Archive for May, 2009

Found here.

I sent this email to my family today thinking they would find me “over the top” only to get replies to the contrary. So I decided to share it with you too! Memorial Day can easily be about the barbeque and in fact, I have one planned today for very own personal Viet Nam vet to make him feel special. But it isn’t all about the food, beer and company!

Enjoy:

Today I watched the President address an audience for Memorial Day on CSPAN. It reminded me of those in my own family who have made it so I have the things I have.

Beginning with my great grandfather Edwards who was a prisoner at Andersonville GA during the Civil War, to my father who faced down Nazis in the Ardennes at the bloodiest battle of World War II at The Battle of the Bulge (his name is on the memorial wall, I took pictures when I was there). My brother who served in our United States Air Force and my husband who went to Viet Nam.

Saturday I was in the airport. There was a family next to me that were loud and obnoxious. I became judgmental when I saw the young woman with a baby “assuming” she was a single parent. Her sister, father and mother all were on my nerves. I wanted them to move away so I could self absorb in just getting home myself.

Then the plane they were waiting for landed. And off came a young man in military uniform who got to come home and see the baby he never met and was met by a wife sobbing who had missed him for far too long. My paradigm shifted immediately. I know where this young man was coming home from. He is one of the lucky ones.

Thank you to those of you who have made it so I can live in the land of the free because of the brave! Sometimes when we complain about America, the economy or whatever we forget that the freedom to bitch about whatever comes from the sacrifices of those who make it so for us.

I know, I know this email is sappy but isn’t this what this day is all about? Later

Have a great Memorial Day to one and all!

Photo by Computix

After musing about how food is processed and the dangers we hear regarding processed food my husband and I decided that we would grow our own veggie garden. With the words pounding in my head, “can’t eat pork; swine flu, can’t eat chicken; bird flu, can’t eat meat; Mad Cow, can’t eat eggs; salmonella or can’t eat fish; heavy metals in their water. Well I drew the line about veggies and fruits that have the “bad” herbicides and pesticides” and decided to plant some things I know are okay to eat. Hikes! So much bad press about the four letter word, F-O-O-D!

So I have two healthy peach trees started and I got online to buy a tree called a “fruit cocktail” tree that has been grafted with four different fruits. Growing well I might add. Next came the desire to grow the veggie garden. At first we were not sure where to begin, which part of the yard to give up to this project and finally settled on a whiskey barrel on the patio that has garlic, green onions and cilantro growing along with a hanging tomato planter. Then we made a space for tomato and peppers plants and well, more garlic in a flower garden that we re-homed veggies in this space as well. And finally to complete this project we moved on to a 4 x 6 foot raised bed that will have more tomatoes along with some other veggies, we haven’t decided on which ones yet. I think maybe eggplant would be a nice addition. Or possibly sweet corn, squash, okra, or snap beans. Another thing I did was plant yellow squash in my flower beds to run in between my flowers. It is a great idea to co-mingle the plant habitats and it adds dimension to the gardens.

Gathering all the information I could find led me to realize that I am not alone in the quest to grow a veggie garden. Raised beds are a convenient and easy way to have a few fresh veggies and it is not a full time garden project! There are some disadvantages to a raised bed. For example it dries out faster in the hot summer months along with the added expense of the materials to build it. And they are not well suited to sprawling veggies like watermelons. But the great thing is my demographic is in Zone 7/8 so I have the added benefit of a longer growing season so I will be moving on to root vegetables later on in the season.

Water is a concern as well. Like every other cost rising in America the water bill is going up too. So problem solved! Rain barrels. I have two. Yesterday I got my second one after attending a workshop on rain barrel water conservation. And an added benefit there was I got a free rain barrel! Okay well sure I have to paint it and put the hardware on it but that sure beats a couple hundred dollars for a finished one! And I get to participate in a study on rain barrel use in my State.  Since I already use a rain barrel I find this no hardship.

Okay you might say, that seems like a lot of work. Well a short cut is what is called a “Lasagna Garden” which is eco-friendly and pretty easy. It is a no-dig, no-till method and is eco-friendly because you use your yard and kitchen waste to “compost” your new garden. Anything you put in a compost pile you can put in the Lasagna garden.  Here is a list just to name a few things that can go in the garden:

• Grass Clippings
• Leaves
• Fruit and Vegetable Scraps
• Coffee Grounds
• Tea leaves and tea bags
• Weeds (if they haven’t gone to seed)
• Manure
• Compost
• Seaweed
• Shredded newspaper or junk mail
• Pine needles
• Spent blooms, trimmings from the garden
• Peat moss

CAUTION!!!!! Never put meat products in the compost pile.

Just layer the garden alternating greens and browns, shredded newspaper, peat moss, grass clippings, etc. The best time to create this garden is in the fall so that it will be composted for spring gardening. And if you want more detail to get the finished product may I suggest a book I found invaluable by Patricia Lanza. Tips Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding! This book is very useful.

I am pretty excited about trying my hand at this little garden project and maybe I can produce enough to have some tomato sauce for the fall or make homemade salsa. Yum!

Canning…well I will cross that bridge when I get to it!

Time Bandits, we all have them lurking around. They are those bandits who try to take up what little free time we have and rob it from us. This month I am on the warpath against time bandits. I want to find out what mine are and how to guard my minutes of each and every day so that I can buy back some of that time for me. And today was my first day of having some time to me. I actually got to read, garden and do some puttering on a puzzle. But as a person who goes to school, works part time, also does volunteer work part time, deals with chronic pain and runs a house I am asking myself, what is the most effective way to get those time bandits at bay.

First I sat down and looked at my week. I have exactly 168 hours in my week. Everyone does, I spend a good deal of that sleeping because as a person with chronic pain I need my rest! Then there are the “unexpected” time bandits. Those chaotic moments when something or someone pulls on my energy and I found that how I react to chaotic moments tells a lot about owning my minutes. Reaction to use of time is crucial to how we use our time. Negative energy can have an effect on my health issues so I have to be careful with negativism around me.

Here is a tidbit to think about. What if, just what if, the culture we are living in is creating the hype that busy and having no time is our reality? Well, let me explain. If I need to get my energy up I turn on my favorite news channel in the morning, CNN to get me pumping. I was really listening to how my body was getting agitated when listening to verbs like “breaking” news or “pandemic” as a possibility from people who self professedly are loaded up on energy drinks. I tried an energy drink and let me tell ya it was no time at all my daughter ripped that sucker out of my hand because I started talking a mile a minute. No way could I finish one! I would have been so high there would be urgently happening things all over the place in that state of being. But! You may say I am so tired and busy and there is so much going on my in my life I need a pick me up.

Well that is where I decided to take a good hard look at all the stuff “going on in my life” and you know what! Oh my gawd! Most of it is self imposed. No one says I have to volunteer, no one says I have to say “yes” to everyone else. But we learn from our culture that we should, that altruism is the quality of a good person. It wasn’t until I started having chronic pain that I realized how valuable my minutes are. I don’t get a lot time in a day where my energy is high enough to relax.

But you may say I need a break! A real break from it all, an island with a large pitcher of Mojitos and some sun. No kids, no job, no nothing!! I agree we all need down time but what I am seeing is most of us just need to change the kind of activity that puts us in a flow. That is our creative place where work is not an ugly four letter word and when we finish a job well done to be satisfied with. THAT, my friends is what I am talking about! Only in America can we run so fast and do nothing.

About six years ago I was living in Belgium. When I first got there I went into major culture shock because I had “time”. Time to relax and I crashed. I simply freaked out because the quiet was too much I was so used to over stimulation my mind went into overtime. Most of the stores closed on Sundays so there was no running like a mad man on my Sunday. I saw people take walks. Strolls with families or friends to be exact on Sunday, no kidding and I lived in Brussels. That is a huge busy city! I found I had a hard time just sitting, reading or taking my time simply grocery shopping. I was missing the urgency of America’s busy, busy, go, go with the cell perpetually on your ear and the computer going all the time with CNN (or your favorite show) continually streaming out the world’s problems. No wonder my body is responding so drastically. And so here I am, six years later spinning back out of control. And I want my time back!!!

So I am starting with my hours in a day. Deciding when to say no and dear readers this is a tricky one because usually when a person asks, “will you do this or that” there is an implied expected yes from you. How shocking when I started saying no, that doesn’t work for me. Oh sure you will have to put up with the temporary judgment and confusion but just because we can do something for others doesn’t mean we have to! So the next time you feel overwhelmed think about what you have to do and what you are doing and how the environment is pushing in on you and just ask yourself, how will I want to spend my 168 hours this week. I am and it is refreshing!