Safe Spring Cleaning Recipes

 In  February we had a few weeks of 80 degree temperatures, running around barefoot and in t shirts was a novel but nice change, and we thought spring was coming early. Nope. When March arrived, it dropped the temps back into the upper 20s at night, and some days only 40s for days. We are getting a little better, closer to 50s now, but still below normal for this time of year. Looking across the road and towards English Mountain, the neighbors forsythia are bright golden yellow, and the Bradford pear trees are still white, but loosing their fullness now, so not as pretty. Along our side, we have redbuds starting to bloom. and my snowball bush is trying to bloom.  Another week or two and we should be outside again. And then its time for spring cleaning. If you have been watching tv or on facebook lately, you will have seen the articles about clorox and lysol being toxic to pets, kids and you. They are as bad as having someone smoke a pack of cigarettes a day in your house.  So just in case you have not learned about this, a big jug of white vinegar,  maybe 3 bucks, and a big box of baking soda(find in the laundry aisle) can take care of all your needs, cheap,safe and easy. My house has its back wall facing north, so by spring is green with mold. At your store, get a big spray  bottle, I pay 99 cents at Walmart for one. Fill it halfway with white vinegar, and the rest  with water, leaving room for1 tablespoon of baking soda. Shake,spray all the mold, done.Next time it rains, all the mold washes away.  Got weeds in the driveway or sidewalk area?  put 1/2 cup of salt in a spray bottle, fill with vinegar and on a good warm sunny day, spray those weeds.  On the inside,  if you have laundry stains, this is better than any thing I ever bought,  1 part of blue Dawn to 2 parts of hydrogen peroxide, in a spray bottle, spray stain, leave overnight then wash. Even old stains  are gone. And instead of those air  sprays (Febreze) that are so bad for pets,   put 10 drops of essential oil,  something you like the scent of, 1 T baking soda, mix those and add to 1/2 liter of distilled water. Spray fabrics, air etc. Easy.  We may be learning more now, about the worldwe have created with all the poisons sprayed on our foods, and the hormones and anti biotics in meat and dairy products.  They are not nice to your body. Puberty in kids is starting as early as 6 or 7 years old, way too soon.  I know its hard to give up stuff you like to eat, but weigh the coast against the pleasure. There are many other ways to go. Organic foods are becoming very popular in stores now, and easy to find. My little grand daughters catch me if I pick up something without a butterfly on it these days. I hope we can change our foods to better ones, we have to be picky and only buy organic, that will drive out the big six and their toxic foods. Studies show chlorpyrifos cause brain damage, especially in kids, Could that have a bearing on the school shootings? Or the fact that 1 out of 4 pre school kids suffers from depression? Or Alzheimers is out of hand?  Charts show a direct correlation to these , to the increase in use of sprays.  Water is full of fluoride and chlorine, seems nothing is safe.  I am lucky to have a well, tapped into a mountain spring. Cool, fresh great tasting water.   Here's hoping spring is sprung soon, will be nice to get out and work in the dirt again, have some of my seeds ready, and some herbs growing in pots to go out soon.   When you have a computer, you have the world at your fingertips, do some research and find out what you are really eating and using.  Check into your body products, like shampoo and toothpaste,  learn to read labels and pick things that are safe. Please don't feed your babies goldfish crackers and crunchy treats that are not organic, not s afe and they(the Babes) are so worth protecting.  Have a great week, see ya soon.

What'syour Adaptogen IQ?

Stress is a big part of most folks life these days.Job, kids, money, you name it .Skipping meals or eating wrong foods add to that level. Adaptogens are natural plants and herbs that help you ease back and relax. There are a few I would like to  tell you about.These are highly regarded in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. They help you adapt to stress in your life. Up first is Rhodiola. It supports strong immune function and mental balance.  Also helps poor appetite and chronic headaches. You can find capsules, 200 to 400 mgs is recommended.  once or twice a day, caution, if you are bipolar avoid this one. The second is one of my favorites, Ashwaganda. Comes from India, improves your energy and learning processes, boosts immune system, aids in better sleep and may help infertility issues. I take mine about an hour before bed for restful sleep.  I find this one at Swanson Vitamins, very reasonable. Again a caution,it is a nightshade so if you are on certain meds it might cause interaction. Next is Holy Basil. Also from India, and not a standard Basil.  This is used for inflammation and immunity, improved energy levels and lowers blood glucose levels.Good for mild depression.  It comes with the caution that it can reduce blood sugar so beware of that. You can find this in capsule form also. Mushrooms, reishi in particular are also known for their cancer reducing properties, You can They find these in tablets or dried, and use them to cook with. Mushrooms in general are very healthy for you.  They help detoxify your system so toss them into your salads and soups whenever you can.  I am lucky to be at a time in life where stress has leveled off. It was bad when Pat was sick. I slept little, spent weeks in hospitals eating vending machine food, gave myself what must have been IBS, took years after he passed before I got that under control.  A very good help for  that is to scrape a fresh organic apple into a dish and add a good spoonful of carob powder, eat several times a day.  Living alone and gardening, seeing Doug and Marie often all lead to a peaceful life. I am becoming less and less fond of going into town these days. Tho I love driving through these gorgeous mountains. The past 2 weeks the Bradford pears, daffodils, forsythia and fruit trees have come into full bloom. My front yard is covered with vinca  and it's blooming all purple and pretty. The moutains rise up like bulwarks and give me a feeling of protection. Coming home from church the song A  Mighty fortress is our God is often on my lips. My old car, a 94 Chrysler, has no radio so I provide my own music when on the road, unless I have a passenger which is rare.  We have come from  a period of 80 degree temps that brought everything into bloom to a cold spell again, we may loose apples, peaches and fruit as those trees have all bloomed.  Mother Nature is fickle. But the mountains are lovely and calm,  hard to imagine living anywhere else most of the time.  Hope you are having a calm and serene week, take time to enjoy the beauty of spring. Addafew dandelion greens to your salad, find some early herbs for cooking. I have chives and parsley up and thriving. Can hardly wait to start some gardening. Have  already started herbs, tomatoes  and flowers in little paper pots to transplant soon. Be well.

Just my Thoughts

I have lived her on Piney Mountain for 16 years now. As I drive into town, I pass corn, tomato and soy bean fields.  For the first 10 years, I saw what was being done and thought nothing of it. But then one day, I started wondering why the tomatoes are picked green, we all know vine ripened have the best flavor.  That started my journey into our pathetic food supply.  They are working on the planting field s now for the tomatoes,  soon they will put the long black plastic raised runners in, poly vinyl chloride I betcha. The ground is fertilized with chemicals, plants are put in and the spraying begins. I see truck sprayers in the fields all summer.  Then they pick the green tomatoes, and ship them. T
hey are ripened in gas chambers(polyethylene) and then the fields of red tomatoes are sprayed again, with something that kills the plants and turns them brown and crackly overnight. Signs are posted
saying "if you eat these, you will die". And then soon, all the poison is turned into the ground. This is GMO spraying.Not just tomatoes, almost all crops in this country have been sprayed, over 15,000,000,000 tons of spray a year are used now. I have also seen reports wondering if there is a connection to the mental problems with our youth, chlropyrifos is known to brain damage children, so if kids are eating Goldfish, packaged cookies and crackers, even the fruits and veggies, they are being damaged by them. We also have let the use of electronic hand held violent games etc become a part of their lives. I have family who in the past have said, if I want to eat this I will, I only live once, why not enjoy it. But since have changed their minds. Dairy products are full of hormones and anti biotics, causing early puberty in girls and boys, and of course heart problems, cholesterol  etc in adults.  I went to plant based milk, cheese etc in the 80s, they are fine with me. When Pat was ill and we had so much going on his doc siad his cholesterol was borderline, he should go on Lipator. I balked. It's know to destroy kidneys and liver etc. So we did what I have done so much, talked to Walt at the Mustard Seed, a health food store in Newport. He had been a doc but gave it up and started teaching prevention. Asked him what Pat could take instead, he told us we didn't need to take anything, just quit eating anything that ever had a mother. Easy fix. It's been said you are what you eat. It's very true, what you put in is what you get back in the way of health, good or bad.  I would like to eat out sometimes but there are no organic restaurants in our area . Having chosen to eat organic for the past few years, my body rebels and makes me feel crappy when I feed it bad stuff now.  You can really tell the difference. Lots of mornings when I look at my organic oatmeal with cinnamon and organic soy milk, I think how nice a gooey cinnamon roll would be. But I have learned that we also eat way too much sugar, and it's now being scrutinized.  We already know too much makes kids hyper.  Well, I have rambled on far too long,  but if you are truly interested, you can pull up GMOs online and get all kinds of information. Draw your own conclusions. I feel lucky to be in my 80s and not on any meds, or suffering from any joint aches and pains, but I have worked at it for many years/ You can't get sick then undo it, it's an ongoing process.  Happy Spring, eat good food, stay well.