I'm new at this :-)

February 23, 2002

Hello, everyone,

I ordered " Nourishing Traditions " as a birthday present a few weeks

ago. I had been wanting it for months, and I've been reading it with

delight! We went on a week's vacation and returned a few days ago,

and now I'm trying to re-learn how to cook. It's been a little

overwhelming, to say the least, so I'm glad I found this group! I

hope you don't mind if I ask a few questions.

We live in mid-Missouri, and thankfully we already have raw milk and

cream and eggs delivered to our home each week by a wonderful local

farmer. We have 3 children (and one on the way) so we use quite a

bit of this stuff! :-) Well, I tried my hand at making butter and

buttermilk yesterday. It turned out " okay. " I didn't get 1/2 pound

of butter like the recipe said. Probably more like half a cup. I

did it in my food processor, and it looks like butter, but I'm not

sure I did it right.

It's been hard finding everything I need around here. For instance,

I can't find cheesecloth, although I'm headed out today to try

another store. Much of the things I need were found at a health-food

store about an hour away, but I'm not sure how I can do that (with

little ones in tow) on a regular basis. Do any of you have good

online sources for some of the stranger items needed, like organic

grains and seeds, sucanat, oils and vinegars and wines, geletin,

etc.? We're on a budget, so that makes it more challenging as well.

I also had a LOT of trouble finding what I need to make stocks. I

found beef knuckle bones and neck bones, but no calves feet. The

butcher thought that was a strange request! LOL! Also, where can I

find whole chicken (even the feet)? Let alone free-range...

My final frustration is that we will be moving to Illinois this

summer, so I'll have to start my searches all over again. Oh,

well... it's worth it.

I have one more question. My husband desparately needs and wants to

lose weight. Has anyone had success with that just by eating as

Fallon recommends? I just want to be able to encourage him! :-)

I'm looking forward to your fellowship and to learning from your

wisdom and experience.

~Anne in Missouri

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