This liminal moment: summal, fummer? August 35th?

Good morning September.... it's slowly becoming August lite here. Still hot, rapidly whirling toward my birthday and the equinox. I have been gathering the late summer bounty- tomatillos, peppers, tomatoes.
I've also begun sowing the fall bounty and back to work in the gardens....





Here is what I'm doing: I'm picking up clearance annuals. I've planted dill plants and ornamental peppers and nasturtiums! They are beautiful, enjoy the heat/cool dynamic we will be rocking out with for another few months (?) or weeks.
On August 15, I planted my first crop of the fall garden. I planted green bibb lettuce and red leaf lettuce. I also planted a row of Ruby Red chard, pulled out my old kale, planted a small plot of carrots and some rows of spinach. As usually happens in this liminal moment, this threshhold moment, some seeds were so fertile and ready to grow that the 90 degree days didn't phase them. The spinach promptly told me to go to hell, though. So I replanted more this weekend. I can take rejection.

Seed germination basics: they don't like hot weather and will germinate more evenly in sub 85 degree days! Keep the seed bed evenly moist. If the seed dries out, it's dead. I watered every late afternoon- not ideal, but it works for me. Once you see dichots, keep the watering even and don't let them dry out. They are very tender. If they are being attacked by critter (insect, pests, birds), use a floating row cover to protect. Choose seeds that are meant for the time you are growing. Don't start tomato or basil seeds in late summer for a fall garden. Don't start melons. Here is a great list of what to start when! It is from K-State and is the gold standard. The first pages are how many seeds to plant for the yield you want. Page 3 is the calendar.

My sweet potatoes and okra are happy. My calendula needs cool and looks burnt out. The comfrey offered a second bloom and I collected it! The wild original roses, the old ones, are putting on the second show. The nasturtiums like it dry and coolish- so they offer their bubbly presence. And the freaky, perennial rosemary?? It's decided to bloom. I mean, this plant shouldn't be wintering over. But it's moved into sub-shrub territory!

On the docket this fall-- I'm going to interview my yoga teacher, Sharyn, and get the good info for you on some of the poses that have been reinvigorating me. What about stimulating the thryroid by locking my throat bandha, jalandhara bandha? What poses might support my liver, kidneys and adrenal glands? Also, I found this wonderful article on the psoas muscle. It's a profound eye-opener for me, one of those muscles that does so much.

Have you read this much-shared article about the link between gut flora (pro-biotics HEEEYEEE!) and mental illness/ mental health? It is really good support for the notion that we, adults, should support our gut flora in as many ways as we can. We should identify and eliminate foods that are allegens to us and which make us feel crappy. Then, we should help our guts repair themselves by eating lots of probiotic foods/ probiotic supplements. I don't actually take any supplement but I do give them to my kids. The second part of the article is that gut flora is made or broken in childhood. FEED YOUR KIDS FERMENTED FOODS- like good unsweetened yogurt, kefir, kombucha, fermented vegetables (uhm, good luck?). Or use a probiotic supplement.

Update on RAGWEED (which I keep writing as rage weed. Yes. Rage. Weed.): the ragweed tea, not infusion, is very helpful to me. I do not have intense ragweed allergies this year. The tea has kept my histamine reaction to a minimum! What I did was make a large jar of it. I pruned off ragweed leaves and put them in hot water. Very complex. Then I steeped it for  20 minutes or so. I drank a couple cups every few days. Pleasant. Surprising.]
I know that some people who have bad allergies to Ambrosia (that's the botanical name for all ragweeds) should NOT DO THIS. But for those of us with sneezing and itchy eyes who seek relief without pills, it's pretty nice. 
[Please consult someone knowledgeable before picking random leaves....  I mean, you know that. But consult me, send me a message with a picture if you don't know ragweed by sight. I'm here to help!]


Again a list of what I've linked above:
The K-State garden calendar. All pertinent info about vegetable seeds, when to start, how to gauge yield, perennial/annual status, warm/cool season crop and a basic calendar.
The yoga, psoas muscle article.
The link between gut flora and mental wellness.

Dairy v. Yogurt

Wow, I actually got a lot of reaction (all positive, thank you) to the last post! So let me clarify something, to the best of my knowledge and experience.
Milk (cow, pasturized) is not the same as yogurt or kefir. Dairy sensitivity is a common issue for many, many people (usually people of color, Semitic, Asian and anyone not of Northern European descent). It is the lactose and the milk sugar (it's what makes babies lap up milk- it's naturally sweet). So you can take out lactose (that weird, expensive Lactose Free milk) or you can add cultures to it (Acidophilus/ bifidus milk, as I mentioned yesterday). My family does not have an allergy. Pookie is simply sensitive to it and we are adults, so not made to digest milk sugars. So we use the acidophilus type. It makes it more yogurt-like.
Yogurt and kefir is usually made from cow milk.  [I can recommend and love Goat and Sheep kefir and yogurt from now until eternity. It is so digestible and wonderful. But mommy needs a new pair of shoes, occasionally, and has to grocery shop at ONE store, not three. It's really expensive and is only available at the Merc- much love! It is also really strong tasting- and that means that for most people it won't fly.] It is fermented and has almost NO milk sugar. If you are avoiding dairy, please do not avoid fermented dairy. All of the bad stuff is gone from this kind of dairy. Even people with yeast-overgrowth in their systems benefit from a strong, daily dose of unsweetened yogurt/ kefir. If you have taken antibiotics, take kefir or yogurt as part of your daily routine.
---Also, in babies, you can add L. Reuteri (as I mentioned yesterday) to aid in their dairy digestion. If a new baby is having gassy, colicky fits, keep breastfeeding but add probiotics (especially Reuteri) to mommy and baby diet. Add a lot of it (teaspoons a day for both) and do not stop for months. Really, studies show that it's the continued addition of the bacteria that helps. I bet there will be a normal flora population by 6 months old.
Ultra Pasteurized
Another issue in the milk department, that can be avoided, simply by knowledge: Ultra-pasteurized. When you buy Horizon Organic milk or half n half or cream, most times it is Ultra-P. This is done to prolong the shelf life of unstable dairy. (All dairy is time sensitive, right?) The issue is for shipping mostly- you are not buying local milk from local cows. This is a national brand people. Now, my biggest issue with this, taste notwithstanding (a bit different), is that it isn't good for any of us to drink cow milk form 2,000 miles away. Our cows here eat good stuff that helps our immunity to seasonal allergies and also the amount of fossil fuels it takes to ship milk cross country is outrageous. Iwig dairy is a family-owned local Wamego dairy which is available at Dillons and Checkers in Lawrence, maybe at the Merc too. One of my most favorite food books is Barbara Kinsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. She illustrates why ultra-pasteurized dairy is weird. It cannot be made into cheese. The most basic cheese is mozzarella. Simply heat it, add a few things and it will eventually become a basic cheese. But not if you use ultra-pasteurized milk. It will never come together. Uh, the molecular structure has been changed? That cannot be really good for us. Too much science. I just wanted cream.
 
Another commenter, rubigimlet, mentioned she uses colloidial silver to kick her recurrent sinus infection. My dad believed in colloidial silver for just that reason- the nasal spray. It is for a sharp, yearly kick in the sinus pants. But I want to add a word of caution here: it is highly anti-micorbial. It will naturally kill everything in its path. Our consumerist society now puts it in everything from socks to cutting boards. With every wash, colloidial silver goes down the drain into our watershed and pollutes and kills everything. No joke. Do not buy things with CS in it, if you can avoid it!! As with most things, moderation is not the problem, overuse is the problem.
Cheers xoxo

So I gave up, and gave in....

I gave in to being busy and working outside. And being a mom and moving and redoing my childhood home. It's now New Year-ish and this sh*t is REAL. I mean, it's still going on heavy duty. The construction of my mom's side was so slow and is still just dragging through the mud. Those guys....

But Andiy, owner at floraandfauna salon, suggested I invest as much energy writing on my own blog to writing on the professional, not-my-company blog. Sooooo. Yep, I want to do it. 

In keeping with the original intention of the blog, much of what I'm thinking of and processing is herbal/ health related. I DO have two small ones that are constantly falling prey to something. Here is a rundown of the fall and winter herbal remedies I've been utilizing.

  Comfrey Oil: I use this on any owie. Diaper rash (Pookie), knuckles raw from washing in anti-bac soap at school (Myrna), sores, skin abrasions, even the old C-section scar that gets yucky feeling. I also found a gal making a traditional Boo Boo salve at Lola Giant this year. This salve will always have St. John's Wort oil (nerve healer, natural sunblock, magic), comfrey oil, plantain oil (not always but often), maybe some scented essential oil like lavender, etc. This is a life saver for knuckles and booties. To make, use good quality olive oil. Harvest comfrey at height of bloom time (Father's Day and a re-bloom in fall often) and soak, infuse in oil for many weeks (6) in a dark cabinet. Do not allow space at the top- it will mold. Do not be put off by the smell- it is a healer. Use a solid jar and canning lid.

Hal had a real affinity for Comfrey. It grows everywhere in our yard. If you're interested and in the 'hood, come let me give you a start. It is a bit invasive! It's in the Borage family (boraginaciae). Please only take Comfrey externally. If you must take it internally, know that it has been shown in (questionable) lab tests to be harmful to liver/ kidneys. Here is what I told both Duckie and another herbalist I follow on Facebook: Comfrey heals what ails, and, also, put comfrey on anything that needs comforting. Anytime you have a freaky large wound and are worried about shock, fear (yourself or the person with the wound) and bleeding, stuff it with crushed comfrey. It will staunch wounds until you can gather yourself to take the next step. I was hit by a car as an 8 year-old, got a huge wound on my thigh, refused to go to the hospital and was treated with comfrey. It worked in my case. 

(DO NOT SKIP MEDICAL CARE, PEEPS.)

Rosemary Oil: another infused oil. This one is dicey but I have a fantasy it works. I made a great one, many Christmases ago for my dad. He said it relieved arthritis and stiffness from his joints. It's a heater. And it is pro-circulation. (Side note: I'm kinda vain. And I have spider veins. It runs in the family- both parts) So I mix this oil with lotion as my daily leg moisturizer. I like it. I have no other proof that it does anything beyond help move blood around.

Vitamin D in capsule form. Take this, all of you who take vitamins. The RDA, again kind of a crock from a regulatory agency that does not really recognize supplements as helpful, recommends that people get 400 mg. However, most everyone says at least 2,000 mg a day is more like it. I give my kids a small capsule, infrequently. It is a remarkable help in fighting infections and ailments.

Probiotics. CHOIRS OF ANGELS! I do not mean just acidophilus/ bifidus. Those are fine but are often turned to sugar in our intestines. I do feed the girls acidophilus milk because they both seem healthier with it. The reaction to dairy can be messy if it is just normal dairy. Get my drift?

               Firstly, consider taking probiotics to aid in the health of your guts. Mending broken gut flora aids in allergic reactions, sensitivities to food (wheat, milk, diary, etc), fights cancerous cells, aids stomach acid production and thus digestion, fights influenza and other nasty viruses, fights stomach bugs and diarrhea. 

               Secondly, eat fermented food. Sauerkraut, soy sauce, natural unsweetened yogurt (Unprocessed! No powdered milk. No sugar.), Kefir. OMG< we drink a lot of berry flavored Kefir. I really do add sweetening to my yogurt- honey or jam. But I don't buy yogurt with it mixed in.

               What kind to get? My sis says to get Walgreens mixture which is L. Reuterti and another very useful, hard to get type (Rephresh). But I, having small ones, got the powdered Reuteri. I put spoonfuls into milk, yogurt, applesauce, mac and cheese.... It is for kids because of the nature of the L. Reuteri strain. However, it's transmitted through breastmilk and it is necessary for adults. So, I'm still taking it. Thanks Dad- he got this for me when Myrna was first born. I didn't realize how necessary and useful it was at the time. When you undergo any sort of hard work and/ or trauma, your gut flora is weakened. When a baby is born C-section, s/he is provided with only a fraction of the amount of helpful gut flora that a baby that goes down the birth canal gets. Really. And this might be the CAUSE OF COLIC??? I'm serious. It's being tested. It's enough to hand it out at all births, if that is the case.

This is a brief herbal rundown of what I've used this Fall for treating crappy stuff that goes around. I also used a whole bottle of kid's glycerine Echinacea tincture. Because, land sakes, the kids were sick for like 6 weeks alternating. It helped though. We also had a bout of hand, foot and mouth virus move through the 'hood (one of the kids at babysitter care, then to us with a mild version and then to Mandy with a HUGE version). Very strange one. So when I say that probiotics help fight viruses, I mean it. Take it all the time!

Topics to come: Anti-inflammatory supplementss, herbs, etc. I really eat this diet (as much as possible) and take supplements to assist.