The RAnts of RA

Prior to last year I had never heard of Turducken. As the holidays are fast approaching, I find my thoughts are drawn more and more to that luscious mixture of birds.

Turducken is just like it sounds, a taste-tempting mixture of turkey, boneless duck and boneless chicken, complete with corn bread stuffing between each layer of meat. It makes my mouth water, just thinking about it.

Last year a very dear friend and client of ours, sent us a wonderful 15 pound Turducken and to be quite honest, when it arrived, I was less than pleased. For starters there are only three people in our family – it would have taken forever for us to eat a bird of that size. Top that off with the fact that I had never heard of a “Turducken”.

When I found out it was filled with Creole style cornbread stuffing. I was ready to give it away, thank the sender and never mention it again. I am so glad that I don’t always follow my first instincts.

We ended up thawing it out (it comes frozen) and delivering it to the host of our Christmas family dinner. She carefully followed the directions on the package – it was cooked to perfection and I am pleased to report, everyone totally loved it. I must say it was the most creative gift I have ever received for Christmas – not to mention the tastiest.

The Turducken easily fed the twelve of us, with plenty left over for snacks. The bird was moist and tender. The duck portion wasn’t my favorite part but my husband enjoyed every morsal. My favorite part was the stuffing, it was by far the best stuffing I have ever had the opportunity to enjoy. Shhhhhh, don’t tell my mom.

If you are looking for something extra special for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, I highly recommend you try the Turducken. I will be ordering ours soon. What a terrific idea. Who thinks of these things anyway?

Avoid Hidden GMOs for a Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner

No incentive or compensation was received by the author for this review.

Is an eco-friendly burial for you?

Have you caught Forecast Earth by The Weather Channel? It’s an interesting relatively new show that – even as a non-environmentalist, I find informative and helpful. When the show first aired, I was expecting to hear more hype than substance but what I found was well researched, common sense segments that made me think. Not only was the show about how to preserve the earth – as God intended (not that they ever once mentioned God); the show could actually help me save money. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like to save money.

I saved the Forecast Earth episode entitled Amish Go Solar? to our DVR, which by the way in my opinion, no home should be without – no home with a television that is. The story I was most interested in was about an environmentally friendly cemetery. The informative piece about the Ramsey Creek Preserve was very helpful to me on a personal level.

My mother wants to be cremated, a practice I detest because of references in the bible and the representation of fire and it’s uses. My father’s entire family is buried at Sharon Hollow Cemetery, near Manchester, MI. A simple, yet quiet, dignified place, where I always felt welcome to come and lumber about, while talking to my brother, daddy and the others.

I recall how expensive daddy’s funeral was and the thought of putting my family through a huge expense like that is hard to fathom. Who can afford life insurance these days?

Ramsey Creek Preserve was everything good a funeral and death should be. It actually made me feel good about leaving this earth to meet my maker. Instead of embalming fluid, vaults and metal caskets, bodies are laid to rest in a natural state, in a nature park, surrounded by birds, trees, flowing water, and even music on occasion. What a beautiful place for a body to spend eternity.

In doing my research on natural burials, I located the Fernwood Cemetery in Marin County. The Fernwood property is 32 acres with part of it set aside for natural burial. They have sold one hundred plots in the natural burial area and have already had fifty natural burials. Natural burial appeals to many different people and faiths. Cassity and Campbell both report having worked with religious people to whom natural burial appeals because they say it is more closely tied to how burials were done historically.

This is an idea that just makes good sense. It’s a win-win situation all the way around. A natural burial makes good financial sense; it renews the land, provides more natural spaces and won’t fill up anytime soon. I would love to read comments on this subject for those who have buried someone using this method or are considering it.

Related Articles

• Eco-friendly Burial
• Memorial Ecosystems
• Ramsey Creek Preserve
• Honey Creek Woodlands
• Forecast Earth – A Green Burial
• Mark Harris Discusses A “Natural Way of Burial”

Raw Milk and Raw Eggs – – Can You Safely Eat Them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo5QAxXHQOQ

The dairy association seems bent of getting out their message that everyone needs milk. The number of commercials extolling the benefits of milk are seemingly endless. After contemplating the growing number of choices available in dairy case at my local grocer, it appears the message is being heard loud and clear.

The choices seem limitless; from organic milk, low-fat milk, kefir milk, soymilk, goats milk and more. How’s a mother to choose?

Growing up near Shelby, Ohio I remember getting our milk fresh from the farm, in glass gallon jars, and skimming off the cream to make our own butter. I never gave a second thought in those days wondering where my milk came from.

Since my son came into the world, it’s been a different story. I’m constantly considering where our food and drink comes from in an attempt to provide him with healthy choices. Parents have a great deal to worry and the list gets longer each day. The more I learn, the more I come to realize just how little I know.

In fact, just last year I stumbled across information on raw milk. Never having heard the term, of course I was interested and took the time to investigate it. Little did I know that I had grown up drinking what is now referred to as “raw milk”. We certainly didn’t call it that when I was young; it was simply “milk”.

After learning more about raw milk many things became clear to me. For instance, when our family moved to Citrus Heights, I became painfully aware of the effects of asthma. Since no one in my family had a history of asthma, I had to learn how to live with it. I discovered that a growing percentage of people especially children develop asthma, who live in the California Valley.

The treatment for asthma starts with inhalers and normally graduates to breathing treatments. In most cases the use of inhalers becomes a lifelong ordeal. Knowing I did not want to end up tied to an inhaler my entire life; I avoided using it as much as possible and moved out of the valley as soon as we could. Of course, I kept reading.

After moving to the mountains fortunately my asthma cleared right up all on it’s own. I haven’t used an inhaler in about five years. I’m thankful I didn’t become dependent on an inhaler.

Many parents don’t have the option of moving their children to the mountains and out of the valley. But there is an alternative.

In his article entitled, “Keeping Your House Clean Puts Asthma Sufferers at Risk,” Dr. Mercola had this recommendation:

Replacing commercial milk with raw milk from grass-fed cows is also usually well tolerated and highly health promoting. There is simply no reason to ever drink or consume regular pasteurized milk products. They almost invariably will cause the asthma to worsen. The only acceptable milk products would be raw unpasteurized milk. That may seem impossible to get but there are two ways one can obtain it.

In another article titled, “Why You Don’t Want to Drink Pasteurized Milk,” Dr. Mercola had this to say:

There is no substitute for clean, raw milk as a food, so far as children are concerned. Science has not yet succeeded in providing, in the pasteurized variety, those essential qualities that are the only real foundation for a healthy child.

Unfortunately, many grossly distorted statements are current regarding our milk supply. If we are to believe the protagonists of the Pasteurization-of-all-milk-at-all costs Party, raw milk is as good, or rather as bad, as rat poison–although as the Minister of Agriculture recently stated, “the human race existed long before Pasteur was heard of.”

On Organic Pastures (where I get my milk) website I found…

Natural organic raw milk has in it vitally important living things. These include the following: beneficial bacteria, enzymes (including lipase, protease, and other), lactase forming bacteria, and many enzyme based pathogen-killing systems. The common practice of pasteurization inactivates or dramatically reduces the effects of these important active (living) elements. As a result, you may be lactose intolerant when drinking pasteurized milk, but not lactose intolerant when you drink raw milk. This is because lactase enzymes are being formed when you digest raw milk. That is why we say; “only living milk brings life.”

They go on answer an all-important question…

What happens to bacteria in pasteurized milk after pasteurization?

After pasteurization, bacteria found naturally in milk are killed. During the high temperature heating process, cell bodies of these bacteria are ruptured and their contents are spilled, releasing histamines. This causes many milk drinkers to suffer allergic reactions. Almost all of these same consumers can drink raw milk and not have allergies. The high levels of bacteria permitted in milk intended for pasteurization are still found in pasteurized milk; they are just dead and not removed by the process.

You will find a great deal of information and some very good reasons to provide only raw milk products for your family to drink on the Organic Pastures website.

If you haven’t heard of drinking raw milk or if someone in your family suffers from allergies, asthma, lactose intolerance, you owe it to your family members to get more information on the benefits of raw milk.

My husband and I who both suffer from lactose intolerance have both discovered that we don’t have any problem drinking raw milk and it tastes so much better than that fake stuff they are peddling on television.

Try some raw milk, then drop me a note and let me know what you think.

Additional Information:

• Real Milk
• The Health Benefits of Raw Milk
• The Weston A. Price Foundation
• Raw Milk – Tell Us Your Story!
• Raw USA Certified
• Where Can I Find Real (Raw) Milk
• Asthma explained by common allergy to milk and dairy products
• Raw-milk Revolution Goes Under The Microscope Again