Day in Columbia

Strapped on my bike and drove down to Columbia for the day on Saturday to see Daniel, Jennifer, Ellen, and Arianna. The highlight of the day was a several-hour bike adventure on the wonderful bike/walking trail that runs between the Broad River and the 19th century canal that was built to bypass the rapids (the "fall line") in the river for the sake of commerce and transportation. One of the historical markers we read said that, in that era, towns developed at spots on rivers where rapids prevented commerce further upriver -- to wit, Columbia. But the canal was eventually built and commerce moved on. Once the railroads began shouldering the majority of commerce the canal ceased to be used for transportation and shipping. But it remains a beautiful and tranquil setting -- several miles of wildlife and peaceful water. Rapids in the river on one side of the bike trail, a tabletop-smooth canal on the other.

Jen took the afternoon to get things done at the house, so it was Daniel, the girls, and me on our four bikes (no training wheels in sight!). Ellen and Arianna are troopers. Two-plus hours in the blazing sun, a four-mile bike ride, a few scary descents from the trail into the cool, dark forest between the river and canal -- all with no complaining. They are thoroughly enjoyable companions who are as eager to learn as their parents are to teach.

In the parking area before biking up:





In the late 19th century, a hydro-electric facility was built and water from the canal was diverted through it to provide electricity for Columbia. This is very near downtown Columbia -- history on display:



A very nice observation facility has been constructed at the site of the hydro facility -- very impressive:



A couple of miles upstream on the bike path you reach this concrete dam built across the Broad River. I never quite understood the purpose or history of this dam -- but the water flowing through the gap in the dam creates significant swift water. The river bed below this dam is filled with granite boulders -- "the basement of the Appalachians," one of the markers said -- and rapids. Very impressive -- had no idea Columbia, SC, had this kind of aquatic dynamics:



Beautiful egrets (white) and herons (dark gray) stand like statues on rocks in the rapids waiting to grab lunch. Ellen and I named the egret "Ellen Egret" and the heron "Henry Heron:"





Daniel demonstrated that it is possible to float in six inches of swift water. (He was actually just cooling off -- can't say that I blamed him.)



All the following pix were taken at the site of the dam where we paused to rest and cool off -- and in the cool woods bordering the Broad River:















Here we're riding along the bike path on the way back to the parking area. You can see the beautiful canal on the left, while the river runs parallel to it on the other side of the trees on the right:



We stopped a couple of times along the way to look at wildlife: a huge turtle sunning on a log in the middle of the canal and another "Henry Herron" standing motionless in the grass waiting, again, for lunch:







At one point, Ellen and I were riding behind Daniel and Arianna. Somehow, she spied these two little purple flowers growing just off the edge of the bike path. Look closely -- they're right in the middle of the picture:



Of course, we had to stop and get a picture of these amazingly intricate flowers and their three-pronged leaves. Daniel wasn't familiar with them -- we assumed they were just some kind of wildflower. But when we got home and were looking through another garden book on fruit-bearing trees and plants we saw the very same purple flowers and three-pronged leaves in the book. Turns out the plant is called Maypop (passiflora incarnata). Here is a short excerpt from the Wikipedia article:

The fleshy fruit, also in itself called a Maypop, is an oval yellowish berry about the size of a hen egg; it is green at first, but then becomes orange as it matures. In this species, the yellow mucilage around the seeds of the fruit is sweet and edible, however it is quite seedy and mostly benefits wildlife. As with other passifloras, it is the larval food of a number of butterfly species.

Traditionally, the fresh or dried whole plant has been used as a herbal medicine to treat nervous anxiety and insomnia. The dried, ground herb is frequently used in Europe by drinking a teaspoon of it in tea. A sedative chewing gum has even been produced.

The Maypop occurs in thickets, disturbed areas, unmowed pastures, roadsides, and railroads. It thrives in areas with lots of available sunlight. It is not found in areas of growing forest, however, as the sun is blotted out by growing trees.

Other common names include Wild apricot and May apple.

Here's a closeup of the two flowers Ellen saw by the trail. Are these amazing or what?



Because Daniel and Jen are learning to "root" various plants, I have a feeling they'll be back out there soon to get a cutting off the Maypop vine to try to root and plant in their yard.

The bike ride was a delightful excursion -- hats off to Columbia, SC, for its provision of the trail as well as the amenities, historical markers, and such that make it an inviting setting to explore. And kudos to Daniel and the girls for the pleasure of their company.

Earlier in the day we were checking out Daniel and Jen's garden while Daniel lamented the scourge of the squash vine borer that has been wreaking havoc on their squash plants. The squash vine borer is the larva that hatches from a tiny reddish egg laid by a uniquely-colored and shaped moth that flies around looking for members of the cucurbit family (melon, pumpkin, squash, cucumbers, gourds) on which to lay one egg at a time. In the south, they rarely afflict cukes, but wreak havoc on squash. The tiny egg is usually laid at the base of the squash plant where it hatches a larvae that bores into the trunk of the squash plant and proceeds to kill the plant by eating the nutrient-carrying inner parts of the trunks and stems. After a couple of weeks of this the larva emerges, burrows into the ground beneath the plant, and remains in cocoon form until it pupates into the above-mentioned moth which starts the life cycle all over again. Some regions of the country have just one life-cycle per season, but two cycles per season are common in the South: one in June and another in later summer.

It so happens that while we were standing in the garden talking one of the moths flew by! I recognized it immediately from my prior experience with them as did Daniel. It got away but reappeared a few minutes later and he swung it at with his hand, knocking it to the ground. No gardener can eliminate all the vine borer moths -- but Daniel eliminated this one. They are "sort of" wasp-shaped -- not like a traditional moth -- with distinctive black and red coloring. This is the top side (the back and wings):



And this is the underside:



Here's the trunk of a squash plant. If you look closely on the white part of the trunk, about 2-3 inches from where the trunk enters the ground (just to the right of a small leaf-looking protrusion), you'll see a tiny reddish dot. That's an egg -- probably laid by the very vine borer moth dispatched by Daniel:



Here's a cropped close-up of the egg (middle of the photo):



Nobody said gardening was easy. One market gardener I know said the solution is to plant enough squash for you and the vine borers. But when you only have a few plants it becomes a challenge to save every one.

Here are a few more photos from the day:

The lovely Jen:





Daddy and daughter:



Two acoustic wannabe's:





Two of a million pictures Arianna took with my camera:





And some face-painting before going out to eat for veggie burritos and a free music concert in a local park. (Grandad passed on the concert to motor home before it got too late.)



Nice day in Columbia -- thanks to the Columbia Kruideniers for hosting a Charlotte Kruidenier for the day.

Tim Russert

The news sites are filled with notices of the sudden death of Tim Russert, the NBC News journalist, dead at age 58 from an apparent heart attack. I only mention it here because Russert was one of the few television talking heads I enjoyed. He had a blue-collar, Catholic-Irish background -- his dad drove a garbage truck in their hometown of Buffalo, New York.

His principle job, besides being head of NBC's Washington bureau, was as moderator of Sunday morning's Meet the Press. I read this afternoon that most politicians feared appearing on MTP because Russert was such an aggressive questioner, was so thoroughly prepared, and held interviewees accountable for things they had done and said. Yet he always had a smile on his face -- he didn't yell, interrupt, or talk down. "He was tough but very fair," seems to be the universal sentiment.

I think I have always liked him because I have known he was an unashamed man of faith. He was a devoted Catholic and was unafraid to be public about his devotion. He was schooled in his younger years by the Jesuits in Buffalo -- the toughest, most scholarly of the Catholic orders. Some have suggested that training had a great influence on his own journalistic style in later years -- always digging, always questioning, always looking for the truth.

When I heard that he and his wife's only son is named Luke, I wondered if he was named after Luke, the author of the third New Testament Gospel account. Later, I heard a friend of his say that was indeed the case. It doesn't surprise me because Russert himself was a lot like Luke -- an investigator and questioner, always seeking the truth:

Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. (Luke 1:1-4)

Luke apparently went about investigating the life of Christ and compiling the results the same way Tim Russert prepared for his weekly outing on Meet the Press.

I heard in one interview that Russert and his wife had a saying they used with their son, Luke: "You're always loved, but never entitled." That's the blue-collar work ethic showing through -- I like it. The only advice he gave his son when he left for college was this: "Work hard, laugh a lot, and never lose your honor." I like that, too.

I've also been struck by the number of high profile journalists who have talked about how personal Russert was in their own lives -- a godfather to their children, visiting them in the hospital, remembering the names of wives and children and always inquiring about their well-being -- the kinds of things that let you know you have a friend in that person. Tim Russert apparently was that to many people -- and will apparently be sorely missed because of it.

Two More Good Articles

Two more good articles from Dave today:

"Is Google Making Us Stupid?" talks about the impact technology is having on our ability to think, read, and stay focused, and "Staying Smart in Dumbed-down Times" talks about the overall dumbing-down of American culture. Both are extremely well-written and lengthy -- which will probably keep them from being read by the very people who need to read them!

Feline Singles Bar Scene

Caught this little tete-à-tete going on in the cul-de-sac yesterday. As long as you don't look, you're safe:

The Glory Has Gone

Here's what my beautiful sunflower looked like a week ago:



And here's what it looked like yesterday:



In the bottom right quadrant (above) you can see the few black sunflower seeds that remained as of yesterday. They were gone this morning.

The problem, of course, is squirrels. I caught one yesterday laying down on a supporting leaf stem eating the seeds: Sit up, dig out a seed, lay back and enjoy. I hope he's happy. At least he's healthy from consuming all those raw seeds:

From 107 Minutus to 60 Seconds

Most people won't sit through the entire 107-minute playback of Steve Jobs' WWDC roll-out of the new Apple iPhone. But here's a pretty slick 60-second edit of the entire presentation. (Be sure to play through the credits to the end to see the legendary Jobs hyperbole machine in action.)



The downside of the new 3G iPhones (upon reflection) are that they didn't upgrade the camera -- still a 2 megapixel camera, way behind other leading phones. And the mandatory two-year contract rate was increased from $60 to $70 a month via AT&T. You have to sign up for that contract when you buy a phone which prevents the hacking done on the initial iPhone to use it with less expensive carrier plans. The $10 increase per month in the plan works out to an extra $240 over a 24-month contract period.

SO, the new $199 price for the phone looks great, but realize you'll pay an extra $240 for the privilege over a two-year contract, making the REAL cost of the new 3G phone $200 + $240 = $440 over two years.

Hmmmmm.

Tip 'o the Hat to Dave

My son, Dave (ver. 2.0), sent a link to a hilarious article in The Onion. If you're not familiar with The Onion, it's the funniest pseudo-news source on the Internet. Brilliantly subtle, you think you're reading real news until you find yourself thinking, "What . . . ?"

When The Onion first went online years ago, I laughed and laughed at an article they wrote about a massive airlift of vowels into the former Soviet satellite countries (the "-stan" countries). If this isn't funny to you, look on a map and study the names of these countries for a few minutes.

The article Dave referenced today is a brilliant jab at the fact that many people (in this article, many young people) have never read an actual book. Thanks, Dave.

Close Encounter

My son, Stephen (ver. 3.0), sent me an email that he received from some animal rights friends containing this amazing series of photos. Conventional wisdom says that an encounter with a polar bear means lights out for man or beast. Apparently not always. There is so much we don't understand about the ways of these Edenic companions (Genesis 2:19-20).

Here's the copy that accompanied the pictures -- I can't verify its accuracy, but the pictures have an Isaiah 11:6-9 ring to them: "Stuart Brown describes Norbert Rosing's striking images of a wild polar bear coming upon tethered sled dogs in the wilds of Canada's Hudson Bay. . . . The Polar Bear returned every night that week to play with the dogs."

Gallons and Gallons

We had another HUGE storm late this afternoon -- it's still pouring right now. I pulled the spout out of the rain barrel to get this picture. 'Course, the barrel is full from all the rain last night. I could have filled up scores of barrels of water just off my roof if I had them:

"We Don't Need No Stinkin' Beef"

Dateline Seoul -- June 10-11, 2008: This crowd of 80-100,000 South Koreans in Seoul are not happy campers . What are they so upset about? Their government's decision to resume importing beef from America! They believe their government is playing Russian roulette with their health because of the threat of Mad Cow Disease in older American beef cattle -- which is what the agreement allows. And they want no part of it because of the fear of MCD in American beef.

I love it! Smart people. I saw on a health DVD recently where studies on the brains of some people who supposedly died of Alzheimer's disease didn't die from Alzheimer's at all -- but from Mad Cow Disease -- as many as 15%! The early symptoms of MCD are not unlike that of Alzheimer's but the people died before MCD became full-blown in its symptoms so it appeared they died from Alzheimer's.

If you want to see how serious this demonstration was, and read the full report, check this slide show at Yahoo.news. These people are serious about not wanting to be guinea pigs in the name of import-export profit. If you're still eating feedlot-grown and slaughterhouse-rendered beef, you ought to have your head examined -- literally. (Photo above from Xinhua/Reuters.)

Rain Barrel Update

Here's a shot of the water in the rain barrel this morning in the daylight to compare with the "dark" water taken last night. Two differences: the picture last night was reflecting the darkness of the night; the picture this morning shows the water reflecting the light so it looks a bit less murky. Plus, some of the sediment settled overnight.



In both these pictures you can see the "filter" I'm using (for lack of something better at the moment) to keep leaves and "junk" from the gutters from flowing into the barrel. It's a nylon mesh "bag" that is about 12+" long, open at the top with an elastic band around the top. It's real use is as a paint filter. If you have a gallon can of old paint that has partly solidified and you want to filter out the "junk" in the paint, you push one of these mesh bags down into an empty paint can and fold the elastic band down around the outside of the can. Pour the gallon of old paint into the new can (and into the mesh bag). When it's filled, gather the top of the bag and lift it slowly out of the new can. The paint filters through the mesh and leaves the "junk" caught in the bag which can they be discarded.

Same principle here: I stuck the downspout down inside the mesh bag, then stuck the whole thing through the top of the rain barrel. When the water flows into the barrel it goes through the bag which catches the debris. Last night after the big rain I emptied the bag which had a lot of leaves and junk in it -- so it looks pretty empty now. In the picture above you can see the bag and the down spout from under the lid. In the following picture you can see the bag sticking out around the downspout on the outside of the lid. If anybody has a better filter mechanism, let me know. This is all I've come up with so far.

A Varied Night

I noticed the last couple of days that my beautiful "Hydra" (many-headed -- not its official name) sunflower was being torn apart by something. The yellow petals were littering the ground below and the face of the flower had been torn apart. See for yourself:





I should have thought of this, but it never crossed my mind. When the guys were over for supper tonight one of them looked out the window and saw this:







How did that squirrel know there are sunflower seeds buried in the face of that flower? They look awfully cute when they're eating seeds on the front porch. Not so cute when they're eating the seeds I hoped would become feed for the birds:



Great supper meeting with the guys tonight: fresh veggie juice, big salad, veggie-burgers w/ trimmings, Mediterranean rice, and watermelon for dessert. Great discussion and prayer on lots of issues -- health, vocations, vision, etc., plus some insights from Paul (not the apostle) Stack on a study he did on the Ten Commandments -- the interchange of words in the semantic range of worship/serve/honor. Good stuff.







During supper a serious rain storm blew by -- rained hard for about 15 minutes. We haven't had any rain since I got the rain barrel rigged up so I was anxious to check it out when the meeting broke up. I noticed immediately the concrete on the front porch was wet meaning the barrel had overflowed! Sure enough -- 50+ gallons (not sure of the exact volume of the barrel) of rainwater accumulated from that storm. Actually, way more than that since a lot of overflow was evident.

The water looks dark -- obviously there is sediment from the roof and gutters, but that will settle to the bottom of the barrel:



I turned on the faucet to see what kind of flow I got out of the 50 foot hose -- perfect! Notice how clear the water is compared to how it looks in the barrel:



So -- good progress on the barrel. I probably could have captured twice this amount of rainwater if I'd had another barrel daisy-chained to this one.

Good food, good fellowship with friends, and good first-run on the rain barrel!

Watch the Apple Presentation of the New iPhone

The video replay of the Apple WWDC (WorldWide Developers Conference) presentation today is on the Apple web site. The entire presentation was based on the next iteration of the iPhone: a 2.0 software upgrade for existing iPhones and the new 3G iPhone coming July 11. The new 3G iPhone will now access the much faster 3G (wireless/Internet) network at twice the speed and sell for half the price of the original phone!

The WWDC conference is for the 5,200 software developers who came to learn how to write third-party applications for the new iPhone -- and see an introduction (not included on this video) to the next iteration of OS X called Snow Leopard. So, some of this gets a bit technical but there are two reasons it is still worth watching:

1. In explaining to the software developers the features of the new iPhone and 2.0 software you get to see what the phone will do.

2. You get to marvel at the way Apple does business. These presentations that Apple does at WWCD and the MacWorld conference every year are legendary for their polish and presentation. Just amazing. For anyone who has to present information to others, Apple is the Gold Standard.

Apple has made a huge push into what's called the "Enterprise" market -- seeking to get huge corporations to consider buying iPhones instead of Blackberries or other smart phones for their employees. The original iPhone was not equipped to do that because it wouldn't link with the existing network systems used in corporate America. The new version is corporate-ready. Thirty-five percent of the Fortune 500 companies have been testing the new iPhone for corporate/network use and the results have been uniformly positive.

The 2.0 software and the new 3G phone are really amazing. You can see the video here.

If You Eat Animal Products, Watch This DVD

A few days ago I posted a note on a DVD titled Healing Cancer from Inside Out produced and narrated by Mike Anderson, developer of the RAVE Diet.

I ordered his book—The RAVE Diet & Lifestyle: The Natural Foods Diet with Meals that Heal—and it came with a copy of the DVD I want to talk about in this post: Eating (2nd ed.). The RAVE Diet is basically a vegan diet, but Anderson uses the RAVE acronym to be specific about what a plant-based diet that is truly healthy consists of. That is, teenage (or adult) vegans could live on soda and junk snacks and still call themselves vegan. So the RAVE acronym stands for:

R = No Refined foods
A = No Animal foods
V = No Vegetable oils
E = No Exceptions plus Exercise

It's a helpful, different way to think about the elements of a plant-based diet. The book is helpful and entertaining and has lots of recipes and meal suggestions.

But it's the DVD I want to recommend. It's an hour and 50 minutes long, divided into two sections. First is an exposé of how animal-based foods are the cause of all major modern diseases—especially heart disease and cancer—and how a plant-based diet is the only diet that prevents these diseases.

The second section of the DVD details the political-industrial connections to the animal-based food industry in America. For example, close to 80 percent of the entire agriculture production system in America (land, water, food grown, etc.) is to feed animals that are slaughtered for human consumption. Approximately half the acreage of the entire United States is dedicated to that same end-use. There are plenty of behind-the-scenes clips (most of which I've never seen before) of the horrors of the animal slaughter industry in America -- and on and on and on.

The most compelling statement I remember that summarizes the illogical way the animal food system runs in this country is this: "Humans have to be the dumbest animals on the planet." We are not, of course, but to continue to run a food-production system that dominates our environment while killing us at the same time defies logic.

If you eat animal products (of any kind) you ought to watch this video and see if that practice makes sense. If you know someone who is battling a serious disease, both DVD's would be worth the investment as a gift. They might save a life.

The book and both DVDs are available from the RAVE Diet web site.

Preview of Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference Today

I Keep Saying This . . .

This morning on the Today show there was a feature on the move toward "urban food gardens" (their term). They tied the movement directly to increasing food prices -- more and more people are doing small backgard, patio, or container gardens as well as larger plots. A Home Depot garden center spokesman said that more and more people are buying vegetable and fruit transplants instead of ornamental plants. They made reference to the Victory Garden movement popular during World Wars I and II when backyard gardens took pressure off the national food supply during those wars.

I may be wrong, but I don't see price-pressures on food changing much in the future. If you're resisting beginning to grow your own food because you think this is a short-lived necessity, I would think again.

Body Mass Index

I put together some info on Body Mass Index recently for a friend -- I'll recap the highlights here. The Body Mass Index formula was complicated when it first appeared a few years ago and has been simplified into various formulas that all produce similar results. The formula I've reproduced below is from the Wikipedia article on Body Mass Index.

BMI scores are reported as a number from around 15 to 40. Here is what the numbers mean:

<16.5 = Severely underweight
16.5 - 18.5 = Underweight
18.5 - 25 = NORMAL
25 - 30 = Overweight
30 - 35 = Obese
35 - 40 = Clinically Obese
40> = Morbidly Obese

You derive the score by using this formula:

BMI = (weight x 703) ÷ (height-in-inches squared)

For example, for a person who is 6' (or 72") tall and 200 pounds we get:

(200 x 703) ÷ (72 x 72)

140,600 ÷ 5,184

= 27.12

Based on the chart above, 27.12 indicates an "Overweight" score, or BMI.

Most BMI recommendations say that "24" should be everyone's target score.

SO -- if 24 is the target BMI score, what does that translate to in weight? We use the same formula and solve it a different way using W = weight as the unknown variable:

24 = (W x 703) ÷ (72 x 72)

24 = 703W ÷ 5,184

24 x 5,184 = 703W

124,416 = 703W

124,416 ÷ 703 = W

176.97 = W (or 177 pounds, rounded up)

SO, to achieve a BMI of 24 a six-foot tall person should weigh 177 pounds (or less: remember, the "Normal" BMI range is 18.5 - 25)

NOW -- here's what this means in terms of health:

1. Diseases like cancer grow in an acidic environment.
2. Cancer is suppressed (won't grow) in an alkaline environment.
3. It is "impossible" to be overweight and have an alkaline environment. The foods that create obesity in the Standard American Diet (meat, fats, sugar, processed grains, processed foods, junk foods) are all HIGHLY acidic.
4. A plant-based diet (fruits and veggies, etc.) is almost totally alkaline. (The body's ideal pH is to be slightly alkaline.)

Therefore, when you find a person who is obese and has cancer, you can pretty much assume their inner system is highly acidic. The diet (and lack of exercise, etc.) that made them obese will also make them acidic, creating an ideal environment for cancer to grow.

On the other hand, a plant-based diet will eventually lead one to a normal weight while creating an alkaline environment at the same time, INHIBITING cancer growth.

SO, not only do you return to a normal weight on a plant-based diet (and also reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, etc.) you also create an inner system (alkaline) that inhibits cancer growth.

By consuming a plant-based diet faithfully, two things will happen:

1. You should return to a normal, healthy weight.
2. You will create an inner terrain in which cancer will have a very difficult time surviving.

Full disclosure: the BMI has been criticized in some quarters for being too conservative when "24" is made the target score. Critics say it doesn't take into account different muscular builds (healthy, but heavier due to muscle bulk) and different body shapes ("big-boned," etc.).

Truth be told, most people who react negatively to the weight at which they reach a BMI of 24 (or less) -- "I look skinny! No, gaunt!" -- are reacting to how they look compared to how they used to look (overweight) and how the rest of the population looks: 60+% overweight and 30+% obese. Twenty-four is, for most people, a healthy target.

Wheatgrass Revival

For a reason I can't now remember, I stopped growing new wheatgrass a month or so ago. When I started a new batch last week I decided to use the "industry standard" growing trays instead of the cafeteria trays that my wheatgrass mentor showed me how to use. The result is, for whatever reason, some of the best wheatgrass I've grown. (I continue to water my grass with Ocean Grown Solution.) And best of all, there are no signs of mold around the roots -- a standard headache for wheatgrass growers. Not sure what the difference is. These are two I'm aware of: deeper soil beds since these trays are deeper than cafeteria trays, and watering from the top down instead of the bottom up. If a wheatgrass expert stumbles on this post and can comment, I'd appreciate the input.

Besides being healthful, wheatgrass has to be one of the most beautiful in-house "plants" to look at:





Here's a picture of the root area just after cutting this morning showing no signs of mold:



I put the bird/squirrel seeds in a tray hoping to keep the wind from spreading them into the garden beds. So far I haven't seen a single bird at the tray -- the new color/shape may be making them wary. The squirrels, of course, could care less about the container:



Finally, the glorious sunflower had his face turned full toward the sun this morning. I now count nine buds on this one plant. It's amazing how the botanical parts of God's creation turn to the sun every morning to soak in the life-giving energy:

Get the Garlic and Lime

I have buried scores of avocado pits (seeds) in the soil in my front garden beds in recent years. Since they break down much more slowly than veggie and fruit scraps, I am continually unearthing them as I bury new scraps. Of late, I have found several pits that have split and sprouted. Knowing that avocados are not native to North Carolina and might not survive, I've been trying to baby these along the last few days to see what happens.

This one is a bit out of focus -- it's the brown vertical stem with the green at the top:



This one is a bit fuzzy also -- the stem has already sent out a shoot off to the side:



This one is a bit harder to see -- look for the green stem leaning to the left. To the right you can actually see the pit that has cracked open allowing the root and stem to emerge. I didn't even notice the seed was lying above ground until I saw these pictures. I'll cover it up tomorrow:



I'm not rushing out to buy chips just yet.

Relax and Smell Healthy

The current issue of Bicycling magazine (July 2008, p. 76) notes that "British researchers found that smelling lemon oil reduced anxiety in dementia patients by 35 percent." A New York University study showed that surgery patients whose oxygen masks were treated with lavender oil required less post-op pain medication than patients who didn't inhale the lavender.

You can get all-natural soaps with lemon, lavender, and other oils made by Frederick Breeden at JustSoap.com. He even mixes his soap concoctions with a bicycle-powered mixing machine! The soaps are made with all-natural oils with no artificial coloring or chemicals, and are animal-free (ingredients and testing). And they are reasonably priced.

If you want the oils themselves, I have ordered from Candace Newman ("The Oil Lady"). She's been selling all-natural aromatherapy oil products, gathered from all over the world, more than 15 years. The "Deep Rub Gel" I used when I had tendonitis in my foot really seemed to help.

Two Cannibals Are Eating a Comedian . . .

Two cannibals are eating a comedian and one says to the other, "Does this taste funny to you?"

(Thanks to Dustin Hoffman on the Today show this morning.)

Ready for Rain

Got the rain barrel rigged this afternoon with some flexible downspout extensions and concrete blocks from Home Depot. Hopefully, the blocks will raise it up enough to provide adequate gravity flow through the hose for watering the garden. The only thing I didn't do was drill an overflow hole near the top. The lid on the barrel fits loosely enough that, for the moment, overflow can just run out underneath the lid and down the sides of the barrel. We'll see what happens. Next will be to install another barrel next to it with a small hose connecting the two so as to capture 100+ gallons instead of 50+.



Here's a view of the front of the house with the barrel on the left end of the porch. Doesn't appear to be too obtrusive:



I stopped filling the bird feeders because of the "weed" problem they were causing in the flower garden below. The birds spill over so many of the "junk" seeds that commercial bird feed has in it that they all sprout in the soil below the feeders which creates a huge job keeping the "weeds" (don't know what they are) pulled. However, a couple of sunflower seeds sprouted so I have left those:



Most sunflowers I have seen before have one large flower at the top of the thick trunk. This one has eight flower pods getting ready to bloom. Is this normal? When I had sunflowers as part of my backyard garden, it was fun to watch small birds fly up and grasp the rough face of a sunflower with their feet and start digging sunflower seeds out of the face with their bills while the sunflower head swung to and fro with the weight of their activity. I have no idea what variety of sunflower was in the bird feeder, but this is going to be a pretty cool sunflower when all eight heads are blooming:



Instead of putting seeds in the bird feeders I sprinkled a pile on the sidewalk. No surprise as to who was Johnny-on-the-spot:



The finches wait patiently for their turn until Squire Squirrel has his fill:



When the Guard Lizard gives the birds the "All clear" from his position on the downspout . . .



. . . they come down to get their share:



The simple pleasures of living on .27 acres in lovely Union County, North Carolina.

The Humble Spud

Read Dr. John McDougall's tribute to the humble potato and you'll be inclined to eat more of them. If you'd rather watch than read, here's an excellent short video on the lowly tuber (2008 is the United Nations International Year of the Potato):

Healing Cancer

I learned recently that a good friend of mine from high school has a VERY rare and aggressive cancer. We connected after 42 years and have been talking about some things he can do on the nutritional side to combat the negative effects of chemo, build up his immune system, etc.

I watched a new two-hour DVD last night, Healing Cancer from Inside Out -- a documentary-style history of the war against cancer in America. For all the billions of dollars that have been spent, almost no progress has been made over the last 50 years in terms of absolute rates of healing as a result of conventional cut/poison/burn (surgery/chemo/radiation) protocols. (There are a couple of very minor exceptions.) If that sounds surprising (it surprised me) it's because of the way the cancer/drug/AMA industry reports statistics, etc. It is a shocking exposé with meticulous, documented research and interviews with major figures in the alternative/nutritional cancer/research community like Dr. Colin Campbell (author of The China Study), Charlotte Gerson (daughter of Dr. Max Gerson and founder of The Gerson Clinic), Dr. John McDougall, and many others.

If anyone you know is facing decisions about cancer, they should watch this DVD before making any decisions about treatment.

Here are a few bullet points I remember:

1. People with cancer who choose to do nothing about it live longer than those who undergo chemotherapy.
2. The rate of healing/life extension for those who receive chemo is less than those who receive a placebo.
3. There is a difference between absolute and relative rates of healing. All cancer healing statistics are based on relative rates instead of true absolute rates, which give a vastly inflated picture of success.
4. Everyone's body is full of cancer cells throughout life.
5. When cancer is discovered it is only the tip of the iceberg; the cancer has been present for years prior. Therefore, no "immediate" decision is necessary. There is time to evaluate options in spite of what doctors tell scared patients.
6. Radiation and chemotherapy do far more harm than good.
7. Any person who lives five years after the discovery of cancer is considered "cured," even if they die in the sixth year. ("Five years" is an official medical term for a cancer cure.)
8. When chemo/radiation/surgery remove a visible cancer, the body is still full of innumerable cancer cells. The body's immune system is the only systemic way to destroy existing cancer cells.
9. Animal protein (especially casein—milk protein) is the number one trigger for activating cancer.
10. Plant-based nutrition is the best defense against cancer; i.e., it is what keeps the body's immune system in the best shape to kill cancer cells that are created daily in the body.
11. External factors (smoking, toxicity, etc.) have less to do with cancer than diet. For example, some Asian cultures whose people smoke heavily but eat a plant-based diet have far fewer incidences of lung cancer than smoking cultures where animal-flesh intake is high.

This video is available from Hallelujah Acres, Amazon, The Gerson Clinic, and from RaveDiet.com.

A Bit Overboard

The guys (minus Dave who is out of town) came over for supper and our bimonthly meeting tonight. On the menu was fresh veggie juice, followed by a big salad, then supper of baked potato (w/ fixins'), grilled squash and eggplant, corn on the cob, tomato and avocado slices, and "braised" asparagus, with watermelon for dessert. I fixed way too much food for three people -- still learning. A good time was had by all. We missed 'ya, Dave!

The Annual Setting of the Cages

Put the tomato cages out in the front garden this past weekend and the birds immediately found them. I took tons of pictures last summer of birds perched on the cages -- they just seem to like it, as do I.

The ubiquitous finches (I originally said "wren") were the first on deck: (5-28-08 update: My birdwatching son, Daniel, told me this is not a wren but more likely a finch. Not being very knowledgeable, I tend to call anything that is little and that looks like a "sparrow" a wren -- probably meaning finch as in "house finch." Checking my Field Guide (which Daniel gave me and which I should have checked) I can see he is right. Definitely a finch-family cage-sitter, not a wren-family. Always happy to get the facts straight -- thanks to all who keep me honest.)