Week: FOUR/FIVE

I definitely missed a step in not posting results from last week. Anyway, things are going well. One benefit that I really want to talk about that surfaced recently is the way that I seem to cope with stress a little better. I'm definitely at the peak of a demanding schedule right now with student teaching and school at the same time. I'm terrible at juggling many things at once-- I'm more of a focus on one thing at a time kind of gal. Lately I've noticed that my stress levels are not as high, and I feel a little more sense of balance and clarity. I don't know how to prove that this is because I am eating Paleo, but I can tell you that I'm so much more level and at ease than before. For me, improving mental health alone is a reason to eat well.

On a different note, I read this nice little article about starting a garden: Starting Your Own Garden... I really can't wait for the day when I own a house with some room for a garden, or better yet-- a small farm. A dream of mine I've had since I was a child. Gardening has the obvious benefits: locally grown, organic, monitored by YOU etc. But I also think the physical act of gardening/farming seems so rewarding. A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of spending some time up at Tide Mill Organic Farm in Edmunds, Maine. Aside from this family of farmers being incredibly nice and cool, they were also some of the healthiest people I have ever met! They didn't go running everyday, or wake up early to do laps in a pool... instead they woke up when the animals did and work from early in the morning until evening, with a couple of seista breaks in between. I was able to help out with some of the farm labor, and boy do they labor... but at the end of a day of farming it just feels good. The women who worked the farm were just as tough as the men, and they all seemed to have this understanding of nature and animals that, I believe, we tend to lose as continue to divide ourselves from the natural world and focus too much on the manmade.

Anyway, I feel like a bit of a hippie with this latest post-- oh well. Those are my thoughts of the week.