We Have The Power To Help Change Our World

This has been quite the whirlwind past week. Living outside of Denver where all the hoopla for the greenest and largest! Democratic National Convention that ever took place, we avoided going near the city until my local blogging friends – Amy from Crunchy Domestic Goddess, Heather from A Mama’s Blog and Julie from ChezArtz – and I ventured out to “The Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash” held in a wine bar in downtown Denver the night Obama gave his rock star speech. Needless to say, we all had a great time meeting other bloggers and were buzzing all night off all of the good energy of the city and the convention and all of us have real hope for ourselves and our children’s future.

I think you can tell from my blog that I’m a pretty liberal person. I feel in America we all should be equal and have equal rights. All this oppressive crap that the extreme right wants to inflict on everyone is really tiring and quite boring and childish to me. Some of my oldest and very best friends in the world are gay and all of them have known it (known they were different and felt differently than their friends) since they were around 5 years old. They have huge hearts and do good things for others in the world. Should they not have the same legal rights as I do just because I prefer to be with men? Should I ostracize them and not be their friend because the bible infers being gay is wrong? It’s actually been proven to be passed on in families genetically – should we blame their mothers then? It’s just illogical and stupid to me, frankly to deny them the same legal rights that I get to have as an American. Honestly, the ONLY difference between them and me is who we prefer our life partners to be.

How about the issue about a women’s right to choose what is best for her body? If you dislike it, that is YOUR CHOICE, don’t do it. Pro-choice people feel that birth control and education are the best defenses against an unwanted pregnancy. If we stop funding organizations that provide such services and make them illegal, we will have massive amounts of unwanted pregnancies that could have been avoided and not by abortion, but by educating women to learn about their bodies and when they are fertile and ovulating, birth control options, as well as other programs that also educate the men, too.

The “Morning After Pill” after a rape or incest against women also prevents an abortion as well as an unwanted child conceived from an act of violence. Some women have life threatening medical reasons to have an abortion, too. So, to get government involved in having control over a woman’s right to choose what is best for her unique body and situation, well that is so wrong on so many levels to me I can’t even begin.

The foster care system in our country is so overburdened with unwanted or abused and neglected children that desperately need homes already, how is taking away our only chance of helping more women at least educate themselves on how to prevent an unwanted and unplanned for child from coming in and disrupting their lives going to turn that situation around? I think every person that is anti-choice should be required to adopt at least one child from the foster care system to put their money where their vote mouth is. Talk is cheap and action is needed right now.

Basically for me as an American Woman and Mother, it’s seems very logical for what kind of country I want to live in. I want to live in a country that values all of it’s inhabitants equally and that includes paying women equally, too. A country that provides quality and very affordable (or free!) care for our health and the health of our families, leaves the decision making of what to do with my own body up to me and me alone, good schools and teachers (that are paid well for performing such an important job), affordable college to make our workforce competitive with the rest of the world, keep the nasty chemicals away from our food, water, bodycare and cosmetic products, safe toys and products for my child, respect for the Earth and the animals that live here, working towards reversing global warming, building towards implementing renewable energies instead of only using dirty fossil fuels, creating more jobs here so people can easily pay their bills every month and a government that is not gun and war happy like a bully but one that values diplomacy and maturity until that doesn’t work anymore then logical action to be taken only when necessary.

Is that really asking too much? Is it more important to you to take away the rights of other law abiding, tax paying Americans who live differently than what you value? Is that fair? Maybe you can just not pay attention to the Americans that are in relationships with the same sex or those who have been raped and need the morning after pill.

Remember one of the main energetic laws of the Universe – “What goes around, comes around.” Maybe we can all focus on implementing the policies that will be beneficial for us all instead of nitpicking over what you feel another law abiding person is doing is right or wrong. Because really, it’s none of your business. Pay attention to what can be better for all of us in terms of the bigger picture already.

Focusing on what is for “The highest and best good for ALL concerned” is really the way we should be thinking and living all the time. It brings about peace and abundance for all. Don’t you want that?

Which candidate do you think is trying to do just that??

Photo: Youth Radio

Offsetting My Electricity With Wind Power Update

I just wanted to give a little update on what it was like this summer having switched over to 100% wind power. I wrote back in June a detailed post about how we decided that instead of paying just an extra $7.50/mo for buying a block of partial wind power (500 kWh) from our electric company, we chose to make the commitment for our environment and pay whatever the bill would be to totally offset all of our power. What I figured we would be paying from looking at past bills would be anywhere from $13-$20 extra each month. Well, for the past 3 months and with using our air conditioner very little this summer (a big improvement for us), here is what we paid for total wind power for a family of 3: June: $11.13 July:$13.64 August: $17.43.

We have also set a record in my state of Colorado this summer with many days being above 90 degrees and really it was more like close to 100 degrees everyday for several weeks. Certain evenings it got to be 95 degrees in our bedroom and that was with the windows and shades closed all day. We ran the a/c those evenings to cool down our upstairs for a few hours so we could all sleep – especially my son who complained bitterly about the heat. Once it cooled down a bit, we shut off the a/c and opened all the windows for the cool evening air to come in.

I feel ok with paying the extra amount in August because I think our bill the rest of the year will be more like the June bill – around $11 bucks extra a month to buy total wind power. Buying this wind power really helps me tune-in to what we are all doing everyday here and if we leave on any unnecessary lights or devices. It reminds me of the years we lived completely off the grid and how we had to be aware and check our meter everyday especially in the dead of winter when we would get less sun on our solar panels to generate our power. It was our goal to not have to use our back up gas generator but in the height of the winter, we needed to use the generator to juice up the bank of batteries at least once a week. I feel like we got a bit soft since moving to the ‘burbs and back on the grid and this is our good environmental kick in the butt that we needed.

I will say it once again, if you are employed and can pay your bills, this is one of the best “green” sustainable things you can do for your environment and many power companies offer this renewable energy option. If yours doesn’t, there are two other companies that you can buy certified renewable energy from anywhere in the country: Green-e and Village Green Energy.

If you can only afford $1.50 extra each month – the price of a cup of coffee – dedicated to buying a 100 kWh block of renewable energy on your monthly bill, that still will make a huge difference in our environment. Offsetting 100 kWh is equivalent to:

Planting a half acre of trees

Not driving a gasoline powered car 2,400 miles

For only $1.50 each month this is something you can feel really good about and all it takes is a phone call or signing up online. I know that I actually feel great when I see the extra added expense that I know is going towards helping our planet and all of her inhabitants. I really hope that if you can afford even the smallest amount every month that you will make the commitment to do so, too.

photo: Steve Roe

Some Pickin’ Fun

We went to an organic “pick your own” berry farm this past weekend with my friend Amy’s family (Crunchy Domestic Goddess) in hopes of picking lots of luscious strawberries and raspberries. Boy were we sorely disappointed! The strawberries were slim pickins but we did get about 4 quarts worth (around 5#) and the raspberries were still 2 weeks or so behind schedule. Thankfully all was not lost and we wound up with a buttload (30#) of juicy peaches instead!

I remember going peach picking when I was growing up and really enjoyed it and it was really fun for my son and his friend Ava to get to pick an abundance of ripe peaches from the trees. They were so cute to watch and of course, we all ate peaches and strawberries as we picked them. Yum. Ava’s little bro, Julian was covered with berries and peaches. Needless to say, the toddler had a great time eating his way through the farm, too!

When we got home, I selected the most ripe fruit to work with that day and made some fruit leather, dried slices for use in granola, cereal and desserts and we also froze a bunch of slices for smoothies and raw ice cream. For my measly 4 quarts of strawberries, I made fruit leather and dried the rest for winter recipe use. Man did my house smell amazing with all of that dehydrating going on!

I am planning on making a bunch of raw peach cobblers and pies and freezing them for future desserts. I bought the low sugar pectin for my husband to make jam but he only wanted to make himself strawberry or raspberry jam and doesn’t like peach jam. He also doesn’t like canned peaches. Figures. So, we will be preserving the rest (that we don’t inhale fresh over the next couple of days) using the methods that work best for me and the raw vegan diet.

This organic farm also grows many things that they sell in their storefront so we also bought a huge watermelon, freshly roasted green chilies, purple green beans, roja garlic, candy onions and a melon (that was marked as a cantaloupe) that was called “Israeli Perfume” and when we cut it open it had green flesh and tasted very similar to a honeydew. I saved the seeds from it because it was so tasty I want to grow it in my garden next summer! They sell many other items but were already sold out of much of it by the time we made it into the store.

It was a fun yet hot day in the sun and Leif definitely was tired by the end. He finally got to experience real fruit picking at a farm. We like to expose him to lots of different activities in nature and especially have him learn about where his food comes from. I know he enjoyed it and would love to do it again, as would we!

photos © Nature Deva

A Free CoSleeping Webinar & A Giveaway

Cosleeping is a very natural thing for humans to do since well, forever. It is very instinctual in us because if you left a baby or small child alone at night in the wild, they would be eaten. It is safer to sleep with your children and be able to easily take care and protect them. All cultures all over the world outside of modern day western society safely cosleep with their children. It also helps children and parents reconnect and bond – especially if the parents have been away at work all day, it’s nice to reconnect even if you are sleeping. Cosleeping helps to allay children’s fears at night, it’s easy to nurse or bottle feed them, and everyone I know that cosleeps gets to sleep more because they don’t have to get up and walk over to the kid’s bedrooms to feed or comfort their children – they are right there and are able to respond right away to their children’s cries (this is also called “nighttime parenting“). And we all know that a well-rested mama is a happy and nicer mama to her whole family.

Also, some children still want to sleep near their parents as they get a bit older. There is so much change happening in their world with rapid growth into toddlerhood, then becoming a preschooler and all that they are experiencing everyday it sometimes is a lot for them to take in and being near their parents is safe and comforting for them. This is the case with our son, who is an only child. Sometimes siblings like to cosleep with each other, too.

We added a twin bed to our bedroom and Leif sleeps in that. Everyone has space and sleeps well and Leif feels safe and secure. We don’t feel the need to force him out when he’s not ready because he truly is afraid whenever we have talked about it and we don’t mind, we love the bonding experience we still get to have with him. One day soon, he’ll want to move out of our room then only want to play with his friends and not us, etc. Early childhood is a very special time and it goes by entirely too fast!

I hope you will join in the webinar and learn more about the truth regarding safe cosleeping practices from the experts. See below for the details about this free webinar:

Join Mothering, James McKenna, Dr. Paul Fleiss and the founders of Attachment Parenting International for an exclusive webinar on cosleeping sponsored by Arms Reach (www.armsreach.com) on Friday, August 22, at 11am Pacific. Registration is free at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/island/webinar/registration.tmpl?id=721965936.

James McKenna is among the country’s leading experts in cosleeping safety. He is a researcher and the director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Lab at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Paul Fleiss is a pediatrician and the author of Sweet Dreams: A Pediatrician’s Secrets for Baby’s Good Night Sleep, as well as numerous scientific articles published in leading national and international medical journals. Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker, Attachment Parenting International cofounders, will share their attachment parenting expertise.

Learn why cosleeping is both a natural and an effective way to foster a safe, nurturing environment for babies. Leading experts in the field will present their latest research and host a question and answer session.

On another note, don’t forget to check out Heather from A Mama’s Blog giveaway for 2 BPA-free Camelback water bottles!

photo © Nature Deva

What To Do With All Your Zucchini?

Make Hummus!

I have been hearing about how great zucchini hummus is from different raw vegan websites as well as seeing a few recipes for it in my raw cookbooks. I am quite a Middle Eastern food snob having lived in Israel at one time as well has having dated Israeli men and have dined at many of their recommended Middle Eastern restaurants both in NY and in Israel or ate their homemade food. I still have Israeli friends in NY that I visit when I go there and we inevitably go to one of the Middle Eastern restaurants where only Hebrew is spoken and they have some of the best food I’ve ever eaten there. I think besides Italian food, Middle Eastern food is my favorite and I’m very picky about it.

Since I’ve been scoffing at the idea of eating a hummus made without chickpeas, I’ve never bothered to try this recipe. I kept thinking, “How can it be good without beans?” Well, it is! It’s awesome, actually and I’m so glad I tried the recipe because I was not eating any beans (until recently) and I’ve really missed this dish!

This past weekend, I made 3 different versions I found for zucchini hummus. One was even a sundried tomato version of hummus (using zucchini) from Ani Phyo which was good but my favorite one is from Alissa Cohen. I’ve adapted the recipe just a little from Alissa Cohen’s book “Living On Live Food” and it really tastes and has the body of a chickpea hummus but is just a touch lighter, not as dense feeling and is easier to digest if anyone has a problem with digesting beans.

Boy am I stoked!! I’ve frozen 5 containers of this so far to eat throughout the year cause I have so much squash and zucchini coming out of my garden. I find that most patés freeze well.

Zucchini Hummus
by Alissa Cohen

5 cups zucchini or squash, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup tahini (I added an extra 1/4 cup more which really helped)
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. cayenne
1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. cumin (I added this to mine, Alissa didn’t have it in hers.)

Place all ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.

It’s such an easy recipe and it tastes so unbelievably good! Now when you have a glut of squash or zucchini coming out of your garden, you have another great way to use it up!

Post-Partum Depression,The Brain & Good Fats

I read this Q & A that was sent in to Jinjee from The Garden Diet to answer. She is a raw vegan mother of 5 raw vegan kids. I feel the info she gives is very important for all mothers to keep in mind:

Question of the week:

Q: All the years before becoming raw, i drank fish oil/cod liver oil daily. lately i literally feel like i’m loosing my mind, forgetting things, catch myself not thinking straight, anxiety, sadness (not like myself). i called our family naturopathic doctor and he says that without a doubt it is the lack of fish oil in my diet combined with breastfeeding my toddler = brain loss. he said that the body will get the (DHA) from my brain to give it to the breastmilk for the child = mom becoming sad and a little crazy. he said that is the reason for post-partum depression. and people just do not know it. what do you think? how do you have 5 children, nurse them, and not lose your mind?

A: Regarding losing your mind, I’m not totally happy with my memory but I attribute it to too much on my mind at any one time. Yoga, prayer, or meditation helps me a lot when I do these regularly. Breathing deeply is also good! And of course exercise is awesome for the brain as well as the body!

Here are some more fatty raw foods that can grease the brain:
purslane – an herb you can add to your smoothies, or eat plain! Very yummy! With natural vegetable DHAs
olives
olive oil
avocados
durian
coconuts – we think these are so important to brain function that we use these in our recipes and plain daily, even though they’re unfortunately not organic.
nuts, seeds, tahini, nutbutters, nutmilks
flax, flax seed oil
hemp seeds
hemp seed oil
ochra

If you significantly up the fats in your diet, you’ll find a lot of nice things happen, including thinking better and feeling happier!

But what about those well-known teachers who recommend limiting fats on the raw diet? Well, I simply disagree with them. Maybe a low fat raw diet works for some people, but not everyone. You have to find what works for you!

If you are a stressed out mama and you crave something like potato chips or lots of meat, that can very well be your body signaling it’s need for good quality fats. Do an experiment with yourself and either eat some healthy fats with your food – preferably not heated to get the most benefit – or pop a flax or hemp oil or fish oil capsule in your mouth or drizzle the oil on your salad, put it in a smoothie, etc. Use enough of it, don’t skimp and see if that helps you feel any better. It may take a few days of doing this but it does kick in pretty quick. These types of fats are essential to your body and you must eat some everyday especially if you are nursing.

I did my own experiment this summer with a low-fat version of the raw vegan diet. Since there was so much good fruit and veggies available everywhere and I’ve been reading up on the LFRV way I decided to up my fruit intake, not eat any dehydrated foods and not really eat much fat containing foods. I love to eat lots of sweet fruits and to juice the greens and veggies from my garden or eat a big salad and have not had the desire to make any real recipes since it’s been so hot out so it’s been easy to do this. I was really living on just fruit and greens and very little fat – a handful of olives or seeds, a little avocado once in a while and an occasional Israeli Salad (one of my all-time favorites). I have not eaten any raw chocolate, either since June or early July. That’s unheard of for me! I also hardly made any raw desserts like pies or cobblers, either.

Well, I’ve determined that someone sensitive to sugars (namely me who has had insulin resistance before) needs the fat to counteract that. Fat is grounding and nourishing and I think I’ve been craving and eating some of my son’s cooked vegan foods (millet, quinoa and beans) the past 2 weeks because of the lack of eating adequate fats all summer. When I ate a decent amount of raw fats everyday in my diet I didn’t crave much of anything at all. I found this whole experiment so interesting because my body really told me what it needs to stay in balance. For me personally, too much sweet puts my body out of whack and makes me crave the opposite end of the spectrum – dense cooked foods. Eating some cooked food again has been interesting and doesn’t make me feel better, either. It makes me tired, actually.

I made a big batch of Israeli salad (olive oil) and a big massaged kale salad (olive oil and avocado) today and have been slurping it down – I really couldn’t get enough of it. Clearly my body was craving good fats and now I feel really satisfied. I’m glad I gave the low-fat raw way a try and I’ve had lots of fun eating tons of juicy, organic watermelon, nectarines, peaches, plums, cherries, melons, etc (I would never eat much fruit in a day before going raw due to the IR) and now I know that my body needs enough of the healthy fats everyday to balance out the glut of sweet summer fruits. There are many people who thrive eating like this but as I’ve found out, I’m just not one of them. I also notice that I do feel more even-keeled all day eating the healthy, nourishing fats and a well balanced raw vegan diet – and that’s a good thing for both myself and my family!

Water, Water Everywhere

For the past few months, I’ve been really not happy with our filtered water that I drink everyday. Our tap water is really very good, it’s originally Rocky Mountain snow melt then it gets treated and comes to our tap. We then filter it with a very high quality double carbon filter to take out the additives that was put into the water. As with everything with me this year, my taste buds have changed so much and now it doesn’t taste as good to me anymore. It’s still just fine for my husband and child and pets, though.

When we lived in the mountains, we had the most pure water (and air) that I’ve ever had the pleasure to drink. Our yurt tanks were filled from a well that tapped into an underground spring that is fed by a glacier and the water has been tested to be even more pure than Evian. We got to bathe, drink and cook with this water everyday. I remember when we first moved down to the valley and got our filter, I was so unhappy with it compared to that water. I eventually adjusted to the (in my mind) sub-par water taste and dealt with it. I can’t do it anymore, I have been craving the “old” water everyday for months now.

The little hippie town next to where we lived in the mountains actually has a pipe in place where this glacier-fed spring water comes to the surface and starts to run down into the creek. You can fill up there all you want for free. This same creek runs all the way down the mountain and into my neighborhood creek 2 blocks from where I live so I think about this special water a lot. I have filled up containers at the source many times over the years but it’s a 45-60 min. drive from where we live now and I don’t have the time to do it that often. There is also a small water delivery co. that fills up at this source and brings it down the mountain to large holding tanks and fills up 3 and 5 gallon glass or plastic water bottles and has dispensers, too and delivers it all over down here in the valley.

This would be a new, extra monthly expense for us and we talked about it in the winter and finally agreed that we would do it because it’s such incredible water to drink and it’s worth it (plus I wouldn’t shut up about it!) and we don’t really buy anything else to drink except occasional juice because we usually make enough of our own fresh juices.

We got our first delivery in July when my mother-in-law was visiting us. Two five gallon glass containers and a stand and dispenser. I was in heaven and so was my husband, son and MIL. Everyone noticed how much better it tasted and we drank 10 gallons within a week’s time! Granted, it was sweltering outside and we were drinking a lot.

There really is something to be said about drinking many thousands of years old “structured water.” The water crystals are shaped like mini snowflakes and when joined together form a honeycomb shaped liquid crystal structure. When water first emerges from underground and pours into a stream or creek, there is so much life force in it and it has the minerals of the earth surrounding it absorbed in it’s structure. It’s a very healing water with no pollution since it’s coming from deep underground. There are all kinds of different healing properties to such a living water. Each source is different and works in different ways depending on where you find it on the planet. It’s important to keep the water cool and away from light to help it keep it’s crystal structure intact.

I’m actually very lucky to have another great water source besides this one that is an “artesian” spring water. But, I prefer the taste and the energetics of the glacier water – and I can get it in large glass bottles so there can be no leaching of anything. Nothing beats the taste of pure Rocky Mountain spring water. It has also won taste test competitions to be rated as the best tasting water west of the Mississippi and is in the top 5 internationally.

We’ve had our second delivery already and every time I drink this water or make a sun tea with it I’m so psyched! It tastes so good and feels like there is body or depth to it, almost like how you would taste different wines for their different flavors and depth. If you think about our physical bodies being made up of mostly water and you then feed it crystalline structured, pure water, well it’s got to be doing something good for us then you would think.

All I know is that I’m extremely happy and grateful to have this water in my life everyday again and so happy that it’s available in my area!

photos: MTGrizzly, Marc_714

Lessons From Nature

I live 2 blocks away from a creek with a bike path in suburbia. We have seen a lot of different wildlife when we take a walk or bike ride along the bike path. We even saw a beaver in the section of the creek near our house. That was pretty surprising to us. On a recent bike ride with our dog running alongside (but on a leash) we saw 2 large coyote in broad daylight following the creek (about a mile from our house) they were clearly going over to where there is a prairie dog colony. I couldn’t believe they would be out around people in daylight although they were looking around and trying to hide amidst the trees. I’ve only ever seen them out in the daytime in the mountains where we used to live – never in suburbia during the day. And they were huge for coyotes – I thought they were wolves for a minute. Poor prairie dogs – it must suck to be the bottom of the food chain!

Here I am thinking how nice to live so close to the creek and the diverse wildlife that lives along there. Well, there is one creature I do not like and they are ballsy and know they can get away with anything – the Skunk.

I have learned much about the skunk recently namely that they reek just walking around and without even spraying anything. A couple of weeks ago I kept smelling skunk and especially at night when I have the door in my office open for the cool air to come in when I work. Every morning I check the backyard and the garden and nothing is being messed with, I can’t find any veggies being taken or anything. Every night the reek would happen again. I read up on skunk and it said they are omnivores and live within 2 miles of water and are nocturnal. I don’t know what he is after or if he’s in my neighbor’s yard munching on their garden which is not behind a fence like ours is but that really doesn’t deter them, either.

Well, last Thursday night we let the dog out to pee for the night and bam! he goes right after the skunk who was in our yard (it must have just gotten there bec. we checked a few minutes before letting him out) and it sprayed my poor dog and my entire house with all the windows open! So freaking gross!! My entire house REEKED so bad, I didn’t know what to do. I had to get on the computer and look stuff up with a towel over my nose and mouth on how to get the smell out of a house. I had bought this natural enzyme skunk odor remover for pets a while back for “just in case.” I’m glad I remembered that I had it. My husband ran upstairs to shut all the windows and get the enzyme stuff and put the dog in the tub.

The other info I found said to roast some ground coffee in a pan or cookie sheet in an open oven or burn some incense. We ground up coffee beans and I wanted to do it on the stove top instead (thought it would be faster) and used a pyrex bowl for some reason instead of a pan. It started to smoke after a bit which was good but then it caught on fire – not good! I tried to sprinkle water in it to put out the fire without putting a metal spoon in the bowl first to conduct the heat – I know to do this, too – and the freaking thing exploded all over the place! At that point, I was so pissed off at myself for being dumb and for now having to clean up a big glass mess and there was smoke everywhere which I was actually happy about because at least I couldn’t smell the damn skunk anymore!

The upstairs REEKED, too. I sprayed this orange essential oil odor killer spray I have all over the place then I lit up a big white sage smudge stick and smoked up my whole upstairs and downstairs to try and kill the nasty smell. I cranked up my air filter, too but by then my house smelled like burnt coffee, sage and skunk. Nothing really kills the skunk smell and even now, a few days later, I can still smell it lingering in certain areas. Surprisingly, my son stayed asleep throughout all of this which was great because I don’t think I could have dealt with one more thing that night! I have washed more stuff the past few days to try and rid the smell from clothes, bathroom shower curtain, liner, rug, dog beds, the dog himself twice, etc. Unbelievable.

It said in the research that they can spray up to 15 feet away. My husband works with someone that lives about 5 blocks away from us in our neighborhood and he told him the next day about us getting skunked and he said, “We were in bed and my wife yells, skunk! shut the windows!” right around the same time that it happened. I didn’t realize the smell traveled that far that fast. No wonder they are such ballsy animals and no one wants to mess with them!

Now I have to keep the backyard light on if I catch a whiff of Scrappy the Skunk. He’s patrolling our street it seems and I don’t want him back and have told him so telepathically. They really don’t have a predator because no one can stand their smell – except for owl who has a very poor sense of smell. Hmm, I may have to call on owl to come to my area if he doesn’t stay away – I’ve seen them here before but not recently.

I looked up in an animal spirit guide book I have about what it means to have Skunk cross your path:

*Be assertive and stand your ground as necessary and don’t let yourself be manipulated or pushed around.
*Make your self-respect and dignity a top priority, offering the same respect to others.
*You’re taking yourself far too seriously and need to relax, play and trust that everything is all right.
*It’s a good time to deal directly and honestly with that person in your life whom you find so irritating and overbearing.

Not sure who that message is directed towards since there are 3 of us that live here and I take any encounter with wildlife as a sign, a message so we are thinking on this one. When we saw the 2 large coyote in daylight I knew it was for me. Coyote represent the “Heyoka,” also known as the “Trickster” or the “Backwards Shaman.” A big teacher for all in some tough lessons that are not always pleasant. But, they also teach you to lighten up and deal with the situation and learn to find the humor in some difficult lessons.

Skunk must be teaching something to someone here on my block since he keeps coming around to our yards. I just wish he would hang out at the creek instead!

photos: Red-Star, PierceRebecca

Refreshing Summertime Healthy Treats – Kid-Approved, Too

I’ve been trying out different recipes for my son to eat that are both healthy and tasty for him. He thinks he’s getting a treat and I’m happy that he’s getting more produce.

Since he’s so picky, I’ve kept it pretty simple. Simple seems to work best and then I try to add on if he will allow it.

His favorite treat of all in the summer is a popsicle. We have some popsicle molds that we use and last year, he would only eat it if I put fruit juice or lemonade in it for him but this year, I’ve been buying so much more fresh fruit and he seems more interested in what I’m doing with it that I’ve made popsicles out of just whole fruit and a little raw agave nectar which has a very sweet taste and is low glycemic, i.e. does not raise your blood sugar like regular sugar does.

So here are a few simple but tasty treats for the kiddos:

Strawberry popsicle:

1/3# fresh, organic strawberries, washed
1T raw agave nectar
1/4 cup water

Puree in a high speed blender til smooth. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

You may need a bit more agave depending on how sweet the berries are. The first time I made this for him, he wanted it more sweet, of course so I just brushed on a little agave on the outside which made him a happy camper and he ate the whole thing. He asks for popsicles everyday and eats at least one a day especially after he comes home from camp.

His new favorite popsicle flavor is watermelon. We got a huge organic watermelon from the health food store the other day and it was so sweet. I could eat watermelon all the time, I love it! Whatever fruit we are eating he will ask me to make it into a popsicle now. It’s really funny to me.

Watermelon popsicle:

2 cups organic watermelon
1T raw agave nectar
Blend til smooth. Pour into molds and freeze.

If it’s not sweet enough, just brush a little agave onto the outside and that does the trick.

I have tried blending flavors and also adding in diluted supplements but that never goes over well and I end up having to eat it so I just stick to the basics. It’s cheap, nutritious, the whole fruit is eaten not just juice and it’s a fun food for the kiddos.

We have also been making lots of raw lemonade. Super easy and tasty.

Lemonade:

1T freshly juiced lemon juice (this is best, otherwise get unfiltered organic lemon juice)
1T raw agave nectar
Water to fill glass
Ice
1/4 tsp. Sea Salt (or Himalayan crystal salt is better). Add this if it’s really hot out for more electrolytes and water retention

Mix really well and drink. Tastes great like regular lemonade but you are using a low glycemic sweetener so your child won’t bounce off the walls and it’s also an electrolyte balancer to prevent dehydration. It’s really like a healthy Gatorade. Lemons also replenish electrolytes. This too, can be frozen as a popsicle.

We have been making sun teas, too. My favorite flavor for the summertime is Mint. Just put a bunch of washed fresh mint leaves in a gallon sun tea container, fill with filtered water and let sit in the sun all day. Refrigerate in the evening and the next day you have really cold mint tea which really cools you off when you drink that on a hot day. You can sweeten it, too but we all like it plain. Even my picky son loves cold mint tea. If you combine that with eating some cold watermelon, you will really cool down pretty quick.

Some cultures drink hot mint tea for cooling down in the heat but I still prefer the cold version best. Mint is a diaphoretic herb so drinking it hot opens the capillaries and helps you sweat which cools you down. It is also very good for the digestion.

The other snack my son Leif is loving is actually going into the garden and picking his own cucumber or greens, etc and we bring it inside and I wash and cut it up and he’s so happy to eat the food he’s watched grow. He will eat large amounts, too. He’s ecstatic that his little yellow pear tomatoes that he planted the seeds in a container himself in May and watered (a lot!) all summer are now bearing fruit and so are the cherry tomatoes growing right next to them. He goes and looks everyday and sees if they are yellow enough and when they are he picks it and pops it into his mouth. He does the same with the red ones, too. I think it’s the cutest thing ever, of course! He’s really into living foods and likes having them around him, just like his parents. The garden is one fascinating place to him.

And The Winners Are…..

My first ever giveaway is over and I want to thank everyone who stopped by and took the time to enter! I used Random.org to select the 2 winners of the reusable tote bags. If I don’t hear back from the winners within 3 days, I will move on to the next numbers on the list generated by Random.org. Keep a lookout for my next giveaway that will be coming up soon!

Winner of the 100% Organic Cotton tote bag with tree design:

Marcia!!!! (#126)

Winner of the “I’m Saving The Planet, What Are You Doing?” recycled polypropylene tote bag is:

Joy F!!!!! (# 107)

Congrats, Ladies and I have sent you each an email today, August 4th. Please respond by August 7th with your mailing addresses. Thanks!