Doctors prescribed mineral baths in Hot Springs, AR

At one time this bathhouse had many visitors come for spa treatments.  The building is now owned by the National Park Service.

(This story took place in September.)

We went to Hot Springs National Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas today. The region is full of geothermal springs that come to the surface at temperatures as high as 140F. In the late 1800's and early 1900's grand bathhouses were built downtown that diverted spring water into spas. People from all across the country came in hopes that soaking in the water would cure what ailed them. The national park now maintains these historic bathhouses and protects the springs. It's interesting that doctors back then prescribed mineral baths and time in nature. We should have more of those types of prescriptions again instead of just pushing pills. Now I really want to go to a spa!

One of the natural hot springs still allowed to flowing above ground.

THis is a test by Naomi.
I'm trying to teach Rebecca to post

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute remembers terrorism

The 16th Avenue Baptist Church was bombed 50 years ago. It was Sept. 15, 1963. In this photo an American flag is raised by firetrucks on the anniversary of 9/11

On Sept 11, our nation was focused on remembering in 9/11 and the terrorist attack in New York, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania. That day, the Eco-cowgirl and her sidekick arrived in Birmingham where preparations were in order to remember the terror inflicted on United States citizens by some of our own citizens...the bombing of the 16th Avenue Baptist Church.  Four girls attending Sunday school were killed. The church is next door to the Civil Rights Institute. 

Four girls who were attending Sunday school were killed in the bombing.

Do you know the significance of the statue of an attacking dog?

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Freedom Riders bus

 The Eco-cowgirl writes

Today we went to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in downtown Birmingham, AL. It is a great interactive museum that takes you back to what life was like late 1950's and early 1960's for blacks in the South. 

The courage of these people in face of violence is amazing. I don't understand how anyone can justify treating another person the way the blacks were treated.

16th Avenue Baptist Church

 The 16th St. Baptist Church across the street from the institute was bombed on Sept. 15, 1963 killing four girls. 

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the bombing and march for civil rights so the institute was having special events this week. 

A must see if you're in Birmingham!

The Eco-cowgirl finds a unique college in North Carolina

On Sept. 7 the Eco-cowgirl her sidekick were in Ashveille and visited  a unique restaurant

Here's what Eco-cowgirl has to say:

So many organic and vegan friendly places here! Also Warren Wilson College is really beautiful and cool. It has some of the best native landscaping and green architectural design I've seen.

Sustainability is woven into the fabric of Warren Wilson College

The campus specializes in sustainable farming with greenhouses and fields right on site.
See:
What kind of college has no football, no fraternities or sororities, and believes that one person can change the world?


Written — at The Green Sage.

See this story:
Could Asheville become a hub for green economy?

Eco-Cowgirl and her sidekick impressed with Asheville's commitment to healthy lifestyle

The eco-cowgirl, Rebecca, and her grandmother are on an ecological journey, traveling to wherever their wanderlust takes them. 

Eco-cowgirl writes:

Yum, yum kettle corn and it's organic and low salt!

We happened to be in Asheville, N.C. during Organicfest, a "celebration of everything organic," held in the town's downtown plaza.

There were all kinds of venders displaying crafts made from recycled and earth-friendly materials, organic food, growing systems, local farms, and many informational booths.

Grandma Janette learning more about bees

My grandma and I stopped to talk with a man working to protect bees and promoting the health benefits of honey and bee pollen.  He travels around the US educating people about bees and beekeeping. He doesn't wear any protection when working in his hives and says bee stings have taken away his muscle pain.

Another booth we stopped at had a home hydroponic that grew plants by only running water with added nutrients over the plants' roots. It works indoors and outdoors and can grow enough food for a family of four.

Grandma Janette poses beside some hydroponically grown plants.

My grandma lives in a condo and thought it would be great for her patio. I think it would be nice to have in the winter to grow fresh leafy greens.

When we were done looking at all the booths we stopped and got a treat from a local vendor selling ice cream.  Being vegan, I usually don't get to eat ice cream unless I buy a nondairy kind at a grocery store. Lucky for me all the ice cream to this booth were vegan and some made with mostly raw ingredients!

General sillyness with my grandma.

What a difference it is to go to an event and actually be able to find things I can and want to eat. I left Asheville feeling very impressed with the community's commitment to organic, local food and healthy lifestyle.

Remember to recycle...ya'll

Can a vegan find happiness at the Minnesota State Fair?

Foods at the Minnesota State Fair from the Minneapolis.Eater.com

The Minnesota State Fair is known for it's crazy deep-fat fried foods and food-on-a-stick. My husband and I went there two years ago when I was still only vegetarian and not vegan. Everything we saw was over-sized, we were still on our Weight Watchers plan and we were aghast at the portions and the decadence of all the foods. We ended up getting milkshakes, back then we were still of the mindset that "milk-does-a-body-good."

I'm from the old-school days when fair food meant cotton candy and popcorn not stuff like deep fat fried candy bars or deep fat fried cheese curds. But many people attend the fair with the express purpose of eating something usual and deep fat fried.

When my father was a teenager he brought his hogs to the fair and won grand champion. Looking over the livestock and visiting machinery hill was a must do. Taking a ride on the midway or attending a rock or country concert are also usually on my list of must dos.

 This year I decided it would be a challenge for me to try to find something vegan to eat.

We thought our vegan food was going to have to be beer and cotton candy. But we weren't even inside of the gate 15 minutes when I spotted a trailer selling pita or "pocket bread" sandwiches. I was hungry and ordered right away.  Mine had some falafel (deep fat fried chick peas) so I guess that was my fried food, but I succeeded in getting something vegan right away. Quite frankly it was kinda of let down because it was so easy.

Success in getting something vegan to eat at the Minnesota State Fair.

Right after I ate my pita sandwich, we headed across the street to the Farmers Union Coffee Shop to see if I could get a soy latte. I could (yeah!). It was a hot day so they asked me if I wanted it iced. I said yes and my husband and I sat in their nice little patio away from the crowded street.

Soy latte at the Farmers Union Coffee Shop on Dan Patch Avenue.

Traveling

So, we are a mother/daughter team experimenting with adding more to this blog about staying healthy by learning more about the environment,  food, exercise and personal grooming products.

Daughter plans to blog about her travels. But first we have to play around with this blog a bit to see how we might best use it.

Last weekend I traveled to Grand Marais, Minn. While there I discovered vegan dental floss. Huh, I never even thought about whether or not my dental floss was vegan or about the plastic container it comes in.

Okay, I've spent 1/2 hour trying to upload photos onto this blog and they just don't want to insert after I've uploaded them and clicked add selected. Anyone know how to remedy that?

Vegan chili at the co-op.

Raw Vegan

After my trip to the Tree of Life, I'm trying to incorporate the raw vegan lifestyle into my life. I still cook a lot of food, but I'm adding more raw vegan foods. I just took a road trip and instead of high calorie, salty, oily treats I ate a whole bunch of celery and a whole bag of carrots.

I didn't have to stop and buy soda pop because there is a lot of water in these vegetables. Oh, and I also ate a pear.

Eco-traveling and translations services

Eco-traveling and translations services

One way to learn more about the environment is to travel. Traveling is fun, and a person’s eyes can be opened to new ideas. When you come home you look at your home city with fresh eyes.  If you are going to travel to a land where the people speak a different language than you, you might want to check out translation services first. One service is Rosetta. As I look over their site it seems they are mostly for business. You could check them out for your personal travel. They translate documents and will do something called cuchotage or whispered simultaneous interpreting. (Chuchotage is French.) This type of interpretation is good for groups of four or less.

Eco-travel is something that is growing in popularity. The word eco-travel can mean two things, either traveling to see environmental wonders (or everyday sites), or it can refer to what kind of a carbon footprint you leave on the environment. Do an Internet search for eco-tourism and see what you might find.

Last year my daughter and I went on our first cruise. It was a vegan cruise, meaning all the food was plant-based – no meat, dairy or eggs. We had a great time and we also did some exploring at the ports. It was fun to see different plants and different topography than we have at home. We experience several languages on this cruise: Italian, Bahasa Indonesia, German and Spanish. The ship was an Italian ship and many of the people in charge were Italian. Many staff members doing the menial work were from Bali. Also the passengers were a mix of people from the U.S., Italy and Germany. In Porto Rico we had a tour guide who tried to teach us Spanish with a Porto Rican flare.

All activities were in English so you didn’t have to worry about service. 

Our Stay at the Tree of Life in Arizona

This is the 3 night of our short stay at the Tree of Life in Arizona. We are eating raw food, enjoying the sunshine, and I had been avoiding the Internet. I told everyone that we would not have Internet access. But we do have it where we are staying. My daughter and I are staying at the Garden House. It is a 2 bedroom house.

As I was making our double bed this morning I noticed a tag that said Barefootconnection.com, so I have been curious about that all day. I looked at the website and it has to do with connecting your bed and your body to the healing forces or healing energies of the Earth.

Well, we've eaten all raw vegetable meals make by the chefs at the Tree of Life since we have arrive around noon on Thursday. Today I had a Rolfing treatment. I want to see if someone does Rolfing at home. It is a type of bodywork. It is not an massage, but an alignment or structural integration the works with the connective tissues of the body.

I'm tired now and I'm going to sign off. I hope to write more later.

Food choices affect the environment and your health

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Taking care of the environment is more than just recycling and not polluting. My daughter and I began our journey to a vegan lifestyle because we were concerned about the effects the mass production of grains and meats had on the earth. We began by eating organic food, grass-feed beef and free-range chickens and eggs. How food is grown and animals are raised affects the environment.

My daughter reads and learns a lot about nutrition, exercise and staying healthy. Both she and I are celebrating our one-year anniversary of eating a plant-based diet. This means we eat no animal products such as meat, diary or eggs.   Recently her friend sent her a Facebook note asking for nutrition advice for adopting a plant-based diet. 

Her friend and her friend’s beau had watched the movie “ForksOver Knives,” which prompted their wish to change what they ate.  

The movie is about the eating habits of people in the United States compared to people in other parts of the world.  It uses research from The China Study to show that most if not all degenerative diseases can be controlled or even reversed by cutting out animal-based and processed foods.

Here’s what my daughter, Rebecca had to say to her friends:

Yuri Elkaim

That's awesome! I'm always happy to share what I have learned about following a whole foods diet. On Facebook I follow YuriElkaim and

Dr. Issac Jones , and Young and Raw   
http://www.youngandraw.com/

Caleb Jennings & Sheleana Breakell founders of Young and Raw

All are advocates of the whole foods diet and have credible research about the health and environmental benefits. I can email you some of their programs and meal plans that I have gotten from them. ( Ask Prof. Cricket followers can click on their links and search the sites for the meal plans)

 Yuri's is probably the simplest to follow. Some good books to check out are The China Study 

by Dr. Colin Campbell and Thrive  by Brendan Brazier. 

Netflix instant streaming has Food Inc, Vegucated, Engine 2 Diet, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, and Hungry for Change. All are excellent documentaries.

How to begin changing your eating habits

I think just starting out with adding a greens such as in a salad, smoothie or juice would be good. Depending on what your meals are like, you could have a goal or one meal or one day a week be completely whole foods. It doesn't have to be stressful.

I'm still working on optimizing my diet. What I have been doing lately is having a green smoothie as one or two of my meals. I've found Vega protein powder to be a good energizer. It has two servings of veggies in it along with protein to keep you satisfied. Mixing it with rice, coconut, or almond milk is good.

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The China Study was written by Dr. T. Colin Campbell and is based on the China-Cornell-Oxford Project. This project is a large study conducted throughout the 1980s in rural China. People in rural parts of China ate plant-based or vegan diets until the 1980s when, with more money, people could afford more meat. Dr. Campbell and his colleagues found that many diseases, like diabetes and heart disease were previously rare in rural China and  are associated with eating more animal protein and dairy products.

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Hiring new people

When I'm looking for a job I try to think about whether I will be able to live up to my commitment to the environment. Ideally, my spouse and I like to live somewhere where we can walk to work.  of course, when I worked at home this wasn't a problem. Often I would take the bus if I needed to met someone elsewhere. Since our residence was on a busy street, many people could pass by and stop on their way to work or back home if they needed to consult in person with me.
 
As a monthly publication manager I hired an person to keep our books, this would fall under accounting jobs. When interviewing this person I met him at a resturant that was only 1 block from out home.Before I made the decision to hire this individual I called several references. I recommend calling references and it helps you determine whether the person will be a good fit. 

 

Reasons to choose greener clothing

In the post previous to this I wrote about organic clothing that I have purchased.
This is an excerpt from an email I received today from Green America:

In 2011, US clothing sales totaled more than $329 billion. 

To me, that's 329 billion reasons to stop buying conventional clothing and turn to green fashion.  It's a big deal, because our clothing choices have huge impacts.  Many of us know already about the problem of overseas sweatshops, or the heavy environmental toll taken by conventional cotton, which uses 25 percent of the world's pesticides. 
But did you know that US clothing companies have also been connected to the trafficking of child slaves in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan?  Or that some of the finishes that conventional companies apply to fabric promote wrinkle- and stain-resistance are known carcinogens or linked to hormone disruption?
For the "Green Fashion" issue of our Green American magazine, our editors tracked down the greenest clothing companies, and exposed the problems in the conventional clothing supply-chain from the fields to store shelves.   Our online feature from this issue, "Green Fabrics and Labels to Look For" will help you find the best clothing for you and your family. 

It is signed Alisa Gravitz,
Executive Director,
Green America

Organic clothing

I like to save tags from products that I buy becuase I have the intention of blogging about them. Problem is I drawers full of tags.

Today while most people might be enjoying the last days of summer on this Labor Day Weekend, I told myself that I was going to clean out my room, especially my "junk drawers.  So here is a quick post about a tag that I found in a drawer. I am about to throw the tag away I purchased a silk and organic cotton sweater two years ago. I like the sweater. It is made by Indigenous Designs, natural fiber clothing.

The tag says it was printed on recycled paper.  And that the company is a member of the Organic Trade Association and the Fair Trade Federation. Remember even if you are purchasing new clothes, you can purchase products that adhere to your values of treading gently on the earth.

How to Make Flowers the Perfect Mother's Day Gifts

Guest Blogger
Mothers Day gifts are our special way of saying thank you to the woman who devoted her life taking care of us. There's only one day in a year where we celebrate an occasion that is especially dedicated for her. One of the gifts that are commonly given to her on Mother's Day is a bouquet of flowers. While some people think that flowers are ordinary gift, there are many ways to make flowers the best gift your mother ever receives.

Most people think of flowers as ordinary gift because they usually receive such gift in a very ordinary way. However, if you add variations or arts to the flowers, then they become very special. If you mom loves gardening, then she will surely appreciate her flower bouquet that comes along with seeds of the flowers that you just gave her. For example, you can give your mom a bouquet of beautiful carnation arrangement on Mother's day. She will surely admire the flower and would want them to last. However, flowers can only last for few days. You can hand over a small bag containing carnations seeds to her. You can tell her to plan them in order to see additional carnation flowers. She will surely be happy taking care of plants and will remember you while looking at them in her garden.
Another way to make flowers a special gift is to use them to surprise your mom. You can use rose petals to decorate her room while she out. The scent of the rose will fill the entire room. Any woman who sees rose petals scattered on the floor and bed in her room will instantly feel romantic. This will make her feel the love from you. Do not forget to highlight the gift by giving her a big bouquet of red roses and taking her down to a special dinner.

Flowers become special Mothers Day gifts when they are given with special meaning. Thus, you can ask all your siblings to give your mom flowers on Mother's Day on top of whatever they plan to give her. Each of you will give her flowers or bouquet of flowers when you arrive. This will make her feel very special. Make sure that each of your siblings will bring a different kind of flower. Having roses, tulips, carnations, orchids and other types of flowers will surely amaze her.

Getting Ready

Content by guest blogger Sol Rosales

I called TexasElectricityProviders today after I got my new dryer dropped off. I got one of those great industrial dryers. The ones that have a huge drum and literally will dry an entire load in under thirty minutes. I didn’t realize that I hadn’t bought “white glove delivery” so the dryer was just dropped off in the room that it needed to be in. It wasn’t actually hooked up. Then, I realized that the plug didn’t look anything like any of the outlets that were in my laundry room. When I got in touch with our electricity provider they were so helpful. They said that it was probably a higher voltage plug and gave me some more information. They even suggested that I get in touch with one of their suggested electricians to have a new outlet put it. Later that day, the electrician made it over and now I have a fabulous new dryer ready for use. It is going to make my life so much easier. Now, I won’t have to spend ninety minutes waiting for my clothes to dry!

Green Romance

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/green-romance-think-eco-healthy-for-valentines-day.html

From the Care2.com website:
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/green-romance-think-eco-healthy-for-valentines-day.html

The scene is set for romance…perfume, candles, flowers, chocolate, and champagne. But wait…some of these products might contain toxic chemicals! Remember that what goes on your body also goes in your body and into your bloodstream, so be sure to choose products without a lot of added chemicals. A spritz of most department store perfumes, for example, can contain over 100 different synthetic chemicals to make the scent, plus things like phthalates, and parabens.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/green-romance-think-eco-healthy-for-valentines-day.html#ixzz1mVEr2VvA

DERBY PIE

I appreciate the guest post, Ignacio Phillips

I was watching a movie on Direct TV yesterday and I heard a crash come from the kitchen. I immediately hopped up and ran to the kitchen. I saw my dog standing in the kitchen with a plate that had fallen off of the counter than had a whole Derby Pie. I cooked the pie for a party that we were going to that evening. It is my specialty. Of course, you can guess what my pup was doing. By the time I had gotten in there, he had eaten half of the Derby Pie. I was so upset I popped him. I picked up the rest of the pie and set it on the counter. I was so distraught, I called my husband and told him that he was going to have to pick up a pie on his way home from work so that we could take it to the party. I simply didn’t have enough time to fix another pie. I told him what Henry ( our beagle) had done. He raised a great question that I didn’t even think of because I was so upset with the dog. He reminded me that dogs weren’t allowed to eat chocolate.

Eco-traveling and translations services

One way to learn more about the environment is to travel. Traveling is fun, and a person’s eyes can be opened to new ideas. When you come home you look at your home city with fresh eyes.  If you are going to travel to a land where the people speak a different language than you, you might want to check out translation services first. One service is Rosetta. As I look over their site it seems they are mostly for business. You could check them out for your personal travel. They translate documents and will do something called cuchotage or whispered simultaneous interpreting. (Chuchotage is French.) This type of interpretation is good for groups of four or less.

Eco-travel is something that is growing in popularity. The word eco-travel can mean two things, either traveling to see environmental wonders (or everyday sites), or it can refer to what kind of a carbon footprint you leave on the environment. Do an Internet search for eco-tourism and see what you might find.

Last year my daughter and I went on our first cruise. It was a vegan cruise, meaning all the food was plant-based – no meat, dairy or eggs. We had a great time and we also did some exploring at the ports. It was fun to see different plants and different topography than we have at home. We experience several languages on this cruise: Italian, Bahasa Indonesia, German and Spanish. The ship was an Italian ship and many of the people in charge were Italian. Many staff members doing the menial work were from Bali. Also the passengers were a mix of people from the U.S., Italy and Germany. In Porto Rico we had a tour guide who tried to teach us Spanish with a Porto Rican flare.

All activities were in English so you didn’t have to worry about service. 

Everyday little things like shopping choices make a difference

It’s those little boring things that a person does everyday that can contribute to society. I find that every consumer decision I make is also an reflection of my commitment to the environment. For example, purchasing a shower curtain can be a reflection of your conviction to the environment. I kept the same shower curtain for years, because I didn’t want to throw my old one in the landfill AND because I was worried about off-gassing of PVCs a new plastic curtain would produce. PVC is polyvinyl chloride. It contains phthalates, which is a toxic plastic softener, used in the coating of shower curtains. Phthalates have been linked to hormone disruption, cancer, and liver and kidney disease. You’ve heard about them in plastic baby bottles.

Today I have been asked to blog about shower curtains for www.become.com, you might want to check their links to shower curtains. I will see if they have some environmentally friendly shower curtains.

In looking over their selection at http://www.become.com/splash-home-shower-curtain I don’t see any that specifically advertise that they do not contain PVCs, but one option you have is to pick a cloth curtain.

Another topic I’ve been asked to blog about is a square teak table for 8. If you follow this link to the www.become.com site you will see tables. I would say to choose a table that is made in the United States, close to you. Teak typically is not grown in the United States.

The third topic I’ve been asked to mention is a bedding comforter with a Mario theme. As I look at the link I see most are made of polyester so you will have decide if you want all natural fabric or if your child’s desire for a Super Mario them overrides the environmentalist in you. Sometimes you have to give in to keep peace in the family.