If only the walls could talk

If only the walls could talk

We have been inspired by a few things this summer and encouraged to do a tour of local museums with our family.  We are a military family who have been posted all over the country and we are learning so much about our country as we travel.  This year we are learning more about our history from the locals!  We wanted to let you all know about it too in case you would like to take part.

This is our schedule that suits us for the summer, feel free to join in with us on all or some of the visits, or just take the list and go on an adventure of your own!  Happy exploring!

Also, we found out while we were planning that there is an event happening over the next 2.5 years that goes along side this perfectly.  Check it out, there are also prizes to be won.  

http://www.interlaketourism.com/index.php?pag=cms&id=153&p=unlocked:-the-stories-of-the-interlake.html

June 27 
Teulon and District Museum
http://www.teulon.ca/TeulonandDistrictMuseum.cfm
A BBQ will be happening from 11-1 to support the museum.
Cost - Adults:$5 Students $2
Here are our pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.681236368623377&type=1

July 4 
Woodlands Pioneer Museum
http://www.rmwoodlands.info/page.php?id=55
Cost - donation

July 9 
Ridgeway Heritage House (to be confirmed, also please RSVP if you would like to come with us to this site in order to let our hosts plan for us)
http://www.interlaketoday.ca/2011/07/13/heritage-home-open
Cost - donation

July 17
Lower Fort Garry
http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/mb/fortgarry/activ/activ3.aspx
Cost -  Adult $ 7.80
Senior $ 6.55
Youth $ 3.90
Family/Group $19.60

July 23
Arborg Heritage Village
http://www.arborgheritagevillage.ca/
Cost - $5.00 - Adults
$3.00 - Children 2-12
Under 2 FREE

July 24
Warren Grain Elevator (to be confirmed)
http://www.westinterlaketradingcompany.com/?page_id=47
Cost - TBA

V. Gross Doll Museum (possibly)
http://vgross.webs.com/
Cost - $5 per person

July 30
Maple Grove Tea Room
http://maplegrove.weebly.com/

Marine Museum of Manitoba (if you are interested in coming, please RSVP so we can book a tour for a reduced rate!)
http://www.marinemuseum.ca/
Cost -CASH ONLY Adult:   $6.50
Seniors ( 65+ ):   $5.00
Child (6-16):   $3.50
Family (2 adults, 2 kids):   $18.00
      Children 5 & Under:   Free       

Lock and Dam
http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/standrewslockanddam.shtml
Cost - Free

August 6
Langtry Fox Farm Tower (we need a group of 20 to have a tour, sign up now!)
http://www.boonstrafarms.com/tours.asp
Cost - TBA

Stonewall Quarry Park
http://stonewallquarrypark.ca/
Cost - please check website

August 16
Eriksdale Creamery (the town will be celebrating Creamery Days this day!)
http://www.eriksdale.com/residents/events.asp?ID=202
Cost - $5

Moggey's Cabin (possibly)
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM45FQ_Moggeys_Cabin_near_Eriksdale_MB
Cost - free

August 20
Pioneer Quest Cabin (to be confirmed)
http://www.westinterlaketradingcompany.com/?page_id=75
Cost - unknown

August 29
Hecla Historic Village
http://www.heclatourism.mb.ca/index_files/heclatourismvillagetour.htm
Cost - unknown

September 3
Ashern Pioneer Museum
http://www.ashern.ca/bus_detail.asp?ID=496
Cost - unknown


Here are the names of some other sited that others have mentioned to us that are of interest.  Maybe you would like to take an adventure here.  

Grants Old Mill
Mennonite Heritage Village in Stienbach
Aviation Museum
Living Prairie Museum

If you have any questions or concerns, please email us or call us at 204-322-5121.
We hope to post pictures as we go along.  Pray that this is possible.

Have a great summer everyone!
Love from the Vail family

The table continued

I have told my story about the table to a few, and felt compelled to write it on here.  Since then I had a friend come and add another part to the story.  Actually I need to go further back, the story of building the table isn't finished... I got stuck.  I have to admit, I couldn't finish the table in a way that would have been safe for children climbing on it.  I don't allow climbing on the table in our house, but it happens... and usually when I'm not looking..... that said, safety was key.  This table needed to be sturdy!
That's where our friends came along, a gentleman from our church stepped up to the plate and flat out told me that I didn't have the tools to finish it and I needed to come to his home to finish it up.  He was right, I didn't even know what I was getting into or where I was headed.  He didn't share my vision of using discarded wood, but went with it anyway and made sure that our kids would be safe even when disobedient.  :S

Isn't that like our walk too.  Sometimes I need someone to tell me I'm in over my head and give gentle advice and direction when I myself don't have the tools for this part of the journey.

The last friend to add to the table story at this point is my friend Tina.  I asked her to write her part of the story.  This is what she said...
"As for the shelf, I don't know what to add. I was just so inspired by your story, that I wanted to try making something for (my son)'s room - something special that he would like. So I started looking around for supplies and came up with the idea to build him a plane shelf. It was wonderful to transform basic wood into something functional and seeing it all come together was so exciting. It was amazing to see something old and worn be refurbished into something new and beautiful -not unlike salvation, huh?! That's it..."

She is very humble as she writes this. Earlier she mentioned that she was avoided working with wood despite the fact that her dad works with wood. When she heard the story of the table that's when she went to her dad and worked with him to make the shelf.... This is funny for me because she has been an inspiration in my life, as have others. She has helped spur me on, inspiring me to take a look at different areas of my spiritual life and change things that are weak. Thank you Tina for inspiring me.

The table

I have been in the process of making a table for our home.  I looked around us and had a couple of challenges.
1) We wanted to not have to pay for a new table.
2) We were getting close to the 20 000 lbs limit for our move to Winnipeg coming up and I didn't want to make my table with things that we didn't already have, so as to increase the weight of our belongings.

3) I saw a broken fence close to where we live and wanted to give it an extended life rather than know that it went to a landfill.  Yuck.

So that was the challenge.  I have been compelled to write about it because I have seen Jesus (figuratively) in this table over and over again as I continue to labor at it.  I saw it in just the fact that he was likely a carpenter and here I am, a housewife, getting closer to knowing Jesus by doing some of the things he may have done with wood.  

I saw Jesus as I looked at the rough dirty boards leaning against my fence being transformed into a new being, a sanded table for a family to use.  In the Bible in 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

I saw myself in the boards that way.  I am a new creation.  The dirt has been washed away and I am in the process of being sanded into something more and more beautiful each day.  In that I also saw myself.  In some of the pictures I put on my facebook page (I hope to also have on here for you to see) I got frustrated with the table tonight.  I just couldn't get the table to do what I wanted it to do.  I have a vision for it, a vision of usefulness and beauty and I felt that it wasn't working with me.  How many times do I do that with God.  

That's the point where I didn't see God in the table.  I, the human that I am, walked away from the table.  I needed to get it out of my sight and forget about it.  I was contemplating giving up, despite all the work I put into it.... God NEVER does this.  He is always there.  ALWAYS gently guiding, although sometimes the sander hurts it is always for his final vision of beauty.  

I love this table.

New website for us!

You can now purchase our products online.  Please take a minute to visit www.frombackthen.weebly.com to check out our products.  Thanks.

The exciting news is here!

It has been a really long time coming but here I am posting the "NEW" information.  We are now selling soap!  Yay!  Our business name is "From Back Then".  Here is our logo!

If you would like to buy some soap please contact us or stop by Titanium Crossfit to purchase during their regular hours. 

We will be selling many different types of soaps with many different scents.  We have a shea butter soap, a goat's milk base, as well as our main base which is a blend of coconut oil, olive oil and tallow.  

Our scents include, rose, eucalyptus, tangerine bergamot, fennel anise and many more to come.  

If you prefer unscented we have those too.  Our bar named Mr.Vail is unscented with oatmeal, and coming soon is a charcoal bar and our coconut milk based soap.

Our etsy shop is now open.  Keep watching for new products. 
Check it out here.

We are passionate about this and we hope that you are happy with your products.

Soap news

I am now making soap!  I need a name for my "business" if I get serious.  Any suggestions.  I will give you a few bars as a thank you if I chose the name you suggested! (No matter where you live)

For all you homeschoolers out there...

Check out this giveaway, $350 value!

http://homeschoolgiveaways.com/2012/04/giveaway-switched-on-schoolhouse%C2%AE-complete-5-subject-set-350-value/

More tips for making paleo easier to afford as a family

Recently a friend asked me what I do to keep my budget manageable in the grocery department.  That is a complicated answer so over the next little while I'm going to post things as I think of them.  One of the biggest is to realize that all veggies do not cost the same.  Peppers for example can be very expensive but cabbage on the other hand is not.  Go through your grocery store and take a look at the per pound prices and think about how that veggie is going to fill you (or not) and the price tag attached.  We love eating the chicken lo mein from primal-palate.com (we have their book "Make it Paleo").  The lo mein is a filling dish with cabbage instead of noodles... mmm, I want some now.

Also, there are usually racks with discounted produce on it.  Sometimes it's worth a look, sometimes not so much.

One of my favorite things to do is save by buying bulk and freezing.  Where we live there is a farmer's market twice weekly in the summer.  At the end of every summer one of our favorite producers has a sale, she gets rid of her peppers at by the bag prices.  $10 for a grocery bag full of peppers, green, orange, yellow and red sweet peppers.  We will buy 2 or 3 and freeze them and they last the winter and ours this year are well on into the spring, maybe even the summer.  Spinach goes on cheap here too, $12 worth was enough to hurt my hand as I carried it to the van.  Frozen it will be more nutritionally dense than the stuff that is grown out of season, and it's cheaper too.

Look for free options too.  Why not go berry picking if you can?  Fiddleheads anyone?  Rhubarb?  Apples, pears, peaches... so many things can just be picked cut up and frozen.  Canning is easy too depending on what you are doing with it.  Last year we did pears canned in apple juice and man, they didn't last long!
That's all that I can think of now.  Post comments if you can think of any other tips, I'm always looking for new ideas to save!

Happy eating!
Liv

Yes... it's true!

I have just decided to start selling Watkins products.  If you are interested in learning more click on the link or talk to me. If you do decide to make an order, be sure to add my ID number 395385.
In the meantime here is something from their site that gives me a few reasons why I love them.

Our Mission:

To be the most trusted natural products company.

Our core values:

• We demand of ourselves the highest level of integrity.
• We focus on meeting our customers' needs and exceeding their expectations.
• We provide our investors an attractive return.
• We always take accountability for our mistakes.
• We encourage employees to develop, grow and improve quality of life.
• We contribute to the overall quality of life in our communities.

Our brand promise:

• We promise our customer a feeling of timeless comfort with every product.
• We promise our customer natural products.
• We promise our customer a perfectly consistent product.

Banana almond smoothie

 

Ingredients

 

3 bananas

1/4 cup milled flax seed

1/2 cup almond butter

1 cup coconut milk

Dash of cinnamon

1 cup ice

 

Blend in blender until smooth.  Perfect for a protein shake!

Teeth. Teeth? Yes, teeth.

As some of you may or may not know we have been thinking more and more about oral care.  This post really challenged my thinking on our brushing with toothpaste and flossing is the best way to go theory.  I had never really thought about it before I just sort of went with the flow.  We tried the remineralization toothpaste but for the amount of work and the lack of cavities in our home we decided to go with just plain salt.  We also changed our way of brushing.  http://www.orawellness.com/ has a video that explains a way of brushing teeth that just made sense to me.  My gums need just as much focus during brushing as my teeth do if not more!  (I know Mum, I know, you taught me this a long time ago but it has JUST sunk in.)

As we undertook this endeavor we also read up on the tooth blog about tooth whitening.  WOW!  This was more of a change that we expected.  Take a look.

Attractive, I know... One more... this one is me... embarrassing. 

Now after about a week and a half of brushing with charcoal, not regularly mind you and still drinking coffee and the like. 

Not perfect, but it's coming.  By the way, sorry for the terrible pictures.  We really wanted to get these up ASAP because we are super excited to share this with you!


Ok, interested?  Wanna try?  Here's how.  Buy some charcoal pills.  Most health food stores will carry them from what I understand.  I bought mine at a health food shop in the Comox Mall.  Then it was just a matter of cutting open the gelatin capsule and dipping in a toothbrush that was on it's way out anyway. 

From there we brushed our teeth for two minutes.  Not too bad for taste, just a bit dry in my opinion.  This was what Anthony looked like while brushing!

Just a tip for you, you won't want to do this over your porcelain sink.  Apparently this stains.  Might be a good idea to wear some older clothes or a bib and brush over your kitchen sink.

I'm interested in hearing thoughts on this post.  Feel free to comment.
-Olivia

Money, money, money

I noticed that many of you have interest in how to afford paleo eating, especially as a family.  We have done a few things to help with that.  One major one is cutting back on eating out.  We used to have a line in the budget for eating out and now it's gone.  We have a "slush" line in the budget now instead that we have to decide, do we want something pretty.. something fun... or should we splurge on a chance to eat out. 

Groceries we have budgeted ourselves in at $500 per pay, that's every 2 weeks.  Some would say that's a lot others are on par with us.  We eat a lot and we have four children and two adults under our roof.  We also try to have friends over for supper at least once a week for a meal. 

To keep the budget down lower I try to keep the extras out.  We call them treats in our house. 

Lastly I make a meal plan.  Planning can actually make your grocery bill go up if you aren't careful.  A few tips I've learned to use are....
1) Plan with your favorite grocery store flyer(s) in front of you.  Plan your meals according to what is on sale.
2) Buy your meat bulk.  You have to save up in the months leading up to getting the animal in the freezer but it makes the months to come easier to breath.
3) Plan for leftover meals/snacks.  If you don't do this part you'll end up with waste.  Let's face it, no one wants yucky spinach "melting" in your fridge.  Gross.
4) Be willing to shop at many stores AND farmers markets.  It's worth it, trust me!  Also, on the farmer's market note.  When you shop local you not only are doing your "neighbor" a favor by supporting their business, and your body by getting nutrient dense food, but they will likely get to know your name and throw an extra tomato in your basket or something along those lines.  This is not something to expect from them mind you, but it is nice when it happens.

I'm interested to know what kind of questions some may have about this.  Comment on this post if you have further questions.

The search is on! Part 2

I have taken the Nursing Mother's Tea, it worked.  I'm leading up to a weekend that we will be away for three days though and will be leaving the children with my dad.  I am going to leave him with both hemp milk and coconut milk to give baby 4.  She has accepted both, but still prefers mama's milk.  In case you are wondering coconut milk is served to her straight from the carton or can.  And for hemp milk I used hemp seeds that I bought from coolhemp.com.  I use a 3 to 1 ratio water to seeds and soak overnight and then blend in the morning.  From there I strain and put into the baby bottles.  Not all babies like it but my first and last babies have.

Curried Quail Eggs

Curried Quail Eggs

Ingredients:                               

2 (28 oz) cans diced tomatoes

2 (14 oz) cans coconut milk

1/2 tsp each: cumin,fennel seed, anise seed, caraway seed

1/4 tsp each: dried ginger, allspice, nutmeg

2 1/2 tbsp garam masala

1 1/2 tbsp hot curry powder

1 1/2 tsp tumeric

1 cinnamon stick

1/3 cup honey

5 carrots

3 celery stalks

30 quail eggs

Preparation:

Boil quail eggs.  Place in cool water and peel and halve them lengthwise, distracting hungry children as needed. 

Combine spices in mortar and pound until well blended.  Coffee grinders work great for this too.

Preheat pan, add spices with oil of choice.  Heat for 2 or 3 minutes. 

While this is taking place blend tomatoes and coconut milk in food processor or blender until smooth. 

Pour over spices and set to simmer over low heat stirring occasionally.

Slice carrots celery and other veggies of choice and add to the sauce, add honey and quail eggs. 

Cover and simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. 

Voila!

The new year - ponderings

I'm finding the blog a little overwhelming.  I have left things to Anthony to post and he's just as busy, so just as a heads up things are going to be as infrequent as it has been.  I hope to add a few more of my rants to the blog to share what I'm learning.  It's hard to do when we have little ones who want to eat, be clean and be loved.  I want to do all that so I'm attempting to do less.

I have been thinking about dropping some things and adding others for the benefit of the whole home.  I think that I will drop one Bible study (maybe), be less focused on my craft hobbies and drop my Jr. Church Co-ordinator position (already done).  In their places I am planning on running a seminar to teach more about Paleo to friends and members of the Titanium Crossfit gym in Courtenay in order to learn more about it myself.  I am also thinking about selling Watkins for a bit of revenue but mostly for their associate discounts.  I also want to focus more on the pre-school homeschool curriculum I have put on the back burner and focus on choosing curriculum for our oldest for the new school year in the fall. 

I've been craving spending time with God so much more over the past few months.  He is changing the desires of my heart, my oh so stubborn heart.  

In the end what I need to keep reminding myself is........this is why I'm doing it.    -ov

Homemade Pig's Head Porchetta

It isn't finished yet but wanted to let everyone know that we have begone the process and will have a recipe and pictures posted soon. Hope Christmas went well for everyone!!

The search is on! Part 1

I'm worried that I am starting to dry up with baby number 4.  I'm going to be taking nursing mother's tea (or maybe just picking up some fenugreek or blessed thistle and make a tea from it) as soon as I can get out of the house to get it but.... that's easier said than done these days.  I plan on finding a Plan B if all goes wrong, I'm thinking something to do with coconut milk.  I have used hemp milk in the past and that worked with our oldest but number 2 and 3 refused it.  I still have hemp seeds left in the freezer.  If you know of anything about coconut milk formulas please let me know.  -ov

Food Spendin' This Month

Pay day 15 Oct. $100 Withdrawn for local farmer's market $500 set aside for Misc groceries.
From the $100
$20 for 25lbs of beets to store over winter
$26 for 50lbs of carrots to store over winter
$1.30 for lettuce
$4.05 for sweet peppers
$5.50 for 10lbs of onions to store over winter
$15 for a calendar
$20 cheat lunch at Tim Horton's


From the $500
$3.98 Hellmanns light
$3.96 5lbs Mandarin's
$13.95 Tenderloin
$13.50 Whole Fryer Chicken
$13.34 Whole Fryer Chicken
$3.66 Ground Chicken
$3.33 Ground Chicken
$9.89 Side Ribs
$10.35 Side Ribs
$10.06 Ham
$8.66 Basa Fillets
$5.49 x 5 Bacon Schnieder's Natural
$19.99 Tigerprawns
$5.49 x 4 Free Range Eggs
$4.99 5lbs apples
$4.99 2L carton of coconut milk
$7.99 Personal hygiene item
$3.49 Dried pineapple
$4.99 Dried cranberries 400g
$4.00/3 Cans of Pineapple
$6.00/4 Cans of flavored tuna
$1.49 x 2 Cans of sardines in mustard
$2.00 5 kiwis
$4.99 5lbs apples
$3.61 1kg broccoli
$5.30 1.3kg yellow peppers
$1.23 .280kg lemons
$4.99 Apple juice +.35 deposit and environmental fee
$2.33 1.5kg green cabbage
$14.31 0.4kg Pecan halves
$4.00 2.3kg bananas
$2.18 1.3kg bananas
$1.73 0.8kg cauliflower
$4.39 1kg peaches
$2.79 1.3kg cauliflower
$2.10 1kg celery
$2.92 1.3kg red cabbage
$1.50 avocados
$1.54 0.35kg fresh ginger root
$.98 for tax

Total of 258.77 shopping at Quality Foods

We will continue to write a complete list of what we bought and where, at a later date. That's all for now!

Jan-2012... this got complicated and we were unable to finish this post.  We will retry at a later date.

For sale! This one isn't food.....

Name a price and we'll talk about colours and personalizing.  Just so you know, I prefer the rough look and don't have the skills or the desire to make these look store bought.  I can do the tie to look nicer for sure though, this was Micah's helping hand and what he wanted on his.

Being Realistic

So for the menu today....

Breakfast - a mix of nuts and seeds and dried fruit and some canned cherries to put on top.

Lunch will be leftovers from yesterday - Shepherd's pie, this is not paleo, it was a frozen dinner given as a gift when baby number 4 was born.  These are very helpful seeing as all days don't work out according to plan.  Again, I'm trying to be realistic rather than an extremist.  However that said, shepherd's pie could easily be made paleo.  Check this recipe out.  There will likely be debate on the peas and beans though.

Supper - roast with some sort of veg.  I have some yams in the pantry closet, it sounds like a match made in heaven to me.