Water, water everywhere...

So, for awhile now, Tom and I have had trouble with our hot water. It's been inconsistent (or maybe consistently annoying is more like it)--we run out of hot water really quickly, or we don't have any hot water at all. This problem began awhile ago, but only recently has been so annoying as I felt the need to blog about it.

First of all, I haven't been able to have a shower since the weekend. Every time I try, the water is ice cold. Or, like this morning, it's hot long enough for me to get in, and start my shower, and then it turns freezing, at which point I bolt from the shower. It was so frustrating this morning that I was standing over my coffee pot and crying. I just want to be clean.

Thankfully, our landlord is going to be fixing the system this weekend. Hopefully by Monday I'll be squeaky clean again. I'm well aware of our legal rights in this, and I'm not afraid to withhold rent or call the tenants association; but at this point, there's a plan in place, which is okay with me.

Anyway, this is all really ironic because there are flood warnings flying willy-nilly across the state. Water, water everywhere...but none that is warm.

Yummy Veggie Soup!

As a relief from the preachy blogs that I've been posting lately, I'm going to share with you the fantastic soup that Stephanie and I created last night. It was devoured too fast for me to take a picture of it, so you'll just have to try it for yourself! This soup works well when served with a hearty bread. (And make sure that you buy organic produce when you can!)

Stacie and Stephanie's Early Spring Veggie Soup

What you'll need:

2 boxes veggie broth
5 or 6 medium sized carrots
5 or 6 medium sized potatoes
1 celery root
1 red bell pepper
1 onion
1 large portabella mushroom
2 large handfulls of spinach
Fresh basil (6 leaves)
Fresh garlic to taste
Shallots to taste
Olive oil
Butter
Oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

What you'll need to do:

1. Pour the veggie broth into a large pot, start to heat.
2. Chop the basil, garlic, and shallots, add to broth.
3. Chop the potatoes (after washing!) and add to broth.
4. Chop the carrots (after washing!) and add to broth.
5. Chop the bell pepper and onion and add to broth.
5.5. Grate the celery root (you'll want about a handful), add to broth.
6. Chop the mushroom into bite-sized pieces, and saute with olive oil, butter, garlic, and oregano. Add to soup when the mushroom has turned soft and dark.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Allow to simmer until potatoes and carrots are fork-tender.

Enjoy! :)

Oil and Corn: Brought to You by Our Greed

After attending Dr. Vecchione’s training (see my previous blog), I started to do some reading. I started with Diet for a New America, and have moved from there to Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Plant, Miracle, and I’m currently reading Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma.

It seems to me that our current modern life is highly toxic—more than any of us know, or are inclined to find out about. Our air and water are polluted; our food is reconstructed bits of nutrients that have been shipped halfway around the world; we are increasingly sedentary creatures who are suffering the effects of over nutrition, such as diabetes; the list goes on and on.

Having such a list makes it seem as though all of those issues are separate, but in reality they are not. It’s difficult to imagine our global ecosystem when we buy our food in a well-lit isle of our grocery store, but in reality all of our food is still (mostly) derived from some natural source, even the final processed result is many steps away from the original food source, and is a different food source than is actually advertised on the package (corn is in everything).

The way that we are currently choosing to buy our food is contributing to the sickness of our food in ways that are widespread and impact almost every system on earth. For instance, CAFO’s (Commercial Agriculture Feedlot Organizations) are where most of our animal-based protein sources are “raised”. These animals are subjected to unnatural living situations for most of their lives, and create pollution for the immediate and surrounding ecosystems that house these animal cities.

CAFO cattle are fattened on a mixture of corn (which their stomachs cannot tolerate, although new breeds are being developed that will allow their stomachs to deal with the grain for as long as they’d need to—which is, of course, only until slaughter), soybeans, and fat; sometimes beef tallow. This mixture is ground into a paste three times a day to fatten the creatures at an unnaturally fast rate, so that the companies can maximize their profits. All of this feeding creates a huge amount of waste, which on a farm of yesterday would be used for fertilizing the plant crops, which is actually toxic because of the hormones and antibiotics that are in them. This sits in manure pits that the animals are forced to interact with on a daily basis. When slaughtered, the animals are usually covered in their own waste, which inevitably makes it’s way into our food supply. Similar, and worse, conditions exist for chickens, pigs, lambs, turkeys, and all of the other animals that we consume.

Our national desire for all types of food, all year ‘round, has contributed to the global oil crisis. At any point of the year in Vermont, you can purchase oranges, bananas, pineapples, mangos, star fruit, apricots…the list goes on. These foods have their origins in a vastly different climates. These foods are harvested before their prime and hauled for thousands of miles so that they can be put into plastic based containers and then put into plastic bags and driven to your home, consuming even more oil. The banana that I just finished eating, although organic, has a huge carbon footprint.

Our collective greed and impatience has created problems that are huge, vast, and quickly overtaking our lives. It is for these reasons, and many others, that I have become (again) a vegetarian, with the intent to be a (mostly) localvore-vegetarian starting this summer. I have been meat free for a few weeks now, and with the help of soy products for when I have a craving for bacon (my favorite meat product), I am making a fairly seamless transition. I enjoy knowing that I, by eliminating an unnecessary protein source from my diet, I am not taking part in the atrocities that occur in the CAFO’s. When I start on the localvore part of my diet this summer, I will reduce my carbon footprint by a ton!

What I find interesting are the reactions that I have gotten for this choice that I’ve made. Some people express their sympathy; some people give me disdainful looks; some people ask questions; some people feel that meat is an absolute necessity for a healthy lifestyle. Vegetarianism seems to be an affront to some people. It’s interesting, since a vegetarian lifestyle, by eating lower on the food chain, is healthier for the people and the planet. I’m not sure why that would piss people off!

I certainly don’t want to tell people what to do; vegetarianism and local-eating is simply what I feel is right. However, something has to be done, by every person on this planet, or else we might desire ourselves into a (really big and stinky) grave. Please read, please educate, please make a change.

http://www.peta.org/

http://www.reusablebags.com/

The Sick State of our Food...and Ourselves

I was fortunate enough to attend a training put on by Dr. Elia Vechhione, the director and guru of the Francis Foundation, for whom I audit medical and program records. I was moved enough by the information that I wanted to share it with all of you. The presentation lasted for 3 hours, and was very in-depth, so please know that this is only a highlight.

Every year in this country, 200 billion dollars is spent on medication. That cost goes up 15-19% per year. Now, before we blame the Health Care industry, or the government, or the inflated cost of medications, let's consider what our first line of defense is : our food. Here's a radical (and not new) idea: our food and lifestyle can combat many of the illnesses, both physical and psychological, that currently plague our Westernized society.

Now, before I step fully onto my soap-box, let it be known that I love my potato chips and soda and fast food and barbeque just as much as anyone else.

I don't want to put you readers off because I fully beleive that the message that I'm trying to send is important. Living a healthy lifestyle is important for us as individuals, for us as a society, and for the planet as a whole.


Allow me to give you some interesting information:

• Numerous studies show that the effectiveness of replacing fatty, salty foods with healthier options and food supplements improve the attention and self-control in children with ADD and ADHD just as much as Ritalin.*
• Eating well and getting a reasonable amount of exercise can help alleviate the symptoms of many illnesses, including depression.
• One half of the people in this country will have a psychiatric disorder at some point in their life. They usually will be treated with medicine as a first course of action...and their lifestyle is never taken into consideration.
• RDA's (Recommended Daily Allowances) set by the FDA are set to prevent physical illness, not mental illness. We need higher levels of these nutrients to prevent most mental illnesses.
• High Fructose Corn Syrup is the first ingredient listed on many baby formulas.
• If you lower your triclicerides (by lowering your fat intake) you can lower your depression levels.
• Meat and dairy consumption have been connected with many of the "Diseases of Western Society."
• Children who eat at home just four times a week in a sit-down, family-style meal, (read: not in front of the T.V.!) have higher attendance at school, better grades, and lower rates of asthma attacks.*
  

Here's a basic plan to make sure that we don't fall into the trap of empty calories and non-foods:

1. Eat healthy, whole foods.
2. Eat at home.
3. Eat with family and friends.
4. Don't eat anything from a box, bag or can.
5. Make all foods from scratch.
6. Eat lots of colors (different vitamins and minerals hide in different colored foods).
7. Eat local and organic foods.
8. Balance carbs with protein and veggies.
9. Read all labels.
10. NO fast food.
11. Drink water, not soda. Drink 8 cups of water a day.
12. Consider this: You are only as good as your last meal.
    
13. Don't go hungry!!
14. Exercise at least 5 times a week.
15. Practice good sleep hygiene.
    

Some books for your reading list:

1. Overdosed America by John Abramson, MD
2. The Omnivore's Diet by Michael Polan
3. Crazy Makers by Carol S
4. Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy by Walter Willard
5. In Defense of Food by Michael Plan
6. Your Miracle Brain
7. Diet for a New America

I feel very strongly that we are able to take into our own hands our own damaged health. I feel that we can take back from the pharmaceutical industry our bodies and minds; and that we can learn on our own what our doctor's don't know enough to tell us. Read, experiment, and learn. It's your life, your body--own it.


*Alternative Medicine Review.
*NPR.

I Used To Hate Valentine's Day

It's really not cool to like Valentine's Day. You're supposed to be either ambivalent about it or hate the holiday outright. I used to hate it, too. It was a day of unfulfilled promises, a day of basking in other people's real or perceived happiness, of substituting chocolate for happiness and diamonds for love.

But, you know, life has some strange turns. I'm okay with Valentine's Day now. Not that I think that Tom will present me with a 14 karat diamond, or that we'll go out to a fancy dinner, or that he'll give me my engagement ring. I'm okay with Valentine's Day because we have so few days that are simply about love. Whether it's romantic love, or friendship, or the love between family members, there are never enough days to celebrate that. If we need a cheesy Hallmark holiday to remind us to take a few moments to say "I love you," then so be it.

Granted, I'm not single. I know that it hurts to be single on this day of love and cupids and mushy commercials. I know that it sucks, and I hope that you've taken the time to make a voodoo doll of someone/something that you hate and are wounding it with lollipop sticks and drowning it in conversation hearts. But I also hope that you know that if you are friends with me, you're loved.

So, I'm preparing for a great evening with Tom--we'll be working together at the co-op, actually. We'll have dinner at home, and play with our cats. I'll enjoy the tulips that he gave me yesterday, and I hope that he will like the present that I got him. And you know what? It will be great.

May you all have a good Valentine's Day. I love you all.

Hooray! Sparta's Back!

 

Sparta seems well on the way to making a full recovery. She slept with us last night (it's been awhile since I'd had the pleasure of a purring cat on my head all night) and she's eating with vigor. Tomorrow, we'll try giving her some food without the appetite stimulant, and see how that goes. So, hooray! Sparta's back!

Cross Your Fingers for Sparta

 

Sparta seems to be doing better.

She's eating more (still with the help of the Cyproheptadine), she's cuddly, she's more interested in things. She's stopped being a poo volcano and is currently sitting behind me, watching me type. So, it seems as though we might be reaching the end of the forest.

Donations of catnip and money can be sent to our mailing address. :)