Hemp for Victory

About 4 years ago I bumped into a sea of information regarding hemp.  All my life I thought hemp and cannabis were two different things.  Well, they're not, they come from the same (cannabis) plant.  The word Hemp is used in reference to the industrial/fiber rich variety of the cannabis plant.  It contains no THC (the principal psychoactive constituent of the cannabis plant), so, there's no way of being under the influence, never. One of the facts that really surprised me was that in 1942 the Department of Agriculture of the United States issued a short film encouraging farmers to grow hemp in large masses (Hemp for Victory). Even the federal government issued a special stamp to regulate and tax it, like any other crop. Back in that day, Kentucky and Wisconsin were the two largest crops in the U.S.

Hemp was indispensable.

These news are from the 20th century, but the cannabis plant has been used for over 10,000 years and is a very important part of the middle east and oriental culture. All ships, ropes, clothes were made from hemp, even the canvas, which comes from the Arabic word for hemp.

Hemp is a very high yield crop and can be harvested in only 12 weeks. It prevents the growth of weeds, thus, no need to use pesticides or herbicides. It's lighter in weight than a tree, so it requires less heavy machinery, creating a much smaller carbon footprint. It's 100% non toxic vegetable material. Hemp even leaves the soil fertilized for the next crop (trees don't do that).

Hemp Lotion © Syndia Canales 2012

There are over 35,000 products that can be produced out of this single plant, and some of these are:

clothes
shoes
houses (hempcrete, insulation, floors...)
seeds (and protein)

"They are rich in essential fatty acids, with a significant concentration of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, both of which are proven to be vital to cardiovascular health. Hemp seeds are particularly rich in alpha and gamma linolenic acid. According to MayoClinic.com, regular consumption of foods and supplements containing these compounds have been shown to reduce blood triglyceride levels, lower blood pressure and lower the risk of heart disease."

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ropes
canvas
furniture
lotions
soaps/shampoo/shower gel/conditioner
wood sealer
plastic
FUEL
etc. etc. etc.

You can even build a full car out of hemp and run it with hemp fuel.  Henry Ford built hemp cars in the 1930's and it's emissions are as from a human being (CO2 ).

Lotus Eco Elise © transport20.com

I'll just leave you with these facts and please research by yourselves, you'd be amazed.  If it's good enough to eat, it's good enough for everything else.

The "No Buy" Day

Living on a tight budget ain't easy, but with a little discipline, you can achieve goals and become financially stable.  In this case, it's adding to your week the "no buy" day.  This means not buying a single thing during the day.  If you spend $1.50 in your daily coffee before work, you're spending around $390 a year!  This would be enough reason to get up 1/2hr earlier and brew it at home. The little purchases like the daily newspaper or the croissant at the coffee break can be avoided and you can save around $500 a year.

Some people buy compulsively and feel the need to spend money on something every day.  This (no-buy day) will help you in the kitchen, making you look for alternative dishes you can try with what you have in your pantry and fridge.  You'll be amazed with how many dishes you can create with those potatoes, rice and butter!  Then keep adding "no buy" days and organize your purchasing days.  Remember that writing down a weekly menu will not only help you stay ahead of things, it will maximize the proper use of the products you buy.  Establishing a weekly menu will help you keep a healthier lifestyle and avoids spoilage of your fruits and veggies.

Being frugal is not about living "cheap", but to live and spend smarter.

The 5 Flavors

Adding different flavors, colors and textures to your food will make it more interesting while adding fun and nutritional value.  Even temperature! Not every meal should be hot, you can alternate with cold foods too like pasta salads and cereals.  When you try different things, you'll be stimulating your brain and your senses.  Adding different colors to your food, specifically talking about veggies will not only make your creations look fantastic, you'll be introducing more fresh food options and upgrading the nutritional value in your meals.

Talking about the five flavors here they are:

savory
sweet
bitter
sour
spicy

The reason for introducing all or most of these flavors in our food is because they stimulate different areas in our palate and tongue, thus stimulating different parts of our brain too.  This is a key ingredient in fancy restaurants and this is why we go "WOW" when you taste a chef's dish.  Give it a try, this will open many curiosity doors in your kitchen.

(Back-to-School) Healthy Snacks

I'll share with you this article that I found on Cozi.com.  This has helped us at home choosing better snack alternatives for my nieces and luckily they loved them!

Substitute high fructose corn syrup products with sugar, stevia or raw cane juice sweetener.  Refined products like bread, chips and crackers can be substituted by whole grain products, they're easy to find and not that expensive if you alternate different items.

Add more seeds like sesame "candy" bars, peanut butter and granola bars.  Speaking of sesame alone, it has been used for thousands of years, has countless medicinal properties and invigorates the brain.  It's high in lecithin, the brain contains about 28% lecithin and it's mostly fat.  Seeds are high in essential oils that are really "brain food".   Many kids' conditions like overweight, low grades and A.D.D. are directly linked to a poor nutritional-value diet.

Here's a simple list you can try for your kids' lunch box, you can even encourage yourself to do some homemade granola bars and yogurt, give it a try!!

Healthy Classroom Snack Ideas

Creepy New Friends

Some animals are cute and fuzzy, others are slimmy and just plain ugly.  But luckly there's a use and a purpose for each and everyone of them.  Here are just a few of those you've seen in your house (and most probably killed) and why are they so important to keep around.

Snakes
They eat rats.  This should be enough reason to have a dark corner for your new friend.  Rats urinate on pretty much anything, specially on food.  To be in contact with rats' urine through your skin, instantly gets in your bloodstream causing Leptospirosis, which can kill an adult human in just 3 days.  Please get informed about what kind of snakes are native in your country.  Luckily in Puerto Rico, our snakes are not poisonous, they're a boa variety.  Let them be, anything that kills/eats rats are good to have around.

Spiders
Like snakes, be sure that you know what kind of spiders are in your country/state.  Most of them are not poisonous, they're natural predators and will guard jealously their space preventing any bug of setting nests where she is.  Don't be an extremist and leave your house full of spiderwebs!  One inside a cabinet is fine.

Lizards
I live in a tropical island, here're lots of lizards.  Most of the people are grossed about them and will try any chemical bomb to keep them away.  There's at least one in every house looking through the window, haunting us.  Let one inside, they eat roaches!  True story, my cousin's house was full of roaches, thousands to be specific, now is roach-free thanks to Rambo (named by my cousin, who still can't believe his eyes, after paying hundreds of dollars to an exterminator who couldn't contain the roach infestation).

Frogs
They eat insects, mostly mosquitoes and flies and won't bother you during the day, they like to hang out at night.  If you have a yard, get them a small bucket where they can swim and say good bye to those toxic insect repellents.

Earthworms
You don't get to see these often, just when there's over flooding of water in the soil.  But these slimy friends work 24/7 creating super duper fertile SOIL.  They go down deep, eat dirt, process it with their 6 pairs of kidneys and excretes back fertilized soil full of nitrogen and glucose.  There're thousands of types of earthworms, but they all make a fantastic work under our feet. They like moisture and darkness. You'd be amazed to find there's a huge market for compost worms (vermiculture) and can be bought from $15 up to over $40 a pound!  Compost worms excrete a dark odorless matter called humus (a.k.a. "black gold" in the farming biz).  This humus is used to make a tea (1 tbsp of humus per 1 gallon of rain water, it can be sold for $15-$20 the gallon of prepared tea) and with just one dose, your plants will be loaded with nutrients and millions of microorganisms for up to 6 months!

Now go say hi to your new friends!  :)

Air Purifying Plants

Some people live the entire year behind closed doors and windows due to extreme cold and heat, breathing what comes out from the A/C or heater.  This eventually causes common respiratory conditions that are often mistaken by seasonal allergies or pre-existing conditions.  The A/C filters are often filled with fungus spores, mites and many other tiny things we can't see bare-eye.

Adding (live) plants into the home and office, not only makes it a prettier, more inviting place, it also purifies your air, filters carbon dioxide and produces clean oxygen.  There's a wide variety of indoor plants to choose from and some even flower without getting almost any sun!  Some attract and eliminate fungus spores, a common cause for asthma and other chronic respiratory conditions that's responsible for many  visits to the ER.  Placing one of these plants beside your bed, works as a therapy "machine".

Here are some links with the list of indoor plants you can add to your home and/or work:

Mother Nature Network
Clean Air Gardening
Web Ecoist
Tree Hugger
Environmental Grafitti

Doggie Ear Care

Sativa 2 y/o

This is a simple task you can do and your dear pal will thank you.  Most of the people don't pay attention to their dog's ears.  These are the breeding nests for fleas and other parasites.  Taking a look at your dog's ears on a daily basis will help you prevent a plague to take over and it breaks their reproducing cycle.  You may be bathing your dog with toxic soaps or paying hundreds of dollars on grooming, but if you don't look at your dog's ears daily, you're letting fleas and ticks lay their eggs.  Later on, the cycle begins and your dog will be forever itchy.  I'm not even emphasizing on the health risks of a parasite infestation. (but feel free to contact me for further details)

I use castor oil to clean Sativa's ears, as recommended by her vet.  Olive oil can be used too.  Hold the dog's head still to prevent him from shaking it.  With a dropper, add about 4 drops of the oil inside the ear and massage it for a minute to release the waxy dirt.  I don't recommend "q tips", so I wrap my finger with toilet paper; this way I can feel where I'm at and don't hurt her.  The brown waxy dirt will come off right away.

You don't have to clean your dog's ears every day, but I recommend LOOKING at the ears on a daily basis, this way you're a step ahead from the fleas' breeding and thus, cutting the cycle.  Been doing this for 2 years with great results.

If your dog has a chronic condition please contact your homeopathic vet, if in Puerto Rico contact Mascotas al Natural.