keeping healthy

This has probably been the coldest winter.

Mostly, we are all coping well, and peaceful. We have developed a nice daily winter rhythm which helps everyone to feel at ease. The boys play happily for hours, fully engaged in their imaginative games and we never seem to run out of fun activities even though we are inside all day long, but when it comes to health, we do need some extra help during this long, and very cold, Canadian winter. So far - (knock on wood) - no one has been sick, not really, and it is already February. We all got a little cold, but as I felt it coming on, I started pumping our homemade echinacea tincture into all of us and the next day we were all clear. Maybe it was a very mild cold, or maybe our echinacea is amazing stuff. Either way, I'm very glad we have it on hand! Aside from being a powerful little bottle of immune system goodness, it is also a lovely reminder of both summertime and self-sufficiency, so it makes me happy (:

The other fun thing we have been cultivating is sprouts. Jason was eager to grow them to supplement the chickens' diet but he is growing enough now that we too can partake. We have some green lentil sprouts, alfalfa sprouts and also a lovely sprout mixture. We eat them with our eggs in the morning, on our salad at lunch, and with whatever we are having for dinner. In the past I haven't put as much care into our winter-time nutrition, feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of the other tasks that always need to be accomplished, but this year, things are happening. Jason has been very diligent with rinsing his sprouts and now that Ollie is two, I have more of an opportunity to work in the kitchen without so many hindrances and interruptions, and so I have been making new and exciting meals for us. It definitely is a good thing!