Nature's Humble Healer

Let's talk plantain -- the weed, not the fruit. If you have anything approaching a yard, you probably have some. It's one of those weeds some people spray with Roundup or do any number of other unnatural things to try and get rid of. Truth to tell, it's one weed you should definitely keep. Here's a true story.

My hubby (around here we call him Pappy) noticed a co-worker limping the other day and asked her what the problem was. She told him she had been bitten in her sleep one night, probably by some kind of insect. The bite (on her foot) seemed to have faded, but after several days the bite site started to swell and form blisters, and was now quite painful. He thought a few minutes, then went out to the grassy area near the break room and found some plantain. He picked a few leaves and told his friend to chew them and put them on the bite site, holding them in place with a Bandaid. She went to the ladies room and did just that. She left the leaves on the bite overnight, and the next day was walking normally and with no pain. The whole site was almost completely healed. Pappy now has a reputation as the plant's witch doctor!

He knows from plantain though, from long experience. He and I have seen many real-life examples of its curing power on dog bites, spider bites, mosquito bites, and bee stings to name a few. I have a couple of beehives, and it comes in really handy when I get the inevitable bee sting.

Here's what plantain looks like, at least in our yard. In addition to the broad-leaf variety shown here, there is also a narrow-leaf type. They both work equally well. And if you don't want to chew the leaves prior to application, you can bruise them with a rolling pin, rock, or any other hard object.

OR...

you could go to the doctor, get a shot and/or prescription, treat the bite for days or weeks with a man-made substance that may or may not work and be out tens or even hundreds of dollars. Hmmmm.

Why is it that modern medicine with all it's artificiality is now called Traditional, and the natural stuff that was used effectively for thousands of years is all of a sudden called Alternative medicine??? Another of my pet peeves. Sorry!

Collard Greens

Here is my response to silversmithy's challenge. First of all, I don't know how to cook collard greens. I'm a Southern girl, too but I've never in my life cooked collard greens (hope that doesn't get me kicked out of the club)! I did, however, check out my girl Sassy and she has some suggestions. Go to http://www.vegancoach.com/ and check out her flavor matches for collard greens, along with cooking instructions for several different prep methods. (Just click on Vegan Cooking on the left-hand menu, then choose Vegetables. Collard greens are listed on that page.) Let me know what you try and how it turns out! Good luck!



PS - Thanks again, Sassy, for being my go-to site!

Livin' the Vegan Life

Here’s what’s going on at the moment. I have re-dedicated myself to following a strict vegan diet, at least for 6 weeks. The reason for this is two-fold: 1) I need to lose about 40 pounds, and 2) I have some health problems that are aggravated by all this extra lard I’m hauling around.

It’s time now to put in a plug for my diet and health guru, Dr. Joel Fuhrman. If you haven’t read his book, Eat to Live, well, you should! I am a meat-lover from way back, and a junk food junkie too, but this sensible, easy-to-read book gave me the inspiration to move away from that sicko lifestyle. Dr. Fuhrman has a new book out now, which I haven’t read yet, but will be getting soon. It’s called Eat for Health, and gives new and updated information, including recipes, that will probably inspire me to an even healthier lifestyle. I will say here also that I am not affiliated with Dr. Fuhrman in any way other than as a fan, and the reader should not assume that everything on this blog is consistent with Dr. Fuhrman’s stuff. If you want more information on Dr. Fuhrman, check out his web site at www.drfuhrman.com.

Now that the Fuhrman plug is out of the way, back to me! My husband and I read Eat to Live (ETL) and decided to go vegan about 3 years ago. My husband is one of those annoying people with incredible self-discipline who makes up his mind to do something and then does it! I, on the other hand, cheated a lot! I had the dollar menu at every fast food restaurant committed to memory. But after 2-3 years of cheating regularly, my health problems started demanding my attention so I decided to get serious about my diet. So 2 weeks ago I started on the ETL eating plan (it’s not a diet!) and have lost 10 pounds, more or less (I have a crappy cheap set of bathroom scales, so sometimes it’s hard to tell).

Armed with my new-found confidence and optimism I began looking for some more recipes that fit within the eating plan. There are some recipes in ETL that are old favorites, but I am a person that needs variety. If you are vegan, or even just thinking about it, I highly recommend one of my other favorite sites, www.vegancoach.com, for vegan cooking inspiration. I have been collecting recipes and other info from Sassy "Vegan Coach" Knutson for awhile, but some of her recipes are not suitable for the induction phase of ETL. (But, oh boy, once I get through the 6-week induction period, we are gonna cook up some masterpieces!) ANYway!! I went to my local library and found 3 vegan cookbooks on the shelves. Note: Some of you older folks may remember the library – it’s a building where they have books that you can hold in your hand and turn the pages. Even better, you can borrow them for free! Check it out sometime….

The first book I found is Student’s Go Vegan Cookbook by Carole Raymond. I really like this one because it’s geared to the student, meaning recipes are quick, cheap, and easy. Kind of fits in my general philosophy of life, don’t it? The second book is Vegan With a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moscowitz. This is a radical, romping ride through a vegan kitchen. Many of these recipes are non-vegan recipes that have been vegan-ized by Moscowitz. Simply put, the book rocks! Lastly, I found Vegan Express, by Nava Atlas. Her recipes are geared more to family dining, which works well for me since my husband, at almost 59, has the appetite of a 17-year-old! Family sized portions are the norm at our house! (That’s another one of the beauties of eating Fuhrman style – since you’re eating such nutrient-dense foods, you can eat as much as you want and not add pounds.) I have found many recipes in these books that I will be trying soon, and I’ll let you know how they turn out. Could be I’ll post some of our new favorites on the blog.

Well I guess I’ve gone on long enough, so I’ll stop for now. Looking forward to hearing from someone (anyone!!).
Mimi

Getting Started

Hi! I’m Mimi, and this is my blog. As you will soon see, I know nothing about blogging, and very little about any aspect of the internet other than how to search, find, and shop. But since I am pretty good at searching, and I’m interested in a lot of the things many of you are interested in, I figure I may be able to put my searching and information gathering skills to good use and share what I find with others in the process.

My biggest quandary in deciding to start a blog was figuring out what to blog about, since I have a wide range of interests. I finally was able to narrow down those interests to a few broad categories: making things as easy as possible, living a simple life, and living as close to nature as possible. Hence the name of the blog – easysimplenature.

Some of my interests are (in no particular order) organic gardening; cooking, especially vegetarian/vegan cooking; herbal medicines; and all aspects of health and nutrition. These are the topics I plan to highlight (at least to start with) on this blog. If you’re interested in these or similar topics, let me know about it. I’ll share the information I have gathered, and I’ll welcome your sharing too. I have only a few rules for the blog:

• Treat each other with common courtesy and respect.
• No profanity (I have grandchildren reading this!)
• Don’t clog the blog – with comments/discussion threads that have nothing to do with topics on he blog.
• Keep in mind that this blog is not meant to be a comprehensive site for any one topic, but merely a jumping off point to allow for sharing of information. If you want a more intense discussion of any topic, check out the links that will be added as the blog progresses.
• Since it’s my blog, I reserve the right to change the rules as I see fit, and to delete comments, etc that do not fall within the rules (or more importantly, the spirit) of the blog.

I think that’s quite enough for the first posting. I’ll try to add more to the blog weekly, so be patient with me, and please visit often to check my progress and add helpful commentary.

Love to all,
Mimi