Operation: Snowflake, No or Go?

Well, I've been getting a lot of information on Snowflake. In an effort to be realistic especially since it's my habit of glossing over the bad stuff when I desperately want something to work, here is my current list of pros and cons to keep me in check. I'll update this from time to time as new information presents itself.




Pros
MCS neighbors won't be trying to poison me daily
MCS community and support system
Inexpensive land/acreage
Higher elevation
Drier climate, only 17 inches of precipitation per year (less mold)
Seasonal change
Quiet
No EMFs or towers

Cons
Coal mining power plants affecting the air quality
Pig farms affecting the air quality
Control burning affecting the air quality
Out of control burning (fires) affecting the air quality
Free-roaming cattle
Free-roaming packs of feral dogs (oh great!)
Lack of rentals
Lack of contractors (some say this isn't true)
Expensive construction and utility hook-ups
Windy
Dusty
Desert (brown, brown and brown)
Drier climate (more wrinkles)
Lacking in quality food source
Poisonous centipedes, spiders, snakes, fire ants, horseflies
Wild rabbits invasive like rats with fleas and diseases
Car-eating rats
Some of the MCSers are people you want to avoid
Non-MCS people are not fond of the MCS community
Construction and building code restrictions
HOTNESS in summer months
Water quality issues: toxic levels of iron and manganese requiring filtration and treatment systems

The problem with a pros and cons list is each individual aspect has a weight. For instance, the having "MCS neighbors won't be poisoning me" , "quiet", and "inexpensive land/acreage" are HEAVY. But so are all those air or water quality problems. Currently from what can surmise from the news and some online posts is there is a raging forest fire in the middle of Arizona. On some MCS online lists people are expressing their need to leave Snowflake immediately. They don't state whether it's because of the smoke. I've been told these fires are common and if they aren't in Arizona, they are in Colorado and the winds blow the smoke right where I wouldn't want it to be. I'm not real excited about coal mining power plants or pig farms either. Also, it doesn't seem to be that easy to move there. No place to rent and difficult to build.

As an example of how unrealistic I can be, I was planning to visit in August and camp in my van. Really? The last time I was in Arizona it got up to 123 degrees and I think I'm going to sleep in a metal can with the sun glaring down on me and not bake myself brain dead? At a higher elevation, I think Snowflake is a little cooler, but not having ever visited, I don't know this for sure.

While I was out blackberry picking a couple days ago wandering in the wilderness I kept thinking, "at least there aren't any poisonous snakes out here hiding in the bushes."

Not sure about Snowflake. More research is needed.

 

What about Maine? At least they have real snowflakes. I recently read it is one of the cleanest, healthiest states and the state with the least about of chemical pollution...hmmm....I need more information.

Anyone know about Maine?

Beef Stew (Recipe)

 

Today I made traditional beef stew by mixing and tweaking some recipes I found online.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients, organic, healthy and natural:

 

 

3 lbs. stew meat, cut up into 1 inch chunks

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon pepper

 

2 onions, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

 

2 cups of water

 

1-2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon paprika

dash of allspice or cloves

 

3 large carrots, chopped

3 ribs of celery, chopped

1 cup of squash, chopped

 

parsley for garnish or just add it to the pot for some greenery (optional)

 

Brown stew meat on all sides in olive oil. Remove and set aside. Add onions and garlic to pan and sauté until soft. Add meat and 2 cups of water. Bring to boil and simmer for one hour.

 

Add carrots, celery and squash and simmer for another 30 minutes.

 

Serve.

 

You know, it's hard to get excited about beef stew after eating Moroccan Lamb Stew! (I've been experimenting and tweaking that lamb recipe every time I make it and I think I have perfected it so check it out again!) Beef stew was good, but not exciting. Maybe because I excluded all the ingredients not on my Paleo-Hashimoto's-MCS diet? No sugar, no Worcestershire sauce, no flour (to thicken the sauce), no red wine, and no potatoes. I remember when I was little the best part was the potatoes. I think as an adult the best part would have been the wine!

 

If anyone has any suggestions on how to make this tantalizing so it's something I might want to crave, let me know!

 

Yum!

 

 



Berries, Bears, and Backwoods Folktales

 

 

I went wild blackberry picking today! This involves hiking up the logging roads into the hills way out in the middle of no where. Wild blackberries have a very short season and every year I miss them. This year I was prepared, but had no idea where to go and most locations are guarded secrets. I finally got some tips from locals.


It's scary being up in the woods alone! One of my neighbors told me of her encounter with a bear while picking blackberries. She doesn't go anymore. I'm more worried about bad men or ticks or snakes.

Every summer as a little girl my grandparents would take us blackberry picking. Each year as we hiked up the hills, over logs, through tall grass and stickers, running wild as children do without fear, we heard the story of our great, great uncle who when he was sixteen years old took his trusty dog with him hunting. Alone. He never came home. A year later they found his remains with his devoted dog still by his side. There was a stick through his eye. The legend has it he must have tripped, the stick went through his eye, and into his brain. Although they assured us he was killed instantly (maybe), I was more horrified about the dog, "How did the dog eat and stay alive for that long?" The lessons were not lost on us: never go up into the woods alone [or you'll end up like Uncle Teddy], watch where you are walking [or you'll end up like Uncle Teddy], and take a dog [so if you die like Uncle Teddy you have a trusty companion to keep you company until they find your body]. To this day every time I'm up in the woods alone, I think of that story. Every step I take, every stick that snaps, I think of Uncle Teddy.

Anyway, I hiked alone, sans dog, for miles. Never saw a bear or a bad man, never encountered a rogue stick, and actually found some berries! So peaceful and beautiful.

 

Wild blackberries are much smaller than the common evergreen blackberries so they aren't as easy to find. They are often on a slope or hill. One of my friends said her mountain-biking son saw them out on the trails, so when I came upon a very steep hill with bike tracks I decided to go up it. So steep I kept sliding. My greatest fear is I'd slide and drop my bucket of blackberries! I probably should have been more nervous about breaking an ankle, or encountering a stick through the eye.

The blackberries in the shade were much bigger than the tiny small-fingernail size of the others. I did find a few really nice ones, but because they are so elusive, I wasn't really picky. I believe they are organic since they are wild, but one can never assume safety. Since they were located up in forestry land, I don't know if the logging companies spray the trees.

 

Eventually I grew tired, but wondered, "When should I stop? How much is enough?" The measurement standard of blackberries is always "enough for a pie." Even though I can no longer eat pies [sob], I gathered nearly enough for a pie. Plus one perfect specimen of salmonberry.

I love the berry picking season! Friday the raspberry farm opens!

Yum!

Another Reason to Never Go to a Hospital...

In the news today a woman who has overdosed on drugs woke up just after the doctors pronounced her dead and just before they started removing her organs. And this is after they did all kinds of reflex tests and diagnosed her as very much alive. I can't believe her family approved to harvest her organs without demanding to see the body first. People are so trusting.

 

The really scary bit is the article discussing about how often stuff like this happens. The incompetency is shocking, but not surprising.

 

For article click HERE!

Beef: It's What's For Dinner, Pot Roast (Recipe)

I grew up on a farm with lots of livestock, including cattle.

 

Every year my dad would buy one or two sweet baby calves and they'd spend a few years getting fat on grass, hay, apples and hazelnuts. After a while the cows started having calves and we ended up with a good-sized herd on our small, three acre farm.


Candy Cow and Aries
 

They all had names: Skippy, Charger, Zeus, Apollo, Aries, Reddy, Echo, Bonnie, and Candy Cow are the names I remember. (I didn't name Candy Cow, my niece did. I was not impressed.)

Zeus, the Bad-Ass Bull
I named him Jupiter after the Roman God, but my dad couldn't get it right and kept calling him Jumper which I thought was so indignant for such a magnificent bull. Finally I said, "Just call him Zeus, dad! Same god only Greek." My dad did much better with Zeus.

 

Then every other year the butcher would arrive with his shot gun and murder them out in the backyard. It was gruesome. Gallons of blood and piles of body parts. Sad, but at the same time fascinating. Regardless of the naming ritual, we learned quickly not to get too attached. They were food. You want a hamburger? Get used to it. At least we knew exactly from where our food came. I think if more people took tours through factory farms, there would be more vegetarians. Our cows were healthy, happy and not mistreated. Well, usually not mistreated.

 

Skippy was my first calf. When he was tiny he'd follow me around the field skipping and jumping around me, hence his name. He got so big his back came up to my shoulder and his playful skipping got really dangerous. Not so cute anymore, but still sweet and friendly, unlike Charger who earned his name even as a calf.

Skippy and Charger

One day Skippy escaped through the fence when no one was home. My dad found him in the garden gorging on the veggies. He tried chasing Skippy out of the garden, but Skippy decided he didn't want to leave. He found snack paradise. And being twice the size of my dad, he had no fear so he skipped playfully (galloped clumsily) in circles around my dad rototilling all the plants up with his hooves pausing every so often to take a nibble of a plant. Frustrated and furious at the destruction of our whole garden, my dad grabbed his gun and shot Skippy in the butt. Skippy high-tailed it outta there although he didn't have much of a tail left. The vet visited later that day, scowled at my dad, and assured us Skippy would live another year or at least until the next butchering season. We always knew when we were eating "Skippy Burgers"...we'd find buckshot in every bite.

 

We grew up on steaks, hamburgers, meatloaf, beef stew, French dip, beef burritos and pot roast and took for granted the nightly gourmet meals of organic, grass-fed, steroid-free beef. As an adult, I'd order anything but steak in restaurants even when it was the menu specialty. I would have been happy to never see another steak in my lifetime. Other than hamburger I've rarely eaten beef let alone prepared it. According to the book Eat Right for Your Blood Type by Peter D'Adamo my body should love beef. For the Paleo diet, I've been eating hamburger, but I'm getting really sick of hamburger no matter how many ways I've tried to camouflage it. I need some variety to keep me from going crazy with food boredom so I decided to branch out to other cuts of beef. Today I'm experimenting with pot roast. I've never made pot roast in my adult life! I remember it being really good. Hopefully my memories aren't wrong.




Organic ingredients needed:

1 pot roast (preferably grass-fed, steroid-free, antibiotic-free)
1 tablespoon ground pepper
2 teaspoons sea salt
pinch of cayenne
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, diced
1 teaspoon of fresh ginger, diced
1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped (optional)
bay leaf
1 sprig rosemary or thyme  or oregano or one of each (you choose)
Kabocha squash, or other squash (optional)

Rub pepper, salt and cayenne into the pot roast.

Heat olive oil in large pan, sear pot roast on medium-high heat on all sides, remove. Put pot roast in baking pan or Dutch oven with fresh herbs and water about 1/2 way up the side of the roast. Add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to pot with the olive oil, sear quickly, remove, and add all of it to baking dish with pot roast. Cover with tight lid. Bake at 290 degrees until meat is very tender. Total baking time: about 3 1/2 hours for 3 lb. pot roast and 4 - 4 1/2 hours for 4 lb. pot roast.

 

 



I was going to add some squash as a replacement for potatoes, but forgot so I baked it separately. Next time I'll add the squash with the carrots and onions to the baking dish and see how that goes.

UPDATE: It was wonderful. Very tender, yummy meat.

I look forward to breakfast leftovers!

Yum!

Echo (one day old)
We ate him...eventually.

Flower Power

I love flowers. My garden is loaded with flowers and blooming herbs. They take priority over the vegetables as one doesn't have to worry about bugs and slugs eating them down to their roots. Less stress and maintenance.

  

 

 

In fact, flowers create a proper bee habitat and hummingbirds feast on their nectar. The hummingbirds love the foxglove, scrambled eggs, petunias, and nasturtiums.

 

 

Prior to my enlightenment (the dark ages), I used to hang those sugar-water-filled hummingbird feeders. I can't imagine processed sugar is good for little birds if it's not good for humans. I sold my hummingbird feeders in my last garage sale and now I concentrate on filling my garden with hummingbird flowers. I love watching them zoom from bloom to bloom and hear the buzz of their little wings.

 

 

The Unenlightened (people who ignorantly know nothing or very little about MCS) are always surprised when they see my garden or hear me talk about flowers. "How can you be around flowers??? Aren't you allergic to them?" It's called Multiple CHEMICAL Sensitivity not Multiple FLOWER Sensitivity! I'm deathly reactive to chemicals not natural flowers! If the flower has been sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, preservatives or any other unnatural chemical, then they are toxic. My flowers aren't. I do, however, have to admit since becoming chemically sensitive the scent of some cut flowers are so strong they bother my lungs. I think that's my overprotective brain sending me signals to watch out. I can smell strongly scented flowers outside and do just fine, but bring them in my home where they overpower the clean air and it can become quite uncomfortable.

Every summer I love cutting little bouquets of flowers to decorate my home and brighten up my office, kitchen and bathroom.

 

The yellow arrangement is so cheerful!

 

 

Nasturtiums, daisies, feverfew, dandelions, California poppies, buttercups and ferns. Notice the weed flowers??? So bright and cheerful. Most weeds are herbs that have gotten a bad reputation over the years for being so evasive. There is nothing wrong with weeds in the proper context: a vase.

In fact, dandelions must be the hardiest and healthiest of all flowers. They can grow anywhere, much to the dismay of most gardeners. Peter loves them. He knows they are very high in nutrients and strengthen kidneys. I used to have a recipe for dandelion pasta, but I was never brave enough to try it. I do what I can to control the weed flowers in my garden because they can so easily take over, but a few here and there won't hurt. In fact, I think Peter is the fault I have any at all!

 

"Chomp, chomp. It's not my fault! Chomp."

 

 

I love the purply-pink pastel flower arrangement:

This one is herbs and wildflowers: chives, yarrow, daisies, oregano, lavender, love-in-a-mist, rose campion, pink mallow and sweet woodruff.

 

 

When I first moved here I spread packets of wildflower seeds everywhere although many didn't germinate right away. Every now and then, even years later, a new species will appear and it's always such a nice surprise. If I don't know what it is I check the flower packets I've collected over the years in hopes of identification.

 

 

My love-in-a-mist (love the name!) has an interesting history.

 

The little seven-year old neighbor girl who lived next store received a free packet of love-in-a-mist seeds from her school. Her mother refused to let her plant them anywhere as she didn't want the perfection of her landscaping marred. This woman's yard was so child un-friendly her daughters were forced to play in their driveway! Beth brought them to me and begged, "You can plant them anywhere you want! They won't hurt anything." She was so worried I would think they'd ruin my landscaping. Hardly! She was so thrilled when they started blooming. I've always called them "Beth's Flowers". Such beautiful little flowers. They are Peter's favorite, too!

"Yum...loving the love-in-a-mist."

 

So happy and cheerful. Flowers are a good way to brighten your day and add joy to your life.

An Apple a Day...

I bought this Chehalis apple tree the first year I was in my house. My first fruit tree! Chehalis apple trees are not only disease tolerant, but do well in our wet and rainy climate. They are also a miniature variety so  I thought it would be fine in the back between other trees.  I didn't understand miniature would still mean large. Stuck too close and between other trees, it was getting only 5-6 hours of sunshine a day. Not only did it not grow much, but never produced apples.  When I finally figured out my mistake the tree was still relatively small so I moved it to the front yard. And it grew and grew and grew!

 

For all that growth it has only produced a total of seven apples in the past five years. Some years I get nothing. Other years I'd get two or three apples, but they were BIG apples. Giant apples. About the size of small grapefruits. I asked everyone I knew who had gardening expertise why I would get two GIGANTIC apples and my neighbor was getting 200 tiny ones. I much preferred my HUGE champions to his pathetic, puny things, but I still wondered. And he was still eating more than me. He planted his tree the same year I did. I felt like a failure.

I finally figured it out: Peter.

"Who? Me? I didn't do it!"
 

Peter's toilet used to be under the apple tree. All that nitrogen was making the tree very healthy. Exceptionally healthy plants being fed excessive nitrogen usually won't blossom nor give fruit. I'm still not sure why it produced lots of blossoms and any apples at all.

"I love to eat trees..."

Peter was exiled from the front yard last year for eating too much and he hasn't been allowed back this year. The tree is LOADED with apples. There is at least one if not two on every branch! I'm so excited!

I'm located on a block where everyone brags about their apple trees. I see my neighbors out in their yards continuously inspecting their trees and comparing them to the trees of others.

 

Apple trees are the constant topic of discussion between neighbors: complaining about the deer eating them, how much they grow, how much fertilizer should be used, how many blossoms they had, and how many apples they can see. In my neighborhood, apple trees are metaphors for success.

 

Mine is the only organic tree on the block so you can imagine my frustration as it was hardly a good role model for organic gardening. This is the first year I don't feel like an utter failure! Hooray!

 

 

Apples are very good for you. Besides being loaded with vitamins and minerals and very good for digestion, they help regulate blood sugar. There is lots of truth to the saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Yep, that's my goal.