Another Funny Sign

This is another of my favorites from Dr. Mercola's list of funny signs.

What to Do, and We Have a Winner

Two things I'm trying to decide: first, is it okay to bring turkey feathers into the house? What about other feather varieties? And second, is it acceptable to wrap your swing's chain around the top beam and then swing on the swing when it's four feet off the ground? I have never had to formulate a reaction to either of these two apparently inevitable happenings before. I'm clueless.

Also, we have a winner in the contest in which various authors do their best to keep my attention while I read their entire book before I am distracted by another interesting-looking book. This week I read a whole book from start to finish, which totally disrupts the grazing pattern I had spent the entire summer establishing. Here is the winner:

Holy Cows & Hog Heaven: The Food Buyer's Guide to Farm Friendly Food, by Joel Salatin

The first time I read something by Joel Salatin, it was a very entertaining article I found on the internet called "Everything I Want to Do is Illegal". Just reading the title really resonated with me. Just kidding!!! The author makes the case that there are so many government regulations placed upon farmers that they find it difficult to sell their home-grown products directly to the consumer. If you read his article, some of these regulations are beyond stupid. The government doesn't want us to eat food from the farm next door, but wants us to eat food from a farm 2,000 miles away on the other side of the country. Personally, I'm not sure I trust those California farmers after all this e. coli spinach non-sense that's going on right now.

I really appreciate all the farmers in our area that sell directly to the consumer. Just tonight, we were about to feast on homemade tortillas when I realized that we had no more tomatoes. What did I do? I drove down the road where some neighbors had set up a table full of tomatoes in their front yard with a coffee can on it that said "donations". I put some money in the can and made off with an armfull of fresh homegrown tomatoes which became salsa half an hour later.

Unfortunately, the government would like to see us put all our trust in the huge mega-factory farm monopolistic corporations to provide all of our food. This book was very encouraging to read because it gave a do-able solution to this out of control problem - buy locally as much as you can, and it will make a difference. Will I see you at the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning? I'm buying my greens there.

Honey!

Want to know what the very best sweetener is that you can use? Health wise? Honey, of course! Honey's actually sweeter than white sugar, it has great flavor, and it's good for you too! Raw, unprocessed honey is best. It has all the "good stuff" still in it. Here are a few honey quotes:

A Russian study of the inhabitants of the province of Georgia, where many live to 100 years and a few to age 150, revealed that a large portion of these centenarians were beekeepers who often ate raw, unprocessed honey with all its "impurities", that is, with the pollen. Bee pollen contains 22 amino acids including the eight essential ones, 27 minerals and the full gamut of vitamins, hormones and fatty acids. Most importantly, bee pollen contains more than 5,000 enzymes and coenzymes...Be pollen can be taken in powder, capsule or tablet form - or in raw unprocessed honey mixed with cereal or spread on toast. -Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions

The Creator chose to use honey to describe the abundance of the Promised Land, calling it the land of "milk and honey" (Exod. 13:4). Honey is one of the most powerful healing foods we have at our disposal. Generations of grandmothers prepared hot honey drinks to soothe sore throats, calm frayed nerves, and ensure a good night's sleep. Asthmatics often swear by honey's ability to help them breathe easier. Honey wipes out bacteria that cause diarrhea. And honey may eliminate such disease-causing bacteria as salmonella, Shigella, E. coli, and cholera. -Jordan Rubin in The Maker's Diet

We go through a lot of honey at our house. We have heard from local beekeepers that this year was a poor year for honey. The late spring was too wet. I guess that means low honey supply this year. Be sure to stock up now for the sore throat season (also the sweet tooth season) this winter!

A Little Housekeeping

I have decided to turn on the comment moderation feature here on Blogger. I enjoy getting comments, but I prefer to know who they are from. I wanted to just take off the "anonymous" choice, but that wasn't an option. So for anyone who wants to comment, feel free, but I will likely delete any more comments from "anonymous". If you do not have a Blogger account, you can still comment using the "other" option on the comments page, and then put your name there. Especially if I know you in real life, I would prefer to have some sort of identifying information so that I will know who you are, like first names, or a nickname that I would recognize. This isn't in response to anything specific, just rearranging things according to my preferences. Thank you! :-)

Funniest Cartoon Episode Ever

"Here! Lemme see that thing!!"

Friday Feast

From Carla's Country Living - Today's Friday Feast

Appetizer
What was the very last song you listened to? I sang "They Can't Take That Away From Me", (which I guess was written by the Gershwins) out in the barn last night while getting the animals in for the night. Hey! It's a fun song!


Soup
What is one company/store/corporation you would recommend that people stay away from? I would probably say McDonald's. I usually give positive recommendations for places I do like, though, rather than telling people where not to go.


Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy having your picture made? 5. Totally middle of the road there.


Main Course
Besides a bookmark, what is something you've used to keep your place in a book? Post-it note.


Dessert
Name a food that you like that most people don't. Sugar-free desserts, kefir, avocados

Why My Hair is Turning Prematurely Gray

My mother-in-law also claims that this is why her hair went gray so early in life. I found this quoted in my copy of Herrick Kimball's Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian.

We can damage our young boys by overprotecting them and by creating fear that they may get hurt. Little boys who are constantly overprotected are in jeopardy of having their masculinity warped. Obviously we are to teach them to use good judgement. But we are not to squelch their aggressiveness. They will survive the scars and broken bones of boyhood. But they cannot survive being feminized through the perpetual fear of getting hurt. God made boys to be aggressive. -Steve Farrar, Point Man

My boys have been climbing all over the swingset. You know, the sides of the "fort" and the top beam over the swings that aren't normally meant to be played/climbed on. I just leave the back door ajar as I'm doing dishes so I can hear any loud thuds.

Reminiscing

Five years ago today, my husband and I and our two young sons (2 years and 7 months) were on vacation in Asheville, North Carolina. We turned on the news as we were getting ready to go down to our hotel's dining room for breakfast. I don't think any of us will ever forget "where we were" on that day. We finally made it down for breakfast, but spent most of the day watching the news on tv in our room. That evening we went to an awesome Mexican restaurant. The food was great, but the tv's were on there, too, and I'm not sure anyone there really felt like eating. Or serving. Or having much fun.

For school today, my older son is beginning to memorize a new Psalm. Somehow it seems appropriate to post at least part of it today. You should look it up and read the whole thing.

Psalm 27:1-6
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.

4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.

6 Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD.

More Books and Ruby the Cow

As if I haven't already had enough problems with my "grazing" habits of late, I just got a new stack of books last week (why do I do this to myself?!?). Here they are:

• Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman
• The Hope Chest: A Legacy of Love, by Rebekah Wilson
• Keeping a Family Cow, by Joann S. Grohman
• Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House, by Cheryl Mendelson
  
• Holy Cows & Hog Heaven: The Food Buyer's Guide to Farm Friendly Food, by Joel Salatin
• The Complete Tightwad Gazette, by Amy Dacyczyn

These are all purchases I made from Cumberland Books, which has recently reduced the prices on all their books. They have great books there. I'm reading the cow book right now, mainly out of necessity. We got our miniature jersey last weekend (in an adventure that will go down in the annals of family history). Ruby is not as "miniature" as we had thought, but she is a beautiful animal. We can't wait for fresh jersey milk and cream! It will be a long time before that happens, but in the meantime, we're learning what we need to know to take care of her.