Order

Issue #16:
Summer 2007 — Salute the Sun

Thoughts from the Publisher:
Small Matters, by Kylie Loynd
I woke with a start at 2:00 a.m. the other day, grabbed pen and paper and wrote like a person possessed. Several recent events had affected me deeply: the bankruptcy of the Independent Press Association (IPA); the related closures of several magazines, with many more struggling to keep their presses running; and the hold Vision Paper, our magazine-stock manufacturer, placed on the tree-free blend we use. These losses were relevant to each other and to the growth and health of our own endeavors in a way that I'd yet to fully define. At 3:30 a.m., I laced up my tennis shoes.

Top of Page

Whole Foods:
A New Twist on Herbs, by Corinna Frenzl
I remember times in my childhood when I heard the words, "Eat it, it's good for you!" My favorite dinner-table response was "Yuck!" My picky-eater habits resurfaced recently when I began to learn about herbalism and discovered more about everyday backyard herbs such as stinging nettle, burdock, dandelion and chickweed and how their daily use can promote a healthy, vibrant immune system. At first taste, some of these herbs were quite strange, bitter and earthy. That's when the picky eater inside me wondered, How am I going to eat that, let alone incorporate it into my daily life?

Before the Big Game, by Cynthia Lair
My daughter's lifelong interest in sports, particularly soccer, spurred my desire to learn about sports nutrition. Under the tutelage of my colleague Scott Murdoch, Ph.D., R.D., I discovered that much of what has been written about sports nutrition consists of detailed analysis of micronutrients and research involving elite athletes performing in extreme sporting events. What about kids who play multiple sports? Or adults who go for an intense weekend game in a co-ed league?

Top of Page

Everything Herbal:
Compassionate Chamomile, by Kylie Loynd
On your grocery store shelf rests a little box brimming with compassion. Consider packing some chamomile tea along with your vacation clothes as you compress "summer fun" into every available sun-filled moment. The "compassionate composite" is what Herbalist Sally King calls chamomile. "We live such full lives; how wonderful to have an herb that helps us to digest and integrate our life experiences." Feeling rather fragmented myself, I breathed in its sweet scent as I sipped my chamomile tea. Best known for its relaxing, sleep-inducing qualities, chamomile is also a great tonic for the digestive system. In addition, its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties make it an excellent eye remedy and an effective wash for wound and skin care. (read the complete article)

A Balance of Health:
Iodine: The Revival of a Mineral, by Dr. David Ramaley
We know that iodine is in our table salt and that we need it for our thyroid glands. That's often as far as we get. But iodine has so many functions in our bodies and can so clearly improve our overall health that it's worth taking a second look at this mineral. (read the complete article)

Feeding the Dog: Going against the Grain, by Jennifer Allen Newton
For most of our history with dogs, we humans haven't given a lot of thought to the quality of food we feed them. But with our own increased awareness of how food affects human health, finding a healthy diet for dogs has become a topic of much concern. After all, just like humans, dogs are increasingly suffering from allergies, digestive problems and obesity - all of which can be related directly to food. So should we feed them premium dog food or the cheap stuff from the warehouse market? Cooked or raw? Kibble or canned? Vegetarian or all-meat? (read the complete article)

Top of Page

From the Ground Up:
Traversing the Urban-to-Rural Gap, by Malika Krasik-Geiger
This morning, I helped trim the umbilical cords of a litter of goats that had been alive less than 24 hours. Patty, my boss and mentor, would lift a wobbly kid out of the pen. While she snipped and sanitized, I would hold this alien creature, its belly exposed, my small hands easily encircling its rib cage. The kids' fur was soft as a cat's, and their throats produced a quiet bleating that would endear the stoniest of adults, whether caprine or human. It was hard to believe that these little beings would one day become the gnarly bucks and obstinate does that now populate this goat ranch. I'm accustomed to working with an entirely different kind of kid.

Our Picks:
Soil Enhancers that Shine, by Patti Pitcher
As a longtime gardener, I am thoroughly convinced of the importance of healthy, vibrant soil that is full of microbes, organic matter and minerals. Increased soil fertility benefits my garden in every way possible. The more vital my soil, the more nutritious and tasty my fruits and vegetables and the fewer pests I have to contend with. It's important to foster the health of soil microbes, because they, quite literally, build the soil by digesting minerals and organic matter and turning them into humus. To this end, I am constantly seeking out ways to make my soil microbes happy. Below are two products I find especially useful.

Terrific Tips:
Just Add Water, by Helen Landalf
One of the best tips I ever got for consuming less and saving money was from my hairstylist. I had been complaining about the high cost of natural shampoo, and she confided that she dilutes her shampoo at home with an equal amount of water.

Top of Page

This Spinning Earth:
Saving our Estuarine Playgrounds, by Marian Wineman
The beach is irresistible to me. As I wander the shore, the blue water sparkles, gulls chatter and glide above me, the wind pulls at my hair and rocks and shells create a mosaic beneath my feet. If I look only at the surfaces of our bays and sounds, everything appears to be OK. But just beneath the waves, most of our beloved estuaries are in trouble. Surrounded by dense urban areas, they are under an array of pressures. Small individual actions and more sustainable lifestyles are the prescription for saving these gems. (read the complete article)

Top of Page

Treading Lightly:
The Tyranny of Stuff, by Joyce White
Stuff. Most of us have too much of it. Houses and garages keep getting bigger to accommodate more stuff. Though my house is small, my garage is big. Therefore, it holds not only my stuff, but extra stuff belonging to my daughter and two friends. (Well, one is actually a used-to-be friend, since he filled half the top floor of my garage "temporarily" nearly four years ago.)

Top of Page

Life Out Loud:
To Market, To Market, by Lisa Tiffin
I have a confession to make: I like commercials. Even though they can be boring, insulting and just plain bothersome, on some level they intrigue me. I often wonder why certain ones fail miserably while others succeed in catapulting a brand to the forefront of store shelves. I like commercials because I enjoy deciding which ones will sink the product and which marketing genius will get a promotion. But what I hadn't considered until I had children was how much power commercials seem to have over us.

In the Rough (Q & A Advice Clumn), by Susanne Wichert
I believe the giving of advice is an art as delicate as that performed by the gem cutter who is given a raw, rough stone. Her task is to "listen" to the stone and then carefully choose a specific pattern of facets to cut that will not only set free the natural beauty of the stone, but enhance it. If done well, both of our tasks, mine and that of the gem cutter, have the potential to bring forth something honest - perhaps a new view that exceeds our original expectations.

Q1: What is the best way to get kids involved in household chores without hearing a chorus of whining, complaints and excuses?
Q2: How can you connect with kids in a meaningful way to make sure you have quality time together?

My immediate response to the first question was to spew my water all over the keyboard. The eternal three Cs - chores, children, complaints - make it clear that the role of children in our lives is to take us to the heights of joy and to cause unending pain and irritation.

Top of Page

Flow and its Opposite, Jeremy Adam Smith
"[A] person in flow is completely focused," writes psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. "Self-consciousness disappears, yet one feels stronger than usual. When a person's entire being is stretched in the full functioning of body and mind, whatever one does becomes worth doing for its own sake; living becomes its own justification."

On Being Here, Sandra A. Miller
Here I sit at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. While I often come here to ponder transitions in my life, today I am on my first solo journey into nature as a mother. My son is six months old, and for all that time, I've eaten for him, breathed for him, cried for him. I have forced down eight large glasses of water a day to produce milk for him. At night, I either do or do not sleep for him. Before I left this morning, I woke up with my husband's arm encircling my belly and my son's forefinger and thumb so delicately pinching my wrist that I did not even know where my own body began and ended.

Musings:
Big Hips, by DeAnna Dailey
The women in my family have big hips. We have big hips and loud voices, and sometimes we talk too loudly or too much or too fast. And we take up a lot of space in a room when we walk into it, even when we're trying to be small or quiet or less threatening or less intimidating, or less of whatever it is that people seem to think that we are when we just walk into a room being our whole selves. (read the complete article)

Looking Within:
The Tin Cup, by Toby Linzmeier
I don't remember the first time I was offered a drink from the tin cup, but during the summers of my college years, stopping for a drink of cold well water from that cup became almost as much of a ritual as my daily walk. My godfather's driveway was less than a quarter-mile from my family's own, a small fraction of my five-mile trek around our rural block. Still, I'd pause there more often than not for a drink and a little conversation before heading up the hill to my house. I reasoned that the hill between the two places was the hardest part of my walk, so I deserved the break. And besides, there was no doubt that the water from my godfather's well tasted better than water from my family's own. But it had nothing to do with the water, really.

On Thin Ice, by Marie Richmond
When I was a child, I longed to take figure skating lessons. But as an adult, my survival instincts overrode any dreams of being a second Christi Yamaguchi. All that changed during a recent trip to the local rink, where I signed up for an adult beginners' class. It's not that I found my courage; I just didn't give myself time to think. My mother registered first and then asked me to join her. In a moment of confusion, I agreed. Mentally, I began preparing my body for the punishment I knew was inevitable, never dreaming that for me, the greater challenge would be not on the ice, but off.

Top of Page

In Print (book reviews):
The Omnivore's Dilemma, reviewed by Lee Revere
The Omnivore's Dilemma (Penguin Press, 2006) isn't for everyone - just those of us who eat. In his latest book, Michael Pollan shares his experience of four meals and, in doing so, examines the food systems from which they came: conventional, organic, "beyond-organic" or local/sustainable, and hunter-gatherer. Throughout, he encourages himself and the reader to "eat with a fuller conscience."

Organic Housekeeping, by Sarojni Mehta-Lissak
At first glance, Ellen Sandbeck's book Organic Housekeeping (Scribner, 2006) looks like a daunting text one would find on a college library shelf. But within its hardback covers, this 401-page reader-friendly guide offers countless tips on living closer to the earth with as little impact as possible.

Backing Out:
A Simple Solution, by Lee Revere, Managing Editor
When asked to join a Voluntary Simplicity circle recently, my first thought was, don't those people advocate throwing away all your possessions? Then I pictured myself bending to examine a bruised shin, only to smash my head against another sharp, superfluous object taking up space in our garage. That's when I decided to join.

Top of Page