Dear Subscribers,

Yesterday we celebrated the successful outcome of the first American Revolution.  It must be obvious that to crawl out from under the present situation, we risk another.  The choice always comes down to reform or revolt.  Being a Pacifist, my thoughts were very busy yesterday. 

Not sure whether or not the farmer's market would be open on a holiday, I went online to see the schedule and stumbled on the "news" that our tiny market, now in its sixth year, is trying to be number 1.  Its claim to uniqueness is that the vendors and customers live in a 10-mile radius and this gives a new meaning to community.  It was actually busy yesterday.  Not all the usual vendors were there but the empty spaces were filled by Bainbridge vendors since their market was closed.

My point is simply that the food revolution is well underway and I have no doubt whatsoever that it will be won.  So, my focus is on igniting the firecrackers under those who have been slow to get on board this most important overhaul of our space.

Several people have written about the film Food, Inc.  It will show here in about three weeks, but the reports I am getting are triggering my other issue about how the line between education and indoctrination is very poorly demarcated.  When I went to school, we had the four food groups, and I have visited homes where children tore into their parents for not feeding them correctly because what they learned at school persuaded them that teacher knows better than mom.  I didn't go through this crisis myself until returning home from travels.  My mother was excited and her idea of celebrating was to cook "all of my favorite" foods, but I had become a vegetarian and she took this quite personally, insisting that I would not have grown to be half an inch taller than her if she had fed me the way I was feeding myself.  It was a very emotional lament and I loved her dearly so ! it was hard to hold my ground while at the same time assuring her that I really did love having her as a mother.

Now, let us play a few mind games and ask what would have happened if teacher had said, "Children, why are humans the only mammals who drink milk from other species?" and "Why are we the only mammals who drink milk after we are weaned?" What would have happened to the four food groups?  What would have happened if the issue of the nutritional value of canned vs frozen vs fresh foods had been raised; what would have happened if we spent our time in science classes studying the differences between food grown with chemicals and food grown naturally?  What would have happened if we studied indigenous and ethnic diets to see how people in other parts of the world live. 

When I was in Indonesia, I met a virologist who insisted that white people are more intelligent because they eat more protein.  Well, well, well.  I certainly did not believe it, but one of the very early observations made was that people eating food grown close to home ate smaller portions. . . and later I obsessed over culture-free IQ tests because, as I have come to understand, I would flunk a test written by one of my birds.  In this space, I can appreciate how very tolerant our pet companions are of our limitations.

Last night, I did a little experiment.  I tried to spend a lot of time with Savika because the fireworks were making her a little bit nervous and she wanted to stay indoors or near me.  We went outside together and I asked her to stay very close to me while we collected our dinner from the garden.  We had lots of kale and a little bit of chard ready to harvest.  I was not sure whether or not she would eat them but I cooked them up and she came for seconds and then even a third helping.  I was so proud of her.  Of course, this was just "extra" but having her involved in the gardening is rather a wonderful joint venture.

Then, I read some of the commentary on Food, Inc.  The facts, I believe, are basically well known to those of us who have been a decade or two or three ahead of the standard supermarket crowd.  I am therefore concerned with the use of education to instill disinformation in the minds of future generations.  Revolution is about recognizing the natural order and realigning with it.  It has nothing whatsoever to do with shooting people who don't agree with us.  As such, we are each of us contributing to the correct alignment when we take our first steps towards that alignment.  This is "revolution".

I am reading The One Straw Revolution, absolutely loving Fukuoka's take on himself and his hugely Aquarian experiences.  In an altered state of consciousness, I think he would be one of the first faces I recognized as part of the holograph in which we find ourselves.

Copernicus also precipitated a consciousness revolution and now, if you have seen the latest and greatest crop circle discussions online, you have to wonder if the Copernican Revolution is really complete. 

http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2009/waylandsmithy/articles.html

It concerns me that erudite people actually see the Earth in the center.  Ho hum!  I have received better pictures as email attachments.  The ones on that site omit some very interesting "commentary" that extends well beyond the part of the crop circle shown.

However, back to food.  I have never known if we are what we eat, but I am sure of two or three hugely important factors.  First, ingesting toxins is an endgame that no one will win.  It results in immense pressure on the body to process and eliminate or store the toxins.  This diminishes the resources available for creative use of the energies of transformation so ultimately the toxins are not just powder kegs ready to  explode at any time but they suppress our desire for change.  You can therefore argue that the twelve-to-fifteen fold increase in sugar consumption in the last century is a deliberate ploy to sedate the population, not just a marketing necessity because it extends shelf life of otherwise perishable food and the use of sugar as a preservation is also secondary only to the soaring incidence of diabetes.

Here is one of the major toxins:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=weed-whacking-herbicide-p&print=true.edu

However, there are countless toxins.  There are so many that people are themselves explosive.  The last few weeks, I have had to shield myself from people who are unable to manage their toxicity in appropriate ways and I keep hearing from others that they are encountering similar "exceeding the limits" issues.  This is the fiery time of year in the Northern Hemisphere.  We should be eating lots of green vegetables that are high in alkaloids, aka bitters, because this cleans the liver and removes excess heat.  If you pay attention to Nature, you would also realize that "seasonal" eating would have made a more interesting course than the ones to which we were subjected.  Leafy green vegetables appear early in the season and then we have fruit and only later crops that store well for the winter. 

In both Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, great emphasis is placed on the taste of food.  I am more conversant with Ayurvedic medicine and have very long articles on taste on DoshaBalance.com.  For those who are new to my work or to the concept of taste as the key to the pharmacology of food and herbs, do take the time to read that material.

In the meantime, for those who are trying to navigate mine fields, try feeding the family more greens or taking some detoxifying herbs or herbal formulae.  There is a whole page on this on AyurvedicBazaar.com.

I would also like to urge you to pay very close attention to parasites from insect bites.  People are writing about mosquito and tick bites.  Do take lots of bitter herbs, especially at the full moon which is coming right up.  As I child, all the insects used to bite me, but my mother used ice cream to subdue me.  They rarely bite now, but they can be dangerous so I am going to take my own medicine and give it to Savika and the birds as well, every full moon this summer.

http://www.parasiteherbs.com/

You can use essential oils topically.  I put lavender oil into propolis because the propolis make a nice sticky covering but the lavender works fine by itself.  You can also use my Diffuser Blend or lemon or eucalyptus, but then you need to dilute them and mist yourself or splash some of the dilute oils on your skin or clothing.  Once again, I just want to say that I am taking my "farming" studies seriously and using flowers to attract insects.  This is more than fascinating to me.  Besides, it is a visual feast so while on this topic, I have added the Photo Gallery to LandscapingRevolution.com.  No one submitted anything so I had to post one of my own pictures!  It was fascinating.  The moment I carried the lupine to the backyard, the bees came.

Blessings,

Ingrid

Copyright by Ingrid Naiman 2009

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