When you are sitting in a hospital room, waiting for test results of a loved one, you have time to think. And, that’s exactly what I did.
I thought about what I could have done differently so that my husband wouldn’t be in this predicament. I just knew that if we had taken better care of ourselves, he wouldn’t be laying in a hospital bed waiting to see if he had cancer.
I made promises and promises that if he came home we would eat only “good” things. No more GMOs, no more artificial sweeteners, no more chemicals or processed foods. These were the things that had caused us to be here in the first place.
Fast forward a few days and we’re sitting in a fast food restaurant, eating a hamburger and fries, happy because we had received good test results. But as I was stuffing my mouth with the “food that never dies,” I realized what we were doing. We were doing the exact same thing that I had said we were going to stop! How easy we forget the promises made in the midst of trials.
So what did I do? I made another promise, but this time not born out of desperation, but determination. From then on, we were actually going to try and eat right.
How to Start Eating Healthy
We are lucky. We have a farm on which we raise our own grass-fed cattle. It’s not because we are so “hip” that we decided to grow grass fed beef. Oh no, it was because we had the land, and grass is cheaper than feeding them grain. We also have free range chickens. Hey, it wasn’t that we planned “free-range,” we just haven’t put up the fence yet. We also have meat rabbits. They are easy to take care of and who doesn’t like a cute, little rabbit anyway? Plus, they are tasty!
Our Garden
We also have a garden. I wish I could say it was a pretty garden like the ones you see in the magazines. It’s not. There are some weeds in it. There are places where the wild rabbits have sneaked through the fence and eaten some beans. My husband and I both work and we don’t have the many hours needed to put into the garden just to make it pretty. It’s functional and it grows vegetables, so that’s all that matters to us.
As our journey continues, I realize all of the vegetables I should have planted. I should have planted a much larger quantity. If we are going to be eating better, I should have planted enough so that I could can them and eat them through the winter also. I have enough of some things, but not enough of other things. I’m hoping to maybe buy some more things off of a local farmer. We shall see.
This is going to be a “learn as we go” experience. I’m sure we will falter in some areas, but I also know that we can do this. We HAVE to do this.
Sherri Lyons lives with her husband on a 55-acre farm in the Appalachian foothills of Kentucky. They have grass-fed beef, meat rabbits, chickens, and a garden. They are trying to grow what they eat and eat what they grow. Learn more about their journey at www.smallfarmgirl.blogspot.com.