Just another Day on the Farm

Really, we need a study to tell us this?? How can it be any surprise to anyone that a child’s brain needs the fresh healthy food in order to grow and function at its highest level..

Anyway here is the info..

Parents hoping for smart kids might want to focus first on what’s going into their youngsters’ bellies, not their heads.

A diet, high in fats, sugars and processed foods in early childhood may lower IQ, while a diet packed full of vitamins and nutrients may do the opposite, suggests research published by academics in the University of Bristol’s School of Social and Community Medicine.

The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, bases its findings on participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), which tracks the long term health and well-being of roughly 14,000 children born in 1991 and 1992.

Parents completed questionnaires, detailing the types and frequency of the foods and drinks their children consumed when they were three, four, seven, and eight and a half years old.

This information was then quantified to produce a dietary pattern score for three different types of diet: “processed,” high in fats and sugars; “traditional,” high in meat and two vegatables; and “health conscious,” high in salad, fruit and veggies, rice and pasta.

IQ was measured using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children when the kids were eight and a-half-years old.

Dietery factor

The results show after taking account of potentially influential factors, a diet consisting predominantly of processed foods at three years old was associated with a lower IQ at the age of eight and a half, regardless of whether the diet improved after that age.

Every one-point increase in dietary pattern score was associated with a 1.67 fall in IQ.

 Early development

“Our research suggests that any cognitive/behavioral effects relating to eating habits in early childhood may well persist into later childhood, despite any subsequent changes (including improvements) to dietary intake,” said Dr. Kate Northstone, Research Fellow in the School of Social and Community Medicine.

The authors say the brain grows the fastest during the first three years of life, which could explain the study findings. They also point to previous research indicating head growth during the first three years in linked to intellectual ability as well.

Dr. Pauline Emmett, Senior Research Fellow in the School of Social and Community Medicine, added, “It is possible that good nutrition during the first three years of life may encourage optimal brain growth, advocating further research to determine the extent of the effect early diet has on intelligence.”

A Bread, don’t you just love it.. Made a big old batch of fresh buttermilk farmer bread this morning.. so first off, snuck off just enough to make breakfast flat breads.

Then scrambled some fresh eggs, a little fresh bacon, some onion, pepper, a little old aged white chedder and we have a fresh breakfast wrap.. Sunday breakfasts, you just gotta go that extra bit..

Then did the first raise, made two loafs of bread, One med Pizza and one small pan of six cranberry buns and one of six cinnamon buns..and set them to the second rise..

This pizza was so simple but the flavor combo’s were perfect, thich crust, a tiny bit of my best olive oil, pulled roasted rabbit, with some of our homedried plum tomato halfs and a little fresh chedder with onion from St. Albert Cheese factory with a touch of sea salt on the edges to give that hint of a salty bite to that sweet buttermilk crust..

Cranberry/Ginger Pull Apart Buns, Take one peice of dried sugared ginger and dice very fine, lay in a row in the middle of dough and then sprinkle a handfull of cranberries or dried cherrys on.

Cinnamon buns, I know, I know momma, they are not sticky buns, but I am trying to watch those calories a little bit here..

So last but least, is this loaf

Now if you are wondering what the heck, that’s what I said, when I lifted the wool cover and saw this, I am unsure which purr-pot was the offender, but someone put a paw where it didn’t belong.. thankfully because it was covered, it was still fine to bake.. but it no longer looks like the perfect loaf above.. BAD Purrpot.. good thing it tastes the same 🙂

Here is your recipe as requested, This is as close as I can get cuz to tell the truth I winged it like normal..

• 1 and 1/2 cups warm water,
• Mixed with 4 Heaping Tablespoons of Dry Buttermilk Powder in a Quart Jar -shake till well mixed, then sit.
• Next 1/2 cup of warm water
• 2 tbsp of sugar
• 1 tbsp of bread yeast the old fashion kind
• Allow to proof, then shake the jar good again and add to the yeast mix.
• Add 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1tsp of salt, Mix all togther.
• I used 3 an half green cups, so that should be 6 cups of all purpose flour, to make a very soft dough, think I might have used another 1/4 cup to get it right where I wanted it.. soft but no sticky for the kneeding..
• House is cool, so my rises were long, the first a couple hours, the second about the same.. you want it to double in size for however that takes in your heated warm houses the books generally say an hour but I use a bit yeast and like longer raising times, you get alot more flavor that way.

For the breakfast flatbreads, the dough was used just after the kneeding, so I pull over my small egg size peices and set the rest to rising, I let them rest for ten min before starting the first one.. use a bit of flour and a good rolling pin and just keep working that dough, if you think it won’t give anymore and only six by six across.. just let it rest a min and work again.. each egg size peice will roll out to the size to about a regular dinner plate. Cook in a dry cast Iron at med heat, it does not take long at all, keep warm if you want by covering your finished plate with a clean towel.

I did very lightly grease the pans with my home rendered lard and they were baked in glass bread pans, I wanted that all over golden color, the bread tops where rubbed with butter for that soft finish on them.

Baked in a 350 oven till golden and hollow on the bottom tap..

Someone fooled us, she didn’t bag up, and had her little one in the back pen where the sheepies sleep at night.. course everything seems to have gone right.

Moved to the jug for the first day to make sure everything is good, and wee puddin says, Its a good thing momma followed me in here. Ripple know the routine, we pick up baby, and they float about a inch or two off the ground to the jug from the back so that momma follows along with them, then Ripple figured out where she was going and ran to get in, cuz she knew that there would be a little grain waiting for her..

You checking up on me, my momma is in the hay feeder, and she’s been there awhile so I thought I would have a little nap while I was waiting..One of the Bubble Doubles

And here is my twin brother, don’t you just love his little black spot, already looking for trouble.. Opps, I think he might have found it.. Here comes Hay Baby..

Now there are all getting ready to rumble I mean bop and play.. Ok, I own it.. I like to watch my lambs, sleeping, playing, it don’t matter much, they are a hoot.