Category Archives: Natural Health

Aug 22
0

Organic Mama’s Magic Chicken Soup

By | Natural Health, Recipes | No Comments

1 whole organic uncooked chicken, remove gizzards & throw into the freezer till later (unless you like them in your soup)

1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 stocks of celery, finely chopped
4 carrots, finely chopped
4-7 cloves FRESH crushed garlic (immune boosting)
2 T. Olive oil
Sage (has drying properties)**See note!!**
Sea Salt to taste (several Tablespoons)One Large stew potOptional items – to be added once broth is strained:
1-2 cups cooked rice*. Cooked so you don’t lose all the liquid in your soup. *Great for those suffering from tummy distress.
Any veggies you love to eat with chicken. Cut them into bite sized pieces so they’re appealing to kids.
Egg noodlesInstructions:

1. Heat stew pot from med to med-high and add 2 T olive oil. It should easily swirl in pan

2. Add veggies (except garlic) and a couple pinches of salt to taste

3. When veggies are translucent, throw in garlic and cook for a minute more. Don’t burn it because burnt garlic tastes just dreadful!!!

4. Place whole chicken (be sure to take out the guts first!) in pan and add water to cover the chicken by several inches

5. Add a small handful of sage

6. Bring chicken to a boil and simmer till cooked (depending on size between 1 1/2 to 2 hours)

7. Salt and pepper to taste

8. SERIOUSLY – SALT IT or it just won’t taste good!!

Another great way to make this is just to dump the ingredients in a crockpot and cook all day or overnight.Lazy girl (or really sick mama) method: When chicken is cooked, use the broth straight out of the pan and serve but watch for chicken bones.
Motivated person method: Pour the liquid through a strainer into another pan or heat proof bowl. Place back in the pan and add egg noodles or rice and veggies as desired. When the chicken is cool enough, pull the meat off the bones and throw it back into the soup or use part of it throughout the week to make other chicken rich dishes.It’s perfectly ok to add a little extra water if you find you’ve overdone it on the rice or veggies.It’s important to use a whole chicken because the bones have nutrients that will strengthen and heal too!****Pregnant mamas who have a tendency toward miscarriage may want to avoid sage. The rest of this recipe should be fine for you!****
Jun 01
0

Die!! Die!!!! DIE!!! One Mother’s Battle Against the Creatures of the Night (or How to kill Cockroaches naturally)

By | Natural Health | No Comments

Summer in Arizona is a beautiful time filled with lazy summer days, swimming pools galore, desert mountain views, golf courses and one more less attractive thing…cockroaches. Ladies and Gentlemen, a few weeks ago, I discovered more than one roach in my house within a week. If you missed this exciting installment, you can read it here. It is not an exaggeration to say I completely lost it when this happened. Then, I returned to my senses and realized that freaking out over a bug (even a creepy, hairy legged sewer monster with long antenna- aaaahhhh!!!!) is not the kind of strong womanhood that I am trying to teach my girls.

Obviously, being an ORGANIC mama, I have personal beliefs about not wanting to spray chemicals all over my house. But my aversion to roaches is so strong, I confess I went to the hardware store and bought a fogger. You must know I have never sprayed my house with pesticides in the ten years I’ve lived here (and, we’ve never before had bugs!). But the creepers had to die, right? Before spraying, I looked up the primary ingredient in the fogger, Permethrin. I discovered it is a nerve agent considered carcinogenic by some sources, depending on who you ask. See the EPA’s assessment.

I weighed the risks of a possible carcinogen against the dangers of the germs cockroaches can spread, like salmonella. And, I chose the chemical-free route, which means I did NOT fog or spray my house or call the city to ask them to bomb the sewer (though I’m sure they did anyway). The natural route takes a little longer but in the end it’s safer and create an environment that’s unfriendly to the long term habitation of creeper crawlers.

Here’s why I chose to go chem-free.
1. Immediate safety – Why would I purposely expose my kids to carcinogens or neurotoxins?
2. Immediate and future environmental concerns – Spraying more poison into our water (even the sewer) seems like a bad heritage to leave our kids. Poisons do not just dissipate in water like in a super hero movie. Their effects can last for years and unless you’re Harold Camping, you should probably assume you’ll be here to experience the ramifications.
3. Chem’s don’t guarantee the absence of bugs. Even if I did choose to spray, another roach could just crawl up the drain or through a crack I missed and we’d have to start all over again. And, if the spray is strong enough to keep killing roaches, chances are it’s affecting my family’s health as well.
4. Bugs are a natural part of life and they even touch our food. Real food (fruits & veggies) are grown in fields where little bugs and animals travel and live. Oh, and they poop and urinate on or near the plants so…I’m thinking a roach that might touch one of my dishes is not the end of the world. Does that mean I don’t wash my food? No. Not only that, I also wash my dishes before putting them away and before I use them. I’m a little psycho that way… Bwahahahahahaaa! (evil laugh)

After I returned the fogger, I turned my attention to researching my intended victims. First, I learned there are different varieties of  roaches and the type can determine the approach. We found American Roaches, which are basically sewer roaches. These suckers are big – often 2″ or more and they are stinkin’ fast. They truly deserve the name, vermin.

Here are a few facts about roaches.

1. Having them doesn’t mean your house is dirty. In Arizona, they live in the sewer and come up through the drains. But, keeping your house clean will minimize any reason for them to stay!
2. They tend to live in moist places and some can live for weeks without food. They just need water.Great.
3. They can eat all sorts of things – including glue. Ugh.
4. Their eggs can contain 14-28 babies. So, if you get one female in your house, you can end up with a crowd. This is why you always hear the comment, “If you see one roach, there are hundreds more nearby.”

If chemicals can’t guarantee the absence of roaches, how can more natural methods possibly work? So glad you asked!

Natural methods of pest control use mechanical means (rather than chemical) to destroy a roach’s body and make your home an inhospitable place for them to live.

Never fear, you are not powerless! 

Here are some great, natural roach fighting ideas.

1. Close points of entry.

  • Cover drains & overflows – particularly at night. We just keep our drains closed all the time now.
  • Caulk around toilets and drain pipes.
  • Look for openings near doors, windows or outside walls and caulk or spray foam them shut

2. Eliminate any standing water inside or outside your house. This is just good advice in general – to
maintain your home and keep other little critters like mosquitoes or scorpions from finding a refuge in your space.

  • Dog bowls
  • Look for leaks around toilets, sinks or drains.


3. Make your home inhospitable to bugs by eliminating food sources and hiding places.

  • Eliminate food sources by washing dishes immediately, wiping down counters and keeping floors clean. And don’t leave food on the counters.
  • Eliminate clutter around the house – like piles of papers, toys, cardboard boxes, laundry etc. All of those things give bugs like cockroaches (also silverfish and crickets) a place to hide.

4. Utilize mechanical means of killing roacheslike dusting the powders below in the corners of cabinets, under the fridge and in the cracks by the dishwasher or oven. Be sure to use only a fine layer or they’ll go around it. Roaches like to travel the edges of walls, so concentrate there.Although these are safer means of pest control, be careful not to puff them into the air. They can irritate the lungs.

  • Food grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) – This ground fossil powder slices through the exoskeleton and kills them within a few hours. It will also kill silverfish, crickets and ants. Only buy food grade. It’s often fed to farm animals to kill parasites. It is NOT the same as what you’ll find at home improvement (these contain chemical bait) or pool supply stores. I found mine at The Western Ranchman Store. It was a huge bag for only $5 or 6.
  • Boric acid – as creepy as they are, roaches constantly clean themselves. After getting this powder on their legs, they ingest it and die. The kind at home improvement stores contain chemical bait – so try buying at a pharmacy instead. It should be pure there as it’s used to create eye wash. Also, Boric acid is not the same as Borax. These terms are often (incorrectly) used interchangeably on the internet.

5. Keep a big spray bottle of soapy water handy. Big sewer roaches have been around the block, so to speak. Consequently, they are super fast and seem to know you’re after them! There is nothing I hate more than finding a bug in my house, only to have it run into a crack before I have time to grab a shoe. So, I keep a spray bottle filled with water and 1/4 c dish soap for such occasions. This concoction covers the roach and suffocates him in under a minute. The bigger ones take longer but they’ll definitely die. It’s much safer than keeping Raid around little children and faster than a shoe.

6. Consider helpers who eat or kill roaches like, cats, geckos and chickens. While you might only want cats inside your house, chickens and geckos are natural enemies of this creepy crawler. Apparently, the little white mediterranean geckos that live by our porch lights here in AZ eat roaches. Two drawbacks are that they tend to drop kamakazi-like onto lower surfaces at times (including people) and they too can carry salmonella. However, I’d rather clean up after a gecko than a roach any day.

Using most of the methods above has really helped. It’s great to know that it’s possible to tackle a pest problem without resorting to poisoning our space. I am sleeping better at night now though I am still considering adopting a baby gecko to live in my house – just for good measure.

If I missed any great natural methods of roach control (besides a shoe and a big man), feel free to comment below!

Apr 19
0

Greedy Capitalism? – A Little Econ Discussion in the OM Cafe

By | Money, Natural Health | No Comments

Capitalism has taken a bad rap lately. The idea that competitive conditions will create the best product in the end has suffered a bit of a blow because of what I call “mutual-market-player greed”. Let’s be honest. Greed isn’t a character trait solely exhibited by the “big bad corporations”. Corporations aren’t some giant brain that makes decisions like a big “Borg”. People who work for corporations must make individual choices daily about whether they’ll use integrity in their approach to business. And these employees respond to customers who choose either to buy or not to buy their products.

A perfect example of supply and demand capitalism is the real estate market fiasco of recent years. While there was definitely some red tape involved that might have fooled less educated consumers, nearly everyone in the loan process was complicit in the resulting disaster. The employees of those loan companies, Wall Street and the consumers involved exercised greed resulting in a huge bubble and then the monstrous POP!

What if consumers had just exercised restraint? The same greed that drove corporate employees to offer bad products to consumers might have driven them to offer good product had consumers demanded it.

The best guide of good capitalism is the dictate of a wise consumer conscience.

Far more powerfully than government regulation, consumers have the ability to send a mass message about purchasing values by refusing to financially support companies who fail to deliver according to demand. This is where the breakdown occurs between idealism and reality. When Rob and I shopped for a house loan, banks offered us significantly more than we could realistically afford monthly. We could have chosen to buy a product we couldn’t really afford. Instead, we used two magic words some of us have forgotten along the line.

“No, thanks.”

As consumers, we often fail to send that message simply because we don’t want to change our habits. We won’t stop shopping that big box store even if they use questionable labor practices. We don’t say no because we’d rather have more “stuff” even if it’s cheap and will just end up in a landfill at the end of the summer. We don’t really want to know what’s in that sunblock we’re smearing all over our kids. We confuse needs with wants. Sometimes, we think we just cannot afford to shop elsewhere.

That little voice in our head that justifies our decision to keep buying without regard for consequences by saying, “It doesn’t really matter. One person’s not buying it doesn’t make a difference.”

But is that true?

I don’t believe it is.

Demand can change or destroy a business model. Take for instance the failure of American car manufacturers to move toward the cost-effective, gas-conserving manufacturing standards of companies like Toyota. Americans who cared about their pocketbooks stopped spending money on gigantic cars still manufactured to guzzle gas like water even as the price of oil soared. U.S. car makers’ sluggish response to market demand would have caused failure if they’d not been saved by a government bailout.

So why is this a subject I’m even discussing at the OM Cafe?

Supply and demand applies to every part of our world, including the food we eat and the products we slather all over our bodies. I am passionate about leaving to my children a world where plants aren’t all genetically modified and animal products aren’t altered by hormones. For years, my family and I have spent the extra tine and money to seek out local producers and buy organic food. For a long time, friends and family members thought we were crazy hippies for doing it. That’s never really bothered me.

The funny thing is that after all these years, many of those friends are starting to realize that what they put into and on their bodies really does make a difference in their overall health. They are now choosing to purchase organically and/or locally grown or raised food. And, those foods are far more available than they were ten years ago when Rob and I first made the switch. The market is slowly changing in response to demand as consumers are becoming more educated.

Recognizing their bottom lines will suffer till business practices truly change is a powerful motivator for most companies. Money talks when you choose whether or not to spend it.

We need to recognize our power to make the change for safer food practices in the U.S. widespread. But the price to pay for changing the way we do food business in the good ole U.S.A. is a sacrifice of time and the death of old habits.

We as consumers need to take a little time to think about our food and what’s in it. It’s not hard. Here’s how I choose mine. How close is it to it’s original form? Fresh fruits and veggies – grown without pesticides? Check. Organic milk unsullied by growth hormones? Check. Meat raised and finished on grass. Check. The easiest way to confirm that this is really the way my food was produced and raised? Knowing my supplier personally.

Is it possible? Of course!

But isn’t it hard? Not really. The options for buying either organic or local are far more available now than they ever were. And, every person who chooses to make that change will send yet another message to companies who supply food to the U.S. market. The same companies that provide junk to us offer different options in other parts of the world because those markets demand it. We need to create the same demand here.

Are you willing to help drive that change?

Can we afford not to?

Feb 06
0

Rose Hip Syrup

By | Natural Health | No Comments

This morning, I finally made some rose hip syrup. I’d been putting it off because I have a million other things to do – like changing diapers, making meals, cleaning, changing diapers, washing dishes, playing princess and did I mention changing diapers?

But today, my four year old woke up with the look.  You know the one. Slightly puffy eyes, flushed cheeks, chesty cough? Yep. That one. I ran a quick hand across her skin to confirm. Yes. A fever. So, I had to do what parents sometimes have to do – be the bad guy. This morning I was the bad guy because it’s Sunday and she loves going to church to see her friends. Afterward, we usually have lunch with Grandma and Grandpa. But, not today. Boy, was she disappointed. But, I knew I’d made the right decision because she only sniffled for a moment, then crawled right back into bed and snuggled into her blankets.

I spent the rest of the morning making lemonade (fever reducer!), snacks she felt like eating (oatmeal and canteloupe), and toast. Of course, my littlest got a slightly different breakfast since she went to bed sporting signs of the Big “D”. Oh bugger. They’re both sick – and with completely different symptoms!

So, I grabbed my bag of rose hips, which are high in Vitamin C, and threw them in the pan to make some rose hips syrup. It’s pretty easy to make. You just simmer 1/2 c dry rose hips in about 3 cups of water for 45 minutes, strain and add 1 c honey. Stir together and – it’s done. I gave it to my four year old in little teaspoon doses. It’s pretty strong so I might try putting it in her tea next.

Here’s a pic of the syrup. I think mine is much darker than usual because I used a dark honey in it.

Rose hips (if you don’t know) are simply the fruit of the rose bush. They look like little red (or purple) bulbs (here’s a pic). If you have roses and find these pretty little fruits on them, take some time to read about how to use them. As long as you don’t use chemicals on your rose bushes, they should be ok to eat. Just one more thing from your garden that can bring healing to your body.

Who knew the rose could be so useful?