Category Archives: food

Growing enough food to feed a family

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Farmer’s Almanac has a helpful video up on garden planning…how much do you need?

It’s not an in-depth video, but a good start especially for beginners.

They also have many more videos here.The first video, on gardening mistakes, mentions companion planning.  We’ve used that with the tomatoes–planting marigolds around them and around the garden to discourage pests.

They briefly discuss composting in the video 7 ways to use leaves in your garden: mix greens with browns to get rich earthy compost.  It doesn’t tell folks, however, that it will take several months for the matter to break down into “black gold”.  How fast it breaks down depends on rainfall and the heat of the pile.  And how often one turns it.  The piles need to be turned regularly to aerate and aid the decomposition.

 

 

 

A week of sliding meals

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Fig Jam and Lime Cordial has a good blog up on…leftovers.  There. I said it.  It sounds so much better the way it’s written in the blog..without actually saying the word.  Leftovers have been given such a bad name…but Celia does such an excellent job of the kitchen version of reduce, reuse, recycle. 🙂

 

Dividing First Nations in other ways…

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Scott Sewell has this up on how things changed when the gaming commissions came to town.  A sly way to divide tribes, eh?

There is just something wrong with giving tribes two choices: nuclear waste or gambling casinos.

But the federal government says to Indian people, “I will recognize your sovereignty if you have either a nuclear or toxic-waste dump or casino.” That’s pretty much the only way you get your sovereignty recognized as Indian people.
Let me be clear about this: We are sovereign. I don’t care if the federal government recognizes me, my nation, and my people. That’s of little consequence to me in the long-term picture. The federal government, as far as I’m concerned, is by and large illegal. Most transactions are illegal. It’s like being recognized by a bunch of hoodlums. But under the law, they recognize your sovereignty in those two things, a dump or a casino. So Indian people are in an ironic situation, in that our choices for economic development are so limited.

In Minnesota, I see two examples. I see a reservation like Mille Lacs. They have two casinos. They built schools, houses, roads, clinics, and community buildings. They bought land. Nobody was going to do that for them. No federal appropriation was going to be made for those Indian people to do that, although their land was mostly taken from them. The federal government is supposed to provide those things for them. That’s not going to happen, so they did that with their casinos, and that’s right. They’re making some long-term investments that are smart. They don’t think those casinos are going to last forever, but they’re doing the right thing.

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I have heard of folks willing their land to a tribe native to the area. Cool.

Here is the Native Harvest website Winona mentions.

And the Indigenous Environmental Network.

The grassroots people of Kul Wicasa oppose the development of the power line infrastructure planned by Basin Electric.  The Lower Brule substation is to be located two miles from the Big Bend Damn.  The thick, corrosive nature of tarsands oil (which in its natural state is the consistency of peanut butter) requires a constant temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit and necessary dilutants to liquify it enough to be slurried through the pipeline. This will require an enormous amount of power.  Basin Electric stated at a public utilities commission meeting in Winner, SD “the pipeline apparently moves oil under 1440 pounds of pressure per square inch. If the line is to move 700,000 barrels of crude per day, each pumping station requires three 6500 hp electric motors running on 17 megawatts of power night and day.  If the flow rate is increased to 900,000 barrels per day, five 6500hp electric motors are required.  That would use 25 megawatts of power.”

This increasing demand for electricity forces the need for the additional power station at Lower Brule. Transmission studies indicate the current system has reached its load limit.   Given the location of the Lower Brule substation, 2 miles south of the Big Bend Damn, it is apparent Missouri River water will be used to produce electricity.

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Soooo…..they toss a few crumbs with wind turbines…but what they don’t tell them is that the pipeline is going to require even more energy…and precious water to move the “peanut butter” through the lines…um-hmmm…

This is just stunning:

…the land isn’t even there now; it’s an oil mine; there was a lake there that was 200 miles long and 100 miles wide.  Now, the elders are saying, for the first time, the shoreline is receding and the rocks at the bottom of the lake are exposed.  Water is being taken from the rivers and lakes to support the destruction by the tarsands mine. 

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It’s really hard to imagine that much water being used.  It’s gone.  No longer usable by humans or animals.

This pipeline would destroy farmland and jobs, contrary to Big Oil myth.  The First Nations are trying to support themselves with the food production, but once again Big Oil has other ideas.  If you know anything about history, the Native Americans were moved to areas out West…once oil was discovered, suddenly they were in the way and once again moved.  This continued on…and now we have the modern day version of it–pollute the land so it is no longer inhabitable.

 

10 Foods that are high in Protein…

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…but you wouldn’t have guessed them.

Here’s the nutrition data sheet on:

Peas

Black Beans (not pasta, mind you)

I was looking for the absorption rate of the protein because one of the issues that Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride- (GAPS diet) has with vegetarian diets is that the body does not absorb plant protein as well as animal protein.  And then there’s the debate on how much protein we really need to be healthy.  They make note that athletes and active people need more, but then leave people in the dark about their definition of “active”….is someone active who exercises two days a week?  Three days? Is an athlete someone who exercises an hour every day?  One bodybuilder site mentions that their standard is two hours a day (for bodybuilding).  It would be easier if they could give more definite terms such as body weight, hours exercised, days exercised, and how much protein is required for those levels.

Lastly, what about the effect of GMO’s and food absorption?  What about inflammation?  If you are consuming beef that is fed GMO corn, how is that being absorbed?  Since beef is more slowly absorbed, does it cause more inflammation than if one is eating organic vegetable protein?  All of those factors need to be considered, too.

 

 

Heavy Metals and Chemical Toxins in Foods **edited

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Where’s my spoon?  /snark

Magnetic Wheaties.  The press refused to publish this because they didn’t think it was real.  Anyone want to test their own Wheaties and dispute it?

Heavy Metals in Vegan foods. 

Sea vegetables.

Here’s another paper on heavy metals content in foods.

Arsenic in food.  The discussion is in defense of reports of arsenic in organic foods.  What the news reports got wrong was that heavy metals are present in conventionally grown foods, too.  It’s not a fault of growing them organically…but it is a fault of our toxic environment—which we are all responsible for promoting.

Another link here.

While there is a set legal limit for the amount of arsenic in water, that’s not the case for food. In previous weeks, researchers also detected high levels of arsenic in apple and grape juices. “All of these arsenic studies come back to the fact that there are multiple exposures, with the levels varying from product to product and batch to batch,” says Patty Lovera, assistant director of Food & Water Watch, a consumer safety organization. “We need to figure out some regulatory limit.”

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Arsenic in rice has been discussed on the mercury support group–obviously, we’re concerned about putting more poison in our bodies.  It’s frustrating as hell because even if you eat organic, you’re still at risk of heavy metals by the soil contamination.

Someone said in a reply on one of the sites I visited:  you’re pretty much going to get exposed by anything you eat…nothing is safe.

But I would not give up organic food.  Conventionally grown food is less nutritious, besides polluting the environment even more–it doesn’t make sense on that point alone.

Finally, here’s a disturbing video produced by Environmental Working Group on toxic chemicals in babies’ blood.

I looked up the Kids Safe Chemicals Act of 2008…and I’ll give you three guesses how it turned out.  Yep.

But, wait!  There’s yet another bill introduced with link to co-sponsors…here’s where it stands. 

Sen. Frank Lautenberg [D-NJ] Bill Author

Kirsten Gillibrand [D-NY] Bill Author

Max Baucus [D-MT]

Michael F. Bennet [D-CO]

Richard Blumenthal [D-CT]

Barbara Boxer [D-CA]

Maria Cantwell [D-WA]

Benjamin Cardin [D-MD]

William “Mo” Cowan [D-MA]

Richard Durbin [D-IL]

Dianne Feinstein [D-CA]

Al Franken [D-MN]

Tom Harkin [D-IA]

Angus King [I-ME]

Amy Klobuchar [D-MN]

Patrick Leahy [D-VT]

Robert Menéndez [D-NJ]

Jeff Merkley [D-OR]

Barbara Mikulski [D – MD]

Patty Murray [D-WA]

Bill Nelson [D- FL]

Bernard Sanders [I-VT]

Brian Schatz [D-HI]

Charles Schumer [D-NY]

Jon Tester [D-MT]

Tom Udall [D-NM]

Elizabeth Warren [D-MA]

Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI]

Ron Wyden [D-OR]

Again, no mention on the toxins’ effects on the animals and birds.  Mercury has been found in birds on land and sea birds.  It’s also been found in marine mammals.

**edited to correct wording.

Mohawk became ill after fed jail meal

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Warrior Publications has this up on a Mohawk warrior who became ill after being fed a meal while being held in jail.

He became violently ill, but did not receive medical attention.

Shawn Brant is asking that the tape of the day he became ill not be erased. There’s no mention of any remaining food being tested, so I’m guessing that is not being done.

It doesn’t appear that the police are going to own this, based on the comments of the representative.  We’ll see…

Vegetarian diet and heavy metals

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Along my path of change, I was re-examining everything, including eating meat.  I became a vegetarian at about 1997.  My kids thought their mother had lost it.  It’s not easy changing to vegetarian when you’re responsible for cooking for the family.  I had to get everyone’s needs met.  They actually liked a bulgur wheat and lentil burrito I made, plus some other dishes.  But they did not want to convert fully to vegetarian diet, which I understood.

In 2006, I was advised to go back to eating meat due to severe anemia.  I didn’t know at this time that I was heavy metal toxic–that would be another year before my discovery.

I did not want to go back to eating meat, but my body had been craving it, so I knew the advice was sound.  I talked about it with a lady whom had been a vegan, and she too had to go back to eating meat.  Her theory was that some of us are just genetically set up to require meat, while others could do quite well without it.

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride said in her book of the GAPS diet, which heals the gut, that she did not recommend vegetarian diets–she saw many in her practice that were not healthy.  She saw a problem with vegetarians eating a lot of soy and grains.  I am guilty of this–I was eating a lot of tofu and pasta.  One of my favorites was eating spaghetti with olive oil and garlic.  Yum.  But eating this is not doable for Celiacs.  (Not to mention non-organic pasta being GMO)

I polled the mercury poisoning group about being vegetarian.  One was a vegetarian all his life until chelation.  He said he felt heavy and sluggish–he felt better and had so much more energy when a vegetarian.  I have to agree to that–I had so much more energy and my skin glowed. It was unfortunate that as I was beginning the vegetarian diet, my body was becoming more toxic from the mercury.

Another group member said it was just too hard on the body and with dietary restrictions, it was impossible to chelate without eating meat.

They were all under the impression that they could not go back to just a vegetarian diet–one said he hoped to go “almost” vegetarian, with eating some meat, but not totally meat-free. 

I don’t know.  Time will tell. 

My environmental journey

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The critics of environmentalists claim that we’re phonies…okay, well, here is my journey…

…my advocating for the environment has been a slow evolving process that includes my experience with mercury poisoning, growing awareness of what we’re doing to the atmosphere, and a spiritual component of realizing everything is connected.

Here are some of the things I do:

–use cloth bags when going to the grocery.  I might use plastic for meat, but I re-use those bags, too, bringing them to the grocery along with the cloth bags.  If you use the cloth bags for meat, be sure to launder them before using again, to avoid contamination.

–avoid plastic packaging. …well, plastic *everything*.   This has been much easier following the GAPS diet because you don’t eat the processed food in packaging, but real food.  If I am given an option, I will buy something in glass packaging before plastic.

—re-use the glass containers for drinking glasses, food storage, plants, etc. I try to avoid ziploc bags when possible.

—don’t purchase synthetic materials like nylon and other materials requiring petroleum.  The list I think is a catch-all, because I think some of the things listed are made with petroleum if plastic or manufactured cloth such as nylon, so some of the products listed could be okay if not using those materials.  Here’s a website on organic cotton, fyi.

–When I had my home, I made a conscious decision not to pave the driveway–it was gravel.  I didn’t spray for weeds, either.  I let my grass grow to 3 inches so that the roots could grow deeply enough to avoid having to water the lawn, especially during the dry time in July–this also helped keep the weeds down. Meanwhile, my neighbors practically shaved the grass off and…wait for it…had to waste precious water to keep the grass from dying in July.    I let a patch of ground that was the former owner’s garden, grow its natural way, without my interference.  Yeah, I was the neighborhood hippie…

—use baking soda, borax, and vinegar for cleaning.  A formula I found in a natural health mag goes like this:  Bathroom cleaner:  6 T vinegar, 2 T borax mixed with a cup– of warm water.  Put this in a 1 qt. spray bottle and fill the rest with water.  Works great, especially if used every day.

—I would like to use non-toxic natural cleaners for laundry, dish washing, etc., but with my finances, this isn’t doable right now. Oh, and fyi, avoid dishwashers–the detergent used in them is highly toxic.

—ride a bike or walk when going somewhere.  This was easier for me when I lived in Fort Wayne, where everything was within walking distance.  I could get to the downtown in 45 minutes to an hour.  There is something to be said for walking or riding–you are much more connected to what is going on around you.  You hear the birds sing.  Feel the breeze.  Hear the ripple of water along the river…driving a vehicle cuts you off from so much, besides polluting.

—use flannel cloths instead of toilet paper and re-wash them.  I know, I know, some of you are going “ick” right now.  No. 1 is fine…No. 2 still requires paper. So there.

—cloth pads instead of chemically manufactured pads.

—use less.  I just use less.  This was part of the learning process of being poor–you just learn how to manage on less.  Not easy, for sure.  I became much more adept at planning meals and using food up before it went to waste.  I didn’t buy as much at the grocery until I needed it.  This is easier if the grocery is within walking distance….which is becoming harder as the independents are being forced out while big box stores are situated out in no-man’s-land, forcing people to drive there.

—garden organically, using compost from kitchen waste, and if you’re really adventurous, pee and poo.   This is not for sissies…so come with your brain in active mode and your determination to get away from petroleum and chemicals.  You will succeed, but you can’t give up when challenged.  Nature does challenge you, but also gives such splendid rewards. 😉

This is an ongoing process, for sure.  I didn’t just wake up one day and start doing all of this.  It was a gradual endeavor with every new discovery of my own contribution to pollution.

So…there you have it…my efforts towards helping instead of hurting the environment.

I think if we all took those first steps, and built on that, we would greatly reduce our dependency on petroleum.  Everything helps and every bit matters.

 

 

 

Another Reason for the Honeybee collapse

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Here’s a report that states high-fructose corn syrup may be behind the honeybee colony collapse.  The commercial honey growers will take ALL of the honey and replace their food with high fructose corn syrup.

Since high fructose corn syrup contains mercury…it stands to reason that it could be one of the culprits behind the collapse.   I say “one” because there is also the pesticide connection.

Again, it’s taking everything and being greedy.  That greed eventually comes back on you.

Back

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Okay, back from a bout of the flu.  Gah, it’s been at least six years and probably ten years since I’ve had the flu.  Seriously. The last time I felt this bad, I had it in the lungs (probably walking pneumonia) and it was one of the times I woke up gasping for breath.

Mercury interferes with your immune system so much that even though we know we are exposed to viruses, we don’t “get sick”.

The theory is that the virus is there, but the immune system cannot muster the usual attack response that shows up as vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, fever, headache.  I think it’s another wonderful testament that my immune system is healing and starting to respond to viruses.  I don’t know if this particular virus was dormant…but I’m kind of leaning that way because it usually takes three days to incubate before symptoms show up…at least that was how it was with my kids and I when they were young.  With this flu, I was only in the public the day before, which would have been the best time to be exposed.  My sis could have brought the virus home, I suppose, but nobody else got sick.

Anyway, I’m actually happy that I had the flu….and I lived to tell about it!  I should alert the CDC.  /just a little snarky

I think the fact that I had a quick recovery is testament to eating good organic non-gluten food….the best medicine, along with proper herbs (dandelion and rose hips tea).