flavor, but we love it with plenty of butter, fruit, nuts, and raw milk.

Why Fermented Grains?

Over the years I have found that our bodies tend to digest and simply use grains better if they are soaked, but preferably fermented. This has been the case with a sourdough bread vs. a regular yeast bread and now with this porridge.

Fermentation breaks down the hard to digest components of grains and tends to maximize the nutrients of whatever food is being fermented. Win-win.

Here is How I Made the Starter:

1. Crack whole oat groats into something like a steel-cut oat. It will look like a combination of flour and pieces of whole oats. You can grind it as fine as you’d like, just make sure the oat groats have been broken up and the starchy insides exposed.
2. Combine a few cups of these (I just use two scoops from our grain bucket, the equivalent of about 2-3 cups) with enough water so that you can stir it easily but it is not too soupy. I use a half gallon jar for this.
3. You can, optionally, add some whey at this point to kick-start the fermenting process. I did just a couple of tablespoons off of our kefir and it seems to have worked well.
4. Cover with a cloth or a coffee filter and a rubber band or canning ring. Let sit in a warm place for a few days or until it starts to smell sour and have little bubbles.

Here is How I Feed It:

Every time we make and use up all but one cup of the porridge my five-year-old cracks two more scoops of oats and I stir them into the jar, being sure to incorporate a good amount of air.

I let this ferment for about two days before removing all but one cup and feeding the porridge once again. I’ve gone longer than those two days between eatings and feedings, but I find the sourness is tamed by using it up within a couple of days (assuming it has already soured).

Here is How I Use It:

Be sure to leave 1 cup of porridge in jar. Combine the desired amount of soured porridge with enough water to cover by 1-2". Cook slowly over low heat, stirring frequently, until thick and water is absorbed.

You can also bake with this, which is something I am excited to share with you soon as well.

Learn More About Soaking, Sprouting, and Fermenting Grains

As we have started down this path towards agrarianism we find ourselves having to keep our grocery budget as low as possible while nourishing our bodies in order to do the physical work involved in starting a homestead. Spending the last five years learning about properly preparing grains, beans, and other foods has been an invaluable tool in making this little equation work.

If you are interested in learning more about turning those hard-to-digest grains into something nourishing then you may want to check out the Healthy Whole Grains e-course. This self-paced online class includes 50 videos and over 100 printable recipes to get you going.

Use the coupon code SPROUT20 by February 7th and receive a $20 discount on the course. I am told this is the only coupon code that will be made available to the public, so don’t delay!