Turmeric Trigger

What?!? The title of this post isn't also the name of a tune?!?

Sorry, I tried - but couldn't think of a fitting song to marry to this post...

I don't know if turmeric qualifies as a 'superfood,' but it is quite amazing! There are several (understatement of the week!) articles re: turmeric promoting the benefits of this spice. Rather than trying to re-type all of that information, I'm simply providing you with links to some of those articles. Go ahead and peruse these links. I'll wait right here for you...

• You can check out an article by Dr. Josh Axe: 

• 10 Turmeric Benefits: Superior to Medications?

• As well, the site "The World's Healthiest Foods" has one:

• What's New and Beneficial About Turmeric

• The reason that I go for turmeric rather than the isolated curcumin is described in this article found on Huffington Post:

• 6 Health Benefits Of Turmeric

• In case you have an issue trying to access it through the link, I'm providing a quote from that article here:

"Another compound in turmeric may protect the brain. Aromatic turmerone or ar-turmerone is not as well-studied as curcumin, but it also likely plays a part in the turmeric puzzle. In a recent study, researchers found ar-turmerone promotes repair to stems cells in the brain. The study examined the effects of the compound in rats on a type of stem cell that is also found in adult brains. These stem cells are involved in recovery from neurodegenerative diseases like stroke and Alzheimer’s. The compound could potentially be used in the treatment of these diseases in the future, the findings suggest."

• The last link that I'm providing is a little more scientific and a little less opinionated than the previous three. WebMD:

• Find a Vitamin or Supplement: Turmeric

• Definitely check out the 'Side Effects' tab before you add turmeric to your diet

...and, we're back!

OK. So, there are several reasons why you might want to add turmeric to your seasoning options. But why did I title this post "Turmeric Trigger?"

Well, turmeric is great, but it works a whole lot better when you also add its trigger to your seasoning! That trigger is piperine. Adding piperine to your spice increases the absorbability of curcumin by up to 2000%!

"So... Where do I find that piperine stuff and how much should I use?"

Piperine is easily found in black pepper and you can use as little as 1/20th tsp. to trigger your turmeric!

No Need to Implement Plan B

I purchased a new pack of pepper seeds just in case the ones I planted in the seed starter never ended up sprouting but never got around to planting them. As it turns out, plan B is not needed as the original seeds finally started sprouting. (Today's song reference is actually an album reference - Plan B by the Steve Dunn Band.) The only problem now is that the weather has not been consistently warm enough to move the tomato and cucumber seedlings outside and the pepper seedlings are far too new to take the lid off of the 'greenhouse' during the middle of the day when the sun is strongest. Hopefully, I will be able to plant the tomatoes and cucumbers soon and allow the peppers to fully develop.

Today was a pretty good day. Went to church in the morning, had lunch at Mortensen's with the family, gave myself a haircut (and it came out looking pretty good), and went for a walk (again, with the family but with the addition of Ginger).

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the water kefir grains that I ordered the other day. I received confirmation that they have shipped, but there is no tracking information available. Hopefully my order will arrive soon and I will be able to start making and drinking water kefir! I know there is more than just water required to make water kefir, but it will still be considerably more affordable than milk kefir (though I will continue to make that - just less of it) and kombucha (until I start making that, too!). I am really excited about the potential of this next step on my journey to wellness!
I found a site comparing kombucha to water kefir. Check it out at: Common Sense Homesteading.

Empty Garden

Today was a bit windy providing a slight chill, but it was an otherwise gorgeous day! I will thank Elton John for lending me his song for the title of this post, Empty Garden. Why? Because the beautiful day reminded me that my garden is, in fact, empty. Fortunately, I have some seedlings ready to go! Last week, I planted some tomato, pepper, cucumber, and basil seeds in a seed-starter 'greenhouse.' Everything has sprouted...except the pepper seeds. My original plan was to fill the garden bed with pepper plants but I decided to add some tomato plants along with some pickling cucumbers. The basil I started I intend to plant in a pot and keep it inside for ease of harvesting and using fresh basil in the kitchen. Even though I have expanded from only planting peppers, I am a bit bothered by the fact that the peppers haven't sprouted. Yesterday, I bought another packet of pepper seeds to plant so I will hopefully have them sprouted and ready to go soon.

Given the weather, I spent some time working in my empty garden. I added some of the compost to the bed and worked it in. I haven't been adding any new material to the compost bin because I want to be sure that the compost is usable for this season. The problem is that I now have quite a bit of compost-able material and I have no place to put it until after I plant the bed.

Take It To The Limit

One thing about recovery, whether it be from an accident, surgery, or disease, is that you need to constantly - but within reason - push the limits of your abilities.  Really, you have two paths that you can choose to follow.  On one side, you have the path of least resistance.  Following this path means that you accept your limitations and essentially give up the fight.  On the other side, you have the path to recovery.  This path is much more tiring to follow.  It entails physical activity - using your body in a way that will take it to the limit of your endurance (and, of course, the title of this post refers to the song from the Eagles, Take It To The Limit).

This week has been a relatively busy one, but today I pretty much ran into a brick wall.  Let me recap a bit...

• Last Wednesday, I took Ginger for a fairly substantial walk.  I already talked about that in my last post, so I won't repeat myself here except to mention it as the beginning of this recent flurry of activity.
• Thursday morning marked the first of ten weekly sessions at the YMCA for myself and the girls.  We have a group of homeschooling families that have secured one hour of pool time at the Y.  I didn't swim last week but I went with the girls to let them have some fun in the pool.  I will be swimming with them tomorrow, though!
• On Friday, we hopped in the car and drove to New Jersey - just over the NY border.  We stayed the night in a hotel so we could be up and out to a Renaissance fair on Saturday.  After we arrived at our hotel, we unpacked, unwound, and hopped back into the car to head to the Palisades Center Mall.  This mall is huge at four stories tall.  Normally, we would visit the food court for a meal, but this year we packed food, so this was merely a shopping/walking visit.  We spent about 2 hours walking the mall until finally heading back to the hotel.
• Saturday was spent at the NY Renaissance Faire.  This meant a lot more walking for me.  I fortunately had the insight to buy a pair of gel insoles for my boots!  I have a really nice pair of Minnetonka moccasin boots that I wear as part of my ren faire garb.  The only down side is that, even though these have a harder sole than your average moccasin, I still feel every little rock that I step on.  For my feet with the constant pins and needles I feel, it can be unbearable.  The insoles made all the difference!
• Sunday really was a day of rest!  I was beat!  Even with the insoles, my feet were protesting any sort of real activity.  We did, however, go grocery shopping.  So I still got some walking in.
• Monday found us with Ginger at the dog park in the neighboring town to let her get some quality, outdoor, off-leash time.  The park is set back in the woods.  It isn't much of a walk to get to, but it still takes a little effort.  There were several dogs and their people at the park and Ginger had a blast!  As well, we took a trip to Lyman's Orchards to pick some more apples.  We came home with about 10 pounds of apples - gala, empire, and Cortland.  We were just going to buy some apples at the grocery store, but would have only gotten about 10 apples for $11.00!  We go through at least 12 apples per week, so that wasn't working for us.  At Lyman's we saved $0.59 per pound off of the grocery store price and we got to pick them ourselves.  On top of that, the individual apples are smaller so portion control is a lot better.
• Tuesday was another relatively uneventful day.  Phew!

Today, the girls are all off at the homeschool co-op, so I once again have the day to myself.  I didn't sleep well last night, so the morning found me dozing off quite a bit after they left.  Around noon, I decided that it was time to do something!
We have a small garden out back that has been rather unfruitful this year.  The soil is just awful - mostly a rocky clay - but we have had varying degrees of success.  Tomato plants usually do quite well but even they struggled this year.  I was able to harvest my two whole peppers, though, so that's at least something.
My goal for today was to prepare a small, raised bed for next year's planting.  I had made three frames a couple of years ago for the same purpose, but we didn't implement it well and decided not to use them this year.  As a result, I have been using one of the frames to contain my compost pile - which is doing quite nicely.  I read up on using raised beds for vegetable gardens, and I really wanted to give it another shot.  So...out I went with shovel and cultivator in hand to prepare a raised bed.
I started loosening up the soil and clearing it of weeds and rocks.  Somehow, no matter how well you clear out the rocks, they always seem to work their way back in to the garden!  After clearing a sufficient space for the frame - about 2' by 3' - I started to dig down about 6 inches, moving the soil into a pile.  I continued to encounter some really big rocks!  After placing the frame around my newly dug hole, I needed to level do a little more excavation so that the hole was as big as the frame.  I then lined the bottom of the hole with a weed barrier.  Raised bed farming is not supposed to require a weed barrier due to the fact that the plants are placed in such a way as to limit weed growth.  I figured that it couldn't hurt, though.  We had purchased a weed barrier made from recycled materials and is even eco-friendly.  Next came the refilling of the hole.  Along with the frames, I had also built a sifting frame.  This is simply a frame of 2x4's with a screen attached to sift smaller rocks out of the soil.  Setting the frame in the hole, I scooped a couple of shovels of dirt into it and sifted the soil right into the hole.  This meant a lot of bending and lifting for me and it is where I reached my limit of physical activity.  After about 8 or 10 rounds of shoveling and sifting, I was about done.  I began feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous after each round - each 'round' consisting of: shoveling dirt into the frame, bending to lift the frame but keeping it close to the ground, shaking the frame to sift the soil, and finally standing and dumping the rocks out.  I continued to sift more soil until the weed barrier was completely covered but not even close to filling the hole back up.  It didn't matter, though...I had nothing left.  One more round of sifting probably would have done me in.

I plan to revisit my currently-sunken raised bed within the next couple of days.  I really want to get the dirt that I removed from the hole sifted and returned to it soon.  I also need to establish a second compost pile so I can let the current one finish decomposing so that I can add the compost to the planting bed.  If I keep adding to it, it will never be ready for use.  I will eventually add more soil and compost to fill the hole and the frame thus creating the 'raised' bed.  This will result in depth of about 12 inches of sifted soil/compost for the plants to grow in.  Hopefully that will give them adequate space for the roots and will result in a much better harvest than we had this year.

My New Favorite Candy, Oh!

The Cars were a great band that came out of Boston.  Their second album Candy-O - and the title song - is one that carries a lot of great memories for me.  It is definitely part of the soundtrack of my life.

A while back, I posted an entry about Papaya Pepper.  I had taken the seeds from a fresh papaya, soaked them, dried them, and ground them into a substance that looks just like pepper.  If you haven't already, I invite you to read that original post.

Not too long ago, I discovered my new favorite 'candy.'  While it isn't truly candy at all, I really like chewing on some dehydrated papaya.  Today, I took a trip to I.O.N..  As we are planning to spend Friday night and Saturday away from home, I wanted to get some things that were easily packed as snacks but also healthy.  I bought some raw pumpkin seeds (currently soaking in filtered water, sea salt, and dried, ground pepper from our garden) to make pepitas, some raw almonds (will be soaking while the pepitas are drying tomorrow), some newly discovered Organic Stadium-Style Hot Dogs (more on these later!), and some dried papaya.

Raw, hulled pumpkin seeds soaking.

Bagged, dried papaya.

I.O.N. also operates a restaurant, so I am not sure if they prepare this papaya themselves - I keep forgetting to ask - but it is packaged like something you would buy at a deli - no frills, no fancy label.  Unlike most dried fruit, it is not coated with sugar and has not been treated with sulfur.  It is just dried papaya cut into nice serving size pieces.  Because it still has a significant quantity of endogenous sugar, I really do treat this as a candy-type treat by limiting my consumption of it.  Sulfur - specifically the ion, sulfite - is used as a preservative in dried fruits.
According to WebMD:

Sulfites are a group of sulfur-based compounds that may occur naturally or may be added to food as an enhancer and preservative. The FDA estimates that one out of 100 people is sensitive to the compounds. A person can develop sensitivity to sulfites at any time in life, and the cause of sensitivity is unknown. For a person who is sensitive to sulfites, a reaction can be mild or life threatening.

...definitely something best avoided.

What I wasn't expecting to buy was the package of hot dogs.  I happened to be looking through the freezer section to see if there was anything that might be suitable for The Maker's Diet when I saw these.  The term 'Organic' jumped out at me causing me to take a closer look.  What sold me, however, was the fact that these hot dogs are made from 100% grass fed and finished beef!  The only concern that I have is with the casing.  Neither the package nor the website indicate that there even is a casing.  I just want to be sure that these are not made in a pork casing.  The hot dogs are sold by Applegate Farms.  There are two similar hot dogs listed on their website - the Organic Stadium-Style Hot Dogs (that I bought) and the Great Organic Hot Dog.  Both of these are made from grass fed/finished beef.  Neither product description mentions the casing.  On the product page for the latter, there is a link to a New York Times article.  The article talks about a cellulose casing that is removed prior to packaging.  My only question is if this applies to both products.  The article also has a sidebar that talks about cooking hot dogs that don't have a casing.  The only reason that I am confused is that one of the reviews on the former product's page mentions the casing.  I have sent an email to Applegate Farms with my question, so hopefully I will know soon.  If they turn out to have a pork casing, well, I will probably eat them anyway but I won't buy them again.

Light My Fire

Light My Fire is one of my favorite songs by The Doors.  Given the topic of my last post, can you guess what the link to the title of this post is?

I dehydrated some peppers overnight last night.  I also made some salsa (we went grocery shopping right after I wrote the post, so I got the needed ingredients).  The peppers were done drying this morning.  I pulled off the dried husks that remained of the stems and put the peppers one at a time into my mortar and ground them with the pestle.  After all was ground, I ended up with about 1 oz. (dry measure) of 'pepper powder.'  I only call it that because I can't remember the variety of peppers that I used...  I blended both types of pepper together as well.

I am still fasting to this point, so I haven't even tasted the salsa.  However, I wanted to see how hot the pepper powder was.  Tasting the pepper wouldn't break the fast so I simply ran my finger on the pestle that had some residue on it and gave it a lick.  Wow!  It was pleasingly hot but not overpowering.  I felt the heat from even a small taste but I didn't feel the need to guzzle a glass of water.

For the fast, I am mostly just drinking water but have had about 8 oz. of fresh squeezed orange juice -  squeezed 'em myself.  Of course, I also had my VidaCell this morning.  Since dinner on Tuesday night, the only 'solid' food that I have had was for dinner on Wednesday and that consisted of a yogurt smoothie.

Today, I will be breaking my fast around dinner time.  Oddly, I am not doing it because I am at all hungry.  I just don't want to take it too far.