Getting Your Chickens Ready for Winter
We live in a very cold climate which can take a very harsh toll on livestock. Here is what we do to make sure our chickens stay happy and healthy all winter long.
Our dye-free journey started after I shared an image with my husband about the dangers of eating each chemical color of the rainbow. I saw this image on Facebook and of course spent time researching the so called “facts” found in said image and found them all to be completely true and even found out more dangers in the process. We of course were in the thick of toddler parenting and had been using the now dreaded colored candy coated chocolates to help us potty train our daughter- which of course worked! Now with this new scary information about what we have been feeding not only our daughter but ourselves, where do we go from here. As much as I would say it was an entire detox right away, it wasn’t. At least not for the adults. I of course did the quintessential pantry purge and pulled everything out that had any number food dyes at all. These however didn’t go straight into the trash as you think maybe they would have. Instead, they went to their own cupboard and were only eaten by the adults. After seeing how much of our favorite snacks, condiments, and daily foods actually contained chemically derived colors, we didn’t want to throw away so much food and waste money. We did donate a few things that we decided we could live without and were unopened. But, for the most part, we kept and ate what we had and just decided to replace what we ran out of, with a different dye free option.
Our daughter, who was about 2.5 at the time, took the transition process pretty easily actually. We replaced the fruits snacks and candy that she used to find in her snack drawer with cleaner options like Plum Organics Teensy Snacks, Plum Organics Jammy Sammys and simple chocolate chips for something chocolaty. As she grew up she learned that some things we eat are not healthy for our bodies. Just as kids learned the dangers of the chemicals below the sink, alcohol, matches, and playing in the street, she also learned to start asking about the foods that were given to her and it became second nature for her to politely say no “no thank you” if someone was not 100% sure about where the color derived from. She also knew that there was either a safe option that we sent with her anywhere or that we her caregivers (parents, grandparents, and other family members) had something that we could provide once we were back home.
Our entire transition was met with very little pushback from those who we have around us who also help take care of our kids. Which I am so thankful for! When our journey started, I was still working as a teacher and my husband was working out of the home in the next town over and my parents watched little Nenna while we were at work. I would send healthy alternatives for snacks with her to start out. As we progressed as a dye-free family, my mom would find other snacks and brands that were dye-free and was so excited to introduce Nenna and us on her most recent clean find! We are still finding new snacks that are dye-free and our kids act like it is Christmas day when they get a new treat to try knowing that it isn’t going to hurt their bodies.
We have had some bumps along the road but thankfully they have been few and far between! We struggled a little when it came to finding someone to make birthday cakes but even in our little community we were able to reach out to someone who was willing to use the naturally dyed food coloring we had found online by Watkins! Another Oops moment happened a couple summers ago when we visited the local farmers market. Our market has a wonderful opportunity available for some of the community organizations to raise money by having a meal available to purchase that they are in charge of cooking up. We gathered our supper and enjoyed it at one of the picnic tables in the park. On our 25 minute drive home (we live pretty rural out here on the homestead), we noticed our daughter getting a little rowdy in the backseat. We kept asking her to keep her feet off the back of the seats and to try to settle down until we got home where should run and be crazy. Something just seamed off with how she was responding even to our fairly regular requests. As I mentally went through all that we had done for the day and remembered that she did in fact have a nap that day, my mind shifted to the food we had consumed that day. It turns out it was the dessert that we chose that came with our meal from farmer’s market. While we didn’t choose the very clearly dyed Funfetti piece of cake (or whatever it actually was)with sprinkles on top, there was another culprit we hadn’t come across yet in the Scotcheroos we chose as the safer option. As I looked up the ingredients for baking butterscotch chips, I found that it has caramel color as an ingredient and we figured that must be the culprit. And alas, we had one more things we wanted to stop putting in our bodies.
Every year we find more and more things we are trying to stay away from to keep our bodies healthy and I cant wait to share with you how we are happily avoiding them and finding a better alternative. The “make it yourself” mentality for me is there, but timewise at the moment, at least for our family, we still need the convenient options for now. Here are a few other naturally dyed snacks and foods that we have switched to that we hope your family will enjoy!
Bear Organics Fruit Rolls, Mini Snacks and Fruit Splits
Annie’s Fruit Snacks and Fruit Tape
Bob Snail Fruit Rolls and Stripes