The Many Faces of K
2
Monthly Archives: November 2005
Weekly Herb Review #8- Osha
Common Name: Osha (Porter’s Lovage, Porter’s Licorice Root, Colorado Cough Root, Chuchupate)
Scientific Name: Ligusticum porteri
Painting by Willow Arlene
Continue reading
Chai Elixer
Since I have been remiss (is that how you spell it?) in my Herb Review duties, I have decided to publish a recipe for a Hot Chai Elixer! I am lovin’ this stuff! (It’s from Teresa Boardwine’s Cordially Yours:
2 cups of fresh ginger root
1/2 cup of cinnamon chips
1/4 cup of cloves
2 Tbsp. Cardamom pods
Place all of this in 20 oz. of Rum (I like Spiced Rum), and let sit for 2 weeks, shaking daily.
After 2 weeks, strain out the herbs and add 4 oz of Honey and 4 oz of Maple Syrup. Mix well, bottle it and add a couple of Almonds to the bottle to scent it.
You can drink it straight, heated up like a hot totty, put in in tea, or coffee, or how I like it is to heat up a cup of milk (rice, soy, cow, whatever) and put in a tsp. or two of the chai elixer. MMMMmmmm, Yummy!! It’s great for bitter, cold winter days!
Rollin’ in the dough
I was walking through a parking lot last night and saw some money on the ground. First I thought, “cool, a couple bucks!” Then I looked closer and realized that it was a $50 dollar bill!!!! I picked it up and when I did, I saw another bill laying just beyond the first. Again, I thought it was a $5, but it was another $50!!! $100 just laying on the ground. I looked around to see who might have dropped it, but there was no one around!! Cool, eh? So, I’ve rented a hot tub up at the Hot Springs tonight to pamper myself a little!!
Harry Potter
So, of course, being the die-hard Harry Potter fan I am, I went to see the 4th movie on opening night. I think the books are far superior to the movies, but I still have to go! Anyway, I don’t know why I am surprized, because it happens everytime, but I just can’t get over how many parents bring their little kids to see these movies. I saw kids ages newborn and up. I know it is marketed as a kids book, but it’s not. And the older Harry Potter gets, the more evil and violence there is in the books. The first half of the movie was fairly lighthearted, but the second half was scary, violent and dealt with a lot of devilish people. I just don’t get it. Our world is scary enough without subjecting our little ones to things like this. At least reading the book, they can create their own images, but the movie does it for you and it was something like Alien vs Poltergeist. I heard three kids on the way out who said they were going to have nightmares! Poor things!
K’s experiment
We did a little experiment today and styrofoam “peanuts” vs. starch “peanuts”. I have to say, I was very proud of myself for thinking this one up! We put them both in water and watched the starch ones dissolve. Then K and I talked about how the starch ones were easier for mama earth to turn back into dirt and that the styrofoam ones took a really long time and kind-of give mama earth a belly ache. It was fun! It must have been peanut starch, ’cause they smelled like peanut butter when they dissolved
catch up
Sorry I’ve been falling behind on my herb reviews. It’s been really busy around here and that was one of the things I let go of. I hope to start again next week. We are having lots of visiting friends during November, so right now I am enjoying my socializing!
We have gone out to do some land searches, but haven’t found anything that’s right, yet. There have been a few beautiful pieces, but they were way too far out, and those that are closer to town are too expensive, or too trashed.
Our house in Chapel Hill is set to close in one week! (yeah!) And we just sold one of our cars (the gas powered one. Now we are left with two bio-diesels). All of that will help ease financial woes a bit! Toby and I don’t lead an extravagent lifestyle by any means!! So, it’s very frustrating when you always feel like you are barely making ends meet. I guess the one place we really do spend money is food. I buy mostly organic foods and preferrably local, so, it bumps the price up.
Speaking of foods, I have been thinking about adding meats back to my diet. I have always felt better when I am eating animal protein as opposed to soy or bean or grain proteins. I am also learning a lot in school about nutrition and diet and how so many people have reactions to grains because we eat such a high carb. diet, that our bodies are reacting to it. (It’s much more indepth than that.) But, I feel like, if I am a part of the cycle of birth, life, and death, and I have known the animal, or atleast know the people who have raised it, and the animals have been treated well, and are not fattened up with hormones, or over loaded with antibiotics, then maybe I could feel better about eating meat. I have been eating poultry since I got pregnant with K, and it’s only hormone/antibiotic free and free range. It’s hard though, ’cause Toby is still vegetarian, and I don’t want to have to cook two meals. I am the type of cook who throws everything into one dish anyway, so it’s not like there would be side dishes for him to eat. So, I don’t know. I’m just thinking about it…. I did order 5 pounds of hemp seed, though, so that will help add some protein and Essential Fatty Acids back to our diet!
Where in the world?
OK, I’m joining in too! I think this is pretty cool. So, all you readers out there make your mark on Maria’s Peeps Map. If you don’t want to put your exact location, use your state capital or something like that.
Why?
Mark this day in history! Today is the day that the “why’s?” began!
“Mommy, why do we walk on the sidewalk?”
“Well, there are fast cars are on the road so we stay on the sidewalk.”
“Why?”
“Because we could get hurt if we walked in the road.”
“Why?”
“Because cars drive on the road.”
“Why?”
“Well, the cars need somewhere to drive, so they drive on the road.”
“Why?”
“Because someone made a law that said cars drive on the road!”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, I guess it just made sense at the time!!”
“Why?”
“Because I said so!!”
“Why?”
“Because you are a nut-nut!!”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
………
You get the idea!
Hemp car
Did you know that some cars of the 1920′s didn’t only run on Hemp oil, but were actually made of hemp fiber!! Yes, that is Henry Ford beating his Hemp car with a crowbar to prove how sturdy it is!!
Until today, I had no idea how important hemp was to our world history and how many uses it has had before it became to be just a recreational drug!!
And I had absolutely no idea that hemp seeds were even edible, much less so extremely good for you. They are very high in digestible protein, Essential Fatty acids and amino acids. And I didn’t realize that Hemp has no THC in it. So, you can actually buy the seeds from our local health food store. They are legal cause you can’t get high off of them! Wierd, eh??
Weekly Herb Review #7 – Motherwort
Common Name: Motherwort (Lion.?tail, Lion.?ear, Throw-wort, Roman Motherwort)
Scientific Name: Leonurus cardiaca
Continue reading
Halloween
We had a nice dinner last night… pumpkin soup, home made cranberry sauce, apple cider, and pomegranites. I felt really weak, though. Toby was thinking that it could be Carbon Monoxide from our heater, but we just got a monitor and that doesn’t seem to be it. Maybe I just need a break…
Here are some pics of K’s costumes
Last friday we went to a festival at the library and she wanted to go as a “pink fuzzy bunny with a fluffy tail. And my name is Cottontail”
Then yesterday, she decided to be a “ghost who goes in the dark and goes ‘boo boo’”
And, here, just for the fun of it, are the “hands of fate’!!
