Where can you find nutritious food when it's not in your neighborhood grocery store?

I've been on a journey towards traditional foods for the past three years, and finding healthy foods is one of the biggest hurdles I've encountered during this process. I would read about the benefits of raw milk or grass-fed beef, but then I wasn't sure where to buy them. I live in a suburb of Philadelphia, and we don't have dairy farms or chickens in our backyards. With a little investigation, I've discovered raw milk, grass-fed beef, pastured poultry and eggs, and raw honey within a 20 minute drive of my home. During a typical week, I may purchase food from 3-4 sources, so it's definitely not as convenient as one-stop shopping at the local grocery store. However, I know I'm buying fresh, healthy food, and I'm directly supporting local farmers. Here are some of my sources, and I'll continue to add more to the list as I find them.


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Butter from grass-fed cows: 

1. Your Family Farmer

2. Trader Joes or Wholefoods  - I buy Kerrygold butter.

3. Local health food store.

4. My local milk co-op (see raw milk section) has found a source of raw butter and raw cream. It's not always available, but I was really excited about the option.

Coconut Oil:

1. Trader Joe's or your local grocery store
2.  Tropical Traditions - also has coconut flour, coconut milk, and tomato products in glass jars instead of cans
3. Vitacost

Organic Produce:

1. CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) - We have been part of Red Hill Farm and Red Earth Farm. Red Earth Farm has delivery points throughout the Philadelphia area. 

2. Indian Orchard - A tiny, hundred-year-old family farm where you can pick peaches, blueberries, pears, and apples. It's located near Linvilla Orchard in Media, PA.
3. Farmer's Markets - Ridley Park (Thurs. 4-7pm), Swarthmore (Sat. 9:30am-1:30pm), and Media (Thurs. 3-7pm). Here's a link to information about many farmer's markets in the Philadelphia region. 
4. Your Family Farmer
5. Door to Door Organics
6. BJ's Wholesale and Costco often sell organic produce

Raw milk and pastured eggs: 

1. The most affordable milk I've found ($4/gallon!) is through a local milk co-op. We pick up from Green Ridge Farm in Parkesburg, PA. You can find many more farms that sell raw milk in PA at the www.realmilk.com.
2. My local health food store Martindale's sells raw milk, cheese, pastured eggs, grass-fed beef, and organic produce.
3. Your Family Farmer is a group of farmers that sell raw milk, raw cheese, pastured poultry and eggs, woodland pork, and grass-fed beef. They deliver every 2 weeks to drop-off points throughout Pennsylvania.
4. When I've traveled, I've found sources of raw milk in CT, FL, and NH through the website www.realmilk.com. It has a "real milk finder" with information about each state in the United States. One of our favorite vacation memories was meeting a three day old calf at a dairy farm in NH when we stopped to buy raw milk and cheese.

Pastured Chickens and Grass-fed beef:
1. Canter Hill Farm in Malvern, PA. They sell at local farmer's markets, and they sell retail in Wolff's Apple House in Media, PA.
2. Forks Farm in Orangeville, PA. They also sell at local farmer's markets, and they have a monthly drop-off in Media. There is a Facebook group you can join if you are interested in their drop-off.
3. Your Family Farmer - They have weekly drop-offs in Media, and they have weekly or bi-weekly deliveries all over the state of PA.
4. Farmer's markets - Ridley Park (Thurs. 4-7pm), Swarthmore (Sat. 9:30am-1:30pm), and Media (Thurs. 3-7pm). Here's a link to information about many farmer's markets in the Philadelphia region.

The Weston A. Price Foundation produces an annual "Shopping Guide" with 'Best, Good, and Avoid' categories for all kinds of food.  I have several copies of this guide if you would like one, and you can get more information or request one at www.westonaprice.org. 

Christmas = family petri dish of germs

While blogging has fallen by the wayside for a period of time, my efforts at real food have continued. I've been learning and trying new things, made it through a pregnancy, and now have another baby boy.  I've grown increasingly cautious about turning to conventional medicine for everyday aches, pains, and mild illnesses, but I didn't have many "all natural" or holistic tools to offer my family as an alternative. A friend kept posting about the wonders of essential oils, and I finally decided to give them a try.

This fall I signed up for an introductory pack of essential oils and a diffuser from Young Living. One of the oil blends is called Thieves. According to the Essential Oils pocket reference, 5th Ed., the clove, lemon, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus, and rosemary oils in the blend have antiviral, antiseptic, antibacterial, and anti-infectious properties. There was a study held at Weber State University in Oregon in 1997, and it showed that after 20 minutes of diffusing Thieves, there was a 99.3 percent reduction in the number of gram positive Micrococcus luteus organisms. Since I had no idea what that organism was, I looked it up on Wikipedia. Essentially, it is a bacteria that is typically found on human skin, and it can colonize in the mouth, nose, throat, and upper respiratory system. It doesn't usually cause illness, but it can be dangerous for people with compromised immune systems.

Since November, I've been diffusing Thieves in our home in an effort to kill bacteria and nasty germs. As a family, we made it through November and December with just some congestion and mild coughing. As we packed to visit family for Christmas, we heard that my two nieces were diagnosed with Type A influenza three days before we would see them.  The diffuser and Thieves were on the top of our packing list. During our trip, I diffused Thieves in the kitchen and the bedroom where we were sleeping. Even though my sister-in-law said she felt achey on the day we arrived, her symptoms didn't get worse, and no one else got the flu. We came home with some mild cold symptoms, and my three year old had minor tummy issues, but overall, we were just fine. After spending five days together with 14 people in one house, we were rejoicing that the flu and other illnesses were held at bay. Unfortunately, I learned today that my sister-in-law was diagnosed five days after our trip with walking pneumonia, but we're praying she gets better soon.

One day after we came home, we packed and drove down to spend some time with my in-laws. During the week before our visit, various people from that side of the family had bad colds and pink eye. As we drove, we heard that our nephew was running a fever. The next morning, during our visit, he was diagnosed with strep. Before the doctor's appointment, my oldest son was sitting next to my nephew. The boys were being silly and breathing on each other while their faces were just an inch away from one another. The diffuser and Thieves came out again. We ran it in the kitchen and in the playroom during the day and in our bedroom at night. We had 8 children under the age of 6 and 8 adults in the house. The incubation period for strep is usually 2-5 days. It's been 6 days, and no one else got strep. My mother-in-law has been ill, and my baby and I have been congested, but strep did not spread.

Merry Christmas 

and a 

Happy and Healthy 2014 

from our family to yours!

I'm so grateful to have found essential oils as one of my tools to support health. This Christmas we were exposed to a host of illnesses, and we walked away relatively unscathed. I'm going to continue giving my family probiotics, fermented cod liver oil, bone broth, and raw milk kefir to build their immune systems, but it's nice to have a strategy to fight germs in our home and when we are traveling. I know essential oils can be expensive, but they are worth the cost to me compared to the copayments at doctor appointments, missed work, and prescription costs for antibiotics.
For my local friends, I'm going to be organizing a Thieves party soon where we can make hand gel and household cleaners with Thieves. Please let me know if you're interested, and I can get you more information. I can also help people get Thieves for wholesale prices.

Essential oils pocket reference. United States of America: Life Science Publishing, May 2011. Print.

"Micrococcus luteus." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. np. Last modified 7 Dec 2013. Web. 3 Jan 2014.

Here's a link to a video that explains more about how to use Thieves.
Thieves Video 
Here's some of the Thieves products and more information:
Thieves Booklet