There’s a big hoopla about West Nile Virus right now and I wonder what is really behind it.  So few peoplehave ever contracted it, and very few have died from it.
In fact, you stand more chance of dying by falling off a donkey.

It is hardly a reason to go spraying millions of gallons of poison across the landscape, in the hopes of killing off the mosquito population.  So why aren’t they out there spraying for donkeys?  It’s just as ridiculous.

Rather than poisoning the area for the rest of its inhabitants (including bees), a less toxic approach to the problem is to make ourselves less desirable to the mosquitos.

When I’m out in nature, I resort to a number of tricks to keep those flying critters at bay.

I’ve had some success using plants extracts, like marigold and catnip.

On a trip to Maine, I found the woods to be full of mushrooms (which I didn’t eat) and mosquitos (which did eat me). I had noticed that the fields around there were covered in Tansy plants.  That evening, I crushed some tansy leaves and flowers and slowly sautéed them in some coconut oil, for about 3 hours then drained off the resultant oil.  The following morning, I lathered myself with this makeshift repellent and went back to the woods.  I was delighted with how effective it was.

I’ve experimented with various herbs for smudging, where a bundle of dried herbs is burned and the smoke used to drive out everything from insects to evil spirits.

It is usually accompanied by a ritual or prayer performed while the smudge stick is being waved around a room or a person.  White sage is the most popular herb to use, but in the east I generally use dried mugwort which smolders well and deters them skeeters.  I’ve often added strips of cedar bark or lavender for a different aroma.  In either case, it works pretty well.

When I’m camping, I often build a fire, even on a hot day, as wood smoke is very effective.

The smokier you smell the less the mozies like you.  After a couple of days without bathing, nothing (or nobody) wants to be near you.  Sometimes, when the little critters are particularly bad, wiping mud on your skin helps, but it is not too comfortable, and tends to scare the guests at garden parties.

There’s a few don’ts with biting insects.  Don’t wear perfume.  Don’t wear bright colored clothes and don’t breath.  That last one is a toughy, but carbon dioxide is like a magnet to those little buggers.  However, chewing on garlic helps.  They don’t like garlic, so eat it regularly when you are in the woods.  Besides, it helps boost your immune system.  I like to gather and pickle field garlic bulbs.  They make a tasty bug repellent snack.

As Tony Isaacs points out in his recent article on the Natural News Website,

there is a safe, non-toxic insect repellent from Herbalist Debra Nuzzi-St. Claire that suggests using the formula:

* 1/2 ounce citronella oil

* 1/4 ounce lavender oil

* 1/8 ounce pennyroyal oil

* 1/8 ounce tea tree oil

* 1/8 ounce jojoba oil

I’ve used a very similar repellent and found it to be a pleasant and effective alternative to the chemical sprays on the market.

Of course, one of the best protections against diseases, is a healthy immune system.  This requires eating fresh nutritious foods and drinking teas made from immunity-boosting herbs, such as echinacea, elderberry (and flowers), astragalus, goldenseal, oregano and heal-all.  You can buy these as ready made dried teas or gather and dry your own.

However, since your chances of dying from West Nile disease is about 7,500,000 to 1, I wouldn’t go getting bent out of shape about it.  The bottom line is, you should be careful when riding a donkey and always take what the media is feeding you with a pinch of salt (preferably sea salt!)

The post What to do About West Nile Virus? A non-toxic pesticide free natural solution appeared first on Suburban Foragers.

WILD BLACK CHERRY SAUCE By Lisa Caccamise

Makes about 3/4 cup

2 cups black cherries, no need to pull the stems as they will be strained out along with the pits.

water to cover

1/4 cup sugar or more to taste

1.  Add cherries and water to a medium pot and bring to a boil.

2.  Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, then uncover and simmer another 15-30 minutes or until cherries are soft and liquid is reduced by 1/2.

3.  Cool slightly.

4.  Add cherries to a food mill, or to a fine sieve and mill or press the cherries until the seeds release and the juice strains into a clean pot.

5.  Add sugar to a taste.

6.  Bring the liquid, if watery, to a boil and reduce until desired thickness.

to read more about black cherries, click here

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What we gain and what we lose with the conveniences of modern living

Faster than Fast:

“It takes a village”

My husband Emilio grew up in the Dominican Republic, and he can’t remember a dinner he ate during his youth without his nuclear family. Even when his mother had to raise 5 boys alone, she woke up early every morning to make their lunch, and was home to make dinner every night. And at least once a week, they gathered for a meal with his large extended family, all who lived locally, and ate food from the family farm. In his family, there is a reverence and commitment to eating together.

I was born here in the American suburbs, and I can remember plenty of disjointed, hurried, slap dash meals that had nothing to do with “Gathering Together”. We were always rushing thru meals for various reasons. The only time we made it a point to eat together as a family was holidays. On these occasions we prepared our families’ traditional dishes such as matza brie for Passover or my Aunt’s Christmas mac’n cheese.

The decision to eat together as a family can be a matter of culture, religion, tradition, family choice, physical distance, and/or economics. Some cultures hold much more strongly to the idea of eating together as a family, however this, like many traditions can be lost within a few generations.

What is the price of convenience? What have we traded?

Most of us are guilty of pulling a microwave dinner out of the freezer, popping it in the microwave, and then scarfing it down in front of the TV. This is in no way uncommon in this country. And this can be done alone, or with family, or roommates. I have created meals like this or similar, including a pot of instant mac n cheese, hot dogs, and other fast foods that can be prepared in minutes in the home kitchen.

Is this easy and convenient, oh yes.

What do we gain? Time. The first thing we gain is time. That is VERY convenient. But what exactly are we all doing with this extra time?

When I was in college, a quick and easy meal meant more time to work. So that was an advantage for me. Working 40 hours a week or more, I rarely had time to cook. (Not that I knew how. I still remember my friend and I in our dorm kitchen trying to figure out how to boil and egg. We exploded 4 before we figured it out). And I had STUFF TO DO!. Work or homework or the party I HAD TO GO TO. I had places to go! And eating was an inconvenient thing I had to do to get it over with so that I could go and do something “better”.

I remember one summer internship I was working 8am to whenever I passed out, and my hatchback was littered with fast food wrappers. Absolutely papered with them. I really didn’t have time for anything else.

If we gain time with fast food, what do we lose? The social bonding of a community working together for a goal that benefits everyone.

(For any of you Weston A. Price people who are also yelling “nutrition”! I’ll get to that another time).

Gathering around a wooden table with knives and cutting boards, and bare hands, talking, laughing and telling stories, all contributing together to the community meal.

These days in my life, my meals are all about preparing and cooking food with friends and family, and eating Together. My understanding about what food means in my life has changed profoundly.

While most weeknights it is just my husband and I, we do prepare meals from scratch and cook together. Long, slow cooked recipes he learned from his mother back in DR.

On the days that I am lucky enough to have the time to eat with friends, I gather together with my fellow Suburban Foragers and Eastern Light Project friends and we prepare meals as a group, and eat together as a group using a combination of foraged and local farm foods.

Sometimes this takes form as a Suburban Foragers cooking Workshop. Sometimes it is just an enjoyable Sunday afternoon. And most recently it is Joyful Thursdays, where we gather at Cropsey Farm to cook food for the hard working farm team and some of the volunteers. It is a wonderful way to encourage community, and to give thanks for all their hard work.

The days when I can gather together with friends and family, and prepare food together in a group are my favorite. We gather an assembly line of cutters and dicers and cookers and slicers. We cook as a group, eat as a group, talk as a group, and clean up as a group. This is my favorite way to experience food. It is peaceful and thankful, social and nourishing to the body, but also our more esoteric parts. Those bits and somewhat undefinable pieces that are commonly considered neglected by our modern societies’ irreverence for the lost wisdom of slower times.

Whatever your village is up to, find the time to gather together.

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