A quiet night…

Last weekend, I stepped out onto the porch.  It was one of those summer evenings of perfect temperature–not too hot, not too cold.

I just stood there  listening to the crickets and other critters make their chirps.  The birds who usually sing their songs for me during the day have gone silent…with the exception of a robin that sounds the alarm.  She must have spotted me on the porch and is warning the others of the human danger…

A beautiful night…

The wind starts to pick up, and the air changes to that of an impending storm.  I feel a drop of rain on my shoulder…and the tree tops start to sway…but then, nothing.  Storm blows over without much evidence.

It’s one of those nights where you hate going inside….

The ingenuity of organic farmers

So…one of the members of the organic farmers group posted about an onslaught of bugs eating his plants–he petitioned for help.

The suggestions made me smile at their ingenuity:

–one suggested using grass clippings for the bugs to munch on so they would leave the good plants alone.

–adopt a lizard.

–put up birdhouses in the surrounding area (great idea!)

–spray a mixture of honey/sugar and lard/oil over the ground near the plants to attract wasps, hornets, and ants that are predators.

–another suggestion was leaving rotting vegetation around (straw, hay, grass clippings, wood chips) so the bugs would eat that instead, and if all else fails with an infestation…get out the dustbuster. Haha.

Finally, a member commented that one of the “pests” –-a pill bug — ate heavy metals….so there you go–nature taking care of the bad stuff.  Another mentioned that they are great soil builders, so you really want them around–you just need to provide something else, like the rotting vegetation, for them to munch on.  They prefer it over the new plants.

Just thought I’d pass this along for anyone else wanting to get away from the toxic chemical solution–

Helping bees

On to lighter subjects…

A member on the organic farmers’ list posted a message about helping a bee that is on the ground.  If they’re on the ground, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are dead or dying–it probably means they are dead tired from gathering pollen and are resting.  You can help it by mixing up a little sugar water to help it regain its strength.

Just thought I’d pass this along–

The pharmacy in your yard… **edited

(I want to preface this with:  I am not a health professional.  Please consult with your health care provider before breathing, er I mean, before trying anything outside of Big Pharma, er I mean, before trying anything I suggest here.  You are responsible for your own health decisions. Which is why you should run, not walk, away from American medicine.)

I wanted to explore the link between dandelions and cancer, and found this. 

It supports my own intuition that this plant that we categorized as a bothersome weed could be our lifeline.

It’s just amazing that we’re pouring toxic chemicals–those same chemicals linked to cancer –on a plant that could very well cure that cancer.  (I’m not pointing fingers, mind you, because I am guilty of doing this in my past life, before becoming informed and aware.)

Breast cancer is especially of interest to me because my grandmother died from breast cancer…at least we think it was breast cancer–by the time it was discovered, it had metastasized all over her body, but the concentration was in her breasts.

I still have my two breast lumps, discovered nearly two years ago, but they shrunk after upping my iodine.  And in the last couple of years–drinking dandelion tea every day. Part of the reason for the lumps is the messed up hormones from mercury poisoning…so I am hopeful that they will disappear once I get this horrible poison gone from my system.

I also drink rose hip tea every day–loaded with natural Vitamin C….after reading that synthesized vitamins, such as “C”, are not really that good for us.  The body doesn’t recognize the synthetic version as it does the natural version–which makes sense to me.

Dr. Horner’s list begins with what I’ve been saying all along–eating organic food is the best medicine for your body to do its miracle work of healing itself. Unfortunately, she also recommends grains–which I now see as poison, as well.

A minor quibble with the good fats suggestion–butter from cows allowed to eat naturally–grass, without hormones and antibiotics–is good for us, too.

**edited to add:  she recommends flaxseeds every day — you should be aware that those of us of Irish heritage lack the necessary enzyme to digest flaxseeds.  I was taking flaxseed oil every day thinking it was a good thing, but I started having such nausea with it that I stopped.  It was only later that I found out about the lacking enzymes.

Teas are okay, but Dr. Campbell-McBride (GAPS), allows only loose leaf tea–not processed.   Tea  is high in salicylates, which can cause some severe issues, such as bladder pain and urgency, even blood in the urine. I guess it’s what you call too much of a good thing.

I’ve tried turmeric, too, but didn’t have results with it.  I guess that is one of the individual aspects of “food medicine.”  One size does not fit all.  Listen to your body, and learn to recognize when it is telling you to “stop”.

I wouldn’t recommend stevia, either, as I’ve read of issues with it.  Honey or maple syrup are preferred sweeteners–naturally offering benefits. I might note that royal jelly–from bees–has been touted as energizing–but if you’re allergic, it can have the opposite effect.  I began taking it before I knew I was mercury toxic, and I felt pretty good the first couple of weeks I took it.  Then, I began to feel more tired and developed a sore throat.  When I discontinued the royal jelly, I felt better.  In the interest of science, I took the royal jelly again, and again felt worse with a sore throat after just a few days.  I don’t know if this is a result of the mercury, because it does cause one to be allergic to everything, or whether it was just too high a concentration for my body.

I also disagree with soy–it is a known to impact the thyroid negatively.

So, yeah, nature has provided for us…we just need to value it.

 

 

 

Eye Candy

This week’s photos of lovely Canada is hit or miss.  Some gorgeous…some…well, not so much.

Like I said before, Canadians get more than their fair share of beautiful rainbows. 🙂

Love the last photo–the beleaguered dandelion spreading its seeds.  They are full of Vitamin C and Vitamin A, among other things, like detoxing you…we really need to rethink the classification of “weeds”.  According to this post, they’ve alleged that dandelion does cure cancer.

 

Getting started potting plants

Farmer’s Almanac has a blog up on getting plants starting in pots.  If you’re living in the city, where you can’t have a traditional garden, potted plants may be the way to go.   I have heard of folks using their balconies…but if you don’t have even that, perhaps the owner will allow you to put the pots in a sunny location.  The only drawback is that potted plants require more water than those in the ground, as the ground can supply moisture and protect roots from drying out.

Related to this–one of my Sedum Autumn Joy plants died.  It was in a pot (because I wanted to take it with me to Fort Wayne) and this winter was just too harsh for it.  Fortunately, I had also planted one here, so I still had one of the plants I brought with me from my house.  It has a huge sentimental value because I had first planted it when my son was young.

I also planted some of my tiger lilies from my house, and they apparently are doing well.   It’s bittersweet…because then I think about my house and what I would be doing at this time of year.

Hope you all get out and go play in the dirt. 🙂

(A side note~I probably won’t be blogging as much.  I’m starting to feel like I did before when I worked full time–I’m just pooped after working.  I’m hoping that it’s just a temporary thing until I get acclimated…and not the stupid mercury.  I know that I’m less toxic now than I was before, but perhaps not as far along as I had hoped.  Time will tell.)

Stranger hacks baby monitor, screams at baby

Surreal. 

I don’t even know where to begin with this…

It’s disturbing that a complete stranger had access to the private home of these folks, and could see their child, see into their house, and do something so troubling.

Then there’s the mother, grabbing her phone to see the baby.  Good Grief, I would have been running for the baby’s room, not grabbing the stupid phone to look to see if the baby was okay.

Not to mention exposing the child (and parents) to EMF’s which can cause damage that we are not even aware about yet.

The whole story is just unsettling.