Summarizing... :sugar

An update on things is in order.
As for the eating less sugar and generally eating healthier idea… We are definitely eating less sugar. Actually we don’t eat sugar at all now. And it works! We stopped eating bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and other high on carb veggies and of course plain sugar. The occasional high carb veggie sneaks in once in a while, but that’s totally ok. If I miss something from this “diet” or lifestyle, I think it must be bread and maybe a baked potato now and then. The funny thing is that most people look at us in awe and wonder how we can manage… Wow, you really have self discipline! I could never do that! Thruth is – this was actually really easy for us. Practically effortless. But we’ve never been bread-and-potatoes kind of people (like most Norwegians are!) in the first place. I admit that I miss the idea of bread, the idea of baking and the symbol and culture around bread making. But I have no problem restraining myself if I walk pass a smorgasbord to put it that way…

We now eat a sugar and gluten free diet. We’ve both lost almost 10kg ( 22 pounds) each. I’m a happier person. Literally. My PMS and mood swings have drastically decreased. I don’t feel tired all the time. I can manage with a normal 7 hours of sleep and get up and feel rested. (I still sleep in though, but it’s mostly due to old habit and not that my body needs it) I used to be a wreck if I didn’t get 9-10 hours minimum. I don’t feel depressed. I’m usually buried under blankets and pillows with the phone on silent this time of year. Obediently chanting the modern mantra life is a bitch and then you die - but not this year. I’m thinking that this “diet” has at least something to do with it. I also eat a lot of omega 3s, like oils from fish and flaxseed.

Yes, I hate the word diet. It makes me think of eating low calorie, high fiber bars tasting like sawdust with a touch of chocolate... Gulping it down with a large shake made from some strange colored powder and an array of funny looking pills for dessert. No thank you. I need real food. Our bodies need real food. It’s ok to use pills and bars as an addition to a healthy diet, but living on powders and shakes is not s good thing (isn’t that just common sense?). I need my food to come from sources that has touched dirt and seen sunlight! I also think of the word diet as something limited to a certain period of time. Like when you need to lose weight or eat more proteins to build muscles or stay away from milk to see if it helps on tummy ache… And therefore I don’t like to call this a diet. I look at it as a change of life or eating habits for the foreseeable future. Some family members are already asking when we’re going back to eating like we did before… Uhm? Why should we? But you’ve lost the weight now! Uhm (again) yes, but what do you think will happen if we start eating like we did again? Why do you think we got these problems in the first place?

That’s really a fun, but very common lack in logic thinking.
Christmas is coming up – you just gotta have potatoes! And rice cream!

Rice cream is a very common Norwegian dessert during Christmas. It’s a porridge made from white rice and milk. This is mixed with whipped cream into a thick… mass. (I know there is something named rice pudding, but I don’t know if it’s the same thing). This is served with a sweet sauce made from red currant (or some other berry) juice and sugar. Instead of this, we are going to have whipped cream (no sugar, maybe xylitol) with cloudberries mixed in, which is also a traditional dessert. Mhm.

<3

After battling with Blogger over a sudden loss of image quality, I’ve found a way to fix it. At least for a while… (Anyone using Blogger suddenly experienced a significant loss in image quality when uploading?... What’s happened???)

Just a quick stoppin’ by to say hello, and show off my two beautiful princesses… T nursing her doll… and V just bein’ pretty cute with sugar on top…

Focus: food

A few gems recently arrived in my mailbox.


Never mind the sawdust – as I said; we’re renovating…

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a year of food life by Barbara Kingsolver. I first heard about Barbara Kingsolver through Therese’s blog earth and living. After checking Kingsolver ( I actually thought her name was KingsLOVER up until now… Wouldn’t that be more fun?) out on Amazon I just knew I had to read her books. And this one will be the first. I’ve just skimmed through the index and read a few sentences here and there… Have to finish the one (ehm …three…) books I’m already reading first. Oh my, I cannot wait to sink my teeth into this book… It’s mainly about when her family moved to a farm and decided to become locavores; eating only locally grown food and growing as much of it themselves as possible. The book even has recipes and facts about different issues regarding food and food production, although it is essentially the story of her family’s journey and thoughts. I even love the book itself; the paper was nice, the cover was beautiful and textured, it was perfectly bendy, the whole feel of the book, the paper, the print – it’s just perfect. Yes, I kind of have a book fetish.

The other book is Seed to Seed: seed saving and growing techniques for vegetable gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth. It’s a very straightforward and good book about saving seeds. Good winter reading, because next spring will be my first attempt to grow a larger amount of vegetables. And seed saving is so important, so fragile, so magical and for most of us: a lost art. Something that everyone had to know and learn in order to survive just a few hundred years (or maybe even decades) ago; - today it is a professionalized and institutionalized craft that just a few people know much about.

And the dvd is The Future of Food by Deborah Koons. The first time I saw this film was at a permaculture course in England in 2006. The film “offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.” And it seems that it’s maybe just a matter of time before these foods will quietly fill our shelves as well. Theoretically there are almost no GMO foods in Norwegian grocery stores. Rules are strict, and the chains generally don’t want to sell it and customers don’t want to buy it. Thank God(ess). But still; almost half the food samples being analyzed by the veterinary institute has GMO. And now our politicians wonder about allowing two types of GMO corn (link in Norwegian) after recommendations from scientists… This film is full of facts and numbers, and might feel a bit heavy from time to time, but it really is a mindblowing, shocking and eyeopening ride.

Neglected

...that’s what this blog is at the moment. Between the breastfeeding, diaper changing (and washing…), and the craziness of renovating our house (one wall at the time…) and just living, it’s just not at the top of my priority list. I felt a strange urge to just delete this whole blog (and start another one…*sigh*), but I’m going to give it another chance. I have a long history of starting new projects and not finishing or keeping up, so maybe I’ll just accept that I cannot write a post every day or even weekly at the moment. It’s just how it is, but it still is. I also felt like writing in Norwegian again, because sometimes writing in English takes a bit longer and I catch my self using it as another excuse to neglect this blog…

But here we are. Or I am at least.

I just came back from the library with two books that I’m expecting quite a lot from. They are both in the category I ironically describe as “things I don’t want to know” – as in “ignorance is bliss”. One is written by a Norwegian educationalist, researcher and writer; Erik Sigsgaard and is called “Kjeft Mindre – Historier om oppdragelse”, or in English… something like Yell/scold Less – Stories about upbringing”. I have a 5yo and I have a bad temper. Nuf’ said. I need that book.

The other one is written by a Danish family who turned their life around completely after living many years on a bad diet and a life full of toxins and chemicals. They have raised quite a stir in Denmark and a bit of discussion in Norway as well with their books and advice about food. Basically they recommend a diet free of milk, gluten, sugar, “fast” carbohydrates and artificial stuff/E-numbers/food additives among other things. Their book is called “Kjernesunn Familie” in Norwegian. Kjerne = Core. Sunn = Healthy. Familie = Family. You get the picture. I need this book as well. We need it. Too much pasta, too much additives, sugar and stuff that really does no good to our health either physically or mentally.

Driving home with T. (the 5yo) this evening; “mama, I want ice cream”! Me – trying to explain why she cannot have ice cream every day. She – having a total breakdown in the backseat because of it; not giving a damn (pardon the French) about my logic explanations of course. So I stopped at the grocery store and bought some fruit and we went home and made our own ice cream. Version one – Black currants from the garden, a dash of organic soy milk and a teaspoon or two of xylitol ("Bjørkesøt" -instead of sugar; made from the birch tree). Version two – Banana and soy milk. Version three – mango. They are in the freezer at the moment. Quite an experiment. I hope she likes it – at least she enjoyed making them.

And I’m making “jam”;- soaking organic dried apricots. Tomorrow I’ll probably boil them for a few seconds, and then throw them in the blender. Voilá – organic apricot jam – no sugar. Did you know that most “conventional” dried apricots are treated with sulphur to keep the colour orange? Buy organic brown apricots. Apricots do not stay orange when they’re dried…



PS. I just love the library. What an amazing public service. Libraries make me happy, and proud and humble somehow.

After breastfeeding in the car on a very, very hot summer day.

My view

My 5 year olds view of me.

My level of crunchiness is significantly higher then most people I know. At least in my family – not much crunch there. Sometimes I feel lonely because my beliefs, thoughts and actions are so different from many of the people around me. I have friends that I feel totally at ease with; I feel at home and I can let my guard down and just completely be me. The first time this really happened was when I met other pagans. It’s the ultimate cliché, but I felt that I had come home. But when I am with my family (not the immediate family like my husband and my girls of course), distant relatives or friends, and even with strangers, - there are big parts of me that would never dare to peek out of the dark and dusty closet.

Not that I always and at all times have to show off all parts of my personality and discuss all the things I believe in or think about! We all wear different masks in different situations and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. But sometimes being/feeling different is lonely; like living on another planet or in a culture that is totally strange to you. And sometimes it is exhausting to defend your thoughts and actions to people that don’t (and really don’t want to) understand where you’re coming from.

But then again there are times when proclaiming your view is both giving and energizing…

There are positive aspects to this. Most of the time (luckily) I feel proud and completely at peace with my beliefs and thoughts. What I miss are more people to share them with. Commuity. Americans are great when it comes to everything “community” – at least is seems like it from my point of view. I was asking my husband the other day if he would like to move to the US or the UK for a year – just to try it out. To get closer to communities that has the same values and interests that we do. He wasn’t put off by the idea.

But we will still be the same people, just in a different environment. Will that change anything? I know that spending time with equals gives me a lot of positive energy and happiness, but still?

Summer Solstice

Our summer solstice was nothing fancy, but still very nice. And the weather is great these days. To me, the summer solstice marks the beginning of summer. So I try my best not to pay attention to the fact that days will grow shorter and nights longer from now on.


We collected seven different kids of flowers and put them under our pillow. Seven or nine different kinds of flowers under the pillow on midsummer night is said to make you dream of your future spouse.


We did our very first attempt on making fairy houses. This one is for the forest fairies.


And this is one for the garden fairies. - Or angels as T. call them. We’ll make more of these. And T. is checking regularly for signs of anyone moving in or staying over. Maybe we’ll make a fairy bed and breakfast? I wonder what fairies like to eat… (something sweet maybe, like honey?)


And in the evening we went to a lake nearby. Not to take a bath (too cold yet – about 15 degrees celcius/60 degrees F). Too cold for me anyway…) T. was just testing the water… And (of course) she fell and got all her clothes soaking wet.


So she got her first bath of the year anyway, and was totally thrilled about it.


And baby V. was happy in the wrap with daddy.

For the love of ginger

Try this:

Simmer a few pieces of ginger root in water for a couple of minutes to make a strong tea. Strain and add a few slices of lemon. Mix half and half with apple juice/cider. Enjoy hot or cold. Mmmhmmm :)

“A variety of uses are suggested for ginger. Tea brewed from ginger is a folk remedy for colds. Three to four leaves of Tulsi taken along with a piece of ginger on an empty stomach is an effective cure for congestion, cough and cold. Ginger ale and ginger beer have been recommended as "stomach settlers" for generations in countries where the beverages are made, and ginger water was commonly used to avoid heat cramps in the US. Ginger has also been historically used to treat inflammation, which several scientific studies support, though one arthritis trial showed ginger to be no better than a placebo or ibuprofen for treatment of osteoarthritis. Research on rats suggests that ginger may be useful for treating diabetes.”

- Wikipedia

Ghost house

A 10 minute walk through the woods from my mothers house – this abandoned old beauty appears


Old and lonely now, but once upon a time the heart of someone’s life, the anchor of their existence. Maybe a small family – more likely a big one – lived here, worked here, played, slept, ate, danced, made love, cried, gave birth and died here. They entitled her their home.


She’s not lost yet, but her beauty is definitely fading fast without the love of her residents. And someone loved her once. Someone tended the garden, planted apple trees, delicate pink Columbines and Solomon's Seal which are still here.

Someone was proud of her; made pretty carvings around the window frames and painted the walls in light, pastel colours. Flowery lace curtains were blowing in the warm summer wind, mixed with the cent of freshly baked bread. A big milk pail left open in the kitchen as if someone just went out to pick a few eggs and planned to be back soon. Bare children’s feet were running through the hall and up the stairs. Now the stairs are cold and worn; still whispering stories of the past and longing for a new prologue.








There is something magical about old houses like this. To me, they are great sources of inspiration. I can wander around for hours just imagining the people living there and all the life that happened. Kind of like going to the movies or travelling back in time. Although there is something bittersweet about it all. Why did the story end like this?

I guess I’ll never know, but I will be back soon to take more pictures and do some more time travelling.

IRL

JardarMama (beautiful blog!) had a blogpost about the good life a while back. - And about not having/taking the time to blog about it regularly. I can relate.

But here are a few things from my good life.


A new diaper soaker is in the making. This time in some crazy purple sock yarn.


More yarn goodness: Mirasol Hacho. This is serious eyecandy; hand dyed multi coloured merino (so beautiful that I considered just placing it in a bowl or something for decoration…), and so soft and luscious. By buying it you can support The Mirasol Project.

"The philosophy behind the Mirasol Project is very simple, the Mirasol Project supports local communities in Peru through the sales of the Mirasol Yarn Collection.

Peru’s heritage and culture of textile artistry is rich and ancient. The Mirasol Yarn Collection includes yarn made from the animals tended by these communities for generations in the Peruvian highlands. Without them we would not have this beautiful yarn."


Fresh flowers almost every day from my 5yo… These are one of my favourites – lily of the valley.


And some “knitting” in progress also by the 5yo… Rumour has it that this is becoming a sweater for her baby sister. I cannot wait.

Loving right now..

It's June!


Having the time and energy to make healthy and delicious food.


Summer reading. Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love.


New shoes for T. from Goodwill.


And a new skirt for mama. From Goodwill.

No poo?

When I first heard about no ’poo, I actually thought they were talking about poo as in… well – faeces. And the idea of people not pooing sounded kinda strange, not to say impossible and very unhealthy. Even if a person set out on a liquid, no fibre diet there had to be some kind of residue, right? And why would people want to do this anyway? Was it some kind of strange yoga routine or a religious discipline of some sort?

Yes, it’s ok to laugh now.

Hilarious isn’t it?



Ok then.

No ‘poo is not about having rather strange health issues/interests, or anxiety related to overconsumption of toilet paper. Luckily. No ‘poo is about shampoo, or rather about not using it. When you stumble upon a forum discussion titled no ‘poo, it’s usually about the use of baking soda and vinegar to wash your hair - as a substitute to the chemical mix-up that most of us use. Basically you rub your scalp and hair with baking soda to remove fat and dirt, and then you rinse in water with some apple cider vinegar added. And then, ideally, you can stop buying the paraben loaded, toxic, and environmentally hazardous, bad-for-you-and-the-planet stuff.

I haven’t tried it yet. And I don’t know if I will. But hair products are a big problem area for me when it comes to bein’ green. I have short hair and I intend to keep it this way. I need to feel clean, and I need some kind of hairspray, paste or something to feel reasonable – at least when I have to get out of the house. So there we have it. I need green haircare products that work.

Washing my hair with baking soda? Uhm… Not convinced. If I cannot manage to find a natural, eco friendly shampoo at the health food store that really does the job – well, then I don’t believe I can manage the bs/vinegar routine and feel fresh and clean. But please prove me wrong!

I’m still hunting for shampoo; my latest find is Dr. Hauschka with Macadamia and Orange. It looks delicious (!), it smells lovely, it feels great, but it’s not the perfect shampoo. It's ok - maybe even great - but not perfect. And it’s expensive. Although I understand that quality vs. quantity is something to take into consideration… My wallet is kind of slim.

The good news is that I have found a hairspray that works! – from Giovanni Organic Haircare. So I’m giving the shampoo and some other products a try as soon as I’ve saved up enough funds…

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for."
-- Anonymous

Yes, she's here

She is here – finally. 16 days past my edd, and a birth experience that turned out very different from what I wished for. But that doesn’t matter now. It’s all about getting to know each other, sleeping, carrying, folding and changing diapers, cuddling and nursing.

And hopefully some time to get into blogging again… :)

Did I mention the cuddling?

Quiet

I’m afraid there’s not much going on here at the moment. On the blog that is. Seemingly there is not much going on in “real life” either except for the waiting. Oh, the waiting and longing, the frustration and the expectations. The wondering. I am 11 days past my EDD (estimated delivery date) today. I’m going to the hospital early Monday morning if nothing happens this weekend. And they will probably induce labour. Scary. I was hoping for a VBAC. As natural as possible. Now I’m not so hopeful, and honestly I’m feeling a bit discouraged by the whole situation, all the opposing facts and opinions and research done on VBACs, inducing or not inducing and the whole shebang…

BUT we will meet soon, very soon. And all this wondering and frustration will be gone and forgotten when I can stare into her eyes for the first time and fall in love all over again. How lucky am I?

Wishing you a wonderful weekend. I’m going to the flea market tomorrow for some treasure hunting. Yey!



Taken at the hospital when I got my first in 2004. By c section (she was breech) at 39w 3d – 4kg (8.8 lbs)… <3

Wipes

I must admit that this feels kind of strange even to me. Posting a photo of our toilet was not a thing I thought of doing. Ever. But here goes. Let me introduce you to our toilet. It’s the composting kind without water. And the cake tin holds our cloth wipes. Maybe I’ll find something else later; I’m thinking of a box hanging on the wall.


And here they are. The recycled granny curtains from Goodwill. I made them 20 x 20 cm (ca. 8 x 8 inches), but I’m thinking that I want them a little bit larger. This fabric is quite thin, so I’ll have to hunt for some flannel. We’ll use the wipes for nr. 1 only. And that will really reduce the amount of paper in the compost loo – most of what’s left down there is paper. And of course – we can buy less paper altogether.


Since I’m having a baby at any moment now, we have this wetbag ready for cloth diapers and baby wipes anyway, so this is where our “family cloths” ends up as well. Nifty.

Garbage

According to the Norwegian newspaper VG; Norwegians ”produce” more garbage than anyone else in Europe. Statistics from Eurostat (statistics for the European Union) in 2007 shows that every Norwegian throws out 821 kg (1806.2 lbs) of garbage each year. Every European throws away an average of 500 kg each year. The countries in Western/Northern Europe – high income countries – throw out considerably more than countries in the South/East. (More money - more buying) In the Czech Republic for instance, people throw away an average of 294 kg pr. year.

Of course; this is statistics and must be read with that in mind. But 821 kg is an enormous amount of garbage. Try picturing having your very own landfill in your backyard, and let everyone in your family contribute with 821 kg each of garbage each year. What would you do with it? How would you manage it? How much time would you have to spend trying to get it to compost quicker, trying to minimize the health hazard, the environmental hazard and just sorting and piling things to get enough space so you didn’t have to move all together?

It’s so easy to just throw things away. Just toss it in a plastic bag and never see it or think of it again.

And it’s so easy to buy something new. So refreshing - kind of comforting; completely without thinking about how this item will end its life. But it will. Someday.

Buying is so natural. We buy things. That’s what we do. A considerable amount of our time is spent buying, or thinking about and planning on buying things. And many people use almost no time at all thinking about reducing our waste, recycling, reusing, reinventing and refusing more stuff. But some do, and for some people this has become a whole new way of life.

Where do you belong in this?

To our (the Norwegians) defence – we are among the countries that recycle most of our garbage. And that at least, is a good thing.

---

I spent this evening sewing up some cloth wipes. I didn’t find any cotton flannel among my ridiculous amount of fabric, but I found some old, soft and flowery curtains from Goodwill. Photos tomorrow. I kept thinking of whoever owned those curtains before. Maybe an old lady – they feel kind of old lady like to me. What would she say if she new that her old curtains now will be reinvented and used as cloth wipes?

The light outside is dull and grey – but the sun peeks out once in a while. Snow fallen off from our roof is still reaching almost up to the window. I’m dreaming of vegetable gardening; tomato plants, chives, parsley, basil, garlic… I’m dreaming of making a vegetable patch just outside my kitchen window. I think I’m done obsessing over having the perfect garden of flowers and a pretty lawn with pretty lines and perfectly weeded beds. Not that I ever wanted one. But I need spring to come now; I need the sun to melt away the snow in my garden and the ice on the road outside. I need energy. I need the sun to give me some energy – both physically and emotionally. Wake me up from winter hibernation!

Another pair of baby booties. These are 80% silk and 20% baby alpaca.

Drawing made by me - based on/looked after an illustration from the book All Year Round by Ann Druitt, Christine Fynes-Clinton and Marije Rowling.

Another drawing based on an illustration in one of our Elsa Beskow books... Don't remember which one at the moment…

A gift

A gift for my big girl when the baby arrives - Ostheimer figurines representing our “new” family. And yes – I finally went for the toddler to represent her baby sister instead of the baby in a crib. So I’m hoping T. will accept the fact that the figurine representing her has a green, and not a pink dress… If not, I guess I’ll just have to order the baby as well. And I’m thinking of a couple of dogs, some rabbits and maybe some hens… You know – to represent the rest of the family… And maybe some fairytale figures…. Maybe some lions (T. loves lions – whenever she gets scared or insecure, she pretends to be a lion. They represent ultimate power and strength to her), and a family of moose/elk maybe…. And and…. :)

The things you don’t want to know

There are a vast amount of things and facts out there in the tryin’ to be green and ethical world that you really don’t want to know. The more you get to know, the worse it is to ignore. It’s difficult or impossible not to think about it. It might be (or should be) difficult not to act upon it.

But it can also be information overload. It can leave you in a state of passive stress – an overwhelming feeling of not knowing what to do, not believing that you can do a difference, or really just a feeling of getting lost in the immense jungle of facts (or is it always?) and stories.

The spring equinox has passed, Easter is coming. In our house this is kind of a merged celebration of spring. And for many people Easter means chocolate eggs and chocolate in general. And that’s one of those things that you might not want to think or know so much about.

Chocolate is – together with tea, coffee, cotton and quite a few other luxury goods – among the commodities that we here in the west, and in industrial countries, take for granted but (mostly) cannot or do not produce for ourselves. We’ve exploited other countries for centuries to get them and we keep on the same road today. I call these luxury goods because that’s really what they are. You can buy chocolate practically anywhere in this country, but I’ve never heard of anyone growing coco beans in their backyard... for obvious reasons.

According to www.etiskforbruk.no (Norwegian collaboration of organizations promoting ethical (“etisk”) consumption (“forbruk”) ) – most of our chocolate comes from the Ivory Coast. In many of the coco producing countries child labour and slavery is common. In resent years 15 000 children was sold to slavery in the Ivory Coast. One third of the children of coco farmers have never been to school. Almost 300 000 children are involved in producing chocolate for us... I can keep on searching out facts (in Norwegian) about this. But I think I’ll stop here. You get the picture. There is quite a few youtube videos related to this as well.

Go searching for Fair Trade organic chocolate. And really enjoy it. Awaken your senses and renew your respect for the people producing this delightful luxury for us to enjoy.