The Benefits of Backyard Chickens

Whether you consider yourself to be urban, rural or somewhere in between, keeping chickens offers a wide array of benefits. As it turns out, chickens are not just fluffy and fun, they are good for you! With nutritional benefits of free range eggs, garden benefits of pest control and fertilizer, and health benefits addressing a variety of issues and disorders, it’s no wonder backyard poultry has gained popularity and led to city ordinances allowing urban flocks. With the rise of the locovore movement, there are more resources out there than ever before with information on how to keep and care for chickens, and plenty of support for getting started. These fine feathered friends are not just a fad, they are an asset to holistic health and sustainable living.

Fight Factory Farming with Farm Fresh Eggs

It can be challenging to make sense of labels on supermarket eggs these days. When terms like “free range,” “cage free,” and “naturally raised” can mean all kinds of different things, it’s important to know what you’re really eating. In factory farming, hens never see the outdoors. They are treated inhumanely, they are fed the cheapest possible diet filled with additives, and they produce eggs that are lower in nutrients.

There are many loopholes that allow farms to use the title “free range” when their hens are anything but. When you raise hens in your back yard, you know exactly where your eggs came from, and you stop supporting factory farming with your grocery dollars. True free-range eggs contain higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids, beta carotene, Vitamin E, and Vitamin A. They are also lower in saturated fat and cholesterol than conventional, store-bought eggs. Really, there is no comparison.

Natural Pest Patrol for the Garden

Rather than using harmful chemicals and pesticides in your yard and garden, use chickens instead. Chickens are known to reduce or eliminate populations of grasshoppers, termites, fire ants, slugs, fleas, scorpions, and even rodents by cleaning up food sources that might attract them. They eat various beetle pests like the Colorado potato beetle that can do a lot of damage. Beneficial nematodes and earthworms live far enough below the soil surface to escape chicken scratching, while the unwanted surface pests are eliminated. Chickens can also do a lot of damage to newly planted gardens with their foraging and dust baths, so it is a good idea to let them range around the outside of the garden or in garden rows with chicken wire protecting the beds.

Chickens are Master Recyclers!

Table scraps, unwanted weeds, and garden clippings can all be cleaned up and broken down into soil nutrients by your chickens. While you can’t feed them everything (coffee grounds, avocado, raw potato, and onions are on the “no” list), you can give your chickens most of your table scraps to supplement their food every day and keep that waste out of the landfill. Whatever scraps you can’t feed your chickens still make a great addition to the compost pile. Chickens are master recyclers because the nutrients in whatever scraps and weeds the chickens eat end up being recycled into an extremely valuable substance for the garden… manure!

Chickens Are an Excellent Source of Organic Fertilizer

Poultry manure contains all the essential nutrients for plant growth and offers a rich source of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous in the garden. Because of the high nitrogen level and nutrient balance, chicken manure is considered the best type of manure for garden use.

Chickens fully digest weed seeds, so you won’t have to worry about those weed clippings sprouting back up as you would from horse or steer manure. Having a free source of organic fertilizer that doesn’t have to be packaged or transported is not only valuable to the home gardener, it is an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical fertilizers and good for the earth. Every time you clean the coop, the resulting byproduct is a fresh pile of manure that can be recycled in your backyard ecosystem.

Since chicken manure is so high in nitrogen and tends to be “hot”, you will want to either compost, make a compost tea, or till your manure into the soil at the end of the gardening season.

Chickens Reduce Stress

Watching chickens lowers stress levels. Studies have shown that tending chickens releases oxytocin, a stress lowering hormone. Not only that, it reduces blood pressure and decreases feelings of loneliness, which further contribute to decreased stress. There is an excellent book by Clea Danaan, Zen and the Art of Raising Chickens: The Way of the Hen, that delves into the backyard chicken movement and the simple, Zen nature of chickens’ existence. Her book discusses how chicken watching increases our mindfulness skills. Caring for chickens gets us outside regularly, and watching their methodical scratching and foraging around the yard slows us down and grounds us in the present, providing a meditative experience that can be difficult to achieve in our busy day-to-day lives, particularly in urban settings.

Chickens as Therapy

Chickens are now being used as therapy animals for people of all ages to address a wide variety of issues including dementia, Alzheimer’s, psychiatric illness, depression, and autism. Their calming effect helps with symptoms like anxiety, emotional distress and social frustration. There is also some good information supporting the role chickens can play for addicts in recovery.

Organizations are starting to bring chickens to nursing homes to use as therapy animals for memory loss patients. Agitation is a major issue for people with dementia, and holding a chicken has been shown to calm them down.

Short attention span is another issue, where watching chickens forage, take dirt baths, and roam around for short periods of time is a mentally engaging activity that can be dropped and picked back up again later as the chickens will still be doing the same thing.

Chickens have also been shown to reduce loneliness and depression for the elderly. For children on the autism spectrum, chickens have been registered as emotional support animals for their soothing effect. Not only that, they have been shown to increase social skills and play skills, enhance conversation abilities, and promote self-care and independent living skills through daily chores.

Not long after my own son was diagnosed with autism by the local school district, we began keeping chickens as backyard pets and he immediately bonded with them. At a time when social interactions were a challenge, he identified with the chickens as his friends, and would spend time with them out in the yard as a self-soothing activity.

Getting Started with Chickens

If you’ve decided chickens are for you, you can start by reading up on websites like Back Yard Chickens, Fresh Eggs Daily, and The Chicken Chick, or books like Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow, Keep Chickens! by Barbara Kilarski, and Chick Days by Jenna Woginrich. You may have a friend with their own backyard flock, and you could ask them to show you the ropes. Chicken keepers are usually happy to give a tour of their set up and talk about their chickens (trust me, chicken keepers LOVE to talk about their chickens).

Next it is important to check your local city ordinances or neighborhood regulations to make sure backyard chickens are allowed and to find out the limit. Most cities allow 3-6 hens and no roosters. When you’re ready to get set up, you can visit your local feed store for chicks and supplies. Once you get chickens, your life and garden will be richer for it, and you will reap the rewards of delicious, fresh eggs!

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35 Things You Could Do With Coconut Oil – From Body Care to Health to Household

It wasn’t that long ago when we were told saturated fats were bad for us, that they clogged the arteries. Well, new studies have shown that was a myth; coconut oil is good for your health. Common sense should have told us this a long time ago. After all, societies that eat a lot of coconut are populated with some of the healthiest people on the planet.

Now that we are no longer afraid to include it in our diet, we have found we can eat the meat, drink the water, turn it into milk, and squeeze out the oil. Every part is a great source of nutrition. But that’s not the only benefit.

Coconut oil is also antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory. It has a world of uses. Here are a few:

Coconut Oil and Body Care

  1. Oil pulling. Swish a tablespoon or so of coconut oil through your mouth for 15-20 minutes the first thing in the morning. This is a great practice for oral health and many claim other health benefits as well (oral health recipes).
  2. Brush your teeth with it. Use it plain, add a few drops of essential oil (peppermint, cinnamon, tea tree, oregano), or make your own DIY toothpaste.
  3. Use as a carrier oil. Most of the essential oils are too strong to use full strength. They should be diluted with a carrier oil and coconut oil works very well for this purpose. Just add a few drops of the essential oil of your choice to a tablespoon of coconut oil and rub it on your skin (essential oils for infections).
  4. Use as a moisturizer. Plain coconut oil is great for the skin. It is said to lighten dark spots and help prevent stretch marks.
  5. Make-up remover. Removes all make-up, including eye make-up.
  6. Diaper cream. Use on baby’s butt!
  7. Hair conditioner. Rub it into dry hair and leave it in for a few hours (shampoo conspiracy).
  8. Use as a shave cream.
  9. Use as a deodorant (deodorant recipe).

Coconut Oil and Health Care

  1. Nail fungus. Add 5 drops of tea tree oil to 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. Rub into nails (kill fungal infections).
  2. Personal lubricant. Does not disrupt natural vaginal balance.
  3. Cracked heels. But remember this can be a sign of diabetes. Check your blood sugar and change your diet!
  4. Use after the burn cools off.
  5. Bug bites. Stops the itching and promotes healing.
  6. Chapped lips. Instant moisture. And it tastes good!
  7. Use on abrasions. Helps skin heal faster. (Also for perineum post birth).
  8. Stops the burning and itching.
  9. Prevents and may help reverse Alzheimer’s.
  10. Kills topical yeast infections.
  11. Kills lice.
  12. Soothes eczema and psoriasis.
  13. Helps to heal acne.

Pet Care With Coconut Oil

  1. Dry or cracked paws
  2. Dry noses.
  3. Hot spots.
  4. Rashes
  5. Cuts or abrasions.
  6. Helps prevent parasitic infections.
  7. Kills yeast and fungal infections.
  8. Glossy coat.
  9. Better digestion (dog food recipe).

Note: For dogs, one teaspoon per 10 lbs. of weight (or one tablespoon per 30 lbs.). Start with ¼ of the amount and work up to the full amount over a 3-4 week period. Mix it into food.

Household Uses for Coconut Oil

  1. Season cast iron pots and pans.
  2. Polish metals.
  3. Polish furniture.
  4. Use on scuffed leather.

There are many more health benefits from eating coconut oil. But remember to always choose organic virgin coconut oil.

It’s great for cooking and it takes very little to sauté a stir-fry. But you can add coconut oil to smoothies, use it instead of butter or margarine, replace other oils in recipes, or just eat a spoonful. Yes, it’s that good for you!

Check out Fight Cavities And Gingivitis Naturally With Homemade DIY Oral Health for a coconut oil based toothpaste and more info about oil pulling. And let us know int he comments below what you use coconut oil for. Enjoy!

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GMO Facts and Arguments

There has been a debate raging about GMOs for a long time now. On one side of the debate is the idea that genetic engineering is progress for humanity, a natural extension of more traditional breeding techniques. The other side believes genetically modified foods are unsafe for human consumption and harmful to the environment.

Biotech companies claim that genetic modification yields more precise control over artificial selection. Studies funded by the industry consistently demonstrate safety, but only over the short term. For years, Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, and other biotech based agricultural companies have told the public that there is nothing to worry about. Genetic modification will be the technology that will improve food in every conceivable way. Food will be more nutritious. Crops will be more vigorous, more disease resistant, etc. There are literally thousands of studies demonstrating GMO safety. Scrutiny reveals these short-term studies are funded by or performed by the industry itself.

As more independent scientists complete long-term studies, a very different picture has emerged about the safety of GMOs and their many other drawbacks. When these studies are not funded by industry, the results show us an uncontrollable, uncontainable, and dangerous technology with serious health hazards.

Seralini’s Research Broke New Ground

One of the first studies to ring the alarm was a 2-year, long-term chronic toxicity study. Don’t believe the hype churned out by biotech that criticizes the Seralini study until you take the time to look into the defense of their methods. The Seralini study was actually a well-designed and well-conducted study. If we are to accept the argument that Séralini’s study does not provide substantial evidence that genetically modified food is dangerous, then we must also conclude that the short-term toxicity studies funded by the agriculture industry (primarily Monsanto) on GM foods cannot prove that they are safe. They are in fact the same type of study, conducted the same way,  even using the same type of rats. The only significant difference was the duration of the study. Seralini’s study showed how the previous 90-day studies are misleading as 90 days is not long enough to test for long-term effects like organ damage, cancer, and premature death. The first tumors appeared in the rats after four months. This study was able to distinguish the effects of GM food from GM food grown with allotted pesticides. The results provide strong evidence supporting the claim that genetically modified food, especially genetically modified food grown with Roundup, is highly toxic and unfit for animal or human consumption.

New Studies on GMOs

There are other studies showing that GMOs are even worse than what was originally feared. Dr. Kruger’s research shows how chronically ill people have higher glyphosate levels than healthy people. Dr. Swanson has linked glyphosate use with America’s deteriorating health. Dr. Young’s work showed how Roundup, at surprisingly low amounts, is an endocrine disruptor in human cells. It doesn’t take much Roundup to disrupt hormones; the levels of Roundup allowed in municipal drinking water is enough to cause harm. There are many other studies that are showing other problems with GMOs. Independent science is coming to a different conclusion than industry-funded science. That doesn’t seem all that surprising though, does it?

Even Short-Term Studies (When Independently Done) are Demonstrating Real Safety Issues with GMOs

Dr. Oraby fed rats a diet of GM soy and GM corn for 1-3 months. Despite the short duration of the study, the study ended with a surprising number of dead and unhealthy rats, except of course the control group of rats who weren’t fed GMO food. The damage done to these rats from short-term GMO consumption was staggering. This study showed a wide range of toxic effects, including DNA damage, abnormal sperm, blood changes, and damage to the liver, the kidneys and testes – irrefutable evidence that GM foods are hazardous to health.

Most Americans have been eating GMOs for a lot longer than three months. The only reason we’re not all dead is because GM foods are not the only food  we eat. If 100% of all of our foods were genetically modified, our overall health as a nation would be even worse. As a nation, the U.S. is in very poor health, and we have every reason to believe that genetically modified foods are a big part of the problem.

A Controlled Dialog

For years, biotech has tried to frame the argument for genetic modification as one between the knowledgeable and the unknowledgeable. In their efforts to change their image, they have even managed to recruit to aid of Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson to advocate for the science of genetic engineering. Bill and Neil portray the critics of GMO technology as superstitious and ignorant. They respond to the criticisms of GMO technology as if they were addressing irrational fears. When Bill Nye or Neil deGrasse Tyson talk GMOs, they make all manner of bold pronouncements declaring GMOs safe and wonderful.

It would be nice to believe that Bill Nye The Science Guy and Neil deGrasse Tyson would never accept money from biotech to promote GM technology, but Monsanto is a master of lobbying and payoffs. It would have been good for business to buy off Bill and Neil. Thankfully, not every scientist is for sale.

By never addressing the evidence provided by long-term studies, independent studies, or the concerns of numerous prominent scientists, biotech furthers the misconception that they are those in the know and everyone else is misinformed. In truth, the science isn’t all that complicated. Anyone can come to understand GMOs well enough to become informed.

The public sees both Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson as spokesmen for science. Unfortunately, neither of them are as broadly trained in science as most people think. They speak on a wide variety of scientific topics, so they give the impression that they just about know it all. In truth, there has not been anyone knowledgeable enough to fill Carl Sagan’s shoes since his death, though Bill and Neil have certainly tried. They give the impression of being knowledgeable in all fields of science, as their mentor Carl Sagan actually was. (Carl Sagan was adamantly opposed to genetic engineering and he had advanced training in biology). Science needs a spokesperson who’s not for sale.

95% of the American Public and Many Scientists Want GMO Foods Labeled

This is not a debate of irrational fears versus a pragmatic technology. This is an argument among scientists and governments. There are those scientists who are employed by the U.S. government and biotech, and then there’s just about everyone else. On the issue of GMO labeling, most of us are in agreement. Many countries all over the world ban the cultivation of GMOs, and many countries mandate that GMOs be labeled. The debate went global a long time ago. While the rest of the world bans GMOs, Americans have been unsuccessful in just getting GM foods labeled.

Scientists have been speaking out against GMOs for some time now. For years they have been pointing out GMO failures in yield, toxicity, safety, and containment. Recently the World Health Organization named Roundup a carcinogen. One of the most common genetic modifications is the modification making crops Roundup ready and immune to the Roundup herbicide. In light of the health concerns raised by skeptical scientists, you would think that the U.S. would be scaling back on its use of Roundup and other suspected or known toxic chemicals in agriculture. Instead of scaling back on the use of pesticides, these kinds of chemicals are being used more widely.

Before the harvest of conventional oats, wheat, and other crops, Roundup is often applied in large amounts, dramatically increasing the American consumers’ exposure to this  carcinogen. The U.S. government has now approved the use of Agent Orange ready (24-D) soy and corn. No one should consume these chemicals in their food, yet the government says it’s okay. Common sense says otherwise. If common sense fails some of us, there is plenty of evidence and hundreds of experts to fall back on.

Scientists All Over the World Have Called For a Moratorium on All Genetic Engineering

Scientists such as Prof. Ruth Hubbard, Geneticist, Harvard University, USA and 814 other scientists have written an open letter to governments and international forums. These prominent scientists are extremely concerned about the hazards that GMOs pose to biodiversity and food safety. They are “extremely concerned” about the risks GMOs pose to human health and animal health. Experts all over the world are saying it’s time to change our agricultural practices.

Patents are meant to protect property rights, but the patents on genetically modified foods have been used to take farmers’ lands away from their rightful owners. Instead of protecting the freedom to own property, these patents are eroding the rights of property owners.

GM pollen from GM crops can travel miles. It is commonplace for birds, insects, and weather to carry GM pollen and seeds. Animals and natural processes can spread patented genes onto other farms. When this happens, hapless farmers are sued, and contrary to all common sense, they are the ones who usually lose in court.

GM crops cross-pollinate with other crops so voraciously that we can’t seem to get rid of some unapproved GM varieties. Genetically modified wheat keeps popping up in farmers’ fields across the country though it was ordered to be completely destroyed 14 years ago, way back in 2001.

The current techniques used to genetically modify foods are unreliable, uncontrollable, and unpredictable. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of unwanted mutations result from genetic engineering. These can result in new allergens or toxins, and even new viruses. This makes sense when you consider that GMO foods are made to either be immune to poison or to create their own poisons or both. Traditional breeding techniques are simply more controllable and predictable.

This is an argument made by thousands of farmers and scientists.

These Are Just Some of the Reasons GM Foods Should Not Qualify as Inventions

GM crops are neither necessary nor beneficial to agriculture. There have been many failures of genetically modified crops. Now that independent research is being done on GM crops, the picture of a failed technology emerges from the research.

  • Genetically modified crops have produced inferior yields when compared to their unmodified counterparts.
  • GM crops have been shown to have poor disease resistance.
  • GM crops engineered to contain BT toxins kill beneficial insects such as bees, lacewings, swallowtails, and monarch butterflies. (Monsanto claims they are concerned about this, but so far greenwashing has been their only response).
  • Glufosinate causes birth defects in mammals.
  • Fruit abortion (a failure of fruit production) is a problem.
  • Glyphosate has been linked to cancer.
  • Farmers are experiencing poor financial returns.
  • GMOs violate farmers rights.
  • GMOs violate human rights and basic human dignity. (The right to know and control what we put into our bodies is a basic and fundamental human right).

The 815 scientists who wrote their open letter to the world are calling for support for research and development of non-corporate sustainable agriculture. Much of this invaluable research has already been done. Bill Mollison and David Holmgren have developed sustainable, non-corporate organic agriculture. They can farm anywhere and their yields are amazing. Their techniques are called permaculture, which means permanent culture. If agriculture does not become sustainable, it will not last, and we will not survive.

Profitable and Sustainable Are Not Always the Same Thing

The biotech industry would have the public believe that they are improving upon life through genetic modification and doing it sustainably. We are told that the benefits outweigh any risks, or even less believable, that genetic engineering is a risk-free technology.

When put into practice, the benefits accrue to Big Agriculture while the costs are paid for by the consumer and society in the form of higher prices, toxic food, and environmental degradation.

The costs of genetically modifying food is also paid by farmers. They face the threat of GMO contamination, pesticide runoff, soil degradation, and higher seed prices. In a successful attempt to manipulate the market, biotech corporations have been buying seed companies for some time. This enables biotech companies to make non-genetically modified seeds more expensive, and harder to obtain after they genetically modify a particular crop such as corn. Non GMO corn seed became much more expensive in North America after Monsanto produced GM corn seed. Even though this is a violation of our antitrust laws, biotech companies are still getting away with it. The same thing is happening in Spain. After allowing GMO cultivation, the variety of maize available to Spanish farmers has declined dramatically. Rising corn prices are sure to follow.

In a successful attempt to manipulate the market, biotech corporations have been buying up seed companies for some time, as the government looks the other way, ignoring anti-trust concerns. As these giant companies monopolize the marketplace, they are able to raise seed prices for both GM and non-GM seeds. When they produce a new GM crop, the seeds for the same non-GM crop become more expensive and harder to obtain. For example,  non-GM corn seed became much more expensive in North America after Monsanto produced GM corn seed. The same thing is happening in Spain. After allowing GMO cultivation, the variety of maize available to Spanish farmers declined dramatically. Rising corn prices are sure to follow.

Genetic engineering is not what Big Agriculture claims it is, and it will never do what they claim it will.

What are Believable Coincidences and What are Unbelievable Coincidences?

Health problems are rising along with with increased GMO consumption. Many will argue that is a coincidence, but a firm belief in coincidence is what biotech has been counting on since the technology was released to the public.

There are no labels, which mean no liability and no traceability. That’s only a part of their protection. You can’t sue Monsanto for harm caused from their products. They enjoy special legal protection that they lobbied and paid big money for. (That’s right American politicians are for sale, or didn’t you know?) These legal protections could be taken away from them if more of us would question these coincidences and investigate these correlations.

It will take an overwhelming majority of us demanding change in order for change to happen. The Vietnam War ended under the intense sustained pressure of the American people. That wasn’t what the military industrial complex wanted – so it was an uphill battle. This will be an uphill battle as well.

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Five DIY Organic Shampoo Recipes for Beautiful Hair

Shampoo is the most common hair care product we buy, but the harsh chemical compounds present in commercial shampoos cause too much harm to our tresses and make them dull, dry, and unhealthy. Going organic can save your hair from this turmoil and DIY recipes can be easy on your wallet. So, here are 5 simple DIY organic shampoo recipes that can give you beautiful, attractive hair:

Organic Coconut and Lemon Shampoo Recipe

This simple, easy and inexpensive shampoo can nourish both your hair and scalp to give you gorgeous locks.

Ingredients:

  • Liquid castile soap – 1 cup
  • Organic coconut oil – 1 tablespoon
  • Lemongrass essential oil – 20 drops

Directions:

  1. Pour liquid castile soap into a mixing bowl.
  2. Add organic coconut oil and stir well.
  3. Add lemongrass essential oil to the opaque mixture.
  4. Mix everything once again.

Organic Shea Butter Shampoo Recipe

If your hair is extremely dry and severely damaged, this shampoo can restore its natural moisture and put it into good health.

Ingredients:

  • Liquid castile soap – 200 ml.
  • Organic shea butter – 15 ml.
  • Lavender essential oil – 8 to 10 drops
  • Sodium bicarbonate – 1(1/2) teaspoons
  • Distilled water – 50 ml.

Directions:

  1. Melt solid shea butter by placing it over boiling water. Let it cool to room temperature.
  2. Mix water with sodium bicarbonate to make a solution.
  3. Pour this solution into liquid castile soap. Stir for a few seconds. Avoid forming too much foam.
  4. Add melted shea butter.
  5. Add lavender essential oil to the bowl.
  6. Blend everything together.

Organic Chamomile Shampoo Recipe

You can opt for this organic chamomile shampoo to turn your curly, frizzy and dry locks into soft, smooth and manageable ones.

Ingredients:

  • Solid castile soap – 2 tablespoons
  • Organic chamomile tea – 1 cup
  • Chamomile essential oil – 4 to 5 drops
  • Pure glycerin – 1 tablespoon

Directions:

  1. Grate a solid bar of castile soap from one side.
  2. Brew a cup of strong chamomile tea and pour it into the grated castile soap.
  3. Add glycerin.
  4. Add chamomile essential oil.
  5. Blend everything well.

Organic Vegetable Oil and ACV Shampoo Recipe

Say ‘bye bye’ to dandruff and improve the overall appearance of your hair significantly with this super effective organic shampoo.

Ingredients:

  • Liquid castile soap – 4 tablespoons
  • Organic vegetable oil – 2 teaspoons
  • Organic apple cider vinegar (ACV) – 4 tablespoons
  • Coconut flakes – 4 tablespoons
  • Fresh thyme – 4 tablespoons
  • Fresh rosemary – 4 tablespoons
  • Distilled water – 2 cups

Directions:

  1. Bring distilled water to a boil.
  2. Add coconut flakes, fresh thyme and fresh rosemary to it. Stir well and boil for 30 more minutes.
  3. Strain the mixture and add liquid castile soap to it.
  4. Pour vegetable oil and ACV into it.
  5. Mix everything well.

Organic Green Tea Shampoo Recipe

The antioxidant properties of green tea can make your tresses look healthy and beautiful by preventing grey hair and reducing hair fall.

Ingredients:

  • Liquid castile soap – 1 cup
  • Organic green tea leaves – a handful
  • Organic olive oil – 1 tablespoon
  • Organic raw honey – 1 teaspoon
  • Distilled water – 1 cup

Directions:

  1. Boil fresh green tea leaves in distilled water and brew for 30 minutes.
  2. Add liquid castile soap.
  3. Add olive oil and honey.
  4. Combine everything well.
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Improve Indoor Air Quality to Promote Health

We all know pollutants, dust, and allergens have a severely negative impact on people’s health. Yet, while most of us are worried about the rising pollution levels outdoors, we tend to forget that most of our time is spent indoors. As a result, we end up breathing in a lot of unwanted substances every time we draw a breath!

Improving Indoor Air Quality

Improving the quality of air inside your home or office is much easier than you might think. There are basically four simple steps that can help you improve Indoor Air Quality:

Control Pollutant Sources

Remove or relocate sources of pollutants or taking steps to reduce emissions can significantly improve air quality in any indoor space.

Improve Ventilation

Concentrations of indoor air pollutants can be reduced by increasing the flow of outdoor air, which allows fresh air to replace the stale air that has accumulated indoors.

Remove or Clean Pollutants

Air filters and mechanical cleaners can be used to filter pollutants and mold from indoor air while improving circulation, too.

Control Humidity

This doesn’t always mean reducing humidity. When the weather is dry or if you use air conditioners indoors all the time, you may need to increase humidity. Overly dry air can irritate sinuses, cause congestion, and increase the risk of colds, flu, and other infections.

Basic Solutions and DIYs

There are a number of methods that can be employed to improve the indoor air quality in homes and office buildings. Some of the best methods are extremely easy to employ and inexpensive, if not free.

Here are some basic changes you could make to improve indoor air quality without the investment of extensive effort or time:

Use Non-Toxic Cleaning Products

Many commercially-available conventional cleaning products contain powerful chemicals that can be as harsh on your health as they are on stains.

Get Rid of Polluting Household Chemicals and Products

Household products like paints, solvents, and pesticides contain poisonous chemicals and pollutants like Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC).

Avoid Conventional Dry-Cleaning

Perchloroethylene (PERC) and Mineral Turpentine Oil (MTO) are commonly used in the dry cleaning industry. Both are known to cause serious health issues, and PERC is a known carcinogen.

Use Natural Ventilation

You can increase ventilation in cooler months by opening the top and bottom of double-hung windows or opening windows on opposite sides to permit cross-ventilation. Aside from reducing pollutant concentrations, you could save a lot on energy and the cost of forced-air cooling devices.

Use an Exhaust Fan or Hob-Chimney

Cooking on a gas range produces carbon dioxide and even more harmful gases like carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. Install hood fans above gas ranges to push exhausts outdoors.

Keep the Indoors Dry

Mold loves damp places, so fix any leaks or drips and clean up spills as soon as possible. Standing water and puddles are a haven for disease-causing microbes and mosquitos. Check for them regularly and deal with them immediately.

Replace Air Filters on Time

Filters on furnaces and air-conditioners can become clogged and ineffective. Additionally, they can be a breeding ground for microbes if they haven’t been used in a while. Clean them regularly and replace them as per the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Don’t Smoke or Let Others Smoke Indoors

While this seems obvious, most people tend to neglect it. Cigarette smoke isn’t just a health hazard for smokers. Second hand smoke is just as dangerous for others.

Design for Better Air Quality

While the tips listed above can be followed as a regular practice, some design cues can also help improve the indoor air quality in your home or office.

Plan your Remodel

Remodeling means building materials, and that means dust. Toxins and pollutants get suspended in the air easily. Plan to renovate and remodel in cooler months, when you can maximize ventilation from outdoors.

Use “Greener” Materials

Air quality can be improved throughout the year if you use products and materials that have lower emissions of pollutants, like zero-VOC paint or formaldehyde-free insulation. Look for materials certified by Greenguard, Greenfield, and similar organizations.

Reduce and Maintain Carpeting

Carpets absorb moisture and trap contaminants. Never use them in areas where they are likely to be exposed to water or dirt. They should be vacuumed regularly, preferably using a High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtering system.

Increase Ventilation Through Forced-Air Conditioning

Add external ducts to heating and cooling systems that use heat-exchanging or forced-air heating or cooling. This allows a portion of fresh air from outside to be mixed in.

Keep Your Garage Air Separate

Vehicles’ exhausts are basically just pollutants and nothing more. Design the garage so the amount of air exchanged between it and the conditioned space is minimized, if not eliminated. If you’re keen on monitoring the levels, consider a carbon-monoxide detector or automatic garage door opener.

Mechanical Air-Cleaning and Conditioning

In addition to the other options, there is a wide range of products and equipment that is specifically designed to improve indoor air quality. These products are particularly useful for people who live in high-pollution cities and those who have respiratory issues as well as for commercial establishments like schools, offices, hospitals, and the like.

Common devices used to improve indoor air quality

Energy Recovery Ventilators

These systems connect to existing heating/cooling systems to exchange stale indoor air with fresh air from the outside.

Heat Pump Water Heaters

Apart from being up to 50% cheaper to run, the amount of ventilation provided by these systems is matched to the level of human occupancy and water consumption, which provides excellent moisture control.

Radiant Hydronic Heating Systems

As opposed to forced-air heating systems, these use hot-water flow for indoor heating. The advantage is a reduction of dust and allergens stirred up by blowing hot air. Also, since floors are warmed directly, condensation and water pooling are reduced.

UV Biocide Chambers

One of the most effective ways of dealing with microbes is with ultra-violet light. Biocide chambers use a UV lamp below and above the cooling coils to kill germs, pathogens, and allergens at an enhanced rate.

Polarized Filters

These are electric air cleaners that use a polarized charge to capture and remove airborne particles. They have zero ozone emissions remove upwards of 95% of particles that aggravate allergies.

HEPA Air Filters

HEPA filters are considered by many as the ultimate in air filtration systems available today. They can filter out 99.97% of microscopic particles as small as 0.3 microns, as well as 90% of bioaerosols and microorganisms as small as 0.01 micron.

Air Humidifiers

Dry air can cause just as many problems as moisture, and studies have linked it to increased nasal congestion, especially when it’s cold. Another worrying study found that flu viruses survive much longer in dry air, so humidifiers are essential for places that have very low humidity.

Conclusion

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor air can be up to 100 times more polluted and can even contain carcinogens like Radon. Now there’s a fact that could literally take your breath away!

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Repel Mosquitoes by Cultivating Marigolds

Marigolds are beautiful, strong smelling herbaceous flowers that are widely grown throughout the world. Most people grow marigolds for their season-long blooms, their beautiful scent, and because they are easy to grow. There are other great reasons to grow marigolds. The flowers are all edible though some taste better than others, and if you grow them from seed, they’re beneficial for pollinators such as bees and butterflies. However, the best characteristic of marigolds is that they repel mosquitoes. This makes for an affordable and environmentally friendly alternative to chemical insecticides. Insecticides are horrible for the environment, and they cause more harm to frogs and birds, mosquitoes’ main predators than they do to the mosquitoes. In the long run, this makes the mosquito problem much worse.

Marigolds Are Kryptonite to Mosquitoes

Unfortunately, mosquitoes are more than a nuisance; they are vectors for numerous diseases. For instance, malaria kills over a million people a year, and though the disease is currently not endemic to the U.S., many argue that it is only a matter of time before it becomes common in the U.S. again. Mosquitoes also spread encephalitis, West Nile virus, dengue fever and more. Instead of spending your hard earned money on chemical treatments that add to the mosquito population, in the long run, plant marigolds and other mosquito repelling plants in your yard for an immediate and cost effective solution.

More About These Remarkable Flowers

Marigolds are plants of the genus Tagetes, belonging to the family Asteraceae or Aster family. Though they are now found all over the world, botanists believe South America to be their most likely place of origin. This belief is rooted in evidence from fossils found in Argentina that date back 50 million years. Paleobotanists have discovered Asteraceae fossils that date to the Eocene Epoch (56 million to 33.9 million years ago). The plant family is from South America, and the marigold is believed to be a native of Mexico.

The name marigold is possibly derived from the Anglo-Saxon term for the flower: merso-meargealla. There are other competing claims that the name comes from the Virgin Mary, with the gold referring to the most common color of marigolds. Old English authors referred to the flower simply as golde.

Long-lasting blooms

Marigolds are beautiful flowers that bloom all season until first frost. They will bloom more profusely if you remove the dead flowers from the plant. Marigolds rarely have problems with pests. They have only a few natural enemies; of these, the most common are frost, slugs, and snails.

You can grow big marigolds, small marigolds, marigolds of many colors, even edible marigolds. The varieties of marigolds are endless.

A Wealth of Options

There are two types of marigolds that are well known and widely cultivated. These are French marigolds and African marigolds.

African marigolds are the larger of the two. African marigolds, Tagetes erecta, typically have large yellow to orange flowers that can measure as large as 5 inches across, with plant height varying an average of 10 to 36 inches tall. African marigolds are sometimes referred to as American marigolds. (There are quite a few names for these flowers).

French marigolds are bushier and display smaller blooms. Typically, French marigolds will grow up to 2 inches across and come in a wider variety of colors: yellow, reds, orange, or multi-colored such as the harlequin French marigold with its yellow and red striped flowers.

There are other varieties of marigolds less commonly known. Such as triploid hybrids, signet marigolds, or the flavorful calendula marigolds (only the flowers are edible). Your options with marigolds are legion. Plant what you want; marigolds basically grow themselves, with almost no work on your part. Even if you believe yourself to be botanically inept, when it comes to marigolds, I believe anyone can grow them successfully.

You could buy these flowers from a store to transplant, but this is not the best way to go. Store bought flowers often have neonicotinoids applied to them at levels high enough to prove fatal to bees. You and the bees are better off if you’re growing your own.

Marigolds are easy to grow; so easy in fact, that anyone can do it. You don’t need great soil, just your run of the mill dirt, which is easy to come by. And you don’t need to fertilize them or fuss over them. All they need is some soft ground, direct sunshine, and some water.

A One-Time Seed Purchase

Once you have decided on what variety of marigold you want to grow, you’ll only need to purchase seed once. The seeds are easy to save. After you cut the dead blooms off of your flowers a few times, you’ll have all the seed you’ll ever need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKDgyM-w7u4

Getting Dirty

The next step is less work than it sounds. You’ll need to loosen up the ground where you plan on planting your flowers. (Don’t forget about your underground utility lines, if you don’t already have your utilities marked, call 811 and get them flagged before you start digging). You can use any kind of hand tool for this, a hand tiller, shovel, etc. Once you have chosen the sites where you would like to grow your flowers (spread them out in multiple places across the yard), space the seeds apart according to your seed packet instructions. Alternately, you could grow the flowers in planters first, but this isn’t a necessary step. In the case of marigolds, I think it just creates more work in the long run. Your seed packet will tell you how deep to plant the seeds, but basically, you just barely cover them with dirt. Don’t let them dry out. While the plants are young, water them often, whenever the ground is dry. Don’t smack the plants with water from on high; be gentle with your watering and aim for the base of your plants. Blooms should appear within a few weeks, and they will stay in bloom all season.

They Don’t Ask For Much

Don’t fertilize marigolds. They bloom better and more profusely in poor soil. If you fertilize them, they will bloom less, and grow excess greenery. If you don’t fertilize your marigolds and they still turn out bushy with few blooms, then congratulations! These bushy marigolds should still repel mosquitoes, but this means you’ve got great soil in your yard; black gold if you will. This is a sign that you should grow something that is more of a challenge to grow than marigolds, like food, or more exotic decorative plants that still repel pests.

An optional extra step is to mulch the flowerbed once your flowers begin to pop out of the ground. Mulching a flowerbed makes it look more attractive and it conserves water. But you can get by without the mulch, especially when you’re dealing with marigolds.

By growing these flowers in your yard, you can be assured that the mosquitos will leave you alone and you’ll be helping out your local bees, too. They need all the help they can get. Sadly, it’s not easy being a bee these days. Bees are relatively fragile when it comes to pesticide exposure. If you’re helping out bees, you should feel good about it. They play a crucial role in the ecosystem. They are so important that biologists often refer to them as a keystone species. So by helping them out, you can feel like you’re doing the planet a favor.

Other Mosquito Repelling Options

Marigolds are probably the easiest to grow, but if you want to plant a variety of plants that repel mosquitoes, consider some of the following:

  • Ageratum
  • Asters
  • Basil
  • Bee balm
  • Beauty Berry
  • Cadaga tree
  • Catmint
  • Catnip
  • Cedars

  • Mosquitoes Comic
    From http://taskandtoil.com

    Citronella Grass

  • Chrysanthemums
  • Clove
  • Eucalyptus
  • Garlic
  • Geranium (repels ticks)
  • Horsemint
  • Lavender (also repels ticks, moths, mice, black flies and fleas)
  • Lemon Balm
  • Lemon Grass (repels ticks)
  • Lemon Thyme
  • Lemon Verbena
  • Mint
  • Nodding Onion
  • Peppermint
  • Penny Royal
  • Pineapple weed
  • Pitcher Plant
  • Pyrethrum daisies
  • Rosemary
  • Stone root
  • Snowbrush
  • Sweet Fern
  • Tansy
  • Tea Tree
  • Vanilla Leaf
  • Vetiver Grass
  • Wild Bergamot
  • Wormwood

When purchasing seeds, you’ll probably get a much better deal ordering from a catalog or an online seed company than you would from your local retail store. In our garden we’ve come to rely on Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. They have over a dozen varieties of marigolds to choose from.

Conclusion

Even if you struggle to grow plants and have had limited prior success, you can grow marigolds, no matter how many plants have perished under your care. Please let us know how your marigold cultivation turns out!

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Five Common Weeds to Cultivate for Health and Nutrition

Much of the work we do as gardeners involves pulling weeds, and many of us can attest that this is not our favorite part. The good news is that there are many common garden weeds you can leave right where they are.

Edible weeds have been a common food source throughout history and a regular part of the American diet up until the rise of the supermarket and the shift towards large-scale agriculture. More recently, people have been re-discovering these nutrient-rich plants as part of a healthy, organic diet, and, as a result, educational opportunities abound. There is a variety of books, websites, classes and entire schools dedicated to teaching how to harvest and prepare these foods. If you read up on the subject, you will also find many wild, edible weeds offer the added benefit of medicinal properties.

Getting Started

The best way to get started is to learn how to identify your garden weeds. There are some very useful book resources out there with colored guides to positively identify the plants you are looking for and “weed” out poisonous look-alikes. Petersen Field Guide: Edible Wild Plants, by Lee Allen Peterson is a handy all-around reference that includes more than 370 edible plants, colored illustrations, photographs, and directions on preparation. If you want to get a little more in-depth on some of the more common wild edibles, Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods from Dirt to Plate by John Kallas, Ph.D. includes thorough identification and recipes. There are also many local wild food groups popping up in towns everywhere, and an internet search should turn up local organizations.

There are also many local wild food groups popping up in towns everywhere, and an Internet search should turn up local organizations, workshops, and plant walks. Social media sites like Facebook offer another resource for national and local plant identification groups. On-line communities are a great place to ask questions, post-plant pictures, and benefit from the collective knowledge of others. Once you feel comfortable with identification, you can go out and start shopping for free in your own backyard.

Dandelion

The first and most common of these weeds is the dandelion. This plant is tenacious, managing to grow everywhere from cracks in sidewalks to all over your lawn. There is a huge agrichemical industry geared towards the American homeowner and the idea that a well-kept lawn is a weed-free lawn, with the dandelion depicted as the number one enemy. People are convinced they should spend their time and money eradicating the dandelion with harmful herbicides. The truth is, dandelions are very useful and are easily managed by hand-pulling and regular harvesting. The greens that emerge in the early spring are rich in antioxidants, Beta-carotene, vitamin C, Vitamin D, iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorous, sodium, and a variety of trace minerals. They are also fairly high in protein. Not only can you eat the leaves, but the cheery yellow flowers make an excellent addition to colorful salads and can be added to stir-fries. My favorite thing to make with them are dandelion fritters for a festive springtime meal. In addition, the root makes a delicious coffee-like beverage when roasted, ground and brewed.

The value of dandelions doesn’t stop there. They are used as an herbal remedy for anemia, blood disorders, promoting digestion, improving liver and kidney function, regulating diabetes, lowering blood pressure and high cholesterol, and slowing the growth of cancerous cells.

Plantain

Not to be confused with the banana-like plant of more tropical regions, this common garden weed has a similar nutritional profile to dandelions and grows in equal abundance. Often this weed can be found growing everywhere from garden beds to lawns and roadsides. The green oval-shaped leaves sprout from the center of a rosette with a stalk covered in seeds rising from the center. Young leaves can be eaten raw or cooked in sautés, soups, and stews. They are often blanched before they are added to salads or frozen for later use. The shoots when young and green are excellent sautéed in olive oil, and still edible once older, but the fibers present a bit more work for eating. The seeds can be stripped off the stalk and eaten as well, although this is a somewhat tedious process.

Plantain leaves can also be mashed between your fingers and applied as a topical poultice for relief of cuts, scrapes, bruises, and especially insect bites. Plantain is naturally anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory. Dried leaves can be steeped for an herbal tea for general enjoyment and to treat liver and kidney disorders, urinary tract infections, gallstones, ulcers and bronchitis.

Chickweed

This plant gets its common name from the affinity chickens have for it, and those chickens are definitely on to something. Chickweed grows in a network of long, succulent stems with pointed leaves and tiny, white star-shaped flowers. It grows in gardens, lawns, and even in the shade under the canopy of trees. These tender greens are best harvested in May through July and if transplanted or sown by seed, it can be cultivated in a cold frame throughout the winter when fresh greens are hard to come by. It’s also a good plant to keep around in the garden because it decreases insect damage to other garden plants where it grows. The stems and leaves make an excellent salad green and sandwich fixing and they can be added to soups and stews, chopped stems and all. Chickweed is highly nutritious, providing vitamins A, B complex, C, iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorous, zinc, manganese, sodium,

Chickweed is highly nutritious, providing vitamins A, B complex, C, iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorous, zinc, manganese, sodium, copper, and silica. Due to the high content of saponins, it helps increase the body’s absorption of nutrients. It is so highly nutritious, in fact, that it was commonly recommended for convalescents and people recovering from illness to help build strength.

Externally, finely chopped chickweed will soothe and heal cuts, scrapes, burns, eczema, and rashes. Steeped as a tea, it has diuretic properties that promote kidney and urinary tract health. It is also considered an old wives’ remedy for obesity, due to its ability to break up and flush out excess fat cells.

Lamb’s-Quarters

This common weed is also known as “wild spinach”, and while it is quite similar, it is much easier to grow. This plant has tall stems with diamond shaped leaves that are green on top and whitish underneath, and appear dusty at a distance. Tiny green clusters of flowers grow from the top in spikes. Anywhere where soil has been disturbed, lamb’s quarters loves to fill in the spaces, which conveniently happens in our garden beds in the spring. It is best harvested before it goes to seed, as it spreads quickly through the garden. It is also important not to harvest it in areas contaminated by chemicals or synthetic fertilizers, as it readily absorbs and stores them.

Lamb’s-quarters is much higher in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, B Vitamins, calcium, phosphorous, niacin, iron, and protein than spinach and most of the other domesticated greens. You can use lamb’s quarters the same way you would use spinach in any dish. Like spinach, it is high in oxalic acid, which inhibits absorption of iron and calcium. Small amounts of raw lamb’s quarters are fine to eat, in things like salads and smoothies, but larger amounts should be cooked to break down the oxalic acid. It is rumoured to taste better than spinach when steamed, so be prepared for a treat.

Medicinally, lamb’s quarters are used as a tea or simply eaten to treat stomach upset and diarrhea. A simple external poultice can also be made by crushing up the leaves to soothe swelling and burns.

Nettles

And finally, my favorite superfood, stinging nettle. If you live on acreage or near a park, you may find them nettles in patches at the edge of wooded areas or find them in the shady parts of yards, often next to buildings. You may have had unpleasant run-ins with this plant, making it difficult to imagine any warm, fuzzy feelings towards it, but learn to handle it right and you’ll have a great ally in the plant kingdom.

In the spring, if you put on your garden gloves and pinch off the top few inches of the stalk and leaves, you can steam, stir-fry, puree or brew away the troublesome spines for a culinary delight.

Nettles are so high in so many nutrients, that you can’t help but feel like a superhero after eating them. Not only are they chock-full of Vitamins A,C, E, F, K, P and B Vitamins, they are also high in zinc, iron, magnesium, copper, selenium, boron, bromine, calcium, chlorine, chlorophyll, potassium, phosphorus, sodium, iodine, chromium, silicon, sulfur, thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin. Top that off with 16 free amino acids, beta carotene, antioxidants, protein and fiber, and its no wonder they are referred to as nature’s multi-vitamin!

Nettles are delicious in soups and broths. They make a vitamin rich tea, pair nicely with eggs in scrambles and quiches, and even make a lovely pesto when substituted for basil.

Medicinally, nettles are used as a spring cleansing tonic, a blood builder, a PMS treatment, and as a diuretic. Nettles have also gained notoriety as a natural remedy for allergies, asthma, hay fever, hives, and respiratory issues. Topically, the nettle’s sting has been successfully for treating arthritis and tendinitis.

The Benefits of Edible Weeds

When it comes down to it, it is much more efficient to cultivate plants that are already thriving where they’re growing. They will require less watering and overall care. If they are a spreading weed, you will just need to make sure you keep harvesting enough to keep it contained. By working with, rather than fighting some of these plants, you will also benefit from freeing up extra time and energy to devote to other areas of your garden. You can’t get much more local than food harvested right out of your back yard, and you will know it was organically grown and chemical-free. When it comes down to it, what better way to get revenge on your garden weeds than to eat them!

Recipes:

Mountain Hearth Dandelion Fritters

Ingredients:

  • a few handfuls of freshly picked dandelion flower heads
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 cup cold water
  • 1 egg slightly beaten
  • cooking oil of choice for frying
  • sesame oil, cider vinegar and tamari for dipping sauce

 In a bowl, mix dry ingredients, then whisk in water and egg with a fork. Heat enough oil in the bottom of a skillet to create a layer for frying. This can be to your preference, but I try to aim for 1/2 inch depth. Dip each flower head in the batter until thoroughly coated and fry until crispy. In a smaller bowl, mix sesame oil, cider vinegar and tamari to a consistency of your liking for the dipping sauce. Serve hot as a delicious spring appetizer.

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