Happy Holidays from Forever Young Photography LLC. I hope you are enjoying the season and making some time for yourself to relax and reflect on the year. Instead of sending holiday cards this year, I have decided to spread the cheer a few different greener ways – literally. Forever Young Photography has planted trees through the Arbor Day Foundation in the honor of past and current clients this year. Native Pine, Fir, & Cedar Trees will be planted in the Plumas National Forest. Also, instead of sending paper cards this year, our holiday greetings are via electronic greetings.

I wish you and your family a happy, healthy holiday season!!

You may notice when you start a cold vehicle, its exhaust is visible at first and disappears after a few minutes. Here’s why.

Technically, modern vehicles do not require much warm up time before you can drive them; advanced lubricants and materials allow the vehicles to be driven shortly after a cold weather start. Of course, you may want to warm your car for your comfort and surprisingly, to reduce emissions.

This is not intuitive, unless you understand the emission control systems on modern vehicles.

The first system is called Exhaust Gas Recirculation, and it’s probably obvious from the name: it routes exhaust gases back into the engine. The vehicle computer system monitors and controls this process to lower the amount of Nitrogen Oxides, precursors to smog and acid rain, that are created in the engine and then expelled from the tailpipe. Depending on your vehicle, this system will not operate in certain conditions, for example: low engine temperatures.

Vehicles also have a component in their exhaust system that converts various pollutants into less harmful gases with various catalysts. That conversion occurs in the catalytic converter, and that chemical reaction doesn’t happen when the catalytic converter is cold.

According to WP, some catalytic converters can take up to thirty-minutes to reach ideal operating temperature. That isn’t to suggest you should wait that long before driving your car — there are countermeasures in many cars that make it effective long before that.

When your car is at idle, it uses less gas and releases less pollution than when you are driving it. Getting your emission system to an effective point before driving it helps reduce overall emissions. For my car, it take about 3-5 minutes before the exhaust is invisible and that’s about how long it takes to clear the snow anyway. It’s not an exact science and it varies by car and by temperature.

BrokenSecrets.com

Sources:  WP, WP, WP, EPA, GM

Photo: steveyb (Creative Commons)

Whether or not there is a demand for salads in Ave Maria, there is a huge need for them regardless and it is important to be aware of its nutritional value. The main reason why people would rather choose salads over other meals is for dietary purposes. Everyone wants to have a healthy and well balanced diet, yet people tend to forget it can make a low calorie full meal all by itself.
When one uses a variety of ingredients like fruits, vegetables, and grains or just a few of the right ones they can also be laden with vitamins and antioxidants. According to the USDA food pyramid one should have at least 3 to 5 servings of vegetables a day, 2 to 4 servings of fruits, and 2 to 3 servings of dairy. Whether it is a sports fan young man or a vain lady or the other way around, everyone needs some cheese to go in salads but should be more careful with the dressings. The USDA food pyramid also suggests to sparingly use oils and fats, by sparingly they mean to “take it easy.” Cesar dressing is usually made out of loads of parmesan cheese, olive oil, some vegetable oil, lemon juice, and few other ingredients for taste, and it is surely appetizing, but it may ruin a balanced meal. Everyone should go slow on the dressings. Vinaigrettes on the other hand, are healthier and are needed in fewer amounts thanks to their pungent taste.
People are not asking enough for salads, but one should consider them more. This is the reason why now there is the option to enjoy a salad as a meal at Ave Maria. No need to be a salad lover, but it is highly encouraged to compliment the cafeteria team on how important salads are for one’s meal; the cafeteria might even surprise students with their own suggestions in the future.
Perhaps the average person does not have a taste in particular for salads, but there is certainly a need for them and there is a lack of objective information on its nutritional facts. Give your body a rest; order a salad from time to time.

By Alejandra Borge

September 18, 2009 was a spectacular day for Ave Maria students, as they had the one time chance of seeing turtles nest at a beach. A trip to La Flor Wildlife Reserve departed from the main gate. The reserve is over 3,000 hectares and is 22 km from San Juan del Sur. It took about 3 hours to get there, but it did not matter as students were most excited to see an Olive Ridley turtle for the first time. Dr. Eric Van Den Berghe organized the trip and explained seven massive arrivals occur each year. In order to enter the reserve, C$100 were required. Later on, the students headed towards the beach, no more than 10 feet away, there was the first Ridley turtle finishing its nest. As the students walked across the beach there were turtles at every step. It took the turtles about half hour to move 10 meters. The light of a lantern scares turtles, and after a half an hour nesting, they all went back to sea. As the night progressed, turtles kept on making their appearance; there was no opportunity to see a spawning. There was one turtle which grabbed the attention of all the trip participants as it was paddling the sand with its posterior flippers and did not change its position. It began to dig into the ground and after an hour of digging, it started to lay its eggs; around 100 eggs fell in. Then, the turtle started to plug the hole, using its own body to compact the sand producing an unexpected noise. After this extraordinary work, the turtles returned to the water quietly and slowly. The most outrageous act the students observed was another turtle destroying a nest due to the overcrowding of the beach. For the work it takes for turtles to nest and to reproduce I encourage you to admire their sacrifice and DO NOT EAT TURTLE EGGS!

By Luis Felipe Rosales

By Luis Rosales

How many times have you been at the beach and you have seen a turtle? September 18th was a spectacular day for me. A trip to La Flor Wildlife Reserve departed from the main gate. The reserve is over 3,000 hectares and is 22 kilometers away from San Juan del Sur. It took us about three hours to get there, but all I wanted was to see for the first time an Olive Ridley turtle. Dr. Van Den Berghe organized the trip and explained that seven massive arrivals occur each year. In order to enter to the reserve C$ 100 were paid. Later on, we headed towards the beach. No more than 10 steps away, we found our first Ridley turtle finishing her nest. We walked through the beach, finding with every step, turtles. At first it seemed as some sort of horror film. A massive wave of turtles trying to reproduce. It took the turtles about half an hour to move 10 meters. The light of a lantern scared a turtle after half an hour of effort. Scared, she went back to the sea. The Night was getting colder and turtles made their appearance, but we did not have the opportunity to see a spawning. Finally, one called our attention; She was moving the sand with her back flippers and did not change her position. It began to dig into the ground and after an hour of doing a hole in the sand, the eggs began to fell. Like soaked ping-pong balls, around 100 eggs fell. Then, the task of covering the hole began, and to cover it well, the turtle began using its own body to compact the sand, producing an unexpected noise. After this extraordinary work, the turtles returned to the water quietly and slowly. Although most of the turtles were examples of sacrifice there were some others that do to overcrowding at the beach, were forced to destroy the nest of other of its companions. It is for this reason and for the work it takes the turtles to survive and reproduce that I encourage you to admire their sacrifice and NOT EAT TURTLE EGGS.

Haven’t been to my blog in nearly a month and wordpress has gone and changed the look.  Oy vay. My apologies! I don’t think I could even begin to explain my absence. Oh wait, here’s my overview of MMMMMOOOVEMBERRRRRR!

CHECK OUT   Day 1 – 30 &  Day 31 – 61

MOVEMBER Day 62 – 90

First off, to all you peeps that grew a mustache for prostate cancer – much love to you!! Growing that facial hair on account of a good cause should not go unmentioned!! *I did not grow a mustache for the event, but appreciate those who did.

Nov. 1- Fear of H1N1 instilled in all of us. Broski was sick and I still hugged him!!! Bitch slapped that H1N1 in the face. I’m tough. I might also be afraid of intimacy. The fear of intimacy is in the top ten most common fears folks. You are not alone!

Nov. 2- I am alarmed about the topic of obesity. My sister and I thought mini sugar donuts and beer was a good choice after volleyball. Noooo sir. I started working out tonight. It’s been over two weeks since my 10km run. I don’t have an excuse.

Nov. 3- Fear of not delivering. I might have stretched the truth in delivering a certain something and then it got lost in the mail. I would not accept failure so I did everything in my power to produce! I did, but will NEVER AGAIN use FedEx!!!!

Nov. 4- I held a snake. A very small one but nonetheless it was a snake. Pet man was very friendly. It was his new ‘baby’… MMMMAGINE I ever bought a snake and called it my ‘baby’. Pet names aren’t cool. No pun intended.

Nov. 5- Again, scared to share my work. Shared what my friend and I had been working on for so long for a charity event in Toronto. The ladies assured us, they loved it. The Darling Home For Kids’ A Night In New York! raised $120,000 NOT BAD, NOT BAD AT ALL! Huge thanks to all that supported the event!

Nov. 6- I tried cottage cheese. That shit is disgusting, but I wouldn’t have known I still hate it unless I tried, so I did. Yuck.

Nov. 7- Scared of barn animals. Not sure if this is the hygiene factor or the size or maybe actually liking them and then fitting the stereotype of small town kids, but I fear barn animals, so I went down to the Royal Winter Fair with my grandparents and LOVED IT! Horse jumping is probably the coolest sport, ever! I love it! Cows are amazing. They even get their hair ‘did’- yes, with BLOW DRYERS!!! It’s some serious business showing your cows. I saw the best of the best and loved it.

Nov. 8- Shared the wedding photos I took last month with the happy new couple. We sat together on the couch, me playing monkey in the middle as we looked through all the photos. Karen and Dave, I’m forever in debt to you for building my confidence, and being so reassuring that I could do it. Sharing your day meant a lot to me and I’m glad I was the person able to capture your memories on film.

Nov. 9- Holy Jeeze, scared to kill the earth! Green I am, but I have so much to learn about the earth and green happenings. Read a fantastic article in Reader’s Dijest about a woman who has gone above and beyond your wildest dreams in a quest to save the earth. Ignorance is bliss and unfortunately this life lesson is becoming crystal clear with each piece of information I gather and the older I get. I’m scared for the fate of my our future! It’s our moral challenge of our age; to save the earth. Easy to ignore, but simple action can change this fate. A change in your diet alone can cut about ½ of what’s needed to avoid the worst effects of global warming. No, you don’t need to become a hippie vegan; simply cut back on meat consumption. It’ll do wonders for your health too. Just an added bonus.

Nov. 10- Paranormal Activity. Demons scare me.

Nov. 11- Back to trying to teach myself guitar after a short five month break. Scared of the failure I suppose? I’m at a loss with this one and why I’m always so scared to get back at it. Maybe just worried I’ll damage my family’s hearing.

Nov. 12- Fear of putting a pen to paper. DO NOT ASK ME WHY. I’m pretty sure this goes back to fear of failure. Regardless, the fear is there and I did all that I could in my physical power to sit at my desk and not allow myself to move from my desk until I started what a literary agent told me I should ‘most definitely pursue.’ Sometimes my own stupidity/fears really shock me, amaze me, and piss me off.

Nov. 13- Scared to think outside the box. Inspired by David Hall to pursue what I think is meaningful and beautiful. Art is important, so embrace it! Seriously though, check it out HERE.

Call me ultra lame but I made the next few days about trying new foods or foods I’m sure I hate… Before this experiment I was sure the only things in the world I don’t like are anchovies and olives. NEWS FLASH – there is some nasty ass shit out there to be tried. Enjoy.

Nov. 14- Black liquorice… Still REVOLTING to me. That taste is simply god awful!

Nov. 15- Seaweed stew from some little Korean joint in the city. No thank you ever again. Apparently I hate a lot of foods. Still wouldn’t dare call myself a picky eater. Trying these foods I think proves that.

Nov. 16- Pickled eggs from my local Denningers. I just had a gag reflex thinking about it again. I kept it down, but just barely.

Nov. 17- This may sound ridiculous, but jello. My dad has always hated jello because of its consistency. Well, that has now rubbed off on me, so to rev up this challenge I found jello/tofu pie. This is what I’m told is in it; 3 oz. box of jello- any flavour, 1 box silken tofu (firm), 1 graham cracker crust (reduced fat). Do not accept this if it is offered to you. I’m just dumb and sought out tofu jello as I don’t eat meat. I mean that jello ham salad they have at the grocery store would’ve been perfect but we don’t live in a perfect world so I did what I could.

Nov. 18- I had had enough of this food business at this point so I decided today would be the last. I looked up weird food combinations that people like. Well, turns out a lot of people believe grilled cheese sandwiches paired with dill pickles on them are delicious. Also, people seem to believe peanut butter sandwiches mixed with anything/everything disgusting under the sun are just divine… I chose the grilled cheese and pickles combo. Hardly worthy of a gag-like reflex the pickled eggs gave me, but definitely not how I will be eating my future grilled cheese sandwiches.

Nov. 19- Worked at the gallery tonight for an opening reception where you get to meet the artists. I’m always scared to tell the artists when their art really means something to me, but with courage on my side for the evening, I spoke to one artist about his work and let him know how inspiring it was. He was extremely gracious and very thankful I shared my sentiments with him.

Nov. 20- Home alone over night. I’ve been living with quite a few roommates for a very long time so to be thrown a night on my own was really scary. Believe me, you hear every creek! Yes, I’m well aware at this point what a pussy I am.

Nov. 21- Tonight I learned a lot of hard life lessons. Life lessons can suck. The worst part is that you’ve usually heard them before and you already know the life lesson, but until you learn them firsthand, you’re screwed and susceptible. Tonight I faced the fear of trying to please everyone and failing miserably. C’est la vie and it won’t happen again. Sometimes you gotta look out for numero uno!

Nov. 22- Applied to Axe Canada. Now, this is a fear for many reasons. 1.You really have to put yourself out there. 2.Some see it as immoral… I say to them, it is what you make it! 3.I had to share a terribly embarrassing video where I pimp myself out (that’s putting it mildly) with co-workers because I’m not as tech savvy as I’d like to believe. This video is also being shared with complete strangers. Amazing.

Nov. 23- This whole challenge has brought out how much I worry about what other people think of me. Well thankfully a friend of mine pointed out that often times it’s your friendly self who is the most judgmental and I have to agree. Don’t get me wrong, there will be times in life that others will judge you, but more often than not you think someone is judging you when it’s just you being the only idiot judging yourself. Wow, have you lost me yet? Now conscious of this tidbit I felt a bit more empowered as I enter the last leg of my challenge. Scary thought swallowing the fact that I might be the biggest obstacle in my own life.

Nov. 24- I’m scared to death of losing a loved one. Life’s precious, don’t ever take it for granted, and realize how lucky you are to have your health. Matt went into the hospital today to prepare for his bone marrow transplant. He is fearless! I didn’t ignore today – instead took special note of how scared I am but also to note how fragile we all are. We’re not invincible and that’s a frightening fact.

Nov. 25- Homichlophobia: Fear of fog. I promised my sister I would help her paint today and although terrified of driving in the fog, I faced that blanket of fog head on. I don’t drive often and the last time I drove in fog I wrapped my car around a pole so this was kind of a big deal for me. I must really love my sister!

Nov. 26- Fear of objects flying at my head. I went to the batting cages. Pretty sure the last time I held a baseball bat was when I played T-ball, so you can imagine how good I was; obviously not embarrassing but definitely not good. We started slow and worked our way up. I think I tried to improve too quickly because I really couldn’t keep up. Meh, faced the fear of embarrassing myself and also having objects fly at my head.

Nov. 27- Apparently a lot of people are frightened when it comes to crossing bridges. By no means am I trying to lessen this fear, but it’s not one I have ever even considered. Today I decided to test myself and head down to what I thought would be considered a cool bridge. There’s this massive tree that lies across Bronte Creek where I run and I’ve seen people fish from there or use it to cross the creek. Mind you this creek is pretty big and at this time of year the water’s pretty strong! Turns out it was a bit nerve-racking. So, to all you people who think you’re fearless and hardcore: I once thought that, but once you start testing yourself, turns out we’re not so badass after all, or at least as badass as we’d like to think.

Nov. 28- I may have applied to another ridiculous job that requires me really putting myself out there; whether or not I actually want these jobs as much as I want to test myself is still up for debate.

Nov. 29- Another photo shoot ladies and gents. Although you’re behind the camera as a photographer, you are center stage for the people you’re photographing and that is the part that scares the shit out of me. They may or may not have huge expectations but I know how high my expectations are so I really do psych myself out. Again, damn it, I’m in my own way! Still did it so I’m counting it as a fear faced. It is getting easier, promise.

Nov. 30- LAST TEN DAYS! Coming Soon!!!! Tomorrow, actually, because tomorrow is the last day. Where the hell have the last 100 days gone?? Can’t wait to recap the highlights!

Check back because you WON’T want to miss the last 10!!

Much love to anyone who cared enough to follow parts of this adventure, all of it, really whatever part you may have played, I am so appreciative and have had such a blast!! Thank you. xo mkr

Some Complicated New Gadgetry got the attention of one of my new garden enthusiasts, and he asked me about it….

My full direction is toward helping the guy like you with his garden produce for his family use.  If we could get 80%–even 40 or 50%, of the people growing their own anything, the impact would be huge.  But–what I’ve learned over the years is that it takes an enormous amount of education to get people started even trying.  I’ve totally aimed toward simplicity.

You see, I want people thinking in terms of, “You mean all I have to do is this, and I can have a real tomato like yours?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

The more complexity and significance you introduce, the less likely the average guy or girl is going to want to even give it a try.  And one for one, anyone I can get to even “try,” is thereafter hooked.  They want to grow more and more of their own food.

But they have to start small, and it has to be as simple as it can possibly be.  I just keep promoting the basics–and the basics are far more than adequate for anyone to get the best vegetables they’ve ever had.

When you put complexities there, such as how to make the perfect compost tea, how to grow an upside down tomato, or try to sell the notion that people must have this or that exotic new gadget in order to grow a carrot, you kill more interest than you create.  Sure, you’ll sell a few gadgets, but what have you really accomplished outside of a quick buck?

Experienced gardeners-real gardeners, don’t buy into that sort of thing.  They just do the basics: natural soil enrichment, proper planting techniques, proper watering.  And they get tired of people saying they just have a “green thumb,” and that’s why they have a great garden.  A green thumb isn’t something you’re born with.  You have to earn it.

Lee
www.organichomegardener.com

www.meatbasics101.com

Coffee shops use this little secret to pour your coffee quickly. If everyone did this, fewer trees would become stir-sticks. Watch the 15 second video for a demo.

For those who can’t watch videos, add your cream and/or sugar first, then add the coffee to mix the contents without a stir-stick.

BrokenSecrets.com

A few days ago I threw up some pictures of my garden.  Since then we have had a frost but since my parent’s knew it was coming they went out and picked all of the tomatoes saving them from a frosty doom.  One thing I would really like to experiment with for next year’s garden is composting so I was really excited when I came across this article this morning.  It gives tips on how to compost quickly and with less mess.  That is something else I was excited about!  I have a tendency to do things last minute sometimes so the quicker I can make the compost the better!

Another interesting part of the article for me was reading that in some cities such as San Fransisco new rules are being implemented that will force their citizens to separate what garbage can be composted from garbage that cannot.  If the citizens fail to obey they can be subject to fines.  I like the idea of a city encouraging its citizens to compost but I am not sure I like that they are being forced to.  Anyway, I hope this article will inspire others to compost as well and I hope I will stick with my plan to do it myself!

Harvest Time
By: Roberta Owen

Picture this.  Spring comes along and the vegetable seedlings you nursed to maturity are ready to be planted in rich, dark soil.  Spring rolls through and you see the little inch-high seedlings begin to take shape and form into something a little bigger, a little sturdier and a little more like a vegetable than a weed.  It’s amazing, almost miraculous, to see the little lettuces, leeks, carrots, onions or beets battling against spring’s unexpected frosts, winds or heavy rains.

As gardeners, we tend to these little lives with a special love and care.  They grow bigger and heartier through summer’s heat and sun.  And our green thumbs weed around all our hard work.  We nurture them endlessly:

• Watering when rain is scarce
• Supplementing with minerals and vitamins
• Plucking out pests in and around our inviting habitat
• Leafing through the entire garden making sure every little life is flourishing

Now picture this.  All the life that was once small and seemingly helpless is now full grown vegetables.  Tomatoes are in full bloom, bursting in radiant color.  Zucchini sits lazily on the ground, long and plump.  Potatoes are snug deep below the rich soil.  Beets are boasting in purple glory.  Onions, leeks, garlic and chives are shades of green so vibrant you feel healthier just looking at it.  Cabbages are spherically shaped in ruffled perfection.  Carrots and parsnips are laced in intermingled unison, nearly begging to be plucked and devoured.  Your entire garden is ready to be harvested.  It’s a bittersweet moment: the moment, you’ve been waiting for.  There’s something inside of us that silently says “I’m sorry.”  Not that we’re entirely remorseful (we wouldn’t have grown them in the first place if this were the case), but there is an undeniable hint of mixed feelings as we see our garden slowly getting smaller due to cropping.  But, it sure tastes good!

My husband and I have a vegetable, fruit and flower garden at home.  In addition to this, we have a garden plot (20×20) through the city’s community gardens program.  The vegetable garden includes potatoes, leeks, onions, chives, various herbs, eggplant, tomatoes, radishes, carrots, parsnips, squash, cabbages, cauliflower, lettuces, pole beans, sugar snap peas, garlic, zucchini, cucumbers, brussel sprouts and beets.  Needless to say, its upkeep took extreme dedication (thanks primarily to my husband) and time.  This is a 100 percent organic garden, no chemicals to rid pests.  This means every plant required manual riddance of slugs, aphids, caterpillars and cutworms (top four pests we encountered this year).  Most plants survived, but some did not.

The top three “successful” vegetables in our garden were tomatoes, cabbages and potatoes.  If you are a newcomer to growing a vegetable garden, I would highly recommend these three vegetables (in addition to lettuces, sugar snap peas and carrots).

We chose the Hillbilly and Riesentraube Heirloom tomatoes, bought from the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog.  The Hillbillies are meaty and pink, rich in flavor and relatively easy to grow.  Because of their individual weight (two pounds) supporting the plant with poles is mandatory (we chose thick bamboo rods).  The Riesentraube tomatoes are smaller, excellent for salads and bear so much fruit you feel like you’ve become a master gardener.  Cutworms and tomato fruit worms are common pest dwellers for tomatoes; if you’re not the squeamish type, just pluck them off when you see them.  Early blight is another difficult and sometimes harder disease to control with tomatoes.  This occurs during hotter, wetter months of the season and targets older leaves.  Simply pruning off the diseased leaves before it infects the entire plant (early blight is highly contagious) can help the plant.  Proper irrigation and air circulation also helps to reduce the risk of early blight.

Early and Late Cabbage proved to be a success for us.  Early cabbage is very small (the size of a softball) so if you do grow this, keep this in mind.  We were expecting it to be much like late cabbage (the size of a basketball) as we left it nearly too late.  In its earlier stage, cutworms and root maggots almost annihilated our crop.  You’ll know a cutworm or root maggot has gotten its feisty little grip on it when you see the leaves chewed off or if the plant seems stunted in growth.  Removing cutworms is easy: just pick them off.  Root maggots, on the contrary, pose a different problem because they burrow inside the soil, attached to the root.  When this happens, the only natural way to remove them (from what I know and have researched) is to carefully uproot the cabbage, find the pest, remove it and carefully search for any more that may be in or around the soil.  Sometimes this helps, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s good to remember that the vegetable will not always survive the uprooting and replanting. In cabbages later stages (both in Early Cabbage and Late Cabbage), aphids pose a serious and annoying threat to both the plant itself and the gardener.  Spraying them off with water or wiping them away is a natural and organic way to eliminate this problem.  Aphids are tricky, though: they burrow deep in the leaves and require time and dedication to eliminate them.  This is gardening, though: this is why it’s hard work and why we’re so grateful when it turns out beautiful.

We planted Red, Purple and Yellow Seed Potatoes we purchased from Hohl’s Feed and Seed.  Potatoes flourish when planted in cool spring soil, but bear in mind you don’t want to plant them in water logged soil (this could rot the potato).  This is a fun plant to grow if you have children: set the potatoes out in an area of your home where there is plenty of sunlight and “warm” temperatures (about 65F) and in a few weeks you’ll notice little buds.  The buds will determine where you can slice the potatoes (if larger) in halves or thirds.  Smaller potatoes can be left whole.  Plant them in rich soil and you’re pretty much done.  They are low maintenance and offer a hearty bulb, therefore, children can easily plant the potato in soil themselves and feel a sense of accomplishment.  After time, when the potatoes are growing in leafy bushes and hotter weather rolls in, covering the plants in straw is a good idea (potatoes aren’t too keen on hot weather).  Each potato bushel yielded an average of seven delicious, colorful potatoes.

Some of the “not-so-lucky” vegetables we encountered were cauliflower, radishes and brussel sprouts.  Gardening can sometimes make you feel like a champ when all goes well, but when it doesn’t, it’s difficult not to get discouraged or frustrated.

Along with victories, every gardener has their failures.  In our case, it was the radish.  One word: maggots.  It’s so easy to say, “just pluck them away.”  However, the Radish sometimes enjoys playing peek-a-boo with the soil and its red top flirts with the rest of the radishes nearby.  Radish maggots spy these tasty treats and devour them.  Sadly, once a radish maggot gets to a radish, the only thing to do is toss the little red root away.  It’s commonly thought that slugs get to radishes, but when you actually take a closer look, peering inside, you’ll see the little white maggot worming its way, happily munching away.  I swear every year I won’t plant these difficult vegetables again, although I always do.  After all, what’s a garden salad without a radish?

Eggplant is finicky.  It takes its time to grow and seems like a lazy plant.  I call it the “Teenager Who Won’t Get Out of Bed for School on Time” plant.  Because, seriously: sometimes it misses its chance to get there on time!  We had two good eggplants, but should have had more.  We planted the Ping Tung; 70 days, 18” long, 2” in diameter, which claimed to be “sweet and tender, superbly delicious!”  And it was.  The two we grew.  I just wanted more and I would have loved to see it produce more fruit than it did.  There weren’t any pests and it was planted in the greenhouse (eggplants love warmth).  We’ll try again next year.

Brussel Sprouts are interesting vegetables.  You see so much foliage and no produce for a while.  And then suddenly, as if overnight, you begin to see small little buttons emerging from the stalks.  Even before they sprout their little green buds, however, aphids are attracted to the plant.  They burrow on the tops of the overlapping foliage, nestling themselves so deep, the gardener has to literally unfold each leaf and wipe them off, spraying off the aphids.  When the brussel sprouts do grow bigger and look more like the way we see them in markets, keep a close eye on each sprout: slugs, aphids and cutworms find these veggies a tasty meal.  The ideal brussel sprout is a firm, tight brussel.  To achieve this, plant in firm packed soil.  Firm soil equates to firm brussels and loose soil leads to loose flaky brussels.  Harvesting the sprouts if they are loose and later boiling them for your meal will result in tasteless, flaky veggies.  We found that the hardest thing about growing brussel sprouts were the aphids.  Getting rid of them is tedious work, especially when they return a week later!

The fun things about gardening are its unexpected surprises.  These surprises can be both good and not so good, but who doesn’t like a garden surprise?  Our “surprising” adventures in the garden beds were the pole beans, cauliflower and garlic.

We planted the Royalty Purple Pod pole beans.  At first we didn’t think they would make it: they seemed small and wilted in the sun and lacked the desire to climb.  We babied them endlessly.  Manually weaving the little vines around poles, creating elaborate and intricate routes to a better direction.  And then, as if they finally figured out what they were supposed to do, they flourished.  They grew.  They bushed out.  They wrapped around in curly definition around the poles, around the fence and up the twine.  They looked like they came out of the Secret Garden with their little curly-cues; their spiral little vines whimsically boasted to its neighboring apple tree; they were going to make it.  And then the pole beans began to sprout.  The first few we saw we ecstatically plucked them off for that night’s dinner and had a sense of pride.  And then ten more came.  After that, the entire bush was full of foot long beautiful, thick purple pods.  We plucked them off the vine, ate them raw and discovered a new favorite.  They all came to maturity nearly at the same time, so I would suggest canning, freezing and sharing with others.  They are a truly scrumptious eat.

My husband and I have planted Cauliflower before and have had good luck in the past, but this year we weren’t as lucky.  Cutworms devoured the roots to the point of complete annihilation.  Like cabbage, you can tell a cutworm found its way in the roots just by looking at it.  It stops growing (stunts) and looks horrible.  Our soil was rich and full of nutrients, but in addition to the cutworm, the cabbage looper (common pest for cabbage) attacked it, infecting the white button, leaving it inedible.  We planted both purple and white cauliflower.  Out of about six plants, only one made it and it was very small (but delicious).  With gardening, these things happen and they may be surprising, but it’s not worth getting discouraged over.

Lastly, we planted my favorite, Hardneck Garlic.  I love garlic.  I love cooking with it, I love roasting it and I even enjoy eating it raw (this is a very powerful immune booster).  When we received the pearly white bulbs in its brown paper sack, we immediately put them in the refrigerator, until ready to plant.  It’s such an easy plant to grow: get all the cloves from the bulb, directly plant in rich soil two inches deep, cover with soil and wait.  They’ll sprout and grow into tall, lanky, onion-like stalks.  When it’s time to harvest, be careful when you uproot it.  You need to wait until the stalks “die back,” turning brown and yellow.  Because of this, don’t pull; you need to dig them out.  We found the easiest way to harvest Hardneck Garlic was to uproot them with good, thick gloves (my favorites are the Atlas Gloves) and dig them out with your fingers (this way you can work around the bulb).  After harvesting, wipe off the dirt (don’t wash) and cure the garlic.  Curing is easy: place the garlic in an area with good air-circulation, out of the sun (underneath rafters, a shed or even in an area in your house) and leave for a few weeks.  After they’re good and dry, wash and bundle about ten bulbs (with stalks), braid them and hang.  Voila, you have a vampire’s worst enemy.

Gardening is a lot of work, a time-consuming activity and an excellent means for sustainable living.  The beautiful thing about gardening is anyone can do it.  Picture this: you’re a first-time gardener and after a successful season you find that you have found a new passion, a new hobby and have a new, raw taste for sustainability.  It’s delightful!

We here at The Deflation Times are aware that in these tough economic times many people are struggling to make ends meet.

Not only is the U.S. government reeling under a mountain of debt but also people from all walks of life are too. The White House and economists may be calling the recession over (we think they’re wrong, but that’s another story) but regular folks around the country are still losing jobs, incomes, businesses and their homes. The recession is not over for them yet.

So in order to help those in financially tight positions, who may not need investment advice as much as ideas on how to make their money go further, we have put together an ebook called – ‘125 Money Saving Tips‘.

This ebook covers many areas where you can save money, such as at home, the car, while on vacation, during Christmas, and while shopping. Indeed, you will find many realistic and practical changes you can make that result in significant money savings.

The money saving tips in the ebook are unique. Some of them you may have heard before but we guarantee there will be many you have not. These ideas are cheap, often free to implement, and are very easy to do. They will not deprive you of anything at all; they just carefully reduce waste and thereby reduce costs.

An added bonus to saving money by reducing waste is that you reduce your impact upon the environment significantly. Small changes can have a big effect on the environment and the 125 Money Saving Tips ebook focuses on environmentally friendly approaches to putting more money back in your pocket.

Although the ebook is called ‘125 Money Saving Tips‘ there is an extra, 126th Money Saving Tip. This tip is so radical that it will not appeal to many but when implemented can literally pay you cash at the start and thereafter save you hundreds of dollars per year! This simple idea will also improve the health of your family, give you more time together and improve your children’s education. If this sounds too good to be true, it’s not.

The ebook will help you, your family and friends make ends meet if the money is tight while at the same time live more environmentally friendly lives as well. If money is not tight but you’re looking for ways to save more money then ‘125 Money Saving Tips‘ will help you save money too!

The headlines are (choose an adjective) heavy, ominous, sad, depressing, desperate, real. People (like me) are losing their jobs hundreds at a time. Best Buy, Target, Home Depot—all the big consumer brands are shedding staff because no one is buying the shit they can’t afford. Which is good. And green. Right? We need to conserve more and consume less. But getting from here to there—from where we are today to what we will be tomorrow is hard stuff that is going to leave a mark. Growth is not the answer. We can’t shop our way out of this mess.

I think the big lesson to be learned here is BIG AIN’T BEAUTIFUL, stupid. (BABS)

All the evidence supports my BABS thesis: Big schools don’t work as well as small schools for managing behavior of students and imparting learning. Big companies are slow and wasteful. Big farms are cruel. Big suburbs are center-less. Big houses for small families squander resources. Big cars, big machines, big wars, big bullies—they’re bad. Perhaps the only places where Big is Good is in the heart, ocean and sky.

In everything else, we’ve got to learn to build to scale with an eye toward moderation, beauty, grace and economy. We’ve got to start thinking about each other.

At the end of September I found an article about “new uses for old things”.  I have been meaning to share it with everyone since some of the ideas are pretty cool.  One of my favorite ideas from the article is the one about using an old ketchup bottle as a pancake batter dispenser.  A ladle always worked fine for me but this is a great idea especially if you have children that want to help but may make a mess.  I also thought using an old cassette case as a headphones holder was such a good idea!  Scout recently made me a paper holder for my own headphones but if I ever needed something a bit sturdier I would definitely try out this idea.  Check out the rest of the ideas too, there just may be something useful for you!

Since graduating from Monmouth University this May with a BA in English I have been unemployed, until this past Tuesday that is.  I am now a full-time nanny for three adorable little boys.  So it wasn’t what I went to school for…but I have a feeling I am going to love the job.  The hours are good too so I am hoping to still have time to pursue writing but I have a feeling my blog posts may be shorter from here on out but who knows! 

Now that you are all caught up on my work life how about a tip for reusing soda bottles?  This one comes from my mom…reuse old soda bottles by filling them with water and freezing them for a great way to keep coolers cold.  This tip probably would have been better over the summer but hey people have parties in the fall too and other uses for coolers of course.  I know I will  be using this trick for my Halloween party later this month.  I also just used one of the soda ice bottles for the cooler I took camping.

Victory Garden?

A couple of youngsters asked what that means, and it finally dawned on me that not everyone knows & Jeff gave a good description too above.

America had been devastated by the Great Depression, which began with the stock market crash of 1929.  It hadn’t recovered by December of 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan, and our Navy in the Pacific was all but wiped out.  We declared war on Japan, which was the excuse for Germany, who had an alliance with Japan, to declare war on us.

Plunged from Depression into World War, we had to produce an army, equip it, and feed it.  If we were to survive as a nation, every resource that could be mustered was desperately needed.  There was little of anything to spare. I watched my grandfather peel the tin foil from the inside of cigarette and gum wrappers and roll it into a ball that grew with each bit of foil he added to it.  He’d take that, along with grandma’s cans of leftover cooking oil, metal products that had broken or were no longer needed, old newspapers and scrap material of any and all kinds, to the modern equivalent of a recycling center.  It was all needed for “the war effort.”

With hundreds of thousands of people needed for our armed forces, the labor force was diminished.  Production of anything not directly related to our survival was minimized, if not stopped completely.  There were no new cars, no new refrigerators, no new stoves made for “the duration” of the war.  That’s how we referred to it, “the duration,” meaning until the war was over.  We had to do without this or that, “for the duration.”

A very large Army and Navy needed fuel, clothing, equipment, ships and guns.  And they needed to eat 3 times a day.  Most of the nation’s food came from small farms, a large percentage of the men, suddenly soldiers and sailors, came from those farms, and the food supply was diminished.  The demand for food production increased.  Anything that could be done must be done, if we were not to become part of Nazi Germany or Fascist Japan.

Every American needed to pitch in, however and whenever they could.  If you could help the war effort by reducing your demand for food that was needed by our armed forces, you did just that.  Anyone who could grow some or all of their own food had a duty to do so.  Our fighting men shouldn’t have to compete for food with those at home.  Front yards, back yards, anywhere people could grow some vegetables was planted.  Such gardens would help ensure Victory, and were called “Victory Gardens.”

There were Victory Gardens in England, Canada and Germany during World War I, but came into greater significance during the more protracted 2nd World War.
We may be in as much jeopardy today, not by an invading army, but by our environmental ruination through the many avenues of chemical destruction of our air, water and soil.

Victory Gardens of my earliest childhood were vital to our survival. They were a way in which almost anyone could contribute to our continued freedom.

Home gardens today, I think, are no less vital to our survival.  We aren’t likely to poison our own soil with chemicals, nor poison our own food with deadly pesticides.  Each of us who can have a vegetable garden today should consider it a Victory Garden, because today we’re fighting for a Victory over the ruination of our environment.

Above is a typical ad from back then. Start yours today… any day is a good day to garden.  lee

The first step is to recognize it.

Most people don’t know what kind of trees are growing in their own yards, the kind of grass they have in their lawns, or even what color the house across the street is.  They don’t know what the pesticides they’re using are doing to the earth.  They don’t know that the chemical fertilizers that are used by them, or their gardeners, are more destructive in the long run than they are helpful; nor what measures their grand children will have to go to correct the damage they’ve created.  Most people can’t tell you the names of even 3 birds that are in their yards at any given moment, what kind of insects are in their yards, or whether they’re harming their plants or helping them.

Recognition-learn to see what’s there.  We have to stop yelling at “them” to “do something about it,” and take a good look at what we do, or don’t do, in our own front yard every day.

Start your own garden.  It takes about an hour a week to tend and the food is nutritious.  I will be happy to help you get any size organic garden started.  Just drop me a note.

Take care of our home.

This is my front yard filled with organic veggies…

 Lee

About Onions:

Since the YouTube posting by Barbara Lee regarding her immense onions, 4 lbs. 12 oz. was the largest; I’ve had lots of questions about onions.  (To see the video, go to “Recommended Sites” on www.organichomegardener.com, click on “My Blogs,” scroll down to “My Blog Site,” scroll down to “Testimonial to Organic Gardening DVD,” and simply click on the Play button.)

The Egyptians of 4-5,000 years ago were the first known cultivators of onions.  There are any number of types and varieties of onions, and generally they are of either the “Long Day” variety, or the “Short Day” variety.

Those of us in the lower latitudes, as in southern California, have relatively short summer days compared to the more northerly latitudes, as in Washington or Connecticut.  While the Long Day varieties are generally successful here, we excel in the Short Day varieties.
Maui onions, Texas 509 and Walla Walla are examples of Short Day onions.  The Short Day varieties are generally far milder than Long Day.  The reason for that is simply that the Short Day varieties don’t absorb much sulfur from the soil.  It’s the sulfur absorption that makes onions “hot,” and some varieties absorb more sulfur than others.
Onions are essentially bi-annuals.  That means they are generally planted in one year and harvested the next.  If you plant onion sets in the spring, they should be fully matured in about 100 days.  There are varieties of onions that grow from seed to maturity in one season, but most are Long Day varieties that require 13-14 hours of sunlight per day.  The amount of sunlight per day is crucial to the development of the bulb.  If your onions don’t develop bulbs, the most probable reason is that they simply aren’t getting enough sunlight.  The more sunlight they get each day, the bigger the onion bulbs will be.
While I’ve grown many varieties of onions over the years, both Long and Short Day, all very successfully, our favorite is the Walla Walla. I’ve grown them in the same 2 beds year after year, for more years than I can remember.  In late spring, as the onions are maturing, I plant winter squash seeds or seedlings between them.  As the squash plants need more and more space, I harvest the onions as the growing squash require more room.  After the crop of winter squash is harvested, I plant a crop of legumes, which I chop and dig into the soil around mid-November.  I let 3 or 4 of the largest and best onions go to seed, dry them in the sun and then put them in the refrigerator.  (All seeds should be refrigerated until you’re ready to plant them.)  Around the first of November, I start my onion seeds, 20-40 to a pot, in 1-gallon plastic pots.  Between mid-December and Christmas, I transplant the seedlings into the beds, allowing about 1 square foot per seedling.
The green tops of the onions grow through our mild winters, but the bulbs don’t even start to grow until the weather warms and the days get longer.  Then it seems that around the first of June the bulbs almost suddenly start to explode into huge onions.  One bed gets up to an hour more of sunlight every day than the other bed.  There is always a noticeable difference in the size of the onions from one bed to the next.  That hour difference makes an average ½ lb. per onion in size difference between the two beds.
The soil in both beds is exactly the same, and both have always had exactly the same cultivation.  The amount of sunlight is just that critical to the size of your onions.
Onions prefer a pH of 6 to 7, as do most vegetables.  If you use plenty of composted organic matter, you probably already have just that pH.  To onions, probably the more critical factor than having the right pH is simply having enough sunlight–the more sunlight, the bigger the onion.Lee
www.organichomegardener.com
www.meatbasics101.com

During this time of economic downturn, the need to be green is even more prevalent.  We all like to avoid waste, use less, and save more, but now the fact that doing those things saves money, makes it all the more important- especially to businesses feeling the pressure.   As trainers, we’ve turned to e-learning, which makes everyone’s life a little easier sometimes.  E-Learning though, isn’t always the best option for training purposes.  When you have face to face training, we’ve got a few tips that will help you and your businesses (and employees) to save a tree and a few extra dollars.

Getting There

• When your attendees aren’t in a centralized location, figure out where most people are coming from and try to choose a location that’s central to most of those attending.
• Encourage attendees to carpool or take public transportation.  Highlight bus routes and bike routes for out-of-towners.
• Start meetings after rush hour to minimize the time cars spend on the road.
• Encourage people who must drive and don’t have a car to consider renting a vehicle from Zipcar or IGo Car Sharing.  They offer eco-friendly cars that you can rent out by the hour, day or week at a low cost.

Materials

• Get attendees email addresses and send out all handouts before the meeting starts.  Most attendees these days bring a laptop or their smart phone’s with them.  Encourage them to view the handouts on their devices instead of printing them out if possible.
• If you have to print out materials- use recycled paper and be sure to print double sided!  If we all printed double sided, we could cut our paper usage practically in half!
• Be sure to have recycling containers set up around the meeting hall.  Don’t forget to have some for glass and cans too!

Event

• Turn down the lights!  Use natural lights.
• Shut off the TV and the projectors when you aren’t using them.  It’s so easy to forget about these things.
• When ordering food service, request food be served in recycled/compostable containers.    Roosevelt’s Schaumburg vendor- the Snack Cafe uses GreenStripe by EcoProducts-fully compostable cups made from corn, silverware made from plant starches, and plates made from sugar cane root.

There’s many other ways to make your training greener- we’d love to hear what you do to conserve.  Do you have a green secret you are willing to share with us?

Roosevelt University is becoming greener- the RU Green Club has just started, as well as the Green Print Initiative.

Organically Cultivating Gaia with Lee O’Hara – moderator: Meenakshi

Welcome to a week-long garden party with Gaia’s very own Lee O’Hara!

We invite everyone to this gathering, as organic food is served in delightful nooks and crannies, and there’s feast for the senses as Gaia breathes in delightful appreciation.

Come with your stories and questions and appetites for all that is fresh and healthy and balanced, as we chat, and chatter, and wander off to read Lee’s profile- aptly located at  http://organics.com

Just a few weeks short of his first Gaia anniversary, the remarkable Lee O’Hara has been gently sowing seeds of organic living, caring community, and supportive presence. When I read his advice about how to grow vegetables, and saw those shiny cherry tomatoes on his profile, I knew I had to get back to gardening!

lee writes: “Some people actually use and enjoy their lawns.The rest of us should dig them up and plant vegetables.  With what little lawn I had, I did that 25 years ago, along with all the rest of the yard.” Take a look at his blogs:

What is the best way to love the Earth? Posted on Sep 7th, 2008

Don’t buy that nonsense! Apr 29th, 2009

Eat Your Landscaping! Apr 15th, 2009

Lee has a website full of handy tips

http://www.organichomegardener.com/

and an Official Organic Gardening YouTube Channel.

As we move into the feature, Lee has generously agreed to answer our questions on organic living. So without further ado, I would like to invite all members of Gaia community to this unique opportunity to meet a person whose life embodies his passion. ”My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.” Abram L. Urban

I suspect that much as happens to those who buy his award-winning DVD: ‘Organic Gardening Made Easy‘, we’re going to find that we want to stay in touch with Lee long after this feature is over!

Decades before ‘organic gardening’ became a buzzword, Lee was learning the hands-on joy of cultivating the land that he loves. What lovely photos, Lee! I love the one with your wife Melissa and dog-friend Pepper!

So that leads me to the first question:

Lee, as you come into this garden gathering, can you take us down memory lane to the special first times of growing things? Meet Lee with his wife Melissa & their dog Pepper as we dig in about the world of organic gardening.

]]> http://talkspot.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/saucy-sauce/ Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:17:01 +0000 Roberta Owen http://talkspot.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/saucy-sauce/

We planted a new Heirloom variety of tomatoes this year: Hillbilly Tomatoes.  I knew little of this new fruit, but after pouring over each page in the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog my mother so generously lent me, I spotted the Hillbilly.  A true tomato lover, I found myself drooling over the brilliant marbled red and yellow colors, and its intricate pink streaks showcasing perfect and succulent linings when sliced open.  Granted, I bought the seeds with no taste to judge on, but the words “rich, sweet flavor” sold me.  The day the package came, both my husband and I opened the envelope like excited children on Christmas morning.

Through four months of devoted time, love and care it is finally time to see the beauties in full bloom.  As though screaming, “Eat me!  Love me!  Devour me!” the Hillbillies have proven to be an absolute tomato gem.  We also planted a cherry heirloom variety, the Riesentraube, which are perfect for salads and sneakily popping in your mouth, freshly plucked from the vines teeming with these little red fruits of heaven.  However, the Hillbillies are my favorites: these 2lb fruits, when sliced generously thick, are excellent for a simple cucumber and tomato sandwich.  They’re meaty, sweet, and have that perfect sharp taste that a tomato should have.

Tonight we made a delicious Spaghetti Sauce, recipe provided by my sweet niece, Chanel, in England.  I have never made a Spaghetti sauce before, but am always up for a new culinary adventure.  If the recipe seems too difficult, with too many ingredients, and specific timing requirements, I have to admit: my sense of adventure gets dulled and I end up disinterested in the recipe the moment I begin.  I like simple, unpretentious recipes.  Chanel gave me just this, and the outcome tasted like a gourmet dish served in a five star Italian restaurant.  And trust me: I am no culinary expert.

Here is the recipe:

• Grab a handful of tomatoes per person, or as many as possible (I used both the Hillbillies and Riesentraubes)
• Score a cross on the bottom of each tomato
• Crush a few cloves of garlic (I used 7 ripe from the garden because I am a bona fide garlic fiend)
• Season generously with salt and pepper
• 1 T sugar
• A “glug” of olive oil

I added:

• A handful of fresh sprigs of basil
• 1 onion
• ½ bell pepper
• ¼ c. pine nuts

Roast all of this in the oven, 350F, for about 50 minutes.  Take out, mash a little (I used a potato masher) let cool and remove skins (I like the skins, so I left them on).   Pour over meat (if desired – can be used as an excellent vegetarian dish) and pasta.  Voila!  You’re done.

I’ve been trying to do this green thing for couple of weeks now.  I learn something everyday and I’m absolutely amazed at all the resources there are to continue my learning.  There are numerous blogs, sites and discussions groups out there and the information is staggering.  But the bottom line is that if I can learn and implement one thing a day to do my part, well, that’s a good thing.

I’ve learned there are some things you can do and some you want to do but for some reason can’t.  I’ve learned that has much as I love doing this blog, I cant do it everyday.  I’ve learned that for a family of three, we produce a huge amount of garbage and waste but we can work on that.  We signed up for our trash company’s recycle program and for the one week we have recycled I am aghast at the amout of stuff we have saved from the landfill.  Then I think about  all the years we haven’t recycled and I feel guilty.  I’ve learned ways to conserve and save energy which comes in very handy now that my husband has been laid off.  I see what a true difference that reduce, resue and recycle makes.  I see vast opportunites for me to be involved in the community and that one person really can make a difference.

This green thing is fun, exciting, rewarding, different and most of all important.  I love being green.  And I am passionate about sharing it and changing the world.

Everybody has a definition for sustainable living and the more it’s out there, the fuzzier the idea gets. While one thinks this style of life is creating a pretty garden with the odd vegetable here and there, recycling and going in an organic direction, another can think it requires more than that: a hard core vegetable garden, a goat in the backyard with a few free-range chickens running amuck, a workshop to build furnishings, recycling old linens for clothing and doing everything as simple and as green as possible.

Dictionary.com defines sustainable living as “any lifestyle based on energy-saving and environmental responsibility.” Does this mean that the pretty garden peppered with the odd red vegetable with scary looking warts is a means of sustainability? Well, yes. According to the dictionary, it is. Every garden requires environmental responsibility and if that garden produces meals, it is energy saving. Sure, it’s not enough to keep a human (being) alive, but the definition of sustainable living doesn’t say it needs to.

There is nothing quite as satisfying as a plate of homegrown vegetables and a fresh line caught salmon for dinner. It almost feels like cheating to use a lemon from the local market, so we tend to forgo the tangy yellow fruit, boasting to ourselves that, yes, this is a 100 percent sustainable meal. Our taste buds burst with pleasure and we smile to ourselves, remembering the rod that tugged with force while the silvery pink fish splashed out toward the surface. Reeling in tonight’s dinner, we have the inevitable sense of accomplishment and certainty; we can survive, alone. We are hunters; we are gatherers.

The idea of “going green” has sparked conversations many times around the dinner table, in the garden, even in a child’s room. It can be an achievement and a set of beliefs. It is a great accomplishment to grow a head of red leaf lettuce, a few sprigs of green onions and an heirloom tomato; eat a garden salad and call it sustainable living. However, others ask if that is enough. Ours is a world where 7 Up is called “natural.” Or where packaging that screams “compostable” ends up in the landfill where it won’t break down because that bio-material is not accepted at the city composting facility (unless you live in one of the lucky cities with compost collection).

Green-washing (meaning when companies spin their products and policies as environmentally friendly) is so pervasive, it might drown out the efforts of countless salads. The phrase “sustainable living” is perfect for marketing that 100 percent organic cotton apron with three little birds embroidered by a blind nun (who was paid fair wages and given access to appropriate healthcare); but is preparing an organic meal in that apron really a sustainable life?     

Going Back to Basics: Isn’t it Ironic?

Going back to basics has an irrevocable sentiment of domesticity. Communal gardens and rooftop beds of growth, small porches filled with little plant boxes and rows of seeds sprouting up. Knowing even the dead can fertilize the living. All of this requires attentive detail and constant dedication; it is a time-consuming activity. It involves tending, a trait that once belonged solely to women.

Gardening is as basic as basic gets. A good source of basic living is cooking homemade meals. Baking from scratch is on the rise, because it can cut your grocery bill in half, a big incentive these days and partly due to a growing awareness of our need to keep our regional food sheds healthy and available. For others baking is fun. Whatever the reason for the rise of baking from scratch, one thing is worth noting: many women are back in the kitchen.

Women for centuries have fought long and hard for their independent rights and freedoms. If we go back to the Stone Age era, for instance, the role of a woman was to help gather nuts and seeds and grind them to make meals, sew clothes and tend to the most basic needs of their family. This “role” for a woman has been passed on from generation to generation, defining a woman by her duties at home.

The fight for independence and liberation had finally reached a satisfying point.

• Women vote
• Women work in construction
• Women are in the army
• Women can have a baby and three weeks later return to the workforce
• Women can do nearly anything a man can do
• Women have gained their freedom from tending

The irony in this, however, is women are now fighting their way back into the kitchen and into the garden and those who are lucky enough to work from home are envied. The sense of pride a woman gets these days from baking her first whole wheat loaf of bread! She boasts on Twitter: “Just made a fresh loaf of whole wheat flax bread from scratch and the smell is delightful.” She then proceeds to shove the dry morsels of food in her spouse’s mouth, eager to prove to herself and others that she is a culinary expert. Once again, a woman who can sew her own clothes, master her own garden and cook an entire meal from scratch using the produce from her garden is the new post-feminist.

Getting Started in Sustainable Living

Creating a balance between living within the Earth’s limitations and simplifying our own needs, wants or desires can lead to a daunting and intimidating responsibility. While we know of the environmental plight, we also know human nature has a tendency toward naïve ignorance or the popular and somewhat comforting myth that somebody else will take care of it. Relegating such tasks, however, is not a sustainable option. Interestingly enough, the differences are ones from a more traditional past:

• Use a clothes rack to dry clothes
• Use public transportation, walk or ride a bike
• Turn off the lights when you leave the room
• Use energy efficient household items
• Cut down on electronics
• Plant a small garden for vegetables. If you don’t have access to a yard, use your porch or look around your community to find a communal garden
• Become aware of your local classes and events to see what they have to offer

If you are new to the idea of going green in your lifestyle or just want to continue learning and getting involved in the community, there are local organizations to help you, and websites to learn from:

Seattle Tilth is a local nonprofit organization whose main goal is to educate and encourage gardeners to grow organic and become more environmentally conscious. This past July, Seattle Tilth, offered a City Chicken Coop Tour, educating the minds of those interested in how to raise chickens or build a coop. Additionally, Seattle Tilth hosts an annual edible plant sale presenting Seattle’s largest selection of organic and sustainable vegetable starts. If this doesn’t get a gardener excited, nothing will. In September the Seattle Tilth offers a Harvest Festival where you can enjoy an organic farmer’s market, classes, food and live music.

About.com’s Small Farms site includes important how-to’s in the farming culture. Interested in how to design a small farm, prepare the land for farming or raise chickens? The articulate and informative articles will give you an inclusive perspective on these topics and more.

Seattle Urban Farm Company teaches chicken, vegetable and herb farming or you can talk with the friendly and knowledgeable staff about organic farming/gardening.

Sustainable Seattle is a non-profit volunteer-based organization who believes in getting businesses, governments and people more proactive with healthy and sustainable actions in the economy, communities and environment.

Food co-ops and natural grocers are always eager to help educate the ways of green-style living. PCC Natural Markets, Rainbow Natural Grocery and Madison Market, to name a few, always have interesting and fresh ideas of sustainability (not to mention scrumptious foods).

Local Harvest is an excellent website. Plug in your zip code and they’ll find the closest farmers’ markets, family farms and other locally grown/raised products for you. They also have their own catalog of organic goodies ranging anywhere from produce, seeds, meats, honey, dairy, wellness, wools, fibers and more.

Eat Wild is another good website to browse for factual and easy-to-learn information about grass-fed meats and dairy. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the science and nature of grass-fed meats (especially when you start talking to one of the meat cutters at a natural grocery store); this website is both user-friendly and highly informative.

Going back to basics is a positive direction toward a better and more fruitful life, where one can feel their hard work surge and feel as though they are taking a step toward a greener and brighter future.

In a world where consumerism and thoughtless purchases lead to waste, going toward a sustainable lifestyle makes you re-think everything you’re putting on your plate and how much. It makes you think of what you could create with those old linens you were about to toss in the garbage or gives you a sense of pride when you see your energy bill cut in half. Whether sustainability is hyped up or a post-feministic way of the future, a chance for beginners to strive for a green style of living, one thing is for certain: It’s a beautiful thing.

The true health care plan resides within your incredible, powerful and awesome mind. However, what we have today is sick care. There is not enough insurance and money to cover the cancer, disease and health issues in America. You must be very careful with the health care plan that is being push. Be aware, that Big Pharma has played a huge part in this health care reform promotion. What do they have at stake? Has there been a secret deal between the White House and Big Pharma? Is Wall Street sleeping with the Obama Administration? There are ways to tap into your Inner Health Care Plan they include:

1. Abstain from the health care plan news madness. They’re really talking about sick care. It’s pivotal to focus on preventive health and have a back up plan for emergencies. Dig deep in your research for the best insurance. Implement the following: Think healthy, eat healthy, minimize stress and smile a lot.

2. Be Green – To be green is to love, cherish, honor, respect, commune, sustain and celebrate Mama Earth. You and Mama Earth are one! Anything that harms yourself and Mama Earth stay away from. For example, chemicals, gmo foods and waste, ect. Study, research and investigate to find out what more of those things are.

3. Decrease indoor air pollution – You’ll be amaze at the things inside your living space that are causing indoor air pollution. 2 quick simple things you can do is use crystal lamps and plants.

4. Practice spirituality – Simply put, whatever your religion, belief and spiritual practice is be committed, consistent and love yourself deeply.

5. Move more – There is a hug amount of studies that verify that exercise can produce feel-good hormones. It’s so simple just walk 3x a week for 30 minutes and you’ll be naturally high.

]]> http://blog.foreveryoungphoto.net/2009/07/13/new-green-ideas-in-the-works/ Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:49:15 +0000 Maranda http://blog.foreveryoungphoto.net/2009/07/13/new-green-ideas-in-the-works/

I am excited about a new idea and I want to share it with you now, but I feel I have to wait until it is completed. So just know that soon I will have some great news for you and taking another big step to making Forever Young Photography an even greener photography company. More to come soon! Have a great day!