Lately, I seem to have lost sight of my dreams and even began to think that it was too late; that I was too old to begin something new. Balderdash! So, for my own benefit I am now revitalizing my dream by putting it in writing...
Gardening is one of my passions, and each year I add something new -- a new vegetable, experiment with a grain, more herbs -- all chemical free. My dream is to be able to have the room to grow enough vegetables, grains and herbs to meet the needs of my family. I want a "farmette"! What is a farmette? It's my name for a little farm, a backyard farm with room for gardens, some chickens, a goat or mini-cow -- organic food. I don't need acres of land or a big house. A cabin and small barn (or large shed) on one half or even a third of an acre will do. I have it all pictured in my mind. This is my dream and it will happen!
Meanwhile, I continue to read Mother Earth News and plan my homesteading experience...
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Summer Infant Presents Baby Product as Organic, but Fills with Poison
New Moms Beware! Creating a toxin-free environment is one of the best things you can do for a newborn. It is also one of the most difficult. Now, 21st-century Moms must not only learn how to take care of her baby, she also must become part scientist, part detective and may end up needing a psychiatrist!
My daughter has spent untold hours online researching baby products in an effort to find organic, chemical-free substitutes for the baby items standardly sold in stores. IT'S NOT EASY - and everything is more expensive. She placed her baby registries online with Buy Buy Baby and Amazon organic baby. The selection is very limited - virtually nothing is available in regular retail stores. Family and friends did their best to order online, but when she opened the Natures Purest Playard, she broke down in tears - why? Because Summer Infant, the manufacturer, touted this item as organic, but lied about the materials used in this product. The baby mattress is made with POLYURETHANE! How dangerous is polyurethane to your baby? Read from this report in the journal, Archives of Environmental Health:
"...For example, some crib mattresses are constructed of polyurethane foam enclosed in vinyl covers. These plastic products are made by combining highly toxic chemicals together to form the final material. During the sleep process, the child's every breath pulls in air that is literally inches away from the petroleum chemical materials used in the manufacturing of the bed itself. This process begins at birth and continues day after day during the child's critical development periods. With each breath, these chemical molecules are pulled across the child's airways and then transferred to the blood from deep within the lungs..." . Read full report at: http://www.chem-tox.com/beds/frame-beds.htm
Summer Infant, however, has done a good job of CYA.
All of Summer Infant's advertising concentrates on the Natures Purest Collection. Natures Purest, a company based in the United Kingdom, has a superb line of organic cotton baby products. They are USDA certified organic.
Unfortunately, Natures Purest did not make the mattress.
In fact, the mattress is not even mentioned in any of Summer Infant's product descriptions.
Summer Infant is lying to consumers and has absolutely no concern at all for your baby. A lie is a lie whether you say it or hide it -- and Summer Infant hid the fact that the mattress included in the Natures Purest Playard is pure poison.
My daughter has spent untold hours online researching baby products in an effort to find organic, chemical-free substitutes for the baby items standardly sold in stores. IT'S NOT EASY - and everything is more expensive. She placed her baby registries online with Buy Buy Baby and Amazon organic baby. The selection is very limited - virtually nothing is available in regular retail stores. Family and friends did their best to order online, but when she opened the Natures Purest Playard, she broke down in tears - why? Because Summer Infant, the manufacturer, touted this item as organic, but lied about the materials used in this product. The baby mattress is made with POLYURETHANE! How dangerous is polyurethane to your baby? Read from this report in the journal, Archives of Environmental Health:
"...For example, some crib mattresses are constructed of polyurethane foam enclosed in vinyl covers. These plastic products are made by combining highly toxic chemicals together to form the final material. During the sleep process, the child's every breath pulls in air that is literally inches away from the petroleum chemical materials used in the manufacturing of the bed itself. This process begins at birth and continues day after day during the child's critical development periods. With each breath, these chemical molecules are pulled across the child's airways and then transferred to the blood from deep within the lungs..." . Read full report at: http://www.chem-tox.com/beds/frame-beds.htm
Summer Infant, however, has done a good job of CYA.
All of Summer Infant's advertising concentrates on the Natures Purest Collection. Natures Purest, a company based in the United Kingdom, has a superb line of organic cotton baby products. They are USDA certified organic.
Unfortunately, Natures Purest did not make the mattress.
In fact, the mattress is not even mentioned in any of Summer Infant's product descriptions.
Summer Infant is lying to consumers and has absolutely no concern at all for your baby. A lie is a lie whether you say it or hide it -- and Summer Infant hid the fact that the mattress included in the Natures Purest Playard is pure poison.
Monday, July 12, 2010
It's been many months since I've posted thoughts here, but that's not to say I haven't had any thoughts! So much has happened -- I moved to north Jersey, Andover, up in Sussex County. I found a job, worked my &%# off for four months and then was laid off. Such is life. But still "life is good" -- I'm going to be a grandmother in one short month, which is the best thing that has happened in my life since my daughter was born. This is why I moved from the Jersey shore up to the mountains and farmlands of northern N.J. This is where I belong.
Yes, this is where I belong, despite the fact that I no longer have a place for my garden. I now live in a condo, on the second floor, with no discernable yard space. Since I had been planning to move, I replanted most of my perennials in pots and brought them with me. They looked very nice arranged outside my front door and along the side of the building, but wait. I forgot about the deer.
My herbs, for the most part, were safe, but the Bee Balm and Black-Eyed Susans were demolished. Score 1 for the deer, but I was determined to have a garden. So I found tomato fencing and chicken wire -- started my vegetable seeds inside -- trimmed some of the bushes in front to make room for more plants -- Success! It's not exactly the kind of garden I'm used to growing. It's a lot smaller, but I have pole beans, cucumbers and even a pumpkin plant growing beautifully behind the fencing. Now I just hope the deer don't discover how easy it is to push the fencing over!
Yes, this is where I belong, despite the fact that I no longer have a place for my garden. I now live in a condo, on the second floor, with no discernable yard space. Since I had been planning to move, I replanted most of my perennials in pots and brought them with me. They looked very nice arranged outside my front door and along the side of the building, but wait. I forgot about the deer.
My herbs, for the most part, were safe, but the Bee Balm and Black-Eyed Susans were demolished. Score 1 for the deer, but I was determined to have a garden. So I found tomato fencing and chicken wire -- started my vegetable seeds inside -- trimmed some of the bushes in front to make room for more plants -- Success! It's not exactly the kind of garden I'm used to growing. It's a lot smaller, but I have pole beans, cucumbers and even a pumpkin plant growing beautifully behind the fencing. Now I just hope the deer don't discover how easy it is to push the fencing over!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Amaranth, Deer Meat, and De-Befuddling My Mind
Each year I like to experiment with a new crop -- this past gardening season I was very excited to work with Amaranth, which is a plant that was widely cultivated by the ancient Native Americans living in the southwest, Mexico, and parts of Central and South America. It's an amazingly nutritious grain that contains not only vitamins and minerals, but protein, too. So, I was browsing through an organic seed catalog last year, when I "discovered" that Amaranth could be grown in New Jersey! Can you imagine? Well, it turns out that it's not so hard to imagine because Amaranth is also known as Pigweed and growns wild throughout much of the northeast. The grain can be used whole in cereals and salads or ground into flour for use in baking. In addition, the leaves can be picked and used as salad greens or as a cooked vegetable that tastes like spinach, but contains three times as much calcium and niacin plus carotene, iron, vitamin A and C.
I quickly ordered seeds and waited for my crop to grow. I think of the backyard gardening as the antidote to "corporate" farming, which replaces the natural nutrients, tastefulness, and healthy aspects of our food with chemicals, additives, growth hormones, pesticides, and other poisons. So you can imagine my confusion when I hesitated to eat the leaves of the Amaranth plants I had grown from organic seed in my chemical-free garden! What's going on here? Well, I'll tell you...
While standing at the counter, looking at the plate of steaming red leaves, I pondered my reaction. I thought about the time someone put a plate of venison in front of me. It had a lovely brown gravy and smelled delicious. However, it was difficult to get that first forkful of food into my mouth. My stomach was queasy, chewing was agonizing, and swallowing almost impossible. Although not as dramatic, after all a plant is not Bambi, the reason for my discomfort was clear -- my poor brain was still wrapped up in sterile food packaging. The sight of a food not normally grown in my garden caused a small trauma, a befuddlement. Once I realized the danger of falling for corporate brainwashing, my defiance kicked in -- I ate the Amaranth leaves and de-befuddled my mind! And, by the way, Amaranth leaves do taste just like spinach.
Unfortunately, the grain harvest was not as successful as the leaves. Amaranth needs 90 to 100 days to grow, and my mistake was not planting the seed early enough. The grains were so tiny I had to use a magnifying glass and tweezers to find them, and then it was impossible to separate the grain from the plant material. Disappointing, but I learned a lot from Amaranth last year -- and, in 2010, I look forward to an abundant, healthy, and delicious Amaranth harvest.
I quickly ordered seeds and waited for my crop to grow. I think of the backyard gardening as the antidote to "corporate" farming, which replaces the natural nutrients, tastefulness, and healthy aspects of our food with chemicals, additives, growth hormones, pesticides, and other poisons. So you can imagine my confusion when I hesitated to eat the leaves of the Amaranth plants I had grown from organic seed in my chemical-free garden! What's going on here? Well, I'll tell you...
While standing at the counter, looking at the plate of steaming red leaves, I pondered my reaction. I thought about the time someone put a plate of venison in front of me. It had a lovely brown gravy and smelled delicious. However, it was difficult to get that first forkful of food into my mouth. My stomach was queasy, chewing was agonizing, and swallowing almost impossible. Although not as dramatic, after all a plant is not Bambi, the reason for my discomfort was clear -- my poor brain was still wrapped up in sterile food packaging. The sight of a food not normally grown in my garden caused a small trauma, a befuddlement. Once I realized the danger of falling for corporate brainwashing, my defiance kicked in -- I ate the Amaranth leaves and de-befuddled my mind! And, by the way, Amaranth leaves do taste just like spinach.
Unfortunately, the grain harvest was not as successful as the leaves. Amaranth needs 90 to 100 days to grow, and my mistake was not planting the seed early enough. The grains were so tiny I had to use a magnifying glass and tweezers to find them, and then it was impossible to separate the grain from the plant material. Disappointing, but I learned a lot from Amaranth last year -- and, in 2010, I look forward to an abundant, healthy, and delicious Amaranth harvest.
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Condo Garden 2010
Small section of last year's backyard garden.
