Blog

Health

My journey with BII and the explant process

Lauren

Every December I find myself reflecting on the year behind us. This year was a doozy for our family- one son diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and another with Type 1 diabetes. I haven’t felt this level of stress in over a decade. But miraculously, my body has handled the stress remarkably well. I’m sleeping well, my diet has stayed healthy and consistent, my skin in still clear and soft, and my hair isn’t thin or brittle. In the past even slight waves of stress would take an immense toll on me- hair would fall out in clumps, skin would flare in raging red patches and plaques, I’d lose weight and struggle to sleep. And my emotions would be on a constant rollercoaster of anxiety, tears, and quiet rage.

Then I had my breast implants removed. I’m now almost three years post-explant and can’t believe how incredible my body feels today.

But before January of 2023, I was suffering. Brain fog, fatigue, hormonal disruption, anxiety, mood swings, pain, sleeplessness…I could go on and on. I attributed so many of those issues to mental health, or being a mom of babies for nearly two decades. But the truth was so much simpler than that. My body was constantly fighting an invader and was responding with an extreme level of inflammation, so extreme that it nearly couldn’t keep going.

I was sick enough at the end of 2022 that my mother-in-law had to fly across the country to come help me with the children, and I was questioning whether I’d ever be able to milk again. My right side had become so inflamed I was losing the use of my right arm. I had severe plaque psoriasis, and my right hand was closing up into an eagle claw- I couldn’t even sign my name. What started as a pinching sensation under my right arm became an intense, consistent dull pain that pulsed down my arm to my fingers.

I had done tons of research- I knew they needed to come out. But explants are expensive. It cost nearly three times what it costs to put them in, to get them out. And finding a surgeon who believes in breast implant illness- who understands the importance of removing the entire capsule, scraping away inflamed and damaged tissue, and allowing the body to properly heal before attempting any reconstruction- is incredibly difficult. Most surgeons insisted to me that the implants just needed replacing with better quality implants.

The body is intelligent- it surrounds the implants with scar tissue, the “capsule,” to protect itself from the foreign object being placed so close to vital organs. This is disclosed in consults with plastic surgeons- not hidden at all- the body is going to create a barrier because it recognizes this as a problem from the start. It never occurred to me that this process is the first red flag that perhaps these devices don’t belong inside us. Often times this capsule only exaggerates exactly what we want from implants to begin with- a firmer, perkier version of what’s lying beneath.

Me in 2015, when symptoms were beginning to wear me down. Losing weight, thinning hair, aches and pains and fatigue.

When I got my implants, I was a 19-year old mom who had breastfed her first baby and was shocked by what my breasts looked like. I grew up in the South, where being pretty is a virtue, like good manners. And I grew up thinking that being pretty takes maintenance. Getting breast implants was just part of keeping up with looking your best, like going to the gym, getting your hair and nails done, or wearing nice clothes. It didn’t even occur to me that there were other options. I knew more women who’d had plastic surgery than hadn’t, and there was no stigma around “having work done.” My surgeon was attentive and knowledgeable, and the process was as simple as a day at the spa- another testament to our culture’s normalization of surgical procedures. The idea that he was cutting into my body and filling it with something artificial, initiating an immune response that would essentially never stop, never crossed my mind.

That initial surgery was uneventful, and the results were beautiful. I felt like a young woman again, no evidence of my initiation into motherhood on my body. But in my six subsequent pregnancies and birth, I struggled to breastfeed— something I never struggled with prior to implants, and something my initial surgeon insisted would not be a challenge since “many women with implants breastfeed their babies successfully every year.” I suffered nerve damage from the pressure of the implants and capsules on my nerve tissue- I had no feeling in my breasts whatsoever, a common response to implants. I had so many other side effects over the years that I could easily brush off as related to other issues, but my the 10th year with them I started feeling like more and more of how I was feeling was connected to the implants, and I began to research the explant process.

I had my implants removed on January 6, 2023. I’d read so many stories of women with breast implant illness, and taken so many notes from explant stories. I followed a series of doctors on instagram making notes of what to ask my surgeon, and when I found one who consistently handles en-bloc capsulectomies (complete removal of the capsule, the implant, and all affected tissue surrounding them) I scheduled a consult. His team told me that for the month before surgery and for six weeks afterward, they require their patients to add 60g of protein twice a day to their diets, with no exceptions or the surgery would be canceled. He expects his patients to be nourished enough to support their healing after surgery. I’d had a hysterectomy not long before, and I’ve had other surgeries in the past, and never have I had a surgeon tell me nutrition was a requirement for going under the knife.

me, one week after explant, picking up beef from the butcher.

That made all the difference. I did all his recommendations leading up to surgery- exercised, focused on mental health, added that huge dose of protein, and tried to get good rest. But the real difference of course came after the implants came out. I had so much inflammation they had to scrape my breast tissue down to the muscle and deep under my arm to get everything clear. Once the implants were out, they tested them for leaks. There were none. My implants were as perfect as the day the first doctor put them in. They were poisoning me anyway. My body had clearly rejected them and engaged in an enormous inflammatory immune response against them.

I felt like I aged ten years in reverse. My brain fog was immediately lifted- I was thinking clear as soon as I was home from the hospital. I had so much less pain than before that it didn’t even occur to me to take the pain meds they prescribed. My surgeon sent me home with drains to pump fluid out of my chest cavity during the first few weeks after surgery, and with strict dietary guidelines to keep my body purging the bad and building on the good. Within a week I was out running errands and milking my cows again. Within a month I was back to 100% of my activities, with more energy and better mood, thought processes, everything than before.

Because I had so much inflammation, I had a pretty extensive detox journey after the explant process. I decided to do a 3 week bone broth fast (I did continue to supplement protein, and I recommend Ancestral Supplements bone broth protein powder, especially for a detox bc it’s dairy free and includes organ meats, bone broth, and mushrooms). I slowly added organ meats and rice cooked in bone broth, then eggs and some raw dairy, and I stayed on a mostly carnivore diet for over 6 months. I felt like my body needed that very intense period to rebuild its muscle and fat stores and to fully recover from years of physical trauma. Today I eat a normal balanced diet without restrictions, but I attribute that to being fully healed following the explant and detox process. I also used infrared sauna, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, acupuncture, and chiropractic adjustments to support my healing.

bone broth in my pressure canner- I was so thankful to have built up a good supply ahead of my surgery.

I did opt to have a breast lift to remove excess skin and reconstruct where all the damage was- I’m not afraid to admit my own vanity still comest through in spite of myself. However, my surgeon wouldn’t do the reconstruction until at least 6 months after my first surgery. I wound up having one additional surgery to remove more scar tissue that had built up following the explant, and then reconstruction finally happened 9 months after my original surgery. Now, three years later, I am thrilled with the results.

Yes, I have significant scarring. But what I got in exchange for that scarring is everything- I got my life back. Your health is everything- it doesn’t matter how perky the girls are if you have to keep them in bed or a hospital all day. This very long process started me on an incredible health journey that completely transformed my life, not just for me, but for my children as well.

My husband was my biggest encourager in this, reminding me that taking this step was as much for our children and our family as it was for me and my health. I have four daughters and three sons, and I’ve been honest with them about this process. That I prioritized looking “pretty” without looking ahead to the consequences, and that now I’m setting aside looking “pretty” for the sake of feeling my best, so I can be the wife and mom I want to be. When I first got my implants, I believed I was taking steps to be my best self. Now my definition of my best self is different. This is breaking generational curses. My hope is that when my children are older, their definition of the best version of themselves (or their wives) will be focused on what’s inside- not what’s on the outside.

Home Remedies, Planning, preparedness

What’s in my car first aid kit?

Lauren

With summer coming to a close and school starting back, I’m doing a reset of first aid kits around my house and in my car. In the summer my first aid kits tend to be equipped for scrapes, sunburns, rashes, bee stings, heat sickness, and dehydration. But when school goes back, I tend to add in an extra layer and prepare for sudden onset of stomach bugs, allergic reactions, headaches, and the bumps and bruises that happen in those recess dustups that my boys seem to be known for.

I’ll also add what I like to keep in my car for preparedness— because we naturally find ourselves at impromptu park dates and nature hikes as part of our homeschool adventures. You’ll see me keep a variety of crunchy and not-so-crunchy options here, and that’s because typically if I’m reaching for first aid, we need a quick-fix until we can get to the better option. We don’t need to pull from these items often, but when we do, I want things that I know will work and work quickly.

In my car:

I love to keep basic first aid:

  • Silverceuticals Nano-Gel for first aid ointement: this treats burns, scrapes, cuts, rashes, and any other irritation very quickly (use my code GENTLEMOMMY to save 25% off your order with Silverceuticals)
  • Silverceuticals Nanosilver liquid in a spray mister for disinfecting surfaces, skin, soothing irritated eyes and ears
  • Hydrogen peroxide: aside from cleaning wounds, it gets blood out of kids shirts and jeans and car upholstery (ask me how I know)
  • Variety of bandages, gauze pads, wraps, and scissors
  • A charcoal drawing paste (recipe is attached in the PDF) for treating bee stings
  • Comfrey tallow salve (recipe is attached) to stop bleeding and swelling
  • Essential oils like lavender, tea tree, and frankincense for soothing boo-boos and relieving nausea
  • Baby wipes

Then my step-up supplies:

  • Benadryl for urgent allergy reactions
  • Pepto-bismol chewables for upset tummies
  • Dramamine for bad carsickness
  • Advil for headaches (I keep ginger chewables for headaches and nausea too)
  • Glycerin suppositories for toddlers who are backed up and needing help away from home (I keep a few diapers in my trunk too)
  • Plastic grocery bags for upset tummies or bagging wet clothes
  • Electrolyte drink packets

And basic supplies I like to have in the car:

  • Jumper cables
  • Headlamps, a lantern, and one good flashlight
  • Trash bags
  • A good, sharp knife
  • A multi-tool with multiple screwdriver heads
  • A folding shovel and retractable saw for wintertime (great for helping if I get stuck in the snow)
  • A basic leash for our dog (or random dogs that find us on hikes and trails)
  • Beach towels (for drying off wet playground slides or cleaning up messes)
  • A few favorite light-hearted books and games in case we’re stuck in traffic (or snow, or mud)
  • Changes of clothes for littles who might have accidents

As the winter rolls in, I’ll add a few other things like warm, fuzzy socks (bc we always get wet socks on snow playdates), blankets, hand warmers, and extra fleece jackets and hats. Inevitably someone forgets theirs in our rush out the door (or loses them when we’re out and about) and it’s nice to have something in the car rather than have to go back home.

If you’re looking to pack your car with the things you’ll need in a pinch, take note of what you don’t have when you need it. It took me lots of miserable days at our co-op before I realized I should always have a change of clothes for my potty-trained but easily distracted younger kids. The list will change in different seasons, but it’s so helpful to revisit your kit and set yourself up for success.

Salve recipesDownload
Beef Recipes, Relishes and Sauces, Sides and Starters

Garlic Scape Chimichurri Sauce

Lauren

We eat a lot of red meat on the farm, and I’m always looking for ways to integrate fresh herbs and veggies in the summer, when heavier buttery sauces feel a bit too rich for the hot weather and long days outside.

Enter this amazing chimichurri, loaded with fresh herbs from the farm, and a kick from infused vinegar. Every year when our chives show off their blossoms, I make chive blossom vinegar- simply pick the blossoms of your chive plants and add them to a half pint (or larger if you have enough blossoms) jar. Fill the jar with white vinegar and cover with a lid, then place in a dark cabinet for 3-6 weeks. You can use red wine vinegar in this recipe, but it is DELICIOUS with chive blossom vinegar. Use what you have 🙂

We had an absolute ton of garlic scapes this year, so I filled my food processor halfway with garlic scapes, then added a generous bunch of parsley and 4 large cloves of garlic. Next I added about a quarter cup of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of chive vinegar (red wine vinegar is a perfectly reasonable substitute) plus a few other herbs we had growing well- oregano, thyme, plus a generous pinch of salt and some black pepper. Pulse this in the food processor until it’s well blended.

This simple silicone soap mold holds 2 tablespoons of sauce in each section. I freeze these and then remove them to a ziplock bag, where they can stay frozen until ready to thaw and serve.

I have a simple silicone soap mold that holds about 2 tablespoons per section, and I fill this with fresh sauces that aren’t suited for canning. Fresh herbs and fats like olive oil don’t can well, but they freeze perfectly- so I place this filled mold in my freezer for a few hours, then remove the frozen pucks and place them in a labeled ziplock bag. Then when I’m ready to serve, I just remove 1-2 pucks and place them in a small bowl on the counter to thaw. By dinner time I have a great fresh-tasting sauce that is every bit as delicious as the day it came out of the garden.

I like to serve this chimichurri over cuts like flank steak, ranchera (also called flap steak), tri-tip, and even regular sirloins that I’ve seasoned with a bit of paprika, salt, and pepper. Pair this with rice and steamed veggies like broccoli or green beans for an easy dinner.

Uncategorized

Lauren’s Roast Chicken

Lauren

A crispy roast chicken is one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to feed a family. If you’re like me, you need a hands-off type of dinner that you can go-to on a regular basis, and this chicken never fails in that department. The seasonings and coordinating vegetables are interchangeable, so you can make this go any direction you like, based on what your family loves or what you have in your pantry. Save yourself an extra meal prep for the week and go ahead and cook 2 chickens at once if you like- then serve one and cut the other up for tacos, salads, sandwiches, or whatever you like 🙂

PrintPrint

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken

  • 1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise

  • 1 lemon (or orange or lime)

  • 1 white onion

  • Optional: your choice of root veggies like carrots and potatoes, celery, sliced squashes, fennel, asparagus, leeks; any veggies or even fruits you like can be included

  • 1/2 cup olive oil or melted butter

  • Herbs of your choice (I love herbs de provence or Penzey’s Mural of Flavor)

  • Salt and pepper

PrintPrint

Directions

  • Check the cavity of your chicken to ensure it’s empty of any packaged organ meat or giblets. Pat the chicken dry and salt and pepper it inside and outside.
  • Slice the lemon or orange (if using) in half and place inside the cavity, along with the halved head of garlic.
  • Slice the onion and place along the bottom of a heavy dutch oven or roasting pan, along with any root veggies or other accompanying vegetables, cut into 2 inch chunks.
  • Place the chicken breast side up atop the vegetables, and drizzle with olive oil or melted butter. Sprinkle with herbs.
  • Roast in oven, uncovered, at 425*F for 75-90 minutes, checking to see when juices run clear (poke between the leg and the body with a fork and watch for juices to run out- if they’re pink, continue cooking in 10-15 minute increments). If you find the skin is getting too dark, cover your chicken with foil or the lid of your dutch oven until chicken is done.
  • Remove from oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

This recipe is so simple, and it’s easy to customize. I change it up and marinate my chicken for a few hours (1/4 cup orange juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, 6 cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon oregano, 1 tablespoon cumin, a handful of salt, 1 bunch of cilantro- all pulsed through the blender) before roasting over carrots and onions. I hold back about 1/2 cup of that marinade and pour it over rice, then squeeze a couple of limes on top. It makes the best low-involvement dinner, and everyone always wants seconds.

You can take this chicken and cut it up into chunks for chicken pot pie, slice it and serve over salads, chop it and coat in barbecue sauce for sandwiches, or roast with the lid on for steamed shreddable chicken for enchiladas. The possibilities are endless, and once it goes in the oven you have over an hour of time back on your hands.

Once dinner is over, be sure to save the carcass and put it back in your dutch oven- because all you have to do is cover it in water, add a splash of apple cider vinegar, a little more salt and some black peppercorns- and you’re ready to let it simmer overnight for bone broth. I keep my broth in a 250*F oven overnight, then strain it into a large bowl in the morning before pouring it up into jars. This way we get a few quarts of bone broth every time I make a chicken- and it’s much easier to wash that dutch oven after it’s simmered in broth all night long. I use bone broth in lots of ways- cooking potatoes for mashed potatoes, cooking rice, making sauces or soups, even drinking it to enjoy the health benefits. The point is that one night of a cooked chicken can feed your family far beyond just one meal.

Have you tried roasting a chicken? If it’s not on your regular meal plan for your family, I’d encourage you to add it! It’s cheaper to buy whole chicken vs. cut breasts, and it uses the whole animal, which as a farmer, is one of the best ways for us to respect the sacrifice of that bird. I hope you’ll give this recipe a try!

Uncategorized

Spring on the Farm

Lauren
The first calf of the season: a jersey heifer with a typical jersey underbite. She’ll outgrow this by the time she’s 6 months old.

We’ve made it! We had a pretty mild winter, and while it’s been slow to show its face, spring has finally sprung at Seven Wonders. We have long winters here, and the high desert means we get very cold temps through the nights well into the summer. Our growing season is just 67 days…which means while the rest of the world is getting their gardens planted, we’re just barely waking up from under the snow.

I’m not the world’s most passionate gardener- and it takes a lot of passion to grow things where we live. I’d rather spend my time with the animals, prepping our soil for gardening and hay growing with their amazing contributions. So for us, spring looks like digging through all the spent hay and manure that’s accumulated through the winter, and preparing our animals for the two major events on our farm: calving for the younger cows, and butchering for the older ones. The circle of life holds us close here, and it’s both brutal and beautiful, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Me with Judy, our Jersey heifer. Right where I want to be.

For prepping our pastures, Mike uses our skid steer (we have a Kubota SSV 65) to scoop the manure from our compost heap and around the main pen where they hang out, and deposits it around our pasture. Then a neighbor who has an apparatus for dragging manure comes and drags it through our pastures, breaking up the manure that’s been left there throughout the winter as well. It’s amazing how this process feeds our otherwise pitiful rocky soil and prepares it for growing hay.

For the cows, I make sure each of our cows who are preparing for spring calving is set up for success. The milk cows are dried off 2 months before calving, meaning we slowly stop milking them (usually over a week, I just take less each day until they’ve run dry). For both beef and milk cows, we make sure they have access to minerals and have been dewormed with our herbal dewormer (I love molly’s herbals from mollysherbals.com). I check my calving kits (which are mostly just gloves, lubricant, and old towels), and I make sure I have a gallon of molasses on-hand for mamas after birth (I give 16 oz. molasses per 5 gallons of water as soon as I see them after calving- often the morning after because I wake up to a happy calf and its mama).

I try to keep 3 cows to calve in spring (between May and June) and 3 cows to calve in fall (usually September to October). This typically lets me have milk throughout the year, so long as cows are bred on time. If (like this year) we have issues with breeding timing, I have found that I can buy quality cows from a nearby dairy to get me through our dry periods, and once my main cows calve, I sell the short term cows as trained hand-milk cows to local homesteaders. I love this option so much that I’ve actually started a milk cow business! So far I’ve sold 7 milk cows to local homesteaders, and I’m planning on selling at least a dozen more before the end of the year. By doing this I help a dairyman who loves his cows avoid sending those that don’t fit the mold of the dairy industry to the auction, and I train and place them with families who are looking for well-bred, gentle dairy cows for their families and communities. It’s been a beautiful way to fill a need, and it fills my spirit and helps our family financially. What a blessing.

The mobile butcher, coming to our farm for Blessing Day- when life on the farm comes full circle.
We thank our animals for their sacrifice and the gift they are to our family and our community every time the butchers come to us.

The hardest part of this season is butchering. We have a mobile butcher come to our farm twice a year, and we try to harvest 2-3 cows each time. The mobile butcher is a blessing to me- they come and cull my cows right here on the farm, and they can dispatch them at a distance; meaning my cows can be peacefully grazing in our pasture one second, and be gone the next. They never suffer or know stress. We harvest every bit of our cows that we can, and what isn’t turned into food (or supplements like collagen and tallow) for us becomes food for our soil. We can nourish our entire farm, and a lot of our community, with their contributions. It’s sad for me to say goodbye to these beautiful creatures we’ve cared for, but I’m so grateful for all the ways their sacrifice extends their life through connection to so many new living things.

Last summer on the farm: hay growing, calves coming, life moving forward, always.

We’re in our fourth year on the farm now, and it’s the time when we realize we’re in this for the long haul. Not because we subscribe to someone else’s farming method, but because we’re finding our own. So many common “homestead” things don’t work for us, but we’re carving out a road for ourselves. It’s amazing how this works. I’m laughing at my notes from all the homesteading books I read in the years before the farm- so little of what I thought would be our method has actually transpired. But in the space of that has been enormous self-discovery. We’ve become braver. We’ve become innovators and ingenues. My beliefs and ideals have been challenged, but I think we’ve all come through stronger in what we believe and stand for than I ever could have imagined. It’s hard to be this close to our food- and yet it’s the only way I want to live, for now and forever. We can do hard things! And hard things done in great love are always worth doing.

xoxo~ Lauren

Goats

Baby Goats!

Lauren

It’s kidding time! And by kidding, I mean my mama goats are giving us baby goats. It’s the most wonderful time of year on the farm, as far as I’m concerned.

We have LaManchas, and they are full-sized goats (around 100 lbs each) who typically give us 2-3 kids each every year. They breed seasonally, meaning they only come into heat once a month from August to January, and they can’t breed the rest of the year. Goats are pregnant for 145-155 days, and can kid anywhere from 10 days before to 10 days after their due dates. (Mini goats kid around 140 days, and our Mini-LaMancha, Chip, has consistently kidded right at 140 days with 3-4 kids each time).

We currently have 8 senior does on our farm- that is eight mama goats who have had babies before and are experienced milkers. Each of these, with the exception of Chip, were bought from a dairy where they never raised their own babies (the dairy was on a CAE virus prevention protocol, meaning kids cannot drink unpasteurized milk). So some of our does have embraced motherhood, while others have outright rejected it. This means I have to be prepared not only for whatever may happen during birth, but also for the possibility that mamas may reject or even harm their own babies.

Last year, knowing our goats were inexperienced mamas and having an almost entirely female (12/13 babies were female!) kidding cycle, we chose to bottle feed the whole lot. Bottle feeding ensures that all babies get equal amounts of milk, when raising with mamas often means the strongest kids take more than their weaker siblings, and in cases of 3 or more babies, some babies may not get enough to survive. Bottle feeding also prevents lopsided udders, since it’s common for babies to favor one side, and mamas will produce where there is demand. A lopsided udder can have long-term effects for mama, and since we register and show our goats, we want the opportunity for our mama goats to have healthy and balanced udders for as long as possible. Bottle feeding also produces friendly kids in a pretty easy way, since kids learn to associate people with food from the start. Goats are smart and incredibly skeptical, so creating a bond from their earliest days makes a huge difference in how a mature goat will relate to people- which is a big deal if you’re raising them to be milked by people twice a day.

This year, we’re taking a different approach, largely since the tables have turned and our does are having male kids. 7 out of 8 kids so far have been male, and since this means we won’t be raising them as future milk goats, we don’t have the same need to develop a strong bond between goat and people. Male goats- especially male full-sized goats like LaManchas- are almost exclusively purchased for meat, and the people buying them are rarely concerned with their temperament. So we will love on these boys as much as we can while we have them, but we are enjoying a season off from bottle-feeding and practicing a kid-share with their mamas.

A kid-share is simply the practice of leaving the kids with their mama all day to get as much milk as they need or want, then letting mama sleep with her herd while the kids sleep in the barn. We milk her in the morning and return her to her babies for the day, separating them at bedtime and repeating the process until the kids are weaned. I love this process. We get plenty of milk for us (our best producing does give us between a half and a whole gallon each day!) and they still have plenty for their babies, and we don’t have to prepare and wash bottles throughout the day every day. Win-win!

I’ve also been fortunate enough in the last two years to rarely have to intervene for their births. In my first year, I wasn’t a terribly responsible breeder, and I bred my goats to a buck who threw very large kids. It was catastrophic. My poor does had challenging births, and like all of us, a hurting mama after birth has a hard time caring for her babies well. I’ve learned my lesson and gone with proven bucks from lines that produce easy birthing and the long-term traits I’m looking for, and since then we haven’t had any major issues.

The biggest issue I run into in kidding is malpresentation. Essentially our goats should present with a nose and two hooves as they exit the birth canal. In virtually every birth on our farm, this is what I see. But occasionally, I’ll see a small deviation. Our mini-LaMancha, Chip, often has 3 or 4 kids at a time, and her babies will be tangled as they come out- meaning the nose of one kid presents with the feet of another. In those cases I can usually gently rearrange the kids and she takes over and pushes them out herself.

This year, one of our girls, Nadine, had a boy whose front leg was up over his head. Every time Nadine pushed, his head curled back under the weight of that leg and blocked his exit. After seeing her struggling, using obstetric lubricant and sterile gloves, I waited until she wasn’t contracting and gently slipped his leg over his head to the right position. And once his legs were under his chest she easily pushed him right out, followed by his sister close behind.

The birthing space

About a month before kidding time, the kids and I clean out the barn stalls and fill them with fresh straw or pine shavings. We prep feeders and water buckets so they’re ready to be filled when goats come into the barn, and we prep our kidding kit. I’ve included my kidding kit essentials as a free pdf for you to save for future reference. I keep my kidding kit in our mud room, along with other essentials that don’t necessarily need to be outside for the birthing process, but are good to have on-hand for when babies arrive.

I keep flashlights and headlamps with plenty of extra batteries available in our barn, and I make sure I have easy access to our pens and working latches on their gates (because my goats are the WORST escape artists).

As kidding time approaches, I begin watching my does. I’ll see their udders “bagging up,” that is, slowly filling with milk, and then about 24 hours before kidding, they typically show the udder “pop!” This is a drastic and clearly noticeable change in the udder, going from pretty-full to suddenly on the verge of explosion…and that’s when I bring them into the barn. My goats hate the barn. They can’t wait to get back to the herd, so I typically bring another goat, preferably one who will kid soon as well, into the barn with them, to sleep in the stall next to them. This lets them have a buddy, but also prevents the inevitable curiosity that goats exhibit when a neighbor gives birth.

Once they’re in the barn, I give my girls plenty of fresh hay and a bucket of water, and I get heat lamps ready for kids. Typically I have 1-2 heat lamps clamped to the side rails of their pens, since we typically have kids in freezing overnight temperatures and our barn isn’t terribly warm. Even then, my goal is to wean kids off heat lamps by 2 weeks so they’ll be well-adjusted to our climate. We unplug the lamps during the day (unless we’re having seriously cold temps inside the barn) and turn on the absolute minimum for nighttime as we do evening chores. I don’t start separating mamas from babies for kid-sharing until babies are at least 1 week old and are thriving and able to regulate their body temperatures.

When things go wrong

There’s always the possibility for things to go wrong. I feel like our first year was full of so many issues- I was not a responsible breeder and just bred the backyard herd goats I purchased to a young buck who was small at the time of breeding, but who quickly grew to be very stocky, and who threw HUGE kids. I had to intervene with stuck kids again and again, and my mamas struggled to bounce back from rough deliveries. This is when I learned the value of quality and intentional breeding. 🙂

The good news in that particularly rough year is that I actually was prepared. So while I failed my girls on the front end, I actually was able to help with the right supplements and tools in my kidding kit. I’ve attached that here for you- and please check lots of sources as you stock your kit. We all feel differently about what our must-haves are for goat births, and we evolve our choices with time and experience.

Ahead of kidding, I read Storey’s Guide to Raising Dairy Goats chapters on kidding and caring for mama, and I review my notes from last year. I prep their barn stall and I check my kidding kit for supplies. I make a plan for bottle feeding if necessary, and I plan what I’ll do with kids- will we sell them? Will we raise some for our herd, or will we raise some for meat? And what about kids who won’t make it? Inevitably there will be weak kids (this year we had some who aspirated amniotic fluid and couldn’t clear their lungs) and every now and then accidents happen (like babies who jump into water troughs or get injured by other goats). What will we do for when those things happen? Will we put them down, are we committed to making them survive no matter what?

Last year, I was so committed to not losing babies that I tube-fed one of our doelings for 8 weeks. She had a birth defect with her jaw, and I kept hoping it would correct itself. But she never learned to suck and she could never chew hay- so eventually we had to put her down vs. letting her starve. It was a hard but worthwhile lesson, and now we plan ahead to assess each goat for health and ability to thrive.

Iris with our tube-fed baby, not sure if she needs a bottle, the tube, or my coffee 🙂

As babies get older

We always have a plan for our goat kids. Regardless of whether we’re keeping them or selling them, I always disbud them in the first week of life. This is another lesson I learned the hard way- we had multiple goats with horns on our farm, and consistently they put their heads where they didn’t belong, and got caught in fences or other structures. And there were more than a few times we got to them too late. Goats are curious creatures and they do LOTS of things to endanger themselves. Removing their horns is an easy way for me to be sure they’re not going to die hung up in a fence or feeder while I’m away from home.

This year I’ll be selling quite a few of our goats- narrowing our milking herd down to just eight main females, with two bucks to service four girls each. This means I’ll have 12 bred females, some of whom will be in milk in March and many of whom will kid in May, available for sale. If you’re local and interested in quality, ADGA registered or registrable milk goats, or if you’re interested in young kids to raise for future farm goats, reach out to me! I’ll also have a few who are eligible to ship nationwide within the US for an additional fee.

Hooray for babies! Even when things don’t go perfectly, I’m always happier walking outside to the cute little “maaaaaaa’s” that come this time of year. I hope you’re all having a lovely almost-spring, wherever you are.

~L

Kidding-Kit-EssentialsDownload
Uncategorized

2024 on the Farm

Lauren
Our border collie, Sweep, can’t get enough of the snow

January has arrived and filled our farm with all the cozy vibes that come with lots of fresh-fallen snow, animals happily hunkered down in their straw beds, and never-ending outdoor fun for the children and the dogs.

Personally, I love the turning of the calendar year. I keep a farm journal with a section for each specific species of animal, tracking their breeding, feeding, birthing, milk production (or meat/egg production) and all our farm projects. It makes it easy for me to make good decisions for our farm this way- because otherwise this can quickly become an extremely expensive hobby vs a farm that pays for itself. We found a new hay supplier after drowning in hay costs for the last two years, and I’m excited to see how our cost savings affect our bottom line in this new year.

I also love using this season to reflect and reset my priorities. My children are early risers (most of them before 6:00 am) and so rather than having early morning time to myself, I spend my mornings chatting with them by the fire about their goals and dreams, and tell them what Mike and I are dreaming of.

In 2023 my word for the year was healing. I had two major surgeries and truly needed to focus on rebuilding my body after years of inflammation and depletion. Thankfully, the farm allowed me to do that. I spent time with friends doing cold plunges in the river, ate more protein and gut healing foods, nourished my spirit by reading with my children, and even found my energy levels back to normal- to the point that I wrote a cookbook!

All that healing has left me feeling so blessed- but also helped me recognize the areas that need tending to in my every day life. We can’t spend our entire lives on a healing journey, you guys. Sure, healing can be part of our journey, but other things have to happen. And so this year, my word for 2024 is anchored. The definition is “rooted in a source of security or stability.” For me, this looks like truly setting down rooted routines so that my children know what to expect day to day.

This is hard for me! As I prayed over the way I spend my time each day, and as I discussed this with my husband, I realized I leave him out a good bit too. Mike travels a lot for work, and it’s easy for me to identify our home as my office and my territory; for us to split up duties and just operate in silos. And that’s not what I want for myself, for Mike, or for my family. So we made a commitment to incorporate more intentional togetherness this year.

Making intentional time for togetherness (vs. only focusing on productivity) is a huge focus for me this year.

Here’s how some of that breaks down:

  • Regular Bible and bedtime WITH my husband (I’m the worst about staying up all night doing projects) we started this in December and it’s so life-giving. We read a Psalm and a chapter of another book (right now we’re in Ecclesiastes, before we read Proverbs) each night. Then we head to bed together. Anything I haven’t finished just has to wait for tomorrow.
  • Reading together with kids at bedtime (we’ve gotten into the bad habit of dad and the kids watching football while mom does dishes and makes bread- now Mike is doing dishes when he’s home, and kids are doing dishes when he’s not, so I can make bread and be done at a decent time for reading)
  • Organized daily cleaning routines instead of mom cleaning all night long, we’ve split chores into days of the week, so the house is clean by our Shabbat on Saturday, and the kids are helping me do these after school each day
  • Homeschool routines since my kids are early risers, and since it’s so cold here, we’re tackling schoolwork until the sun comes over the mountain behind our farm, so we can milk in the warmth of the sunshine (when it will be 20*F instead of 5*F)
  • Dedicated time with my teenager I call this “Coffee with Cora.” Cora makes great coffee and we get to talk about whatever’s on her mind. I can’t tell you how valuable it is to have together time with teens.
  • Continued wellness routines For me this looks like weekly cold plunges, daily vitamins and supplements, 2-3 meals a day (which is a struggle for me- but I’m working on it), journal time, and time in nature every day- some with and some without my children.

I started working on these routines in December when I stepped away from social media- not on purpose, but just out of necessity. I found that with a wide-spread age group of children at home, and managing the farm primarily by myself, and focusing on my marriage with a husband who’s job keeps him on the road, it’s hard to be all the things to other people. Home has to win first.

And as I started letting go of the things that were not the most necessary of my focuses, I found that honestly, without good routines, it was still hard for me to take care of everything without staying up all night, every night. I’m pleased to report though, that with solid routines in place, the days go much smoother, and not surprisingly, I get so much more done.

Below you’ll find an example of our daily routine as it stands now, after about a month of working at it, plus you can follow the link to my free editable weekly household cleaning routine.

Weekly Chore Template

Simple-Daily-Routine-PlannerDownload

I hope your 2024 is off to a blessed start. It’s never too late to start fresh.

Uncategorized

Keeping a healthy starter

Lauren

We eat a lot of bread in our house. With seven children and a busy farm to manage, I love the flexibility sourdough baking gives me. Sourdough isn’t a flavor- it’s a method, and one that allows me to avoid using commercial yeast in favor of harvesting the wild yeast in my home environment. So many accounts make sourdough seem inaccessible- but truthfully, our homes are already hosts to a wide variety of natural yeasts. They want to live. And with patience and proper feeding ratios, they will thrive with whatever conditions you ask them to.

I know. That seems crazy. I didn’t believe it myself when we moved to our high altitude desert climate. I was so sure my starter was doomed to be weak and sluggish, that it would need extra support like a heated mat to keep it alive and thriving in my 50*F kitchen…but I was wrong. It just took time and attention to adapt my starter to my routine and my environment. Now I have a happy and active starter and beautiful, well-risen loaves, with feeding only once every 2-3 days.

I keep a well-fed starter on my kitchen counter, and I bake every other day- feeding my starter only when I am preparing dough for the next day’s baking.

Here’s what that schedule looks like for me:

Monday night: feed starter, prepare 2-3 recipes of sourdough (usually 1-2 sandwich loaves and a batch of pizza dough)

Tuesday morning: shape, rise, and bake sandwich loaves, place pizza dough in ziplock bags for the lunches for the week

I find that I have the best success with a small amount of starter compared to a much higher amount of flour and water. To keep a solid amount of starter for frequent baking, I feed 70g of starter with 125g each of flour and water. However…if I notice my starter is sluggish or slack as opposed to happily rising with big, stretchy bubbles inside, I feed the tiniest bit of starter- like 5-10g- with 125-150g each of flour and water. (I use organic white wheat bread flour, but I’ve used organic unbleached all-purpose flour for years in the past with great results. Whatever flour you use- just watch how it reacts to your environment with feeding regularly and in good ratios, and you’ll find a good routine.)

The microbes in that little amount of starter receive a huge boost in a larger feeding, and the results show a much more robust and active starter.

The other factor benefiting healthy starter growth is time. I love when things come together quickly. Unfortunately, working with a starter is much like getting plants off to a good start. You need to be both consistent and patient. While many sourdough experts will share methods to make your own starter in 7 days, in reality, I’ve made my own starter from scratch more than a few times, and they become the healthiest versions of themselves between 14-20 days. And while you may be able to bake with the starter you get prior to that 2 week maturity point, it’s quite possible, even likely, that you’ll be frustrated with the quality of the loaves that come from those bakes.

And since it takes 3 weeks to form a habit, it’s pretty easy to see why someone who starts sourdough only to be discouraged by poor results in the early stages might want to quit- all before the beauty of the process takes hold.

So if you’re just getting a starter going and you haven’t found the results you’re looking for, don’t give up! With a good routine of feeding your starter and an understanding that it may be closer to three weeks before it’s really thriving an happy, you’ll be well on your way to baking beautiful happy loaves.

Faith, Uncategorized

Holidays at Seven Wonders

Lauren

I’ve been working on a cookbook, called “A Home-Centered Holiday.” I’m so excited about it, and I’m most excited because I’ll have it ready for you to buy the first week of December, with plenty of time to make family-friendly recipes for whatever holidays your family is celebrating.

Which brings me to the most frequently asked question I receive @thegentlemommy on Instagram. We are Torah-Observant Christians, which means we seek to keep the commands of the Torah in love and appreciation for Yeshua/Jesus, because those are the commands He kept, and because He says in 1 John 5:3, “For this is love for God: to obey His commands, and His commands are not burdensome.” When we look to the doctrine we follow, as a family we seek to follow the doctrine kept by Yeshua and the disciples, which was the Torah.

Please note that everything I share here is simply me sharing the basis for my family’s faith walk. I know that faith is a very personal journey, and we are all on different paths. I love the path our family has found, but I also respect that my path may differ greatly from yours.

I cite Matthew 5:17-20 when people ask us why we do what we do: 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” We love Yeshua, and truly keeping His commands has been such a blessing to our family that we can’t imagine a life that doesn’t include walking in this way.

So what does that mean when it comes to the holidays? Based on Deuteronomy 12:29-32, we know that God commands us not to ask after the way other cultures have worshiped their gods and then seek to worship Him in that way. He also says not to add or take away from the commands of the Torah. Since we believe God is who He says He is, and we believe He is unchanging, we take Him at His word, and this means we want to worship Him in ways He desires- not in ways our culture desires to worship.

For us that means we reject any faith based traditions that are rooted in paganism or other faiths. And if you do much study of the typical holidays of the christian church, you’ll find that all of them are converted pagan holidays with roots that tie back to Constantine and the conquering of pagan nations- literally what is stated in Deuteronomy 12:29 as what God does not want from those who love Him. And so, as a family, we don’t celebrate Christmas, Easter, Advent, Lent, or any other holidays that have roots to other gods.

However, this doesn’t mean we have no holidays at all. In fact, the Biblical Feasts outlined in Leviticus 23 actually all point to Yeshua/Jesus, and these are the primary holidays our family celebrates. Passover, First Fruits, Shavuot, Yom Teruah/Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and the Shabbat are all feasts that are easy to observe, and they have instructions for their observation in the Torah. Passover: Yeshua is sacrificed, First Fruits: He’s resurrected, Shavuot: the Holy Spirit descends, Yom Teruah: prophecies the return of Yeshua/Jesus, Yom Kippur: He judges the quick and the dead, Sukkot: the marriage supper of the lamb/the millennial reign.

In addition to these, we recognize the Jewish feast of Hanukkah as the Feast of Dedication mentioned in John 10:22, and we observe it as a time to clean our homes of what doesn’t serve God or allow us to serve Him and serve His people. We remember how the Jewish people have fought for survival in the worst of circumstances, and how God stands with His people in times of trial. But do we see this feast as an alternative to Christmas? No. We don’t do presents for religious holidays, we don’t go overboard decorating our home or shopping or loading our calendar with activities.

This is where holidays differ for us. The world tends to be busier during the holidays. We rush to shop, rush to spend, rush to do…so many things. It’s exhausting. But the one holiday that we celebrate the most in our faith? It’s the Shabbat. A dedicated holiday for rest, every single week. We’ve enjoyed shifting away from the busyness of the modern holiday season in favor of a restful one. Each of our celebrations of the Biblical Feasts involve fellowship and inviting others to celebrate with us- but these tend to be peaceful and relaxing celebrations focused on worship and connection to others.

And this is what you’ll see reflected in my cookbook and in my highlights of our life on the farm during this season. It’s slower- I make meals from the bounty of our harvests and keep them ready in our freezer. We end our days earlier as the sun sets earlier and earlier. We cozy up and enjoy indoor projects like knitting, sewing, making soaps, salves, and tinctures for the season, and finally canning all those tomatoes that have been waiting patiently in the freezer. I put soups, stews, and roasts on the rotation. I make pies and serve tea and cocoa. We read together by the fire and listen to good music and chat about our days and dreams together.

I want people to come into my home and enjoy being in fellowship with us. Our home isn’t decorated for Christmas, and yet with a warm fire, nourishing foods out for enjoying, and something delicious to sip while catching up with one another, our home becomes a place where people from any background can gather. And here is my encouragement to you: whatever holidays you celebrate, whatever you believe, my hope is that you feel confident in welcoming others into your home- not because of what your home appears to be, but because of who you are. A good friend with a warm heart creates a welcoming home. Do your guests have a place to sit? Can you offer them something to drink or eat? Can you pause your activity in order to chat with them and hear their stories with an attentive ear? Then you are a worthy host.

I couldn’t slow down to be a gracious host to others until I was willing to step away from the rush to participate in every activity from November 1st to January 1st- initially it was simply reducing our commitments during the season. But over time it shifted into something much, much bigger. Whatever is right for you, my prayer is that this season you find peace and the encouragement that comes from sharing with others.

Uncategorized

Homeschooling a houseful

Lauren

I love home-centered learning. I can remember attending a homeschooling conference where a speaker said, “you’ll never find success if your reason for homeschooling is simply to not do something the world is doing. You have to anchor your why in what you are doing.”

This really struck me. We don’t homeschool because of all the issues with compulsory schooling- although I certainly see enough issues to make me to stick with homeschooling even on the hardest days. We homeschool because we love spending time with our children, and we want them to live a life rooted in beauty and goodness that can be seen through a lifetime of learning. Homeschooling has allowed me to read more, explore more, and bond more with my children than any other activity we’ve done together.

But with seven children, four of them school-aged and 2 more ready for preschool learning, I have to be extremely intentional with our time together. Personally, I subscribe to an eclectic learning style that tends to be a blend of the Classical, Charlotte Mason, and Unschooling homeschool methods. For us, that looks like following a spine from Classical Conversations, using books and hands on learning to support what material we’re discovering, and allowing for deviations from our focuses as my children’s interests lead us in different directions.

Example:

We begin with history, and follow a 3-year cycle.

Year 1 we study ancient history and world civilizations. In this year we also study biology, botany, and zoology using unit studies and nature study. We will also look to fine arts and study ancient, gothic, and renaissance art, as well as world geography.

Year 2 we study medieval to modern world history. This is hugely expansive, and so as we repeat the cycles, I go into more depth the 2nd and 3rd rotations. In cycle 2 we also study ecology, astronomy, and physical science. In fine arts we look at Baroque, Neoclassical, and Romantic periods, and we go further into world geography and the changes in the geopolitical environment through modern history.

Year 3 we study US history. In science we look at anatomy, chemistry, and biblical cosmology vs. the secular scientific study of origins of the universe. In fine arts we study modern art and look at modern composers, paying special attention to artists and composers from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. (I work hard to find rich and diverse sources for our history, art, and literature studies- while I do this with each cycle, I find it to be far easier when studying the modern era.)

My favorite resources for these are Story of the World for history, The Good and Beautiful for science unit studies (all except Biblical cosmology), book lists from The Peaceful Press, Stories of Color, and Heritage Mom Blog (all on instagram).

We make all this happen in a pretty orderly fashion. Each day, every child does math and reading/language arts. For math, I use Saxon math for all grades, and for reading/language arts I use IEW- the Institute for Excellence in Writing. We also read stories from The Golden Children’s Bible that correspond to our weekly Torah portions. (We follow the torah portions outlined at virtualhousechurch.com)

After we’ve done math, language arts, and Bible time, we rotate through a loop:

Monday: History- we read a chapter from Story of the World, identify the locations in that chapter on an atlas, review places we learned about previously, and do a hands-on activity. We may also do a notebooking page, do some research if the kids have questions, or make an addition to our history timeline chart.

Tuesday: Science- we do a lesson and experiment from one of our Good and Beautiful unit studies, sketch or draw from what we’ve studied, and read picture books that relate to the story. We recently bought a Yoto Player for our children- it’s an audiobook player for children with no screens and no ads- and it has options to buy science focused audio-stories. We are enjoying the Brain Bots studies of the human body on the Yoto as we sketch our way through the systems of the body.

Wednesday: Fine Arts- we read folk tales and fables or works from authors in the period of history we’re studying. I include our family poetry tea time on these days, as well as an artist study and a composer study. We spend the entire Wednesday listening to good books, drawing or painting like a famous artist, and listening to good music. We spent the first portion of this year listening to indigenous American fables and folk tales, and we’re beginning to listen to early American folk music and hymns.

Thursday: Nature Study- we loosely follow the guides from Treehouse Schoolhouse. I simply choose a lesson from the current season that best fits what’s happening on our farm and the other things we’re studying, and we follow that lesson. This might look like a nature walk on our property, a sketch or collage in response to what we’ve seen, and a notebooking page with lots of facts we’ve discovered, or even a cooking project with something from the farm.

We don’t do school on Fridays, because we’re preparing for Shabbat on Saturday. Our Fridays are spent cooking meals for the weekend, cleaning the house, and tackling small projects around the house. I consider all of this to be life-learning: we pay bills, clean out the fridge and assess what we have and what we need, write the menu and the grocery list for the next week, get laundry folded and put away, and finalize the big projects we need to tackle on Sunday. This lets us enjoy a full day of rest on Sundays, and it keeps my children in a mindset of working hard and planning with the reward of rest always ahead of them.

I do have a high schooler in my homeschool now- and her work is much more intense than what is outlined here. She’s studying traditional logic, Spanish (from an old textbook of mine), AP US History, Physical Science, Algebra 1, and American Literature and composition. She can do much of her study independently, and I just plan to spend 15-30 minutes with her on math and composition. Otherwise I’m available to her for discussion and reviewing her work throughout the day, and she studies in the same room with us as I read and review with her younger siblings.

My goal as I teach each of my children is not to ensure they have every single fact we study memorized, but that they have an impression of the big picture on their minds. As we repeat each cycle, more details imprint on them, and their own curiosity often directs us to learn more. I also tend to find that when we follow their interests, our discoveries are more likely to stay with them- so I encourage my children to ask questions and I try to offer them opportunities to research and create presentations for the family based on their findings.

Our days aren’t perfect and smooth-flowing, but they are definitely guided and predictable. And because they know what we’ll do each day, it’s easier for me to keep us on a general track week to week, month to month, and year to year, even when we have to make shifts due to family circumstances.