What am I thankful for?

During this time of Thanksgiving I am thankful for my children, my family and friends, good health, and for the daily knowledge I gain to live a more sustainable life.
I am thankful that I have been learning life skills for the past few years that I am in turn passing down to my kids. They will learn more skills as they grow older but they won't be in the dark as I was before I embarked on my personal journey to self-sustainability. Now what does it mean to be self-sustainable? A system is self-sustaining (or self-sufficient) if it can maintain itself by independent effort. That's what Wikipedia states.

But in reality, to be self-sustainable, in my opinion, is having a network of like minded individuals that all contribute to each other.  The quote by English poet John Donne "No man is an island" cannot be truer for while I may be on a continual quest to be self-sustainable, I learn how to preserve food but I cannot raise animals for meat due to where I live. Therefore, I depend on those farmers that I buy organic meat from (Publix, farmers market). So while I try to learn these life skills, I am also cognizant that we all need each other. During tough times, it's very important to learn how and the many different ways of preservation. It saves money and reduces waste. I bought cranberries on sale last week that I immediately put in my dehydrator. I knew there was  no way I was going to use them immediately so to avoid spoilage, I dehydrated. Now we can use whenever we want without risking them going bad. We will use them in granola bars, in cereal, in yogurt, and will throw in desserts.  Remember, the banana I dehydrated recently? Well, we are now down to two jars. Can't ask for a healthier snack the kids love. Here's a picture. 

There's nothing better than knowing nothing is going to waste.
Today I bottled my second fermentation of ginger kefir. So good, so healthy.

I also bought turmeric roots this past weekend which I am going to dehydrate so that I can make Turmeric Paste. So healthy for you such a great anti-inflammatory herb to combine with ginger and milk, to use in cooking, and many other uses.

Sorry for the long post, always so much to tell and do. I love to share.  I will be at the Farmer's Market this Saturday, so come visit and let me know if you need any products. I am also making Infusions for those that need the extra pep from herbs. I have Elderberry Syrup just in time for the colder season setting upon us.