The Leibsters!

Wow, Kymber from Framboise Manor nominated me to take part in the Leibster Awards. This is very cool as Ralph and I both hope our blog can help and entertain the Blog'o'sphere!

This is what is required to participate in the Leibsters.

The idea of the Liebster Blog Awards is

to discover new blogs and here's what 

you need to do to take part:

• Ensure you thank the person who has nominated you and include links back to their blog, after all it's important you share their lovely blog too!
• Include a photo/badge of the Liebster Blog Awards logo on your blog post to show you've taken part. 
• Answer the 10 questions asked by the blogger who has nominated you
• Nominate 5 bloggers that you want to share with your followers and blog viewers
• Create 10 new questions to ask your nominees - have some fun!
• Ensure you make your nominees aware that they have been nominated so they know to answer their questions!

First I will answer Kymbers questions....

1. what is your favourite thing to do when you have 2 free hours all to yourself?

I would have to say read a good book. No research, no facts just a good story.

2. who is your favourite author and why?

 This is a tough one as I read a very wide variety of books from sci fi to historical fiction and Good thrillers and adventures. I am going to name two #1 Robert  A.Heinlein.  His science Fiction always had men who were men and women who could be tough and strong as needed and yet were women in every sense of the word....Humn Kymber comes to mind.  #2  Clive Cussler, His fame is in his strong men and brilliantly smart women. Romance with no sex for the sake of selling a book. Dirk Pitt and Kurt Austin are wonderful and so is Gamay Trout, a brilliant woman scientist.

3. when it snows do you make snow angels or snowmen? (c'm PP - we all know that you do!)
I  make snow bowls :)

4. do you ever walk through the mud and/or grass in bare feet?
I absolutely love going barefoot, it drives poor Ralph crazy but as soon as I can it barefoot for me....I have to say the chickens and turkeys think my toes are food which makes it an adventure!

5. do you love where you live?
This is heaven on earth for me, Ralph and I looked long and hard for our farm and we still cannot quite believe we have found such a perfect spot for us. It makes me happy just to look out the window in any direction and even the rain is wonderful!

6. what is the most exciting thing that you ever grew and were thoroughly pleased with yourself by?
Peanuts...I come from an area where we had 90 days or less frost free, to grow peanuts was just so amazing for me and then to roast and eat them...totally cool! Valencia Red, Carwhile's White and Schronce's Black were the varieties.

7. what is your favourite house cleaning tip?
Don't  use your vacuum cleaner to clean out the wood stove unless you want the smell of woodsmoke in the house every time you vacuum!

8. what is your favourite alcoholic drink?
Shandy on a hot summer day.

9. do you love swimming?
Yes I do and I miss the river back west but someday maybe we will be able to clean out our pond here.

10. if someone got you a mermaid tail, would you wear it? in private and in public?
I would certainly try it in private. I am not the bold and brave sort when it comes to that sort of thing:)


Now to my nominees:

#1 E-i-e-i-omg

This site is  fun, touching and very inspirational for anyone who makes the change to self sufficiency and independence! There is always something new going on and adventures with animals...and the dogs!

#2 The Dancing Donkey

I have grown to love the donkey's that live here but there is so much more to this site. It always cheers me to see the goings on about the place! From Border collies to strange milk cows it all flows out from the wonderful Donkey's!

#3 The Rock Whisperer

There is much to be said for this honest blog. It is a window into how people change and learn and make things better for themselves even on a small property.

#4 Hillbilly Hobo's

 A real glimpse into a homestead with all the fixin's and critters. It is down to earth with success and failure and a deep sense of accomplishment.

#5 Octoberfarm

This is a recipe filled joy and gives you a wonderful look into a deep and caring heart. I follow the children in the food program and the wonderful Chow Teddy and always come away with a marvelous feeling that there are such good people in the world.



Now for the questions:

#1- If you were going to travel where would you go?

#2- What is your favorite time of day?

#3- Who is the most inspirational woman in your life?

#4- If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?

#5- What is your very favorite food?

#6- Have you been to a movie lately and if so what was it?

#7- What made you decide to start and maintain your blog?

#8- When was the last time you sat down and read a good book?

#9- What kind of costume would you wear to a costume Ball?

#10- What was one thing you had a trouble learning?

Subtle Pervasiness or Industrial Food Infection

Did you know 90% of sugar beets in the US are GMO.....94% of Soy is GMO....88% of corn is GMO.....70% of cotton is GMO.

Although the DNA changes in sugar beets does not impact us after processing the beet to sugar, the glyphosate [Round-up] used on GMO crops still does!
The process with Round-up goes like this. Spray the field with Round-up before planting the beets to kill any weeds or crops from the previous year. The field will get sprayed again to kill weeds that emerge during the crops growth. There is residue in the farmland from years of Round-up use and glyphosate is proven to be a very dangerous chemical.

I have become a bit label obsessed...is this why the Federal Government wants to enact the Dark Act....to allow food companies to use the cell phone QR Codes as labels...so you can scan the label and find the information. That is the subtle nature of this food knowledge problem. Ralph had a app for his phone so we could find out food information above and beyond the visible label information...90 % of the stores we shopped in had bad reception and the information was unavailable.

I can envision a mother shopping for food trying to juggle food and children, a shopping cart and her cell phone to scan a QR code. Then running into no reception or poor reception, she will fling up her hands and certainly not spend any time looking up food she is interested in.

Ralph and I have and are researching more about food and how to be healthier. This is an ever expanding topic and it is like dominoes....one thing leads to another and another and soon your way down the rabbit hole with Alice! We are learning that the American diet is incredibly unhealthy. The FDA regulates the use of chemicals and additives but there is little research into the accumulative effects of all the artificial ingredients or the preservatives or how they interact together.

A simple package of treats that we used to have in the vehicles when we traveled for quick snacks has some disturbing things in it:

- Reduced Iron

- TBHQ [Tertiary butylhydroquinone]

- Sodium Metabisulfite

- Disodium Inosinate

-  Sorbitan Monostearate

- Titanium Dioxide

This is such a small example of 'things' in food, but it is quite disturbing to think it isn't in just one food, the far larger percentage of processed and fast foods contain these or like these ingredients. The accumulation of chemicals that are processed to add to processed food takes it farther and farther away from (A) Being real food and (B) Being healthy  food.

The actual base for the food for example Wheat, is grown with chemicals and modifications, then it is sprayed with Round-up to speed ripening, then hauled to a plant where all the goodness is processed out of it. Then it has all the goodness added back to it with artificial ingredients that last longer, look pretty and don't cake or clump. The  base flour is then used to make snack cakes and treats and more things are added to those products, Chemical, artificial and preservative to make them look bright and tasty and stay on the shelf for weeks on end.

When I was a child my Mother made bread  on Monday, it would mold if we didn't use it, now loaves of bread last far longer and they tend to dry out before mold grows  on them.

We never thought of washing apples we had just picked off the tree before we bit into their juicy goodness, Now stores sell products specifically for washing fruit and vegetables before you use them.

So now we have a very sick and ailing population starting at childhood. I listen to advertising concerning child hunger in this country and I wonder if those children who are a bit hungry might be better off for it. I read and research food and get a sick feeling  in the pit of my stomach at how all pervasive the problem is and can we get a grip on it in time?

I know we are more and more anxious to get all of our food from the farm. There is a small ray of hope if we can get more people to grow their own food or at least learn to read and research what they do eat.

In closing watch what you eat and grow something edible, even in an apartment you can have small tubs and buckets with greens in them, fresh greens with no sprayed chemicals on them, greens you can eat right out of the pot!

God Bless you all.