A long story begins

Hi there.....it's me, remember me! Yeah I'm still here. I've been trying to figure out how to write this post for the past week. Finally I decided to just sit here and type until all that I have to say has been said. For your sanity I may split this into separate posts. We'll see how long it goes.

To start with, we are all fine. We had a week of being sick, but otherwise things have been good and busy. We celebrated thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. We also celebrated Esther and Elijah's birthday. Yes, they were born within 15 days of each other. Esther is now 3 and Elijah has finally hit the big number one! Although these happenings is enough to keep a mom busy on top of preparing for Christmas, but it really was what happened between these events that has kept me from writing on this blog.

As some of you who have been reading with me for a while know that I have begun a small quest to live a simpler life, meaning going back to basics in many ways. My inspiration started with Michelle at Steadfast at Home. After reading through her blog for a few weeks I started on the task of growing my own garden, canning and preserving, making bread and granola as well as many other activities.

I was just in the process of researching grain mills and starting the process of grinding our own wheat when I just happened to watch a show on TV called the 100 Mile Challenge. The show was based on the book, the 100 mile diet. Basically the authors went to a small town and challenged the people there to eat only food found within 100 miles of where they live and to do it for 100 days. The TV show chronicled what happened during those 100 days. I REALLY enjoyed the show. It showed the many benefits of doing this like supporting your local farmers, being more in touch with where your food comes from, eating whole foods instead of processed foods, etc, etc. What I didn't know is that while I was watching this show, my husband was watching it as well and was becoming inspired by it.

That same week I read this post from Michelle. (Side note...Michelle you have been such an inspiration. Thank you for sharing all that you do. God has used you and your words not only to influence me and my family, but my friends as well. Just keep sharing all that God puts on your heart to share.)

Ok, back to the story....needless to say, my husband and I stated talking about where our food come from and what is really in the food we eat. We were talking about expanding our garden next summer using heirloom seeds and trying to eat more locally. Then came the week of the last episode of the 100 Mile Challenge (it was a six week mini series) and my husband looked up at me during dinner and told me that he really wanted to do the 100 mile challenge for ourselves, at least for a month. I will say that I was shocked that he really was this interested in it, but very happy because I knew it could be good for our family. It would be challenging, but well worth it. I mean could I really live without salt and olive oil. And how many ways can you cook a turnip. (we live in Michigan, right now the only things local is potatoes and turnips)

That evening after the kids went to bed, my husband sat down to record a movie for his sister. It was called "Food Inc." She said that she was told she needs to watch it and that we may be interested as well. We figured why not.....little did we know it would completely overturn the way we eat forever.

Continued soon.....