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TAKE Control Of Your Food — STOP Letting Your Food Control You !!!

By James T. Verrill on August 7, 2017 in Fruit at Fayrehale, Gardening, Life At Fayrehale, Living a Better Life

TAKE Control Of Your Food — STOP Letting Your Food Control You !!!

I lost 22 lbs in 30 days – I Feel Terrific

Eight different friends and relatives have communicated with me as they watched my 30 day journey. They wanted information and started the Whole30 program themselves. I decided a blog entry would be a better way of sharing the information. If not you? Who?? You may not be interested for yourself but you many know someone (or many) who would be interested. Please, feel free to share!

For over two years I had been eating carefully and working to lose some weight! NOTHING was happening – NOTHING! I am on medications for borderline blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. I know that these and other drugs interfere with weight loss. It was a long time friend who told me about Whole30! She has several years on me and takes many times more medications. Her Doctor told her to do the Whole30 program and that she would lose weight even without increased exercise (bad knees). She did and SHE DID lose 20 pounds in the 30 days!

I decided it was well worth a try after 2 years of no results!! I started June 26th and did not stray for 30 days with the exception of ONE ear of corn on the cob which you will see below and which, as I enjoyed it, I did not know I was straying.

It is simple to start! Initially you just need the The Whole30 Program In A Nutshell , The Shopping List to guide you and the receipt for making your own Mayonnaise. (There will be more on making your own Mayo below!) Once you start making it fresh, you will never want to go back to the additive laced commercial “stuff”!

I had/have no interest in preparing three meals a day! (That as the hardest change for me, I had been eating two, breakfast and supper). I also have no issue with eating cold food! Particularly this time of year. My system was to cook in bulk and have what I needed ready to pull from the refrigerator. Daily cooking was limited to scrambling eggs in the morning, often with sweet peppers, mushrooms and chives.

Steaming is my friend! and a good way to prepare a big batch of assorted healthy vegetables

Here you see a selection of healthy vegetables ready to be steamed. The first picture was taken before I piled the kale on top! Red cabbage, cauliflower, sweet potato, butternut squash, rainbow carrots and Brussels sprouts. I used the local, organic kale under my breakfast eggs and my protein servings.

When it came to protein, I would bake a batch of boneless chicken w/ some Olive Oil & Seasonings

Turkey or ground beef burgers would be cooked on top of the stove in batches using olive oil. Fish would be fresh for the meal! Sardines and canned tuna would either be made into salad w/ homemade mayo or just dumped on the mixed greens as part of the salad. Chicken salad became a favorite of mine – chopped/shredded chicken, celery, onions, red grapes and homemade mayo makes a delicious chicken salad.

Let’s discuss the Mayo here before we talk about the meals which are FULL plates of deliciousness.

For your first time making this Mayo, do a single batch! The MOST IMPORTANT thing is that the oil MUST go in SLOWLY! Otherwise you have a runny mess which you can still use as a salad dressing on your salads. For me, I found the best way is to use a tsp to take the olive oil from the measuring cup and drizzle it in from the measuring spoon! It works for me every time. I double the dry mustard and the lemon juice. Now I make double batches and am adding various seasonings and herbs. WHEN YOU DOUBLE, you still only but 1/4 cup of olive oil in to start – doubling the other ingredients but not the oil! Then you drizzle 2.25 cups of oil. I will never go back to commercial. Potato Salads and Chicken Salads are delicious when made with this.

There you have the basics. Now a few example of the VERY FULL Plates of food that I enjoy. You must not skimp! You are not counting calories here. You are eating protein, fat, vegetables and fruit. Fats are olive oil, nuts, ghee, avocados, olives and nut butters BUT NOT peanut butter! PB is a legume. (check the shopping list)

Pic #1.) Breakfast, usually put mushrooms, sweet peppers, chives or chopped tomatoes in the eggs and serve on a kale leaf. Pic 2.) My one stray during the the initial 30 days! That corn (which I had with ghee & salt) should not be there – Ooops! – Tom was here and we were treating ourselves to fresh scallops. Pic #3.) Chicken and sardines on the salad. Pic #4.) Beef burger and olives, pickled garlic & pickled fiddleheads on the salad. Pic #5.) Fresh Tuna steak and anchovies:):) Pic #6.) Liver! Don’t forget the offal (organ meats) Use a LOCAL source and NOT commercial. I enjoy liver, heart & tongue. Pic #7 & Pic #.) Two breakfasts with sugar free, nitrate free bacon. A treat but not something I now yearn for often. Pic #9.) A quick lunch of Tuna salad on mixed greens and fruit. Pic #10.) Turkey burger and shrimp – I made the cocktail sauce with some organic tomatoes and horseradish.

I am very lucky! I have access to some locally made, sugar free, taste bud stimulators that I use on my salads.

Pickled Garlic, Pickled Fiddleheads, Pickled Dilly Beans and Dill Pickle Chips

The vinegars from these condiments get combined and I add the anchovy oil to make my salad dressing. The olive juices get used in cabbage and greens

Thank you Gizmo’s Pickles Plus

So, where does this leave me now? It has been an interesting and positive journey so far and I find myself (surprisingly) having no interest in bringing much of what I eliminated back in! I had a very interesting experience Saturday. I had pizza (2 slices). Back at the beginning of my Whole30, when I still thought I was changing my eating patterns for 30 days, I bought a $30 coupon at Positive Pie (Barre) for $15. By Saturday, I was no longer longing for pizza! And it was a beautiful pie!

I had said all along that I would have two slices and Tom could have the rest. I ate it with a knife & fork, small bites that I savored. As I looked at the first piece I thought I would have three pieces:) But then said, no I said 2 slices – with the anchovies from the third slice:):) That was ample. Tom had more Saturday and Sunday as I returned to Whole30 eating with absolutely NO yearning for more pizza!

So, with a few minor exceptions, I am content eating this way. I did pick up some crumbly bleu to use on my beet greens as a garnish w/ ghee rather than butter. In two weeks, when Tom is here, we will go to a good locally made ice cream stand and I will have a kiddie scoop of ice cream.

We have another Positive Pie coupon that expires the end of October so there will be two more slices of pizza down the road. I know the friends I will get together with soon for supper and my first red wine. I know the friends I will see later this year and have my first drink – a Manhattan! All occasions that are spaced out and special.

We we take our trip later this fall, I will enjoy eating out and will not be adamantly Whole30. There will be certain things I avoid like white dinner rolls! I will order food in the spirit of the way I am now eating.

Tonight, I am having steamed beet greens w/ beets still attached (a favorite vegetable for me) w/ ghee and the first crumbly bleu as a garnish along with a steak and salad.

As is usually the case with these full supper plates, I eat the protein and most of the vegetables (tonight I will eat all my beets:) and half the salad. The remaining salad and any uneaten vegetables roll over to breakfast when I add eggs and fruit.

This may not be for you!

It has been an amazing journey for me.

DAMN Connecticut and Its Lyme Disease !!!!!

By James T. Verrill on August 15, 2016 in Chantecler Chickens, Fruit at Fayrehale, Gardening, Icelandic Chickens, Living a Better Life, Shops At Fayrehale

A NEW record of time between Blog Posts at the other extreme! 4 Days!

The responses I received from several friends I emailed this to, made me to decide to make it public on the off chance that someone might benefit.

An example of the responses: “My goodness, what a revealing story. I had no idea of the consequence of a tick bite other than the words “Lyme Disease.” Now I know now devastating it can be. I’m so glad there’s treatment for Abigail and wish her a full and speedy recovery. Poor thing! What kind of dog is she? I have a miniature poodle and will pay close attention to her, now that you’ve shared your experience. Thanks!”

DAMN Connecticut and Its Lyme Disease !!!!!

Abigail Often Rides on My Shoulders

It has been an emotionally draining morning. I woke up at 7am after 10 hours of deep sleep in the coolness of the tent. I reached out to touch Abigail (rear hip) and she yelped.

I got up, she sat up and did not move further. I picked her up and set her down and her rear end collapsed. I did get her standing and she walked slowly and unsteadily to the house — peeing and pooping on the way.

I carried her to the van and drove the 2 miles down the road to the Vet who was not open yet. The assistants were working and gave me the first open appointment at 10am.

Back home to wait the long 2 hours. Covered Abigail with a cold wet towel as she seemed feverish and I worried! Knowing that I did not have thousands to spend — not even too many hundreds (you can only do so much robbing Peter to pay Paul)

10am arrived and we were at the Vet’s. She did have a fever – 3 degrees high – Vet did an examination of her limbs and head/neck for range of motion and took her for a walk around the clinic. Then she came to talk to me and suggested we test for Lyme first before she discussed the second possibility — adding that both were curable .

I said fine but she has had no ticks on her this season — the response was that this tick, if Lyme, would have been 6-8 months ago! Learned something there!!! Wish I had discovered the Green Mountain Tick Repellent last season!!!

She drew the blood and said the test takes 10 minutes — you can wait in the waiting room, on the porch, which ever you like – I said I will go to the van.

Had JUST settled in when the clinic door opens and the Vet comes out and said the antibodies are so high that the positive was immediate!

Thus the fever and the stiff, painful joints. SO — pain pill 2x a day for a week and an antibiotics pill 1x a day for 28 days.

Then I went into town from the Vet’s to mail the last chick order of the season and to stop at the grocery store for some milk, bacon and cottage cheese — all to help Abigail want to eat before the pain pill.

A big relief — I was worried this morning that I would lose her.

A little background that might help others — Saturday she was off in her left front shoulder/leg — gimpy — I figured she had twisted it jumping off bed or furniture — when she jumps of the bed in the tent each morning, she waits for my okay and then jumps off the bed and out the door to land outside.

Yesterday, Sunday, she seemed a little stiff and slow but the weather was horrible and I was stiff and slow — she was drinking, eating a little and peeing and pooping. Then today she was so helpless! The Vet said that, untreated, it would just have kept getting worse — stiffness and pain and inability to move..

She had a pork medallion and cottage cheese once I settled her into her chair — then her pills and then a good drink of water — the water she insisted I freshen so that was a sign of normalcy !! I have a cold wet dish towel on her while the fever comes down and I will play nurse — work on website and keep her in my sight —

Vet said 1-3 days to start seeing improvement.

The pain pill must be working as she is alert w/ head and ears up as she rests under a wet cold towel in her chair… her eyes are brighter and her ears respond when I talk to her — a big relief!!!!

It is a good thing I can carry her:)

So there is the tale of DAMN Connecticut and Its Lyme Disease!

Late 2010 when Abigail (HRM Abigail of Fayrehale) was 11 weeks old. She will be six years old this fall.

UPDATE:

What a difference 24 hours makes (and the Vet said 1-3 days) — from not using her rear end to jumping in and out of the chair again — out came before in – which just now happened — she barked to go out — and trotted on our walk which went 2 neighbors down when she turned around to head back..

Turkeys were gobbling, flying, playing in the field and she JUMPED up to look, on rear legs, and was ready to give chase but for the leash.

So now we just continue the meds — I never heard about no dairy for antibiotics — and in this case when the vet was mentioning pills I asked about cheese — that should have been the no dairy briefing! Fortunately a friend, who worked for a Vet for years, educated me when I revealed that I had fed Abigail cottage cheese.

So, today’s pre-meds snack was 2 eggs with one bacon sprinkled with dog food — some food was suggested before pain pill — then I just put pills in the back of her mouth, hold it closed and stroke her chin —

Now I have to get myself back in gear

Feels like fall – 9 color spots on maple across the street

Update #2

36 & 48 Hours Out

36 hours out — she was eating dog food again and backing up quickly and normally

48 hours out — Looks like all is back to normal….just have to complete the 4 weeks of medications.

Abigail was “on guard” last night in the tent when she heard something outside and this morning she jumped from the bed, out the tent door, and landed outside.

What a relief! I have heard from many people that they were totally unaware of Lyme Disease with dogs. Hopefully sharing this experience has helped to make people aware and also to understand that with proper care Lyme Disease can be handled.

My biggest surprise was that the infecting tick was so long ago!! I continue to wish I had discovered the Green Mountain Tick Repellent last season!!! AT LEAST we know about it now.

Labor Day Flies By as Autumn Swiftly Approaches

By James T. Verrill on September 3, 2014 in Chantecler Chickens, Fruit at Fayrehale, Shops At Fayrehale

There are patches of red appearing here and there on the trees already! How did that happen? 2014 has flown by and I think part of that is age! (the older we are the faster time seems to pass) and part is how out of balance our lives have been this year as we concentrated on opening Shops at Fayrehale.

The Shops At Fayrehale will continue to be the primary focus as we finish out 2014 and then bring balance back in to our lives in 2o15! We were fortunate to be invited to participate in the Peacham Corner Guild Annual Christmas Show in Peacham, Vermont this year. This successful annual event will expose us to 1000 local people with two months to go before Christmas. Exactly the exposure we need as a new business working to be known locally. Already planning our display which will be planned and set up here before being dismantled and transported to Peacham for the two day show.

I discovered a great old postcard from the past as I was looking for local items that might be of interest in the Shop or at the Show.

Talk about excited! I could not believe my luck! What a marketing tool. I added the line across the bottom and then searched the internet for a postcard back that did not say “affix 1 cent stamp here” !

While looking for feedback on a rack card I was designing, I had a friend ask me why I didn’t use a QR code! Prior to that, I knew nothing about them! A quick education for me and Tom said he could generate the codes. It is obvious that in this age of smart phones we have to go higher tech! My first thought was to place the code in the stamp corner and then I realized it would be covered (lost) when the card was mailed. So the solution was to double down! Primary QR code is for the Shops Facebook Page as that is where the frequent updates are. That was placed center bottom so always visible and scannable. The secondary QR code is for the website and that will be covered by a stamp if the card is mailed.

IF I have your address in my files you will probably receive one in the mail.

We still needed a serious piece of marketing literature as we build our exposure. I considered a tri-fold brochure to distribute to B&Bs, Motels, Information Centers etc. and after pricing and pondering, realized that a two sided rack card would do everything we needed at a substantially reduced cost per piece. I used Vista Print to create a rough draft and then posted the draft images online and sent them in an email to others for feedback.

Marvelous feedback came back to me from many people with varied backgrounds. I am fortunate to have a network of friends and associates to assist me prior to my finalizing the design and printing. SIX draft modifications later, the finished design was ready to print and it will do what we need it to do.

Final Front Design Final Back Design

I must tell you about the exceptional customer service Vista Print provided over the Labor Day Holiday weekend! I e-mailed them several times to discuss the QR codes being distinct enough for printing. They responded every time in less than 24 hours (I wasn’t expecting any response until after the weekend) They clarified the codes at their end and they now reside in our image files. Both post and rack cards are being printed. I am excited about receiving them.

As I am still on activity restriction while abdominal healing occurs, I feel productive as I get things accomplished that take hours and hours but are not physically strenuous. Just finished a small article on including locally produced consumable specialties in smaller retail shops. A long shot! Nice exposure if published in a retail gift shop magazine.

Still working on pictures to submit with the article and they may drive me crazy as I work to create some good marketing shots!

Click, Click, Click, then Pick, Pick, Pick!

The green stocking is the wrong angle, the doll needs to sit up, the light is wrong, oops!, crooked ornament in the background….. and on and on and on!

Through the eye of a camera we see the flaws:):)

Back at it tomorrow with a fresh eye!

On a more personal note, I have decided that 2015 will be the last year we hatch and ship chicks on a large scale. The White Chantecler will remain part of our lives as we keep our flock for our own use (eggs and meat) and possibly some small local sales/sharing. We have done our part to preserve this great Canadian Heritage breed that nearly disappeared and are ready to just enjoy having backyard chickens again.

2015 will also see our gardens back in production. Nature blessed us w/ abundant fruit this year and next year we will have that balanced with abundant vegetables.

Immediate priorities right now are getting some wood stacked, getting the pellet stove in the Shop vented to the outside and getting the first floor of the house in suitable condition for a very special cousin who is visiting the beginning of October.

May Autumn slow down Old Man Winter so I have plenty of time before I hunker down !

The Apple Arbor at Fayrehale

By James T. Verrill on February 7, 2013 in Fruit at Fayrehale

Based on an example we saw in Colonial Williamsburg, we planted an apple arbor here at Fayrehale. The greatest feature is the close planting of trees. Remember we are working on .6 acres (notice the point) on the edge of a picturesque Vermont village! Or arbor consists of 32 semi-dwarf apple trees (2 each of 16 varieties). We did the high number of varieties because apple trees produce in cycles having off and on years with regards to production. We figure this system will always give enough apples for two people!

Starting in 2005 we staked out the design. We wanted the apple arbor to be both a fruit producer and an architectural garden feature creating a pleasant transition from one garden room to another. We purchased the trees from E.C.Browns’ Nursery here in Vermont and had them do the planting. (Wedding Present from Tom’s Mother) The main run is shown above. Stakes (and thus trees) are 3′ apart and space between rows is 8′ wide. There are three side “entrances”. One on the left (goes to the raised bed vegetable garden) and two on the right (one goes to a small sitting area and the other to the small hoop poultry breeding pens.

Trees planted. This image shows one of the two back “entrances” . Looking at the upper left you can see the “entrance” to and from the raised bed vegetable garden which has not been created yet!

Time passes and the trees grow. The curved metal arches are temporary “training” fixtures I used to wrap graft the trees into the arch. The black metal arbor is at the entrance from the backyard. It needs to be leveled and then we have flag stones to lay for a floor. We will lay clear plexi across the center top over where a table and chairs will be placed. There will be an old wood stove off to the left for evening fires. There are grapes planted on the left columns . In the distance one of several sculpture by Alex Kovacs, an artist we admire for modern work.

As you can see from the lead picture, I have pruning to do. Need to get out and get it done soon. Will try to accomplish it myself. If I am not successful I will call in our area apple expert Todd Parlo, who developed, owns and runs Walden Heights Nursery & Orchard

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