Farmer's Market Report

Jesse and I had a wonderful time at the Farmer's Market. We took 5 or 6 types of fudge, several types of cookies and bars and some lettuce and micro greens. I LOVE the market. We did better than we have so far. Not getting rich by any means, but my son is developing a love of the market atmosphere and all my children are learning about baking, wildcrafting, making salves etc. Grace-Marie got fired last week because she was disobedient and difficult. Actually, I suppose she was just laid off, as we will give her another chance next week.

We had so much fun with our 4 Alarm, He-Man-Woman-Hater Fudge! (Named from the club on Little Rascals)
I made it for the people who complained that the regular Jalapeno fudge wasn't hot enough. This one definitely was! It tasted really good, but I could only eat a tiny nibble because of the heat. That is the only kind I should keep around.

I have been feeling good about getting in close to 5 miles walking as many days per week as I can. It is an accomplishment for me. Tonight; however, I talked to my sister-in-law and she told me that a lady we both know who is 86, is putting in 20 miles per day on a stationary bike! Now she could have just kept that information to herself! If I live to be 86, I probably won't even be able to get on a stationary bike. The nerve of some people.

I hope you had half as much fun as I had today (and that you didn't have an embarassing, earth shaking, bone crushing fall on concrete in front of half the town). I hope your sunset was stunning. I hope you see the sunrise. I hope when you count your blessings, you run out of fingers and toes.

God bless you!

Lawana

Weeds or Treasures

In the circles I travel in, not wealthy, survival minded, thrifty for a purpose (like supporting missionaries), sustainably independent of mass marketing and interested in natural methods for everything, there is a tendency to take another look at our immediate environment to see what it has to offer or would offer in case of natural disaster or economic downturn. I began doing this 15 years ago when I first made "Meadow Magic" I was living on a floating log raft on the Pacific ocean. We were off shore of an uninhabited island called Tuxecan, in Southeast Alaska. A friend had come over in her boat from a larger island to help us with our annual beach asparagus gathering event. We cut the beach asparagus with scissors as to leave the roots undamaged for a new crop next year. People tended to cut while watching over their shoulders for the bears, who shared our love for this coastal vegetable. Isaiah at age 8 or 9 was no exception, which resulted in his cutting the tip of his thumb off. He removed the tip back into the nail bed, but not quite to expose the bone. My friend, an herbalist immediately bruised some tender yarrow leaves and pressed them into the wound. Almost instantly, the wound stopped bleeding and the shocky, panicked look left Isaiah's face.

Later, I bruised more yarrow leaves and warmed them in deer tallow until the leaves looked spent and the tallow was a beautiful mint green and smelled sweetly of yarrow. I applied this "ointment" to Isaiah's thumb and bandaged it. I reapplied and rebandaged once a day for several days, until it had healed over. Within just a very short time, the 2 thumbs were almost identical. That success got me started working on "Meadow Magic". I now have access to olive oil and beeswax which I substitute for the deer tallow. This gives it a more pleasant fragrance (though the original has a nicer texture), I have also added plantain, lavender and spearmint.

Plantain grows everywhere in the western world. Actually, I have seen it in people's yards and roadsides in every country I have ever visited. It is exceptionally healing, containing an allantoin like substance. It is proven to increase healing and to protect a wound, once cleaned, from infection with no fear of growing resistant bacteria due to antibiotic ointments etc. It was chewed and applied to bee stings when I was a child in the south. Even laying a bruised plantain leaf over a sting or wound will give quick relief from pain and inflammation. In the mountains above Oaxaca Mexico, I saw a woman who claimed to be 100 years old walking around like a much younger person would. To help with her rheumatism, she put plantain leaves in her clothes next to her skin and bound them to her sore joints.

Yarrow also grows everywhere I have been and is considered a roadside weed. It has many uses, showing up under multiple headings in your herb books, from a fever breaker to blood stopper. I use it for its regenerative qualities in wounds and for its anesthetic properties when applied to a painful injury. It really complements the effects of the plantain and increases the pain relieving properties of the salve.

Lavender and Spearmint are added to my recipe. Though they both have medicinal uses, particularly the mint when simmered to make a tea. I add them to the salve to bring about a feeling of comfort and well being. Both are known to be calming and reassuring when you smell them. I find, especially with children, this calming aroma is very helpful when there is a painful or stressful situation. (Remember baby lotion?)

My children call me a mad scientist and admittedly, I do think a lot about how to make things and how things work. But, you don't have to be a mad scientist to benefit from the plants around you. If you have a patch of ground around you that is not manicured and sprayed, take a walk and look down. Take pictures or pick specimens. There are many online resources for identifying herbs. I think a good herb book is a must have as well. You may find some amazingly beneficial herbs right in your own back yard. Even if you aren't inclined to use them in teas, tinctures or toddies, it is guaranteed to make your morning walk more interesting and help develop an appreciation for what God has put on the earth to benefit us.

Lawana

P.S. It was 40 degrees on my porch at daylight this morning. I built a little fire to take the chill off for my children.

Green, Green, My World is Green

 Due to a very cool wet spring where I live. Everything is uncharacteristically green for this time of year. I am enjoying the color and the mild weather. I am thankful that I am able to live in a beautiful area.

 We haven't had to irrigate our yard yet and it is very green, as are the hills and pastures around us. The mild weather has been good for the animals and it should help reduce the numbers of grasshoppers we have. For three years, the grasshopper hoardes have gotten most of the garden. They are supposed to dislike cool, wet weather. I sure hope so.

 Many people are chosing to go green these days. I have done some of that. I recycle, reuse, refill as a part of my thrifty lifestyle. I also eat grean living things. The Lord has also draped my family with green this year. Next year may be browner and not so lush, so I am enjoying the blessing of green this summer.

                                                                    

                                                              

Lawana

Green Smoothies!

For the first time in my adult life, I am beginning to live without food cravings. I have changed a few things in my life. I only have sweets (other than raw fruit) if I am a guest in another person's home and they serve dessert. I am drinking half the number of my weight in ounces of water each day.. For example, a 100 pound person would drink 50 ounces of water. I am also incorporating much more raw food into my diet.

I am adding finely diced or blended raw greens to many foods. If I am having a salad already, I blend my dressing with a double handful of cilantro, spinach or good green lettuce. Thus, my dressing becomes a good source of nutrition in itself! I basically eat raw for every meal except dinner. Our dinners are simple and usually include legumes and brown rice as well as salsa or a blended raw green dressing. It is easy to make a wonderful topping for almost anything by blending a few tablespoons of your favorite salsa with a packed cup or two of fresh, greens. Tweak the amounts to your liking. Make only as much as you will use at a meal. Don't try to save it for later.

One of the most exciting things I do is to have a green smoothie or two every day. I use my little Magic Bullet blender for all of this. It makes a good serving of smoothie, cleans up in seconds and is easily stowed out of sight. No, This is not a paid endorsement, but I do love my M.B. Anyway, for a green smoothie to be at its best, the greens need to be not only raw, but live. If you can pick them from your own garden, windowsill or sprouter just as you use them, this is best.

This morning, my breakfast consisted of 2 cups of mixed greens out of my pastor's garden, (Thanks Pastor!). I blended these to a slurry with  just enough water to make the blender work. When the greens were blended, I added a whole banana, cut up and a teaspoon of hemp oil. I alternate oils, using hemp oil, olive oil and flaxseed oil. I only use oil in one smoothie per day.

As soon as the smoothie is blended, I drink it down. The micronized particles of greens and fruit are extremely vulnerable to oxidation. Think the browning of a sliced apple to the 10th power. This is not good and defeats the purpose of the smoothie. Therefore do not make more than you will drink in 5 minutes. Your digestive process will stop the process of oxidation. The refrigerator will not.

I hope you will try green smoothies. If you don't like your first combination, try another. Any fruit or mixture of fruits with any live greens. I promise, you will not regret adding this to your nutrition and fitness routine.

Lawana

Going to the Farmer's Market

We are off to the farmer's market this morning. We don't have much to sell. due to the cold weather, the beets, spinach, chard and lettuce we planted would barely qualify for micro greens! But we are putting in a presence anyway. We will be taking some eggs from free range hens, some herbs, and some breakfast cookie bars. We mostly want to scope things out and show our support for the market.. I hope we will get some sun soon and we can take some baby beets etc. I hope the sun is shining where you are...or that you love the rain!
Lawana
P.S. This is your eco conscience speaking, "Support your local farmer, artist, artisan. The day may come when you will be very glad they stayed in business."
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Hanging Out

                                                                                  


I have been without an outdoor clothesline for about a year. It hasn't mattered too much because this past winter was more conducive to indoor drying. I am, however, very excited to get the new posts up and the string run. My beloved salvaged some nice heavy weight clothesline posts and set them in the ground. That provided a good lesson in post tamping for my 9 year old son. Saturday, I got the line and enlisted the help of some friends who were visiting to help me get the line taut and fend off the Yellow Jackets that were building in one of the cross pieces.
                                                                                  

                                                                              
As soon as it was tight and secure, I hung two loads of towels on it. It was a breezy afternoon  and the towels dried in about 15 minutes! Of course a few blew completely off the line onto the barbed wire where they also dried quickly. I personally don't mind perforated towels. I could have saved money on clothes pins and simply strung my line with barbed wire. This is the kind of thinking that frightens my husband sometimes. All I have to do is get that particular gleam in my eye and he gets concerned. Thank God he is more normal and has a better eye for aesthetics or this place would look like the Rube Goldberg version of Little House on the Prairie.

Clint has a decided sense of the fitness of things. He makes a mean bed, leaves the kitchen sparkling if he does the dishes, and folds towels so they look like the pictures in the catalog, all while riding in on a white horse to rescue me from...ugly makeshift home improvements such as barbed wire clothes lines. He is also very adept at keeping clocks and pictures straight on the walls.Our clothesline suits both of us. It was free and recycled which makes me happy and fits our budget and it fits into the natural landscape as if it grew there. That pleases my handsome husband.
                                 
                                                                                

I would like to challenge you, wherever you are to make a place for line drying your clothes. Of course it is politically correct to be green these days, but there is more to a clothesline than that. The clothesline gets you outside early in the morning and again later in the day to bring the clothes in. It encourages sensual pleasure. The clothes look pretty as they dance and flutter on the line. They smell heavenly as no laundry additive can mimic. They feel different, sometimes rougher, sometimes whipped to a soft suppleness. (You can always air fluff before or after hanging to soften your clothes if line drying makes them too stiff) You can even close your eyes and listen to your clothes on the line. If you want to know what the clothesline experience should be like, hang some sheets and let them play their pied piper song to your small children. Before you know it they will be reveling in their senses and you will be ensuring that another generation of people will associate clothes on the line with pleasant memories.