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The Traditions of Spring Cleaning

What triggers your spring cleaning? Is it the persistent tweet of the birds outside your window? The warmer air that begins to signal that spring is coming? or is it the extra length of light each day that has been creeping in since the Winter solstice in December?

Whatever your trigger is, to be sure, you are not the first human to have that feeling or instinct that compels us all to stop and at least think about doing some cleaning or organizing. It still remains to be seen as to whether we actually do it!  It depends on how bold your procrastination tendencies are allowed to be. It also may depend on your own traditions and the value you place on the exercise.

Think about old sayings that are still used as compliments like: “There’s no dust collecting on his shoes.” or “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” There are others that are not so much a compliment as a statement of not taking it to heart or spending energy on it like:  “I shake the dust from my shoes on this.”, “Water off a ducks back.” or the one I use a lot that’s a take on that same thought, “Put on your duck suit on.”  If you live in a place where dust is kicked up, a dust analogy works. 

We are body, mind and spirit beings. We can deny that fact if we wish but to embrace it is to promote our own growth.  Spring is about things being fresh and new.  What artist couldn’t resist writing on a newly clean white board?   Feel the same when the board is full of notes?  For a soap maker it’s more likely a fresh bucket of oils.  What kid can resist a new box of crayons?

It’s an amazing conversation when you talk to your kid who just received a new set of crayons.  They look at the old box or if it’s demolished or lost, they just think on it. They ponder the old box and how they used to treat the crayons.  Perhaps there are statements on how they know better how to take care of a box of crayons than they did in the past.  Even such a small thing can be a signal to start fresh and new, yet armed with knowledge learned.  The observation of knowing you’d do things differently might be more likely to be acted upon when there is a fresh slate.  Many take that signal at a New Year.  If some of those intentions didn’t take root then, spring is yet another time to start.  Is it time for a new start?

How about a new soap bar to seal the pact with yourself?  I dare you to step into the shower and gently take stock on where you are and decide what new start you would like to take this spring.  [Insert unabashed Dr. Flower soap promotion here...oh wait done already!]

Happy Washing!

~Regina

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Genetically Modified Organisms - Are we being nice to Mother Nature?

I’m sure that you’ve heard this Acronym before, GMO. What does it really mean?  The first time I heard about it, I had to look it up too.  Read this article and we’ll give you a little bit about what it is and why opinions are so high about it.
 
GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. 
 
What are they?  To get to the heart of it, we have to throw out a few more acronyms. One you’ve probably heard before that has transformed the criminal justice system. DNA evidence ring a bell?  DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid. If it’s a living thing, it has this and another one called RNA. (Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA))   These two acids tell each organism who and what they are as well as how to behave.  They are unique signatures which is why the criminal justice system has been able to use this tidbit of science.
 
DNA and mRNA are part of “genetic code“.  Genetic modifications to this code can change the “how to behave” part of a plant that we use for food.  Desirable characteristics of food as plants are designed or “genetically engineered” into the genetically modified plants for food. Some of these are drought tolerance, pesticide resistance, disease resistance, and cold tolerance to extend the season.  If we stop right there, this doesn’t sound like a bad thing at all now does it? We get stronger plants and better food right? Not so fast…
 
Good intentions, but the trouble is that we’ve messed with the whole balanced, or mostly balanced ecosystem.  Now the bugs and/or microorganisms that live with these plants don’t have enough to eat, they start changing their habits. Perhaps this causes them to swarm or do some other things that further change the ecosystem.  What we start to see is a domino effect of changes that could come right back to this plant that we’ve messed with in the first place.  The other plants around these modified plants start acting differently too.  Some differences we know, MANY we don’t know. We don’t know enough about how the ecosystem behaves as a system to understand how we’ve shifted the balance.  Is what we’ve changed bad for us as humans in the end? 
 
We know that healthy ecosystems have diversity.  The Convention on Biological Diversity defines an “ecosystem” as a “dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit”.  
 
Genetically Modified Organisms do not live and play well with others in the ecosystem sandbox.  They want to be the only ones. This in itself, does not promote diversity which long term, will destroy the ecosystem and us in it.  One of the ways these organisms behave that is already known is that they spread like wild fire. Gene transfer to other plants is mostly done with a mix of windblown pollen.  The most common plants discussed in regard to GMO is Corn, Soybeans and now Alfalfa.  In a closed controlled scientific system or on paper, GMOs may work.  In the messiness of anything can happen natural life, they have the potential to destroy the very thing they were made for, us!  There have been discussions of a buffer area between GMO crops and regular crops.  What has been found is that the buffer is not enough. The regular crops are coming up with GMO code. Even certified organic food could eventually be tainted with GMO crops with cross-pollination.
 
Only to make that worse, the companies that “own” the GMO crops are legally pursuing farmers of regular crops that did NOTHING wrong.  Tragedy all around.  It’s a shame these farmers are not able with time and funds to turn back around and sue these companies for messing with their regular crops instead!
 
How do these changes directly effect us? Is there a connection between GMO food and say cancer? How about obesity?
   
How can we shift the tide?  Promote awareness!  Use our big green purses to say NO to food with GMO crops.  Easy! Let’s go!
Problem:  If you live in the US, labels don’t tell you it’s GMO… Other countries have outlawed them. Fair labeling?
 
We first have to fight for labels to tell us that it’s GMO. Anything non organic at this point is suspect until label laws are enforced. That means ANYTHING our kids eat in their school lunch is suspect.   Concerned?
 
The most recent push by these companies is GMO alfalfa. The pollen from this plant is very invasive and could easily wipe out Organically grown with the blink of an eye.  Let’s start with making sure this bill does NOT pass! There is a petition and more information on what you can do to help here at Food Democracy Now.
 
 
 Happy Washing!
~Regina
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Collards, Bok Choy, Kale...greens for the

I have all these greens this month that I’ve been getting from Rock Star Farms CSA.

What do I do with them all? Discussions are beginning to take shape among the CSA members. Here are a few things that I do with them.

I’m considering making this dish tonight with my Collards from Rock Star Farms Winter CSA: Collards and Potatoes . We’ll see if Canada is as good at Collards as they are hockey! :-O  Save your own environment by not cooking your collards till they are beyond mush! This tidbit of advice goes for any green veggie you get your hands on. All those wonderful vitamins are long gone if you cook them too long.

Here’s a good tutorial on how to prep Bok Choy if you’ve not worked with it. I think the red pepper slices t-totally make this dish look more appetizing! Notice the huge difference between his store bought, sat in the market for days bok choy in comparsion to the picture up top of the beauties from Rock Star Farms! And you wonder why Local food is better? not anymore!

This recipe I found transformed how I cook with greens. They aren’t just for stirfry anymore!  Want your kids to try them? My kidlet likes  them all as long as I toss them with a bit of….

Blonde last night, brunette tonight? on Twitpic  

Try this recipe with ANY greens you have…and don’t fret over the Chinese Eggplant either…toss in what’s in your frig!

Happy Washing!

~Regina

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