Stop factory farming...really?

Following a silver Prius today, I saw a bumper sticker that said, " STOP Factory Farming!!".  Great, I thought, others are getting the message about the Abominable Snow Monster that has eaten all the small farms across the country; but will we really every stop the factory farming??  Really?

In my humble opinion, that is a ship that has sailed, and will continue to sail, for probably as long as this planet turns.  Perhaps I am a pessimist, but I'm also a realist:  Factory Farms make money....and lots of it. This is how we feed the masses, and the masses don't care about where the food comes from or how it came to be; they only care about how much they have to pay for it, and how it tastes.  

Wow, that's harsh, right?  Yes, but in that dark cloud lies a silver, maybe even golden, lining:  You and I can still do what we do; we can still spread the word about how important small farmers are--how they help the local economy, the planet, and our bodies by giving us nutrient dense foods; we can still buy locally, and write our blogs, and teach our children what's truly nourishing to our bodies.  What we can't do is stop a steaming locomotive that will have it's way because it has the money and power to do so.

Focus on what you want and resist the urge to fight what is; that's going the wrong way....and it's exhausting.  Stay positive folks!  Just by spreading the word we enlighten so many others:  That is the way to salvation and a great grass-fed burger!

SPEAKING OF NATIVE AMERICANS....

Speaking of Native Americans, I happened upon a wonderful site that will show some wonderful examples of pre-modern tribes.  My own observation was that the late 1800's seemed to be the last of the full expresssion of their original diets.  I'm no scholar on this, but it is just an observation of the regal expression of their faces from those early pictures; it seems to be missing from the later pictures-- in fact, they are not even in their traditional attire in several pictures during the 1900's.

Here is the site:  www.firstpeople.us   Check it our yourself.

Here is a wonderful legend that was told about maple syrup:  Even too much natural sweeteners can cause harm, as observed by these very wise people.

Native American Legends

Gluskabe Changes Maple Syrup

An Abenaki Legend

Long ago, Long ago, the Creator made and gave many gifts to man to help him during his life. The Creator made the lives of the Abenaki People very good, with plenty of food to gather, grow, and hunt. The Maple tree at that time was one of these very wonderful and special gifts from the Creator. The sap was as thick and sweet as honey. All you had to do was to break the end off of a branch and the syrup would flow out.

In these days Gluskabe would go from native village to village to keep an eye on the People for the Creator. One day Gluskabe came to an abandoned village. The village was in disrepair, the fields were over-grown, and the fires had gone cold. He wondered what had happened to the People.
He looked around and around, until he heard a strange sound. As he went towards the sound he could tell that it was the sound of many people moaning. The moaning did not sound like people in pain but more like the sound of contentment. As he got closer he saw a large stand of beautiful maple trees. As he got closer still he saw that all the people were lying on their backs under the trees with the end of a branch broken off and dripping maple syrup into their mouths.
The maple syrup had fattened them up so much and made them so lazy that they could barely move. Gluskabe told them to get up and go back to their village to re-kindle the fires and to repair the village. But the people did not listen. They told him that they were content to lie there and to enjoy the maple syrup.
When Gluskabe reported this to the Creator, it was decided that it was again time that man needed another lesson to understand the Creator's ways. The Creator instructed Gluskabe to fill the maple trees with water. So Gluskabe made a large bucket from birch bark and went to the river to get water. He added water, and added more water until the sap was that like water. Some say he added a measure of water for each day between moons, or nearly 30 times what it was as thick syrup. After a while the People began to get up because the sap was no longer so thick and sweet.
They asked Gluskabe "where has our sweet drink gone?" He told them that this is the way it will be from now on. Gluskabe told them that if they wanted the syrup again that they would have to work hard to get it. The sap would flow sweet only once a year before the new year of spring.
The People were shown that making syrup would take much work. Birch bark buckets would need to be made to collect the sap. Wood would be needed to be gathered to make fires to heat rocks, and the rocks would be needed to be put into the sap to boil the water out to make the thick sweet syrup that they once were so fond of. He also told them that they could get the sap for only a short time each year so that they would remember the error of their ways.
And so it is still to this day, each spring the Abenaki people remember Gluskabe's lesson in honoring Creator's gifts and work hard to gather the maple syrup they love so much. Nialach!

"Eclipse" Native Americans Need Weston Price Makeover!

For those of you who've visited me before, you may or may not have noticed my Edward Cullen quotes at the bottom of my blog:  This means I'm a Twilighter, as well as being a Real Foodie, and that I've, of course, seen the newest film, "Eclipse" (fours times, but who's counting).   "Eclipse" brought in some Queluete  (this is a Northern Pacific Native American tribe) tribes people from the past.  I'm sorry, but I just need to comment:

The Native Americans they showed from the 1700's--I believe that was the time period, judging from the clothing--had horrible teeth (all crooked and yellow), narrow faces (obviously aiding in the crooked teeth), and pock marked faces.  Native Americans of the past, before the advent of the white man's food, were described, in many accounts from travelers of those days, as being of strong stature, beautiful well-formed faces, and perfect white teeth; so beautiful were these people that the white people's description was one of utter awe in their meetings with Native Americans of the past.   They seemed to describe them as the ultimate in human example.

They ate all the foods that Weston A. Price discovered back in the 1930's:  Pastured animals, as they hunted in the wild, full fat meats (Native peoples threw away lean meat as unfit for human consumption), some fermented or soaked grains, and fish, where available.  Their physical appearance was one of magnificence because they ate a diet that produced the ultimate in healthy humans.

How did they know what to eat?  We know that information was passed down from generation to generation;  much like teaching life skills to the young:  Food education was of top priority to these folks due to their, obvious, cause and effect seen in their babies.  "We eat this because it makes healthy babies" was translated over and over from tribe to tribe all over the globe.

They listened to their instinct; they watched nature and other animals; they trusted in their knowledge and were rewarded for this vigilance:  Native Americans, like many other indigenous peoples, were free of many of the diseases that are rampant in today's society and had perfect teeth--no dental caries, no need for braces.

The producers of "Eclipse" were, assuredly, unaware of this very important detail:  They also were using today's Native Americans who, sadly, are just as mangled from modern foods as the rest of modern society.  Can you imagine what those original peoples looked like?  Can you imagine what we, ourselves, would look like, and feel like, if we had an original diet?

I'm not sure that feeding these healthy foods to my children today will produce those "perfect babies" of days-gone-by in one generation, but I know it's a beginning; I know that in a few generations we could be back to where we once were-- if only we would see the light and realize we could all use a Weston Price Makeover.

THE KOMBUCHA KAPER!

What the "bleep" happened to my Kombucha?!  Really!  I went shopping with the kids at Wild by Nature the other day, and when I went to grab my beloved Kombucha--there were none; not only of one brand, but ALL brands were off the shelf.  I literally could feel my blood pressure building as I created a scenario of the story and then the REAL story of what was going on.

The answer from the customer service girl was "oh, yeah, they recalled Kombucha", and she handed me a sheet of utterly useless information.  It gave me not a hint of the back story.  Later after googling the event, a photo of Lindsay Lohan came up holding a bottle with a statement from GT Kombucha that this incident had nothing to do with Lindsay.  Apparently Lindsay has used up her lot of alcohol in this lifetime, so .05 percent more in one day set off the SCRAM police?

The possible elevated alcohol level is the reason it was "voluntarily" taken off the shelves.  A guy who is making a killing on a product that has gone from a single flavor (original) to over a dozen different flavors, doesn't "voluntarily" stop doing business without an amazing amount of fear to precipitate that event.  So, who made the call to Whole Foods that Kombucha (the healthiest thing to hit the grocery shelves in decades) may have a slightly happier amount of alcohol in it than intended (if that's even true)?  I don't know.  

That is the real story here; the other is why everything healthy is being so attacked in this country.  My friend sent me a youtube link that brought up lots of conspiracy theories about the groups that may really be running this world--this, right after seeing that, makes me want to throw my TV out the second floor window shouting "WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE"!  Or at least....I'll see if I can locate a baby to start making my own Kombucha.  Meanwhile my inner hippy is still chanting:  Never trust the Man!

GRANDMOTHER'S WISDOM FORGOTTEN?

Food.  What an amazing topic.  Each and every one of us have different tastes and a different relationship with food.  I try and write about my feelings on discovering how important foods that truly nourish our bodies are.  I aim to inspire, even incite you to bring this into your own homes.  Our children are in our hands with this issue, and so it carries much weight, in my book.

A friend, who is very spiritual, invited me to listen in on a podcast of some indigenous elders (grandmother's, to be precise) who would be sharing some important messages and stories on healing our ailing "Mother Earth".  I noticed that there was mention of sacred earth, sacred ceremonies, and other sacreds, but no mention of sacred foods.  Is it possible that these indigenous grandmas had forgotten what a good bone broth could do for the sacred people of mother earth?

I was, and still am into many spiritual ideals.  I've studied and observed many different studies from wicca, buddhism, astrology, chanting, all the way up to the spirit of Abraham (which in my book, makes the most common sense), but none of them have addressed this Sacred Food issue.  I feel strongly that food needs to have something nutritious to really feed our bodies, and be prepared with love to truly feed our souls.

I wrote about this issue in my last post, but I was startled to see the omission of the word foods from the other sacred things mentioned in anything attached to indigenous people.  If there is one great wisdom these individuals have to share, it is there knowledge of Sacred Foods (fish eggs, shellfish, organ meats, etc).

Thinking about what we are eating and honoring this process is something I will continue to bring up.  I think we need to hear it.  Again.  And again.  And again.

Nourishing Nancy: REAL Food by Dr. Sue

http://www.naturalnews.com/024112_health_food_salt.html

THANK HEAVEN FOR SACRED FOODS

Over the weekend, there was a Confirmation in our family.   The pastor at the service shared a fable about a farmer who wanted to save some money by feeding his donkey saw dust in place of his regular food.  The farmer increased his ratio of saw dust for food gradually, not noticing any ill effects to his donkey, until the rations were all sawdust.  When the donkey died, the farmer seemed perplexed with the cause of the donkey's demise, so the story went.

The pastor brought the moral down to being watchful of what one adds to their life--as in good food, good thoughts, good deeds, etc.; my husband, later sharing his view of the story, claimed the farmer was just a cheap business man who was so trying to keep all the profits, he killed the product; my thoughts hogtied the food issue, of course.  Isn't this what has happened in our food industry, I thought?  Isn't this why our food is full of ingredients we can't pronounce and devoid of any life-giving content?  And finally, has anyone taken any notice of this in this church, or anywhere, but me?

Sadly, I probably was the only one who even went to that issue when food was, in fact, the issue. Interesting to be in a place of worship when what we ingest was the topic.  Once upon a time, people all over the planet saw foods as SACRED.  Yes, sacred.  That's why there were so many ceremonies wrapped around them, why foods were usually involved in all ceremonies and festivities, and why many foods were called SACRED FOODS.

Weston A. Price traveled the world and found out what those sacred foods were--he even wrote a book about it.   If you haven't already, check it out on the bottom left.  Sally Fallon's, Nourishing Traditions (where I got my blog name idea), is a cookbook filled with many of those sacred foods.  Certain foods were thought to be sacred because indigenious people worshiped these foods by observing their blessed effects on the bodies of their children.  They noticed that with these sacred foods their babies were born healthy, had round faces with adequate room for all their teeth to come in (no need for braces--is that even heard of anymore?) and free of cavities, and robust health, both physical and emotional.

Imagine children with warm color in their cheeks, no circles under their eyes, beautiful smiles, happy dispositions, high intelligence, with no attention deficit problems or hyperactivity; children with round faces (not pointy chins, sadly, like myself and my children) with adult teeth that come in perfectly spaced, bright, pearly white, and immune to dental decay (even if you DIDN'T brush and floss); children that have perfect eyesight, great hearing with no ear infections, beautiful blemish-free skin, shiny hair, and strong, lean bodies  (without joining every sport offered).

This would be Heaven, but not Earth, you say.  This WAS Heaven on Earth before modern foods!  Please, please do yourself and your family a favor, and go to www.westonaprice.org and look at the beautiful specimens of that Heaven on Earth.  They were the Adams and Eves we thought only existed before Eve grabbed that apple.  The real evil was not knowledge, but walking away from our knowledge.  We humans had the intuitive instinct that guided us towards what to eat to keep ourselves healthy and happy; we followed these principles body and soul.  Sadly, today this knowledge seems obscured...coming around, but still quite under the radar.

This knowledge is slowly coming back into the mass consciousness, but marketing is still king, and our taste buds still rule.  As long as there are ingredients in modern foods that fool (and cheat) our taste buds, our bodies will still fall victim to the malefic effects of modern food.  Today, however, I was happily surprised to read an article on, drum roll please....kefir!  Perhaps there is still hope.

Native Americans believed that what we do today affects the next seven generations.  In fact, Seventh Generation, a green company, uses this slogan for their earth-friendly products.  Today's children can benefit, with some amazing results, from the sacred foods of our ancestors.  Perhaps the "heaven on Earth" will take a few more generations to attain the ideal we once lived; but if we can pass on one thing to the next generation,  let it be that what we put in our bodies must truly sustain us--in a sacred way.  We might even see a few more healthy donkeys.