July 7, 2009
· Filed under Environmental Detox, Health Care, Natural Remedies, herbs · Tagged addiction, cigarettes, habit, healing, health, how to, non toxic, products, remedies, smoking, toxic
In your efforts to quit smoking Tobacco, you are going to have to deal with your nerves. In fact, this is the one thing that disrupts the process the most. I quit smoking several different times in my life and went back years later, more than once, and the last time I quit the hardest part was being tense and wanting the soothing effects of Nicotine. Another factor people overlook is the comfort of habit. I was so used to picking a cig out of a pack, lighting it up, fingering it, tapping it, butting it… etc.. it was a routine and routines bring familiarity and comfort.
So while you are trying to stop destroying your body with smoke, you are also contending with nerves, habituation, discomfort and change in routine. There were times during the day and certain things I did that I had come to associate with smoking. And when I went to do those things I also went after a smoke. It was hard to keep doing those things without a cigarette. All of these reactions though are tied to our feelings of comfort and security, combined with the soothing effects of Nicotine, the hard part of quitting the smokes is mostly about our emotions and nerves.
There are nothing on earth that soothes nerves or settles anxieties better than herbs. Although it’s not a good idea to just replace Tobacco with herb cigarettes or to quit smoking cigarettes by smoking Marijuana, there are herbs you can use in different forms that will help quell the tensions that arise when you quit smoking. Here is a list of a few of them and how you should use them to get the best effect:
Read the rest of this entry »
June 30, 2009
· Filed under Environmental Detox, Health Care, Herb Recipes, diy · Tagged cigarettes, crafts, habit, handmade, healing, herbs, homemade, how to, natural, plants, recipes, tobacco
Making homemade herbal tobacco may be a good idea these days with cigarette taxes going through the roof and people trying to quit. Herbal tobacco is not as addictive as leaf tobacco and can be used to help wean the habit off of cigarettes and then easily just stop. In my next post, I am going to address herbs that can be used to help with nicotine withdrawal. If you combine herbal tobacco as a substitute for commercial cigarettes and also use the right herbs to help ease the pains of withdrawal, you might be able to quit painlessly And, as a bonus, herbal tobacco is lot less expensive and nobody’s taxing herbs right now.
So if you’d like to take a stab at making some herbal tobacco and rolling up your own smokes, then I have a few recipes for you to try. Do not be fooled into thinking that smoking herbs is going to be any better for you in the long run because drawing smoke into your lungs on a consistent basis is bad no matter what. So you should stop doing it as soon as you get off the hard stuff. Try to use the most natural rolling papers you can find or smoke the stuff in pipes. You could make cigars out of herbs but it would be a tricky thing, drying out leaves in a consistent manner, curing them and then rolling them into logs. It’s possible but it takes talent.
And remember that tobacco is actually a herb, as well. It has been used throughout history in many a manner, even as a healing property. So it is not inherently evil. However, the addictive properties of many herbs, which include poppies, datura (jimson weed), marijuana, salvia, naked ladies and deadly nightshade (belladonna) as well as tobacco, should be fair warning to treat them with respect and not abuse. They can do wonderful things under the right conditions and for the right reasons, but they all have the ability to turn you into a slave. So treat herbs with care and these herbs, in particular, with a lot of care. Do not overdo.
So if you are ready to take a shot at herbal tobacco, then here are the recipes. And next week I promise to post the herbs you can take at the same time to help quell the nicotine cravings.
Read the rest of this entry »
June 22, 2009
· Filed under Hobbies & Crafts, Home and Garden, diy, gifts · Tagged crafts, diy, foraging, green, handmade, how to, natural, plants, projects, wreath
Summer Wreath Project: Sunflower
This is a design of my own that I came up with a few years back and have made every other year or so since. It is a really pretty wreath when finished and it brightens up any room. It doesn’t involve a lot of expensive ingredients and all of it is easy to find in craft stores and even Wal-Mart. Cheer up the sunroom this year with this lovely wreath.
What you will need:
Large Eucalyptus Leaves
Yarrow
Lemon Leaves
Floral Wire
Wire Wreath Base (the larger the better!)
Cattails or Bottlebrush Anthers
Spanish Moss
Floral Picks
Floral Glue
Simple Instructions:
Using floral glue or hot glue gun, grab handfuls of the Spanish Moss and attach it to the wire frame with the glue. Bunch it so that it does not stick out of the sides or straggle. Also pad it down (taking out extra if need be) to make it lay flat and not be “bumpy”. Wire it in if need be to make it lay flat. But also make sure it is thick and covers the wire frame completely. I have found that wrapping the bunches of moss and the wire frame over with the floral wire helps to make it even and tight.
Next, sort out the large Eucalyptus Leaves and bunch them together in a group of 4 of 5. Wire them together and then tack them to the wire frame. Tack bunches closely together all around the frame so that it covers the frame. Allow the leaves to point in different directions to give the wreath a full and fluffy look.
Group together the anthers in bunches of 5 and wire together as a group. Tie in two groups of 5 anthers on each side of the wreath, measuring on average 1/4 length from the top and the bottom of the wreath sides. Make them even to the eye. You should have two bunches of anthers on each side. See photo for clarity.
Plug in the large Yarrow heads at the very top and very bottom of the wreath. Make sure they are balanced and then wire them in. Push Lemon leaves in behind the Yarrow all the way around to make them look like Sunflowers. Glue them in with the glue gun or floral glue or use the floral picks.
The finished wreath smells fantastic and looks gorgeous when fresh. It dries gracefully as well, I have one that is several years old that is still hanging. This wreath loses its smell about every 2 years so it’s a good idea to make a new one every so often. Have fun!
Technorati Tags: crafts, diy, foraging, green, handmade, how to, natural, plants, projects, wreath
June 15, 2009
· Filed under Environmental Detox, Home and Garden, Personal Care · Tagged health, green, eco, shopping, chemicals, products, non toxic, safe, cleaning, toxic, washing
I have done a lot of posts in the past that have covered the area of cleaning the home and doing it in an environmentally safe and non toxic fashion. But there is always more to discuss, as the concept of cleaning goes beyond just scrubbing the tub and scraping the stove. You also clean your clothes, your body and the outside area of your residence. In truth, all of this cleaning requires chemicals of various kinds and even the stuff you are sudsing up with in the shower can be toxic both to the planet and to you.
Consider first the washing of clothes. Did you know that only the toilet wastes more water than the washing machine in the average household? It’s that wasteful… and expensive! And as that water drains out, it takes with it the chemicals from your laundry detergent. This means they end up in the drinking water supply and how do they clean drinking water? With chlorine and other chemicals, all of which amplify the toxicity of the detergents you use. While popular, name brand detergents do a great job cleaning your clothes, they also do major damage in the environment. They also have an effect on you and your family, either on the front end where they contact your flesh through the wearing of the washed clothing… or on the other end where they end up in your glass.
Read the rest of this entry »
June 10, 2009
· Filed under Environmental Detox, Natural Remedies, diy · Tagged cosmetics, health, how to, shopping, chemicals, products, non toxic, safe, cleaning, toxic
If I was going to eliminate only the worst toxic stuff from my world because, let’s say, it was too expensive, complicated or uncomfortable to work my way through ALL of it, then which ones would I choose? How would I know which ones were the worst and how would I find them in that pile of junk I have around me that I’ve become dependent upon and used to? Well, I know that this is a daunting task and it could take a novice years to get up to snuff, as well as taking many months to work the bad stuff out and to find new.
So knowing this and thinking about how people are, I thought it might be a good idea to give a list that people could write down, print out or record for future reference. A simple enough list to be added to the grocery and household shopping lists. So I came up with a “worst chemicals in the world” type of list with the names they go by on the labels you read so that you can snoop them out in your buying expeditions. I also give a short description of what they do and why there are bad for you so that you can understand that this is important. So get your pen, open your text document or start the voice recorder. Here they are:
Read the rest of this entry »
June 8, 2009
· Filed under conservation · Tagged conservation, ecology, oceans, saving, sea
From The Ocean Project:
The world’s oceans cover more than 70% of our planet’s surface and the rich web of life they support is the result of hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Nomadic peoples were collecting shellfish and harvesting fish long before the dawn of settled agriculture. Great human civilizations, from the Egyptians to the Polynesians relied on the sea for commerce and transport, and now, at the end of the Twentieth Century, our fate is as tied to the oceans as ever. We still rely on fish for a significant portion of our daily protein needs, and more than $500 billion of the world’s economy is tied to ocean-based industries such as coastal tourism and shipping. Perhaps most important, this vast mass of water acts to help regulate the global climate and to ensure that a constant flow of vital nutrients is cycled throughout the biosphere.
But all is not well in the sea. Increased pressures from overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and the introduction of invasive alien species have combined in recent decades to threaten the diversity of life in estuaries, coastal waters and oceans. Now a new threat, global warming, is making itself felt, and its impacts could be devastating for life in the sea.
There can be no doubt that our world is getting warmer. 1998 was the hottest year since accurate records began in the 1840s, and ten of the hottest years have occurred during the last 15 years. By examining growth rings from trees and ice cores drilled in Antarctica, scientists have determined that the past decade was the warmest in more than four centuries, and that the current rate of warming is probably unprecedented in at least 10,000 years. In 1992, the more than 2500 scientists comprising the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that the warming is caused at least in part by emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel use. As the world warms, the outlook for marine wildlife looks bleak unless we can turn down the heat by reducing concentrations of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere.
The startling changes already beginning to affect marine life may turn out to be merely the tip of iceberg. Global warming is predicted to worsen rapidly, with average annual temperatures expected to increase by about 3 degrees C by the middle of the next century. Changes of this speed and magnitude could set off a chain reaction in marine ecosystems with truly appalling consequences for life in the sea and for human communities that depend on it. However, if we act now to reduce carbon pollution from the dirtiest power stations and from vehicle exhausts, we stand a good chance of slowing the warming and helping to save a healthy ocean for future generations.
To read more about this serious issue, go to: The Facts .
To sign a petition for the U.N. to designate this day, June 8, as World Oceans Day worldwide go HERE .
June 2, 2009
· Filed under Home and Garden, conservation, diy, recycling · Tagged annuals, conservation, diy, flowers, gardening, herbs, how to, perennials, propagation, recycling, seeds, sowing, sustainable, wildflowers
Here’s an idea! Plant your garden in with plants that self sow. This will save you money on seeds, on the time spent replanting and make the entire process sustainable over the long term. I am sure you are asking yourself, what plants are these and are they worth planting? Well, I think you’d be surprised to find that many of them are desirable plants, both perennial and annual, and lots of them are flowers. Also among the numbers are herbs and wildflowers, both not only contributory to the beauty and aroma of your garden space but also an addition to your culinary selections. Some of them are used in remedies I have written about on this blog.
The easy propagation of these plants are what make them so magical. Plant it and nurture once only and a new crop of seedlings appear year after year, every single spring, without much more help from you. A lazy gardeners dream! Most of them need some nurturing after first planting, including watering, mulching, weeding and watching for bugs. But once they are in place their part of the garden morphs in a way, becoming a perfect bed for future generations. Oh, joy!
Read the rest of this entry »
May 27, 2009
· Filed under Environmental Detox, Food and Drink, Natural Cooking · Tagged cooking, eating, food, fruit, Genetically Modified, GM, health, how to, products, safe, shopping, vegetables, vegetarian
I have recently come to realize that a lot of the foods I consume are GM, or genetically modified, foods. These are commonly called biotech foods, too, for the fact that they are engineered in a lab rather than on a farm. The idea kind of makes me sick, to be truthful, but being a vegetarian I have discovered that many grains and vegetable proteins are GM.
I suddenly became aware of this fact when I was on several sites for the companies that make may of the products I have been eating. The veggie burgers and meat substitutes I often enjoy are made of wheat gluten, vegetable protein and textured soy are made from GM soy, veggies, wheat and oil. I was shocked, to say the least. I had been stupidly believing that what I was eating was “natural”. I guess the joke is on me.
But according to many researchers, GM foods may have an impact on our mental and emotional health and this is a measurement that is not evaluated in most traditional food safety assessments. On average, the Government proclaims that GM foods are safe and fine to consume. Do you have any idea how many you are currently consuming? I have heard that there isn’t a single can of corn distributed in America that is not GM. Does that bother you?
Read the rest of this entry »
May 19, 2009
· Filed under Environmental Detox, Home and Garden, conservation, diy · Tagged bugs, diy, ecology, gardening, how to, organic, planting, plants, remedies, safe
There is a rising interest in growing organic food here in the USA. There are number of things contributing to this interest, the biggest of which is the recession. People want to save some money and grow their own eats. But there are other concerns that drive the interest, too and these include the food scares we’ve had enough of over the past year, from Ecoli on peppers to salmonella in tomatoes. More people are concerned about the planet and trying to cut down on eating meat, which has been named as a big source of CO2 and methane and so are looking to grow their own, safer and greener, food. I am sure there are other concerns driving this trend, including my own which is simply to have inexpensive, safe, organic food for my vegan diet.
Along with growing organically comes the big concern of how to control pests and diseases. The preponderance of pests that eat up the garden and diseases that fell the best intentions are the sole reason why mankind created tons of chemicals that poison everyone to begin with. If we could just grow a healthy, productive garden by plugging in a seed and letting nature take it’s course, we wouldn’t be in such a quandary. But after years of trying, failing, succeeding and struggling with one garden after another, I can tell you that the bugs will come, the disease will appear and environmental factors will rear their ugly head and put an end to your veggie dreams. So how do you grow vegetables organically? It’s just not as easy as it seems, believe me.
What I am going to try to do in this post is touch the tip of the iceberg with some tips and solutions for common problems you will face when trying to start the organic garden. This will be the first of many posts to come throughout the summer, as the topic is huge and can’t be covered in a single article. But today I will give some basic tips on how to keep those bugs and diseases out of your veggie stash.
Read the rest of this entry »
May 13, 2009
· Filed under Environmental Detox, Home and Garden, Personal Care, diy · Tagged chemicals, cleaning, cleanser, green, health, how to, non toxic, products, safe, shopping, toxic, washing
It is always a dilemma for those of us who want our world to be clean and really clean when faced with choices of what to use while considering both our own health and our environment. I have found, over the years, that many cleaning products sold in retail stores are sensitizing at the least, generally toxic and often downright dangerous. As a young woman, I made my living cleaning other people’s houses and made quite a good living at it. It was hard work, of course, but not bad for your health in that regard. Yet I was exposed to some of the most dangerous solutions made by man; germicidal algae destroyers, scum strippers, wax removers, wood stains, aluminum greasers and shiners, as well as the regular old poisons, bleach and ammonia. I remember smoking my cigarette through bleached white fingers. And, over time, I would get dizzy, nauseous, light headed, breathless and downright stupid, just out of the blue and often after scrubbing down a couple of houses. In time, even our customers began to complain. Being clean, I learned over time, did not necessarily mean sandblasting the world with chemicals.
Of course, smoking didn’t help, either. Thank God I was able to quit.. and no longer do it. So no comments about that, please! And look for my future post, coming up shortly, on the toxic chemicals in cigarettes and some natural, non toxic and herbal recipes for your own safer, cheaper, homemade cigarette. But it wasn’t until cleaning chemicals became a real problem for my health that I began to make different choices. It is just too easy to snatch up the bottle of ammonia to clean the windows and the bleach to clean up the countertops. Commerical products are cheap and accessible, ready to use and easy to store. Just push a button or pull a trigger and wipe! Wow. Everything is clean… and possibly dangerous. If you are curious about what I am talking about here, then read my posts on detergents , air fresheners and dangerous chemicals and how they affect you and your family. And when you are ready to consider a simple, easy, inexpensive and non toxic solution that will tackle just about every cleaning problem you have, then read on. I even have a recipe for you to try today.
Read the rest of this entry »
