Fasting turns to cleansing on Day 3

Today we ended our fast with a smooth transition into Cleanse 1.  Our fast was 3-5 days and owing to how we were feeling, it seemed like time to move on.  How were we feeling?  Like we hadn't eaten since Sunday and were still doing all of our daily work and farm chores in the cold ass weather.  That being said, we were not dramatically seeing any difference in daily digestion, energy or inflammation, all of which had been very apparent when I had first fasted.  Truly, I was not even hungry, my body has given up on that while fasting, I was just really cold.  And not when I should be cold.  I can hack lessons in 30 degrees and wind no problem.  Not today, so onward and upward.  Frank was just hungry and depressed.

Cleanse 1: This is the adjustment period and the actively seeking to rein in the blood sugar time.  Restrictions include, no: Alcohol, tobacco, firearms (kidding),caffeine, sugar, sweeteners, starches, grains, carbs.  Limited fruit, some limits on meat (mostly volume).  Let me get this clear, we like bread and french fries, add bacon to that and we are desert island ready, add chocolate and a gun and we are officially our own nation.  The emphasis of this stage is to keep digestion optimal, blood sugar very low and keep the hydration going.  It is also to find many new and exciting ways to cook and present our really healthy foods.  If you are burned out on cooking, one more meatloaf and you will jump off a bridge.  Fast baby, fast.  You will appreciate your food, all of it.  Everything already tastes sweeter.  Tonight, Sundried Tomato and Garlic Hummus with carrots and Roasted Broccoli with Garlic, Balsamic Vinegar and a bit of Parmesan Cheese and mushrooms stuffed with Tuna.  Mmmmmm... Could have been sawdust, still would have been great.  I have pinned about 40 recipes on pinterest that follow our diet at this point, if you are interested look me up.

On to the business of the day, even cold and a bit headachy, the show must go on.  My new greenhouse has welcomed its first plants today!  This greenhouse was a craigslist find lean to, and is attached to my room.  Someday it will passively heat the room in the daytime and at night my wood fired cookstove will heat both at night. The stove is still in a state of rebuild, but Frank has installed a small propane heater temporarily and we have a 100 gallon stock tank in there for heat sink.  Even more exciting is my friends Eileen, Kevin and Elizabeth are gifting me their Koi to live in the stock tank.  We will use the soiled fishy water to hydrate and fertilize the plants and grow watercress and basil in a gravel substrate suspended in the tank.  But for now, I started with the basics, Basil, Cilantro, Dill, Parsley.  Some lettuce, spinach and kale are in hanging planters that can go out as soon as the spring thaw comes and 5 varieties of onions are going.  I am out of leek seed so I will be hunting some down this week.  Onions are always a tough call here, I feel as if I never start them soon enough.

The shelves in the greenhouse are ugly, but they were made of found lumber and pallets and the middle shelf on both sides is an insulated pallet, providing bottom heat for seedlings by using a 60w bulb.  Take that poor pepper germinators!

seeds planted today

oyster plug spawn

For the early afternoon it was time to do something with the spawn if the refrigerator, no, this did not just turn into a housekeeping blog.  I mean spawn, spores, fungi, not last months leftovers, the stuff I actually paid for, Mushrooms.  Today was Oyster mushroom day, they have been laying about long enough and I had a bit of time to start installing them on the stump of an old cherry tree that came down in a storm this summer.

plug spawn in drilled hole

Off to the woodline with my trusty drill, 5/16th bit, hammer and spore plugs, a vroom and a tap and a rinse wash repeat, and with any luck, there will be mushrooms next year.  I will blanket the soundest sections of this log at about 4 inch intervals with the plug spawn, then it appears there will be quite a bit left over, there is one other stump to inoculate then I will be building my mushroom garden of logs nearer to the house.  I have turkey tails, lions mane, shittake and maittake to plug as well.  Oysters are supposed to be the most resilient so they get the unattended tree line, the others will live in the woods next to the house where I can water them more easily if necessary.