Blogging...

Blogging without obligation.....

Came across this blog on someone else's blogroll....put it on, mine...then thought what a good idea....so I got into the spirit of it all and took the author at her word.  I come across this all the time, about how sorry folks are that they have not blogged.  Like cyberspace is just hanging on your next post.  Really!!!

I quote:

"After coming across what seemed to be the 4000th or so post on someone’s blog starting with “I’m sorry I haven’t posted in awhile.” I decided it is time to rethink what makes a good blog and the expectations that have come to be part of it. I am thinking that no one should utter those words again . . .and with that thought I give you Blogging Without Obligation.

If you feel the same way feel free to grab the logo, make a logo or whatever you would like to do!
I release all the logos, thoughts and words mentioned here about this concept into the public domain. Take the idea and run with it. . .or walk away. It is all good.

• Because you shouldn’t have to look at your blog like it is a treadmill.

• Because its okay to just say what you have to say. If that makes for a long post, fine. Short post, fine. Frequent post, fine. Infrequent post, fine.

• Because its okay to not always be enthralled with the sound of your own typing.

• Because sometimes less is more.

• Because only blogging when you feel truly inspired keeps up the integrity of your blog.

• Because they are probably not going to inscribe your stat, link and comment numbers on your tombstone.

• Because for most of us blogging is just a hobby. A way to express yourself and connect with others. You should not have to apologize for lapses in posts. Just take a step back and enjoy life, not everything you do has to be “bloggable”.

• Because if you blog without obligation you will naturally keep your blog around longer, because it won’t be a chore. Plus, just think you will be doing your part to eradicate post pollution. One post at a time. . ."

The Lawn and My Dirty Little Secret

Courtesy of Lawn Reform
I do not have a lawn! I would not have a lawn. I feel lawns are pointless.  Now, I have a dirty little secret; in my past I lived in a house with a lawn and a swimming pool.  A pool that nobody used.

That was back when we lived in the burbs.  Then you could drive around on a rainy morning and see watering systems going full bore while it rained!  Not only that, tons of fertilizer, insecticides and water go to waste so our lawns can look better than the folks next door.

 Overtreated and overwatered lawns  waste $$ and keep asking for more.  Pesticides, weedkillers, excess fertilizer and excessive watering don't just waste money, though - they damage soil health, kill beneficial insects, and reduce the drought-tolerance of turfgrasses. It's an addictive cycle.

We now have xeriscape!

Eat Sustainably

25 Ways to Eat Sustainably

Guest Blog:  by EcoKaren

This post was originally published on my blog, ecokaren, last year but with the recent disappointing news about GE Alfalfa being approved by the USDA, I thought I’d re-post this list so that we can remind ourselves how to eat more sustainably. I know many of you are already following these practices but I thought we should re-visit them and see what else we can do.

Summer Fruits from Farmers Market

25 Ways to Eat Sustainably

1. Use the WHOLE vegetable – the stalk, leaves, the whole kit and kaboodle.
2. Get to the root – buy loose vegetables and not the factory ‘boxed’ kinds.
3. Be a farmers’ market regular and get staples – onions, potatoes, herbs, etc. that you always use and need
4. Buy Heirloom – def. of heirloom – crop from seeds that have been passed down for generations, grown in small crops that may restore the health of the soil
5. Stock up – buy in bulk when in season and freeze, pickle or preserve it
6. Get advice – for recipes from farmers
7. Challenge yourself – use up week’s worth of meal.
8. Local is always the priority. If you can’t buy local, buy organic.
9. Buy local eggs – with recent recalls of millions of factory eggs due to Salmonella outbreak, need I say more?
10. Use your basement to keep your hardy vegetables like squash, sweet potatoes, beets, turnips, and rutabagas. They will keep up to six months in temperatures 40∘F  or below. Store them as close to the time they were harvested as possible – preferably unwashed, green tops will attached and packed in sawdust or moist peat moss.

Squash from Market Market
11. Let farm-fresh food delivered – CSA. If you can’t use up one portion, go in on it with a friend of a neighbor.
12. Be packaged conscious when buying food from the supermarket.
13. Google your milk. Not all organic milks are created equal. Check your brand at sustainable.org and opt for antibiotic and rBGH-free (no artificial bovine growth hormones)
14. Use unprocessed grains. White rice is process. Go for brown rice, barley, quinoa or farro. they are healthier for you too. Better yet, go for buckwheat as they can improve soil quality.
15. Soak beans and grains overnight. You’ll cut cooking time and energy usage in half!
16. Read labels. Don’t buy any packaged foods that have more than five ingredients or ingredients you cannot pronounce, nothing artificial, and no cartoons on the package.
17. Freeze organic berries when they are in season. Berries are on top of the organic foods to buy list. Buy them when they are in season and freeze them to have in the winter.
18. Make your own seltzer – I reviewed Soda Stream and we still use the machine. We don’t buy seltzer waters anymore and it is great for keeping soda bottles out of the landfill and  making delicious fruit spritzers.
19. Buy local bread – buy bread from your local bakery or farmers market. It comes without packaging, it will be fresher, and the chances are, it will have fewer ingredients.
    
    

    Parker Rolls
20. Make homemade breadcrumbs and croutons. Why buy packaged ones when you can make them with stale bread so easily?
21. Read PLU codes – any item with PLU codes starting with ’9′ is organic.
22. Become friends with local growers and fishermen so you can find out what’s being picked or caught. You’ll know where your food comes from.
23. Cut out processed corn. THIS is biggie. Avoid buying items with corn or corn-based substances (corn oil, cornstarch, or corn syrup) as ingredients. According to the USDA, at least 85 percent of the corn grown in this country has been genetically modified, meaning the plants were altered to make them more pest resistant.
24. Eat more REAL corn. Ask your farmer if he uses GMO corn seeds (or from Monsanto’s roundup seeds).
25. Wash vegetables submerged in a basin and not under the running water.

To read 25 More Ways to Eat Sustainbly, go to Part 2 of the series posted here.
All Photos: by ecokaren

DESIGN LIKE YOU GIVE A DAMN

DESIGN LIKE YOU GIVE A DAMN:  A RESPONSE TO OUR HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

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I subscribe to Inhabitat.com and came across this book in their online gift shop.  Upon further investigation I knew I wanted to share.  

The greatest humanitarian challenge we face today is that of providing shelter. Currently one in seven people lives in a slum or refugee camp, and more than 3,000,000,000 people--nearly half the world's population--do not have access to clean water or adequate sanitation. The physical design of our homes, neighborhoods and communities shapes every aspect of our lives. Yet too often architects are desperately needed in the places where they can least be afforded. 

Edited by Architecture for Humanity and now in its third printing, Design Like You Give a Damn is a compendium of innovative projects from around the world that demonstrate the power of design to improve lives. The first book to bring the best of humanitarian architecture and design to the printed page, Design Like You Give a Damn offers a history of the movement toward socially conscious design, and showcases more than 80 contemporary solutions to such urgent needs as basic shelter, healthcare, education and access to clean water, energy and sanitation.

Design Like You Give a Damn is an indispensable resource for designers and humanitarian organizations charged with rebuilding after disaster and engaged in the search for sustainable development. It is also a call to action to anyone committed to building a better world.  


This book is available at Amazon.com

Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises   0% Details The greatest humanitarian challenge we face today is that of providing shelter. Currently one in seven people lives in a slum or refugee camp, and more than 3,000,000,000 people--nearly half the world's population--do not have access to clean water or adequate sanitation. The physical design of our homes, neighborhoods and communities shapes every aspect of our lives. Yet too often architects are desperately needed in the places where they can least be afforded. Edited by Architecture for Humanity and now in its third printing, Design Like You Give a Damn is a compendium of innovative projects from around the world that demonstrate the power of design to improve lives. The first book to bring the best of humanitarian architecture and design to the printed page, Design Like You Give a Damn offers a history of the movement toward socially conscious design, and showcases more than 80 contemporary solutions to such urgent needs as basic shelter, healthcare, education and access to clean water, energy and sanitation. Design Like You Give a Damn is an indispensable resource for designers and humanitarian organizations charged with rebuilding after disaster and engaged in the search for sustainable development. It is also a call to action to anyone committed to building a better world. Price - $23.10 This item is available for purchase from Amazon.com

Dark Chocolate Definitely Eases Emotional Stress

Hard science is telling us (again) that dark chocolate definitely eases emotional stress. I don't know why we need to go over this...everyone knows chocolate makes us happy.  Actually, chocolate makes me giddy! ....and I don't need a scientist to tell me.   

But they’re saying it anyway–new evidence that dark chocolate helps ease emotional stress was just published in “Metabolic Effects of Dark Chocolate Consumption on Energy, Gut Microbiota, and Stress-Related Metabolism in Free-Living Subjects.” I don’t know how my gut microbiota feel about it, but it’s doing wonders for my mood.

The study found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in the bodies of people feeling highly stressed.The daily dose also partially corrected other stress-related biochemical imbalances. And that’s not all…Sunil Kochhar and colleagues note growing scientific evidence that antioxidants and other beneficial substances in dark chocolate may reduce risk factors for heart disease and other physical conditions. Although studies in the past have suggested that chocolate may ease emotional stress, there was little evidence until now from research in humans on exactly how chocolate might have those stress-busting effects.
In the study, scientists identified reductions in stress hormones and other stress-related biochemical changes in volunteers who rated themselves as highly stressed and ate dark chocolate for two weeks. “The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 grams [1.4 ounces] during a period of 2 weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of healthy human volunteers,” the scientists say.

Go for it! Chocolate Easter eggs are on the horizon!!

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131 comments

OK, honestly? It doesn’t take a scientist to tell me that chocolate makes me feel better. But they’re saying it anyway–new evidence that dark chocolate helps ease emotional stress was just published in “Metabolic Effects of Dark Chocolate Consumption on Energy, Gut Microbiota, and Stress-Related Metabolism in Free-Living Subjects.” I don’t know how my gut microbiota feel about it, but it’s doing wonders for my mood.
The study found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in the bodies of people feeling highly stressed.The daily dose also partially corrected other stress-related biochemical imbalances. And that’s not all…Sunil Kochhar and colleagues note growing scientific evidence that antioxidants and other beneficial substances in dark chocolate may reduce risk factors for heart disease and other physical conditions. Although studies in the past have suggested that chocolate may ease emotional stress, there was little evidence until now from research in humans on exactly how chocolate might have those stress-busting effects.
In the study, scientists identified reductions in stress hormones and other stress-related biochemical changes in volunteers who rated themselves as highly stressed and ate dark chocolate for two weeks. “The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 grams [1.4 ounces] during a period of 2 weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of healthy human volunteers,” the scientists say. Sign me up…
For more about the importance of Fair Trade Certified chocolate, see Easy Greening: Chocolate.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/dark-chocolate-definitely-eases-emotional-stress.html#ixzz1Ffeeh4Uw

Oatmeal Raisin Pancakes

For those of you on Twitter who asked for my husband's recipe for his pancakes...here it is:
OATMEAL RAISIN PANCAKES

2 cups    OLD FASHIONED OATS
2 cups    Buttermilk
2             Large eggs
1/4 cup   Butter, softened
1/4 cup   Dark seedless raisins (light or cranberries?)
1/2 cup   Flour
1/4 cup   Sugar
1 tsp       Baking powder
1 tsp       Baking soda
1 tsp       Cinnamon
1/2 tsp    Salt

Mix oats & buttermilk in large bowl, cover & refrigerate overnight.

Next day beat in eggs, butter & raisins.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon & salt.  Add to oatmeal mixture & stir until moistened.  If possible, let batter sit at least 20 minutes before cooking.
Cook on moderate heat on a greased griddle.  If batter is too thick, it may be thinned with buttermilk.  These take much longer to cook than regular pancakes.
Note:  These can be cooked, frozen & reheated & come out very well.

This may also be cooked in a waffle baker, but waffles are soft, not crisp.  Waffles may be frozen & toasted in a toaster & come out very well.