With the 4th of July weekend looming, I have been thinking a lot about the subject of independence. Of course that can mean different things to different people, but for us, right now, we are slowly declaring our independence from processed foods and it feel so good! Liberating. That is the word for it. Being able to produce a large portion of our own food is a blessing and it’s liberating!
Here is a quick list of foods we produce on our little 3 acre homestead:
Milk (goat and cow) and dairy products
Pork (OK, well, the pork is growing now. It will be going to freezer camp in August.)
Fruit: peaches, figs, strawberries and apples – but I cheat and go to my mom’s for blueberries and blackberries!
Veggies: tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, peppers, beans, sweet potatoes, onions, zucchini, kale, lettuce and many others!
We also grow catfish and bream (although we often throw them back instead of eating them)
My point is that, with all these raw ingredients at our fingertips, our need to rely on grocery store food has greatly diminished. I don’t have to run to town for every little ingredient, and when I do shop, it is largely for wholesome ingredients to fill in the gaps, like rice and pasta or cheeses I haven’t mastered yet. (Well, and because I always keep it real, I’ll admit that we need our goldfish crackers. Nobody’s perfect.)
So, I ask you, are you doing anything to rid your home of factory farmed ingredients and processed foods? I would love to hear your ideas if you would be so kind as to leave a comment!
I’ll leave you with some great links from my favorite bloggers to foods that can replace many of the processed items in your pantry. Enjoy!
Here’s Attainable Sustainable’s list of 10 Ridiculous Supermarket Products You Can Make at Home and 10 MORE Ridiculous Supermarket Products You Can Make at Home!
This Homemade Mayonnaise looks so much better than the yucky stuff from the store, and once you have that whipped up, you can use it to make this awesome ranch dressing!
And vanilla pudding that doesn’t involve shaking unknown chemicals into my beautiful raw milk? Sign me up!
Just yesterday, Eric asked if I would make brownies this weekend, so I think these will be on the menu!
While we’re at it, let’s just go whole hog and make our own BACON! (See what I did there? I’m very punny.)
So, hopefully this post will prove to be inspirational for you to get out there an grow or make something for yourself from scratch! If you still need a boost, a great place to start is by attending the free online grow your own food summit that takes place next week!
To stay up to date on all the things we learn to grow and raise ourselves, be sure to sign up for Beulah’s mooooooosletter. It’s all the news from the cow’s point of view!
***This post contains affiliate links. A small percentage of the purchase price goes toward keeping this blog up and running and food in Beulah’s bucket, so thanks!***
HIP HIP HOORAY….. this is a great post…… Here at Jamison-Trace Farms we are doing just that…….staying away from all the processed foods….
Good for you! It is hard, and we aren’t perfect, but it gets a little easier everyday!
Thank you!…You are an inspiration!.. we are trying a light speed to reduce our intake of processed foods!…;)
Thank you! Good for you for trying to get the junk out of your diet!
I love finding sites and blogs that document all this subversive food independence activity! We haven’t purchased a factory farmed egg in over 7 years. We grow a marvelous garden each year and lay by as much as we can in the freezer and cellar. We bought three male guinea hogs last winter and now have two young females to begin our own herd of walking bacon! We built our own smokehouse and butchered two pigs last winter. The homemade bacon and ham is fabulous! The taste of homegrown meat is amazing. We processed 16 meat birds last month, and have a few more to do this fall. Our protein is secured! Would love to buy good local milk from someone, but we are still searching for a source. I do buy ice. It is a tick. But most of the food we are eating now and will in the fall, we have raised or grown ourselves.
Rock on! I’m so glad to “meet” a like-minded friend! I have been buying ice too, but Eric has said he will fix the waterline to the freezer, so hopefully that won’t continue! I’m like you, I feel like protein security is high priority!
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