Organic Granny

Starting a brand new #FridayFitness series of blog articles here focusing on folks like myself who are looking for a fitness routine that: has *Beginner* level options Is fun, with variety and encouragement has a brain science component is free is easily accessible online (NOT ZOOM) I have 2 suggestions for try-outs this week.  I will be incorporating these particular fitness variants into my own schedule this week and will report back next week.   I sure would like to know what you think and how they work for you if you try them yourself.   1. FIDGETTING as Fitness Yes, you read that right.  Getting in touch with your Bored Inner Child is required.  (Just kidding-- sort of) Dr. Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist from Stanford University where he and his team primarily work to understand and develop improved functionality for congenital eye problems.   Fortunately, Dr. Huberman is also not adverse to teaching laypeople everywhere about how our fascinating brain and connected systems

  Gathering Stinging Nettles: Tools include scissors, bag, and GLOVES!  (or buy at your local whole foods store) I am at the height of my locavore yearnings right now.  I want to eat only from the abundance of the nearby (within a 100-mile radius). I was originally inspired by the  Dervaes family  in Pasadena who grow 6000 pounds of food on their 1/5 acre property. If, right now, I were to eat only what edibles I could glean from our 1/3 of an acre  and what I have left over in the fridge from last season, we could eat the following: frozen blackberries, rosemary, thyme, chives, kale, grape leaves, oregano, some lettuce, blueberries (soon), parsley, aloe vera (leaves for green smoothies), nettles (yes, my son seeded some), mushrooms, sprouts, and dandelions. I guess there would be other leaves as well. Moving slightly afield, if I were ovo-vegetarian, I’m sure my dear neighbor would sell me some eggs from his free range chickens  (escorted everywhere by their possessive rooster master)

I have a large Rosemary 'bush' growing in a front flowerbed,  an inheritance from one of our home's past owners (thank you!). I love the sharp, clean, Mediterranean fragrance of rosemary, but I would like to know what I can do with it beyond roasting it with potatoes (which I don't do much of) or putting it into pork and turkey (which I also do not do because I do not cook meat). By the way, for anyone cooking with rosemary, a tip is to freeze the sprigs in plastic baggies-- retains its character much better than drying does.  So, here are some ideas that I found: Infuse a jar of Celtic Sea Salt with Rosemary .  The salt will smell and taste of rosemary.  There is no need to remove the sprigs. Put a sprig or two of Rosemary into Apple Cider Vinegar  and let it stand for about 30 days, then remove.  This makes a perfect hair rinse for people with dark hair.  (You can add some  stinging nettles  if you have some-- super nice rinse for bringing out the sheen in dark hair.

Separate and peel cloves from about 10-20 garlic heads (crowns) and whirr up in your blender. We all know that raw garlic can't be beat for antibiotic action (as a non-medical person that is what I am understanding from what I read) --it's the  allicin .  I stopped taking a particular 'superior' brand of garlic tablet because it contained silicon dioxide (sand) that has been suggested to contribute to "chronic fatigue syndrome". I ramped up my use of raw garlic.  ( IMPORTANT : Herbs are potent medicine. Do your due diligence and speak to your health provider about any conflicts that might exist between garlic and any prescribed medications). There are circumstances (lots of them) when I really don't have the luxury of time needed to peel and chop garlic. So, I am doing what  Dr. Ben Kim  describes his mother doing: I simply peel cloves of entire garlic bulbs, dump them into my Vita-mix canister, let it rip until they are finely chopped, nearly liquified, a