Toxic Tomatoes

My very first blog was prompted by watching migrant workers picking green tomatoes here in Edwina TN. Why? Ripe tomatoes have the best flavor. Well, you can't ship them ripe or they will rot. So here is a tale of what I see in these fields. Early in spring, March, the fields are turned, long tunnels of plastic are installed with heavy doses of fertilizer under them, not sure whats in the fertilizer. Shortly, migrant workers plant tomato plants, grown from GMO seeds, into those rows. For the next few months, they are sprayed constantly with weed and bug killers. Its now August and the green tomatoes have been picked, packed and shipped. When they arrive at their destination, they are placed in ethylene gas chambers to ripen. Look up www.acadamia.edu/23211590. If a man were to enter that chamber while the tomatoes are ripening, the gas is strong enough to kill him. Its absorbed into the fruit. Then its sent on to be processed into all sorts of tomato products, ketchup, pizza and spaghetti sauces, marinara, and canned tomatoes of all types, from sauce and paste to diced and whole, and juice. A good share are packed into cans with white lining, butyl hydroxalated touethylene, also very toxic. And sent to you to eat. Now those fields are sprayed again, with something so potent, the tomato bushes and unusable to packers ripe tomatoes, literally thousands of them , are brown and crunchy in 24 hours. Signs are posted saying "If you eat these you will die" and then all that poison is turned into the ground, waiting for a new crop to be planted in it. If you start checking it out, you will ind that most produce is grown with sprays by the Big Six, Monsanto, Syngenta, Basf, Bayer, Dupont and Dow. These sprays are killing our bees, butterflies and us. Graphs have been done showing the direct increase in cancer, arthritis, allergies,Alzheimer, etc since these growing practices began, about 30 years ago. Before then, cancer in a child was rare, ADHD was not known, you get the picture. it's not that we need research to find cures, we need to stop eating what is causing all this. But that would be costly to the BIg SIx and Big Pharma and doctors who make a great living trying to treat these ills. And of course, insurance factors in. If we were not sick, how would they make money? When I started this study there were some countries banning these growing practice, now over 64 have done so and will not buy the U S 's GMO grown crops, in fact we are importing corn from other countries because folk are wising up and demanding better food. So our farmers are loosing pay checks. . I am going to give you a list of sites to look up to verify all this, and there are hundreds more, you can do your own research and learn just how badly we are being fed. Get smart, buy organic, it will change how things are done if we refuse the garbage we are now fed. Please do some looking and learning, and get healthy. We are destroying our planet and ourselves with greed. And here they are, good reading to you. naturalsociety.com/conventionalfood, www.ewg.org/agmag/2014, articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archives/2013/06/09/monsanto

Brew Your Own Anti biotic, to stay well this coming season

Hard to believe that school is back in session, and fall is not far away. When school resumes, bugs come home and germs get spread around. I have a recipe you need to start now as it takes two weeks to brew, but this is almost exactly what I have been making for coughs and colds for many years. So first, your need a quart glass jar, with a tight fitting lid. Into that jar put 1/4 cup of chopped garlic. 2 fresh hot peppers, chopped, the hotter the better, 1/4 cup of grated ginger, 1/4 cup of chopped onion, 3 tablespoons of honey , 1 tablespoons of powdered turmeric, 2 tablespoons of grated horseradish. Stir well, and add 3 cups or what fits in your jar leaving an inch of head space. Shake. Place in a cool dark area and shake daily for 2 weeks. Strain, put in clean jar, and take at least 1 tablespoon a day to boost your immune system and prevent colds, flu etc. Well worth the fixing time. I have a problem finding fresh horseradish but you can buy a jar of just horseradish, not made into a spread, in the condiment section of the store. The garden is slowing down a bit now, still getting zucchini and tomatoes, and a few cukes. The pear trees are loaded. In fact, they are so heavy, a branch fell onto my roof and into my Dish, disrupting my tv service. My son came down with his chain saw and took down the offending branches. The tree right at the back of my house grows very tall, 30 feet maybe, limbs that are very thin and can't support the weight of all the pears on it. Looks like a lot of pear butter will be made this fall, better go buy more jars. Our new kitten is so cute, even though my older cat is still hissing at it, we are making progress, boy, could I use some of that energy. She is like a whirling Tasmanian dervish. Makes me tired just watching her. She is still very young, about 10 weeks old now. It's Fair time, seeing a lot of them ongoing in the area,including one that injured three kids on one of the rides, so glad they are all improving, there have been too many accidents this year already. Be cautious. Hope you have the school shopping done and are getting ready to settle into the routine again, I do not have to go there now, but keep watch over my grandkids and great grandkids school progress. Bought my first Christmas gift, so have started the shopping for December. Have a great week, til next time, stay well.

Let's look at neuropathy

It's Friday,and not quite so peaceful here. I brought home a new tiny kitten last Monday, and my eight year old is not a happy camper. She is getting better but still growls at the newcomer. Will be glad when she accepts her as a friend. The new girl is Siamese mix, and talky, and very cute, loves to snuggle. Her name is Lilly. It's also still summer, warm and humid and we still lack rain we need, it's in the forecast almost daily but on a hit and miss basis. So my son in Nebraska has a sister in law that did an extensive amount of painting in her home and did some damage to her shoulder and neck. After seeing a doctor, she was diagnosed with neuropathy and put on pain pills, which don't do anything to help cure the problem and could end up causing an addiction to the pills. I have been reading a lot of articles on things that help, and also checked with my aryuvedic site. The problem is caused by decreased blood flow to an area of the body. Diabetics also fight with this problem often. There are 3 vitamins that can help circulation, all can be found at Swanson vitamins. The first is one my daughter and I have used for numb tingly hands when we were doing stuff that over used them, B-6. 50 mg will do , a day, and cost about $2.38a bottle. The next is L-Arginine, at $4.99 a bottle, and the third is Alpha Lipolic Acid, also at $4.99 a bottle, most of these are 100 capsules and will last almost 3 months, so quite reasonable. I also found an alternative medicine you can check out, called Nervestra. It says it soothes pain, increases blood flow and builds back nerve function. This is one you would want to check out carefully for yourself. There are other things that help too, massage, maybe acupuncture and eating Omega rich fatty acid foods. Like avocados, one of my favorites. I refilled my hand soap containers yesterday, 1/2 cup of water, 1/4 cup of liquid castile soap, 15 drops of lavender essential oil and 20 drops of tea tree oil. Easy. Lathers well, smells nice. Summer is coming to a close, the kids are back in school next week here. Some went back last week. Those three month long summer vacations we had seem to be a thing of the past. I like summer better than the cold of winter so am not in a hurry to see it end, and we will have more very warm weather in August, but after that winter is approaching. Six months til Christmas, have you started shopping? Have a good week, stay well.

Golden Calendulas

Doug has a lovely patch of calendulas in his garden, and has been picking and bringing me the golden flowers for a while now. First I dried them, then I soaked them in sunflower oil for 2 weeks and this morning, I strained out the resulting oil, added a bit of borax and beeswax and a healthy amount of essential lavender oil. Not that simple of course, takes heating gently several containers to the same temperature, them whipping them together til thickened slightly before pouring into containers. My sis recently was scalded and suffered some nasty 3rd degree burns which are healing nicely and this got me working on the salve, as it is known for relief from burns and itching. Need to get some mailed to her. Also learned a lot this morning from articles Doug has been studying about elderberries. I planted some last fall as buying the flowers and leaves is costly and they are what I make bronchitis tea out of for my daughter and sis. If you eat raw berries you can get really sick. They are almost like poison. My Gram grew them over her back porch, and made jelly and wine, and now I am told these grow to over 30 feet tall if not regularly clipped. Yipes. Maybe I could have a trellis built and make it into a garage for my car, with the berry bushes growing a shelter. They are right at the end of my driveway so hope they do not become a problem. We have finally been blessed with rain, and some minor storms, and wind, nothing bad at all, and it helps keep temperatures down plus the boon of not having to water the garden every day. The plants are thriving, rain water is so much better than hose water. We had a power outage night before last, lasted almost 3 hours, and it was warm enough to really miss the fans running. And dark. Power went off about 7:30 pm and was nearly 11 pm before it came back on. I am really addicted to radio, fans, lights etc, and you find out real fast when they are gone how much you miss them. For a while now I have put peppermint oil where I have little ants in the house, or put it on a cotton ball and refresh it every few days. Here is a spray you can use that makes it easy and of course is safe around pets, food, kids etc. In a small spray bottle, put 4 ounces of water and add 30 drops of peppermint oil, and 30 drops of clove oil. Shake and spray. Repeat as needed. If you drink soda of any kind that comes in big plastic bottles, cut the top third of the bottle off, put some of the soda in the bottom and invert the cut off top creating a funnel, sit outside where mosquitoes may be and they will be drawn into the container and unable to get out. I have seen this used with wasps etc too, but different liquids used to trap different bugs. Got a package in the mail this am, cat food for Libby. And of course, she likes the box better than the contents. It had brown paper packing in it which she has claimed to sleep on. Yesterday when I was shopping, the store was full of back to school displays and lists of needed supplies, only a few more weeks and the kids go back to class. Wow, that makes the summer feel like it is ending hardly before it began. Have a good week, be thankful for your blessings and good health. Til next time be well.

Grow your own Pain Relief

It's the first day of July, and hot enough lately to feel like it. I know its summer because I made my first small batch of dill pickles this morning. Yesterday I picked zucchini and last night I sliced them up and put them in ice water in the frig overnight.This morning I got jars ready, made the brine and canned them. So easy, in the sterilized jars put a clove of garlic, 4 peppercorns, and 1 head of dill or 1 teaspoon organic jarred dill. Pack in the drained, dried zucchini, add another clove of garlic and a sprinkle of dill seed, pour the brine, half water, half white vinegar and pickling salt over the top, put the lids on and process for 12 minutes. All sealed, and cooling on the counter now and the mess cleaned up. Good thing too, just opened my last jar from last year. These need a 3 week cure time and they will be ready. By then, there will be more. The vines are heavy with cucumbers and zucchini so will keep me busy. Most of the aches, pains and illnesses we suffer from are caused by inflammation in the body. And you can grow herbs that will ease those aches and keep your body inflammation free. Bet you never thought of Basil as one of them. You use the leaves of course, and its listed as anti inflammatory, antispasmodic and antiviral. Dry the leaves and use as a tea or make a tincture, a bit more complicated. Also relieves tension. And of course is good in lots of cooking areas. Black cumin is second,its an annual, and you have to harvest the seeds which have a peppery taste, you can toss them on salad, even put them in pancakes. You can make a tincture or just add the seeds to your food. If you want to make a tea, use 1 teaspoon of peppermint leaves, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of cumin seed oil, available at health food stores, 1 teaspoon of honey and add a cup of boiling water to steep.Those are the easiest, and you know about ginger and turmeric. Been out and worked in the back yard a bit this am, yesterday was garden day. Takes a lot of water right now, the heat sure evaporates it out fast. No complaints, like this much better than winter. Somehow the older I get, the more I feel the cold. Can handle being warm much better. So here we are, looking at the fourth of July. Somehow, America has slipped and no longer feels like it did 20 years ago. We have lost so many freedoms, and the government does not seem to represent us now, it just hems and haws and makes big bucks at our expense. Sad. I miss the days of saying the Pledge of Allegiance, singing our patriotic songs, having a prayer in school to start the day, and its made a difference in how we live. I hope we can gain back the pride we had before all the terrorism, taking out of our rights etc . Planning a quiet day at home, gardening most likely. Hope your day is all you want it to be. See you soon.

Recipes, Rants, IDeas

Do we not elect senators and congressmen? Have they totally lost track of their job? They seem to always be taking vacations without deciding any major issues, get big salaries, amazing retirement benefits and yet do not take the job of representing us at all seriously. And they squabble like school kids, come on, work together for the good of the people, that is your job. If we did our jobs the way they do theirs, we would be fired. Not many years ago, hearing our national anthem, or reciting the pledge of allegiance made our hearts flutter with pride. But it seems now we are no longer the land of the brave and the home of the free. Oh yes, we have many brave people who do stick up for and protect us, but the freedoms our forefathers fought for are slipping away, like pulling the plug in your tub and watching the water go down the drain. If you are a white, Christian, straight person, the Good Lord forbid you say anything about anyone else. But those others can constantly pick at us and take away our freedom of speech and religion. Yes, I believe people have rights, but time was people came to this country because they wanted to become Americans, learn our ways, language and become apart of us. Not drag their country and their way of living here and push ours out. if we went to any other country in the world, we would go because we wanted their way of live, and we would not push our ways on them. Ok, feel better, just hate the way life is going, and fear for our kids and grand kids future, not shining and bright like it was in the past. It has been HOT lately, and the humidity makes it feel like breathing underwater at times. If you are suffering from allergies and headaches, here is a tea to help. 1 teaspoon of peppermint leaves brewed in a cup of boiling water for 10 minutes, strain and add 1 teaspoon black cumin seed oil( get this at Mountain Rose Herbs) and 1 to 2 teaspoons of organic honey. Sip and relax.You must know we are loosing our bees due to the GMO growing in our country, and that will mean down the line no pollination and loss of many crops. If you want to help encourage bees, plant some of these in your yard, yarrow, sedum, Rudbeckia, Lantana, goldenrod(yep) butterfly weed, asters, bee balm and even catnip. I found a neat pattern for a bee house, made of 4x8 inch pieces of wood, made into a box, filled with potters clay and holes punche 3/4 of the way back with a 1/2 inch pencil or dowel, my pencils are not that big so maybe a wood spoon handle. Put some screw hooks and a wire on top and hang in the yard. Son Doug has taken a long time foster dog to town this am for his journey to Jersey and hopefully a loving new home soon, will miss the big lug, he is a sweetie. Hope he gets a good home soon. Well, off to brew some iced tea and vacuum. Stay cool, see you soon.

Living in a Toxic World

Just a rough guess but maybe 80% of the stuff we use every day contains at least one and sometimes more toxic ingredients. Nail polish has Toluene, very harmful I found some natural water based from a company called Vita Cost, but it says to take it off with rubbing alcohol and that does not work. The only way I found is to peel it off, little by little. There are Parabans, and all manor of bad for your health things put into toothpaste, mouthwash, cosmetics soap, shampoo, it takes a lot of research to find things that are not going to do you some harm. Reading labels is imperative these days. My new Mother Earth magazine has a run down on some toxins, and where there are. I'd like to share it with you. Number 1 BPA . This is a hormone disruptor, linked to breast and prostate cancer, yep, guys are in danger too. If you are still buying non organic canned foods, and the lining of your can is white, that's the stuff. Try a different brand at least. Also found in water and baby bottles and cash register receipts. Might not want to keep those around. Number 2 is Phthalates. They are also cancer causing, hormone disrupting and linked to mental problems. Most often found in toys, flooring and cosmetics. Number 3 is Parabans. These are every where, shampoos, foods, personal items of all kinds, read that label. They are huge hormone disruptors, be cautious using them on kids, shampoo is prime. Number 4 is Formaldehyde. This one I have battled with since a child, get a nasty rash if I get near anything containing it, It is mostly a carcinogenic. Found in clothing, flooring and lots of common everyday things, again your soap and shampoo. Even flu shots, I finally was told to quit getting them after getting so sick for many years of having one. Doc figured it out, glad to know about that. And number 5 is flame retardants. These are linked to reproductive and developmental issues. For a time children's pajamas were treated, and other clothing but its also used in furniture making. These are just the tip of the iceberg, there are literally thousands of chemicals in our products, from clothing to personal care, to what our homes are built of. There are a lot of place you can research these, try safecosmetics.org for your personal care,for building materials try cpsc.gov/pagefiles121919. If you are looking for a particular substance, just put it in your search engine, tons of things come up. It's been very humid, making it feel much hotter than usual. We are not as bad as some places, but warm enough. Not complaining, much prefer this to winter. Got a lot done early, took the cat litter box, and the container I put the used litter into out and scrubbed them this am, all drying in the sun. Got a late start as I received my order of organic baking products yesterday and mad e a few cookies early. Sometimes ya just need a little dessert. Stay safe and cool, play in the hose with the kids and grandkids. Missing my little ones, Dad is back in school studying hard this summer. See you soon.