Instafriday 4/6/12

Friday, April 6, 2012

life rearranged

We don't really eat beans anymore, but we sure do play with them.
 She starts off all careful, keeping each little bean inside the bowl.  Then the lentils go a-fly'in.  I try not to care and let her enjoy.
 We are forced to be members of the fake beach/lake in the neighborhood, so we figured we'd get our money's worth.  We went twice this week!

 We went to the farmer's market, and Sisi sampled a strawberry.  She didn't really eat it, just carried it around like a pet for an hour, clutched in her berry-stained hand.
 We go through about 50 eggs a week!  We always buy the brown ones, although I'm not sure what the difference is.
 This is the local cattle ranch we bought our steer from.

I planted herbs... we'll just have to see.

 We drove out to a ranch to meet our steer, as I described in this post.
 My calculations were off- these lilies reached their prime on Wednesday, not Easter, due to all the sunlight pouring in on them this week.  They will be dead on Easter, but that's ok.  Our roses are starting to bloom in the yard and I can decorate with those instead.  I thoroughly enjoyed these lilies- totally worth the 10 bucks I spent on them.


I'm excited for the weekend ahead!  A good friend's bridal shower, Resurrection Sunday (aka Easter), and a somewhat paleo Easter brunch I'm hosting for the family.

You still have til Monday to enter to win a free baby headband!!!




12 comments:

Rachel April 6, 2012 at 1:01 PM  

Oh, good to see the ranch name! I'm still investigating, but happily have several viable options! See you tomorrow, dear!

April April 6, 2012 at 3:35 PM  

Brought here from insta-Friday. I love reading about your paleo diet. I should do some research and find out more about it. Happy Easter!

Mindi and Adrian April 6, 2012 at 3:39 PM  

Wow that's a lot of eggs! Jealous of your lake. Looks great! :

courtney toney April 6, 2012 at 11:09 PM  

I'm a big fan of the fake beach/lake :) A good option for the little kiddos and I have such happy memories from my childhood there.

Your cow slaughtering story was all kinds of awesome. And gross.

Are the eggs much more expensive than at the store? We go through a lot too- Daveed likes his breakfast :)

AutumnsFancy April 8, 2012 at 9:03 PM  

DUDE! You're buying your beef from my uncle :) Crazy!

AutumnsFancy April 8, 2012 at 9:04 PM  

Oh, and the song on the website's main page is my Grandpa singing Red River Valley.

Joe Branca April 8, 2012 at 10:23 PM  

Courtney - check the egg vendors at your local farmer's market. They can go for around $3-$4/dozen but if more than that I think they're overcharging. And also ask them about the chickens, what their feed is, etc. because that makes a difference on the quality/nutrition of the eggs.

The egg vendor I buy from sells me their 18-packs for $5 each, which is like $3.33/dozen, which is like almost half of the cost of "cage free organic" labelled eggs in the store. Because they don't sell their eggs in the store and have to go through the hoops and fees of labelling their eggs organic (even though they are), they can sell cheaper.

It's easier to cheat on package labeling. Press the vendor about the chickens living conditions and their diet.

Joe Branca April 8, 2012 at 10:26 PM  

Autumn - that is hilARIOUS but I guess we're not too shocked ; ) Frank's a great guy, fun to talk to about the issues we're both passionate about. He's a little on the disorganized side business wise but I LOVE his integrity. I'm still just so appreciative that the source of our food is an animal living in natural open land exactly 3 miles from our house. That's locavore to the core

Joe Branca April 8, 2012 at 10:28 PM  

correction, I said "$3.33/dozen, which is like almost half of the cost of "cage free organic" labelled eggs in the store." actually more like 2/3 the cost, half the cost if you shop at Whole Foods :O

Marie Sherman April 10, 2012 at 2:04 PM  

You guys really need to move to Eugene : ) you can raise your own steer right here and keep chickens and whatever, even if you decide to live in town, we have lots of room for the critters. Actually, Eugene allows chickens in the city limits and just recently passed a law allowing small goats in town! Got my egg-laying chicks a few weeks ago, can't wait for the eggs, miss those soooo much. Thankfully, there are many direct sources and farmer's markets around here.

Marie Sherman April 10, 2012 at 2:08 PM  

By the way, just like people, the shell color doesn't make a difference in the quality of the inside of the egg itself. Brown just seems to be a prettier color to some people. Most store eggs are white because the commercial growers use a variety of cost-effective egg laying hens that happen to lay white eggs.

Kristin @ Petal and Thorn April 13, 2012 at 3:53 PM  

Hi Marie! Oh how I wish we could move to Eugene. I'm sure we'd be happy there! But for now, we're content in O.C. and happy to have access to good quality food from farmer's markets. Hope to visit you up there soon- perhaps August!

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