Sun Protection

Whether we are going for a walk, bike ride, mowing the lawn or preparing and tending our garden the sun should be our primary concern.  Early in the morning before 10 AM and later in the afternoon after 4 PM (preferrably after 6 PM) are the best times for outdoor activities.  During the hours of 10AM-4PM the suns UV emitting powers are at their zenith and thus skin and eye protection and proper hydration are a must.  Here are a few tips for protecting our bodies largest organ – the skin – and our precious windows to the world – our eyes.

• Use sunblock with a UVA/UVB SPF (broad spectrum sun protection factor) of at least 30.  Look for sweatproof/waterproof varieties and apply them 15 minutes before going outside.
• Ladies if you don’t want wrinkles and sun spots on your face – the higher the SPF the better.  If you’ve had years of unprotected sun exposure there are products out there which claim to not only protect but reverse the signs of aging and sun damage.  Personally, I’ve used Coppertone NutraShield Faces Sunscreen Lotion with Broad  Spectrum UVA/UVB 70+SPF.  In the couple of years I’ve used it I have not noticed any new sun damage and it’s definitely kept my skin from getting burnt.  Because it has a nice feel to it I have used it on my shoulders, chest and neck and on my little girls exposed skin when we have outdoor activities.  Sometimes the higher SPF lotions can feel sticky, but this one is very pleasant feeling more like lotion and absorbs quickly.  Great for under makeup.
• There are special SPF treated clothes with UPF of 50+. These can be rather expensive, but would prevent the need for using SO much SPF lotion, although levels of protection are always better.  Maybe not the best for gardening activities if you are going to be mucking around in the mud and dirt, but for athletic endeavors or just being outside when it’s really sunny the UPF treated clothes would be a great option.  They even have this available in hats and bathing suits
• Do you have thin hair, extremely fair skin or are balding? If so, then please, wear a wide brimmed hat to protect the delicate skin on your head and the back of your neck.  Since this skin is not used to UV exposure it will burn, to a crisp, if you are not careful.
• DON’T FORGET TO COVER THE TOPS OF YOUR EARS WITH SPF LOTION.  We get so wound up in making sure we cover our faces, necks, shoulders, arms, backs and legs that we forget one of the most tender areas of skin on our bodies – the tops of our ears.  If you don’t want to lose this tender area to cancer, please, protect it.  Add a wide brimmed hat to your outfit just in case.

• Protect Your Eyes From The Sun
• You only have one set of eyes – protect them.  If you wear glasses make sure that you have sunglasses that go over them, get Transitions lenses or prescription sunglasses. If you do not have any of these options available, at least remove your glasses and put on a pair of regular sunglasses.  Why is this so important?  Your glasses act like a magnifying glass for the suns rays and will severely damage your eyes even leading to blindness if you are not careful.

• Hydrate and Cool Your Body from the Inside Out
• Water is your best friend.  Make sure you drink plenty before going outside on a particularly hot and steamy day.  Take a tumbler filled with ice cold water outside with you so you can continue to sip on this life saving liquid.  Remember how nice it feels to immerse yourself in a cool pool of water on a super hot day?  Well think of how appreciative your stomach, heart, lungs and brain will be if you make sure to keep them cool as you work or play.
• Listen to your body.  The hotter it is and the harder you work the less able your body is to keep it’s core temperature down.  We start to feel lightheaded, whoosy and shaky.  It’s best to not let it get this far, but if we haven’t been smart to begin with then the least we can do is know when to STOP.  STOP working.  STOP staying out in the sun.  STOP for a cool drink.  STOP for a rest in the shade or an air conditioned room.
• Guys, this goes for you too – acting macho today could mean not having you around tomorrow.  There is nothing sexier then a man who knows how to be responsible for his health because that means he is aware of how much his family loves and needs him.

Amazon.com has a plethora of products from cosmetics to water bottles which will help you achieve your sun protection and hydration needs.  For your convenience I’ve included a small Amazon store here for you to search and review sun protection products.

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Though I didn’t personally plant any seedlings out in the garden there were many volunteer tomatoes that we looked forward to cultivating and moving once they got big enough. I actually had forgotten about them until this Monday when my daughter remembered she was drawing the seedlings progress for a science project. Needless to say my heart dropped. We had a freeze warning the previous Thursday and we had not been out in the garden all weekend. When we got out to the garden my daughter’s first words were, “OH NO, they’re gone!”, which confirmed my fear. The freeze of last Thursday did “cook” the tender tomato seedlings leaving them as little brown dried out hairs on the garden. As I peeled them back I was surprised and happy to find that three or four in the center of the clump had survived. They didn’t look happy but they were still alive. So I got a small plastic jug and a tiny branch and created a little greenhouse for the seedlings. I surrounded the bottom of the bottle, that was cut out to cover the seedlings, with a little mound of mulch to keep the bottle seated firmly in the garden and the stick I pushed into the garden through the top opening of the bottle to keep it from tipping or getting blown away. Hopefully, in two more days when we have to go out and check on them again they will still be alive.

Tonight will be a serious problem. There is a hard freeze warning in effect for our tristate area. Both my husband and my mother have asked today if we have seen the snow. SNOW!!!?!!!? After 90 degree weather now we have snow – will wonders never cease. So, I have to cover my young blueberry bush, the fig tree and check on the seedlings. Keep an eye out on your tender plants. If you have a chance before it gets too dark cover your tender plants.

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The easy answer is growing plants without soil in a nutrient rich solution. There are several ways to set up a hydroponic system but each have a few things in common.

• They must allow enough room for the roots to grow.
• They must offer proper aeration for the roots so they do not drown in the water.
• They must offer a pH balanced and nutrient rich solution specific to the types of plants you are growing.
• They must offer sufficient lighting of the proper spectrum to support photosynthesis for proper growth

What is aeroponics?

Aeroponics is a division of hydroponics that suspends the plants above the nutrient rich reservoir.  The roots are fed the nutrient laden water either by drip irrigation, misting, fogging or highly aerated bubbles.  The most widely recognized aeroponic system is the Aerogarden by Aerogrow.

If you have the cash to lay out for the Aerogarden it is a very nice system that has all the necessary parts, pieces, nutrients and even seeds to make a small seroponic system work.  Whether it’s for flowers to britghten your mood or herbs to brighten your food there are a number of plants that can be grown in the Aerogarden appliance.

If you are more frugal and like DIY projects search for homemade aerogarden and you will find a number of alternatives.  None of them are as pretty as the aerogarden and it will take some time and expertise, but the DIY systems all seem to be practical and will grow plants.  Make sure you have enough space to accommodate a Rubbermaid tub with a lid and an external lighting apparatus.  Space issue and the potential for marital problems because of a loud ugly tub sitting in the front window.  The only place I have that has the space is the back porch, but it is way too cold out there right now so I’d have to rig up heating to.

Year Round and Urban Applications

Upon doing further research on hydroponics and searching on ebay I came across another idea – vertical hydroponic gardens.  I searched how to make a vertical hydroponic garden and I found a grass roots movement called WindowFarms.org.  They encourage the use of hydroponics to grow herbs, greens, and fruit crops year round in available window spaces.  Their system can either be purchased or built with readily available tools and items and repurposed plastic water bottles (they suggest using ones made by Nestle).  Their community forum and blog, our.windowfarms.org, offers the opportunity to read about the experiences of others using the windowfarms idea and how they have succeeded, modified and improved the basic windowfarms concept.  So whether you are a gardener that longs to have fresh produce from your garden in the dead of winter or an apartment dweller who does not have an outdoor space available for gardening a window farm is a space saving way to “get your green on” .

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Oct 26, 2010 … A fierce storm rocked the Midwest with screaming winds, … Only minor injuries were linked to the storm by late Tuesday but it caused …

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Another very windy day today across the Midwest brings back memories of the ugly storms that slammed our region yesterday. Monday night to Tuesday morning was unseasonably warm. It made it hard to sleep. Early in the day despite the wind the girls and I wanted to go out and play. By the time we got ready to step outside it had started raining. It was only light rain so we decided to go out for a few minutes. We barely got up to the swingset when the raindrops started to sting. The wind picked up and so did anything that wasn’t nailed down. It was time to go inside.

No sooner did we get in the door that my phone started ringing. It was DH telling us we should get ready to take cover. The radar images showed that a nasty storm was headed right for us and there were at least four unconfirmed sightings of tornadoes to our west. Right away I asked Yeyda to get her’s and her sister’s pillows, some blankets, and books and take them to our little bathroom. It is the most interior room of the house and the only one without windows. That is our storm shelter since we do not have a basement .

This was taken after the storms had passed. The girls decided to play in here, thus the mess .

I ran around getting flashlights, water bottles and snacks as well as jackets and ID to take in the bathroom with us just in case. Bonbon was very frightened because the winds had seriously picked up and the rain was falling so hard and fast you couldn’t see anything out the window. She kept saying, “Mommy, ouside, ouside Mommy,” in a very worried tone. I just kept asking her to go back to the bathroom with her sister and sit and wait for a few minutes. I opened a west window to see if I could hear the tornado sirens of the nearby town, but I couldn’t hear anything with all the wind and rain. DH had said the sirens had already gone off in the town where he works and they were 20 miles to the east – the storm hadn’t reached them yet. The storm roared through and shook the house and by 11:30 the Tornado Warning was lifted. DH called and left a message that a guy that works for him got a message from his brother that a tornado had touched down just 20 miles west of us. I thought this was odd since most of the storm had past us according to the radar images.

Needless to say this ruined our outside playtime for the rest of the day. I need to cut down the rest of my plants and harvest what hasn’t yet been ruined by frost. Hopefully, I find some more that is still OK. The other day I picked up a few tomatoes that apparently had rotted on the vine. They looked OK but tasted terrible so I had to pitch them.

Winter blues seem to be setting in early with me this year. I don’t know why. Going from being outdoors everyday to almost nothing at all is hard to get used to. I need to be less of a chicken and go out even on cold days.

As the world began to modernize and there came a need for the heads of households to work in industry outside the home the family farm began to die.  Farmers began focusing on the cash crop if they could even farm anymore at all.  Food had to be purchased more and more often.  Then as women entered the workforce they had less time to cook homemade meals from scratch.  Thus they started relying more and more on processed foods with flavor enhancers, preservatives and artificial ingredients.  People started to forget what REAL food tasted like.

Enter the fast food chains with McDonald’s at the helm.  Don’t get me wrong I eat at McDonald’s on occasion, but I don’t feel that it is the best way to feed a family in a healthy manner.  Adding layers of convenience makes people complacent.  When people, especially in this economy, are working extra hard to make ends meet even working more than one job time is precious.  What suffers then is our health because rarely will people give up excess television, soda pop, cigarettes and junk food when time and money are in short supply.  So we become complacent, sedentary, and fat with no idea where our food comes from or what is being done to it.

Our family buys it’s fair share of processed foods and junky items, but it is minimal in comparison to many people we run into at the grocery store.  You’ll see our cart topped up with fresh veggies and fruits and their frozen counterparts, whole grain bread, multi-grain cereal and crackers, eggs and milk, cheese and yogurt.  Rarely do we purchase pop or cakes and cookies.  Sadly too often we see the mom with four scruffy looking kids buying the fattiest ground beef, bologna, processed cheese, white bread, pop and chips with not one vegetable in sight.  Sure that stuff will fill your belly, but what is it doing to the rest of your body.

My DH is lactose intolerant.  We believe in part that it is because of the immense amount of processing that is done to cow’s milk before it is brought to market.  Because of modern dairy farming practices it would be very foolish to drink a glass of milk directly from the dairy farmers holding tank without having been pasteurized.  Modernization in some part makes the process lax or lazy because there is always some antibiotic or treatment that can be done to overcome the problem.

This explains the issue with eggs that the nation recently faced.  Instead of people being willing to take control of their food source they leave it in the hands of the mega farmers.  Did you know that eggs come out of the chicken with a built in protection called bloom?  Eggs are porous and will over time dry out.  This also means that they will readily absorb liquids that come in contact with them.  The bloom is a liquid secreted by the hen as the egg is laid that seals the pores and prevents it from becoming contaminated.  If the egg stays in the nest the bloom will slowly dry and eventually start to flake off.  In an egg processing facility the eggs are immediately washed clean of the bloom and SOME of these facilities will re-coat them with an edible mineral oil that acts as an artificial bloom.

Now, if the eggs were laid by hens in your own back yard and you were diligent about gathering them there would be little chance for any chicken poop to get stuck to the shell.  This would lessen the need for washing them immediately as they are gathered allowing the bloom to stay in place until you are ready to use the egg. Wouldn’t that be better?

There are many people that do think this is a better solution.  This is evidenced by the growing number of “urban farmer’s” that have cropped up over the years.  Urban chicken coops, chicken arks, and chicken tractors have become increasingly popular.  A small family really only needs 2 or 3 egg laying hens in their back yard to provide enough eggs for themselves.  With a fenced in back yard or a chicken tractor the hens can eat in a fresh part of the lawn and fertilize it at the same time.  Their habit of scratching will work their poop into the grass so you aren’t left with piles of poop to pick up.

Goats are even growing in popularity.  Like chickens they fertilize where they eat.  As browsers they will eat weeds and plants that we and other animals stay away from including wild blackberry bushes and poison ivy.  A doe that has kidded could be used for milk also.  Seen as a pet with a purpose they can trim your trees, cut your grass, pull weeds, fertilize and when need be provide a delicious family meal.

Other commonly eaten foods have come under scrutiny for the increased use of antibiotics, growth hormones and excess grain consumption.  Like beef and pork these practices leave the meat big, poorly marbled and flavorless.  Not to mention we are unsure what the residual growth hormone in the meat is doing to our bodies.  A growing number of farmers are moving more to a practice of all organic farming.  Pasture fed cattle and hogs provides us with incredible flavorful cuts of meat and delicious truly organic milk.

As more of the population becomes aware of how our food is produced I believe they will become more willing to move towards more organic, natural and fresh sources and preparations of food.  Our “fast” food industry needs to accommodate this trend in the way they buy and prepare food and do business as a whole.  This trend will also affect the huge retail chains like Wal-Mart and Kroger because people will not be satisfied with bland, over processed junk anymore.

Dry them! If you cut back your plant several times through the growing season it helps to keep the plant tidy and gives you herbs to dry for later use. Mint, thyme, oregano, sage, basil, rosemary and any other herb you’ve found in the spice rack at the grocery store can be processed this way. First of all cut the plant back so that there are still a few inches of stem and leaves above the ground so it’ll continue to grow. Take the stems you’ve harvested and wash them very well in cool water taking care to not remove too many leaves, but get rid of the bugs, worms, dirt and cobwebs that have gathered between the branches. Shake off as much moisture as you can and then spread the stems in a singe layer on a towel. Allow them to dry for a few hours turning every so often so that they dry evenly. Once most of the water has dried off tie the stems together is small bunches and hang them upside down inside a paper bag or pillow case in a dark corner or at least out of direct sunlight. I hung mine on my north facing back porch on a clothes line that was strung there before we even moved in and never took down. The paper bag or pillow case is intended to keep dust and bugs out but still allow some fresh air in that will help dry and not rot the leaves. After a few weeks or even sooner depending on the humidity you’ll have dried herbs in your bag.

Remove the dried stems from your bag and carefully remove the leaves by running your thumb and forefinger or your closed hand against the direction of the growth down the stem. The resulting mass of dried leaves can be stored as is or crushed and put in an airtight container. This will give you wonderful flavors of your summer herb garden well into the winter and following spring before your plants, if perennial, come for another season of growth.

With the advent of transportation and improvements in refrigeration over the last century many of us can and do enjoy vegetation in our diets year round. During these colder months we can look forward to finding fresh versions of these veggies in our grocers produce section:

* Broccoli
* Brussels Sprouts
* Collard Greens
* Fennel
* Leeks
* Pumpkins
* Sweet Potato
* Turnips
* Winter Squash

You can make delicious sautes, sauces, soups, salads, and slaws out of these bountiful veggies. If you’ve ever seen Good Eats with Alton Brown on Food Network you know there are endless ways to prepare these winter vegetables in tasty and interesting ways.