Lean Holidays...Fat Fun

So with the economy tanking (as much as the stock market has rebounded in the last 3 weeks, I am still reticent to believe that the United States, or other country's populations are seeing such a rebound locally) I have a feeling that the Holiday season we have all come to expect won't be quite the abundant and extravagant celebration. Instead of dwelling on the have not's this season, our family has decided to make the most of the loss of an untenable situation, and settle into "thrift".

A couple of ideas to get you through decorating, feasting, and gifting for whatever your particular Winter Holiday Traditions are:

• Craigslist:

My favorite used shopping site, though newspaper ads and local bulletin boards are just as handy. You can find gently used decorations *cheap* in large lots, so as to eliminate the nickel and dime-ing of larger stores on per item purchases. You can find great gifts as well-remember gifts that are needed or useful don't have to be new-in fact, it is very eco-responsible to give those used tools, appliances, and RVs a new home rather than purchasing them new from the store. Many times you can find clothing lots in the size you need for children as well, that can get them through a whole season for the price of one outfit new as well. If you want to add your own creative flair, buy a bunch of different blankets and make a patchwork quilt or skirt to give to your Secret Santa this Christmas. The farm and garden section of this useful site also has great deals on produce that people grow and have surpluses on in their personal gardens-take advantage! For those that are having a hard time rubbing two pennies together, what do you have that you don't need anymore? Get rid of those things that are useful, just not to you, and use the barter section to get things to gift, eat, or pretty up your home, which brings me to my next idea.

• Swap meets!

If you don't have one advertise (craigslist?) and start one. Bartering is a great tool for getting by in a rough economy, get rid of those high end shoes you wore once and trade for a 'new' bike for your tot.

• Making do with what you have.

Get creative. Make a garland out of popped popcorn, and turn that too large dress into a hip skirt for your daughter, or a new board game out of scrap wood for your little boy. Cut down your own tree, or make one out of twigs and glue. Tie ribbons out of scraps from your sewing kit, and make ornaments out of old clothes and toys. Get the kids involved and let them get into the spirit of cooperation during the holidays. If you can't afford that Christmas or Thanksgiving turkey, make a chicken or a ham. Plump up your stuffing by dicing an apple you have lying around, or make dinner into a potluck with friends and family, so the financial burden is lessened on all, and make the holidays about community.

• Give a little

Take the family to a soup kitchen to feed the homeless, or have your kids go through their old yet usable toys and give them to a child with less than yours. Buy that extra cranberry sauce and donate it to the food shelf. Times are tough for everyone, and if you have a little extra, be it time or money, to give to someone having a tougher time than you-do it! It puts a smile on everyone's face.

The Holiday Season doesn't have to be about the most lavish feasts and gifts, turn it back into a time of giving, family, and friends and dwell on what you have instead of what you might have lost.

Vitamin D3...the new "IT" vitamin

It's been over a week since my last blog -I KNOW-I do have a life however :) And the vacation I took reminded me of this important vitamin as the last day I was there was also the sunniest and most beautiful day. What am I talking about? The "sunshine vitamin"--Vitamin D3!
Vitamin D3, also called cholecalciferol, is not really a vitamin, but a secosteriod and believed to also be a neurosteriod. It's function is widespread through all body systems (skeletal, circulatory, nervous, immune, digestive, reproductive, and is even mood altering)

Like a plant needs sun to produce Chlorophyll so do we need the sun for Vitamin D3.

The BEST and most efficient way to produce D3 is to go out into direct sunlight for about 20-30 minutes each day. In the summertime, your body will produce about 20,000 IU's of Vitamin D3 when fully exposed for 20 minutes (think: bathing suit). Now wait a minute, isn't that like...oh I dunno... ONE ONE-HUNDREDTH (1/100) of what the Adequate intake is, established by the FDA? Why yes, it is. Which is why I don't pay attention to that at all. I take about 16,000 IU's by oral supplement of D3 in the winter time, as 20 minutes of direct sunlight is just not an option here in the Pacific Northwest. I have had no issues with toxicity either. Current research is actually suggesting that the upper limit of 2000 IU's currently set is a minimum that our bodies need and that the actual requirements may be between 10 and 20 Thousand. However, make sure it is D three you are taking, as there have been mixed reviews about it's cousin D2 or ergocalciferol.

Through my research I have found that "megadoses" of Vitamin D3, in preliminary research, is a potent anti-cancer supplement as well as useful for staving off disease in general by supporting the immune system.
There have been numerous studies outlining the efficacy of D3 supplementation and the remission of cancer, and rather than link each one, I have found an amazing website dedicated to bringing the awareness of Vitamin D3 and it's potential uses and necessity in today's diet, if not derived from the sun itself.

Not only is D3 believed to be a potent anti-cancer supplement, but the deficiency of may also be linked to autism, depression, mental illness, hypertension, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, as well as chronic fatigue and pain. It is widely known-with no small amount of concern, that many of these noted disorders are on the rise; Could this, perchance, be in keeping with the generational turn for indoor pursuits rather than having a natural rapport with the earth and sun?


Most likely. 20 minutes of sun a day can't hurt if I'm wrong-so go work on that tan.

Knitting, Knot for crazy lonely ladies anymore...

So, A couple of years ago a good friend of mine taught me to knit. I was good at for the quarter of the scarf I got done, and then I put down my needles and when I went to go pick them back up, I had forgotten how to go about finishing the darn thing. So I told my dear husband that I wanted to go about buying a knitting book, so I could get back to knitting, and finish the scarf plus start some baby clothing projects-he gave me a crazy look and then gave me this link. It shows you in pictorials, words, and in video format for all types of learners. Now why would I want to go about knitting? You say. And I am ONLY 29 or 34 or .

Knitting (or crocheting) is not for Old ladies, rural Amish, or pregnant barefoot house moms any longer. That stereotype is long gone and knitting, believe it or knot, is cool! You can make neat toys for your little ones, hats for winter in cool shapes and styles, and knit that scarf you've always wanted but, expense-wise, was always out of reach. I suggest you start small, as you may be discouraged early and quit if you try to take on a duster length sweater. Try a stuffed teething toy or a baby cap for the baby you know that's on the way. A great way to be useful, save money, and have a great new hobby!

(Pictures courtesy of PDX Beanies and lulahoops on Etsy.com)

Back to health maintenance...A good thing to have on hand in case the world should go nuts.

Ok, so Colloidal Silver has gotten a bad rap lately and I feel the need to clear up some misconceptions. There is this big scare running around, that I feel has BIG PHARMA written all over it. It's called Argyria. While Argyria is a very real condition, there are only about 3 confirmed cases that have ever been used as evidence. While there is no actual toxic effects from developing Argyria, no one wants to run around looking like a Smurf hybrid, and it is this gray-blue pigmented possibility that it's detractors are trying to scare people with. What no one is bothering to tell you, is that NOT ONE case of Argyria was ever been reported in correlation with true colloidal silver-that is, silver metal nanoparticles suspended in water. Two reported cases were from "home brews" of silver in water with an electrical current run through to create ionic silver, silver that has an electron missing, a state that makes it very co-dependant indeed. What is it that co-dependants need/crave...partnership...awwwww. So these Silver ions will search out partnerships prior to entry and within your body, and one perfect bond is that with Chlorine, such found in simple table salt, to create a Silver salt. This Silver salt in HUGE quantities is what is responsible for the "blue man" syndrome. It acts in much the same way a developing photograph does when exposed to light and "colors" when deposited in the skin. Silver Nitrate, which was found in many nasal sprays of yore, is also a Silver Salt that acts similarly to produce Argyria. However, nonionic silver and silver that is not protein bound, plain metallic silver suspended in purified water has never been shown to produce any adverse effects reported to the FDA. (2)

SO now that we have the 3 ton elephant in the room escorted out, I can tell you the purported (though with testimonials) ailments that silver can rid from your body. Silver is antimicrobial, antifungal, and antiviral-not to all, but most. It has been clinically proven to decimate the number of MRSA in a lab culture to undetectable levels in 5 hours. It was also shown to kill the virus HIV-1 in a laboratory setting as reported by the Journal of Nanotechnology. Various other fungi and bacteria have been tested and all have been shown to die when exposed to Silver particles (that which found in true colloidal suspensions) as well. Also human studies were done to determine whether silver bio accumulates (it does not) and whether Silver changes it's chemical composition when exposed to HCl (stomach acid)-it does not.

People have been taking Colloidal Silver for over a century and there are many pink and brown bodied people out there that have been illness free for a number of years because of their prophylactic use of CS. It is not a cure-all, as the reason silver is so efficient is because it can easily bind with the sulfur compounds on the external capsids of pathogens rendering them unable to reproduce and eventually killing them. These binding receptors may not be available on every pathogen unfortunately, so you won't find a 100% cure-all here. But most is better than none at all!

Winter gardens...not for the tender

So I decided to get off the over-hyped flu issue I addressed in earlier posts and go to something productive. My winter garden. This is my first winter garden and I'm looking forward to doing it well...hopefully. This is a great way to lessen the burden on your pocketbook, while at the same time making sure there aren't harmful chemicals in your food.

I used an area that had been used previously as a garden (we just moved here, so it wasn't ours) noted by the fact that we found a squash tag while hoe-ing it up. And found about 4 earthworms which is a good sign for the quality of soil we have to work with. I DID go out and purchase a bag of organic fertilizer that I can use every 2 months or so, just to make sure my plants are receiving all the nutrients they need. Also if you live in very cold climes (I live in the Puget Sound area so my winters-barring last- tend to be milder) you are going to want a cold frame, and most likely a mulch of some sort (hay or straw works really well!) A cold frame is something easily done on your own, but you can buy them as well. The easiest (and cheapest) way to build a cold frame is with some plastic sheeting (painter's plastic) and scrap lumber and build a short square frame over your plantings and staple your plastic sheeting around it as airtight as possible-then build a "lid" a square flat frame with painters plastic wrapped--you could even get fancy and put it on hinges, or you could do it like this blogger suggested.

I have started my seedlings inside (I started them last week, but it isn't too late) in some peat pots and will transplant them outside once they are about 5 weeks. Except for garlic-- you can actually buy a garlic bulb, separate the cloves, peel, and direct sow right into the soil. I found a fantastic hardneck variety at my Co-op that I am planting for spring harvest called "Korean Purple" 1 Bulb can yield about 10-12 bulbs in spring...yummy.

The plants I have decided to do besides the Korean Purple garlic are: Carrots, Broccoli, Salad Leaf Beets ( a two for one!), and Shallots

Other plants good for a Winter garden are Peppers, Cabbage, Chard, Mustard Greens, Collard Greens, Onions, and Leeks.

When you plant and grow in winter time, the plants go into a type of "survival mode" and store more sugar than in summer plantings, so you get much richer, sweeter flavors, than their summer counterparts.

After your seedlings are well established, you can plant them outdoors--make sure they get into the ground before it gets too hard, and put your mulch over them and then your cold frame atop that (or if you have already built your cold frame over your intended area, plant within and put the mulch atop your plantings and pop the lid closed)

Your plants will still need to be watered, which in VERY cold places can be tricky (for some areas a cold frame may not be enough-greenhouses may be a better bet.) but make sure you aren't putting too warm of water on your plants--too extreme differences in temperature can shock your plants. Most of these plants are pretty hardy, especially to be able to survive winters, and don't need too much looking after, about every other day should be good to test for soil dampness. You can use organic compost or organic fertilizer about every two months to ensure a healthier harvest, and then Viola! come January or February you have the makings for a hearty French Onion Soup...mmm yummy.