Overload

It's 2:11pm. My kiddos are sleeping, and I should be editing pictures or making phone calls or at least taking a shower because I worked out this morning and stink to high heaven. But I've got so much on my mind, I can't concentrate on anything else. See, Adam and I started watching Food, INC. last night. We stream it through Netflicks on our Wii, which is our oh-so-convienent (and waaaay cheaper!) alternative to cable. Well, that and hulu. But Food, Inc.
It's basically a movie about how our food (especially meat) production has changed in America in the last 50 years...and it seriously made me nauseous. But in a good way...is that possible? It shows the meat lots, the chicken farms, stuff like that. We're probably only half through it, and I want to go buy a farm and start raising all our own meat, milk, & eggs. Like today. That's how eye-opening this movie is-seriously, you should watch it! I knew some of the facts behind how our meat is mass-produced; but seeing it is just a whole 'nother thing.
and here's the part that drives me nuts.
I consider myself to be fairly health-conscious. And moderatly frugal. Not over-the-top; but
we don't eat anything with hydrogenated oils in it, and keep processed foods to a minimum (like barbeque sauce) in our house.
I make my own salsa because a) It's delicious and b) about 4 years ago I couldn't find a store-bottled salsa without preservatives or, get this, SUGAR in it. Seriously...who puts sugar in salsa??
We don't buy baked goods-except for bread, and that's from a local store with ingredients I can pronounce. We make our own goodies, which are yummier anyways, from the closest-to-nature ingredients we can find. Even things like granola bars are waaaaay cheaper if you make them.
We buy organic fruits and veggies as much as we can afford; sometimes I have to go to 3 stores but I can almost always find the .99/lb. sales on organics SOMEWHERE.
I switched to all-natural cleaners, and use all-natural products on our skin, including my makeup & the kids' wash.
I have used cloth diapers on my babies since Pax was 3 months old. Not only does it save a TON of money long-term, because I use the ones that are adjustable size-wise so I only had to buy the diapers once; we can also keep diapers out of land fills. I'm not hard-core, though; my babies do wear disposables at church in the nursery, or when they stay at Grammy's house.
We do all these things because we want our family to be as healthy as possible. I've slowly learned that health is SO much more than a number on a scale or how fast you can run. And I'm still learning all that it means. But to us, another part of being healthy is keeping chemicals, preservatives, and added hormones out of our bodies as much as possible; so that our bodies have a chance to work the way God intended them to work.
but we don't buy organic or free-range meats. or eggs. or milk.
I do get all-natural milk from a Colorado dairy. But I have no idea how they keep or milk their cows.
We used to get free free-range eggs from a family in Durango...didn't know how good we had it! Not only do they taste better and have more nutrients-the chickens they came from were healthier, which meant their eggs were, well, just better for us.
I wish with all my heart we could go fully free-range, if not organic. I'd love even more to be able to buy everything locally, instead of buying meat shipped from a huge stock lot where the animals are raised for meat with little concern to their health, well-being, or how much manure they're standing in day after day (mmmm...e.coli!).But.
It's so.expensive. And while we always have enough money (God always provides for us as we are faithful to Him, even if we don't see how it's going to work out); there's not exactly a lot of extra floating around. I, like most everyone else, have a grocery budget. We live fairly bare-bones...one car, no cable, homemade as much as possible, cheapest cell phone plan possible, etc. Coupons aren't much of a help because most of what we buy is whole food (think: most like it's natural form). I stay home with my kids, and while I do have a photography business that always seems to bring in money just when we need it; there's not a lot of wiggle room.
but I think I'm about to go all Laura Ingalls Wilder on my husband. If I start to make more stuff (our shampoo, conditioner, & cleaning products are a start-maybe even bread! I am married to a baker's son, after all..) I can stick with the all-natural products I want and maybe, just maybe, save enough to go at least partially free-range with our meat, milk & eggs. If we end up buying our own house anytime soon-or moving someplace with the space for a chest freezer-I'll probably be calling up my sis-in-law to order half a beef from her dad's ranch in Southern Colorado. We may be learning about other good sources of protein and going vegetarian a couple of days a week. And I have a feeling that there will be much more farmer's-market-scouring in our future, as well.
More grocery shopping...ugh. But it'll be worth it- our health is at stake.
So what I want to know is.....
where do I start?? I've google some shampoo recipes, but would much rather hear from my friends, if you guys have any tips or places to look. And I'm sure I'll blog more about my adventures in soap-making and the like. Little House in the (medium) City, anyone?