Our kids and GMO’s

0

Posted by Annie in Opinion, Organic on September 27, 2013

The kids in Sonora, Twain Harte, and Soulsbyville schools are eating GMO’s everyday in their lunch.  We might as well be giving them poison.  I think this needs to change. Our kids should be eating the very best foods we can give them.  They are our future. We are throwing away our future.

March Against Monsanto - October 12, 2013

March Against Monsanto – October 12, 2013

Get informed about GMO’s. Yes, it’s hard to live a totally GMO-free diet, but little by little we are making the change.  You can, too.  It doesn’t happen overnight.  Heck, with as much as the typical person has in their fridge and freezer, it simply can’t happen overnight. You can start by calling and asking if the foods you currently eat contain GMO’s.  Every week I personally call two or three companies…who has time for this?  But someone has to do it.

I’ve got a small list growing every week and more to add. We have a right to know.  I call them on the phone, Facebook them, e-mail them, and/or write them a letter, then I share the information with you.  Here’s my list (updated regularly). Our family is committed to living a non-GMO lifestyle.

I think back to the way my grandmother did things and I try to do the same.  Surprisingly she was doing things right all along, but don’t expect to hear that from the experts.  They want you sick.  Since eating a partially GMO-free diet, we haven’t been sick at all.  My son used to get sick every two or three months.  I can’t recall any of us being under the  weather at all this year.

I can assure you, if you spend the money to buy grass-fed beef, it’s worth it.  I’m finding we aren’t as hungry as we used to be.  We eat less and the grass-fed — you can really taste the difference.  I can tell the garbage from the good stuff.  I’m loving it. While it costs more, you won’t need as much to be sated. Even four ounces of this stuff will be enough.  At least try it once.

There are sales out there, and this is the time of year when the prices are low.  Did you know some stores put meat on sale in the evening hours after 6 or 7 p.m. they mark down the stuff that hasn’t sold.  If they don’t sell it, they have to either freeze it or throw it out.  I don’t know why the schools or community organizations don’t make an agreement with the stores to get the stuff before it has to be thrown out, but that’s a topic for another day.

We all get used to shopping at the same stores.  You can’t shop them all but you should try the markets in your area.  Some will carry local produce: buy them, they may save you money, they may not.  But it’s a good idea to check, because more and more stores are carrying organic these days. Get to know the people in your neighborhood, join a local co-op, start a garden, share with your neighbors.  Now is the time to prepare because the days ahead are grim and we weren’t all born rich.

Some days I sit and wonder what we will do, but then I stop, remember to take it one day at a time and continue to prepare for hard times ahead.

Please join the March Against Monsanto in your town, on October 12. Come join us in Sonora

Join GMO Free California

Join Beginning Organic (Non-GMO)

Enhanced by Zemanta

Tags: , , , ,

Fall deer update; rim fire

0

Posted by Annie in Opinion, Organic, Outdoors, Twain Harte News on September 17, 2013

Have you ever had one of those days that is absolutely perfect?  The smoke has cleared tremendously and the weather is cool, just right at 66°F.  The Fire Information truck was making the rounds dropping off maps and an information sheet. While this doesn’t give all the information I would want, there are phone numbers to call for more details.

Red-dyed line of fire retardant stands out cle...

Red-dyed line of fire retardant stands out clearly on this Arizona hill. Drop was against the Alambre Fire.

We are all so thankful to the firefighters for working so hard save our homes and businesses.  However, that doesn’t mean all the residents are happy with the forest service, their policies and the other personnel working the fire.  There were a great number of concerns brought up at the last meeting.  The people running the meeting tried to provide answers, but there were a lot of questions remaining.

I was very happy that one lady brought up the fire retardant.  This is our forest – we live here – and we should know what chemicals are being used, what they are comprised of and any long-term effects of it’s use.  Yes, I realize it’s a trade-off, using chemicals to protect homes and such, but is it worth it to save a few homes if the chemicals used leech into our ground water and poison all of us – even those as far away as the bay area who use our water?  I’d rather be homeless than have our water polluted. At any rate, we should be making informed decisions about it, instead of having this conversation when it’s too late to make a difference.

But how many of us knew there was such a thing as fire retardant that could be used on such a massive scale?  I have never heard of it.

Now is a perfect time to come visit if you’ve been waiting for the smoke to clear. The crowds have gone home. It’s “sweater weather,” that’s for sure.  Bring a jacket to be on the safe side.  Jeans are back in style, unless you’re staying in Sonora.

I’ve been doing some canning, I highly recommend it.  It feels good putting up your own fruits, vegetables, even meat.  I canned some pinto beans which will be used for homemade refried beans, and I canned bread and butter pickles.  They could have been a little thicker, but otherwise they were good.

English: Deer Mtn. Fire

Deer Mtn. Fire

Yesterday, I had a surprise, as I was feeding the chickens some lettuce here comes ten deer into the yard, all at once. It was more than a little unnerving. Did you know deer love lettuce?  I have to plan feeding the chickens around the deer visits.  Deer are smart and they hide, laying in wait for something they want.  Droves will show up as soon as I get the lettuce out.

This morning around three a.m., two huge bucks came by, a 12 point and an 8 point buck.  They were an amazing sight to behold.  They had been scraping their horns and the horns were really rugged and marked up.  I had never seen these deer before.  We have a group of three bucks that come through a couple times a week.  There is a group of young females all with a dark coat, which means they were probably siblings. They are each pretty large.

I’m not seeing a lot of young bucks right now, but it could turn out that some of those “does” are actually bucks.  One never knows.

Please respond with your questions or comments.  What do you think about the fire retardants?  Should they be used?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Fall is here…

0

Posted by Annie in Outdoors, Twain Harte News on October 6, 2012

Fall is here, but it feels like winter.  We went from 100° weather down to the 40’s in nothing flat.  Just Thursday is was 102° in Sonora. I wish we would get a little warning. At least when I lived in Michigan we would have sometimes as much as a month of 60° weather. It sort of gets you used to it. As it is now, I’m freezing. I actually turned on the heat.  Sad…

Fawn

We had 8 deer in our yard last night — all at once — 3 bucks, 3 does and a couple of fawns. They had lost their spots already – you could just make out where they had been. They were so cute. We’ve got kind of a refuge up here for the deer. The houses are spread out but too close together for a hunter to hunt, so the deer tend to hang out. We are just on the outskirts of town (easy to do in a town this small). Sometimes the deer will walk by a dozen at a time.

One of them was an 11-point buck. Shawn is waiting for it to grow another point, so he can post a picture to our website, 12 Point Design. They really are magnificent creatures. I can tell the 3 bucks are related, they have a little mask that runs down their noses. If you look closely at the two larger bucks antlers they appears to be glued on. There must have been some fierce fighting going on.

The fawns have lost their spots, just in time. We had a doe and a fawn camped out in the yard one afternoon. They were within eyesight, maybe 50 yards or so. They were just laying there in the brush. I had seen them earlier in the day, so I knew the fawn was there, but all I could make out was the doe. I got out the binoculars and low and behold, there was the fawn, it blended in so well with it’s surroundings that I just couldn’t see it.  It had been laying down next to it’s mother. It’s amazing how well nature works. Everything has a time and a purpose.

The aspens are changing colors and fall colors will be making drastic changes over the next few weeks. Don’t forget to get outside and enjoy the cool crisp air.

Top Ten Locations for the Best Fall Camping – Yosemite is at the top of the list, of course.

Leaf-peepers get ready for another ‘Awesome Autumn’ – Plumas County claims to have fall colors to see. Join them on Facebook.

If you decide to come to the mountains, bring a coat and your shorts. You never know what you’re going to get. It can go from the high 90’s to the low 40’s every day. The pass is still open, but it could close at any time.

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

Tags: , , ,