Clean Your Indoor Air

Did you know that inside your office and home, you have the off-gassing of products that you have brought into the space?  Yep.  Indoor air pollution.  Chemicals we breathe into our bodies. According to NASA, just one 10-inch houseplant per 100 sq feet can remove 90% of indoor air pollution in 24 hours.

The three main household toxins of concern are:

• benzene
• formaldahyde
• trichloroethylene

Great plants to get to diffuse this situation are:

• aloe vera
• baby rubber plant
• bamboo palm/reed palm
• boston fern
• chinese evergreen
• dwarf date palm
• english ivy
• ficus
• gerber daisy
• moth orchid
• mums
• peace lily

Not Your Dorm Room Ramen

So I thought (for a change) I would try to make something for dinner.  I am not the one who typically cooks, unless we are having breakfast food or grilling.  I have pretty much forgotten how to cook over the past 9 years that my wife has been a SAHM and has taken over that domain.

But a ramen recipe? I figured I couldn't mess that one up!

First you put your (organic, free-range) eggs on to boil.  You peel and slice your (organic, locally-grown) carrot into thin slices.  Warm 2 tsp of oil in a large pot of med-high heat, add carrot and saute for about a minute, add vegetable broth, water, and simmer for 5 minutes.

Warm a tbs of oil in a saute pan, over medium-high heat. Slice bok choy down the center into 2 long pieces.  Salt and pepper the cut side. Lay cut-side down into the hot oil.  Cook about 3 minutes until golden brown and then flip.  Cook about 3 more minutes.

Slice radish in half and then cut very thin, half moon slices.  Cut scallion into rounds.  Put aside for garnish.  Put the ramen noodles into the simmering stock.  Cook 4 minutes.  Peel and cut eggs in half.

Ladle the soup onto bowls.  Place seared bok choy leaf side up and out of the bowl.  Garnish with radish and scallions.  Rest the soft boiled eggs on the noodles.  Add sriracha to taste.

Farmers Market

My wife had a booth down at the local farmers market today, selling her awesome natural product line, Perfectly Posh.  She was doing REALLY well and one of our favorite vendors - Lovera's - had a booth, too.  So I went down there to check it all out.  Also, my youngest son insisted we needed blueberries.  LOL  So I headed down there, got some blueberries and other things.  Came home and made some blueberry pancakes, sliced peaches and used some jam on one of my pancakes.  Is all really good stuff.  My wife came home with some raspberry jalapeno jelly, so we will spoon some of that over cream cheese and eat it with fritos!  Yum!

Blueberries

Jelly - Oklahoma Sunrise (peach, strawberry and pineapple)

Lovera's - homemade vodka sauce, sausage and cheese

Stratford peaches!

Black Pepper Tofu, Pineapple Rice and Bok Choy

Well..... she did it again.  Wow.  Amazing dinner!  Shallots, bok choy, red Fresno chilis and crispy tofu.  The chilis were mild and the black peppercorn had a little kick!  It was sweet and spicy and very good.

The sauce was made with scallion, garlic, ginger, soy, honey and crushed black peppercorns.

Non Toxic Living

As much as I would like to clear out my cleaning supplies, hair and beauty products, pesticides, etc and replace them all with chemical free, "green" products, that isn't something that I can afford to do.  Most likely, you cannot either.  What have have been doing over the last year is slowly replacing everything I buy with less toxic and more natural products.

There are a lot of good alternatives you can buy and also many that you can make yourself, if you are into that type of thing.  Etsy and Pinterest have been a terrific way for me to find the things that I want or learn to make them myself.

Most of my skin care products come from Perfectly Posh.  They are cruelty-free as well as not containing many harmful chemicals.  No parabens, paraffins, gluten, fillers, soy, sulfates, lanolin, or phithalates.  And no animal testing.

On top of that, they feel and smell great and are packaged so hip many of the containers are reusable as well as having labels that peel off.  And they are made in the USA.  I love their vegan products and use most of them.

Beltane

Great Earth Mother!
We give you praise today and ask for your blessing upon us.  As seeds spring forth and grass grows green and winds blow gently and the rivers flow and the sun shines down upon our land, we offer thanks to you for our blessings and your gifts of life each Spring.

Merry Meet!  It is Beltane!  Light a fire, dance and feast, light a fire with the one you love!  Today is a turning point in the year and is all about the coming of Spring! The coming of fair weather and longer daylight hours would be most welcome after a long cold and dark winter.

To the pastoral Celtic people’s of Europe the changing pattern of the seasons was a matter of life and death, and marking these changes key moments in the life of the community. Beltane – “bright fire” – was one such marker celebrated in various forms across Ireland, Scotland and Man as the starting point of summer. A celebration of the time of light and growth to come, Beltane was associated with a variety of practices, from the display of fresh greenery to the baking of Beltane bannocks. Perhaps the most important element, however, was the lighting of Beltane fires on the first of May, which would recall the growing power of the sun and provide an opportunity to cleanse and renew the conditions of a community – both humans and their animals – that had spent the dark months indoors. 
In Scotland, the lighting of Beltane fires – round which cattle were driven, over which brave souls danced and leapt – would survive into modern times, although a process of slow decline saw towns and villages slowly abandon the practice in the nineteenth century. The last Beltane fire recorded in Helmsdale took place in 1820. In the middle years of the century the fires of Fife spluttered out, and by the 1870s they would go unlit in the Shetland Isles. By the start of the twentieth century, Edinburgh, which had for time immemorial seen beacons lit on Arthur’s Seat, ceased such public Beltane celebrations. (from A Detailed History of Beltane)

To me, Beltane is like the "new year" and I want to start off this new year living more green and sustainable; reusing or recycling; producing less waste and purging my house and life of things that do not bring me joy. (I read this great article about Marie Kondo, check it out!)  She says to discard everything that does not "spark joy" after thanking the objects for their service.  She says to dump your whole closet of clothes on your bed and go through them one by one and thank the one's you get rid of and only keep the one's that make you feel good.  I want to try this.