By Kailey Mentink

We are so excited to announce … that the chickens are all moved into their new winter home!

“Several years ago I saw a young surgeon who had gone to Harvard Medical School, as had his father and grandfather. He had the finest cars and opportunities along the way. And yet something was amiss. By the time he came to see me, he was shooting heroin into the heels of his feet (the heels being the only parts of his body where he had not abused the veins). He had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in an attempt to save his life.

Nancy emailed me over the weekend to thank us for the pork we sold them. She also sent me a beautiful picture of her first creation. See below. She had told me that she struggles so much with the smell of pork, and I knew that her order would put our pork to the test. I was a little hesitant to ask her this, but I wrote back and asked what she thought of the smell. Her response was, “It didn’t smell at all. Very grateful for that.” I asked if I could share this and she said, “Yes.” I also shared it with the family and it sure made us feel good. Moving them around so frequently has so many benefits, and the clean smell of the meat is just one of them. We love when you reach out to us with your recipes, pictures, compliments, and thank yous. We seriously have the best job!

Conventional laundry detergents contain sudsy chemicals that are created to leave a good smelling film on our clothes, but they also create a buildup in our washers that produce a breeding ground for toxic mold and bacteria. There are so many other toxic chemicals in our laundry detergents today that are known to cause cancer, environmental damage, skin conditions, organ damage, and more that I can’t believe that some of them are still on the market. When I was struggling the most with my chemical allergy, and I would receive hand-me-downs, it would take me 7 rounds of washing and hanging clothes outside before I could wear it or put it on one of my kids without severe coughing. It took at least 6 months when we received furniture from a home that used these products before I could tolerate it. I was very thankful for these things, but at times wondered if it was worth the suffering. When I bought a used, modern washing machine, with an extra rinse for people with sensitivity to laundry soap, (just by chance) I had to laugh because I knew from experience that those extra rinses didn’t do much good. It’s a waste of water, because those chemicals don’t come out easily! You may be thinking, well she just has an “allergy,” and while I believed that at the time, I have to say that after my research and change in lifestyle, I don’t agree with that anymore. I believe that my exposure to toxins in the past, along with my nutrient deficient, highly processed diet that I ate, and was addicted to, simply overwhelmed my body to the point that I couldn’t handle any more chemicals. As I have healed my gut, I have noticed a significant improvement when I am exposed to them, but I still have some work to do.

            I was surprised to hear earlier this week that nobody has written on our latest big project. What? Really?

But that’s fine. Now I get to write about it.   

Dear Friends and Family,

            I hope that this year has been filled with much joy for all of you. 2021 has gone so fast for me, but there is still so much to write about that I feel squished for room! As always, I want to give you all a glimpse at the family, but I can only hope that I get everyone’s name spelled right and their ages correct!     

“Corporations owning life. Scientists taking DNA out of plants and putting it into animals, or vice versa. Shooting electron cannons into genes to split off or insert strange chromosomes. Pigs without stress genes. Pollen wafting across fields, sterilizing neighbors’ crops. Folk, this aint normal.”

This quote was taken from Joel Salatin’s book Folks this aint normal. I highly recommend this book. You will learn a lot! What are your thoughts on this quote? We love to hear from you!

The number one priority in my household cleaning routine is to make sure the bathrooms are clean. We are a big family, and we spend a lot of time at home, so our bathrooms need to be cleaned every day. I used to hate cleaning the bathrooms, and I think it was because I didn’t have a good routine, and I hated using those toxic cleaners. I was convinced that I had to use them, or we would be very sick. Since we have changed our diet and got the toxins out of our cleaners, the opposite happened. We don’t get sick as often. Praise the Lord! Where we used to get the stomach flu at least twice (usually more) times a year, we sometimes have years that we don’t get it at all. Even with little ones. We may even have a few people get it, and everyone else is fine. I never use antibacterial anything like I used to do!