Help your diet help you

Your diet always needs your help to keep you well. The more studies that are being done, the more processed foods and junk foods, and fast foods are coming under fire. You need to eat rainbows. The brighter the color the better. Watermelon, blueberries, kiwis, greens, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes instead of white ones, and most whites are grown with a ton of spray, so not healthy. It's finally becoming evident that all the sprays are making us the nation of cancer, arthritis, allergies and Alzheimer's among other ills that plague us. But it will be a long time before major changes are made as the GMO crops are making big bucks for so many, even funding Hillary's campaign. She is promoting them on that account instead of being aware of health needs of our country. This political campaign has been the nastiest I can remember, and neither candidate seems to me to be honest, or caring or reliable. What happened to presidents like Lincoln, Washington etc. Those who knew our country was founded on religious beliefs and needed to follow them. Politics aside, they just make me crazy these days. On the rainbow, be sure to add whole grains that are organic, like quinoa, millet, wild rice. And oh, this morning on Facebook I see China is making plastic rice, yuck. Don't buy that. Did you know that 6 million kids die of diseases that could be treated for the cost of a cup of coffee every year? How sad. Using steroids or antibiotics for respiratory infections? Here is a better way, call 800-991-7088 and order Respiratory Relief, or go to mynaturesrite.com to order, this stuff kills bacterial inflections without harm to the patient. You can control allergies by following a healthy diet and healing your gut, taking away inflammation. Requires a lot of work, but better than meds. If you are taking stuff for reflux, heartburn etc, be aware of the side effects. They weaken your gut, and will cause kidney demise. Because they take out your first line of defense by making your gut weaker and weaker until all your good bacteria get out of balance. Adjust your diet, eat smaller amounts at night and quit eating 5 hours before bedtime to help. Found a new smoothie recipe I really like, 1 cup of plain organic yogurt, 1/2 cup fresh blueberries, or frozen ones, 1 small carrot chunked up, 2 T oatmeal, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 Tablespoon of honey. I did find it a bit thick and had to add a tad of soy milk to make the blender work. But its goooood. Spent yesterday in and out of the house, working on flower beds and garden, need to go back out before the day is over and sweep the debris off the porches, had a guy come clean the gutters this week. Now maybe the dirt won't wash out of the beds all the time. And wonder of wonders, no snakes, toads, frogs or salamander were under all the rocks and leaves I cleaned up. Yea. It's been cool, I like it, no need for heat or fans, just start out with long sleeves and slippers and socks, and shed them as the day warms up. They say we are due a really hot summer so I am enjoying this long spring time. One last spring cleaning recipe, if you have mold on the north side of your house or other buildings, mix 1 cup white vinegar, 1 cup water and 1 teaspoon of baking soda in a spray bottle, spray liberally on mold, do not wash off, first rain will clean it all up for you. And it keeps it from coming back for a long while. Have a great last week of May, sure went fast. Stay well.

Blackberry Winter, and more recipes

Well, the weather has presented its own roller coaster lately, its been chilly enough the last few mornings to go hunting for long sleeves, sox and slippers again, but today should be the last cold for a while, back in the 80's by tomorrow. Yesterday we got a brief hail storm tossed in just to make it interesting, stuff bigger than a pea but smaller than a marble, made noise mostly. Had a good bit of rain along with it. It is doing the gardens good, things are growing nicely. Rain is ever so much better than watering. Our well water is hard, lots of minerals, and better than no water but the rain is welcomed. Saw a report on the news this week saying that the third leading cause of death in this country is mistakes made by doctors. That is totally scary, you feel like you have to trust them if you are going to them and yet they are prescribing wrongly and operating the same way and the stats on the number of deaths is really off the wall. I prefer taking care of my health and using my own home made remedies for things. When my sis had shingles, a salve made with hot peppers was given her, why would you want an irritant when you are already hurting? Makes little sense. She had good luck with my pine needle salve which is very soothing. About time to brew up a new batch. For a long time I have been making cough syrup from fresh ginger, horseradish, herbs and onions and garlic. It takes 8 weeks to brew, so not something available if needed in a hurry. Here is a recipe for some you can make and use right away: 1 cup of fresh pineapple juice, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1 piece of ginger, about 1/2 inch, grated, 1 tablespoon of organic or raw honey and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder. Mix all together and use as needed, up to 1/4 cup at a time, 3 or 4 times a day. This does seem to work too, if you have Hemorrhoids and can not get to a store, soak a cotton ball with apple cider vinegar, place and leave on overnight. This is for external ones, if you have internal ones, in a small flat container freeze the vinegar and cut into slivers you can insert into the anus. Might need a drip catcher to save your undies. Also drinking a Tablespoon of vinegar in hot water every day may help prevent and cure the problem. This one I can't check as I am allergic to coconut, but mixing turmeric powder and coconut oil into a past and applying with a cotton swab is supposed to whiten your teeth. If anyone tries this let me know results please. Did you know you can easily make your own powdered sugar? Just put a cup of organic sugar and 1 teaspoon of corn starch in your food processor and whirl until powdered. I am not using corn starch as its too processed, almost all corn is GMO these days, I have gone to arrowroot instead. My peonies are blooming, the snowballs rapidly fell apart, rain really took those out. Hope all the mom's out there have a wonderful mother's day, I am blessed to have 4 remarkable kids, making every day Mother;s Day. Love them all, makes me realize how lucky I am. God had a most important hand in that venture, no complaints at all. Have a great week, stay well.

Spring Cleaning with Natural Products

Sitting here this morning early, with coffee in hand, watching the sun rise behind the mountain. Well sort of, its cloudy this morning but there is still a glow as the sun creeps into the sky. Behind me is a steep incline to the top of Piney Mountain, my son's work shop sits about half way up. In the winter I can see the top of the mountain through the bare trees, but now they are all green again so only looking at the tops of the trees can I see the top. It takes the sun a long time to come over the mountain, if I go to town early, it's already up as I get away down the hill. God has put me in a truly breathtaking place to spend the last of my life. I have been lucky to see a lot of places, some great, others not so much. Today I got a newsletter from Mountain Rose Herbs with some great cleaning recipes. If you are still buying harsh chemical products, I urge you to consider going green and natural. These ingredients clean as a well as clorox, and other caustic products, and are so much safer for you, your kids, pets and the environment. Lets start with a general surface cleaner for kitchen counters, cabinets, glass, blinds, tubs, fan blades etc. In most grocery stores you can purchase spray bottles for just over a buck, I found mine at Walmart. You can also clean and reuse old glass cleaner spray bottles, just be sure all the old stuff is removed. okay, Surface Cleaner: 16 ounce spray bottle 8 ounces white vinegar 6 ounces water 2 ounces vodka or rubbing alcohol 10 drops essential lavender oil 5 drops essential rosemary oil 5 drops essential lemon oil. Combine all in spray bottle shake before use On to soft scrub, for your sinks, tubs, toilets etc glass jar 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup liquid castile soap, 15 drops of essential oil, like rosemary, tea tree or your choice. Mix well, apply to paper towel or cloth and scrub away, rinse well. Have you used Febreze? I was told by a vet many years ago it may be toxic for pets, had a kitty get sick and she thought that was the cause. Well, here is a home made version that won;t harm a thing: 16 ounce spray bottle, 3 ounces vodka or rubbing alcohol, 15 drops lavender essential oil. 12 ounces rose hydrosol. Put in your bottle, shake and spray curtains, rugs, furniture, pet beds, cars upholstery etc. I ran across an article in my new Mother Earth on blood sugar, if you are working with that problem, did you know that dandelions are most helpful? They contain alpha-glucosidaze, which is natures blood sugar reducer. You should check with your doc of course, but a tea made with flowers and leaves can reduce the amount of medication needed. It's finally spring, almost summer, we seem to jump from that lovely cool period right into very warm weather. My garden is mostly up, have beets, St. Francis beans, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, lettuce and herbs doing well, also potatoes and my berries are looking good, both strawberries and blueberries are getting ripe. Love this time of renewal, when the earth once again becomes green and lush. Hope you are taking time to enjoy and not just stress out from yard wor, all too soon winter will make its return. Enjoy the weather, and your life, and give thanks for all your blessings. Til next time, be healthy. Final note, all ingredients need for cleaning recipes can be found at Mountain Rose Herbs, and most of them also at Swanson Vitamins, or Amazon.

Castile Soap and Chamomile

Sometimes the simplest things are the best, and cheapest. If you are trying for a healthy home, these two items are your friends. I have a large bottle of Castile soap, purchased from Mountain Rose Herbs, in my cupboard. I use it in foaming face wash, shampoo, and other home made personal items. Its simple to use,To make an all purpose cleaner, combine 1 gallon of hot water with 1/2 cup liquid Castile soap and 10 drops essential thyme oil. Spray on cupboards, sink, tubs,any surface you need to clean., If you have pets, make a shampoo that repels fleas with Castile and peppermint essential oil, bugs hate peppermint. Just keep it out of eyes and nose. Add a few squirts of Castile to 2 cups hot water to clean up greasy stove tops. Using Castile instead of normal disinfectants can help ease allergies, it will take a few weeks to see improvement as you need the toxic stuff you have been using to get cleaned out. Living in a clean , green house is so good for your health. Chamomile has long been used as a relaxing tea, to aid in sleep. But its good for ulcers too, and tummy troubles, very soothing. Steep a cup of chamomile blossoms in 2 cups boiling water, strain, cool and use as a hair conditioner, do not rinse out. It will leave your hair soft and slightly lighter. If you have puffy eyes, steep some flowers and make small compresses to put under your eyes, while relaxing a short time.Its also good for itches, scrapes and burns, can use tea or make salves and lotions, recipes easy to find on line. Amazing how going back to old remedies can improve our lives. I watched a spot on ABC news a while back saying lots of folk are getting tired of the side effects, cost and inconvenience of prescription meds, so they are looking for holistic, and alternative doctors who can use both, and keep your side effects at bay. Seems our grandparents knew a lot more than we gave them credit for. Back on the prairie, docs were few and far between and pioneers needed a good basic knowledge of herbal care. Even the Native Americans had a good handle on growing and using herbs, tree roots and bark etc. It kind of seems the farther we progress, the less healthy we are. It's trying to be spring, the dogwoods are lovely, the red buds are about gone, but my snowballs, tulips etc are so pretty. We have been in an area this week with 3 forest fires burning very close to us. We ate our share of smoke for a day or two, but the fire is burning away from us and up another mountain now. It's splitting so they are still using helicopters to drop water, last report said we had an extra 130 firefighters brought in to fight this giant blaze, We could use a good soaking rain to help get all these fires out. Hope you are having a lovely spring, enjoying some warmer days and the flowers that are now appearing. I am waiting for my little hummingbirds to return, love watching them. Take care.

OK, go ahead and hate me

I was brought up in a different age. My parents took me to church, taught me respect and I knew they could see anything I did even if I was 100 miles away from them. We walked to school alone at the age of 5 or 6, knowing not to get into a car with anyone we did not know etc. And our parents were not in trouble for letting us do this. Cursing was a sin, I still can not abide any one who spews out a curse word every other word out of their mouth. It shows a lack of knowledge of good words and proper speech. I also can not stand the new tv shows. They are so full of deviate sex, violence, murder, blood, no wonder we have created the world we live in. The news media adds to this by repeating over and over all the stories featuring mass murder and violence. Of course its copied. We grew up watching Andy Griffith, Petticoat Junction, The Waltons, Night Court. Last night I watched a Night Court episode that touched on death and disability in a wonderful way, I laughed all the way through it. I will not watch any show that promotes gay marriage, God says that is an abomination. And I know that my life has to be lived according to God's teachings or I have no hope of getting to that Kingdom he is preparing for us. Oh sure, I am a sinner, but God forgives if we ask, and more, he forgets the sin. We just have to ask Him to point us in the way he wants us to go, and do our best to go there. My folks picked up a switch or a razor strap once in a while, we were not abused or beaten, just disciplined. And having boundaries is important. If we goofed at school and got a ruler smack from the teacher, it was reported to our parents who followed it up at home with another smack. We survived, we respected others, and their property, and are still following those rules. Bring up a child in the way he should go, and he will not forget it. Not an exact quote, but close, and yes it's Biblical. I am fortunate enough to have brought up my kids the way I was brought up, and they are all wonderful, caring, useful humans, always out to help others. Too bad this generation is not the same. There are, I am sure, some wonderful young ones out there, there will always be parents who follow rules and convictions. and raise solid citizens. But there are many more who just don;t care. I feel sorry for these kids, what a poor way to grow up. So I will be accused of being narrow minded, not accepting, whatever. Yes. I am that way. I can accept the sinner, but not the sin. I can not judge. I keep trying to make sense out of life, but the best I can do is ask for God's help, and stay true to my roots. And so I choose not to watch news, tv shows that offend me, and other stuff that just makes me crazy. There are good stations, like Hallmark, Inspiration, FETV that show the old shows that taught morals and were truly funny at no one's expense. Hang me out to dry, I am done.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and some Aloe uses

Yes, I say Merry Christmas, after all, if we take Christ out of Christmas, it's no longer the reason to celebrate. Looking forward to a visit with my family, across Illinois and Nebraska for the next few weeks. Can hardly wait to see them all. These last months have been difficult. I am avoiding the news for the most part, just do not want to know we have been struck with another mass shooting, airplane crash, sinking boat, or whatever else is on the bad news list. I'm an American and proud of it, and a Christian., And being punished for those beliefs is so unjust. When I was much younger, I remember the boats bringing in immigrants from other countries, stopping at Ellis Island, where they read the message at the Statue of Liberty, Bring me your -----. But you know, those people came here to escape tyranny in their homelands. They did not expect to convert us to their way of life, they wanted what we had. They learned English, got jobs and many became Americans we know to this day, musicians, artists, laborers, they adjusted and fit in. Now all these people flooding our country want to change us to their ways. Maybe they need to stay in their homelands and fight for change. If I left this country, I would pick one that had what i wanted, not what I have, and go there expecting to adapt to their ways. Nuf ranting. Did you know that aloe gel is good for your teeth? It's anti-inflammatory and has beta sitosterol, which helps quell bad breath, fight tooth decay and gum disease. Mix 1/4 cup of aloe gel in 1/2 cup of water and drink to improve mouth health. And you are sure to know it's great to soothe burns, cuts etc. Did you know that putting aloe gel on your face at night can help defeat wrinkles? Leave it on overnight and rinse off come morning. You can also rub it on bruises to help them disappear. All these tips come from the new Mother Earth Magazine. What an incredible week we have had,mostly sunny, warm, into the upper 60s and lower 70's, and its mid December. Hope it holds another few weeks. Of course here in TN we are getting seed catalogs, and starting to think about the spring gardens, which we will be working on in early March. Love the south. I want to wish you all a Christmas filled with God's peace and love, and a year with less going on in this world that is terrifying and sad. Take time to spend with your loved ones, we have to keep trusting God to take care of us as he has planned. Have a great Christmas and a blessed New Year.