Before we ever got the idea of moving onto land, living in a single-wide, and wanting to grow our own food, we had plans to buy a conventional house, a car and be in debt just like the majority of people do, not that it is a bad thing, and I’m not knocking anyone who goes that route. Although, we would probably still have bought a house in a rural area on a small piece of land because I have pretty much lived the most part of my life in a rural area on some kind of land with some type of farm animal always present. Anyway, while we were in the early stages of our relationship, you know the times before children when we were able to stay up til 3am talking life, hopes, and dreams, I was on a journey myself to changing the way I viewed food. I have always been on the heavy side, and admittedly used food as a stress reliever and for comfort. It got out of control as did my weight and when I was to be the Maid of Honor in my little sisters wedding I knew I needed to do something about it otherwise, I was going to feel embarrassed standing in front of a lot of people in a dress I knew wasn’t going to feel right and I knew I wasn’t going to feel good wearing. I had seen a very inspiring film and decided to go on a juicing fast which in turn completely changed my life for the better. I lost 32 pounds in 2 months and completely changed the way I looked at eating, made me feel in power with my eating choices as if food had no emotional hold on me and I no longer felt any emotional attachment to it. It was wonderful. Then came along this guy who was also in the midst of life changing decisions and we fell in love hard! Everyone knows what happens when you are in love, here came the dates and the dinners out. Even though we were both careful on what we were eating, for me eating anything I’m not supposed to, even in small amounts can send me 5-10 pounds over on the scale. Together we learned more about our diets and more about food, even more than I had already learned and we were both shocked and concerned for our health, mental and physical, the environment, the animals that suffer every moment until they are slaughtered for us to eat them, the companies that lie to us just to make a buck…I could go on and on. We learned how everything affects our mind and bodies, how the diseases we are told are non curable are in fact curable. It was horrible. It felt horrible, but we made a choice to make a change within ourselves, to make conscious decisions that will make us healthier, make us feel better about who we are and who the choices we make affect.

We chose to become Vegans, almost Raw Vegans completely removing all processed foods and eating whole foods. It was great! For the first time in my life I got under 200 pounds! My husband got down to 185 pounds! We both felt great, we had so much energy, we were so happy all the time because we just felt wonderful. My skin was radiant. Blackheads. What blackheads? I had none! I was always glowing as if I was pregnant, and then…I was pregnant. Everything changed! It was like pregnancy erased everything I had worked so hard for. Of course, it was an amazing experience, two pregnancies and three children later I am back to square one, struggling to eat clean, to lose the weight again even though I already know what I have to do to achieve it. Its been hard, not going to lie about that. We are still vegetarians, but I am eating way too much gluten and dairy products. That stuff kills me. So with that in mind, knowing everything we know about foods, we are making every effort to set us up for success in being able to grow our own foods. I want my kids to know what real food is. To love and appreciate the earth and all it has to offer us. ***As I was writing this I had to run outside and save our best rooster from death by dog!*** To be compassionate, mindful, selfless, independent, and in control of their health.

Our goal is to be in control. Live life in a simple yet fulfilling and fabulous way. To create, grow and build with our own hands and know the ins and outs of everything that belongs to us. We appreciate everything we have, even if its old, small, simple, or a little run down, it is ours and that is what truly matters.

Thanks for reading! Until next time.

-Cristina