Important Article on Vaccination

There's a very interesting article on vaccination and how it works (or doesn't work) at the Veterans Today website. I stumbled across it while looking for something else. It definitely caught my eye and explained a whole lot about the dangers of vaccines (and about the benefits for some) as well. The article, How Vaccinations Work by Dr. Philip Incao starts about halfway down, after many pleas for understanding and care for veterans who got Gulf War Disease back in the 1990s after the first Gulf War. Check it out--it's a damn good article.

As for us, no colds, no flu this winter. We've been eating our clove of garlic daily (as well as lots of other garlic in various dishes) and while we've had the occasional sniffles, there's been no other real cold/flu problems. If there was, we'd bring out the elderberry extract.
Onwards!
HM

Two Excellent Articles on What's Wrong with Current Medical System

Wow. This month two national magazines published two important articles that would blow your mind about Big Medical as it is practiced in the US and elsewhere. If you care about your health, read them.

Deadly Medicine in Vanity Fair

Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science in the Atlantic.

You know, most of our ancestors didn't bother much with doctors. They knew doctors could be quacks and behaved accordingly by not trusting them. And here we go again. Use the Western medical system at your own risk. There's a lot of quackery out there, and they make a ton of money from it. Beware for your own good.

HM

And Now for Some Really Cheery Info...

The following is from Sally Fallon's wonderful Nourishing Traditions cookbook. The liner notes in this book are incredible. She's stuffed more important research findings into this cookbook than you'd find in a year in most other sources. This is about your breakfast cereals. Be prepared to ditch them forever....

Excerpt from the chapter on grains:

Four sets of rats were given special diets. One group received plain whole wheat, water, vitamins and minerals. Anotehr group received Puffed Wheat, water and the same nutrient solution. A third set was given water and white sugar, and a fourth given nothing but water and the chemical nutrients. The rats which received the whole wheat lived for over a year on the diet. The rats who got nothing but water and vitamins lived for about 8 weeks, and the animals on a white sugar and water diet lived for a month. But [the company's] own laboratory study showed that rats given vitamins, water and all the Puffed Wheat they wanted died in two weeks. It wasn't a matter of the rats dying of malnutrition; results like these suggested that there was something actually toxic about the Puffed Wheat itself. Proteins are very similar to certain toxins in molecular structure, and the puffing process of putting the grain under 1500 pounds per square inch of pressure and then releasing it may produce chemical changes which turn a nutritious grain into a poisonous substance . . . I was shocked, so I showed the report to Dr. Clark, who shared my concern. His predecessor, Dr. Graham, had published the report and begged the company not to continue producing Puffed Wheat because of its poisonous effect on animals. Dr. Clark . . . went right to the president . . . "I know people should throw it on brides and grooms at weddings," [the president] cracked, "but if they insist on sticking it in their mouths, can I help it? Besides, we made $9 million on the stuff last year."
Paul Stitt, Fighting the Food Giants
************************
Also from the chapter on grains:

In 1960, researchers at Ann Arbor University performed an interesting experiment on laboratory rats. Eighteen rats were divided into three groups. One group received cornflakes and water; a second group was given the cardboard box the cornflakes came in and water; and the control group received rat chow and water. The rats in the control group remained in good health throughout the experiment. The rats receiving the cardboard became lethargic and eventually died of malnutrition. But the rats receiving the cornflakes and water died before the rats who were given the cardboard box--the last cornflake rat died on the day the first box rat died. Before death, the cornflake rats developed schizophrenic behavior, threw fits, bit each other and finally went into convulsions. Autopsy revealed dysfunction of the pancreas, liver and kidneys and degeneration of the nerves in the spine--all signs of "insulin shock." The startling conclusion of this study is that there is more nourishment in the box that cold breakfast cereals come in than in the cereals themselves. Loren Zanier, designer of the experiment, actually proposed the protocol as a joke. But the results are far from funny. They were never published and similar studies have not been repeated. If consumers knew the truth about breakfast cereals, vast fortunes would be jeopardized. (Sally Fallon)
*********************************
Don't know about you, but this tells me all I need to know about Big Food and cold cereals. The poisonous aspects seem to be due to the processing methods of the grains--changing them from nutritious foods into...well...what can we call the stuff? I haven't eaten cold cereals (except homemade museli) in ages, but I know I ate a lot of it before. Live and learn. And don't trust Big Food!

HM

For a Good Laugh...

Read this hilarious article from Mike Adams, the Health Ranger over at Natural News. Besides showing what total idiots the mainstream media can be, Adams has a real talent at showing them at their outrageous, stupid worst. Read and enjoy. Laughter is good medicine. :)
HM

3 "Weeds" to Leave in Your Garden (Until they're big enough to eat)

(lambsquarters close up)

There are common garden weeds which are not only edible, but are highly nutritious whether served in salad or cooked lightly as one would spinach. The trick is to learn to recognize them at all stages of their life--as tiny young plants or as flourishing adults. That's a young one is the pix above.

We live in southern Indiana, so I'm talking about my bioregion, which would include a lot of the Midwest (though maybe not the prairie areas). If you live in the Northwest, Southwest, your biogregion is no doubt quite a bit different. But if you're in most of the continental 48 states, then you could find lambsquarters in your garden, since it is common pretty much all across the country. Lambsquarters likes disturbed soil--as you find in gardens and other border areas where mankind lives. It grows in cities, in the country, and is one of those ubiquitious fellas who are found all over the place. Once you learn to identify them, you'll see them everywhere.

So check your garden! We're lucky to have lots of little lambys growing. I'm letting them get big enough to eat and then I'll pick them. But for now, they're welcome to grow. In former posts, I've written about lambsquarters here and here as well as lots of other places in this blog. Just look under the category lambsquarters. They are highly nutritious and tasty (not to mention, grow without any effort on your part and FREE).

A few days ago, I "weeded" our Amish friend's garden, which had a whole slew of lambsquarters. In fact, the LQ basically covered the area where they had planted celery! So I was lucky enough to pick all that. I processed it all by taking the leaves off the stems (edible but tough), then blanching or scalding them in boiling water, then drainging, cooling, and packaging them up for the freezer. So far I have 7 quarts in the freezer, with one more big batch of lambsquarters left to go. If you're lucky to find big areas of lambsquarters, do freeze them. They keep well and they're very welcome in the wintertime.

Purslane is another "weed" I let grow in the garden. I've talked about purslane in both the links I posted above for LQ. Also highly nutritious, purslane has the added benefit of being a great plant source of Omega-3. I like these as a salad green and we eat a lot of it in the summer. They don't freeze well, but you can pickle the stems. I haven't tried to dry it, but I might try that this year. You can find lots of pictures of purslane by going to Google Images and typing in purslane. That's what I do when I need to see a pix of a plant--very useful for identifying plants. It grows in gardens mostly--that's where I've seen most of it anyway. It's another plant that grows all over the country, north to south and east to west. It's very tasty and makes a really nice addition to salads. You can eat it as a potherb too, but I prefer it in salads. In Turkey, it's a national dish. Try it in a dish of browned ground beef, pork or lamb, rice, tomatoes and add a bunch of purslane. YUM.

The other of the three weeds I mentioned that I leave in the garden is woods sorrel. It's a light, lemony kind of plant. You can find a good pix of it, as well as other edible wild plants in this article of Wildman Steve Brill's. Check it out! This article includes mushrooms, berries, and a bunch of wild greens. I've written about woods sorrel here (among other plants). I find it in the garden all the time. And it is one of those I definitely leave til it's big enough to eat.

When it comes to weeds, if you can't beat 'em, eat 'em! These three, lambsquarters, purslane, and woods sorrel are all delicious and very good for you. If you keep an organic garden, as we do, then you don't have any worries about pesticides, herbicides, etc. Just wonderful, free food. As the world crashes down among us, these are good guys to keep your eyes open for. They'll help keep you alive and healthy.

Onwards!

HM

Old Fashioned Spoonbread

Michael says that folks have been asking for a good spoonbread recipe. Back story is I get cookbooks out of the library for us to drool over. If something looks good, I make the recipe to see if we'll like it. We saw a recipe for spoonbread and Michael said he'd been wanting some for years. I'd never had any, so it was time to make some! The recipe in the cookbook called for stuff I didn't have, so I did a google search and came upon this recipe. The spoonbread was delicious. Try it, you'll like it!

Old Fashioned Spoonbread
3/4 cup cornmeal, stone or water ground if available
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder

(I added some shredded cheddar cheese and a can of yellow hominy for fun)

Combine cornmeal and salt in mixing bowl. Stirring constantly, slowly add boiling water, keeping cornmeal smooth. Mix in the melted butter. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until they thicken, add the milk and beat to combine. Add eggs and milk to cornmeal and mix in the baking powder. (At this point, I added the cheese and can of hominy. Creamed corn would be good too...) Turn in to a square 8 or 9 inch well-greased baking pan. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until firm. Serve with plenty of butter. We had ours with our wonderful cranberry beans.

This was delicious, and a fun break from corn bread--it is a bit more pudding like than cornbread. You can eat it with (ahem) a spoon.

Enjoy!
HM

Gardening by the Signs

Moon Waxing, Moon in Taurus

I planted much of our small terrace garden in the past week or so. With the moon in Taurus, a very fertile sign "number one for all root crops; second best for plants bearing above the ground" according to T.E. Black's Planting by the Signs chart (found in Foxfire, volume 2, I think). Well, the plants I put in were of the "bearing above the ground" variety, but I didn't want to wait until moon in Cancer rolled around. I transplanted cabbage and lettuce that I bought from an Amish lady, then planted a bunch of rows of spinach and finally a long row of Swiss Chard. I do love my greens! I also planted some herb seeds: dill, cilantro and rosemary.

The plan is to pay close attention this year to what I plant when, whether the moon is in the first and second quarter, full, third and fourth quarter, new moon, and what astrological signs are prominant on those days. I'm curious to see if this works. I expect it will and hope it will as well. I started a garden journal to help me keep track of it all.

What I'm wondering is what to plant underneath the black walnut tree, if anything. Right now, I've left the weeds in that section of the terrace garden, but I want to plant something there. I did a quick google search and found a webpage that discuss this, plants that will tolerate the jugalone of the black walnut tree: lima beans, snap beans, beets, carrots, corn, onions, melons, parsnips and squash. Hmmmmm. I might put a couple of melons there and see what happens, melons or beets, I think. The next really fertile days will be the 28th (which is also the full moon) with the moon in Scorpio. We'll shoot for then.

I've also been foraging, this being a wonderful spring for it. Since poor Fred is still recovering from his broken leg, I've been making him dandelion broth regularly. That is, I gather lots of dandy leaves and roots, yellow dock leaves, chickweed, plantain, clover leaves and wild onions and brew them up in a pot of water, simmering for 30 minutes or so and then straining out the greens, which go into the compost heap. Good dandelion broth and also some bone broth, is bound to help by providing lots of minerals and vitamins for his body to heal with. We see the doctor on Monday and hopefully he'll start having Fred put weight on the leg and getting his muscles back into shape. Lord knows, the poor guy is really TIRED of sitting around and reading. People need to move around--it is how our bodies know we are still alive :)

I've also been harvesting that marvelous garlic mustard and making pesto with it. That's what most foragers tend to recommend doing with garlic mustard as the plant is quite pungent, a little more than most folks will appreciate in a plate of greens. But it makes a superb pesto--here's the recipe I use, from Prodigal Gardens, one of my favorite foraging sites. I just noticed some horsetail growing on the other side of our little lake here, so I'll be gathering that as well for tea.

Spring has been absolutely lovely so far. Nice warm days, cool nights, lots of sunshine and now some rain to water those little plants in the ground. It's a blessing to be alive!
Onwards,
HM