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BHM Newsletter
March 21, 2005
INSIDE BHM
The move to our new building went pretty smoothly. We're all settled in now and are enjoying the expanded space we now have. We've even been able to upgrade our Internet connection to cable. What an amazing difference from our old dial-up access! If you are ever in our part of the world, please stop in and say hello. We'd love to meet you. The new street address is: Backwoods Home Magazine
Our mailing address remains unchanged. You can still mail correspondence to: Backwoods Home Magazine
SELF-RELIANCE TIPS TIPS ON RODENT CONTROL The house mouse and Norway rat are two of the most destructive pests in the United States. Both rodents can be a problem in the home, but the rat is the more serious problem in warehouses, urban areas and agricultural buildings. They both eat a wide range of foods and do considerable gnawing to wear down their continuously growing incisors. The reproductive potential of a single pair of rats or mice is staggering, thus, you should control an infestation quickly. To control a rodent infestation, your primary goal is to reduce the population You can do this by trapping, or through the use of rodenticides (poisons). Trapping with the right size common wooden base snap traps for rats or mice can be very effective, but requires some effort and skill Some helpful tips are:
Rodenticides fall into two categories, multiple-dose anticoagulants and single-dose poisons. The anticoagulants are much less dangerous to humans and are available in ready-to-use bait formulations. The rodents need to eat them for several days to get a lethal dose. Several new anticoagulants do not require multiple feedings. The single-dose rodenticides are more dangerous and are generally unavailable to the public without training and certification. Any infestation severe enough to justify use of single-dose rodenticide is best handled by a professional pest control operator. Some tips on the safe use of rodenticides include keeping them away from children and pets, keeping the bait fresh, and using covered or protected bait stations in places rodents frequent. After you reduce the population, clean up and sanitize the infested area. Remove all potential food. As a last step, rodent-proof the home or building by sealing all access points such as cracks, utility openings or broken windows. Clean up and rodent-proofing are done last to avoid disturbing the rodent's environment, which can make them very wary and more difficult to remove. RECIPES MARYLAND CRAB CAKES 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Mix the parsley, dry mustard, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce, eggs, and mayonnaise together. Add the crab and crumbs, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide the mixture into 8 cakes and dredge in flour. Deep fried at 375 to 380 deg. for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown OR pan fry them on both sides in butter until golden brown.
1 pound snow peas, ends trimmed
Bring a large pot three-fourths full of salted water to a boil. Add the peas and simmer until bright green, about 1 minute. Drain and set aside. In a wide, nonstick frying pan large enough to hold the salmon in a single layer without crowding, warm the corn oil and sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add the salmon fillets and cook until lightly golden on one side, about 4 minutes. Turn, season with salt and black pepper. Continue to cook until lightly golden on the second side and opaque throughout when pierced with a knife, about 4 minutes longer. Transfer the salmon to a warmed platter or individual plates and cover loosely with aluminum foil to keep warm. Place the same pan over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the peas, green onions and ginger and toss and stir constantly until the green onions soften, about 1 minute. Add the sherry, soy sauce and vinegar and bring to a boil. Boil until the liquid reduces by one-fourth, 20-30 seconds. Remove from the heat and pour the vegetables and sauce over and around the salmon. Serve immediately.
Nonstick spray coating
Spray the bottom only of an 8-inch springform pan with nonstick spray coating; set aside. In a large bowl dissolve lemon gelatin in the boiling water. Stir in thawed lemonade concentrate and evaporated skim milk. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until mixture mounds when spooned. After chilling, beat gelatin mixture with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 5 to 6 minutes or until fluffy. Arrange angel food cake cubes in the bottom of the springform pan. Pour gelatin mixture over cake cubes. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 4 to 24 hours or until firm. Meanwhile, in a small bowl stir together raspberries and sugar. Cover and chill 2 to 24 hours. To serve, cut torte into wedges and spoon raspberries on top. Makes 12 servings. NEWSLETTER SPECIAL Fans of libertarian columnist Vin Suprynowicz are buzzing over his latest book, The Black Arrow. BHM will publish a review of the novel in the upcoming May/June issue. The review is a condensed version of the one we've just posted online. The official release date for the book is April 15, but we were fortunate enough to get an advance shipment and permission to sell them immediately. Naturally, we thought of our newsletter subscribers and came up with this special offer. Newsletter subscribers can order Vin's new 700 page novel for just $22.95. That's $6.00 (more than 20%) off our regular price of $28.95. And the discounted price still includes shipping and handling to addresses in the USA! To order your copy, just visit The Black Arrow order page in our General Store, add it to your shopping cart, and when you are ready to check out, look for the box that says "Enter Coupon Code # here", type in the following code, then click Enter and the cart will subtract $6.00 from the cost of your order.. The discount code is -- NL0503 If you prefer to order by phone, you may do so any weekday from 8 AM to 5 PM Pacific Time by calling This offer expires March 31, 2005. Discount applies only to the book, The Black Arrow which must be part of the order to which the discount is applied. Discount cannot be used or combined with any other discount or promotion. Limit -- one discount per order. HUMOR Thanks to David from airmail.net for sending these along Dead Horse Theory The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount." However, in government, education, and incorporate America, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as: 1. Buying a stronger whip. 2. Changing riders. 3. Appointing a committee to study the horse. 4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses. 5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included. 6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired. 7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse. 8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed. 9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance. 10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance. 11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses. 12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses. And of course.... 13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position. Christmas Golf Four old-timers were playing their weekly game of golf, and one remarked how nice it would be to wake up on Christmas morning, roll out of bed and without an argument go directly to the golf course, meet his buddies and play a round. His buddies all chimed in and said, "Let's do it! We'll make it a priority, figure out a way and meet here early Christmas morning." Months later, that special morning arrives, and there they are on the golf course. The first guy says, "Boy this game cost me a fortune! I bought my wife such a diamond ring that she can't take her eyes off it." Number 2 guy says, "I spent a ton, too. My wife is at home planning the cruise I gave her. She was up to her eyeballs in brochures." Number 3 guy says "Well my wife is at home admiring her new car, reading the manual." They all turned to the last guy in the group who is staring at them like they have lost their minds. "I can't believe you all went to such expense for this golf game. When I woke up this morning I slapped my wife on the butt and said, 'Well babe, Merry Christmas! It's a great morning for sex or golf and she said, "Take a sweater..."
Just some word counts for various documents:
LINKS Last month, we asked readers to send along the sites they use to help save money. Here are some of the sites your fellow newsletter readers frequent: BONUS ARTICLE PLANT A PATCH OF GOOD HEALTH
There are all sorts of reasons for planting a garden, but the majority of gardeners cite four or five basic reasons: exercise, economy, the better taste of home grown vegetables, awareness of what kinds of pesticides or sprays have been used on the crops and what sort of chemical growth enhancers were used, and, sometimes, the plain old pride in what the green-thumb people can produce. Now, here is a sixth reason: you can literally save your life by working intelligently in your garden. And, if you don't save it, you can certainly improve it. And I don't mean just by getting the exercise you badly need by bending, stooping, chopping, hoeing, and picking. What I mean is that the vegetables you choose to grow may have life-saving or life-improving qualities in them. But before you read another sentence, here's a disclaimer to keep in mind: medical science and research, while having made some wonderful and astounding progress in recent years, is not always totally correct. There are researchers who have their own agendas to follow, and sometimes they, like the rest of us, get a little carried away at times. Later discoveries of ten disprove or at least modify the "truths" used in previous materials.
So don't throw away your medicine and stop visiting the doctor simply because you found something in this article that makes you believe there are miracles abounding in your bean patch. By all means keep on seeing your doctor and taking your medicine, until you know that is safe to act otherwise. In this article I will not attempt to document each and every suggestion that is made. This is, instead, a compilation of materials, first of all, that I have tried and tested repeatedly myself in order to be certain that the methods or foods work well. Arthritis Want to alleviate the pain and swelling of many (but, of course, not all) forms of arthritis? Eat an orange a day. Do not simply drink orange juice. Eat the entire orange. If you are in an area where citrus fruit grow well, then set out some orange trees. Here’s what I learned from my own experience. Several years ago my arthritis bothered me so much that I walked for a while with a severe limp and my shoulders were so stiff and sore that I could comb my hair only with difficulty. My personal doctor at that time suggested that we try cortisone, so he injected the drug into my shoulder. I could tell very little difference, if any. Then I began eating the oranges. It took a month or so for me to see any difference, but suddenly the changes came all at once. I was able to do carpentry work, chain saw firewood and even lumber, do garden work without difficulty, and hike for miles in the mountains near our home. On one afternoon's jaunt my wife, son, and I hiked 27 miles through rugged mountains and valleys. In the days afterward I suffered no ill effects. During a period of several weeks we hiked more than 350 miles, all in the mountains, also without problems. Perhaps best of all, I can, at age 66, throw and hit a baseball again, for the first time in years, and I can enjoy a game of back-yard basketball as well. Diabetes Many diabetics can find medical help (or even the elimination of their illness) by the simple inclusion of dried beans in their diet at least three times a week. This does not mean that you must eat a potful of the beans; a nice serving thrice a week will bring help to many sufferers. And it is very easy to grow beans, and an even simpler matter to allow them to dry. Several doctors have also made the same suggestion to me personally. But please do not discontinue any medication or diets prescribed by your physician. This disease is far too serious for you to play with fad diets. Instead, ask your doctor about the efficacy of the dried beans in the treatment, as such, of the illness. Cancer There are many so-called anti-cancer foods that seem to work very well for those willing to grow them or at least include them in their diets regularly. Among these foods are yellow and green vegetables, such as carrots, green beans, leaf lettuce or other leafy crops, such as turnip greens, collards, mustard greens, rape, kale, radish and beet tops, broccoli, melons of all sorts, such as watermelons, cantaloupes, and honey-dew melons. yellow corn, and asparagus. According to the International Agency for Research in Cancer, foods high in Vitamin E can help to block the formation of nitrosamines and nitrosamides that are among the major suspects in the origin of colon cancer.
The best natural sources of Vitamin E are wheat germ, soybeans, vegetable oils, brussels sprouts, leafy greens, spinach, and cereal grains. Set out several brussels sprouts plants, spaced far enough apart at planting times, so that you will have the tiny and delicious sprouts maturing all summer long. Keep your leafy greens patch renewed by planting every two weeks from the first sowing until the season is too far gone. The recommendation is that you eat as much of these foods raw as you can. We include squash, radishes and their tops, greens of all sorts, lettuce, cabbage, and raw green peas in our salads. If you have not tasted raw asparagus cut and eaten right there in the garden, you have missed a wonderful treat. After having enjoyed the asparagus in this manner for years, I wonder why anyone would want to cook it. The same is true for cauliflower and broccoli. Although in recent weeks the medical society has decided that the diet rich in bulk or f iber is not as much a colon cancer fighter as it was once thought to be, the researchers still insist that the high-fiber diet is an excellent preventative for many other forms of cancer. According to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in February 1999 the tomato, whether in the form of spaghetti sauce, ketchup, or other tomato dishes, is one of the greatest cancer fighters ever to be discovered. A total of 72 studies concluded that tomatoes have been linked with a compound that is effective in the prevention of many but not all forms of cancer. Lycopene, commonly found in tomatoes, apparently protects cells from oxidants linked to cancer. The cancers found to be most likely to be prevented by a diet rich in tomatoes include those that attack the prostate gland, lungs, and stomach. In other words, while there is no guarantee that tomatoes will prevent these cancers, your chances are much better if you eat plenty of tomatoes. There is also evidence that breast, pancreatic, colorectal, esophageal, oral, and cervical cancers may be prevented by tomatoes, particularly if the tomato diet also includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Want to be smarter? Or, more accurately, do you want your brain to function faster, sharper, clearer? There is no scientific proof that I know of in this area, but several reports have been released to the effect that anything containing choline will help with the gray matter. There are several meat sources of choline, including beef liver, but this source is also the source of huge amounts of cholesterol. Fish of all sorts may be a more sensible way to get the choline. After all, the old-wives tales about fish being the brain food is not that far off base. About two bites of fish will supply you with 100 mgs. of choline. Another excellent source is soybeans, which can be prepared about a thousand great ways. Heart attack Folic acid is a wonderful diet supplement, according to a researcher at MIT, who concluded that folates aid in fighting infections and diseases, as well as a host of other problems, including senility and megaloblastoid anemia. At least one study has shown that in a huge percentage of heart attacks, the victim was found to have a deficiency of folic acid in his system. The implication here is highly encouraging: recent health studies have shown that a key piece of the heart-attack puzzle revolves around folic acid--or the absence of it--in victims of attacks. This dietary need is also prominent in many other areas of health, primarily in the resistance to aging, according to some sou rces. If you want great natural and vegetable sources of folate (or folic acid) plant and eat cauliflower, preferably raw, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, Romaine lettuce, collards, turnip and mustard greens, and spinach. Again, eat as many of these raw as you can. Instead of cooking cabbage, make slaw. The more you cook the vegetables, the more you destroy the nutrients. And when you pick the veggies, bag them and put them inside the refrigerator. Do not leave them on the kitchen counter or anywhere else in bright light. Incidentally, women particularly need folate. And in raw form. A recent study revealed that women who ate five ounces of nuts each week suffered significantly fewer heart attacks than women who did not eat nuts. While the study did not include men, it is assumed that the same is true for them, too. If you want to lower stress, the supplement you need is the most common nutrient in nature--except that you may not be getting it in the food you eat. This same nutrient has been associated with preventing heart attacks, allergy attacks, and chronic fatigue. This is pantothenic acid, one of the key links to living longer and healthier, which is found in nearly every vegetable in the garden. The key syllable in the nutrient is “pan,” a word which essentially means “everywhere.” So you are sure to get plenty of pantothenic acid, because nearly everything you eat has it. Right? Wrong. What you need to do, again, is to eat the vegetables raw. Not all of them, of course. A raw Brussels sprout doesn't sound totally appetizing; nor does a raw Irish potato, although I have eaten them raw on a number of occasions. But look at the vegetables that you can eat raw: squash, corn, asparagus, peanuts, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, okra, sweet potatoes, onions, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, radishes, radish and beet greens in salads, and many other vegetables.
And then there are the fruits and nuts that can be eaten raw. Keep in mind that food processing--almost any kind of it--causes a loss of one-fourth or far more of the needed nutrients. Raw is the word--but not for meats or any other animals products, with few exceptions. One vitamin that has been linked scientifically with the prevention of heart attacks, weakened or diseased hearts, cancer, and respiratory illnesses is Vitamin C, which is found in oranges, tangerines, and other citrus fruits. But it is also found in many of your common garden vegetables: Brussels sprouts, green peppers, broccoli, turnips, collards and other greens (and this includes the greens of beets and radishes, as well as spinach) , cantaloupes, cauliflower, tomatoes, and potatoes. All of these vegetables can be grown in the typical summertime garden. Just don't cook them to death once you have harvested them. Don't want to grow old? But at the same time you don't want to die young? There is a third option, if the researchers are right. You have all seen what happens to metal that stays out in the rain and wind and weather generally. Simply, it rusts. A fancier word for rust is oxidation. What this means is that oxygen causes decay, but at the same time we can't live without it. Have you ever noticed that even such a perishable thing as wood when left outdoors and exposed to wind and rain will rot quickly? Most wood, that is. But what about the same wood if it is kept under water for the same period of time? Look at the shipwrecks on the bottom of the ocean. After two or three hundred years they are still sturdy. But this is due, you say, to the salt water which is a preservative. But what about the ships and boats at the bottom of fresh-water lakes and rivers? You may have read that now enterprising lumber companies are harvesting superb logs that have been submerged for decades in some of our larger bodies of water. What kept these logs strong and stable? One theory is that lack of oxygen was responsible. But since we cannot live without the oxygen, and since we cannot live underwater, what is left? The answer is to fortify yourself with antioxidants. By definition, an antioxidant is a substance that slows down the oxidation of oils, fats, and other substances. I don't mean to suggest that our bodies will rust or corrode, but there can be severe health dangers associated with lack of antioxidants. Part of the problem is pollution. With each breath we take, no matter where we live, we inhale pollutants in our air, and these pollutants invade our bodies and do considerable damage. The types of damage, of course, can result in cancer, heart attacks, and allergies, among the myriads of problems caused by the so-called free radicals. These are uncontrolled substances that do severe damage to cells. So we all need antioxidants, because no part of our entire body is immune to the damage done by free radicals. The most effective antioxidants seem to be beta carotene, selenium, vitamin C, and vitamin E. Keep in mind that you do not need to rush out and buy tons of vitamin capsules or tablets and eat them like candy. Too much vitamin A, for example, can be harmful, just as too much potassium, selenium, zinc, and many other vitamins and minerals can be toxic. But you cannot overdose on vegetables. In order to get plenty of beta carotene (or vitamin A) eat plenty of fresh, raw carrots, cantaloupe, broccoli, spinach, watermelon, and plums or apricots. You can eat sweet potatoes, greens of all sorts, and squash in cooked form. Liver is a superb source, but you again are taking in huge amounts of cholesterol. We have already discussed the food sources of vitamin C, and you can get vitamin E in pecans, peanuts, corn, whole wheat bread, soybeans, and sunflower seeds.
Good sources of selenium in its natural state are whole wheat bread or wheat germ, bran, onions, broccoli, and tomatoes. Niacin has been found to be effective in reducing cholesterol levels, although some medical experts (someone with a briefcase or lab frock a hundred miles from home) have said that you cannot get enough niacin from vegetables to help. I am not an expert in much of anything, certainly not in anything medical. But when my cholesterol level was checked a few years ago, I was in the rather high group--well over 200. I began a strict regimen of eating: raw vegetables, cooked vegetables, and a selection of foods that were high in niacin, selenium, and beta carotin, as well as vitamin E. The reason for stressing vitamin E is that this vitamin strengthens selenium. The result is that the two vitamins working together are stronger than the sum of their separate parts. In other words, your body draws an interest dividend. After a few weeks on the antioxidant diet, my cholesterol level was down to 165, which is an excellent reading. You can get niacin into your diet by adding dried beans and peas, brown rice, whole wheat bread, peanuts, figs, dates, prunes, and sunflower seeds. Potassium can be helpful in reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, improving circulation, and helping to keep the heart's rhythm stable, according to some sources. One study revealed that in long-term testing it was learned that of about 100 patients who were given regular supplements of potassium not one of the patients (who were high risks for strokes or heart attacks) suffered any kind of problems related to the cardia-vascular system, while in the non-potassium group there were several heart attacks, strokes, and deaths. Please do not throw away your medications and tell you doctor to take a long walk on a short pier. The jury is still out on so many of these tests, many of which involve rather small numbers of people. But at least the news at this stage is encouraging. In order to get your natural potassium, eat tomatoes (what a wonderful way to take medicine!) cantaloupe, leafy vegetables of all sorts, bananas, citrus fruits, and potatoes. We could go on and on with the great news from the world of vegetables, but you get the picture. So when you plant your spring garden, you can also plant good health along with your seeds. Just be sure to include leafy vegetables, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, beans and peas, corn, squash, peanuts, sweet and Irish potatoes, and the other vegetables listed above. I cannot guarantee that you will experience a health miracle. But even if you get no help at all (unlikely!), think of all the great food and exercise you will get from your health garden.
OTHER STUFF Did a friend or relative tell you about this newsletter? The Backwoods Home Magazine newsletter is free and all you need is an email address so we can let you know when each issue is published and where it can be found. Even better, we sometimes have special offers and discounts that are available only to BHM Newsletter subscribers. Your email address will never be sold, rented, loaned, given, or otherwise provided to any third party. Just visit the BHM web site at www.backwoodshome.com and click on "Newsletter" in the navigation menu on the left side of any web page. Contact Info: Editor/Letters - Dave Duffy, editor@backwoodshome.com Advertising Manager - Evelyn Leach, evelyn@backwoodshome.com
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