Sewing Makes Me Happy

I went to a fabric store to get some material to finish the projects for A and E (2 year old niece and 4 year old nephew) today. A woman cutting fabric, working in a fabric and craft store, confessed that she did not like to sew.
I really like to sew.
I guess part of its charm for me is that I do not get time to do it very much. With a machine and a well-designed pattern, it can be easy and the results always come out custom-made. A tangible result for your labor, not a number to be exchanged between banks. It's another one of those things it does not "pay" to do, if you measure your time in $20/hr increments. But neither does reading blogs or watching reality television. Most of the time cruising the net or watching the tube will not yield the benefits of an hour with needle in hand- busy hands that still the worried mind, a project nearing completion, something made personally for someone you love. If you've never sewn before, try sewing on a button or repairing a small hole in something. Or take the leap, get a machine, and make some bags to take to the grocery store, or stitch two pieces of fleece together to make a cosy winter blanket. A host of internet sites exist to show you how. Get stitching!

Bringing In the Leaves

Today I raked up and piled about 12 wheel-barrow loads of leaves on the garden beds. When they settle in a few days, it won't even look piled up. Whatever rots between now and Feb/March becomes nutrients for new growth. Whatever does not becomes free mulch that will probably rot over the summer. I'm looking for free and low cost ways to do things, as the times do not seem good for lots of spending, even on mulch.
Hey! Here's a paper of interest:In the Journal of Women and Aging, dated 2002:14(3-4):139-48. L.W. Turner et al. studied the effects of various forms of exercise on bone density in older U.S. women. The verdict? Yard work and weight lifting had the best correlation with strong bones. Bicycling, walking, aerobics, and dancing were moderately predictive, and jogging, swimming, and calisthenics were only weakly predictive of bone density.
So rake those leaves! Shovel that snow! Dig those beds! And lift weights to get ready for the spring planting season! Your bones will thank you.

Spending Less and Getting More

I had to get groceries tonight due to a marathon cutting off all convenient routes south tomorrow from my neck of the woods. I loaded up with frozen mixed vegetable blends, potatoes, sweet potatoes, oranges, and other good-to-eat sale items. Cabbage was 55 cents a pound (albeit they were small ones), so I got one of those, too. Peasant potato soup, here we come! Must soak some white beans for it tonight. Well, I spent less than usual (though $90 for basically a week's groceries plus some stocking up is still crazy for two people), and I got more quantity. Paying attention to sales is good. 

I was saddened to see a woman in front of me making a WIC purchase- except for juice, it was almost ALL junk food! WIC and food stamps (now EBT) cover Cheetos, Soda, white bread, and ice cream? I can understand a little ice cream once in a while, but several half-gallons? The only veggies she had were turnip greens, the only real fruit some oranges. The contents of that cart would give ME diabetes before long.  I hope we get some real nutrition education and reform in the system, so poor kids can get some real food and a real chance at a better life. It costs a lot to eat healthily in an urban area (low salt and low sugar items cost more than regular. Real is more expensive than fake), but it costs more, long term, to neglect your body. Above is one of my harvests from summer. That's good eatin'.

Sometimes The Cold Helps You Make Friends

It is supposed to get down into the 20s tonight. When I got home after dark, a black, furry shadow appeared at the corner of the garage, his pupils so large that he was invisible when he crept into the shadows. Jorge is back. Spot would usually be very hissy about that, but tonight she was moderating her usual hostile behavior, even sniffing him a little while he was eating. Maybe she realizes that a warm companion would help her get through these cold winter nights.

Husband is sure a help for me. It is amazing how much warmer sleeping is with two people! A cat is fine, but too small to cover much surface area. My previous cat, Felicia, slept on my bed before I got married. She seemed to know when I was sad or lonely- then she slept very close. At other times she played kitty practical jokes, sneaking up to my ear at 2AM, meowing, then jumping off the bed. If cats could laugh, she would have been giggling. 

Anyway, I hope Jorge and Spot can patch up their differences for long enough to keep each other warm. I closed the garage to hold in the heat from the car, and there is an old sweater and a sweatshirt in a box where she often sleeps. They should be OK.

The Value of Eating from Your Own Garden

A quote from Booker T. Washington, in Working with the Hands (1904):

" No peas, no turnips,  radishes nor salads taste as good as those which one has raised and gathered with his own hands in his own garden. In comparison with these, all the high-sounding dishes found  in the most expensive restaurants seem flavorless. One feels, when eating his own fresh vegetables, that he is getting to the heart of nature; not a second-hand stale imitation, but the genuine thing."

Veggies are Important for mice, too

As part of my research (of professional as well as personal interest), I look at things that cause cancers and why they do. So I found a paper from the journal Carcinogenesis from 2001 (H.L. Newmark, et al.) in which normal, wild type mice were fed an altered chow that imitated the normal American diet (lots of fat, little folate and fiber, deficient in vitamin D and calcium) instead of their usual high-veg chow. These mice, without radiation or chemicals, spontaneously developed colon cancers (12/17 mice) after 18 months! Folate seemed to be important in this study. Cells growing improperly were found in the colon, breast (females), prostate(males) and pancreas in previous, short-term studies with low vitamin D and calcium.  

If a medication caused these problems, we would ban it. If living under power lines or near a chemical plant caused them, people would be out marching and writing letters to Congress. But it comes from the way we EAT, so we just settle in with our doughnut and coffee for breakfast, fast-food lunch, and pizza for dinner and wonder if we'll be able to afford enough pills to keep us alive as we age. 

That's why I buy A LOT of veggies, fruit, and whole grains, and we do consume dairy products.No, I'm not a supplement fan. Studies seem to be showing that getting your nutrients from real food, in the package God gave us, is best. When we eat what our bodies need, they respond with health and vitality. Your grandmother was right- eating your veggies is good for you. And your pet mouse, if you have one.

Here's a Bit of Inspiration

From The Vegetable Garden by Ida B. Bennett, 1909 (free to download from Google Books):

"Did we cultivate more assiduously our backyard gardens, those of us whose daily grind chains us fast to a bell or whistle or even an office clock, there would be fewer nervous breakdowns. It is curious how our cares drop away from our poor fagged minds when we get in touch with the good brown earth. It must be a deep-seated trouble, indeed, which will not lift ever so little when the robin's song is in the air and the sweet, moist smell of the soil comes up after a rain. To possess the land and till it is the primal heritage of man. To delight in the work of his hands, the reward which beckons him."

Just the thought of that brown earth waiting under that huge pile of leaves, resting until spring takes me out there with the pick, shovel, hoe, and rake again, sniffing and digging and planting, fills me with joy. And relief that there are a few months when we can rest.