Allergy warning: This post contains peanuts or peanut products!

I confess, I have been a lazy blogger. Sometimes I just don't have anything to say so I would rather provide quality rather than quantity to your reading experience...

When you choose to go against the grain with your family's diet, it sometimes feels like a job. All labels must be read, you can't grocery shop at just one store if you want to get the best deals and a lot of the food you bring home gets rejected by your love ones whom you are trying to nourish. As if that isn't enough, instead of earning a paycheck, you actually have to pay more! I expected my kids to avoid any illness this year because of their healthier diet, but as I am writing this, I am home with a boy who has been sick for the last five days and had to receive intravenous antibiotics as part of his treatment. If not for this blog, I am sure I would have given up about a month ago and resume the easy way again.

Since I have not given up, I will share with you what I think is the tastiest peanut butter I have ever had. I always assumed that peanut butter was ground-up peanuts and maybe a little salt. After reading the label on my jar of Skippy, I discovered that in addition to those ingredients it also contains partially-hydrogenated oils. This discovery led me to look for a more natural peanut butter. In fact, I made it myself; well sort of. In the bulk food section of Whole Foods, there are about four machines that freshly grind nut butters. Just for fun, my kids made some regular peanut butter that ended up costing a little over $3 for a 16 ounce container. It is delicious on a PB&J, and even better spread between two milk chocolate stars!

The more I have been using the pastured butter from U.S. Wellness Meats, the less I think I need it. It is very salty and seems to be similar in flavor to organic butter. It also is sold in 1 pound blocks which makes measuring more difficult. I gave it shot but when it runs out it won't be gracing my fridge anymore.

Our chickens have been thriving but I must confess they aren't terribly bright. The compost pile is up against a wall and they have been using it to climb up to the top of the wall. I discovered them walking on the wall behind my garden and grew very concerned that they would jump down and eat everything in it again. I shooed them off and didn't see them up there for a couple of days. Since they are chickens, I had hoped that they forgot how to do it and it wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately they did it again today. I came into their area of the yard and found one chicken in the backyard (Maddy who is in the pic) and the other five in the front yard looking into the backyard through the gate. Then when I opened the gate to let them back in, they just stood there like poultry statues. It is a miracle that one of the neighborhood cats did not discover them and I am tremendously thankful. It made me realize the importance of boundaries. In the Bible, God tells us things we shouldn't do. He doesn't forbid these things because He is out to spoil our fun and give us a boring life, the boundaries protect us from doing things that will hurt us or hurt others. Like the chickens, we ignore the boundaries that are there to protect us. Sometimes we are okay, like the chickens were this morning, but other times the consequences are much more severe. I guess chickens and people have more in common than I thought.