Monthly Archives: March 2005

Feelin’ Groovy!

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So, I had a massage tonight (a gift from a friend) and I am feelin’ great! I’ve only had 4 or 5 professional massages in my life, and this one was awesome! She even used hot stones, essential oils, and everything! What a treat for a mama in need of a little pampering! So for all of you local readers, I just found out that she is giving massages for only $33 (for an hour!) through April! You can’t beat that. Think – early mother’s day gift to yourself! And tell her Maria sent ya! —-Asha Gleason 919-593-4628—you won’t regret it! I think I am going to send Toby for a massage… I wonder if she does massages for babies? :-)

Drinking my own urine!

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* Many years ago I heard about Urine Therapy and was pretty grossed out. Why would you drink your own urine if your body is trying to get rid of it and the toxins it carries. But, the more I read about it, the more it makes sense! If your urine carries some of the toxins that your body is battling with, why not use your urine, in small doses, to homeopathically remedy yourself? I think I will try it and see if I can’t get rid of my asthma, or allergies. In fact, while I’m at it, maybe I’ll try a little of my feces too! Hell, why not go for the gusto!

*This post is dedicated to my mother, whom I love dearly. But, who openly, and sometimes with a bit of a hand-on-the-hip-finger-shaking air about her, disagrees with some of the decisions I make in my life/lifestyle and forgets sometimes that I am a big girl who does a lot of thinking/meditating/researching of issues before making decisions. And though she has said she is not going to read my blog anymore, “Hi Mom! No, I will not use shampoo on my hair! I can still get it clean and healthy without shampoo. If I die from lack of ‘shampoo hygeine’, you can stand over my grave and say ‘I told you so’ as loud as you like!” Oh, and don’t worry, I still think Urine therapy is gross and I certainly don’t intend on eating my poo. Just thought I would ruffle moms feathers a little :-)

My first harvest

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I harvested my first vermicompost today! As some of you may remember, one of my first postings to this blog was about my new worm bin. Well, I finally got in there and dug out some of the compost. I wasn’t expecting much. I’ve been dumping all of our food scraps in there since last July and the pile never seems to grow. So, I assume the worms are eating it up. But, I just never see much going on in there. I see all kinds of other bugs and the occasional mouse, but I thought there would be more worm action. Well, I figured out today that I just wasn’t looking hard enough before. ‘Cause, when I dug down to the bottom, there was a ton of compost and lots of worms. I started off with ~2 1/2 pounds of red worms (Eisenia foetida), and I must have pulled at least that much out of the compost that I sorted, which was only ~1/4 of the bin!! Plus, there were lots and lots of baby worms and eggs, too. I ended up with ~15 pounds of compost, nice and black!! I put in some fresh bedding for the worms into the bin and tossed them back in to the side that still has all the food.

Other happenings today: Puddle jumping (or as K likes to call it “Walk on water!”) and bread making!

Monsanto Sucks!

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I can’t believe that we can ban people from smoking in public places and we can’t get rid of crooks and killers like Monsanto!! I try so hard to make my home and environment a healthy, nurturing one. It makes me sick that these huge corporations are out there dumping filth into my world! When I hear about all of the babies in Vietnam that have been effected by Agent Orange (an herbicide made by Monsanto), it makes my body shake! What if things had been different and I was born into a vietnamese family? That could have been me or worse, K!! AAAARRRGGGHHGGHH!! And they have just been let off the hook for all the horror that has been caused by this herbicide. We have got to take a stand!! (YES! I am screaming!) Now this company, who is huge into genetically modified crops, is sueing small farmers for saving their own seeds! (It cuts in on their profits, ya know.) What the F*%#?? Go away Monsanto! You Suck!!

Paneer

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I made my first cheese/paneer this morning and it turned out pretty good. I can buy some really tastey paneer at the local co-op, but it is hard for me to pay $12/pound if I can make it myself! So, here’s the recipe I used:

  • 1 Quart milk (I used low fat) warmed on med. high just until it has a good rolling boil (I stir it a good bit to try to keep it from burning on the bottom).
  • Add 2 1/2 Tbsp of lemon juice /or vinegar (I used a mix of both) and a dash of salt and give it one good stir.
  • Remove it from the heat and let it sit for 15 minutes
  • Line a colander with cheese cloth and pour the curds and whey over the cloth. (you can reserve the whey for soups, too)
  • Tie the ends of the cheesecloth around the “ball” of curds and hang it over the sink to drain. Leave it over night.
  • The next morning, remove the cheese from the cloth and (if needed) wrap it loosely in plastic wrap. Place heavy objects on top of the ball to flatten it out and drain the rest of the water.
  • Once it is done draining, put it in a tupperware in the fridge.

I tripled the recipe. My paneer didn’t need to be drained after it was hung up to drip. It came out fairly dry, but still really good. Maybe I will add a little less vinegar next time and see if it will stay together better. I may also try adding some spices, too.

Tonight, I am going to make Palak Paneer (or Spinach Curry):

  • 1 C (~4oz) Paneer, cubed
  • 20 oz fresh or frozen spinach, chopped
  • 3/4 C onions, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp. ginger, finely chopped
  • 2 tsp. garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 green chili, chopped (I am not a fan of spicey food, so I use a few roasted red peppers)
  • 1 tsp. Garam Masala
  • 3-4 Tbsp. butter
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil for frying

Heat the oil (for frying) and fry the cubed paneer until light brown. Set aside.

Boild the spinach with ginger and garlic. Drain and puree. Heat the butter in a pan and add the chili (or red pepper) and onions. Saute till light brown. Add the garam masala, spinach puree and salt and cook for ~5 minutes. Finally, add the fried cheese.

Serve with heavy cream and flat bread if desired.

An egg to you all!!

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One thing I really enjoy about any holiday is exploring it’s history. In order to create traditions for my family, I want to understand where all of our current traditions/holidays come from. I really like the way the history of Easter is described here. I never understood what a rabbit and an egg have to do with the resurection of Christ. But, it seems that the rabbit and the egg were both ancient symbols of resurection, fertility, and life. So, with the return of Spring we have the return of life, fertility… and Peter Cotton tail handing out eggs. So, in honor of ancient customs, I give you all an egg and wish you a fertile, prosperous year!

Haven’t pooed in 12 days

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I’ve got your attention now, eh?? No, really, I am doing an experiment with my hair called No ‘Poo. And I haven’t shampooed in 12 days. I have washed my hair, I just haven’t used shampoo. See, Toby hasn’t used shampoo in his hair in years and it looks great! It is thick and shiny and he doesn’t have all that shampoo/chemical build up. So, when I read a little more about it, I decided to give it a try. Now, when ever I take a shower, I use a little baking soda and apple cidar vinegar on the ends of my hair, and give myself a great scalp massage. I thought it was going to be an oily mess, but after a few days my hair has already started to adjust. My scalp isn’t over producing oil anymore and my hair has lots of body and wave and looks like it’s been styled. The only thing I don’t like is that it feels heavier. Maybe that will go away after the full adjustment period. We’ll see how it goes. The baking soda and vinegar are supposed to pull out all of the daily build-up of sweat/pollution/etc, but I really use to like sudsing up my hair and the smell of it after using a good fragrant shampoo. But, I also like not putting the sodium lauryl crap in my hair.

Ok, other happenings…
Today in the garden I planted some Cosmos, Sorrel, Fennel, Love-in-a-mist, Cilantro and Arugula (all seeds). I hope all this stuff that I am putting in so early grows well. I could wait a little longer, but I am so antsy to get in the garden that I am taking a risk with frosts and cold weather. I got a report back from the State Ag. Center about my soil and it has a pH of 6.8 and great nutrients and minerals. All it needs is a little more Nitrogen!! Yay!! (Good thing I put in the raised beds with new soil ’cause the soil on our land has a pH of 5.1!!)

So, I am hoping to take a weekend away. Meaning, for the first time since K was born, I hope to get some quality time by myself and leave Toby and K at home. I have put it off for this long since K is still nursing. I didn’t want to force her to wean. But, she is almost two, and I am desperate for some time independant of my little side-kick. I love her, but 24/7 365 days a year is a lot of time to spend with someone! So, what should I do?? Any ideas from my fellow bloggers? My first thought was to head just north of Asheville, and get a cabin at the hot springs up there…

Fasting- Another thing I am desperate for is a good fast/cleanse. I use to do a cleanse every spring. I would either juice for a week or do some form of a cleanse to clean my body out after ‘hibernating’ for the winter. It always felt great! But, with being pregnant and nursing, I didn’t want to fast and have all those toxins get in my breast milk. So, maybe, if K does wean with my weekend away, I will get a good cleanse going. Has anyone ever tried the Master Cleanser Fast? I think I am going to try this one. I like the juice fasts, but they always mess with my blood sugar. The Master Cleanser, is supposed to be different and so far I have only heard good things.

Insert Title Here

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I hate trying to think of catchy titles for my blog entries!!

Anyway, check out this bunny my sister, Carla, sent K. Carla doesn’t ever plan on having children. So, she uses K as an outlet for spoiling :-) Isn’t it the cutest bunny ever??? I know that I didn’t start this blog to just post pictures of my child and her toys, but this is a cute bunny! I want one my size that says “I ‘heart’ Maria”!

Now, if Carla would just send K some proper shoes… My deprived child likes to go around the house wearing these…

Yes, they are kitchen gloves! (And, I’m just kidding Carla, we are well stocked on shoes. Thank you!)

Today’s plantings

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Happy Spring Equinox!

Today in the garden, I’ve been busy! Here’s what I’ve been planting:

In raised bed #1 -Seeds of white clover to use as an undercrop (corn, summer squash, radish, aster and pumpkin will be added later)
Bed #2 – Potatos and parsley seedlings(bush beans, cilantro, dill, and a zinnea will be added later)
Bed #3 – (watermelon, cantaloupe nasturtium, and radish later)
Bed #4 – Onion, carrot, and beet seeds planted, Chard seedlings planted (eggplant, pepper, cosmos, calendula, blackeyed susan, and blanket flower to come later)
Bed #5 – Sweet Alyssum and nasturtium seeds planted (cucumber, zuchini and marigold later)
Bed #6 – Lettuce, Spinach, Kale, and Arugula seedlings planted (tomato, basil, borage, and cosmos later)

I also have some sorrel and other yummies that I want to fit in somewhere. I will probably start a big ‘perenials’ bed with herbs and more too. Busy, busy, busy!

AAacccKKK!

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Don’t get me wrong, I am very glad that my little girl is regular. It’s nice to know that once a day, in the afternoon hours, she poops. But tell me, why does she feel that this is also the perfect time (before said poopy diaper is changed) to go bounce on her bouncy horse? What kind of power does this horsey have over her? And why does she keep doing it over and over every day!?!

Sorry, that was probably more than you wanted to know.

more plantings

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We back from our conference, which was wonderful! I really enjoyed all of the classes I took. The “Planning your vegetable garden” class was a great refresher and synopsis of the things I should be doing now! The “organic beekeeping” class, again, a great review of all the things I have been reading. (We mainly focused on how to tackle varroa mites without using conventional chemicals. We went over screened bottom boards, mite resistant bees, organic methods like removing brood frames, 4.9 cell foundation…) The class on “high-production raised bed gardens” was actually the same class I went to last Fall, but it was a good review. Then I decided to go to a class on cooking with medicinal and culinary herbs. It was great. We ended class with a herbal pesto (made with chickweed, green onion, mustard greens, toasted sunflower seed, and a few other things!), and an herbal salad dressing (made with herbs and a vinegar prepared from blueberry wine) on top of greens. Mmmmmm…

The weather was amazing today. It was supposed to be chilly and overcast, but instead we got into the 70′s with sunshine all day. We finally got all of the posts up for the garden fence and got up the fencing. Good thing too, cause I found some deer poop just outside of my garden!! Hopefully they will stay out once I get things planted. I have been holding off on putting anything in the garden until we got the fencing up. But, tomorrow, I hope to get Kale, Lettuce, Spinach, and Radish in the ground. I just finished putting some hot peppers, cosomos, alyssum, marigold, calendula, aster, and nasturtium in flats (I’m using all the flowers as companion plants in different garden beds). We’ll see how it all goes. I’ve never tried flowers in flats before. I usually just throw them in the ground and rant and groan when they don’t come up :-)

Feng Shui Gardening

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We got out in the yard early today and finally got the garden beds put together. I still need to put down more mulch in between the beds, and we need to put up the fence. But, the beds look great, don’t they? Very Fung Shui!

We cut some cedar to make as fence posts. But, the water level seems to be really high in this part of the yard. So, the bottom half of the post hole is just mud. We need to rethink what we are going to use… I guess metal posts.

Most of my seeds seem to be doing pretty well. The kale, lettuce and tomatoes are growing great. (Except my cherry tomatoes). The chard isn’t putting on a great show, so hopefully I can get a few more growing before time to transplant. This is my first attempt at growing from seed. So, so far so good, really.

Well, my body is exhausted from working in the yard all day! I’m off to veg in front of the TV!