Signs of Spring

Spring is a time of rebirth, renewal, time for making positive changes in our life and our health and healing.

When the potatoes, onions, and garlic, still in their bins, begin to sprout, it is a clear sign that spring is on its way.  The rhythm of life cannot be denied when root veggies, tucked away in the cupboards of a home, know it is their time to sprout and bloom.

I never cease to be amazed at the wonders of nature (and we are nature).  There is a rhythm, an internal time clock in every living thing, that just knows when it is time to grow and change.

Humans, as we are nature, know this too.  We internally know when we need to shift, change, and grow.

As my geranium reaches for the light every day, growing larger and larger, I contemplate where I need to grow towards light and learning; where I need to get "larger."

What spring changes need to be made in your life?  How do you need to change and grow to share the gift of who you are on this earth?

Further signs of the impending spring: My Siamese has not been outside in months!  March 29th and she wandered outside for an hour!

A recipe to put "Spring" into your step

• 3/4 cup extra virgin, organic olive oil
• 6 tbsp. lemon juice
• 5 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar, the raw & local kind!
• 1 tbsp. honey mustard (read ingredients to avoid crap)
• 1 tbsp. minced shallots or green onions (they will be coming soon AND those wild leeks I long for in spring!)
• 1/2 tsp. unrefined sea salt
• 3/4 cup raspberries (maybe pull some out of the freezer from last summer's picking frenzies?)

Put the first 7 ingredients into a jar (a wide mouth quart jar works nicely).

Smash the raspberries very well and add to the jar of liquids.

Shake like crazy... with the lid on, please!

Enjoy!

Thanks to my sister Terry for sharing her kitchen art and magic. She was in the mood for raspberry vinaigrette and found herself in a "fix" without any on hand. With her whole food kitchen know-how, she created her own healthy, home version.

No Time for Getting Sick

Just a spoon full of honey helps some medicine go down...

or so Mary Poppins said so! And who wants to argue with that legend?

This spoon is full of the "syrup" I made last night when I felt my throat on fire, my salivary glads swollen, pain in my left ear, and my neck lymph glands all swollen up. No time for being sick, I had to stop whatever the bug was.  Stop that bug in it's tracks!

Into the blender: 

1/2 cup of raw, apple cider vinegar (ACV)

1 medium onion chopped into chunks

1 whole head of garlic, cloves separated and paper skins peeled off

Optional good choices to use for this preventive elixir, this magic potion: horse radish root, ginger root, cayenne peppers, turmeric root. The more of these you add, the more immune boosting and anti-inflammatory benefits you reap.  Up the ACV to 1 cup and use chunks of the roots that are about a thumb's size and as much or little cayenne as you can tolerate.

How to:

Blend into a liquid.  Pour into a pint size ball canning jar.

Add 1 to 2 tbsp. of raw, local honey (preferably honey with pollen, propolis, and royal jelly still intact for extra immune boosting powers) and stir into the liquid until the honey dissolves.

Immediately take 1-4 tablespoons.

If your tummy will not be happy with the raw garlic and onions, take 1 tablespoon every 15 to 20 minutes until you have 4 into your system.

The first tablespoon I took, I added 1 drop of oregano essential oil.

Take the jar to bed with you, spoon in hand.  After you get ready for bed, take another 1-2 tablespoons.

By the time I turned off the bed side light, I was feeling 50% better.

Every time you wake up in the night, take some more.

In AM, take some more.  Take every 2 hours or so for the next day or two.  Finish the jar of "syrup."

This certainly beats getting the flu, or whatever was after me.  I will admit that getting sick on occasion: having a fiery hot fever, sweating it out, and resting to get better does do good things for the body (but hey, that is another blog post).  I did not have time this week to befriend the flu bug!

Eat garlic, onions, horseradish, ginger, cayenne, & turmeric .  Assist your immune system this winter!