subscription feeder update

Hi all :)
If you have a current subscription to our email updates (as of 6pm Wed), please take a moment to re-subscribe to our new email sign up box (same as before). I know it doesn't look any different, but it redirects info back to me from a different account now.
Thanks :) ... sorry for any inconvenience :(

Delilah :)

A New Year

It has been such a lovely winter. :) I have so enjoyed the snow. As usual, much has happened and now I'll be writing about it all at once.
Loki found a new home with some experienced snake owners who I know will take good care of her. But I miss her so much! :( She was the perfect size. Big enough to really feel weighty, but small enough to manage- not too heavy to lift, not to big to house, and not to expensive to feed, and most of all, not to big to be dangerous - except for maybe a bite on the nose! ouch! (I'd hate to be that guy!)
I can't wait to have dwarf Burmese and super-dwarf reticulated pythons. Both of these normally giant snakes only top out around 7 to 8 feet in the dwarfs. (about the size Loki was) If this year's breeding season goes well, I can expand into the larger room in the basement and have a couple of these bigger snakes. I'm looking at granite Burmese, but there are so many pretty retic varieties... I can't make up my mind where I want to start!
Also I want to get into carpet pythons. Yesterday I brought home Toby- a male (unconfirmed as of yet) coastal carpet. I don't know anything about him unfortunately. He's just a pet shop boy. But he is a super sweet snake and I just love him! Here's a picture of him asleep in his new house.

Here's a blurb I wrote about his trip home from the pet shop:
Toby had a pretty stressful trip home. He HATED the pillowcase. I've never seen that before. Usual...ly snakes LOVE pillowcases. But then again I've never seen a claustrophobic cat before and yet our cat, Turbo, freaks out if you put him in a cat carrier. His eyes dilate and he howls and starts panting and clawing at the door. That's kinda what Toby did. I thought he was in pain or something like his tail was bent maybe, so I opened the bag to see if he was ok. He stuck his head out and crawled up my neck and then he was fine. So his bottom half was in the pillowcase and his top half was around my neck like a scarf. We thought about just letting him ride home like that but I was afraid if the car noise (vibration) frightened him I'd stress him out even more trying to keep him still. So back into the bag he went. He was not a happy camper. He kept pushing at the bag all the way home. Then it was to the bath tub. Not only was he dirty, but he was dry as a bone getting ready to shed. I thought a nice warm bath would be a comfort, but no, he hated that too. :(
So he just got a quick warm dip, a quick run through the towel and another scan for mites, and then he went down to his new home which thank goodness he seems to adore! He crawled all over his tree branch and started rubbing his nose on everything. I expect I'll find a shed in the morning.

Here's a couple new pictures of Amina. She's friendly, curious, and growing like a weed. She gets into everything. Here she is helping Nef with her makeup.





And here she is climbing the fig tree and looking out the window at the snow.

Maize Morado- Healthiest Corn on Earth?

I have discovered a new (old) corn! A deep purple (almost black) colored strain of ancient corn that has come under much investigation of late for its alleged high levels of various health-beneficial antioxidants.
"Purple corn, a variety of Zea mays, is an Andean crop from low valleys locally called maiz morado. Purple corn can be found mostly in Peru, where it is cultivated in the coast, as well as in lands almost ten thousand feet high. There are different varieties of purple corn, and all of them originated from an ancestral line called “Kculli”, still cultivated in Peru. The Kculli line is very old, and ancient objects in the shape of these particular ears of corn have been found in archeological sites at least 2,500 years old in places in the central coast, as well as among the ceramics of the “Mochica” culture. "
http://www.pulpastore.co.uk/detox-your-world-organic-purple-corn-flour-500g-203.html

Here's a great article on some of the research that is being done:
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/act.2007.13210

Here's another article about this corn as a cancer treatment that states "anthocyanins from purple corn and chokeberries not only completely stopped the growth of cancer cells, but also killed about 21 percent of cancer cells without having any effect on healthy cells."
http://healthrecipes.com/purple-corn-cancer-treatment.htm

I bought some seeds and can't wait to plant them this year! I have heard reports that they grow fast and big- up to 15 feet and can have 3 ears per stalk. It's traditionally used to make chicha morada, a sweet drink http://peruvian-cuisine.blogspot.com/2008/11/drink-recipe-chicha-morada-purple-chica.html
I can't find much information on its uses for fresh eating or as a flour. I'll just have to find out for myself I guess! :)

Thanksgiving

Again I find myself far behind in reporting the goings on around here.
Near the end of summer our ducks left us for a home in the country with a big pond. Everyone around here grew quite tired of the poo, the feathers, and the fact that the poo, the feathers came into the house regularly under the paws of the dogs. (yuck!) So for a while we were eggless again. And oh how I miss my ducks! *cries*
I got to thinking about quail again and around mid October I think it was, I got 10 Coturnix quail. It was supposed to be 8 girls and 2 boys, but it turned out to be 4 girls and 6 boys! There was much fussing and fighting until I was able to acquire 3 more girls. Now everyone seems to be getting along for the most part. I have 3 girls and 3 boys in one cage and 4 girls and 3 boys in the other. Still too many boys, but it looks like the situation will work out until I can hatch out babies in the Spring. The little eggs are so much fun! We've had them scrambled, boiled, fried, and we made stuffed quail eggs for thanksgiving dinner. They taste just like chicken eggs, but are far more nutritious! (See my previous post about quail eggs- http://qwatra.blogspot.com/2009/09/raising-quail.html)
So other than quail eggs we had:
SMOKED turkey- I'm spoiled now for smoked turkey- for one, just heat and eat! Two- the flavor is melt in your mouth great!
Baked Yams- nothing fancy, just baked, mashed and topped with a bit of brown sugar, walnuts, and a handful of tiny marshmallows. They were a smashing hit!
My Mom's Amazing cornbread dressing- You have never HAD stuffing until you've tasted my Mom's stuffing. Cornbread base with celery, onion, apple, carrot, and walnuts!
Basic green bean casserole- always a favorite
Neffie's garlic mashed potatoes- yummy!
We cooked a pumpkin to make pumpkin pie, but never got around to it. It's still in the fridge though, so we need to do that before it goes bad.
Outside it was all white. In fact, we have had the snowiest November on record!
http://www.khq.com/Global/story.asp?S=13582075
"SPOKANE, Wash. - Well, it took until the last day, but we did it! November 2010 is officially the snowiest November on record. KHQ Chief Meteorologist Bill Kelly says that as of 10pm Tuesday night, the record was officially broken with 25.7". The average snowfall for the month of November is 7.1" "














Let it snow! Outside the weather may be frightful, but inside our fire is quite delightful! I am really enjoying the winter. :) It's nice to relax, reflect, spend time with Don and Nef and actually PLAY together! We have lots of firewood, lots of groceries, and lots of love! So I say bring it on winter! We're loving it!

Cutest video ever!

I bumped into this video clip online today. This has to be the cutest thing ever! A little duckling is feeding the fish!

Back to Vegan... mostly...

I am trying my best to get back towards a vegan diet. A few years ago, I did an all vegan diet for a whole week. I felt 10 years younger! It made a HUGE difference in the way I felt, my mental alertness, my sleeping, no joint pain or stiffness, my flexibility improved drastically. But it is so hard to stick to that diet, especially when everyone around you is eating meat and eggs and ice cream and all kinds of treats and goodies and things that smell so good. :(
But since my daughter wants to eat healthier now too, we have been trying to do better. But it's HARD. Especially when you let yourself get hungry, then you can't think clearly and you follow instinct to the old fatty foods you're used to. .... *thinks*.... We need to plan better and be prepared with healthy foods when hunger hits.
I think that eliminating all the processed foods and all animal products and as much cooked food as possible from our diet (I have those in order of importance) is the way to go.
'Processed food' includes most anything in a box or can. Refined sugar is the #1 thing to avoid at all costs! This stuff is POISON!
I highly recommend the movie (documentary) Super-size Me. I had been wanting to watch it for some time and we just watched it the other night. It really drives home just how bad a high sugar/ fat diet can be. Not only the making-you-fat part, but what it does to your liver, your mood, your mind, ...it's impressive.
We live in a processed world.
--Sandwich meat- chopped, pressed, water added, and then preserved with sodium nitrate.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/16361276/
"During the cooking process, nitrites combine with amines naturally present in meat to form carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds. It is also suspected that nitrites can combine with amines in the human stomach to form N-nitroso compounds. These compounds are known carcinogens and have been associated with cancer of the oral cavity, urinary bladder, esophagus, stomach and brain."
--Boxed cereals- good luck finding a cereal that does not contain BHT
http://www.sweetpoison.com/food-additives-to-avoid.html
"added to oil-containing foods to prevent oxidation and retard rancidity. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, consider BHA to be possibly carcinogenic to humans, and the State of California has listed it as a carcinogen. Some studies show the same cancer causing possibilities for BHT"
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/06/04/05/12-dangerous-food-additives-the-dirty-dozen-food-additives-you-really-need-to-be-aware-of.htm
http://biorganic.ifrance.com/biorganic/additives.htm
--Nuts- healthy right? Wrong! Nuts from the store are cooked, usually way over-cooked and loaded with added unhealthy heavy processed and overheated oils. Olive oil, nut oils, sunflower and safflower oils, and other natural food oils start out as healthy, but once they are heated they become carcinogenic health nightmares! The oils break down and are no longer food but become poison!!The answer- RAW nuts.

Garbage in- disease out.
Healthy, real food in- healthy, strong body out.

To put it in a nut shell, it's really quite simple.WHOLE. RAW. REAL.
It's so obvious it's ridiculous, but so difficult it makes you wonder just how brainwashed we all really are. Why is it easier and less expensive to eat a hamburger than it is to eat an apple? WHY?!?! ...and is it really?
It is obvious. So obvious in fact that if you really look at the reality of the situation, why not skip the boxes and eat the food that looks like food!

Summertime!

We're having a bit of a heatwave, 94 today. Not too bad I guess, but Orio wants in:



The ducks too are trying to beat the heat.... time for a nap!