Saturday Morning at the Farmer’s Market June 28, 2008

Here’s Kate and Cara (Annie’s daughter) this morning at the farmer’s market in Santa Monica. Cara’s eating fresh organic strawberries.

I’m so excited! I just happened to turn on the radio (I have Sirius radio in the kitchen — it’s wonderful) and guess what’s on? Kelly O’Hara, star of “South Pacific” on Fresh Air!

I can’t wait! I can’t wait! I can’t wait! We’re going on Friday night, July 18th. I just know I’m going to cry through the whole thing and make a big fool out of myself. Happy tears!

It is only my favorite musical of all time — and this is supposed to be a fantastic production — a multiple Tony award-winner. We got the last two tickets available.

OK, I better get to work. Lots to do! I have a duck to roast, kefir water to brew, gotta get my sourdough starter going, need to freeze my ice cream bowl. And tonight I’m going to make a delicious high-vitamin salad with purslane, dandelion, sprouted peas and red lentils, tomatoes, and yellow bell peppers. Everything organic and local from the market.

By the way, Seth did fine with corn tortillas last night.* Of course they were sprouted corn tortillas. He couldn’t digest the regular corn chips we had last weekend. So I think I am going to see how he does on some sourdough bread this week.

Oh! I almost forgot to report this! I’m so touched and feeling very grateful right now. When I met up with Annie this morning at the Organic Pastures stand (that’s where we meet every Saturday morning at 8:30), Maurice, who works the stand, told us that someone had donated some money to support us in our trip up to Sacramento this week for the congressional hearings on raw milk.

Isn’t that nice? I guess this person wanted to be able to go to the hearings but couldn’t — so s/he wanted to do something. And guess how much s/he donated? $200! Annie and I were totally floored. That pays for our hotel! Actually it pays for half of our trip — since the gas cost that much as well.

There are so many angels out there. It feels so good to know that people in the community support each other. Thank you, whoever you are. We really appreciate it so very much.

* I take that back. Turns out he didn’t do so well after all. I guess we’re going to be grain-free and on GAPS for a while longer.

Daily Photo: Kate’s New Favorite Pastime May 21, 2008

Throwing all the toys out of her playpen.

Daily Photo: Kate Loves Reading May 20, 2008

This is what Kate does when I’m not watching…

This is what happens when I leave her alone for five minutes. I’m just a few feet away, doing laundry or picking up toys off the floor. Within those five minutes, every book on her bookshelf is on the floor and she’s happily flipping through the pages, talking to herself.

Daily Photo: Scrambled Eggs with a Pig May 13, 2008

This was breakfast — eggs scrambled in butter, plus half a banana.

For lunch she had the leftover chicken and beet greens and sauerkraut and goat yogurt cream cheese, with cantaloupe for dessert.

Dinner was chicken liver sauteed in butter, organic cherry tomatoes with sea salt, cantaloupe in goat yogurt (sweetened with a little maple syrup), and a little bit of homemade blood orange ice cream (blood oranges, raw cream, raw egg yolks, and maple syrup) for dessert.

Daily Photo: Riding on Daddy’s Shoulders May 11, 2008

We got to spend a lot of time with Daddy this weekend — which is all I really wanted for Mother’s Day. Yesterday we went to the Santa Monica Festival and today we went and ate grass-fed hot dogs at a little hot dog stand in Culver City called Let’s Be Frank. Co-founded by Sue Moore, former “meat forager” for Berkeley’s Chez Panisse, they’re serving healthy hot dogs and supporting local grass-fed farmers. They have locations in San Francisco, too.

After that, we looked at furniture at Plummer’s and went to a store that sells educational materials for kids. Seth bought Kate a bunch of things, including a truck and some sleigh bells (which she loves — she shakes and shakes and shakes them — and laughs herself silly). I picked out a Spanish dictionary and a telephone that says all the numbers in English, French and Spanish.

Daily Photo: Kate at the Bank May 11, 2008

When I emailed this photo to my sister, she wrote back:

“Tut tut, Governor! I’ll take your most aggressive investment plan, and a discretionary dispersement in small bills. Ones will suffice, which should see me through my needs regarding pureed items of most sorts for the foreseeable future. Good gentleman you are!”

“Grampotter” (Grandpa Otter) responded:

“…and my holdings in Pampers are quite substantial…”

Daily Photo: Look What Came in the Mail! May 3, 2008

Daily Photo: Sharing an Apple With Daddy April 29, 2008

Daily Photo: Picnic Lunch April 27, 2008

Kate and I ate strawberries and sausage and leftover shepherd’s pie on the lawn at LA’s annual Festival of Books, the largest literary event in the country. I got Kate a few books, including the Spanish version of “Goodnight Moon” — “Buenos Noches, Luna”.

This is something I plan to do with the kids every year. I just hope it’s not this hot next year! It was so hot today that all the coconut oil in the house melted. The sun’s going down now, but it’s still so hot I had to put an ice cube in my glass of sauvignon blanc.

Despite the heat, day one of the GAPS diet went well. I gave Seth ginger tea and fresh carrot/celery/strawberry/cilantro juice and beet kvass and lots of broth.

I made pulled pork for dinner — it’s almost done cooking. It’s technically legal, but it’s a little too sweet, I think for the GAPS protocol. Although I did not use any sugar in the BBQ sauce — just honey. The ketchup is fruit-juice sweetened. Of course I won’t be serving it on buns or bread. I’ll just put it on a plate with a heap of lacto-fermented sauerkraut — and a side of chicken broth.

Daily Photo: New Clotheslines April 25, 2008

I finally got some clotheslines rigged up in the backyard. I found some rope at the local hardware store — I just tied it to some trees. Nothing fancy — but it works. They had clothespins at the store, too.

These are Kate’s cloth diapers and cloth wipes. The sun really does bleach out the stains.

Daily Photo: Loving the Sippy Cup! April 18, 2008

Okay, these photos are not from today — they are from Sunday (Kate’s birthday). But I had to share…

Kate LOVES her new sippy cup! She has so much fun playing with it, banging it on her tray, biting it, waving it around. She drank two whole cups of kefir the other day after lunch.

It’s the Foogo stainless steel sippy cup made by Thermos. BPA-free.

LOL! These photos make me laugh. She’s covered in goose liver pate.

Whoa — speaking of BPAs — I just read that Canada banned all BPA plastic in baby bottles. Even Wal-Mart is pulling them from the shelves. Read the story.

Daily Photo: Scrambled Eggs for Breakfast April 10, 2008

For breakfast, Kate had 2 scrambled eggs (cooked in butter) and organic blueberries with raw cream and coconut oil with a little bit of added whey (from yogurt). Oh, and one big organic strawberry and half a banana (she was still hungry so I kept feeding her).

For lunch, she had 1/2 tsp cod liver oil, one chicken liver (cooked in butter), beef broth, avocado, and mango with raw cream. And a little bit of homemade chocolate ice cream (made with raw cream, organic unsweetened cocoa powder, maple syrup, and raw egg yolks).

Dinner was light — goose liver pate and raw milk cheese with some probiotic lemonade (I fermented it with kefir grains).

In addition to meals, she gets her homemade raw milk formula. She drinks 3 or 4 6-ounce bottles per day.

Ha — yes, she’s wearing the same shirt she had on yesterday. She actually has two shirts that are exactly the same — one is 24 mos and one is 18 mos. Both pretty much fit so I let her wear both.

Daily Photo: Eating Dirt April 9, 2008

Kate and I were planting seeds this afternoon. She ate dirt for the first time. I think it’s good for her — builds the immune system.

Of course, when I called Grandpa Otter to tell him, he said the same thing — verbatim!

Not done planting the seeds yet, but here’s what I planted so far:

Dandelion
Echinacea
Chamomile
Basil
Jalapeno
Bell Pepper
Roma Tomato
Hosta
Impatiens
Stinging Nettle
Astragalus
Calendula

Daily Photo: Wagon Ride April 6, 2008

Grammy (my mom) and Stella (my niece) with Kate this afternoon.

Daily Photo: Farmer’s Market Day March 30, 2008

Kate in her brand new Radio Flyer wagon. She got it from her grandparents for her first birthday (we opened it early). She loves it! Smiles the whole time she’s riding in it.

Daily Photo: Naked Lunch March 28, 2008

Kate’s been such a messy eater lately, I figured it was just easier to feed her naked. She had duck liver pate and avocado — and yes, it ended up in her hair.

Daily Photo: Funny Lady March 27, 2008

Kate clowning around on our morning walk:

Daily Photo: Beet Face March 21, 2008

Beets, avocados, and roasted chicken.

Daddy came home early and we all got to eat dinner together at the dining room table.

Daily Photo March 11, 2008

How sweet is this?

This was taken on Sunday in the garden.

I don’t know why but it makes me think of Kate’s dance with Daddy at her wedding.

She loves him so much…

Daily Photo March 9, 2008

Daddy and baby enjoying the sunshine in the garden on Sunday afternoon.