Juice, Chickens, Bees and Witches

 In September, Dr Oz ran a segment about arsenic in apple juice. The juice companys got very mad at him, and threatened law suits. Well,  some independant labs got in on the act and released their findings this week. On Wednesday Oz ran a new bit, with the results, seems he was right, juice is tainted with arsenic. And not just apple, grape came under fire too.  And while they were testing, they also found unacceptable levels of lead. His website has a complete list and what to do. Its recommended that, by age, your child or you only drink so much per day to keep harm to a minimum.
  I got a most interesting article in the mail this week from a good friend in Baltimore. When I first started this blog, she commented that in a previous time, I might have been burned at the stake as a witch.  She 's most likely right but a funny thing is happening. We are going back in time. The article is by  Emily Matchar.  It appeared in the Washington Post.  Seems we are learning to knit, sew, can, and do things our Grandmothers did, not our mothers so much, they were baby boomers and "liberated.  But now, the career women are coming home and learning new tricks. Making our own, cleansers, growing our own food and preserving it, so we know what we are eating. No PBA's for us!  We are no longer trusting the FDA to keep us safe, learning this after many  cases of ecoli and bottulism from foods we have purchased at the store. 
  From 850,000 women who stayed home and did the home maker thing in the past,  "career girls gone Green Acres" have risen to 1.5 million in 2010. We are now looked at as virtuous, and frugal. Beekeeping and chicken raising, gardening, canning, home schooling have all become an important part of life. I have a niece with 19 children, 5 of her own and the rest adopted, who has done this whole thing  with them and made it quite a success. They have 500 acres in Washington and produce their own meats, eggs, etc. All the kids pitch in.
  The nice part is, we don't seem to look at this whole movement as a duty, but as a choice. Sadly, our grand daughters may go back to where our baby boomer mothers were, but for the moment, it really seems like we are making progress, and slowly plodding into a better future.

  It's December, and only a few weeks til Christmas. This is my favorite time of the year, love the music and the feeling, gifts don't mean a lot, but letters, pictures and phone calls are always welcome.  Hope you' re busy and happy preparing healthy options for our family holidays!