Well, it's that fantastic time of the year again!! Sugar shack time!! We took advantage yesterday of the great weather and treated ourselves in visiting a local Sugar shack. Yves St-Pierre's sugar shack in Lancaster, Ontario. What a gorgeous place and the smell all around us was just amazing, delicious and inviting to our taste buds. It was the most beautiful day to go out and enjoy the sweet natural smell and taste of nature's drink. Sweet tasting maple syrup, a sure sign of spring. If you stood still enough you could almost hear the maple tree sap dripping in the metal buckets hanging on each tree trunk...cool sight!
The nature around us always has something to teach us. It respects and works so well in harmony and balance together. The cool nights and warm days just makes this amazing sap flow out of the maple trees.....sweet success is all that I can say!!!We were treated to some taffy on the snow...Wow is the only words that can describe the look and smile on my son's face and he was enjoying this nature's unique luxury!
We are so very lucky here in Canada to have so many different ways of enjoying the outdoors in any season. We really should take every opportunity to stop and be thankful for what our wonderful country has to offer.Get out there and make cherished memories with your families. Enjoy springtime, its the time of the year where everything is new again. The geese are coming back from their southern escapade, the forest animals are getting ready for all of their beautiful new babies to be born and we made it through another cold unpredictable winter...yahoo!!
This is a picture of my organic garden in full bloom in mid-August. What a beautiful piece of work. I am so very proud of this. The time that we invest in it as a family is so worth it when we get to bite into fresh mouth watering cucumbers, zucchinis, tomatoes, beans, peppers, squash, cauliflowers etc...mmmm...
On a beautiful spring day like today, all I can think of is getting everything ready to start up my organic garden. From the composting to the best mineral filled rich organic soil that I can create..this is truly my summer passion.
It is our biggest pride to watch all of our beautiful vegetables grow from small plants to over-sized juicy , flavorful gems. Check out this over sized zucchini in my hands...they make the best fresh muffins or breads that I love to share with family and friends....
Nothing like going in the garden after dinner, watching and listening to nature's gift grow...wholesome goodness.... natural perfection.
You get out of it what you put into it. There is effort and time involved but it is so worth it when you see and taste the final product of nature's perfect food.
Here is my 5 year old niece Chloe holding two of my Roma tomatoes...the size and flavor is unbelievable!!!
You don't need to use chemicals, pesticides and harmful products that will only add negative effect on your food...there are so many natural ways to get rid of pests, insects etc....
Nature knows what insects will benefit what plant, you can try plant pairing (meaning that plant combinations can help one another with destructive insects), planting citronella plants around your garden and yard (natural mosquito repellent for humans) etc....the list goes on and it so easy to find information on natural pesticides on the Internet these days....check out the following video...very interesting natural suggestions.
Here is a great video that shows you how to get started on your own organic garden...sooo easy!!!!
I hope this gives you the bug to get started on your own fantastic organic garden...good luck!!!
The last couple of years have been an amazing road for a few kids that have decided to live out their dreams in a big way...especially where musical talents are concerned.
Now the first that needs to be mentioned , a young Canadian at that, is of course Justin Bieber.
This young man has accomplished amazing things at such a young age. According to domestic box office numbers his new musical documentary "Never Say Never"has grossed a whopping $63,300,218 to date, making it the third-highest-grossing documentary of all time. (more than Michael Moore's 'Sicko' and 'Bowling for Columbine' combined.)
Usher has become his mentor and Justin is living out his dream for sure...he has such a following and so many young girls screaming out his name....he is living his dream to the fullest!!! Good for him, we should applaud his accomplishments, we should all be very proud of this young Canadian.
The next Canadian phenomenon is a young 10year old girl named Maria Aragon from Saskatchewan. She was discovered on You Tube singing "Born this Way" by Lady Gaga. She spoke to Lady Gaga on a local radio station and was invited by her to perform at her Toronto concert live on stage. Here is her performance on the Ellen Degeneres Show. This young girl is living out her dream and brought Lady Gaga to tears while performing. Go for it Maria, you will be a star one day for sure...live out your dream!!!
Greyson Chance is a young 13 year old from the States. He was discovered as well on You Tube after performing a Lady Gaga song at a school concert.This time Ellen Degeneres is the one that was captivated by his extraordinary musical talent. She has actually signed him as her first musical artist on her new record label. Here he is with his first live appearance on her show....amazing talent and again a young person living out his dream.....
We need to learn from all of these amazing young people. We need to realize that we can all live out our dreams to the fullest...when all of the paths line up as they should in the universe we have to grab on to that opportunity with both hands and enjoy the ride!!! You are never too old to live out your dream!!!
This week we have all been witnesses to a devastating and shocking Japanese tsunami (7metre waves) and an 8.9 earthquake.
Japan is also living with the unknown after effects of two of their three nuclear plants that have been destroyed and are leaking radiation throughout the land.
The damage that this level of radiation can cause to human life or the long term effects are unknown at this time.
I find this so hard to watch. All of the children that are now orphans and families that have been literally destroyed and torn apart in seconds.
I cannot imagine the emotions and stress that a disaster of this magnitude can bring to families. Their drinking water has been contaminated, their food is becoming scarce and everyone is trying to grasp what has happened in the last few days and literally have nothing but the clothes on their back.
We need to bring all of our positive feelings, prayers and thoughts together and send it to everyone that is either living in Japan or that have loved ones there.
This following video is a wonderful prayer to help bring all of us together for a few minutes. Our thoughts go out to our Japanese brothers and sisters, may they find the strength and courage to get through this painful time in their lives.
There are so many videos of this tragedy that I could have placed on my blog. I decided to focus on the people, the lives that have been so unfairly destroyed.
Click on the link below to see how fortunate some Canadian students were to fly back home from a trip to Japan this week.What a relief for their family and friends to have them back home safe and sound. I'm sure that they lived horrifying moments in the air.
After shocks are being felt all the way to Hawaii from this horrible natural disaster. The earth can be the most beautiful and amazing place but it takes scary situations like this to make us realize how we need to take care of it.....
First of all what is BGH and rBGH?
Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) is a naturally occurring hormone secreted by the pituitary glands of cattle.
This hormone enters the bloodstream and regulates the rate of growth and milk production for the cow. As early as the 1930s, people noted that when BGH levels were increased in cattle the milk production increased as well.
In the 1980s, the Monsanto Company figured out how to produce BGH synthetically, by genetically altering bacteria so that they would produce the hormone.The result was rBGH, a synthetic form of BGH which was easy to produce on a large scale.
Cows treated with rBGH do indeed produce more milk, sometimes as much as 25% more, but the hormone is very hard on their bodies. Increased BGH levels lead to calcium deficiency in the bone and a variety of other health problems. Because BGH can be used to force cows to produce milk year-round, whether or not they calve, the hormone also pushes the body to produce abnormally high levels of milk which can lead to early degeneration. Cows treated with BGH typically have short lives, and they are prone to mastitis, an infection of the udder, along with joint pain, and broken bones.
The following two video links titled "Your milk on drugs" are approximately 15 minutes long...they are well worth viewing. Often , people will ask me why we choose not to drink milk...this is a big part of my answer.
The two videos above are definitely eye-openers. These animals live daily abuse and unfortunately they are the helpless victims of big corporations that only care about their wallets.
This next video really shows how much power these companies hold in their hands and how they use their power to manipulate anyone willing to talk against their product. All this to avoid the truth coming out and being told to the general public.
Please just take the time to watch these and form your own opinion. Try to realize that we are the only mammal that drinks from another mammal. Did you ever hear of anyone drinking dog or cat milk? Why do we think that milk is good for us? Because our mom's told us it was good?
Have you ever stopped to think where the cows get their calcium? From the grass right? Well we can also get calcium from green vegetables (spinach, kale, broccoli, green cabbage, mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens), beans , nuts etc....
Have a look at the link below to give you a better idea as to how to get calcium in a more natural form.....lots of great tips from Dr. Ben Kim.
On my recipe blog (February 19th 2011) you will find a great alternative to cow's milk....coconut milk...so easy to make and so delicious....full of nutrition! Nature's milkshake....wholesome goodness!!!
You will be amazed at how you can use this great recipe to create your own natural chocolate milk as well....amazing fresh taste!!!
Please pass this important information on to loved ones....
Why not let these poor animals live a life with dignity instead of pain and abuse???
A story with heart and soil. This is one movie that I am very much looking forward to viewing. It will be another amazing documentary that will go down in history along with "Food Matters" and "Food Inc."
This is narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis and I'm sure that it will be a real eye-opening phenomenon!!
