NT task thread...

[mountain mom]

I thought I would start a NT task thread to keep us all on track.

What are your daily NT tasks this day, week, month...

Any NT meal planning....??

I really need to deal with my Kefir and start a new sourdough starter.

[hrheka]

I have to say that my NT tasks are my favorites. Each day after I go shopping I work in the kitchen for an hour or more. I have a lot of stuff I'd like to work on over the next month:

+I'm getting a Kombucha culture so that will be a new exciting thing to figure out

+i'd like to get something that shreds veggies easily so I can make more lacto fermented veggies (I'm waiting for my wild fermentation book so I think I'll be itchin' to do this). I need to get in a good routine for fermentation. I keep making drinks and running out before I even have the next one started

+I really need to get back on the sourdough I really miss that yummy bread but I need to get some rye flour

+more stock in my life! its hard to keep enough supplies (ie bones) around so that I can always have some on hand

Sorry to have so many tasks I just love doing this stuff. I can't wait to see what other people are working on, these types of threads always really inspire me!

[Pilgrim]

Totally LOVE this thread idea! I haven't gotten past trying to remember to keep some beans sprouting!

I cook a pot roast (organic, pasture fed) about twice a week in the crock pot. SAME recipe every time! Of course, we deal with multiple food allergies here, so it's a bit different for us.

I am REALLY looking forward to "peeking" into y'alls NT lives and seeing exactly what you Do do!

PS - I've had a head of cabbage in the fridge for 2 weeks. It's waiting for me to turn it into sauerkraut! :

[HerthElde]

[mountain mom]

Tuesday NT tasks to do:
1) Take off grape kefir and put on new
2) Take off lemonade kefir and put on new
3) Soak Pinto beans for the week

Do first three tasks in the AM

PM tasks...
1) Strain youghurt to make whey and cheese
2) Reverse 1/4 cup for making new batch of youghurt
3) Make new batch of youghurt
4) Soak spelt flour in buttermilk for pancakes for the breakfast!

[Queen Gwen]

* Beet kvass will be done this evening, ready to put in fridge.
* Figure out what to do with soaked and cooked kidney beans. I used about half in chili; the rest are in the fridge awaiting transformation into something.
* RuthLa is sending some kefir grains this week. I am clueless about kefir, so need to read up on that.
*Vague idea that I want to try making gingerale this week. I have ginger, limes and whey, along with a large jar; simply need to take the plunge.

I keep a written schedule for housework, since otherwise I'd forget to vacuum and clean : (housekeeping is not my strong point, obviously). I've started jotting down NT stuff on the schedule, too, so I can keep track of when stuff is finished fermenting, and when I need to start soaking something. Some days I feel like I'm conducting an experiment to see if a highly disorganized person can do NT.

[naturalmother]

I'm starting from scratch. All I have are glass pots and pans (visions corningware) and I've just bought some glass jars to store dry/fermented foods in. I've only got a total of 2 bags of dry foods (oats, brown rice) in my pantry so I have a long way to go yet!

On my list this week (sorry no food listings for this week):
Look through NT and plan meals for the next 7 days
Do a big grocery shopping (fruits/vegies/dryfoods/meat)
Organise kitchen and pantry/storage
Organise raw milk/cream/butter for next week
Buy 4 more pyrex glass storage bowls for soaking prep
Make a batch of gingered carrots
Make a batch of sauerkraut

Some days I feel like I'm conducting an experiment to see if a highly disorganized person can do NT.

:LOL

[myjo]

Originally Posted by Queen Gwen

* Some days I feel like I'm conducting an experiment to see if a highly disorganized person can do NT.

: Me too, me too! And besides being extremely disorganized (ADD tendencies), My two little boys and 5 mo old baby has me on my toes as well.

Here's what I want to do this week:

*Make broth with beef bones in freezer

*Pick up co-op order

*Make goat milk kefir with my new kefir grains (coming with my order)

*Soak some beans and put 'em in the crock pot

Also we're working on gathering materials to make a goat shed. Our goal is to have goats by Spring.

[annettemarie]

I have this book... I want to use it...
but it's so hard to make the leap!

What's the best way to get started?
Annette

[Queen Gwen]

AnnetteMarie, are you looking for an overall game plan? Or just some ideas of simple things to get started?

I think the easiest things to start with are soaking oatmeal overnight, making some crispy nuts, and making some chicken broth.

Then maybe try fermenting some vegetables or a beverage. This is my favorite part -- really, I don't know if I'd stick to NT at all if it didn't give me a good excuse to ferment stuff. Who knew stuffing veggies in a jar and waiting for them to bubble could be so fun.

[hrheka]

I got a lot of NT tasks done today, started some buttermilk, cream cheese/whey, started some radish seeds to sprout, made some carob fudge and started "haymakers oat water", and berry jam.

Tomorrow I'd like to do the following:
+start some daikon fermenting
+actually remember to rinse my sprouts
+figure out what to do with all the crispy almonds I have

[Gale Force]

I just strained the kefir this evening and put half of the grains into an orange juice concoction, oranges I bought from the field today. I tried a fermented juice product over the summer too and was successful on 1 of 2. One batch molded rather quickly (but it was over 100 degrees).

This morning I made yogurt but for the third time in a row, let it cool far too much. I am getting burned out on making yogurt but my husband needs it a lot now, so I am going to get him to help. I also think I'll make a gallon at a time. I've got gallon jars and plan to try putting it into an ice chest somewhat near a woodstove. It's pretty cold here, so I need to find the right warm cubby for this to work. I typically let my yogurt strain for 24 hours and it is stretching it to find a warm place in this old house all night long, but perhaps the cooler will provide enough insulation.

My husband will be picking up some nuts tomorrow for crispy nuts. I haven't made them since November when I made mountains of them. I've been out for a month, miss them, and wonder if my regular-ole nuts are making me fat more than nourishing me.

[treehugger]

I am trying really hard to get started on all of this it sounds so healthy and I want to get on the road to better health. It all seems like so much work and a bit overwhleming. How do you all do it and not feel overwhelmed?

[The Hidden Life]

Here are my meager attempts...

Monday: pick up raw milk & produce (& a few other items) at the farm stand

Tuesday: drive to natural foods store and buy bottled kombucha for the week (*Need to finally take the plunge and order a starter, as I've gotten my husband hooked on this too and it's now a $30 a week habit!*) also some whole milk yogurt, kefir & cream. Sometimes we make our own butter using a mason jar and a couple marbles and about twenty minutes of shaking. My daughter's American Girl cookbook had the instructions in it. She likes to drink the buttermilk too, which I never would have guessed.

Once a month: stock up on other pantry and meat items at Trader Joe's. Although this time I was displeased because they had no grass-fed beef at all. This year we are planning on buying a quarter beef from somewhere.

Also this month: go to first WAP chapter meeting, make connections with other NT'ers IN REAL LIFE! How shocking! I am lucky in that this particular local chapter seems to be focussing on meal planning for families with young children. (Other chapters seem to cater to single urbanites.) They are even putting together a family cookbook with emphasis on quick meals.

Couple times a week: make oatmeal in the crockpot overnight. Other days we have eggs or I microwave malt-o-meal (eek.).

Tried making the "Essene crackers," what a disaster. Totally inedible.

Made turkey and turkey stock according to NT at Thanksgiving. Great, but a lot of work. Haven't tried it again. Have five chickens and a turkey in my freezer waiting for me to get brave. (I hate handling meat and I've never been a vegetarian, so I can't blame it on that.)

I have not got the idea of how to make a week's worth of meals in an NT fashion at all. I can get one meal out of about four, but that means seventy-five percent of our diet is still leaning heavily on convenience and processed package foods.

Thank you for starting this thread....
LeeAnn

[hotmamacita]

a lot of these things i already do...

but what is NT....

[The Hidden Life]

NT stands for "Nourishing Traditions" a cookbook by Sally Fallon based on research by Weston A. Price (an early 20thC dentist) advocating raw dairy, grass-fed meats, fermented foods, etc. See www.westonaprice.org for complete info.

Some people also call it "native nutrition" because the idea is that you are eating things the way they would have been prepared in the days before processed foods and such.

LeeAnn

[intentfulady]

Signing on.
Thanks Mt. Mom for getting us started.

I will continue to seek out clean meat source.

Sure I have a butcher here in town........but..........it's so scary!!!

When we don't have sources for clean meat, Other than ground buffalo and chickens. Its hard for me to go buy the commercial stuff. I would love a bag of beef or bison bones..

What do you do? Go without the meat? Pray over the grocery store stuff? or eat beans?

[Catarina]

Here are some NT kitchen questions:

Is there any way to keep the smell down when making stock in a slow cooker? I'm making stock from lamb chop bones that I've been saving up in the freezer and we live in a small apartment and it smells good, but pervasive, I'm going to be sick of it by the time I make soup with it.

Storage: Where do you store
raw seeds
soaked and dried seeds?

Today I've made stock, put Scotch broth mixture (marrowfat peas, yellow and green split peas, red lentils, and barley) on to soak for the soup tommorow, made pineapple juice yo-jelly, made yogurt, made kefir, made porridge for breakfast and hard boiled eggs for lunch! oh and made kefir muffins with the kids.

And washed a lot of dishes.

And hung up a load of laundry. Oh, no, that's not NT.

[mountain mom]

Treehugger... Doing a few tasks each day keeps me from being overwhelmed. Thats kinda why I started the thread so that I would see it and do it!

Catarina...I store it all in the fridge.

Intentfulady! At the market here, they sell chicken bones and bison bones, maybe next time we visit, I could bring you some?

My Wednesday Tasks:
Some of my tuesday night tasks became my Wednesday morning task due to the fact I had a late client... and all I could accomplish was cleaning the kitchen so I could wake to a clean kitchen...something very important to me or I kinda loose it.

thus far I have:
Made youghurt
Made tzaziki from the youghurt cheese
Rinsed my aduzki beans and got them started in the slow cooker
Checked on my water kefir...used rice syrup instead of rapadura this time, fingers crossed!

After we get home this afternoon I will,
Prepare chilli with some of the beans
Start a bison stock
Make another batch of youghurt

I need to research about craut...I want to make some!

[treehugger]

Originally Posted by intentfulady

What do you do? Pray over the grocery store stuff?

:LOL that was cute !!!