In my line of work I am daily reminded that there is but one end to all living thing, and that aging began at birth (if not before).  In one sense I may be classified as either paranoid or prepared, but to quote my husband, Chris Van Vechten, to be paranoid IS to be prepared.  I admit to worrying about my ability to pay for my long-term care when I become disabled or elderly, but I am also becoming more prepared.  And I am only 29 years old.

Last year I established my healthcare power of attorney, determining who would be in charge of my final days should I be unable to make my own decisions.  I explicitly wrote a detailed report that I did not want to be permanently a vegetable and would prefer to pass away, keeping in mind the Terri Schiavo case.  I spoke with all family members and found discord as to my wishes: my mother would have me stay alive in the off-chance a miracle or scientific breakthrough occur.  My brothers, on the other hand, would respect my wishes and “do me in”, so to speak.  My ROTH-IRA is already going to my neices and nephew for their education. 

I have been following the instability of Washington State’s medicaid and long-term care programs, and worry about the families I help if they are one of the unlucky 12,000 potentials who might be stricken from state funding.  Will it be a developmentally disabled child or an elderly person who no longer has family to help?  I have also been following the debate on Social Security and seen the uprisings of Senior Citizens across the nation, demanding the continuance of it despite the bleak outlook of bankruptcy, or, just as bad, a huge burden upon my generation of unemployed young people.  Many more families are falling into the “sandwich” category, encased between children still living at home and elderly parents moving in to be cared for.   Those families that become caregivers to parents are beaten down, exhausted, depressed, more prone to high blood pressure, weight gain, stroke, cardiac arrest, and are likelier to have more of a decline in health than the ones they care for. 

I went to a seminar at a local cemetery (work-related, no less) and pondered my mortality.  I was surrounded by the super elderly and their baby-boomer kids, and there sat me, not quite 30.  I’m not sure if I made anyone uncomfortable by being there, but I was certainly impressed by all the options and types of cremations, burials, choices of urns and package prices and military send-offs and financial plannings with Medicaid and even their famous pet cemetery.  Chris and I occasionally go to local cemeteries where we know historical figures lie to read their gravestones – habits of historians and nerds, I imagine – and we debate on what type of burial and grave each of us wants.  Chris wants cremation and the cheapest option possible and his remains kept in a vase or dumped unceremoniously.  I want to be cremated but placed in a burial plot with a headstone - and, as I found out, I can be buried in one plot with 4 other cremated persons.  I’ve decided I want to convince my family to buy 3 plots and all of us vow to be buried together. 

I’ve thought about this.  And then I’ve wondered how am I going to pay for my life.  First I need to buy a new car (mine has almost 200,000 miles on it now and is expected to give up the ghost any day), then a house, maybe have one child, push him/her through school, in my 40s buy long term care insurance which will only last 3-5 years, pick my burial plot, make my child my Power of Attorney, write up my last will and testament, make sure my Twitter and Facebook passwords have been passed to the Spawn Child, in my 60s force Chris to start talking about long-term care again (which he might not be so peeved to talk about at that age), if he kicks the bucket first make sure to respect his wishes and cremate him then spread his ashes somewhere, then find an Assisted Living or Retirement community I can afford, and…

I get stressed.  I might just end up as broke in my future as I was a year ago, and years of diligent labor, saving, planning, might be flushed down the drain with one bout of cancer, or one natural disaster, or one big huge lawsuit, or something else I can creatively come up with.

The facts are, our healthcare system is broken.  The debate lies in how to fix it.  In the meantime, while politicians bicker and campaign for next re-election and while uninformed citizens complain on all the corruption without taking any type of action, death marches on, homelessness increases, starvation becomes more pervasive, and everyone hopes that a new cream, a new food group, new technology, will quell the progression of aging and death, our inevitable nemesis.  There is only so much planning and preparation one can do before Death’s Scythe takes us down a peg or two. 

What can be done?  I make sure my bills are paid off each month.  If Chris and I are worried about cutting it close, we rely on beans and rice and his stock of beer he’s saved up.  We tighten our belts.  We watch what we spend.  Chris makes sure he’s got health insurance.  I am stubborn and stupid enough to not pay for health insurance right now because we’ve got law school bills to pay, but maybe in January or February I will begin again.  Chris and I have candid conversations about our wishes for ourselves and our parents.  We’ve written a contract up together spelling it out.  We both save each month and he invests it for us.  With my work I have begun my long term care policy.  

Our Department of Health just de-funded their partnership with the U.S. Living Will Registry which hosts all pertinent documents online for you and your family in case of an emergency, but I’ve been looking at them as a potential to sign up and host my emergency documents as a “just in case”. 

The Washington State Medical Association has a great FAQ page on advance directives and what our state requires to be prepared for the inevitable.  They also have actual documents specific for Washington residents to print off, sign, and tuck away so your wishes are respected by the people who will have control over your future fate. 

Not only a healthcare advance directive, you must have a Power of Attorney set up.  It is important also thave a Will and go through an attorney, since online Wills are typically not specific for Washington State and are easily challenged and broken in court if gotten online.  I recommend Tacoma’s Darol Tuttle, elder law attorney or Jim Bush, also specializing in wills and estates. 

At the end of it all, Iam on the side of senior citizens for both selfish and non-selfish reasons.  I see my future when I look into my grandmother’s eyes.  I want the best for her and for my parents, and when I become elderly I want someone watching out for me.  We must become prepared and take ownership of our financial present and future as best we can.  My last suggestion is to endorse Governor Gregoire’s half-cent sales tax increase which will, in part, not cut Medicaid further.

Dear City Council:

iCare.  iLove. iBelieve. iWant.  Hire I.  Or me. 

Who wouldn’t want to be in charge of $2.7 billion biennial budget and 2,400 employees?  So. much. Power.  With a population of 200,000, Tacoma’s metropolis is sagging in uncouthly ways that we wish to cover.  Perhaps Andy Warhol’s flower might pull in the I-5 eyes over that of the Port’s very omniscent presence, but there’s no way to get rid of the stench of losing so many businesses the past few years except to hustle and bustle and blow the house down, and rebuild.  Ken Miller’s proposal that we have two wild cards which might save us is thought provoking and brilliantly crafted, but is Joint Base Lewis McCord and our booming meuseums (arts and cultural tourism) enough to capitalize upon to cause growth? 

That remains to be seen when the Council hires a new City Manager. 

There is a huge litany of “To Do’s” that we all complain about: pot holes, B&O tax, paid parking downtown, lack of public transporation (Voters! Take responsibility for that one!), crazy weird zoning codes (Marty Campbell and David Boe helped me out in that weird situation), billboard blight, closing schools, gangs, Corporation Flight outta town, vacant buildings, high crime, petty crime, non-responsiveness of police, judicial system overload – I’m glad I’m not the Mayor or City Manager, except it would be nice to get $200,450. I could put up with a lot of complaining for that paycheck (you can see how much each city employee earns by checking out this TNT website). 

Our Four Finalists, who will be putting up with a lot of whinning bloggers (myself excluded, naturally), are:

Rey Arellano
Arellano is currently serving as interim city manager for the City of Tacoma and is responsible for a $2.7 billion biennial budget and 2,400 employees. Since 2006, Arellano has served as the deputy city manager and chief information officer for the city. Prior to Tacoma, Arellano worked for the City of San Diego, Calif. as the deputy city manager and chief information officer from 2002-2006, and from 1999-2002 he was a group project manager for Ryder System Inc.

T.C. Broadnax
Broadnax has worked as the assistant city manager in San Antonio, Texas since 2006.  San Antonio is a full-service city with an operating budget of $1.6 billion and 11,600 employees. Prior to this position he was the assistant city manager for the city of Pompano Beach, Fla. from 2004-2006, the deputy city manager from 2001-2004 and the assistant to the city manager/budget officer from 1997-2001.

Craig Malin
Malin has worked as the city administrator of Davenport, Iowa since 2001. As city administrator, he leads 15 department heads, 1,000 employees and oversees a $210 million annual budget. From 1999 to 2001, Malin was the chief administrative officer for Douglas County, Wis. and the assistant manager, assistant to the manager and administrative assistant in Vernon Hills, Ill.

Andrew Neiditz
Neiditz has worked as city manager of Lakewood, Wash. since 2005. Neiditz manages an $87 million budget and has oversight over a six member executive team, 15 member management team and 250 employees. Prior to this position, he was the city administrator for Sumner from 1999-2005, the deputy city manager of Lakewood from 1996-1999, and the executive director of public safety from 1993-1996.

The question remains.  Will we go Local (Arellano), Texas, Iowa, or Lakehood for our City Manager? 

Let the Council Begin.

Hey kiddos,

Let’s talk turkey – specifically about those turkeys who want to cut Social Security benefits. What’s up with that?

Well, it sure as heck isn’t because of the deficit. Social Security’s trust fund has a $2.6 trillion surplus right now, which is enough to pay everyone’s benefits in full for another 25 years. If anyone tells you Social Security is going broke, they’re blowing more smoke than a chimney.

Here’s the reality: Social Security would pay full benefits forever – not just to us, but to you, and even your kids (hint, hint) — if millionaires simply paid the same Social Security tax rate as most people. Heck, we could even afford to improve Social Security benefits a bit.

Right now, everyone pays Social Security taxes on the first $106,800 they earn, which means most people pay Social Security taxes on their whole paycheck. But since $106,800 is the cap (unless Congress acts to change it), a whole lot of wealthy people don’t pay a dime in Social Security taxes on most of what they make.

Not to get all parental – it’s your life – but this is important stuff. Because unless you tell Congress to “Just Scrap the Cap,” they could cut Social Security benefits — and we might be movin’ in.

Tell Congress no cuts to benefits – Just Scrap The Cap.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Reposted from Scrap The Cap in honor of supporting Social Security by Young Melonites

To learn more, read Out of the frying pan…Yale Wong builds company

Only 24 years old, Ben Kaufman has already patented quite a few of his own inventions. In a recent interview with Entrepreneur magazine, Jennifer Wang disclosed how Quirky operates. Seeking to streamline and help others put their ideas into product, Kaufman started Quirky, an online consumer products company where the products are created and designed by the people and he not only funds the product but to get engineers and designers to research, render and prototype the product and then, if enough units are pre-sold, Quirky manufactures it and gives a percentage back to the inventor. Manufactured inventions include “Fender”, an iPad 2 Bumper, or “Plug Hub” which keeps computer and power cords from getting tangled behind a desk, or “Pivot Power” that is a flexible power strip so you can adjust it to any angle. In our 21st century, we truly do have it all.

Last weekend Chris and I did two things: 1) participated in the paintball wars in Graham and 2) Visited the Brigade Encampment at Point Defiance Park’s Fort Nisqually in Tacoma. The Brigade Encampment was a re-enactment of the year 1855 at Fort Nisqually and brought the Washington Territory back to life. We arrived just in time for the fur trappers’ races and laughed as the second contestant tried to scramble under a church bench instead of over it and then had his gun misfire at the end.

I was struck by both the primitive nature of their lives and the creative ingenuity that kept them advancing their way of life in a new world. One man was hacking at a log, and when I questioned him he explained how he turns a log into a square post by hacking notches into the log, then inbetween those notches, chopping off the outside and thus creating a flat side. He said one would do well to churn out four square posts per day. After walking around the Fort and looking at all the hand-made square posts, I was awed by the dedication and time it took to keep whacking at one damn log. I can barely stay focused to make it through certain lectures and trainings, let alone churning out four square posts per day when it would take hundreds just to build a decent-sized house. I could order a sustainable, contemporary prefab home design from Stillwater Dwellings that are incredibly artistic and hip and have it all done in less than two months.

The Brigade Encampment hosted people serious about showing the way life really was back in 1855. Several women were spinning sheep wool using an ingenious spinning wheel with a foot treadle and then knitting it into caps, capes, and coverlets. As I eye-balled this wheel I couldn’t help but be impressed by this spinning wheel that took the work out of making yarn. One just rocked a foot back and forth on the treadle and slowly fed the right amount of wool into the machine, and voila, out came perfectly usable yarn.

I look around my house and see my machine-manufactured couch, TV, printer, table, lamps and I see leisurely ease. I try to imagine what I could do if I had nothing and needed to make my own clothes, build my own furniture, make my own pens, make my own gun and bullets, and I ask, “how did they do it all?” Community? Organization? Long winter nights pondering how to streamline the process and make it easier to get a tedious task done? Repetitive whacking at a round log and thinking, “if I got some of that new rubber-stuff and got a metal saw, perhaps I could build a water-powered sawmill and push a button to make 1,000 times the amount of square logs?”

I’ve been looking around me this past week thinking of the ingenuity that got us to where we are today – to Ben Kaufman’s “Quirky” business to Stillwater’s prefabricated homes, to me never questioning how my printer got to me that both prints, faxes, emails, and scans anything I want besides paying $79 at Costco. I’m not sure I’m lucky or just spoiled, and I say that despite living on a very limited income in a tiny house in a down economy where my husband and I just lost a lot of money in the stock markets the past two weeks. A part of me wishes we had to fight harder for self-reliant independence, and the other part remembers how tough it is for all of us right now, and the final part of me is impressed by our ancestor’s ingenuity for not just survival, but increasing their comforts and the progression of their civilization.

After a year of inactivity, The Melon is back on track with fresh articles, fresh writers mixed with some of the originals.  Electric Elliot Trotter continues to be the force behind The Melon and Chris “The Wedge” Van Vechten has returned to write.  Both were the original founders of The Melon and genius behind what we have today.

Jen Drake, a contributing author brought on by Elliot and Chris (and who later married the stated Van Vechten), took a hiatus from The Melon to focus on her career and is now back in force  to be Editor-in-Chief and with her has come 25 (and growing) new writers, varying in interests, hobbies, location, and looks.

The Melon has been a voice for Tacoma and abroad in the past and will continue to be so in the future.

The Melon is a forum/community for individualized insights, discussion and enlightenment. Our goal is to empower, inform and inspire.

First planted in 2007 as a news and political talk radio show deemed The Melon on KUPS 90.1FM Tacoma, the seeds of melon have grown into an electro-rag of the same name. Since 2008, The Melon serves as the home of the Melonites who deliver daily news ripenings and various seedlings. For news, opinion, art, discussion and satire that’s good enough to eat, taste The Melon.

Our writers will share their insightful views, and we will continue to be ready, ripe, and juicy as ever.

“Have you ever driven while drunk?” a young lawyer asked me.  “Have you known anyone who has received a DUI?  Are you or anyone close to you a police officer?”  The questions were easy to answer, and yet one by one potential jurors were dismissed from the case.  Of those left, I was the youngest of the “chosen” to preside over a three-day period of both sides presenting evidence of a young Hispanic man accused of driving while drunk.  Of course, it was my unfortunate intuition that proved me right when my number was chosen as the alternative juror, so I was not allowed to determine the fate of the accused – a young and stupid person who had over twelve beers in his system, but who was never actually seen driving.  He claimed he had walked home, lost his house keys, so let himself into a broken-down car and fallen asleep in the driver’s seat, where he was found by a police officer.

In the case of Camille A. Spink of Everett, the accused will not get off with a not-guilty verdict.  Two people have already died because of Camille’s decisive action to drink over her known limit and then proceed to drive, with the intention of arriving at a bar, no less.  Sheena Blair was one of the victims this past winter.

Sheena Blair’s death rocked Pierce County locals – hundreds knew Sheena directly, and thousands of others indirectly through her father, Frank Blair, a local radio talk show host who always glowed about his two beautiful daughters to whoever would listen to him.  Since the February 26, 2010 deaths, thousands are experiencing the raw pain of Frank Blair through his Facebook updates, radio shows, emails, and personal encounters.

I haven’t seen Frank since we met up at Tacoma’s Bull’s Eye shooting range for a few rounds of target practicing right before Sheena’s death.  As we were taste-testing whose doughnuts were better, Frank told me I should meet Sheena as he knew we’d be fast friends.  A few months later, Chris called to tell me Sheena had been killed the night before, hit by Camille A. Spink, who knowingly drove while intoxicated.

A fellow friend’s pain hurts to the core.  How do you provide comfort to someone who has lost one of the most precious gifts?  “I’m so sorry,” repeated thousands of times must either hurt or keep you chilled inside.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Sheena or Frank.  I had to tell the story to everyone I met, just to keep the sadness from rotting my insides.  In March, I went to a hairdresser and yet again told the tragic events.  My hairdresser, who is usually a very chatty individual, went stone-cold silent.  The next thing I felt were hot tears falling on my neck, and a soft sob escaping her lips.  My hairdresser, a 30-something woman, was grief-stricken.  I suddenly felt like a priest as I listened to her spill her guts regarding her three DUI’s.   I was incredulous, then angry.  Who in their right minds could have three DUI’s?  For the next hour my hair was in a firm grip as she told me how stupid she had been and how sorry and told me to tell Frank she promises to never, ever, drink and drive.

Frank Blair is developing a grass-roots campaign to lobby the Washington State Legislature to accomplish two tasks: the first has to do with enforcement, adjudication and incarceration of drunk drivers.  The second has to do with providing people who drink with reasonable accommodation and a viable alternative to driving while intoxicated.  To support Frank and his request to the State Legislature, become a follower of his blog, write your state representatives, and most importantly, write to the Judge presiding over the sentencing of Camille A. Spink.  Ask for the maximum sentence.

Frank writes:

I try hard to not dwell on our loss, I get up every day and do what I’m supposed to do. Some days it’s almost robotic, some days feel almost “normal”. People ask if some days are better than others. I tell them that it’s more like some days suck less than others. This is NOT getting easier. It is NOT going away. The first couple months, some “things” or some kind of trigger would set me off. Like Sheena’s stuff or a benchmark day. Now I get sad for no particular, specific reason. These God Damn sunny days get to me. We used to pack up the family and the dogs and go places. We still do, not as much, but it’s not the same. I wish it would rain. I wish for thunderstorms, but that would rain on everyone else.

I DO have ways to cope. I can write. I can beat my drum and pray for strength. I can also vent through two 15″ JBL D140Fs and a 100 watt 42 year old bass amp. I can turn it WAY up and just hit an open E chord and let it sustain. It’s like screaming, but it doesn’t hurt your voice. I can bang out speed metal riffs over and over. It’s cleansing. OR I can turn on the chorus and play melodic, lyrical phrases, it’s soothing.

One thing I am NOT doing is self-medicating. Thank God. I am NOT making any major decisions. For the first time in memory, I am avoiding crowds. I don’t know when a wave of sadness will come; I have NO control over my emotions. I allow myself to be sad, I don’t force stoicism. When I write, I try to be honest and not hyperbolic or self-indulgent. When people ask how I’m doing I try to NEVER say “fine” because I am NOT fine. For the first time in my life, I cry more than I laugh.

I miss Sheena more than I thought possible. I allow myself to grieve. I do my best to not wallow in it or obsess. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to function at all and if I didn’t physically force myself to go out and do stuff, I could easily sink into a deep depression that could lead to a catatonic mental paralysis. I can’t do that, I have responsibilities. Amy [Frank’s daughter] for one, my own health for another.  Besides, the alleged perpetrator got one of us, that’s ALL she gets.

So that’s how I’m doing. For those of you who think I’m all strong and stuff, I appreciate the sentiment, but I actually feel like a scared man struggling to maintain my grip. I feel like a gelatinous mass of sorrow. I was sitting on my front porch yesterday and saw a little red car drive down 80th street. For a split second, I thought “Sheena’s home”, I catch myself doing that once in a while. It hurts….again. This is all normal I’ve been told, but it doesn’t make it easier. It’s not supposed to be easy, it’s not.

If you wish to join Frank in solidarity, please submit your comments on Frank’s blog, http://franksblog.org/ and volunteer your time, writing and/or lobbying skills and let’s get Sheena’s Bill passed.

Healthy menus and seasonal local produce are rare commodities at fast food restaurants but I predict that they will spawn a new generation of on-the-go citizens demanding a better option than our current Sad Meals from McDonalds that pander to already nutritionally-starved individuals.

“Serve with Love” is Burgerville‘s mission statement.  With 39 restaurants in Washington and Oregon and expansion in the process, Burgerville began as a creamery in the 1920s and turned into a fast food local restaurant in 1961 serving fresh seasonal produce.

Burgerville has a special niche by serving all natural burgers, real ice cream shakes, and 100% authentic food free of hormones and harmful additives.  All local dollars earned by Burgerville are kept in local banks.  80% of food products come from 150 to 200 miles of the restaurants.  Burgerville also purchases wind power credits equal to the total energy use in all their restaurants which is equivalent to removing 1,700 cars from the road or planting 2,400 acres of trees.  They also use only trans fat free canola oil which is then recycled and turned into biodiesel.

Why aren’t more fast food restaurants popping up with this same idea?  Last year I read a review in a local paper about a long-time Tacoma resident moving back to the area and opening up Jimmy John’s chain, a fast food “gourmet” sandwich restaurant.  With my interest piqued from the story I headed over to Jimmy John’s where I was quite impressed with how fast they whipped up the sandwich on a line that would have made Henry Ford’s assembly line blush.  One taste of the sandwich made my stomach churn, but insistent that it MUST be good, I finished the whole sandwich and suffered an afternoon stomach ache from my bull-headed quest to find a good fast food restaurant.

The pull to Burgerville is their strong commitment to healthy nutritional food, 100% recycling, wind energy, biodiesel, and if that doesn’t convince you, they provide quite the health benefit package to employees.  Employees pay $15 a month and have no deductible and their benefits include vision and dental.  If an employee has a family, their out-of-pocket cost is $90 a month; if a parent and child, $30.  All salaried employees are given $3,500 a year for educational endeavors and there is a Jack Graves Scholarship Fund of $10,000 for students.

I met Jack Graves, Burgerville’s CFO, and I asked him if he eats his company’s food and if so, does he get sick of it.  He told me he eats at a different Burgerville every single day, 5 days a week, loves the food, and that he has never ever missed work and ran a marathon once with potential plans for more in the future.  When I asked him what he was most proud of, he said that it is knowing Burgerville’s dollars stay in the local community and that many of their suppliers’ children work in their restaurants, and that his company looks at their health coverage for employees as an investment, not as a cost.

Graves believes that Burgerville is a steward to the community, ensuring that their values align with those of families for good nutrition and fair compensation, including ensuring their farming partnerships provide quality care to their employees.  All the small farmers Burgerville works with treats their migrant workers fairly, provides places for their kids in school and provides good homes for the workers.

In the summertime, one can pick up a Blackberry or Strawberry milkshake after finishing up a side dish of Walla Walla Sweet Onion Rings or Sweet Potato Fries.

My personal favorite menu consists of the Spicy Anasazi Bean Burger, Pepper Jack Cheese, Chipotle Mayonnaise, Lettuce and Tomato on a Sesame Seed Bun with sweet potato fries and a chocolate hazelnut milkshake.

Currently, Burgerville is serving a roasted portobello Focaccia sandwich and panko portobello wedges.  They partnered with two Portobello  mushroom growers: Yamhill County Mushrooms, a Food Alliance certified sustainable farm, and family owned Ostrom Mushroom.  The focaccia bread is from Schwartz Brother’s Bakery in Seattle.

The closest Burgerville to Tacoma is in Centralia, Washington, opened in 1976 and offers free wi-fi.  Their address is 818 Harrison Avenue and they open at 7 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. seven days a week.  Every time I drive to Portland, I always stop in for my Anasazi burger and sweet potato fries, washed down with their wondrous Sumatran drip coffee.

We need to educate more people on eating local sustainable food and not contribute to the waste and nutritional deprivation of mainstream fast food restaurant businesses that care not for employees or consumers but rather their stockholders’ financial pockets.  What you eat really is who you are and has a much larger impact than your little world — you impact the life quality of animals, farmers, migrant workers, your local community’s health and finances, healthcare, and pollution contribution, amongst many others.

Burgerville is a solid example of what fast food restaurants could attain to if only consumers demanded it.  Imagine a world of fresh Oregon strawberries and fresh Pierce County rhubarb mixed together in a tasty dessert that is nutritionally satisfying as well as pleasuring the taste buds, made to order at a drive-through window on break from work.  You can, because Burgerville stands as a beam of light to our Pacific Northwest community and growing desire to work with nature rather than against her.

For the next 30 days I am going on a very strong detox cleanse with the added benefit of losing my winter love handles.  For Christmas my mother gave me “The Raw Divas Menu Planner” that outlines a month of menus, weekly shopping list, and detailed recipes.  Made easy for both a busy and lazy person like me, all I have to do is check the menu for the day and whip up my meal.  I admit that this is not a New Year’s Resolution nor a purely health-based rationale — Chris and I are going on our honeymoon in March to Puerto Rico and I don’t want to be caught dead with fluff on my hips as I stroll the beaches.

Currently I am sipping a modified-version of “Green Revolution Smoothie” — modified in the sense that I can never follow a recipe but always have to improve on it.  My version contains a banana, handful of dandelion greens, black dinosaur kale, raw cashews, pineapple juice and a teaspoon of probiotics.

The premise of body cleansing is based on the Ancient Egyptian and Greek idea of autointoxication, where ingested foods can putrefy and produce toxins that harm the body.  A rather large fight rages in the health communities as to whether detox “diets” improve a body’s system or not, but I’d like to point out some common-sense in the fray of fad vs. beneficial detoxing.

So why go on a cleansing detox diet, heralded as Gen X fad of health hippies who care more about sheik hip living than about balancing their checkbook and living in the real world?

Read More >>

My first thought upon waking up this morning was Plasmodium protozoan Malaria.  Why?  Because I have been studying Microbiology and recently read a fantastic book entitled Invisible Enemies: Stories of Infectious Disease by Jeanette Farrell.  The average person on the street shivers with fear when microbes are mentioned because the tiny microscopic bugs are associated with death and disease, despite scientific knowledge that disease-causing bacteria are a small fraction of the beneficial or non-harming microbes.

Without microbes, we would all be dead.  There might not even be any rain or snow since bacteria assist in their creation.  There definitely would be no plant or animal life, since scientists know that oxygen was originally produced by cyanobacteria.  Without beneficial bacteria hanging out on our skin and mucous membranes, we would have died long ago.  They help us digest our food, synthesize vitamins (E. coli synthesizes vitamin K, niacin, B12, etc.), and occupy niches otherwise empty for pathogenic microbes.  Probiotics, or good bacteria in our guts, help strengthen our immune system, reduce allergies, helps us digest food better, and in new research, probiotics may even be directly related to weight gain or weight loss, depending on one’s intestinal probiotic make-up.  Even more exciting is the new discovery that bacteria are passed on from mother to child and may be as much of a factor in obesity as genetics.

Our entire ecosystem depends on microbes — specifically, soil microbes that are responsible for decomposition of organic matter into reusable food sources.  Bacteria, fungi, and protozoa (all microbes) release enzymes that drive the life-giving carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur cycles in soil that facilitates organic matter turnover into nutrient-rich soil for plants.  Microbes make or break healthy soil by affecting its structure or even soil’s ability to hold water for plants.

These microbes—bacteria, fungi, and protozoa—release enzymes that drive the important carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur cycles in soil and facilitate turnover of organic matter, making nutrients available to plants.

Microbes affect soil structure by breaking down needed nutrients and retaining moisture for plants.  By monitoring microbes in the soil we can watch for early warning signs of nutrient and moisture depletion that affect plant growth.  Using pesticides and other chemicals to kill pathogenic microbes also kill beneficial microbes, causing a lose-lose situation for microbes, soil, and plants. Farming practices may disrupt the soil ecosystem and decrease the effectiveness of microbe communities, such as tilling the soil that disrupts their life cycle in soil.

Recently my soon-to-be-wedded-hubs smacked a bumper sticker on my car that stated “Admit it, Tacoma.  You are beautiful.”  This now sits above my “I Heart Tagro” bumper sticker.  Tagro, short for Tacoma Grow, has won three Environmental Protection Agency Awards and three sewage/biosolids awards since 1995.  We are nationally-known for our beautiful Tacoma sewage-turned-potting soil.  All-natural TAGRO products are made from pasteurized waste-water byproducts called biosolids, sawdust and other gardening elements.  Research at Washington State University and the University of Washington show that plants using TAGRO grow taller, greener, and produce more than plants grown in commercial or chemical products.  Since Pierce County has had septic waste issues in the not-so-distant past, TAGRO is a welcomed relief to unite friendly environment products with solid waste disposal.  Tacoma is on the forefront of the the recycling sewage movement into usable soil additives, and I can only hope that this venture spreads elsewhere in the country.

The cost of TAGRO is $8 per truckload (U-haul) if a Tacoma resident and $10 per truckload if a Pierce County resident.  Truly, those prices are unbeatable.  If you are looking for a small amount of potting soil, there is a free pile at the TAGRO facility or for a small fee, in individually-packed bags.

TAGRO builds up soil nutrients, fosters healthy microbial growth, and produces beautiful plants.  Soil microbes love good organic fertilizers.  Texas Scientists have discovered that microbes release nutrients from fertilizers at an impressive rate, unlocking those nutrients at the precise time strawberry plants need them the most.

When humans are long gone, microbes will still be around, accomplishing their important tasks.  We can be destroyed by them or choose to utilize them properly, replacing our foolish misconception that we are Nature’s Overlords to rather work in conjunction with the invisible world to unify humankind with our rightful place as a part (not the whole) of nature.