Organic Granny

Toes inflamed with chilblains (Wikipedia) Inflammation -- the starting point for most chronic and terminal disease.  That sore spot or achey gut is quite likely inflamed tissue...  I recall from a hydrotherapy demo one time learning that inFLAMmation (read: flame; heat; fire) can be cooled with ice (as in the case of a hot, sore joint, back ache, a burn, or a stinging sensation) or with drinking water (as in the case of a stomach ache or a sore, inflamed throat).  Heart attack and cancer start with inflammation. I am going to do three things to eliminate inflammation in my body, three things that I currently do right now but that I know don't work well for me.... I am already vegetarian/vegan/sometimes raw vegan, but these are three areas where I transgress and that usually results in weight gain (another indication of inflammation) and edema for me.  The three things that promote inflammation in some people that I will cut out of my life are: narrowing of the  esophag

This is the time of the year for succulent berries and fruits -- and unfortunately, many of us will discover the mold has formed on our berries (particularly raspberries) before we get to finish eating the container we brought home from the store or picked in the backyard. But help is here!  I am thankful to my friends who send me simple solutions via email.  Today I got one on how you can use a couple of household items to store your berries while preventing mold.  How? In a glass bottle or mason jar mix together cold filtered water and apple cider vinegar in a ratio of 10:1 Too simple, eh?   Now, merely pour the water over your berries in a large bowl.  Swirl and drain.  You shouldn't need to rinse because the  of the dilution (it's hard to detect the vinegar) but you can if you wish. Pop the berries into the fridge.   Raspberries and strawberries, for example, will keep without going moldy for about 1- 1 1/2 weeks.  Mmmmm....

--> A friend sends me information about all sorts of natural methods for body care , such as the baking soda-apple cider vinegar no-shampoo and this fantastic foot soak for tired tootsies. Because the no-shampoo works so well for my hair, I tried out the foot soak and was thrilled at how my feet and legs relaxed, and so did the rest of me. Here is what you do: Dig out a basin, or as in the case of vegetarians like me, re-purpose that big turkey roasting pan that you don't plan to use for that any more. Add the following to the pan/basin: 1 T. Green (your choice of brand) dishwash liquid 1 T. Honey (yes, you read right-- a disinfectant and a moisturizer) 2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or other accessible oil) 5-10 drops of peppermint oil (I have linked to my favourite pure peppermint oil) Fill the basin with warm water (as warm as you can take) and soak your feet for about ten+ minutes.  Dry.  Perfect time for a foot rub or reflexology.  Your feet will feel so

--> Ronny Satzke's beautiful daughter We hear a lot about GMO (genetically-modified organisms) and how bad they are, but most of us don't really understand the full impacts of buying/growing GMO foods.  And when we do, we don't want to eat the GMO-laden stuff-- and we certainly don't want our precious children and grandchildren to eat GMO foods! Even if you haven't been quite convinced that the 'organic' debate is trustworthy, I think you will hop on board to embrace keeping GMO foods out of your family's pantry is about the healthiest decision you can make in the supermarket (or at the farm gate). Want to know more? Take a look at this video (and if you are impacted by it, share the link with your friends, your local natural foods store, your government representative, your adult kids who are bringing up your precious grandkids).

--> Okay, I'll admit straight off that today I was craving a big old cheese sandwich (maybe grilled havarti with a dill pickle on the side).  Cheese is currently off-limits for us.  We might get a snip of it when we eat out, but that's about it.  Ed is particularly allergic to dairy, etc.  Anyhow, never one to pout (or not for long) I came up with this flavourful (as in ZING-BING-ZING-BANG) sandwich that satisfied all my salt and fat hankerings (because apparently that is what is behind a cheese crave) and is, I think, pretty healthy.  Here is what is in the above sandwich (and don't judge it by its colour until you taste it!): BREAD: Your favourite bread.   In the sandwich above I used a chia bread that is no longer available. AVOCADO:  Ripe, organic.  Open it up and scoop flesh into a small bowl. Mash. RAW GARLIC: to your taste-- I skin & blend about 20 heads of garlic and then freeze in a jar so just use about a 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of garlic. LEMON: Juice of

When you think earthquake, do you think about the following possible events, sounds and sights? Impassable roads (fallen hidro lines, collapsed bridges, landslides, tsunamis or boulders blocking any passage like the ones you see fenced off on the roads through the Rockies No hydro; no phones because of pole and tower collapses No cell signals because of jammed, inoperable towers Broken water mains; perhaps obstruction by landslides No operable bank machines Fuel confined to use by emergency vehicles only Only the most seriously injured will be seen by doctors or hospitals No food delivery systems Hoarding of supplies results in rapid emptying of shelves in the stores Now, what about smells and pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms?)?  How about the smells that will result when sewage lines break and mix with the flood waters everywhere?  Most of us have had our delicate noses assaulted by something like a backed-up toilet or a malfunctioning septic system once or twice

The world is falling apart.  This is not news.  This is not rocket science.  I happen to be Seventh-day Adventist and believe that this world will come to a startling end and that Jesus will return again, but even if you are not a believer in "end time Biblical prophecies" you probably recognize that there are more wars, rumours of wars, and natural disasters occurring closer together all over the world than ever before .  And that requires being prepared for the "emergency" situations that are going to affect all of us at some point-- the Hurricane Katrinas, the Haiti earthquakes, the landslides, monster blizzards, tornadoes, floods, etc. that will mean, at the very least, inconveniently long power outages, but more likely, no ability to buy any food (let alone good quality organic produce) and water, hunger, devastation to our homes, and clogged emergency response rooms in hospitals and walk-in medi-clinics.  I live on an island.  It's a   large is

So, yes, I do have that bag of Vermiculite towards my eventual Square Foot Garden, but the highlight of this pre-garden season is going to the Seedy Sunday event in Nanaimo.  We drove there with our dog and met our son Conrad just outside the doors to the sports complex in innercity Bowen Park. Inside the building it's a little like what I remember from my childhood Fair days in the "exhibits" buildings.  Here you will find table after table of people (mostly farmers) selling seeds that they breed and/or collect themselves-- heirloom and organic being the words that you look for on the banner and seed packets.  There are also related items for sale, such as mason bee condos, jams, small plants, lily bulbs, flour varieties, honey, and garden ornaments. Taking command of the place with unmatchable energy is the day's emcee, Dirk Becker.  Dirk and his partner Nicole are "backyard farmers" from nearby Lantzville.  They've run into some conflicts w

Niacin from Amazon.com Back in the 1950's three of my mother's younger sisters worked in a psychiatric hospital. The older of the three, my Aunt Pat, was a registered psychiatric nurse (R.P.N)and worked with Dr. Abram Hoffer. At the epoch of mental health "management" with pharmaceutical drugs, this famous (or infamous?)maverick psychiatrist believed, along with others like Dr. Linus Pauling ("the Vitamin C doctor")that mental illness was basically "an inborn error of metabolism." Dr. Hoffer promoted the massive use of Vitamin B3 (Niacin) as relief for some forms of mental illness such as depression. Tryptophan (an amino acid found in dark turkey meat and nuts) was also one of Dr. Hoffer's favourite "medications". Andrew Saul, Ph.D., worked with Dr. Hoffer in his later years (he died in 2009). Go here to listen an interview by Dr. Mercola of Dr. Saul talking about how organic food and vitamins, like Niacin, can be startling

This was probably the easiest part of the task... finding enough newspapers to strip up and put into the bin as 'bedding' for the wee wormies.  I filled the bin to the top and then spritzed with plain water just to slight dampness, just mixing a bit as one would do with a big old salad.   Then I went out into the yard (in the rain, I might add) and dug around in the compost (this time I wore gloves lol) for the cantaloupe that was buried there three days ago, like a cup, to attract the worms.  And there it was, and there they were, I think....  I was nervous about exposing them to light because I hear that they 'paralyze' in light, and so I quickly transferred them in the upended cantaloupe 'cup' to a little icecream pail with a lid and rushed them into the house.  Sort of like the story I heard from a pediatrician I worked with years ago... she had to go along on a plane trip to pick up an donor organ for a child and quickly, ever so quickly, pack it in ice and

--> As I mentioned in my last post, I am putting together composting equipment for this winter -- a set of bokashi pails for the kitchen and a worm composting (aka vermi-culture) bin for the side room off the kitchen. Bokashi involves culturing kitchen scraps with a sort of probiotic that one sprinkles on the waste each time it is put in the pail. It is an anaerobic method of composting (meaning there is no air involved-- more like making traditional sauerkraut) and I intend to take the probiotic scraps and bury them in an 18" deep trench in my backyard and cover the probiotic with soil.  In 2-10 weeks (depending where you live), the bokashi will be unrecognizable as kitchen scraps.  It will even digest meat, bone, and avocado pits.  I have been reassured that there is no nasty odor involved in making bokashi. The kit for making my bokashi includes 3 5-gallon pails and 2 tight fitting lids for the pails.  Today I drilled 3 small holes dead center in the bottom of 2

So, this is something I learned last week at the Vermi- culture workshop at the Comox Valley Regional Compost Education Centre : If you have a regular composting bin you don't have to buy your red wigglers!  They live in your backyard! Years ago I bought a pound of red wigglers, a squiggling ball of them in an ice cream pail, from the local Oxfam group in Saskatoon, just around the corner from my then-workplace.  I think it cost $5.  The profits went into programming for youth in the community, one program of which was actually learning to operate a worm farm and to do other forms of composting. I thought that the worms I bought were different from the worms in my garden, a more exotic variety perhaps. Turns out they are the same critter.  And if you want to start your worm colony you only need three things: *the worms *the plastic bin with holes drilled in it and a lid on top *a bed of newspaper and food Use newspaper with vegetable ink print and not the chemical ink

Friend Generous Mike's lush organic kale crop This year our older grand- daughter started kinder- garten. After her first day in the system (an hour in a Montes- sori classroom) she announced, "Kinder- garten is fine, Lola. I made lots and lots of friends". And I watch other kids returning to school in their new duds or new post-summer identities, all looking hopeful, with their new backpacks slung over their shoulders. All this hopefulness and optimism for the coming year reminds me of my gardening persona in about May. Any May. I have sprouted new plants, tilled and amended new garden patches, read new advice in books and online. By mid-July (any mid-July) I have pretty much slacked off on the daily 10-minute check for weeds, the necessary watering, the pruning of roses, the pinching off of bolted Cilantro, etc. We travel here and there doing fun summer things. I spend a lot of time on the Internet doing fun writing projects (or just maintaining my su