My husband took the kids to the store last night to get some groceries. He’s pretty amazing, and brave to take a 1, 3 AND 5 year old by himself. Anyhow, we were out of salt so he grabbed some. We’re usually very careful about checking ingredients, but when you’ve got all three kids by yourself – all bets are off. Besides it’s sea salt right? Why would you add anything to it? Apparently, if it is a packaged food product, we have found a way to contaminate it. The specific product is Balenine Fine Crystals. Ingredients: Sea Salt, Magnesium Oxide and Yellow Prussiate of Soda. A quick look at the MSDS for Yellow Prussiate told us this:

Potential Acute Health Effects: Extremely hazardous in case of ingestion. Hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of inhalation.
Potential Chronic Health Effects: Extremely hazardous in case of ingestion. Hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of inhalation. CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. MUTAGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. TERATOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. DEVELOPMENTAL TOXICITY: Not available. The substance is toxic to blood, lungs, mucous membranes. Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organs damage.
Section 4: First Aid Measures
Eye Contact: Check for and remove any contact lenses. Immediately flush eyes with running water for at least 15 minutes, keeping eyelids open. Cold water may be used. Do not use an eye ointment. Seek medical attention.
Skin Contact: After contact with skin, wash immediately with plenty of water. Gently and thoroughly wash the contaminated skin with running water and non-abrasive soap. Be particularly careful to clean folds, crevices, creases and groin. Cold water may be used. Cover the irritated skin with an emollient. If irritation persists, seek medical attention.
Serious Skin Contact: Wash with a disinfectant soap and cover the contaminated skin with an anti-bacterial cream. Seek medical attention.
Inhalation: Allow the victim to rest in a well ventilated area. Seek immediate medical attention.
Serious Inhalation: Not available.
Ingestion: Do not induce vomiting. Loosen tight clothing such as a collar, tie, belt or waistband. If the victim is not breathing, perform
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Seek immediate medical attention.
Serious Ingestion: Not available.
Uh, yeah, we’re gonna take it back.
I have to begin by admitting to being a former sugar addict. Never having dealt with weight issues, I felt I had a free pass to eat as much sugar as I wanted, whenever I wanted. I consumed sugar daily and more often than not, all day long in some form or another. Dessert was a must. A full package of cookies in a sitting was no big deal. I wasn’t consciously aware of any guilt. I thought I was a healthy person. I was fit, I was active and I ate what I thought was a pretty healthy diet, besides the sugar of course. Luckily, my body finally gave me a reason to look deeper into how I had been treating it. A lot of things have changed for me now, my life has improved dramatically and I owe most of this to what I have learned about sugar.
Sugar, it’s seemingly sweet and simple, but this kitchen staple has a dark side. Besides fake (chemical & genetically altered) and cruel (factory farms) food, this is one of the most damaging ingredients you can consume. I could go into depth on the ways sugar harms the body and mind, but Vin Miller at Natural Bias has already written an excellent and thorough article on the topic here, which I highly recommend.
With a history steeped in unconscionable crimes against humanity and the environment along with a present day ‘Big Sugar’ lobby in Washington, sugar has more than it’s fair share of injustices. Sugar has it’s roots in slavery and today still relies heavily on indentured servants. One example of the grave mistreatment of human beings in the cultivation of sugar are the Bateyes (sugar workers’ towns) in the Dominican Republic. Haitians are often bribed to take ‘jobs’ with the promise of a better life for their families. They are trucked into the DR and then after confiscating their documentation (so they have little means for escape) are forced to live in police states. They are expected to work 12 hours of hard labor each day for the average pay of two dollars…per day. The work is some of the most labor intensive still performed by humans today and the conditions are harsh. With extreme temperatures, clouds of dust and working mostly with machetes and bare hands, illness and injury runs rampant. The workers have no access to medical care and very limited access to food. Families are forced to purchase food from the stores erected in the bateyes at costs double and triple that of what is available in local towns. Families caught growing their own food have their gardens destroyed, forcing many to go hungry or subsist chewing on canes of sugar. You can imagine the damage this causes for their bodies and teeth, especially in growing children.
Everglades and Turner River by Chauncey Davis
Environmental damage is of great concern, especially here in the US where the ecologically important Florida Everglades is being destroyed by sugar farms. Efforts to protect the environment and place taxes on sugar production have been futile as the Big Sugar lobbies hold huge power in government. Two years ago the governor of Florida proposed a $1.75 Billion deal to buy out the 180,000 acres of Everglades land currently owned by the sugar elite, however this deal has been dramatically scaled back during negotiations. Just last week the state voted in favor of a plan to purchase 27,000 acres for $1.97 Million. Even though it sounds like a small victory, it is US Sugar who benefits the most from this deal. The acreage is made up of six disconnected parcels, much of which has been devastated by plant disease and toxic chemicals such as DDT and arsenic. US Sugar let go of some unusable and contaminated land and gets paid far above current market value. The Everglades are in a critical state and this purchase has actually stopped the restoration work that was in process as available funding will now be appropriated to the sale.
Seek out healthy substitutes for sugar. Cutting out sugar doesn’t mean never having a sweet again, once you re-balance your tastes a little sweetness goes a long way and it can be achieved through more natural and nutrient rich sources such as dates, honey, stevia, molasses, coconut sugar or maple syrup. It is time for us to cultivate awareness and take action. We need to inform ourselves because, currently, there is a carefully placed veil between us and the most basic things in our lives. Information is readily available on most every topic, most times at the touch of a button. Question, explore and find more meaningful ways to find joy than the fleeting euphoria of a sugar high.
As a sidenote, with two authors of this blog the views expressed are not always shared between both parties.

Over the past several months my eyes have opened to the carefully crafted lies we’ve all bought into about our food, our water, our consumerism, our energy consumption and our ‘health’ system. Our entire culture has been brainwashed over decades by a system based on greed and suppression. For a time, we didn’t even notice it was happening. However, now the math is beginning to sneak into our psyches. The calculations have been running quietly in the backgrounds of our minds, beginning to make us uneasy, even when we didn’t consciously know why. The stuff from which our stuff is made is running out. The soil is dying, we’re running out of forests, we’ve devastated the landscape and destroyed the water. All of this ecology is also habitat and the life within each has been direly impacted. The bottom line is, it’s bad, it’s really bad. There is a reason that we are looking for sustainable answers to today’s problems, because the way we have been living is not. By definition our UN-sustainable lives, practices and energy sources [oil] are seeing their limits and, it seems, they’re just beyond the horizon. The sun is about to set on this illusion and we are running out of daylight.
Waking up to all of this knowledge, seems overwhelming. We feel powerless and we want to put our blinders back on. We stare straight ahead, afraid of what else we may uncover if we begin to believe the editorials of the horrible crimes that have been perpetrated against us. We lose hope knowing that in turn, we perpetrated horrible crimes against other cultures, innocent beings and the earth through our support of this system. I am guilty. It feels bad and I’m sorry, but instead of dwelling there, I want to fix it. This is an opportunity.
I am ready to do what it takes to end this war on life. It doesn’t have to be a difficult process. We can have grand plans about a perfect system that seems impossible to employ, but it can be much easier than that. We can worry individually about the things that we don’t want to do and the skills that we don’t have, but when it boils down to it if we embrace unlimited compassion within our hearts and let our egos dissolve, the world will begin to right itself. By this I certainly don’t mean we all sit around with our fingers crossed waiting for some magic fairy to come, wave her wand and restore everything. When we begin to rebuild from a foundation of love, things have a way coming together. It means we all do the things we LOVE and we commit to them. It means we put forth honest effort. Instead of slackly doing something you dislike for someone you don’t respect (which will inevitably wrap you in a downward spiral of discontent), figure out what you love, stop worrying about money and just do it. Do it morning and night, with passion, for days until the brilliant ideas start forming in your head. Don’t be scared along the way by what the television says, or by what the billboard says or even by what your friend or relative says. Just keep moving steadily forward. Trust yourself and listen intently for your intuition. Don’t be easily discouraged and maintain flexibility. One of my favorite pieces of advice from the Dalai Lama is this:
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
Instead of immediately complaining about how you didn’t get what you wanted, be open to the possibility that this is the best thing that could have happened. This could be clearing a path to an amazing future. Let go of your grasp on how things should have been and unlock your potential for progress. Be honest and loving with others and you’ll no longer have to worry about others’ being honest and loving with you. Drop your ego and it won’t matter what anyone else thinks of you. You become free. When you become free, you become happy. When you become happy you become more productive, more creative and more resourceful. We are beautiful spirits, capable of amazing things, all we need to do is trust ourselves.
Here are some important changes to make in your life (if you haven’t already) that can make this transition flow more smoothly:
- Look behind the scenes to see where things are originating and the processes that created them.
- Eat nutritious foods; source (non-genetically modified (GMO), no pesticide) whole foods from real people. Talk to the farmer about how the food was grown. Eat healthy saturated fats like coconut oil and/or grassfed butter & raw milk and avoid unhealthy vegetable, canola and hydrogenated oils. Taste the difference and feel the changes in your body. GMO foods do not have to be labeled. If it’s in the grocery store, has corn or soy in it and it isn’t labeled ‘organic’ or ‘non-gmo’ then it’s a pretty sure bet that it is gmo.
- Cut as far back on sugar as possible. This is easiest to do by eliminating all sugar (including most fruit) for at least a week. Then stay away from all processed sugars including (GMO) high-fructose corn syrup as much a possible.
- Seek out clean water. When fluoride is artificially added to our drinking water it is a toxic poison. It is not helping our teeth and even if it were, topical applications would cover us – we shouldn’t be drinking it and bathing in it on a daily basis. Harvest spring water from a local spring (check out www.findaspring.com to see if there is a spring listed near you, even if there isn’t that doesn’t mean you don’t have one locally). Install a Reverse Osmosis filter or if well water is clean and available switch over.
- Enjoy the outdoors, take a little time each day to appreciate all the beauty and wonder that nature has to offer.
- Make more connections with people. This can be as simple as striking up a conversation with the guy standing next to you in line.
- Limit mass consumerism to the best of your ability. Fill the void with love instead. When you are about to buy something ask yourself if it is really something that you want or need and how long it is going to be of use to you. When you do shop seek out local, independent retailers. If you need a gift for someone else consider lessons or classes, purchase them rights to a streaming movie from amazon, some used books you know they’ll love or buy or make something handcrafted & from the heart.
- Avoid chemicals whenever possible. Read the ingredients on everything and research alternatives. A simple example of an eco-friendly alternative to the toxic soaps we use in the shower – try a local soap from a farmers market or Dr. Bronner’s available at many natural food stores.

virgin organic coconut oil
lots of garlic
celery
carrots
squash
zucchini
sea (Himalayan or other quality) salt
pepper
spring water (or well or reverse osmosis)
grass-fed butter (raw is a plus!)
sprouted beans (I sprouted garbanzos)
tomato
clean & rough chop veggies. saute celery, carrots, garlic in about 5T coconut oil, pile squash on top to steam a bit. fill pot with spring water. salt & pepper like wild. add about 3T butter and the sprouted beans cook until beans and squash begin to soften. taste, adjust salt, pepper, water ratio. serve hot or cold with fresh slices of tomato on top (delicious if the soup has good salt balance)
optional: most everything, get crazy
Ganesha, Lord of Obstacles
My neck is a tangled mass of taught strings right now. It always amazes me how quickly my body can set to work and invoke physical maladies in order to deflect thought from uncomfortable emotional states. I take a moment center my thoughts and treat my body like one of my children, “neck, really, I am so thrilled that you think enough of me to try and pitch in here and I love you, but, yeah, this isn’t helping, so please chill out”.
The experiences we have originate from our need to attain spiritual knowledge. Some of the experiences are exciting and enjoyable; others painfully tragic. The work is to attain the spiritual knowledge of the experience and process it. More often than not, when there is a painful experience we do what we can to exist happily while hoping the experience will just fade away. Without processing and absorbing the lesson, it remains on the roster; it is part of our dharma. By avoiding the things we know we need to address, we create karma.
Astrologically, this is a big karmic cleansing week. It’s best to be prepared and not treat this like any other ordinary week. Look directly at your fears as they come up. Take a deep breath, continue to breathe deeply and slowly. Think about every move you make as one step in the solution to the problem. If one step seems it was in the wrong direction, re-evaluate and try again, it is only one step. Treat problems like science or math, try not to allow emotion to cloud judgment – but do keep an ear open for the heart.
I wish for us all to have great strength in this process, by addressing and releasing our issues from the past, we open our selves up to new opportunities and realities. We’ve so got this.

I raided Missy’s closet, as I always do when she goes out, and played around in the yard.
Thanks Melissa!
My latest handmade Etsy craving…

Behida Dolic’s collection is inspired by 1920′s and 30′s silent films as well as modern architecture. Each piece is hand made and one of a kind. I love the drama and romance captured in this particular hat but please check out her Etsy shop Yellowfield7, there are many more styles. Comment and let us know which one you see yourself in.

Interview with Johan Galtung
I am ready to hear someone talk about resolutions to all our most pressing national issues. Some days I feel as if I am helpless to affect positive change in my beloved country’s behavior. It all seems too big and distant but it is affecting us all, in ever increasing ways. It is hard for me to see the blood of innocent people being spilled because they were in the wrong place when someone pulled the trigger. Most of the time I refuse to look because it’s a lot to handle it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
I want to hear more people talk about what our nation is doing internationally, from Afghanistan to the Gulf, and how it makes them feel. We can’t close our eyes and wait for it to go away. War is being fought in our name. Perhaps discussing potential resolutions will lead to a collective understanding of how to effect actual change, not just a sleight of hand trick.
This morning Ed and I watched part 2 of this interview with Johan Galtung. I appreciate his clarity of vision pertaining to potential actions and resolutions, we as a country can take, to effect a more positive outcome in our future. We still have a choice.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn to part two of my interview with Johan Galtung. Known as the founder of peace studies, he spent the past half-century pursuing nonviolent conflict resolution in international relations. His latest book is The Fall of the US Empire–And Then What?: Successors, Regionalization or Globalization? US Fascism of US Blossoming?

This is my latest creation, soon to be up for sale.
If you would like one of your own leave me a comment and we’ll make it happen.


I got dressed this morning thinking Missy and I were going to be running errands. Heels may not be the most comfortable things but they make me feel fancy sometimes and it was a fancy kind of day. We left Rachel with the kids and sped off into freedom…
When we finished all of our to-do’s and had more time to be Cokas kid free we went on a hunt for nature. I had totally forgotten about Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve and Missy had never been. It felt so good to walk in the woods, even in heels. The nature preserve is tucked in the middle of East Lyme. The trails aren’t too long and clearly marked. It’s a perfect spot to go if you want to forget about bills and the laundry you have waiting back home. I will be repeating this adventure again very soon.





