She Moves On

This is my final blog in our house. We still have lots of yard work, general maintenance, and painting to come back and take care of, and our new place to finish up, so I will be on hiatus until we are done and the internet has followed us. I've been feeling sentimental yet excited for days now. Sleeping is happening only because it has too. Soon, we will be in our 2.5 rooms of our new chapter in life. I'll remember this sunny, purple trimmed house forever and I am beyond thrilled that my friend has rented it, who is also a gardener, so I left 95% of my plants and landscaping in, as well as the melons, last of the tomatoes, and corn growing in the garden. I can rest easy knowing the house we loved so much, is falling in love with another family. Someone will continue to care for the beautiful blooming cacti, appreciate the low water use patio hideaway, and grow food.

I've got some amazing before and after photos to share of the space, some quirky storage solutions, my bamboo grove solar shower to finish, and lots of herbal product making awaiting my time and energy. A scheduled blog or three will pop up, but look forward to more seasonal menus, real life skills, and some great photos of small space living in action in a week or so. There may even be a next door neighbor chicken photo or two, as I am quite taken with the sweet yet fierce (and up too early) free ranging creatures. They seem taken with me, or at least with the goodies I am digging up for them. I watched them demolish and devour a hopeful fire ant community dug up by the yard work in minutes. Laying in the casita (Spanish for little house), on the floor of the main room after painting, a trail of small sugar ants crossed over me. I was too beat to do much about them, but did note that I have a new insect challenge to deal with in the most humane and ecologically friendly way. Perhaps a trail of agave nectar to the chicken coop...

The new place is really looking like home now that we've painted, our art is up, and our energy is in the walls. I can't wait to bring my plants, stones, and textiles. Repairing the adobe made us feel part of it. Each time I look at the door step, I'll remember the hot day that I personally fixed it with mud spackle. I am very excited that The Guy, now sees the method to my madness about clutter. Leave a shoe out and it's a trip across the floor. Dishes left out fill the kitchen. Unpack another plate? I think not. I'm really OK with asking future guests to bring their own dinnerware. I've been to more than one gathering where this is expected, and I now see the beauty in it. You will wash your own treasured bowl or plate and then bring it home, right? See the beauty? I have the feeling that if I commit to spend 10-20 minutes a day focusing on organization exclusively, that our new home will remain clutter free, for good. Well, with only that effort, and The Guy's commitment to group like objects, not to bring in anything without a purpose, and to keep his tools and records organized.

There's been so much talk about clutter and purging of stuff that I'd like to pause to think about something with you. Simplistic living, does not mean there will be fewer problems in your life. Clutter-busters everywhere should know that no matter where you go, there you are. You can't organize your life's problems away. You can only enrich your life with the honest, streamline functionality of simple living. Personally I seek a a clutter free life to leave room for unlimited joy in my life. For us, clutter was the result of a difficult time in our lives, as well as some deeper rooted issues.  However, even though our lives are now clutter free... there are still bills to pay, arguments, a dog to heal, difficulties, Monsoon rains to experience, and 3 more times to plant food before the end of the year. Life... she moves on.

One change leads to another and so on...

We have made some big changes and some little changes. I am pretty happy with the level of conviction, determination, and effort I am seeing out of us. I am on day 26 of paper towel withdrawal. Balls of sliced up flannel sheets are all over the house, waiting to to be discovered and washed, not thrown into the recycling crate. By making several different sizes, there is a rag for every job waiting in the repurposed cloth bag that the sheets came in years ago, hanging from my baker's rack. I still find myself reaching for my roll for certain things. Pork fat and cloth just don't sound like they play well together, so I used a recycled unbleached coffee filter to drain the bacon for BLT's. It worked well.

Taking my car of the road out of financial need is turning into a challenge of sorts. If I can make it through the move without a car...do I really need one? Can I find a local in bike or walking distance job and give up my personal chef's life? If I'm not commuting anywhere for work, just what does a second car mean for a family of 2? I don't know. It's going to take some time before I have these answers, but these questions are really burning in me. I laughed really hard at my friends sarcasm when I told her my car is off the road..."Yeah, take the grease powered car off the road. That's an eco friendly change." I'm thinking Want VS Need, is a topic she may want to consider reflecting upon, which is what I replied in due sarcasm. Yes, I want my car. Need my car? That remains to be seen once the move is made.

Another issue swarming the move and the changes are the building supply chain stores, which we do not like to support. The days of the Mom and Pop hardware store is almost over. There are one or two, but they do cost so much more than a Home Depot or Lowes. I started looking through the free listings on our local share program and found a few things we needed. A little bell went off as I remember the Habitat For Humanity leftovers store. We are going next week to look for paints and shelving, and hopefully, a stall for our plumbing disaster of a shower in the new place. With the landlord open to us doing whatever needs to be done (in exchange for part of the deposit), I am building a frame out of discounted trim wood to staple shower curtains on, to place in the dense bamboo grove with a solar shower bag as a temporary shower. It's really hot through the end of October. Making an outdoor shower is an option for us, so we are. This will take some pressure off of what needs to be done, now, and what can wait until we are done with the actual move.

There's also a water lesson we will learn through using a 5 gallon shower bag...how much water is wasted in a normal shower. The current goal is 5 gallons a day for showers for 2 people, and using the bathroom sink for my hair washing (the Guy shaved his head for the Summer). An older shower head runs at about 5 gallons per minute. A new one, about 2.8 per minute. With only 5 gallons for TWO showers, we are saving 100's of gallons of water a day, and watering our bamboo grove at the same time. I think the bamboo will get a kick out of the Dr. Bronner's I infused with herbs, too.

Speaking of water. Our homemade laundry detergent is filled with naturally occurring salts. In our current greywater set up, this is not a problem, as it waters landscaping, not food. The new place may pose a problem, as that greywater does run into the fruit trees, including the fig tree, which was heavily damaged by wind last week and deserves no extra salt in it's damaged roots. Our soil here in the Inferno has a high salt content anyway, from the prehistoric ocean it once was. I'm wondering if anyone knows a plant friendly, budget friendly homemade detergent recipe for hard water, not made with borax or washing soda? The preferred natural brand of detergent for greywater is called, Oasis. It's pretty pricey and not very good at removing stains, to be honest. I use Dr. Bronner's for 100 other things, but don't care for as a laundry soap. I feel it leaves a residue and yellows my whites over time due to inefficiency in our hard water. The current idea and budget killing option is the Oasis w/distilled vinegar presoaks. More research, shall ensue...

Beyond The Brown Bag: Starting a lunchtime revolution

Just because school is out, doesn't mean that millions of adults aren't getting up 15 minutes earlier to pack a lunch these days. An average of $75-150.00, per person, is spent on weekly lunches, if you eat out every day during a 5 day work week. $300-600, a month. Imagine what you could do with $300.00 extra in your budget each month? That's $3600.00 a year, on the $75.00 a week plan. There, is your Summer Vacation. There, is your Holiday gift money. There, is the down payment for that car. There's the breathing room to shop and eat better. Here are some ideas to get you going!

1. Figure out honestly what you have been spending a week. Now take that number, and cut it in half. If you were spending $80.00 a week, your new goal is now $40.00 a week on lunch supplies. After you see how simple it is with planning, in 3 months, take another percentage of of what you can spend a week.


2. Buy a reusable lunch bag that helps keeps your food cold or hot. Have fun with it. Buy the the one that shouts, "I belong to this person, and he/she will never forget me on the kitchen table." Attach your keys/subway/bus pass or employee badge/parking card to it at night.

3. Invest in a new storage container set or those little nesting covered steel bowls. Be sure it includes small rounds for dressings and dips. Mark the box for lunches only, so leftover rice doesn't take over your 'fridge. Invest in a thermos. They keep soup hot, juice cold, and they are reusable.

4. Set a goal for reward. 'If I pack my lunch every day for a month, I can buy that hand-blown glass humming bird feeder (yoga mat, ITunes spree, savings deposit, credit card bill money, concert tickets, shoes, surf board, saute pan, lip gloss, pottery class, etc.). We are human. Humans are into the carrot and the stick method...whether we admit it or not.

5. Think outside the sandwich. For those of us with gluten issues, this becomes second nature. For many, it just doesn't mean lunch unless it comes between 2 slices of bread. Play with your idea of what normal is. My idea of an absolutely perfect lunch is a Japanese Bento box, in which you get a serving of 5-6 different tastes. Get out of the box, or bread box, in this case.

6. Always, always remember to pack a protein filled snack. If you eat lunch at 12-noon, you will be ravenous between 3-4. You will be apt to hit the vending machines, espresso cart, or blindly munch a burger on the way home at 5. Food from home, is STILL FOOD. You don't need to buy a $1.00 Snickers at 3:30 if you have one in your lunch bag, or, a healthier option like a handful of nuts or a Lara or Kind Bar.


7. Not gluten free? Lucky duck, you have even MORE choices, but feel free to use these too!

GREAT LUNCH IDEAS

Leftovers

When I think of lunch the first thing that comes to mind is leftovers. Here's a few of what flies out of our kitchen for leftover lunches.

Cold sliced meats

Cold meat-loaf

Leftover veggies

Leftover pasta and sauce

Thai noodle salad

Leftover green salad w/any of the above, or as a new Chef's salad or Greek salad

Potato and pasta salads

Soups and stews

Diving further into leftover land, we see a square sandwich box with 2 slices of leftover meatloaf, a pile of green beans, and some red bliss mashed potatoes. 1 1/2 micro minutes later, we have a hot lunch, while your coworkers haven't even left the parking lot yet.

Salad Creations

As I've shared,  I love salads. I don't think I've made a lettuce, tomato, cuke salad in years, though. Here are some of my favorites.

Mixed greens, pecans, raspberries, red onion w/ raspberry vinaigrette

Mixed greens, shredded carrot, scallions, corn, and black beans

Romaine lettuce, Italian meats and cheese

Steamed broccoli, shredded carrot, cashews, raisins in cole slaw dressing

Beet greens, orange sections, red onion, and sliced almonds

Roasted beets, onion, and spiced chicken

Here in salad land, we are done with lunch in 10 minutes, and now have 50 minutes to take that walk, run an errand, meditate in the car, or to write out those party invitations.

Wrap and Roll

Bread makes a sandwich. A brown rice tortilla, makes a wrap. Nori sheets, make a roll. LTO=let., tom., onion.

Refried beans, avocado, LTO burrito

Chicken, salsa, rice burrito
Falafel LTO, tahini sauce, wrapped in a brt
Turkey Club wrap

Sliced roast beast, swiss, dijon, mixed greens, wrapped in a brt

Tuna as you like, wrapped in a brt

Chicken salad as you like, wrapped in a brt

Dulse, LT, mayo, wrapped in a brt

Almond butter and strawberry jam, wrapped in a brt

Sliced veggies w/ chevre, wrapped in a brt

Sliced cucumber, shredded carrot wrapped in nori

Sunflower seed pate, wrapped in nori

GF Crab, avocado, carrot, and spicy mayo, wrapped in nori
Rice and any combination veg, wrapped in nori
Your co-workers have now started hanging around the office kitchen, looking at your lunch, salivating over fresh nori rolls and commenting over your creativity. You still have time to do your nails in the bathroom, when they leave to get a sub.

Some odd ideas you may have not have yet equated with lunch.
I eat weird things throughout the day. One or two of them together, make a really nice lunch.
Protein smoothies

Greek Style yogurt
Coconut milk yogurt
Almond milk
Dates
Figs, dried and fresh
Nuts
Nut Butters
Cheese...all of it; cream, sticks, feta, cheddar, cottage, brie, Gouda...and on and on.
Pepperoni
Jerky
Sausages
Eggs
Olives...yum.
Smoked, pickled, canned, frozen and fresh fish
Tamales
You are now the official foodie of the office. A few of your co-workers have started bringing their lunches, too. You start an office co-op and buy healthy foods in bulk to stock the now busy office kitchen. 

The sections above and below...are my favorite Gluten Free snacks
Kind Bars
Lara Bars
Glutino Bagels
Mary's Gone Crackers Sea Salt Sticks and Twigs
Mary's Gone Crackers; all
Cherrybrook Kitchen's Vanilla Graham Cookies
Trader Joe's Baked Cheese Crunchies
Sea Salt and Black Pepper Kettle Chips
Lundberg Farms Rice Cakes; honey-no nut
Lundberg Farms Rice Chips; seaweed sesame
At 3:30, no one runs out of steam anymore. There is a line at the bulk almond bag, so you take a Kind bar out of your desk...and smile.

Homemade All Natural Carpet Steam Cleaner Liquid

As we prepared to move into the new place, I kept thinking of the gross industrial carpet laying wall to wall in there. I ripped up a section only to find the sub floor and dirt, so there was no ripping it up. Money has too many places to go to think about replacing it, and we do have a beautiful selection of area rugs. The new house has not had a woman in it for years. It was a guy's hideaway and it smelled like it, too. Beer, does stain apparently, as does coffee, bike grease, foods, and goodness knows what else.

We rented a carpet steamer at the grocery store. The clerk tried her best to up-sell the carpet cleaning goo for the machine. I can not handle synthetic scents in my world. My eyes burn just walking down the detergent/air freshener isle. There was no way I was washing my rugs in something that smelled like perfumed Tide. "It won't work without it.", is what the clerk said. I didn't listen, since I knew better.
Soap attracts dirt to carpet fibers...I spent allot of time working in the family rug shop, trust me on this. Plain water is better than soap. The best all natural option? White vinegar and lavender oil. Really. Once dried, the vinegar smell disappears 100%. The lavender oil leaves a antimicrobial layer with a light, natural scent for us to plop our nice wool rugs on top of.

It's very simple. To every 2 gallons of warm water (the capacity of most rentals) add 1/2 cup of distilled while vinegar and a teaspoon (or more) of lavender oil to the warm water.

Make up a mix of the vinegar and lavender oil and rub directly on stains, let rest then continue with the steaming...they will come right up! This is the only natural solution that kills skunk odor and cat pee, too. Always test your carpet first, but we have used this on both natural and synthetic fiber carpets with much success over the years. If you own your own steamer, use it in that too. The mix works on most washable fabric furniture and when added to the wash with the dog bed. I also use it at the end of camping season to clean and deodorize the tent and to add to wash the when I prep the sleeping bags for storage.

Babble From A Dry Hot Place

Yes, it is hot today. I got up too early, drank too much caffeine, and ran out of steam to pack the house by 3pm. Arg. We are more than midway through the ever heating Dry Hot. By the end of the month, it will be both hot and humid. I have been barely functional through our past 3 Monsoon seasons. I hid from the sun all day and just prayed I'd live until the rains stopped in September. This will be my first gluten free Monsoon season. The Fibro Beast in me still hasn't yet fully accepted it's demise via GF life. I'm hopeful to feel a change in the way my body reacts to the unstable weather, though based on how I felt through the rainy Spring, I'm not expecting a miracle.


What I was expecting, is pain and inflammation. I'm trying to rethink the Monsoon season, to not expect the inflammation, pain, and odd electrical shocks that come with the beautiful, needed, wanted, sacred desert rain storms. This is my Cherooke-Buddist-Unitarian version of a Jedi Mind Trick. I am not the droid, they, the horrific duo of inflammation and pain, are after. In my chewy center... is a very quiet deep well where I fully receive the Seasonal Gift of Monsoon. My Path is to celebrate the Cycles of the Mother, sings and dreams my Cherokee heart. Bring it on, asserts the soft spoken activist in the Unitarian-Universalist shell.


Since I have no health insurance, doctor, or medications to ease my suffering, I'm experimenting with a new supplement regime for the Summer and loading up with electrolytes, eating my daily 3 tablespoons of coconut oil, being diligent in taking malic acid, mixed omega 3-6-9's, Natural Calm, a super fruit and greens powder, and 3 Emergen C packets, along with 2 gallons of distilled water every day. I am able to withstand full sun (with SPF 80 and a wide brim straw hat) like a good melon plant. This is a new trick for my body. It's been 3 years since I haven't lost my vision, a layer of skin, and my equilibrium simply walking to the mail box. I'm reveling in this Dry Hot time, as a good desert dweller should. During this time, my continual pain and general inflammation level has been minimal, except when get too much exercise or I consume not naturally occurring nitrates. I like bacon. I can not always afford nitrate free bacon, so I eat what we can afford every 2 weeks. I fully know it's going to set off a cascade of inflammatory hormones and a slight allergic reaction that feels like the sensation of burning skin. 


Hum? That's what the beginning of a Fibromyalgia flare-up feels like in me...


So, I have been my own guinea pig once again, willingly eating nitrates and trying to find what in my arsenal of supplements and herbs can ease the pain, in hopes of it working during my next flare up. I'm on to something. If I take at least 2000 milligrams of vitamin C, vitamin B3 (niacin), and a vitamin B complex-100 with a cup of yarrow flower tea when I eat the bacon or the hot dog, it reduces the feelings of burning skin and inflammation after the niacin flush kicks in. The yarrow encourages sweating and purging of toxins in the body through the skin. If I get into a hot bath or shower and sweat the rest out, I'm better in less than 30 minutes.


Until now, a nitrate encounter alone was enough to awaken the Fibro Beast. The after effects of eating 2 strips of bacon or a slice of pepperoni pizza, could last for weeks. I'm sickly looking forward to testing it on the physical sensations of a flare-up as they truly feel similar in my body. Our new place has a small community sauna. Going on the 'sweating it out' theory and since I did so well with the hot springs, I'm trying a 5 minute sweat this week to start working my way back up to up to an hour in the sweat. I know the idea of making yourself pour sweat while nude in a cedar box, sounds like an odd thing to do in the 110 degree desert. On the contrary. 15-20 minutes in a moist 180 degrees, makes  110 feel like a brisk Winter morning. A quick rinse with hose or shower brings bright, clear, glowing skin and a better perspective of the word, HOT. 


The other natural modality that's been surprisingly effective now that I am gluten and dairy free, is juicing. I have juiced for taste, nutritional benefits and digestive help since the 1980's. My (former) brother in law taught me the celery-lemon-parsley-sea salt Gatorade replacement within days of my arrival in the low desert 8 years ago. What I found in this new body is that food IS medicine for me. My GF/DF body is very sensitive to whatever I put in it...good or bad. I've been finding a juice or smoothie for every need I have. I have been eating pineapple for 2 years hoping to feel the claimed anti-inflammatory effects of it. Removing the dairy last month...allowed that to happen. I juice a whole fresh pineapple whenever I feel the least bit of inflammation or sluggish digestion. It makes me feel like there is naturally occurring rum in that pineapple. ALL of my inflammation...ceases in minutes. I feel giddy on sweetness and life yet grounded and 'in my own skin' at the same time. Very energetic, as in vital energy or 'Ital'. Probably what a hummingbird feels like! 


So, that's my babble. If I do have sucess with my formula for the Beast, I'll share. Enjoy what must be a welcome taste of the Summer in the US...everywhere else but here.

Ant Cows?

I was watering my beloved sweet corn 2 nights ago and saw them...APHIDS in the corn tassels. I sat in the light of the next morning and realized the ants...were farming the aphids on the corn I am farming. They were bringing aphids up the stalk of corn, not down. I'm in a quandary. Soap them off and possibly loose my pollinated corn, or let them eat the corn anyway and pray they don't spread. Living here, I have the ability to plant a second corn crop this month, so I have decided to coat the stalks of the corn not effected with non toxic Tangle-Foot. It's a sticky beeswax and plant resin compound that the ants will get stuck on as they are carrying the aphid crop up the stalk. They milk them. I swear to you. The aphids produce a 'honeydew substance', that the ants collect daily.

Here, read this from Wikipedia:
 Some species of ants "farm" aphids, protecting them on the plants they eat, eating the honeydew that the aphids release from the terminations of their alimentary canals. This is a "mutualistic relationship".
These "dairying ants" "milk" the aphids by stroking them with their antennae. Therefore, sometimes aphids are called "ant cows".
Some farming ant species gather and store the aphid eggs in their nests over the winter. In the spring, the ants carry the newly-hatched aphids back to the plants. Some species of dairying ants (such as the European yellow meadow ant, (Lasius flavus) manage large "herds" of aphids that feed on roots of plants in the ant colony. Queens that are leaving to start a new colony take an aphid egg to found a new herd of underground aphids in the new colony. These farming ants protect the aphids by fighting off aphid predators.


I love that corn like child, but the mad scientist in me thinks this too cool and I kind of have a weirdly driven need to watch this process in all the wonder it deserves. Ant cows. Wow.