Assorted pics

Some mountains on the way to Anchorage
The wind was blowing snow off the tops of the mountains on the Anchorage side of Girdwood (get a map)
This was a waterfall just before driving down onto Turnagain Arm. It was a solid chunk of ice, maybe eight feet tall and fifteen feet wide.
Peek-a-boo! I was saying "yuckers" when she put the wipe in her mouth and she would put it on her head and peek at me as if to say "Who me?"
A chickadee at our feeder.

This is Mt. Redoubt on a clear, sunny, Sunday afternoon.

Do da do

Well, we're back in the computer world since our catastrophic failure last week. Oh wait, none of y'all know about that! The video card in the computer died, retired or ran away from home and we consequently, had no computer. I SOS'd Charlie and he walked me through taking the external one out and hooking the monitor up to the internal one. It's not as powerful but it gets the job done.
I guess life goes much the same now as it did two... three weeks ago. The only difference is break-up is peeking it's head up and winking at us. I don't believe for a minute that it's here yet but there's water on the road from melting ice and the birds are singing their spring songs. Wait, they always do that when it's above 0. We're getting seed catalogs and Dad ordered the Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog. I was drooling over the pictures and envisioning a giant bird yard. One acre, divided into quarters isn't too big is it? That way I get pastured birds, they can free-range, eat as many plants and bugs as they want and I get land cleared at the same time! Which reminds me... Jaime. When you buy eggs, if the hens are "vegetarian fed" then they are full of soy. And free-range, vegetarian-fed is just a joke. Hens that are truly "ranging" will stampede to devour a cloud of mosquitoes. Chickens eat bugs!!!!! Last time I checked, bugs are made of meat.
Okay, mini-rant over. Where was I? Oh yeah, my bird yard. I want my acre divided into quarters so I can rotate the birds. I want turkeys and geese. I think they can get along okay so long as they aren't crowded and no bear in his right mind would mess with them. Kiki tells a story about a friend who had a little dog and a turkey who were best buds. The neighbor's unneutered dog would come over and rough up the little dog occasionally. Well, I guess the tom got tired of this because he snuck up behind the neighbor dog and nailed him in his delicate parts. The neighbor dog never came back. Geese and turkeys together would be a pretty nasty combination I'm thinkin' . Also, if I can get the right breeds I can maybe register with the Ark of Taste. That's a small group working to preserve heritage breeds of livestock and produce. They have a pretty impressive list on their website. They are working against agribusiness and the government's push to eliminate family farms through NAIS. I can feel another rant coming on so I will stop with this, anyone who voted for Obama cast their vote against family farms and real food.

Dad keeps plugging along. His shoulders still hurt but then again, they will never stop unless he goes to a doctor who knows what they are doing. His sleep has been a little off lately but I know it's not because of the CPAP. We were on the GAPS diet but it is too expensive to maintain this time of year and I transitioned to the Nourishing Traditions way of preparing food as soon as was feasible. We are all still doing good with the weight thing except my father thinks he was losing weight because of the supplements, not the restricted carbs. The GAPS diet is a monosaccharide diet so all starches were out, along with any sugar except honey. That is what caused the dramatic weight loss, not the CLO or the kefir or the bone broth. I can't convince him though so I'm still restricting carbs to a couple meals a week.
Mom continues as she has been doing. She's a little less laid-back though. Her wannabe supervisor is turning into a fruitcake. That's not being mean though, the woman is very paranoid and weird. She didn't used to be that bad but she's been subsisting on Lean Cuisine and white bread so I think her brain is fried.
Charlie is still working tech support for GCI in Wasilla. He really likes it I guess, or he wouldn't still be there. He's supporting his roommates though and that's kind of eating into his money plans. Dad has give him some advice in that area but Charlie has never been one to do what anyone else thinks he ought to. When he's ready to bite the bullet and kick them out then he will, but not before he's good and ready.
I'm still expecting to take Bonnie to Talkeetna in July. I haven't heard anything about that being changed so I guess it's still a go. She's starting to shed some of her under-layer of hair so I think maybe spring is really on it's way. Although she was tricked last spring when it got cold again, but to be fair, she was still a baby then. She will be two years old in September, hopefully to calve the first time the next April. I'm so excited and plans for the barn, I think, have been finalized. We really do need one in time for the calf. I'm not worried about her being outside all winter through her first pregnancy, except for the feed bill. but even with that, I was very pleasantly surprised at how much she doesn't eat. Dad had figured a couple tons at least, I went way overboard and wanted at least six tons, to make sure I had enough and she is just barely into the second half of the first ton. I think I can afford the six hundred dollars for a ton and a half of horse hay next winter. I want her to have really good quality hay while she is growing a baby. She has been supplemented with grain and two hundred pounds of alfalfa hay this winter so I'm sure she has gotten all the nutrition that she needed. And she YELLED at me when the alfalfa ran out. She tried to eat Phaedra's coat even. I might get another couple hundred pounds anyway, just to finish out the winter. Everett, the guy I bought her from, was way off on her size though. She is really short and if she tops 1,000 pounds I'd be shocked. She's still cute though, even if she is a grown-up lady cow. And she even has horns. They're only three inches long but hey, a horn is a horn is a horn.
I guess this post is officially finished. Oh, and in case you didn't notice that I got a comment on the previous post, I did, so there! No, seriously her name is Jaime and she's a good friend of mine and a sister in Christ. Hopefully she'll be better about posting than I am but her blog should be funny, even if she isn't... Better about posting I mean, cause the woman is a riot, well you know what I mean right?
Later,
~Pam

YAHOO!!!

Guess what everybody!! For those of you that have been up here, Jason Hoffman got married last night! For those of you that haven't been up here or didn't go to church when you were, Jason is a member of the our (Dad and I) church, in Ninilchik. He married Joanna, Jo, Humphrey, the second daughter of Pastor Humphrey, the pastor of our "mother" church in North Pole, Plack Road Baptist Church. They have a website, for those of you who don't remember, prbcak.org. Anywho, she has seven brothers and sisters and, needless to say, they are really bummed that she is moving six hundred miles away but really happy for her to be married. I imagine it's a weird combination and kind of hard to deal with. Though it could be worse. We have a missionary who's in the Middle East and single, at least she didn't marry him! This way, they can see her with only twenty four hours travel time, down and back. I expect to see them a lot in the first year. I know the other girls that have gotten married and moved away have racked up a lot of travel time in the few years since their weddings. Though, they both moved to Texas.
I feel bad that her family is so sad but I'm super excited for her to be down here. The only complete family we've had down here is the pastor and his wife. Their son was here for awhile but he's married with a brand-new baby daughter, in North Pole. So, since their children are both married, they are a complete family. But now we have a YOUNG family! Yahoo!! It doesn't hurt that I really like Joanna.

So, one down, one to go! Caleb Humphrey is engaged to a woman named Lisa. Caleb is Joanna's younger brother. He's staying in North Pole though, with his new bride, you know, after their wedding.

Also, I really like Jason and Jo's love story. It's so much better than the typical, western engagement. Typically, American weddings happen after the physical union is already established but Jason and Jo had their first kiss at their wedding! It's so great! It was such a testimony to the teens and preteens at church. And, I can't think of anything more to say about it so I guess I'll quit going on about it.

In other news, my life is getting busier and busier and busier. Tony has a job now, in Nninilchik, so I might possibly have the girls every day now. When he was helping out at the video/liquor store a few months ago he got his schedule arranged so that he didn't work the days that he had the girls. He might shoot for that again but I'm not sure how that would work where he's at now. Also, Justin and Katrina, Kathy's grandson and granddaughter-in-law, might have me watch their sons when Justin goes back to work. He's a welder on an oil platform down here but he's been laid-off for three months. The platform keeps calling his boss and cancelling their services so he's not sure when he's going back to work. Since the money is great, he can't take another job, so Katrina got a job as a manager at Taco Bell. I think she was working there when they met. Anyway, they have an almost two-year-old and a two-month-old. Jaddrik, the older, is autistic so they have him on organic, gluten and casein free with special vitamins (which is healing the autism by the way) and Joel is still breastfeeding. When Justin goes back to work Katrina is going to need a babysitter and guess who happens to be experienced at that! I remember changing Jaddrik's diaper for the first time after three years of girl diapers. Intellectually, I knew what was in there was different than what I was used to seeing but I was still startled. Weird, I know.

Dad's been doing great with the CPAP but his shoulders still bother him. Mom thinks it might well be a pinched nerve or something but the shoulder doctor that Kathy recommended was a QUACK and wouldn't do anything to fix it. I think it's very telling when the doctor takes x-rays, finds nothing wrong so prescribes some free samples they had laying around the office. Western medicine in all it's glory folks! Well, I got little ones now so I better be wrapping this up.
Later,
~Pam

Can you feel it?

There's an impending sense of doom settling over this nation. The stench of thinly veiled communism rides the wind. I think I'm gonna retch! Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the man personally, since I don't know him personally, but I hate and despise the stand he has taken on so many things. It frustrates me to no end that one of the leaders in our fight to remain free has taken his leave and left the fight to a man with no original thoughts and no inkling of the morals that this country was founded on. This man, with his hand on the Holy Bible, the Lord's book, swore to uphold our Constitution while at the same time, planning to eliminate it during this term. It may be that in the next six months it's illegal to speak out about the sin in our society. It may be that thousands of people who claim Christ are thrown into prison for speaking out against homosexuality, fornication, pornography and other heinous acts of abomination. I really hope that I'm wrong.
I have the utmost respect for the position that he holds but I refuse to respect the man himself. I cannot, in good conscience, cast my voice for the brand of change that will be sweeping our nation.

In other news: I think I have a baby-daddy lined up for my darling Bonnie. She has been kind of restless lately, mooing her head off and prancing around whenever she catches the faintest whiff of testosterone be it man, cat or squirrel. There's a bull in Talkeetna, black, four years old and I guess, a sire several times already. He came from Colorado so there's absolutely no chance of he and Bonnie being related. Yahoo! I have to pay for gas to get her there, $200 stud fee and then come home and wait. I guess the guy likes to fish so he and his kids are gonna take a weekend and bring her back so they can go fishing. I don't have to pay for the gas to get her back. Double Yahoo!! That beats the $1,000 I was envisioning, just for stud fee. Hopefully, with gas prices set to go up again he won't up the price on me. At least I've been successfully hoarding my PFD to buy more hay if I need it and to possibly get her A.I.ed. This way, I can maybe do this every year and not have to worry about having to inseminate a few times just to make sure she takes. The Creator was so clever when he made bulls with a built-in heat detector. Triple Yahoo!!! (just cause I'm so excited). The aforementioned romantic liason is set to take place in July, for an April 2010 calf. I can hardly wait! I guess it's really time to get to work on planning the barn and putting up some more paraphanelia. I knew farming took a lot of "stuff", but holey moley!
Also, I need to get it set in stone, for sure, what kinds of birds I want to raise. I really like turkeys, but you only get the meat. Ducks and geese are the same way and we can get them wild here. Chickens provide meat and eggs but I can get eggs fairly cheap around here so I don't know if that would be worth it. Since we're going to the barter system soon, as the dollar will not be worth the paper it's printed on, I need to plan my little farm now, while I can. I also need more compost barrels or a crib since the floor of Bonnie's shelter is about a foot taller than it was when we built it. I'd say yuck but I can't tell you how much I love the smell of a barnyard. It reminds me of Grandpa and Grandma Arndt's. They had horses the whole time that I was growing up and it was awesome to be at their place. Yep, I guess I'm really a farmer at heart. Well, y'all get a picture that I took on the way to church the other morning so enjoy. I happen to love this composition particularly.

First Day on GAPS

So, this is the family's first day on the Gaps Diet. This is not an effort to lose weight, get fit or look better. This is a detox diet and a healing diet so that our bodies are healthier, better functioning and less toxic. I am very convicted that the SAD (Standard American Diet) is not the best diet for the human body and therefore it is a sin for us to continually subject ourselves to those toxins. As it is wrong to smoke, it is also wrong to consume toxins with our food. Anywho, this is not a lecture...

Day One

Pre-Breakfast: 1 glass warm water, just cause I was thirsty

Breakfast-Lunch (since my hours are weird right now): Moose, carrots and onions in home-made turkey stock with garlic and home-made saurkraut juice for the probiotics. Dandelion and peppermint tea.
The Dandelion is a liver detox and the peppermint is a digestive aid.
Cod Liver Oil

I'll probably make the same thing for dinner, but I'll use home-made beef stock for a different flavor and maybe some broccoli or squash.
All of this is organic or home-grown and will be for as long as I can afford it. It's not really more expensive since I don't buy anything in boxes and only the carrots come in a bag.
For the duration of this detox we are eliminating all carbs, dairy and sugar. Honey is allowed since it is already simple sugars. I don't think I'll partake since I'm battling yeast right now but Mom and Dad can have honey if they want. And before you all shudder and shake to think of giving up your donuts I have to tell you that you don't feel deprived at all. At least Mom and I don't. Dad still whines about the sugar but that's because he's just doing this to make us happy. I hope that he'll start to feel better and soon he won't miss the carbs. It helps to increase the saturated fat you're eating so your body has something to work on that's healthy in between meals. Eventually, we can add carbs back in, as our digestive systems heal but that day is at least a month away. Dairy can be added as it can be tolerated but refined sugar is not something we will ever add back as a regular menu item, or be in something on a regular menu item. Having done a post on sweeteners I will not go into details here. Soy will not be on the menu any more and every label will be read so we can avoid any and all chemical additives. It's a lot of work but I feel convicted and that is not something I'm willing to ignore just because it's inconvenient.

Hope you are all staying warm since we're below zero for a while. I'd take a picture of the thermomenter but it's too small to get a clear picture, suffice it to say we're the warmest we've been in two weeks and it's -13 degrees. I guess now is the time to do wood and coal so... Later!
~Pam

This was too fun to resist!

I've seen this on other peoples' blogs and can't help but think of smartaleck answers for them so you guys get the brunt of my sarcasm!

1. Started your own blog-obviously
2. Slept under the stars-lots and lots of times! There's nothing else to do during summer break in Montrose, Colorado
3. Played in a band-yeah, clarinet in school
4. Visited Hawaii-no, and don't really care to
5. Watched a meteor shower-yep, the result of living outside for three months a year
6. Given more than you can afford to charity-no
7. Been to Disneyland-yes but southern California is hotter than all get out in May so we only went one day
8. Climbed a mountain-how tall does it have to be to be considered a mountain?
9. Held a praying mantis-of course! I raised six of them from egg to adult.
10. Sang a solo-only in the shower!
11. Bungee jumped-no!!!!!!!
12. Visited Paris-no
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea - yes and it's not that exciting if your boat is tiny.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch-i have many hobbies that could be considered art that I had to teach myself
15. Adopted a child-no, but maybe someday
16. Had food poisoning-yes and I still can't even look at an eggroll
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty-no
18. Grown your own vegetables-that's what I was doing when I wasn't sleeping under the stars
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France-no
20. Slept on an overnight train-no, never been on any kind of train
21. Had a pillow fight-with 27 cousins you're bound to get into one kind of fight or another
22. Hitch hiked-yes
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill-never had a job where I would want to do this
24. Built a snow fort-no, Colorado didn't get much snow where I lived
25. Held a lamb-yep, bum lambs are the cutest!
26. Been to Royal Gorge-not so as I can remember
27. Run a Marathon-not on your life!
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice-no
29. Seen a total eclipse-yes
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset-who hasn't
31. Hit a home run-yeah, once or twice in P.E.
32.Been on a cruise-yes and worked one for a summer out of Juneau
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person-no
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors-Umm, that would take a lifetime!
35. Seen an Amish community-no
36. Taught yourself a new language-not yet, but I'm working on it
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied-yes, temporarily, for a few seconds at least
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person-why does this one specify 'in person'?
39. Gone rock climbing-do indoor rock walls count? I went rappelling in fifth grade.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David-no
41. Sung karaoke-no
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt-several times!
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant-no, but my mother did
44. Visited Africa-no
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight-yep, and it was FREEZING!!!
46. Been transported in an ambulance-no
47. Had your portrait painted-I believe so
48. Gone deep sea fishing-halibut?
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person-no
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris-no
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling-can't say as I have
52. Kissed in the rain-well, I kissed my behind good-bye when I got caught out in a lightning storm
53. Played in the mud-of course!
54. Gone to a drive-in theater- Indiana Jones, I'm not sure which one since it was forever and a day ago
55. Been in a movie-not that I know of
56. Visited the Great Wall of China-no
57. Started a business-yes but it was a scheme perpetrated on me by unscrupulous business people
58. Taken a martial arts class-once
59. Visited Russia-no, but I can see it from my house. (Just kidding!)
60. Served at a soup kitchen -Bean's Cafe in Anchorage on my senior trip
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies-no but I've eaten them
62. Gone whale watching-yes, on several of the cruises
63. Got flowers for no reason- from little kids
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma-no
65. Gone sky diving-no! Why jump from a perfectly good airplane?
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp-no
67. Bounced a check-no
68. Flown in a helicopter-no
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy-many, many, many
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial-no
71. Eaten Caviar-no and I can't say that I want to
72. Pieced a quilt-some of one, helping my mom
73. Stood in Times Square-no
74. Toured the Everglades-no
75. Been fired from a job-I was temporarily laid-off... nine years ago. Does that count?
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London-no
77. Broken a bone-not that I haven't done my best but no
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle-no, they scare me
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person-yep and I even remember the wrinkled Navajo weaver who sits outside the visitor's center
80. Published a book-no, but soon
81. Visited the Vatican-no
82. Bought a brand new car-Matchbox?
83. Walked in Jerusalem-no, maybe someday
84. Had your picture in the newspaper-yes
85. Read the entire Bible-probably
86. Visited the White House-no
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating-refer to earlier posts
88. Had chickenpox-yes, still have scars
89. Saved someone’s life-not that I'm aware of
90. Sat on a jury-yes, and it was fascinating and so satisfying
91. Met someone famous - Dennis Weaver in City Market in Montrose, Colorado. I even got his autograph. Jeff King, Jon Little, Paul Gebhardt, Deedee Jonrowe, Doug Swingley, Mitch Seavey, and Lance Mackey used to be my neighbor. I know that they are mostly famous up here but this does not specify!
92. Joined a book club-yes
93. Lost a loved one-yes, I lost Charlie in the store once.
94. Had a baby-sure, baby chickens, baby cats, baby dogs... Not the right kind of baby? Then no.
95. Seen the Alamo in person-no
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake-no
97. Been involved in a law suit-no
98. Owned a cell phone-no
99. Been stung by a bee-yes, too many times to count
100. Been to a birthday party where they put something on your eyes and have you feel through a bowl of rice for different objects-umm, no and have never even heard of this. Sounds creepy

Okay, friends and "family"

This is our new cat... Fred. He's an intact, male, tabby who's also maybe a calico. If he is a calico then he is worth a lot of money. He showed up when I was housesitting and Mom finally coaxed him out from under the house a week later. We fed him for a month before he would come in the house. Since he can come and go as he pleases he is a great cat. He's bigger than Midnight and Ashley but Baby (haha) is still the heavyweight in this house. We advertised but nobody has claimed him so he belongs to us now.
This is my pastor, Ron Lambert, and his wife Anita. He is a wonderful pastor and he is so funny. He has a million stories and can make any situation seem hilarious.
See? He's a camera ham too.
This is Jaime, a friend and fellow member of the church. She's one of the guitarists, along with Pastor and she's really good.
This is Ariana, a friend who comes with Jaime. In case you can't tell, she's an albino which she thinks is a really funny joke. She's very up front about it and has no problem making jokes at her own expense. I really like her and it's my sincerest desire that she would be saved. She has been through a bible-study and acknowledged her lost condition but the repentance and specifically, faith in Christ is missing. Please pray for her.

My Phaedra Thyme. Ain't she so cute? It took a dozen shots before she would pose without her face-wide, all-teeth, camera grin.
Raisa Rea! I think the flash was confusing her.
There's the grin! And Raisa was bound and determined to get ahold of that tree. I'm not sure I got a full face shot after she realized that it was there. India was slouching in this picture and she had ahold of Raisa's hand so she didn't pull the tree into them again.
I felt so bad for India since she is so much taller than Phaedra and had to scrunch to get in the same frame. She loves to get her picture taken. I tell her not to be a ham but she just can't help herself.
I don't know how I got this shot but I love it. I think she was laughing at my Mom and this was the beginning of a smile. She's so sweet, the best baby ever and I'm not even Mommy-bragging. (Since I'm not their Mom).

At last, Thanksgiving! And Raisa

Lemon Meringue Pie from Nourishing Traditions


Okay, I finally sat down to figure out how to get my pictures onto the computer, not that it was too hard I just had not taken the time to do it. Enjoy.


The tom in the middle, strutting, is the tom we ate for Thanksgiving.

I know he looks a little ragged but it was cold in the garage and we were in a hurry to get him plucked. If you look closely you can see the fat pads on his breast and the legs. That is a result of the detox diet they've been on. I really like it!


He weighed between 15 and 20 pounds dressed and we had to lay him on his side to finish him in the roaster. I cut the wings off so I could get the flight feathers before he was scalded. I have plans for them.
Christmas dinner will be nearly identical to Thanksgiving, just a different turkey. This time it'll be the smaller tom that got hurt in the power struggle after this guy was removed.

I got Christmas dresses for the girls when we went to Anchorage to pick up Kathy. I'm going to frame a nice picture of the three of them and give them to Tony and Kiki for Christmas. India is getting much better at keeping secrets so she knows what we are doing this for but I just told Phaedra that it was a surprise for her Mommy and Daddy so don't say anything. She's a pretty good secret-keeper too I guess.

Next rant

Just remember, I get boring because I care.

Artificial and refined sweeteners are on the chopping block this time. First to the guillotine is HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup). I'm sure you've all seen the nifty new commercials by the corn refiners talking about how HFCS is just fine and you should include it in your healthy diet. I have to call baloney on that one.
HFCS is a highly refined, highly processed pseudo-food that does indeed come from corn (hence the CORN syrup). However, that's where the similarities end.
Dr. Chi-Tang Ho found that soft drinks sweetened with HFCS are up to 10 times richer in harmful carbonyl compounds, such as methylglyoxal, than a diet soft drink control. Carbonyl compounds contribute to diabetes and diabetic complications. Also, the fructose elevates triglyceride levels, increases insulin resistance leading to diabetes once again.
By the time HFCS enters our bodies it has been genetically and chemically altered so much that our bodies get confused by it. It affects the satiation response, making our bodies think we are still hungry, leading to obesity and, again, diabetes. Lastly, the admonition to eat it in moderation is ridiculous. This particular franken-food is in EVERYTHING. Just pick an aisle, any aisle and I guarantee you'll find it in the majority of foods. Not every country though, mostly the US, due to sugar tariffs and corn subsidies in this country.

Splenda(sucrolose) has been touted as a suger-lover's friend, in the US and Canada, but is it really? Splenda has no nutritive properties whatsoever for the simple reason that, if it was utilized by the body it would poison us. Splenda is nothing more than chlorinated sucrose.
"Basically, the chemists force chlorine into an unnatural chemical bond with a sugar molecule, resulting in a sweeter product, but at a price: a huge amount of artificial chemicals must be added to keep sucralose from digesting in our bodies"
There is no small amount of research that says a small amount of sucrolose is released into the body, poisoning as it goes. The process of making splenda is a five step process that is very technical and very alarming. You can discover it for yourself if you want to know the particulars. Needless to say, sucrolose has no place in my house.

Aspartame has a long history of government cover-up and shady research. Ultimately, it is a chemical sweetener that is very unstable at high temperatures. It has no calories so in our, "calories are evil" society, it is guzzled by the gallon. When it does degrade it releases methanol, formaldehyde and diketopiperazine among others. Since you don't know if your particular packet is degraded or not you never know when you might be ingesting these toxins. I choose "NO".

Acesulfame, saccharin... They are all the same thing, artificial sweeteners designed to get you hooked on a product so they get more money. If it makes you sick, so much the better since the pharmaceutical industry is helping to fund the majority of the research.

Instead of this poison I have managed to whittle down our sweeteners to just a few, natural ones. Honey is the big one. Most of our stuff is sweetened with raw honey that I buy from Save-U-More. Raw honey, while containing many enzymes that aid in digestion also comes with it's sugar molecules already divided into glucose and fructose. Table sugar's molecules are bound together forming sucrose. It is easier on you body to utilize honey since the simple sugars are ready to be used.

Maple and birch syrup are only heated to boil the water away... You guys know how maple syrup is made don't you? A very natural product unless the syrup producers use formaldahyde pellets to keep the sap holes open longer. I didn't know about that but organic producers don't use them so if you are like me and don't happen to know anyone who makes syrup I suggest you use organic and no Mrs. Butterworth for above reasons!

Palm, date and other fruit sugars are okay in moderation. They are processed to some extent but again, are not manufactured in laboratories. We go for organic there as well to eliminate the pesticide residue and genetically modified franken-food.

Lastly, we use succanat as our sugar substitute. It is simply dehydrated cane juice. Another option is rapadura, made by the Rapunzel company. Rapadura is crystalline and succanat is granular but other than that, they are the same thing. It tastes a lot like brown sugar but I love that taste so I don't complain.

Perhaps some are wondering about molasses. We have some and I love the taste but it is made in the sugar refining process. It is the vitamins, minerals and enzymes that are removed from the sugar. Since I'm trying to move my family from that end of the food supply I will not be buying it again. If we continue to demand these products then the producers will continue to supply them.

I've read and talked to many people that are very adamant that we need new legislation to get this stuff out of our food supply. I disagree! There are already laws preventing poisonous substances from entering your local store but somehow they've ended up there anyway. Corruption and greed can find a way around any law. Instead, we need to be educated and spread the word. Those commercials about the corn syrup are illustrating a very valid point. Most people, while knowing that HFCS is bad for you, don't have the foggiest idea why it is. I know that I bore my friends when I read their ingredient labels to them, pointing out the garbage but I do it because I care about their health. I guess it's like spreading the Gospel. You can tell them a million times but until they are ready to listen it just makes them mad. Oh well, just try and shut me up, I dare you!
I guess my rant has petered out tonight. When I get another head of steam I'll post on my personal "favorite", soy.

Night,
~Pam