A Unexpected Lesson

Undoubtedly thinking something sarcastic.

Have you ever taught yourself an unintended lesson?  Had a realization that hits you like a brick wall?  Those that know me, even marginally, know that I tend to be a bit of a "wise-woman" and often use sarcasm to make light of serious things.  As November began, I observed many of my Facebook friends participating in the "30 Days of Thankful" movement.  It struck me as an ironic thing for anyone to do, because shouldn't we always be thankful for all that we have?  It certainly is useful to take time to reflect and remember all we have to be thankful for and I definitely do not knock it, nor those that participated, but the wise-woman in me awoke and I was compelled to participate in my own unique and sarcastic way. 

I decided to give the daily post my own spin, to be a little different, and, rather than post each day about things I am thankful for, post about things that I am less than thankful for - that "s" word that reflects what a vacuum does.  Much to the amusement of my friends, I began my journey with a post about realizing you were out of toilet paper and then, further realizing, it was, in fact, YOU, who failed to replace the roll.  The first few days were fairly easy to find topic fodder - but as the days wore on, it grew more difficult.  One would think it would be easy to find at least one thing to "complain" about each day, but it really wasn't.

As the days wore on, I found myself thinking more and more of the little things in life for which I was thankful, rather than random things that vacuum.  Some days, I wasn't able to post my "Day xx of ..." post at the beginning of the day, simply because I could not think of something to say.  As the realization hit me that my little sarcastic project was actually making me appreciate the positive things in my life MORE than I already did, I began to wonder, "Are those participating in 30 Days of Thankful finding it easy to post what they are thankful for each day, or are they struggling because they are examining it so closely?"

In any event - lesson learned - once again, from my own sarcasm and desire to be unique - and not a lesson I was expecting.  I am now more thankful, and humbled, than ever when I think of all that I have, both material and immaterial, and how very rich my life is and has been with experiences.  Even the experiences that were wholly unpleasant - because I learned from them.  If you participated in 30 Days, did you wind up feeling genuinely thankful or did you struggle to think of things you wanted to post about? 

Going forward, I have realized that even on the worst of days, there is ALWAYS something - many things, actually, for which to be thankful.  There's nothing quite like the profound impact of teaching yourself an unexpected lesson.



Jennifer Bacile, Tallahassee Rep., www.ecologicalbabies.com, jenniferb@ecologicalbabies.com 850-228-3800

Female Bodies & All Its Perfection!

This month, many of us have been focusing on gratitude for all that is in our lives..  It reminds us of all that we take for granted and how many blessings we have in our lives.  Unfortunately, the only other time I think we reflect this way is when something tragic happens around us.  Then somehow, we are forced to look at what we have and be thankful for it.  Even if it is only for an intentional month, it has been uplifting to hear or read people's posts on Facebook.

I've recently been reflecting on the gift of my life in this world and my amazing, perfect human body. And I don't mean that in an arrogant way!  During every pregnancy (all four), I have been completely amazed and in awe of my body.  In that sense, I am especially grateful that I am a woman and get to experience the miracle of growing life within me, birthing a baby, and then nourishing it through breastmilk.  I am amazed that beyond the effort trying to compensate for being extraordinarily tired during parts of the pregnancy and the efforts to take care of my physical health, I am completely out of control of this process.

Some might argue that the birthing process is also effort but in my experience, I was better off when I stopped trying to be in control and simply let my body do what it is designed to do.  Sure it was painful and challenging but my body knew exactly how to implant, grow, and expel the baby.  Even when I had my miscarriage, my body worked perfectly on its own.

Beyond all my exclusive female parts, it astounds me that my body is actually sitting here in front of the computer even typing words with my fingers.  All the while, my heart is pumping blood through my body, blinking, breathing, maintaining a sitting posture, and using all the rest of its senses-all automatically!  When I'm sick or have hurt myself, it fights off the bacteria and heals itself.  If I had to put in all this effort with thought, I can honestly say that I would not have survived.

I definitely take my life for granted almost every second of the day.  But right now, with this growing and healthy baby inside me, I am grateful that I have been able to give it life and have my body grow it for me.

Peace,


Jen Starks, Owner
 www.ecologicalbabies.com
 ecologicalbabies@gmail.com
574.275.1235

Save Your Turkey Bones-Homemade Turkey Soup!

If you hosted Thanksgiving this year or visited a home that doesn't use their turkey bones, you have just received an extra bonus of lots of turkey soup or stock to keep your family warm throughout the cold seasons.  Are you ready for a super easy, extremely delicious, and nourishing post-thanksgiving meal?

This soup has been traditionally prepared in my family since I was a child, except now I use a little better ingredients.  As you will see, the ingredients and quantities are flexible, as you cannot go wrong! If you don't have time or energy to make this the day right after Thanksgiving, you can simply freeze the bones and wait until you are ready.  So easy!

Homemade Turkey Soup

Ingredients:

Turkey bones
1 onion quartered (or leftover frozen scraps of veggies)
water (enough to fill your largest pot)
1 Tbs of vinegar (I use ACV)-optional
Leftover uncooked veggies (or frozen veggies)-use whatever you'd like to have in your soup
noodles or rice (adjust to amount to your liking or can be omitted)
sea salt

Directions:

After I have stripped my Thanksgiving turkey of all the meat I can pull off, I put the turkey in the largest pot I have (or half of the turkey this year, since the bird was so big).  Next, I pull out my frozen scraps of veggies that I add to progressively with different meals (onion peels, carrot ends, mushroom bottoms, celery ends).  Sometimes I throw in some fresh herbs I have leftover in the fridge as well (parsley, oregano, rosemary, etc). I fill the pot up about 75% to the top and bring it all to a boil. Finally, I add a little vinegar which pulls out more nutrients from the bones of the turkey. Once boiling, I turn it to a low simmer and cook for as many hours as I want (minimum of 4 hours).  This time, I did this the night before and let it simmer all night long and into the morning.

Once you are done making stock, you strain all the bones and veggies out of the pot.  I put a mesh sieve directly into the pot and then put the remains in another bowl to use again for stock.  Once the stock is all cleared out, add any leftover veggies or frozen veggies you want.  This year, I added big chunks of carrots, corn and peas (nothing fancy).  I boiled it again until the carrots were softened.  Next, add either your noodles or rice into the pot.  Once cooked, throw in some leftover turkey (I use the dryer pieces of meat) and add salt to your taste.  Voila!

Later, you can reboil those bones over and over again using the same technique.  After your stock is made, you can freeze the stock in muffin tins and put them in a freezer bag for later recipes.  Stock can be expensive in the stores and this way, you know exactly how healthy it is!

I also like to make this for any family that is still staying with us.  This way, I don't have to worry about spending more money on a meal and it feeds a ton of people.  Depending on how big your pot is, ours would feed about 12 or more people.

Here's to good health,


Jen Starks, Owner
www.ecologicalbabies.com 
ecologicalbabies@gmail.com 
574.275.1235