Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Rating: 5 Stars

This novel is an excellent read.  It takes us on a journey through a  most difficult time in our country’s history when the Civil War ravaged us and the greatest evils were perpetrated against mankind.  There is a lot of grim, gruesome reality in the novel as well as poignant beauty.  The love story drives the novel and yet our lovers spend the majority of the novel torn apart by war and distance.

Our female heroine, Ada and her friend Ruby show us the wonder of working the land and the power that can be gained supporting oneself through labor and industry.  I am so inspired by many of the ideas I read in the book for my own farm that we are starting including the use of Martins to keep crows and birds of prey away from gardens and livestock.  And with more research I find the Purple Martins need our help, have been trained by the Native Americans to nest near human habitation and that with a simple house (gourds being the traditional type) the birds will happily coexist with us and add beauty to our lives.

I learned various uses of corn meal, the various parts of a pig from “chitlins” to the brain, and the importance of lard in our traditional cooking methods.

I had hoped for more ideas and guides than the book offered though based on a review I had previously read.  Still the book is an inspiration and I enjoyed every minute of it.  It was rich in detail, the characters had depth and substance along with very real emotions, passions, flaws, and the beauty of spirit.

Our hero, Inman journeyed through the south after deserting the hospital where he was recovering from a near fatal wound.  His journey was rife with adversity, danger and miracles.  He would nearly starve then find a gift as if a higher power was looking out for him.  His trials give perspective to all of us that struggle with day to day life, heartache and pain.  If we can have just one ounce of his courage and leave our fates in God’s hands we can achieve great things.

All in all I give the book 5 stars.  It is well written, the plot is driven, the characters are rich.  Besides being entertaining it also encourages deep thinking not only about history, the civil war but about the nature of people from the most ruthless and sociopathic killers to the most honorable, caring and evolved souls.

The novel _Cold Mountain_ by Charles Frazier is an excellent story of the struggles of two star crossed lovers who are driven apart by the American Civil War. Inman was horribly injured and barely escapes death, he is plunged into despair and depression by the things he has seen yet he cannot sit and be forced back into fighting when he heals so he takes off, still injured and on foot, to go back home to Cold Mountain and the Woman he loves. Ada on the other hand is left by her father’s death penniless and clueless on how to raise the only asset she has left, a 300 acre farm. She is likely to starve until a local woman shows up to help named Ruby. Ruby shows her how to farm the land and Ruby is going to show me as well.

This is not a review of the book, I haven’t finished it yet but just an introduction. What I am finding, and the reason I picked it up was that the book is reputed to be an excellent guidebook for sustainable farming and I’m amazed already. The review in Wise Traditions, the Weston A Price Foundation Newsletter, mentioned this in some detail so I had to check it out. I trust the reviews from that newsletter and so should you. If you want to get the newsletter then join the organization, it’s well worth it for the fantastic articles on health and nutrition an Book Reviews.

We are slowly, so slowly, staring up our family farm. Though I come from a long line of farmers I find myself disconnected and cut off from that heritage. My parents had little interest in farming and for my mother it was not happy memories of childhood on her parent’s ill run and unhealthy farm. I do remember fondly my father’s grandparent’s farm and the delicious home cooked food she made with such ease until old age took their toll. Some of my few happy childhood memories are in the house and I miss them dearly. I knew unconditional love and that I was always welcome, and always safe while I was there. And I was always well fed. We did not go hungry as children but we did not eat a healthy diet by any means. Ours was the typical diet of the low income people we were with no fresh vegetables, little fresh fruits and the rest processed foods.

I am so inspired already with Cold Mountain and I am just a few chapters in. I have decide to take some notes and then do research on the great things I a learning and blog about it with you all. So we will have a weekly Cold Mountain blog theme with tips from the book backed up by research and enjoy this adventure together. I will be finished with the book rather quickly, it’s too good to put down for long, but the research can go on for awhile. Then as we step up our farm efforts I can blog about putting to good use what we’ve learned from the guidebook, er I mean novel.

I hope you all will enjoy it as much as I am already.

Healthy Eats Here - Great book

I was pleased to see today, after getting my computer working again, that I won the give-away for the Health Eats Here eBook.  Having some serious food allergies and also a great commitment to eating healthy at all times, including traveling, this book is a great help to me.

The eBook is easy to read.  The layout makes it easy to find just the information you need and the introduction to the book includes some important information on the definitions of healthy foods as well as a brief explanation of why they are healthy.  Term like grass-fed beef have little legal meaning, thanks to the USDA, but understanding what your local farmers mean by grass-fed is helpful.  The author also stresses that important aspect of healthy eating, knowing the farmers… face to face!  This isn’t easy to do when traveling so you have to rely on the chef and restaurant owners to have this relationship for you and the beauty of this eBook is if the author let’s you know just which restaurants operate like this and what farms they are working with.

The restaurant guide section is listed first by state then by city giving you easy navigation and a quick find when you are on the go.  She lists average prices of meals which helps a great deal when you are on a budget.  One thing I’d like to see is a simple coding for gluten free options or vegan options that can be seen at a glance.  Those of us with very restrictive food requirements are always facing the dread of trying to find somewhere to eat that won’t make us sick so a guide that can make that just a little bit easier is priceless.

I enjoyed viewing the delicious photos and her reviews on not only the health of the food but how it tastes.  Let’s face it, healthy isn’t worthwhile if the food tastes like cardboard or worse.. .a witches brew!

I would love to see information also on what oils the restaurant cooks with mostly or if there are options to choose.  Those of us following Weston A Price Foundation guidelines want to avoid canola, soy corn and other vegetable oils and we would definitely freak to find a good restaurant cooking in healthy, organic coconut oils or pastured lard (non hydrogenated of course!).  I’m not sure such a restaurant exists but more and more are using ghee, real butter and at least olive oil which is a boon.

The Author’s guide on eating seafood is definitely helpful especially to those who didn’t realize before all the ecological issues surrounding seafood.  She explains in a friendly manner why it’s important to avoid certain fish because of mercury toxicity, others because they are farm raised (thus hormones, poor diets etc) and how to make smart choices when eating out.

There is a real credit given also to the heritage pork farmers of America.  Heritage animals are facing serious threat of extinction and though it sounds odd the best way to save them is if we all start eating them!  It will increase demand, farmers will be able to raise them again and we can preserve them.  And the best part is these heritage breeds are typically healthier food and lead happier lives out in the sun and fresh air enjoying the old fashioned farm life.

The author offers a further reading list but I am disappointed to see a lack of some of the most important natural/sustainable health books out there including one I consider to be the most important Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. Though it is a cookbook it is full of important information on healthy eating, definitions and guidelines and also a great resource on just how unhealthy most premade food is in today’s world.  This is always the first book I recommend to people who are discovering healthy eating.

The last, yet perhaps the most important thing about this eBook are the tools it gives the reader.  If you can’t get to one of the listed restaurants or maybe the city you are in isn’t covered you still have tools available to you to help you pick the smartest, healthiest choice available.  Sometimes it’s a situation of choosing the lesser of evils but every little bit helps when your only obvious options are microwave, fast food from chemically laden, confinement raised animals loaded with MSG and corn syrup.  Find a local, non-chain restaurant.  Ask the locals for help.  And if you can’t be sure the meat is healthy go veggie because at least the pesticides can be washed off vegetables.

We give this eBook 4 stars out of 5.