Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Girls Night Out

The weatherman was wrong, and we did not have storms last night or this morning.  It was a pretty day to work outside.  Travis and I worked on the strawberry bed today.   I got it all cleared out and put mineral supplement on it.  Then Travis gave it some fertilizer.  Then we put on compost and mulch.  It's should be all ready for new strawberry plants.  There are already a few strawberry plants in this bed from a couple of  years ago.  Removing the red pump water feature from this bed was the hardest thing.  It had pea gravel in it that made it too heavy to lift.  So I scooped out the gravel a little at a time.
Travis fertilizing the strawberries.

I put some more compost and mulch around one of the apple trees that got short-changed the first time around.  The apricot tree is blooming so pretty.

I listed a silver cup trophy and a set of Pearl S. Buck books on Ebay.  I listed the set of books on Abe Books, also.

Lunch Menu
Green Smoothies
Mango, Grapefruit with honey
Pear, Honeydew
Goody Balls

Tonight was ladies night out.  I met my friends Linda and Debbie to see a movie.  We saw the Reese Witherspoon movie, This Means War.  I paid $17.00 for a bucket of popcorn, but it only costs $3.50 to refill it twice per movie for the rest of 2012.  We all three shared the popcorn, and there was some left to take home to Travis.  And I didn't even refill it.  We went to dinner at Olive Garden after the movie.  It was a good time.  We plan to go out again next week.
Debbie, Janis and Linda

Dinner Menu
Movie Popcorn
Salad at Olive Garden
Vegetarian Minestrone Soup at Olive Garden

The Chinese have grown food by closely spacing plants for thousands of years without depleting their resources.  They could grow all the food for one person on about 7200 square feet including animal products.  Those concepts are gaining in acceptance here the the USA now.  It is exciting.

A complete year's diet for one person can be raised on 3400 square feet.  It takes commercial farmers between 15,000-30,000 square feet to do the same thing.  Besides that, commercial farming depletes the soil so that large amounts of nutrients have to be brought in from outside the farm depleting other soils....robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Sustainable agriculture will produce high yields while improving the soil and with few outside inputs.  The goal is to feed yourself and feed the soil at the same time.

To health and happiness.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

100% Sustainable?

Lunch Menu
Green Smoothie
Grapefruit Half with Honey
Avocado
Mango
Goody Balls

Dinner Menu
Green Salad w/Romain, Mushrooms, Cucumber, Sprouts, and Tomato
Lemon Juice and Olive Oil Salad Dressing
Sauerkraut
Steamed Cabbage seasoned with Butter, Bragg's Seasoning, and Pepper
Walnuts

I went to 270 Farm Supply with my soil analysis report to see if they had urea and muriate of potash which the Cooperative Extension Service had recommended for my garden beds.  They gentleman at the farm supply said that every single person with a soil analysis from the Extension Service is getting the same recommendation.  I'm just an amateur, but based on that feedback I decided to follow what I learned from John Fielder in Australia and build up our soil with the mineral supplement, organic fertilizer, compost and mulch.   So I came home without urea and muriate of potash.  On a positive note, the man at the farm supply said that they were back-ordered on most of the organics they have on order.  He said the gardening world is really changing.  I told him that it is going to change even more.  

When I got home from flute lesson, Travis was working in the greenhouse planting seeds.  I was able to get out there with him for a while and plant a few things myself.  We planted Marglobe Tomatoes, Bibb Lettuce, Snowball Cauliflower, and Utah celery.  They got watered with water with some fish emulsion in it.  
Travis planting seeds in the greenhouse.



I got a new book in the mail today that was recommended by a friend that farms using permaculture design, Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeir.

Sustainability is a subject whose time has come.  Is it possible to grow all the food necessary to have a healthy natural hygienic diet on a small piece of land?  The diet that Dr. Fielder teaches and practices could be followed in our climate by having fruit trees, veggie garden, herb garden, goats, chickens and bees.   It would be necessary to preserve by freezing and dehydrating for this to work.  I would sure miss my bananas, avocados, lemons, and dozens of other favorites.

50% from pears, apples, grapes, watermelon, strawberries, plums, tomatoes, cucumbers, canteloupes

35% from Brussels sprouts, radish, tomato, cabbage, leek, lettuces, turnips, asparagus, bell pepper, cucumber, sprouts, watercress, beets, carrots, endive, pak choy, cauliflower, peas, broccoli, celery, kale, and pumpkin

10% from potatoes, yellow corn, and sweet potatoes

5-10% from cottage cheese, honey, raisins, walnuts, pecans, butter, eggs, figs, and sunflower seeds

Condiments:  cottage cheese, onion, sage, thyme, marjoram, mint, parsley, garlic, shallots, honey, nasturtium, arugula, and cilantro

To health and happiness.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Health Foods

The Hot Springs Flute Ensemble played for the morning service at Westminster Presbyterian Church. It was my second performance with them. We played The Heavens Declare by Benedetto Marcello and Ave Verum Corpus by Mozart. 

Warming up before the church service.
Today my sister bought my lunch to celebrate my birthday.  She, Mom and I went to Ruby Tuesday's in Benton.  I had the salad bar, and it was very good.  Sheila gave me a gift of an inspirational calendar, too.  After lunch, I took Mom to Walgreens to get snack crackers and to Backyard Burgers to get a strawberry shake.  What can I say.  She's almost 91 years old.

I stopped at Cox Family Gardens on the way home and bought some seed potatoes.  I told the lady at the nursery that every peach tree that we have planted so far has not made it.  She told me that we were just a little too far north to grow peaches.  I didn't know that.  They grow them at Alpine which isn't far from here.  She says we are right on the line.

Travis finished feeding the trees and berries while I was gone today.  They look so happy and contented now.  

While clearing out clutter, I listed a little toy on Ebay that has been in my toy room for years.  I don't know where it came from, but I listed it and right away someone in Japan bought it.  I packaged it today and got it ready to mail tomorrow.  Made $14.00.  Not bad.
Winni the First
I snacked on walnuts and pistachios when I came in from Benton today.  Travis made us green smoothies for supper.  We got into the hot tub after supper.  Very nice.  That was the first time I had been in the hot tub in a year.

Yesterday, I ate some salted nuts at a baby shower.  Hygenists know that salt is a poison.  Today I feel the effects of that as pain in my kidney.  Inorganic sodium chloride is harmful to the body.  Sodium and chlorine are necessary, but they need to be obtained through plants.  Plants take up sodium and chlorine from the soil and take it in as part of the plant.  Salt is always harmful in its crystalline form.


Have you noticed that modern health food stores look more like drug stores than grocery stores? Elements are extracted from foods and sold as nutritional supplements or health foods.  But in truth the whole food is always better than the extract. Whole grain wheat is better than wheat germ.  Apple juice is better than apple cider vinegar.  A whole apple is better than apple juice.  It's not enough to put a little wheat germ on refined cereal.  These types of foods do not build health.

Nutrition is important, but so is sleep, rest, stress levels, exercise and fresh air.  Health foods won't create health if Nature's laws are continuously broken.

Natural Hygiene always opposes offering products as cures for different ailments.  If we want to be healthy, we have to stop doing what makes us sick.  Cease to do evil.  Learn to do good.    If we learn to live within our limits, we can be healthy without any so-called health foods.  They are a waste of money.  It's better to spend the money on organic, fresh, whole foods. - Adapted from Quintessence of Natural Living by Keki Sidwha

To health and happiness.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Today is Molly's Birthday

Today is my daughter Molly's birthday.  It was a perfectly beautiful day for her celebration.  I called her to wish her Happy Birthday, but I won't get to see her until tomorrow.   She wants a camera for her birthday, but she hasn't picked it out yet.  Once she picks it out, we'll contribute towards it.
Happy Birthday, Molly.
It was a nice spring-like day to work outside.  I finished mowing around the plants around the arbor.  Travis had picked up some more Ironite Mineral Supplement.  The minerals are the first step in feeding the plants.  I put the Ironite around three trees and the berry arbor.   I'll put the fertilizer, compost and mulch around them next chance I get to work in the garden.
I mowed around the berry plants around the arbor.


Ironite Mineral Supplement

First step in feeding the plants....Minerals.
 Today was Travis' day with Karl and Arthur.  He and Arthur went to Little Rock today to meet Karl.  That means I had to fix my own green smoothie today.  I used kale, banana, date, apple, canteloupe, and water. The rest of the lunch was grapefruit with honey, avocado, watermelon, and almonds.
Lunch!
Supper was steamed zucchini, veggie cocktail (carrots, beets, celery, bell pepper), green salad (romaine, mushrooms, tomato, sprouts, parsley, cucumber), salad dressing (lemon, olive oil, honey, Bragg's Seasoning), almonds.

In my Natural Hygiene course, I am studying a Pediatrics section.  Today's lesson was about constipation. Nature Cure deals with this with love, food, and physical attention.  Physical exercise can be very helpful.  Meat, fish, and chicken should definitely not be eaten.  Retained feces from these foods can cause very toxic conditions.

I am reading Gaia's Garden trying to learn a little bit about permaculture.  In permaculture you use nature to help a garden mature faster than it otherwise would. A mature landscape is a blend of trees, shrubs, and smaller plants.  The  typical manicured lawn is an immature landscape, and it requires constant work and the application of many chemicals to keep it from maturing.  Our typical gardens are also examples of a young eco-system because they start from seed every year. In permaculture design we can have all that the annual garden offers and more.  I hope to learn to arrange my garden so it will be like a mature eco-system rather than a young one.  The book says that if I lay the groundwork, nature will create connections and fill in the gaps.

To health and happiness.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Feeding Blueberries and Fruit Trees

Today was a beautiful day.  It got up to 73 degrees.  It was a perfect gardening morning.  I cleared around four fruit trees and two blueberry bushes.  A couple of them I cleared out with a hoe, and the others I mowed around with the lawn mower the way John Fielder taught me in Australia.  We fed two blackberries and an apple tree with Ironite mineral rocks, fertilizer, compost and mulch.  The others will have to wait for another day.
Travis is applying the mulch around the apple tree.

Blueberry bush all fed and mulched.
 Travis picked up compost free of charge from our city compost facility.  It is free to residents that load it themselves.    He got mulch from the POA of Hot Springs Village.  They are grinding all the trees that were uprooted during the tornado last year and offering it to the residents at no charge.
Compost from the city compost facility.

Mulch from the POA made from trees blown down during the tornado.
The best way to improve health is by working or playing outside, walking, relaxing, eating mostly raw foods, and fasting when indicated.   This is the Natural Hygiene way.   Natural Hygiene achieves excellent results without dangerous complications and side-effects.

The suppression of symptoms with drugs appears to bring relief, but it comes with a price.  The cause is not addressed and the problem will re-appear later in a more serious form.

Co-operating with Nature helps in creating a successful life.  Good nutrition is important.  The food should be in its natural state, and it should be raised in an ethical and environmentally friendly manner.

To health and happiness.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Good News About Ian

The week has flown by.  On Monday, I made a batch of Goody Balls.  Travis had bought two bags of black walnuts a while back.  Since we weren't eating them, I decided to use them in the Goody Balls in place of the almonds.  It worked okay, but they have a definite black walnut taste.  These are Black Walnut Goody Balls.  I like the almonds better.

We had a tiny little snow.  It is the only snow of the year thus far.  It has been cold enough that I have neglected getting outside to walk for several days.  This morning I finally got outside and walked for 30 minutes and then fed one of the blueberry bushes with mineral rocks, fertilizer, compost and mulch.  

Snow on the garden.

Snow beside our house.
 Travis and I cleaned out our closets and a few other things from the house.  There are half as many clothes in our closets as there were before.  Big Brother and Big Sisters came and picked up the boxes of clothes and household items.  Travis said he gave away some clothes he really liked.

Boxes awaiting pickup from Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
 Today we went to visit Mom and met my sister, niece and family for lunch at McAlister's.  Back at the nursing home I had a great game of Go Fish with my great-nephew.
Lunch at McAlister's.
Health for health's sake is neither so urgent or inspiring as health in order to do some of the thousand and one things that you can do only if you are healthy. - Kiki Sidwha

One of the tenets of Natural Hygiene is personal responsibility.  It insists upon self-help and self-effort.  Even when the condition is serious you don't need to feel hopeless or panic.  Never give up because the life force is on your side.  Health and happiness come from God.

I received a very happy report regarding Ian, the man who came to the Clohesy River Health Farm while I was there last October.  Ian came with prostrate cancer....knowing nothing about Natural Hygiene...but knowing he did not like the medical options he had been offered.    He had to start from scratch to learn the natural lifestyle.  I wondered how he would do, because you never know how someone will do once they leave the controlled environment.  Dr. Fielder taught him the lifestyle during a two week stay at the farm, then he returned home and practiced it on his own.  And now his PSA levels have come down to normal.  His doctor said it was highly unusual and was apologetic that the testing company may have made an error.  Ian told the doctor that he was on a strict diet of fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts.  He is walking for exercise.  Ian is very pleased with his good fortune with his health by following Dr. Fielder's training.  He is humbly grateful and is continuing his food restrictions and self-discipline.  According to Ian, his life will be bigger, better and more fulfilling than before.

To health and happiness.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Living Like a Monk

There was an interesting article in The Sentinel Record today about a college class at the University of Pennsylvania.  It is a class in religious studies called Living Deliberately that is taught by Justin McDaniel.  I jokingly said that I took this class under Dr. John Fielder in Australia.  The experience in Australia exposed me to many of the disciplines taught in this class.   The purpose of the restrictions is to bring awareness of yourself and others.   I am still trying to incorporate more of these disciplines into my everyday life.  At the farm in Australia there were not all the enticements and distractions there are here.

I am gaining weight.  That means I am retaining toxins.  I need to make some changes immediately.  It's time for me to live deliberately regarding diet...again.  In the class at Penn, they restrict eating anything after dark.  It was the same in Australia.  We ate dinner at 5:00 and that was the last food until noon the next day.   If someone wanted to do just one thing to improve their health, I think this would be the most important thing to do.

My pastor preached to us today about having a vision for our life and living with high expectations.  It was a good sermon.

Lunch today was green smoothie, mango, grapefruit with honey and walnuts

The Hot Springs Flute Ensemble performed today at St. Luke's Episcopal Church as part of the Public Musicale put on by the music fraternity Sigma Alpha Tau.  It was a wonderful program...lots of fun.  It was my first time to perform with the flute ensemble.

Going into St. Luke's Episcopal Church for my first performance with the Hot Spring Flute Ensemble.

Warming up.
Our friend, Karl, called to tell me there is an article in this week's Newsweek magazine that reminds him of the Steiner schools I visited in Australia.  The Steiner schools believe that all learning is best done through teaching the arts, especially music.   The Newsweek article is about Gustavo Dudamel (Dude is a Rock Star).  Dudamel is the young conductor who is changing the future of classical music.  He has made a difference in the lives of many disadvantaged youth through music.  It's a fantastic story.  Here is his story.
Biography of Gustavo Dudamel.   Watch this...What fun...

Supper tonight was salad, oil and vinegar dressing, veggie cocktail, sauerkraut, and pistachios.

My friend, Billie, passed on from this world today.  There was a time in my life when she was one of my most constant companions.  We shared many good times.  Precious memories.

To health and happiness.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Planning for Dr. Fielder's Presentations

It's cold.  The arugula is frozen, but Travis still used some of it in our green smoothies today.  The green smoothies were really good.  He made them with arugula, pineapple, banana, apple, kiwi, dates, lemon and chia seeds. Yummy.  
Here is Travis making green smoothies in the Vita-Mix
We usually eat fruit and nuts for lunch.  We ate the last of the goody balls yesterday.  I am going to have to make another batch next week....just as soon as I can get the time.   Here are two of the lunches we have had this week.
Lunch:  green smoothie, grapefruit with honey, honeydew, pear, avocado, goody ball, and almonds.

Lunch:  green smoothie, grapefruit with honey, cantaloupe, avocado, pear, goody ball, and nuts (not pictured).
When Travis pruned the fruit trees he brought in some pear branches to force.  They are starting to bloom in a vase in the living room.  You can see one of the garden beds out the window.  It won't be long before we'll be out there planting some salad fixings.
Forced pear blossoms.
On Thursday, I went to Little Rock with Travis to visit our friend, Karl.  This is usually a guy gathering, but  Arthur couldn't go today, so I went.  We ate lunch at The Root, a restaurant that specializes in locally grown food.  Not much on the menu for a raw foodie.  I ordered the side salad and an order of sweet potato fries.  It was delicious.  We had a jam packed day.  We toured the Clinton Presidential Library, Heifer Project International, The Arkansas Territorial Museum, Argenta Market, and Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church.  Then we went back to Karl's house to make some preparations for the visit from Dr. John Fielder in May.  Karl and Rebecca are hosting a presentation this year in Little Rock.  

Karl and me at the oval office at the Clinton Library.
Dr. John Fielder will be in Arkansas on May 16 and May 17, 2012.  Wednesday evening, May 16,  he will make a presentation on the principles of natural living in Hot Springs Village from 7-9.  Thursday evening, May 17, he will make a presentation at Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church in Little Rock from 7-9.  These presentations will be open to the public.  More information will follow.

Awareness brings harmony and integration.  Disintegration and disharmony bring discomfort and disease.  We can't totally separate what is psychological and what is physical, but it helps to temporarily separate them as we try to understand the mind-body connection.  We are trying to figure out how awareness helps keep the tissues and organs healthy.  -Adapted from The Quintessence of Natural Living

To health and happiness.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Tired Horse


I like my new stainless steel water bottle.  Travis ordered one for each of us from Sportsman's Guide.  The name of the water bottle is R3...refuse, reuse, recycle.  Drinking from stainless steel is healthier than drinking from a plastic bottle.  I seldom buy bottled water any more because of the plastic pollution in our oceans and landfills.   
New stainless steel water bottle.


I potted some sage and parsley.  The herbs have all been moved out of the future strawberry bed now.  

Travis and I bought an full-size electric keyboard for both of our children's homes.  At Molly's house Braeden is the primary user.  He's pretty good.  Harris' family just received theirs today.  Caleb has it set up in his room.  I expect he will be playing good, too, before long.

Lunch:  Green smoothie, watermelon, avocado, goodie balls, and walnuts

Travis and Arthur went to Little Rock to visit Karl today so I had to make my own green smoothie.  I used romaine, lemon juice, apple, orange, passion fruit, banana, date, and water.

Dinner:  Veggie cocktail (carrot, celery, beet); leftover salad (added more mushrooms, cucumber and tomato); salad dressing; avocado; sauerkraut; almonds; steamed cabbage seasoned with butter and Bragg's seasoning; baby carrots with sesame butter.

When you start to follow a simple, natural lifestyle you can expect a healing crisis.  Healing crises are acute illnesses caused when nature's healing forces get the ascendancy over disease conditions.  These healing crises are forms of elimination.  They can take the form of colds, discharges, hemorrhoids, boils, ulcers, abscesses, open sores, skin eruptions, diarrhea, hemorrhages, sweating, and other acute conditions.   A healing crisis always tends toward recovery.

More thoughts from The Quintessence of Natural Living...
Tonics and tiredness go together.  Instead of always looking for a cure, it is better to stop building disease.

The tired animal rests.  The tired man takes a stimulant.  The stimulant appears to work only because it is dragging out the last ounce of reserve energy.  It does not add energy or help to remove built up waste matter.  

The stimulation is always followed by weakness.  Smoking, coffee, tea, chocolate, spices and alcohol at first stimulate but weakness follows.

When we feel tired or weak, we don't need to expend our reserve power by taking a stimulant.  It's better to rest until we recuperate.

Taking stimulants deadens the nerves.  It is like whipping the tired horse until it drops dead with exhaustion.

To health and happiness.




Thursday, February 2, 2012

Chronic Tiredness and Toothpaste Recipe

I have been doing my walking in the mornings.  Sometimes Travis walks with me, and sometimes I walk by myself  I don't listen to music or anything when I walk.  It's just me, God and nature.

Spring is coming!

 We moved the cilantro, rosemary and some other herbs into pots.  Our plan is to make the current herb bed into a strawberry bed.  There are more herbs to be moved.
Rosemary

There a few little plants trying to make it in the greenhouse.  Our greenhouse is not heated, so they probably are not warm enough.  Maybe the ones that made it will take off in the spring.  I hope so.
Little tomato plants growing in the greenhouse.

Only three little lettuces made it this time.


The flute is taking a lot of time, but it's so worth it.  I have two teachers now.  Harriet is helping me learn the flute ensemble music, and Jackie is helping me with my technique.  Flute ensemble is quite challenging.

Since we enjoy going to estate sales and garage sales, it's necessary that we keep stuff circulating.  We have an Ebay store called Village Antiques and Auctions and a book store on Abe Books called Village Book Shop.  I am working on building up the inventory in both these stores.

Travis made green smoothies from arugula, grapes, lemon juice, kiwi, apples, passion fruit, banana and water.

Lunch:  Green Smoothie, Avocado, Watermelon (Travis had honeydew), and Goody Ball.

I made some toothpaste.  I like to make my own because I think it is healthier plus it saves having to buy a plastic container.  Here's the recipe I use for toothpaste:

Toothpaste
6 parts baking soda
1 part coconut oil (I use more)
1 part hydrogen peroxide
Flavor with peppermint oil

Dinner:  Green Salad (romaine, radish, mushrooms, green onions, cucumber, tomato); Salad Dressing (lemon juice, olive oil, Braggs Seasoning, honey, Bragg's Amino Acids); Veggie Cocktails (beets, celery, carrots); Steamed Squash seasoned with a little butter and Bragg's Seasoning.

We went to a show at the Woodlands Auditorium.  It was called In The Mood...a 1940's musical revue.  The program said it was the music that moved the nation's spirit.  It was the music my Mom danced to.   They played the big band music popular all through the forties.  It was sad for me as they got up to the war time songs.  I thought about my uncle who died in Holland during that war.  

I had a consultation with Dr. John Fielder a couple of days ago.  He says the humidity is high at the Clohesy River in Australia.  He said the flies are still biting.  Those flies hurt when they bite!

My eye doctor wants me to be tested for glaucoma, but I don't know why I should since I won't use the drug.  I don't think I have glaucoma anyway.

Dr. Fielder verified my belief that coffee is not a health drink.  Travis had found a study with pages of scientific proofs that coffee helps people avoid many degenerative diseases.  Coffee is very high in anti-oxidants.  Dr. Fielder, however, says that coffee is not at all good for you.  What all the studies fail to account for is that coffee is a stimulant.  Ingesting stimulants, such as coffee, tea, and chocolate, is like whipping a tired horse.  Whipped horses drop dead.  When the body is tired, it needs rest, not a stimulant.

I am reading The Quintessence of Natural Living by Keki Sidwha.  He tells us that laziness is a sign of disease.  "I am so tired" is the cry of a degenerated civilization that is slowly killing itself.  Activity requires nerve energy.  That is not the same as heat energy from the operation of the muscles.  Because of enervating habits the removal of toxic waste from the body can become sluggish.  There is not enough nerve energy to complete the job of elimination.  This causes accumulated waste in the blood, lymph, tissues and muscle.  Toxemia is the root of tiredness...not the lack of the right energy drink or other stimulant.  

Overeating starches, fats and proteins cause sluggish elimination and thus tiredness.  Overwork, not enough rest, and eating junk foods all use up nervous energy.  Chronic tiredness is a reminder that a change of habits is needed immediately.

To health and happiness.