Frank and I were having a discussion over lunch today involving the immigrant invasion in Europe. Frank asked me how the leaders of these countries could continue to make such poor decisions. Decisions that will ultimately lead to the demise of their countries and populations. My response? Name one good leader of one country in the world. We couldn't think of any.
Name one leader that is making sound financial decisions.
Name one leader that is protecting the rights and freedoms of the citizens.
Name one country that is making decisions that are boosting free enterprise and the independent businessman.
Name one country that is providing healthy food that is not laced with pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers and GMO poison producing seeds.
Name one country that has enough jobs.
Name one country that has maintained it's infrastructure so that it can withstand the onslaught of population growth.
Name one country that can produce enough food to feed it's people.
Name one country that can withstand a major cyber attack of it's electrical grid, financial institutions or military infrastructure.
Name one country that gets along with all the other countries.
Name one leader that is not a power hungry, control freak.
Name one country where the freedom of the people has increased instead of decreased over the last decade.
Name one country where bigotry and hatred has not increased over the last few years.
Name one country where privacy has not been given away in the name of protection and security.
Name one country where the leaders have not done all in their power to disarm the populace.
Name one country where the government doesn't have an us against them (the people) attitude.
Name one...........
I wish we could.
Where does this leave us? We have yet to find out, but it won't be long. It really doesn't matter who the leaders are anymore. They all belong to the same club, drive the same cars, eat the same food and spout the same mantra. Some of them try to put their own special, personal twist on the message, but it's all the same. Everything else is a distraction. You have to dig down really deep to get beyond all of the everyday lies and deception to see what is happening to the world. What you uncover is unbelievable, gets worse every minute of every day, and unfortunately, there is nothing we can do but watch it unfold and try to prepare for a survival scenario of unknown origin. Don't be fooled by the stupidity and distractions placed before you. Keep your wits about you or this thing that is coming will devour you. Don't get on the truck.
Until next time - Fern
There is so much information out here on the internet that I could just about read for the rest of my life. The more I read and learn, though, the more I want to do and try for myself. Some of my reading teaches me how to do or understand new things. Some of it motivates me to learn, and grow more of our own food, or make more of our own hygiene products, to avoid what is out there on the market. Either way, what I am learning can be put to use. Knowledge. One of our most precious commodities. Here are some things I have read over the past month or so. I hope you learn something, too.
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Here are some things I have learned that I don't like. Some of them make me mad. How can the dollar be more important than healthy, productive people? I don't get it, and I'm glad I don't get it. That means I don't think like that.
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GM Wheat Discovered Contaminating Wheat Fields in Montana
U.S.D.A. Approves Modified Potato
Study Links GMOs to Over 22 Different Diseases
Gene-Altered Apples Get U.S. Approval
Fluoride in Drinking Water May Trigger Depression and Weight Gain, Warns Scientists
Monsanto's New 'Herbicide-Resistant' GMO Crop Slammed by Food Experts
Scientific Team Sounds the Alarm on Sugar as a Source of Disease
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And then there are those articles that give me more insight into how to improve our health with food and diet.
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Scientists Prove Organic Food More Nutritionally Rich Than Conventional, GMO Crops
Olive Oil May Prevent Cancer, Study Finds
Heart Disease and Diabetes Risks Tied to Carbs Not Fat, Study Finds
Sourdough Bread and Health
Benefits of Kefir
Low Carb Fermented Foods
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And then there are some articles that are just unbelievable.
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Officials Declare 'Eating Healthy' a Mental Disorder
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Thanks to M.E. Masterson over at Adventures of My Life! who put a link to this article, G.H.A. (Goat Haters Anonymous) from Krazo Acres yesterday, we had some very good laughs. I guess you might have to have personal experience like the folks from Krazo to truly enjoy the humor in this article. We thought it was hilarious.
There is not much going on here on the homestead. We have had steady snow all afternoon. The garden is white. The pastures are white. The roads are white. And I am rather bored. Reading is a good past time on days like this, so I hope you learn something from these links. I can't say I hope you enjoy them all, because I find some of them down right disgusting. But like any good leader, it pays to know your enemies and their tactics. Learn all you can so you can equip your mind for this battle called life.
Until next time - Fern
A while back we had a comment about the effects of chemicals on the generations that have grown up in the past 20 to 30 years, and especially the current generation. The term that was used to describe this group was androgynous. Well, I hadn't run into that word before, so I looked it up.
Androgynous : adjective
1. Having both female and male characteristics
2. Being neither distinguishably masculine nor feminine, as in dress, appearance, or behavior
Now I want to give you some data from several websites outlining some of the impacts of only a few chemicals that today's children are growing up ingesting and being exposed to since the time of conception.
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From Rodale News: Canned Food Carries a Hidden Health Risk
"But thanks to an epoxy liner commonly used to prevent canned products
from reacting to the metal, everything from canned fruit to canned
salmon to canned peas is exposed to plastic chemicals for as long as it
remains on the shelf." It goes on to say, "The liner is manufactured with a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA), which has been linked to a variety of health problems, including hormone disruption, prostate cancer, diabetes, and obesity, as well as aggressive behavior in children. A new analysis by Consumer Reports confirms that BPA that lines cans ends up in the food that we eat."
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From Forbes: 11 Toxic Chemicals Affecting Brain Development in Children
This article has details explaining the effects of 11 common chemicals and is well worth reading. It is a long article and toward the bottom of the first page it deals with the effects of BPA. "BPA is an endocrine (hormone) disruptor, and, strongly suspected to affect neurodevelopment in children, it has been banned in baby bottles and sippy cups."
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From Rodale News: BPA Free Products May Still Contain BPA
This article deals with baby bottles and the coating on the inside of the lid of baby food jars, which still allow some BPA to contaminate the food. Yes, this says the baby food jar does not contain BPA, but the lid does. So, you need to practice critical reading skills. Just because the container doesn't have it, doesn't mean the lid doesn't.
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From WebMD: The Facts About Bisphenol A
"More than 90% of us have BPA in our bodies right now. We get most of it
by eating foods that have been in containers made with BPA. It's also
possible to pick up BPA through air, dust, and water."
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From the Huffington Post: BPA Could Affect Brain Development by Impacting Gene Development, Study Finds
"BPA's effects on the human body are of concern because some research suggests it is an endocrine disruptor -- meaning it affects the way hormones work in the body, leading to possible reproductive and developmental effects, not to mention a possible link with a number of diseases and conditions, such as diabetes and obesity. Researchers noted that BPA is known to mimic estrogen in the body; the chemical is currently banned from baby bottles and cups in the U.S."
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Genetically modified (GM) foods have been shown for years to affect both man and beast. They have been banned in many countries in Europe and Asia, and yet the major corporations, the FDA and our loving government continue to force them upon our population without informing us of their presence in our food source. You can probably tell this is a topic I find utterly amazing, dispicable and inexcusable.
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From Mercola.com: GM Foods More Dangerous for Children than Adults
As I read down this article it makes me sad and mad at the same time. It discusses the ingestion of GM food from the time of inception throughout childhood. It talks of the contaminants of GM food found in breast milk, regular cows milk, cornstarch used in baby powders being absorbed through the skin, and "Among the potential side effects are changes in soy’s natural estrogen mimickers, which may influence sexual development."
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How can we possibly know the effects of the huge quantity of chemicals we submit our bodies and the bodies of our children to every single day of our lives? This phenomena has been going on long enough that we are now seeing some of the results.
About 30 years ago Frank discovered that the lining on the inside of a green bean can, and most canned foods, was made from an estrogen type product. He wondered then how it was affecting the population, especially the male population. As he taught high school for many years, he was able to chronicle many changes over time. Here is his take on it.
Many boys are not interested at all in getting their drivers license now days. A drivers license used to mean freedom. A freedom to pursue the interests that most sixteen year old boys have, and the interest is girls. Most of these same boys who are not interested in getting a drivers license, also have no interest in girls. Sure they have female friends, but the drive to pursue a female relationship just isn't there. Now, I'm not referring to all boys by any means. There are still those boys, and lots of them the day they get their drivers license, can't wait to take their sweetie for a drive. I'm happy for those boys, because these are the boys that we need. But, unfortunately, I've noticed a lot more of the others. The ones that would rather sit at home and play Xbox.
This is just an observation, of course, but in the back of my mind, I can't help but believe that this is just one more attack on our society. This is kind of a broad statement coming up here. But, George H. W. Bush, the first one, advocated for a New World Order, which is one centralized government. We know that our religions are under attack, schools are under attack, finances, the military. Is this just one more attempt to neutralize a portion of our society? Just food for thought. Frank out.
The comment we received about the androgynous nature of the coming generation has stuck with me and made me observe our youth more closely. There have been times Frank and I have been driving down a street, or sitting in a restaurant, and wondered if a person were a male or
female. It didn't used to be that way. There used to be a definite masculine quality to men, and an obvious feminine quality to women. What happened? Between the chemicals, the forced indoctrination into liberal tolerance, the mind numbing drivel spewing from the television 24 hours a day, the addictive trance-like dependence upon cell phones and video games, the break down and ridicule of the intact family, and the outright bigoted hatred of all things Christian, how can the coming generation find their way? How can they even begin to understand what has been heaped upon them in an effort to sedate them and make them malleable and compliant? How will they ever be able to stand up for their freedoms?
You know what? They won't. They don't need to. Why would they bite the very hand that feeds them? There is no drive to excel in a profession or career.
There is no drive to pursue the opposite sex, form a lasting bond,
procreate and raise a family. There is no drive to even get off of mom
and dad's couch and get a place of their own. But then, how many of them
feel hopeless because there are no jobs to be had to support a spouse
and family, let alone a place of their own?
If the powers that be have had a long term goal of creating a society that is easy to control and will do the master's bidding, we are almost there. As we watch a large percentage of society hippity hopping through their days, happy the big game is tonight, that they will get to watch on their big screen TVs, while jumping up and down to imitate the cheerleaders, eating cheese doodles and hollering, "Yea! Yea! Man, did you see....??!!" Then all is well. No need to prepare, no need to pay attention, no need to wonder where the next meal might be coming from. All is well. Oblivious to the fact that they are like the frog in the pot, and soon the water will be boiling.
The androgynous generation. They are our future. I wonder where that will lead us?
Until next time - Fern
The more we read, the scarier it gets. And yet the yummy, enticing commercials and food packaging makes it so easy to pick up something ready made, convenient and easy to fix. It saves time, effort and, in some cases, money. But why aren't they telling us the damage it can do to our bodies? The only basic answer I have is profit. As long as the populace is ignorant of the facts, they can be duped into anything, right? I would like to say the answer to that question is: Wrong! But, I really can't at this point. The Economic Collapse Blog has an article out titled Big Corporations Have An OVERWHELMING Amount Of Power Over Our Food Supply that is a real eye opener. It's a good one to start with here.
It appears to me that there are groups of people that are waking up to many things in our day and time. Food production practices and restrictions, the rape of our economy by the PTB (powers that be), the dwindling freedoms we once took for granted, and the labeling of those that don't march lock step to the beat of the government drum as terrorist, such as Veterans (with a capital V), Christians, conservatives and good old independent 'we don't need anything from the government' folks.
So, in light of that short rant, I want to share some more articles with you that continue to highlight the poison we are expected to consume as part of our daily bread. I can't say I hope you enjoy the read, but I do hope it provides you with information that you can use to make wise decisions for you and the ones you love.
I'll start off with an article from NaturalSociety titled: Why You Should Stop Counting Calories and Start Counting Chemicals. There is a piece of this article I have included. It is just amazing. The following is a quoted excerpt.
- "But here’s the kicker. Even if you eat an organic salad once in a
blue moon, and don’t regularly and actively detox your body from all
these environmental poisons, your body can’t absorb the nutrients from good foods. The scientific proof of this fact is overwhelming:
- High fructose corn syrup consumption leads to an impairment of digestion and absorption of nutrients, leading to obesity.
- Malabsorption of nutrients and
important trace minerals happens when our guts are wracked with gluten,
GMOs, glyphosate, pesticides, and other chemicals. Additionally,
nutrients are likely not being absorbed in your stomach or GI tract due to flora imbalance."
A good friend sent me this article. She and I compare notes and talk about ways to improve our health and the food we prepare for our families. It is great to have others you can turn to who are trying to live the same healthy life style. It's always nice to know you aren't the only one when most people find you to be a bit strange. This article is from Natural News and once again highlights the detrimental effects of the preservatives found in so many foods that we purchase from the store.
We have written about fluoride before, and here is another article warning of this destructive poison.
This next article actually surprised me. I have long known that breakfast cereals, among many other things, are fortified with vitamins and minerals. I figured this was necessary since most food is grown in dead soil and solely supported by chemical nutrients. I had no idea that we were being overdosed with the types of synthetic additives used for this 'fortification' of our diets. The most scary thing here is the population that consumes the vast majority of breakfast cereal: children.
And speaking of children, here is another article outlining the importance of knowing what is in the food you feed them, especially babies.
The next article includes some of the previously mentioned chemicals, but provides information about the effects they have on our brains. Just one more piece of evidence showing the destructive properties of some of these additives to our food.
Some of the good news is the fight against the forced usage of GMO crops. There are some folks that do not want to grow food that makes people sick. The bad news is how hard Monsanto is willing to fight to keep people under their thumb and in their pocketbook.
And here's the kicker. Cloned meat. I don't know about you, but the thought of eating cloned meat makes me sick just thinking about it. In my humble opinion, God created the beasts of the field, as well as mankind, to reproduce in a certain fashion, not in a petri dish. It is very scary to think that man considers his skills and knowledge anywhere near what creation wrought for us in the first place, that he could somehow improve upon what is already here. I know, I know. Seeds have been manipulated and reconstructed for years and years. Well, look where that has gotten us. The food is killing us. I can't see where cloning will come anywhere close to improving the predicament we are already in.
Read. Learn. Study. Ponder. Discuss. Ponder. And learn some more. It is the only way we will be able to make intelligent, informed decisions about our health and well-being. It takes effort and hard work to produce those things we need to live. It takes time and dedication. It takes commitment. It takes love. It takes sacrifice. And it is worth it.
Until next time - Fern
We have a question for everyone. What is wrong with the food? We did a post a few days ago about what eating out does to us, and we were surprised at the responses we have had. I guess we just didn't think that there would be many people with the same problem. So, we would like to get a conversation going. The more information we all have, the more informed our decisions can be.
Let me share a little background. When we moved here from Alaska, one of the first things we got set up were our appliances which included two freezers. We located a local butcher and made arrangements to get a beef. The local ag teacher provided a hog. In the meantime, until the meat was processed, we stocked up on some chicken, pork chops, ground beef and round steak from Wal-Mart. While in Alaska, we had purchased a side of beef and ate moose, caribou and salmon from the local wildlife menu. The meat we bought at Wal-Mart surprised us. This was in 2008. The texture of the meat, especially the pork chops didn't really resemble what we would consider meat. It was almost like it was processed in some way and stuck back on the bone. It was almost scary to eat it.
When we first arrived here, if we ate out, we would go to a Western Sizzlin' (similar to a Golden Corral or other buffet restaurant) because there was a buffet with salad and other vegetables. But before long we realized that every time we ate there, we felt bad. It didn't seem to matter if we varied the content of our meals, we just felt bad, so we quit going there as well.
With Frank's recent stay in the hospital, we have had more than our fair share of food prepared by others. Now that we are home we are trying to detoxify our systems of all of the chemicals we have ingested, as well as all of the medications and anesthesia that Frank has been exposed to. We are eating many fresh things from the garden, as well as our own meat, milk and eggs. The kefir is not perking along as usual since it didn't get regular daily
attention while we were gone, but it will be back up to speed in a few days. We are having dandelion root tea daily to help cleanse the liver and keep the digestive tracts in good working condition. We hope to have our systems back to 'normal' in a few more days. One day while in the hospital, we had a very interesting conversation with Frank's surgeon. He indicated that most doctors and nutritionists
really know nothing about food and nutrition. This doctor was aware of the benefit of goat's milk over cows milk, the negative side effects of pasteurization, and he even knew the difference between A1 and A2 milk. It was a very interesting conversation.
We have written before about GMO food, MSG additives in foods and trying to avoid chemicals. Our sense of 'illness' after eating out, or eating processed foods has brought this to our attention more than ever. What is wrong with the food? Is there some kind of intentional scheme going on to affect the health of the population? Is this an intentional act our government is forcing upon food producers? Or is it just simply a matter of profit at any cost? If the food producers have any kind of business relationship with the medical industry, they have the perfect racket going. Produce food that makes people sick, send them to the medical folks for more treatment, and it is a financial win in both directions. Why is it the government appears to be attacking family farms when people are just trying to raise their own food? Are they going to regulate nutritional dependence upon the government? It appears to be one of their goals. A few years back Frank came to the conclusion that our government is going to release some type of toxin into the environment. This toxin itself will not be harmful to the individual, but when it interacts with other chemicals, then there will be a reaction which could cause an instant depopulation process. All the while, it would just look like a simple virus. Most medical people that I know do not get flu shots, but our government gives them away free. You can even get them at a drive through and not have to get out of your vehicle.
Our question for you is: What are your experiences?
What is it about the food supply that is making people feel bad or sick?
What has happened or is happening that is increasing health problems in
the general population? When people that eat processed foods 24/7, and go to someone's house and eat fresh grown food, does it make them feel sick? Is it a matter of what you're used to? What are we missing here? We are trying to wrap our heads around this one, and haven't come to a viable answer yet. Just food for thought. Let us know what you think.
Until next time - Fern
It makes us really sick, well kinda sick. You know, when you feel real yucky and just want to sit on the couch and say, "Uugghh. I don't feel good." Over the past five or six years we have noticed a growing trend in our stomachs, or maybe a growing trend in the prepared food supply. There are very few places we will eat out anymore. Not that many establishments don't serve good tasting food, it's just that there is something about the food that doesn't set well with our digestive systems. Something to ponder.
We noticed it first with fast food burger places, which we really like, we always have. Over time, it got to where we just couldn't stop there anymore without feeling bad for the rest of the day. That narrowed down the places we eat quite a bit. We have never been the kind that go to expensive restaurants just to say we did, and we seldom ate out anyway. We would rather eat at home or just grab something to tide us over until we get home. Every so often we would get something to eat just because we didn't feel like cooking, but not often. Some of this routine came from living in remote, bush Alaska where there were no places to eat at all. You fed yourself or didn't eat. Even if there were days we didn't feel like cooking, too bad. Fix it yourself or don't eat. That's when we discovered Banquet fried chicken. We could still have it flown in from the store 25 miles away. It was already frozen so it didn't matter that it was 30 degrees below zero outside. Otherwise we would just cook extra whatever - pizza, lasagna, green bean casserole - and freeze the extras in meal size portions.
What we have discovered, or our theory on it anyway, is that the additives like MSG on top of the GMO quality of most prepared foods, just don't set well with us anymore. We think one of the reasons for this is that we have very consciously tried to eliminate these items from our own food preparations. I guess we have been successful to the point that when we do consume some of these products, it upsets our
systems. That is a good thing and a bag thing. Good that we have been able to eliminate so many things from our diets, bad that when we do need to eat somewhere else, it makes us sick. All the more reason to eat at home.
From left to right: Winter squash pie with frozen Cushaw from last summer; fresh ground wheat bread; wild cherries picked yesterday, kefir in the making; eggs for the dog; mozzarella thawing out; and a lunch of fresh picked squash, onions, carrots and potatoes. Now that the garden is producing pretty well, we tend to have meals like this. For breakfast we had scrambled eggs, a glass of goat milk with peaches and pears we canned last summer.
We've gotten to the point where we seldom go to a grocery store, and that's really nice. We have plenty to eat here in season, and plenty canned on the shelf for out of season. I guess it just surprises me at the difference homegrown food can make in your overall health and well-being. We long dreamed of being able to produce our own food, and are now finally able to reap the benefits of that dream. One of the unexpected side effects of dreams come true, is finding out that the food we used to eat all of the time, now makes us sick. Interesting. Very interesting.
Until next time - Fern
What was it the wizard told Dorothy and her friends, once they finally made it to the Emerald City to get his advice, in the movie The Wizard of Oz? Something like, "Don't look behind the curtain! Don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain!" Well, folks,the more I research and learn
for myself the composition of the things that surround us, that have been developed and marketed in the commercial arena, the more skeptical I get about the true motivation of the corporate entities in our country. I prefer my own path instead of dancing mindlessly down the yellow brick road, to the land of poison poppies that dull the senses and leave one neurologically impaired, to the point that one will take and do anything regardless of the cost to them, their families, or mankind.
I have written about GMO products before. Why have so many countries around the world banned all GMO seed production and growth from their borders? Is it because they understand and care about the dire consequences of feeding their people and livestock these products? Why are countries refusing shipments of grain exported from our country because of the GMO content of the shipment? Could it possibly be so it won't contaminate their crops and poison their people?
Sometimes Frank suffers with migraines, as do many other people. We were reading about MSG (monosodium glutamate) the other day and didn't know how many other 'names' it goes by. Here is a partial list of these other names according to truthinlabeling.org. Check the link to see the rest of the list, it is much longer than this one.
- Glutamic acid, Glutamate
- Monosodium glutamate
- Monopotassium glutamate
- Calcium glutamate
- Monoammonium glutamate
- Magnesium glutamate
- Natrium glutamate
- Anything “hydrolyzed”
- Any “hydrolyzed protein”
- Calcium caseinate, Sodium caseinate
- Gelatin
- Soy sauce
- Soy sauce extract
Some of the common side effects of MSG are: headaches, nausea, dizziness, rapid or irregular heartbeat, flushing or excessive sweating, skin rash, numbness, intense thirst, lethargy or sleepiness, ringing ears and tingling in the mouth. Not all people suffer from the same side effects, but just reading about it makes me want to try to eliminate as much as possible from our diet.
Another item in our culture that has become very popular, to the point of ridicule if you don't use it, is hand sanitizer. Yes, hand sanitizer. Does it make you 'safe' from all of those unwanted germs, or does it lower your body's ability to protect itself by killing off the natural protection your skin provides? Here are a few excerpts from an article at The Health Site.
"In a study published in the Science Daily, carried
out by the Northwestern Research Center found that a child’s immunity
is seriously affected by the
use of hand sanitizers." And, "Some hand sanitizers don’t have alcohol
content and use triclosan instead. Triclosan is an anti bacterial and
anti fungal agent and is commonly used in a variety of soaps and
cleaning agents. But, did you know that it is an active ingredient in
pesticides? Another thing to consider is the fact that the compound has
been widely touted as an agent that causes the formation of super bugs
or antibiotic resistant bacteria. Triclosan, as a component, is capable
of quickly being absorbed into the skin and entering the blood stream,
once there, it is known to cause various side effects like cancer,
allergies, hormonal and neurological ill effects and muscle weakness. More importantly, it is known to cause infertility." This is just two of the possible side effects listed on this site. If you use hand sanitizer or antibacterial anything, please look into how it may affect you and yours. What you find may be very surprising. Adequate use of soap and water will generally take care of any cleaning or disinfecting your hands may need.
Fresh air, we all love it, right? So, if the air is not fresh and sweet smelling, Madison Avenue will provide us with a way to freshen it up. From things you plug into the wall, to machines that 'freshen' the room at timed intervals, to the option of spraying away at your hearts content, we have been provided with every 'good' scent known to man right at our finger tips. According to Health Scams Exposed, "It may surprise you to know that the air fresheners you use don’t
actually make the odor in your home go away. Your home smells good when
you use them because they actually change the way your nose perceives
odors. A chemical called p-dichlorobenzene deadens the nerve cells in
your nose by coating your nostrils in a type of film." The article goes on to say, "The Centers for Disease Control classifies p-dichlorobenzene as a possible occupational carcinogen.
It has also been reported to cause asthma, allergy attacks, eye
irritation, liver disease, kidney malfunction, gastrointestinal
problems, and skin rash." This site goes to include information about some of the chemicals included in air fresheners. Air fresheners may include the ingredients:
phthalates, a powerful endocrine disruptor; parabens, which are found in deodorant as well, are known carcinogens among other things; formaldehyde, which affects your respiratory tract and has been classified as a carcinogen for over 20 years; petrochemicals, which are also in pesticides, cause breathing problems, headaches and neurological dysfunction among other problems; and benzene, a flammable, sweet-smelling chemical that is a carcinogen, is linked to leukemia, and can affect the composition of your blood cells.
Frank has never been able to walk down the soap aisle at the store, through the tire store or by someone that has on way too much cheap perfume without getting an instant headache. It seems to him that the type
of people that wear cheap perfume think that the more they wear, the better it works. They wear so much you can taste it. Yuck! Obviously it has some kind of deadening agent in it as well, because it deadens the senses of the men around them, according to Frank. So what chemical scents are included in soaps, shampoos, laundry detergent or a wide variety of cleaners? Obviously there are many other chemicals that are released into the air and absorbed into our bodies. What affect they have on us is individualized depending upon our sensitivities, but the fact that they affect us all is undeniable.
And what about the clothes we buy? When you buy clothes at the store or order them online, have you ever noticed that chemical smell when you open the package or pick them up? According to Fibre2Fashion "Formaldehyde is commonly used in
garments as an embalming fluid
to give a 'permanent press' look. Excessive
content of this chemical in our clothes can cause irritation in eyes, skin,
nose, and result in respiratory problems, and diseases like cancer. It can also
result in headaches, skin rashes, nausea, and chronic fatigue. Just by simply
touching those products, or breathing the formaldehyde they release into the
air, can cause intense symptoms." So when it comes to formaldehyde, we eat it, breathe it, dress in it, all of which can and does cause serious health issues. Then after it kills us, they preserve us with it until they can get us in the ground. Amazing, huh? We always make sure to wash any new item of clothing, or anything made of cloth, before we use it just to try to eliminate as many of these added chemicals as possible.
How many other chemical agents are out there that include a deadening agent to get us to ingest it, breathe it, drink it or absorb it? I had no idea that the mechanism of delivery for scents was to numb the olfactory nerves so that the 'foul' odors are no longer detectable. That's amazing. Why have so many things been allowed to be 'innocently' sold to the public when there are documented ill affects to health? What is the planned outcome for putting all of the poisonous chemicals in food, water, air, clothes, houses, etc., etc.? Each one of these chemicals are individually tested and deemed 'safe' at so many part per million. But what about the combination of all of them together? Our government seems to think they are safe. Right? Would they lie to us? No, not our government, not Big Brother.
Frank and I have talked about this many times. I truly believe at the onset, the ability to produce some chemical agents was for the benefit of mankind. Men, yes, men, are designed as problem solvers. As the industrial age came into full force, men wanted to design and create things that would make life easier for their families. The first wives to receive a washing machine from their husbands were very happy women indeed. So the creation of some chemicals provided a way to preserve food a little longer, made a plastic wrap that would keep the flies off of food and kept the moisture in, and just made life a little easier. When did things change from benefiting mankind to anything for a buck? When did profits and pleasing the stockholders take precedence over caring for the workers and customers? When did cold, calculating greed win?
Some people think there are just too many people on our planet and these things have to happen just to provide for the ever growing demand for basic necessities and comforts. Some people think that if these harmful substances had not been implemented to begin with, the balance in
population vs. production would have taken care of itself. You know, supply and demand. When there are not enough rabbits to feed the coyotes the population density of the coyotes decline. But if artificial means are utilized to create an over abundance of rabbits, the coyote population will increase as well. What happens when the artificial means start impacting the health of the rabbits to the point where it produces an inferior specimen or causes lethal heath issues? In turn, how does
that impact the population of the coyote? Is this a sustainable system? No. Are we caught right in the middle of all of it? Yes, very sadly we are. So, now what? Frank and I both agree there is absolutely no way we can avoid all chemicals. Everything we eat, wear, breathe, drink, read and look at has been impacted by chemicals one way or another. What can we do? Research, learn and modify the way we do things as much as possible. Has much damage already been done to our bodies? Yes. Is it reversible? I don't know. Maybe some of it is. But I do know that God has given me this task to perform. Why, I do not know. I only know that I am supposed to learn as much as I can. Now. Not later. The choice is mine and I choose to live the best way I know how. What about you?
Until next time - Fern
The more I read about and learn about GMO corn, the more I wish we could totally eliminate it from our diet, even though I know that's close to impossible. We do have a few cans of store bought corn in the pantry, which I don't even like to eat anymore. But, for me, the biggest stumbling block we have is the feed we give our animals. So, more research and more reading.
We used to have our goat and chicken feed mixed according to our own recipe at a small, family owned feed mill. This location does not have that option, so we have been mixing our own. Wheat was one of the ingredients we used to include that has not been available here. A few days ago when we were at the feed store, I noticed a bag of wheat bran that I didn't remember seeing before. I didn't know what the nutritional value of wheat bran would be for goats, so I came home and looked it up. According to Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats, wheat bran has 13.3% digestible protein and rolled oats have 10% . Hmmm....okay. The alfalfa pellets we use have 17% protein and the sweet feed has 10%.
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| Summer 2013 |
The ideal protein ratio for milking does is around 12%. So, what I am trying to figure out is a mix of these grains, minus the GMO corn chops we are currently feeding, that would give me about a 12% feed combination. Another thought I have had is sunflower seeds. Black oil sunflower seeds are very nutritious for both goats and chickens. We grew our first ever sunflowers last summer and actually had seeds to harvest. This summer I hope to grow hundreds of sunflowers all around our place with the plan to harvest them for animal feed.
So, the new feed ration we are going to try is:
- 6 parts rolled oats
- 4 parts sweet feed
- 1 part alfalfa pellets
- 1 part wheat bran
- 1 part sunflower seeds
For now, all of these ingredients will come from the feed store. This combination will give me a feed ration of about 11.5% protein. Of course, the protein content is always dependent upon growing conditions.
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| Summer 2013 |
I am also going to start several patches of comfrey this summer. Right now I have one plant in my herb bed. I have ordered and received 5 more roots which will begin bed number two. Then the next step will be to start comfrey seedlings.
Once I have them up and established, I will plant bed number three. Comfrey, also called knitbone, has long been used as a medicinal herb and as a supplement for livestock feed. It is very high in protein and vitamin B12.
Another crop I am going to try to get established for supplemental livestock feed is plantain. I have read about it for a number of years, but didn't really pay much attention to it. When I was ordering some more herb plants from Crimson Sage, I ran across plantain again, right after I had read another article about feeding it to chickens. I have been wondering what I could grow that would supplement our chicken's diet more naturally than grains. It would have to be something that is easy to grow, pick and dry for winter use. So I ordered some. I will let you know how it grows and how the animals like it.
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| Fall 2013 |
The third thing I am going to grow more of this summer is kale. I have a few rather sad looking plants that made it through our cold winter. After reading this article, I started picking off some of the bottom leaves and feeding them to the chickens. They took to them right away, but the goats didn't seem to care for them. I will try feeding them to the goats again after they have started producing newer leaves.
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| Summer 2013 |
We will try our hand once again at growing carrots, sugar beets
and turnips for the animals. Last summer, our fall garden didn't
produce much of anything. I got started late and the weather didn't
cooperate very well either. If we are really going into another Maunder Minimum, we will see how that affects our ability to produce plentiful gardens like we have in the past.
We may all be learning to garden a little differently if the quality of our sunlight and warmth are affected by decreasing solar activity. Another thing to learn more about so that I can adjust our growing habits to match what nature is providing.
There are many things to take into account when pondering feed rations for both animals and humans. Learn all you can, put it to good use, and hold your family close. They are the most important thing there is in your life. Don't let anyone, or anything, convince you otherwise.
Until next time - Fern
Making cheese is something I wanted to do for years. I wanted to be able to make my own cheese from whole, natural milk for a good, wholesome food for us to eat. We have long tried to minimize the additives and chemicals in our diet. That doesn't mean we don't like pizza, green bean casserole, lasagna, potato chips and Cheetos sometimes, but as a general rule we try to eat fairly healthy.
After I had made cheese for a while, I decided to research how to make rennet. I knew from some past reading that natural animal rennet is made from the stomach of a newborn calf. Well, I don't have any calves and even if I did, I don't really want to butcher a newborn for his stomach.....unless I really needed to.
This information prompted more research. What I found made me upset and depressed. Almost all (depending upon what you read, about 90%) commercially made cheese in the United States is made from GMO (genetically modified organism) rennet. I was appalled!! Even when you try to buy the most basic ingredients and cook a healthy meal for yourself, you unknowingly get to consume more GMO.
So, with a little more research, I have found that some companies sell imported rennet that is not GMO based. This is the rennet I use in our cheese. Knowledge gives us more control over our lives and decisions.
I sometimes find it disheartening that our food and water is laced with so many chemicals that have been proven to damage the human body. It is impossible to eliminate them all in this day and time, but it doesn't hurt to try. We find the more we educate ourselves, the better choices we are able to make. And in the process of doing so, we not only take more control of how we treat our bodies, but we take responsibility for the choices we make.
Until next time - Fern
