Page 67 - Winter2008

But the best piece of advice I can give moms the savvy Internet shopper to reduce my travel For me,
and dads is to be present! Find a way to have time and get some extra girl-time in through bulk
one parent stay home with your little ones. Of purchasing with friends. keeping life
course, there are circumstances that make this Living the traditional food lifestyle also simple means
impossible for some, who, I am sure are doing includes growing and raising our own food, not very few
their best by their children. But if there is a way, only to save money and trips to the store, but
it is worth every second. Not only will your kids also to bring our family closer to the source. activities
benefit from hanging out more with their totally It allows children to water the ground that will outside the
hip mom or dad, but living a traditional food grow an eagerly anticipated vine-ripened tomato home.
lifestyle, I believe, ideally requires more time or experience the excitement of finding a freshly
than can be allotted with both parents working laid egg in a nesting box. We have eight backyard
or staying too busy outside the home. chickens (see my article titled Eat Your Eggs
To me, living a traditional food lifestyle and Have Your Chickens, Too! from the Sum-
goes beyond buying the right foods or having mer 2008 Wise Traditions) and just started our
the best cookware; it also involves a way of life, first raised garden bed (gardening at just shy of
an attitude about connection, family identity and 8,000 feet above sea level has been intimidating).
community. By no means am I a philosopher, but These grounding, life-sustaining home projects
I would venture to say that when Weston A. Price take time, but it is time well spent.
said, “. . . man’s place is most exalted when he Are there some non-food areas you can
obeys Mother Nature’s laws,” he was speaking streamline? Let’s say you are a nut about keeping
about more than dietary choices. a clean house. Perhaps as a baby gift to yourself
When I get too busy with commitments and (or a collection taken from those wanting to give
out-of-the-house responsibilities, it has a nega- gifts), hire house cleaning help once a month for
tive impact on our family togetherness and meal the first year after you bring baby home, or ask
quality. I am more frazzled and worn-out if I am parents to chip in for the cost as their gift to the
gone all day and driving all over town doing this baby.
or that, so I have streamlined. For me, keeping Is ironing your husband’s work shirts not on
life simple means very few activities outside the your list of most favorite activities? Maybe take
home. This allows me enough time to have the a friend up on her offer to help and send over
brain power to think about the next meal, scan some shirts to be ironed, or make a trade with
some interesting articles about cooking and someone with a casserole you can easily double
parenting after we have pored through the boys’ up in the oven or perhaps with eggs from your
top-ten read-aloud picture books, or take a spin backyard flock. Find those small things that you
around the train track. I have also become quite might be able to let go for a while, just until you

RAW MILK FORMULA AT NIGHTTIME AND FOR TRAVELING

For those first few months of nighttime feedings, here is a way to make it quick, easy and quiet. Keep all your nighttime
bottles in a lunch-style cooler with some freezer blocks to keep them nice and cold. Before hitting the hay, plug in a small
crock pot with water that will stay on all night. Before feeding baby, pop a bottle into the hot water for just a minute to
take the chill off and melt the oils before feeding baby those middle-of-the-night bottles. This method has the additional
advantage of eliminating the annoying beep of a bottle warmer.
As for traveling, while it is ideal to make the formula fresh daily and use it straight from the fridge, there are times when
that isn’t possible. I travel with the formula out of the house and in the diaper bag for hours without worry. I just take the
chill off to melt the oils in my bottle warmer and put it in an insulated carrier to keep the temperature as constant as pos-
sible. Remember, raw milk doesn’t go “bad” it just becomes sour, so the formula will be safe for baby to drink even if has
been out for a while. When traveling overnight, I make a double batch, stock up a cooler with lots of ice and make sure
I am going to a location with refrigeration. For longer vacations, I would make the choice to drive and bring the needed
ingredients and either bring extra milk (freezing some on arrival to keep it fresh for later batches) or seek out raw milk at
my destination by searching on www.realmilk.org or contacting the local WAPF chapter leader.

WINTER 2008 Wise Traditions 67