BUTTER GIRL GOES ORGANIC

I love this time of year when I am driving the winding roads to home and spot the cheery red buckets hanging on the maple trees...all positioned and ready for sap collection.  This of course, also marking the much awaited return of spring!  This winter has been a long one.  In fact, at this point in time it may seem to be never ending.   I hope that I heard this wrong, but I think someone said we might get more snow again next week.  Oh well, the sun is shining upon us today and that always makes us feel warmer on the inside...even if it is still so darn chilly outside!  It is true...a good dose of Vitamin D (aka: sunshine) is often just what the doctor ordered. Friends and family often tell me that I should move from the Middle of Nowhere, Ohio where I reside.  I'm telling you....nothing beats the views here.  (Well, except for a sunset on a warm sandy beach!)  The rolling hills and country side sprinkled with growing crops and grazing cows...just seems to be the rig

Last weekend I headed to Detroit, Michigan to attend a Weston A. Price Conference to see how much more nutrition info I could pack into my brain.   As I have shared before, it is always great to be with like-minded people.   I am inspired when I attend these events and each time find myself feeling a little more confident in what I have already learned….meaning, I can actually follow what they are talking about!  The further I travel down this hallway of learning, I find there are more and more doors that need to opened…each door representing a new nugget of knowledge.   Believe me, sometimes this can be tiring and overwhelming; but most often, very exciting.   The Weston A. Price Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to “restoring nutrient-dense foods to the American diet through education, research and activism”.  It is an organization that is rapidly growing in numbers, as the general population becomes more and more educated about the de-generation of our fo

        For the last couple of weeks, I have been craving the yummy granola that I have been making for years....my CozyOats.   CozyOats is a granola product that I actually made, packaged and sold at my cozy little coffee shop, The Green Bean Coffee and Tea Cafe.  Customers could purchase a bag to take home and it was also featured in a yogurt parfait that was on our menu.  Layers of creamy yogurt, crunchy homemade granola and fresh fruit...delish!   Prior to the cafe, I would mass produce the granola and sell it at local festivals and fairs.  I even purchased the domain name for my CozyOats, thinking that someday it would be my ticket to fame and fortune!  That's how much I love this recipe.   To reach fame and fortune selling my granola might sound silly; but hey, if I could just get one large account...like WholeFoods, for example, my dream would be fulfilled.  CozyOats on grocers shelves everywhere!  How awesome would that be?   This morning I surrendere

Last week my youngest was home on his spring break from college.  Much of my desperation and bravery of flying through a snow storm to get home last Monday, was because I wanted to get home to see him.  I have missed my youngest so much since he left the nest, so anytime that he is around...I do not want to miss!   Probably for him, the joy of having me around and 'our time together' would be more about the things that I do when I am here....things like laundry and cooking!  I laughed once when he came home and I had been out of town for some reason or another.  He said, "There is no reason to come home if Mom isn't around...because there isn't a thing to eat"!  I hope he loves me for more reasons than my cooking (which I am sure that he does).  :D   I have often worried about his survival skills while he is away at college.  They say that if a child gets hungry enough, they will eat.  I hope that is true for Zach, but another fear that comes to m

  I wanted to share with 'you all' (sorry, I've been in Texas!) some exciting changes that are ahead for my Butter Girl blog!  I have been working closely with a great friend and photographer, Olivia Westfall. ( www.OliviaBeth.com ) Olivia is patiently working with me through the process of making my Butter Girl blog a great place for you to land for nutrition consulting services, cooking classes, workshops, tasty recipes...and as always, my chatty narratives of what is going on in my silly and sometimes complicated life.    We all have journeys and this one is mine.  I have been so honored to share the love story of me and my Rick on my Marital Status: W blog.  As I keep moving forward on this nutrition journey that Rick so lovingly led me to, I am finding more and more, a sense of 'belonging'.  It has taken me a while to work my way through the monstrous dust storm, but by golly....I do believe that I am finding my direction and finally....a soft, com

I stood in the street to take this picture while a sweet gal said; "Hurry up....look behind you....there are cars coming!" I haven't shared much lately with my Butter Girl friends for the last couple of weeks.  I have been submerged in studying; all in preparation for nutrition classes and testing in Austin last week.  Due to my own procrastination, I found myself freaking out with all that I had left to do prior to our classes last weekend.  Regardless of the age of the student, there are still those of us who seem to be proficient at 'not doing today, what possibly could be done tomorrow'.    Nonetheless and with GREAT relief, I did pass all of my testing!  Glory hallelujah!  Once again, I felt like the lone nutrition soldier who knew less than others.  I can't tell you how many times in my life that I have wished for a stronger sense of self-confidence!   I can only hope to take that sense of 'knowing less' and try to keep on my game a