It was good enough for Lady and the Tramp…

January 8, 2009 at 8:37 PM (animals, Food, notes and thoughts)

Spaghetti and Meatballs that is.  So I’ve been asking myself why am I buying canned food and dry food for my dog and cats?

This has been on my mind for the last few days since a conversation I had with my dear sister, who recently lost a beloved cat.  There are many additives and preservatives in the canned and dry food that we feed our pets.  There was also a pet food recall recently, as well, the food having caused quite a few deaths in Canada and the US.  So I’ve been cruising the web (or the intraweb as Todd likes to call it – a techie joke I guess) looking for information on making your own, pros and cons, nutrition for cats and dogs, etc….  Know what?  There is a hell of a lot of info out there, and a hell of a lot of it is garbage.

What I have gleaned from my computer highway excursions can be summed up quite simply.

1.  There is very little scientific and acurate info out there, and most of what is there, is provided by Pet Food Companies.

2.  Vets don’t know a lot about nutrition.  What they do know is usually provided to them by Pet Food Companies.

3.  Pet food companies do almost all the research into pet food and nutrition, by various means that I will not discuss because it makes me sad.

4.  Although there may be some good commercial pet foods, most of it seems to be hogswill.

5.  We, as pet owners, seem to have been fed a lot of said hogswill, being told that feeding such-and-such is best for our pet.

6.  Table scraps may not be as bad for our pets as we have been led to believe.  Depending on the scraps.  If you’re eating the same kind of over-processed, preserved, full of fat and crap that your pet is, it may or may not make a difference.  But if you’re eating healthy stuff, it may be better for your pet that the crap they are eating!

7.  Cats are carnivorous.  Pure and simple.  They don’t eat corn, rice, wheat, soy, or by-products of corn, rice, wheat,  or soy.  They also don’t eat… well, a whole bunch of stuff on the label of the bag of Meow Mix in my kitchen.  Cats eat mice.  And birds.  Squirrels if they can get ‘em.  Big cats eat cows, lambs, gazelles, water buffalo (good luck to the cat trying), pretty much any herbivore they can catch.  I’ve never heard of a tiger or a puma aka cougar aka mountain lion (my fave animal of all) stalking an ear of corn, or a wheat stalk.  But watch them stalk some cute baby mountain goats (or not, if your squeamish when watching nature shows) and you’ll see a cat in action getting her dinner.  She doesn’t feed her babies Meow Mix.

8.  Vets sell premium cat and dog food.  For a reason.  Not the reason you might think.  Or maybe you do.  They have been ‘educated’, by the Pet Food Companies, about the superior product they have.  Which will prevent/help/cure almost anything.  Vets are not stupid, but they have overhead.  The Pet Food Companies have ‘research’ on their side.  It all sounds good.  Win/win all around.  Except for your pet.  Especially if it’s a cat.  Who really just needs to eat a bird.  Or a mouse.

So in conclusion, take everything I’ve said with a grain a salt.  Or a raw chicken heart.  That’s what my cats turned their noses up to at dinner time.  The dog ate a few.  And said that’s enough.  Literally.  So I cooked them up with some liver, and a bit of rice (for the dog – cats don’t eat rice – see point #7) and everyone was happy-almost (the dog loved it-the cats not so much).   I opened a can of crap crack cocaine cat food, and fed them.  End of complaints.  And end of post.

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And now for something completely different…

January 5, 2009 at 10:19 PM (Aylmer pool, Food, Horses, notes and thoughts, recipes)

Okay, maybe not completely, cause if you’ve talked to me recently, then I’ve probably mentionned this about oh, maybe a million times already!  But I am sold.  Totally and utterely sold.  In fact, I’m am so sold, that when I get my real live horse next fall, he/she will be on a hemp diet too.  I’ve heard all the jokes (mostly at work) but I’ve been eating hemp seed for a little while now, and I am convinced it is making a big difference in how I’ve been feeling.  Not just mentally (I’ve always been a tad crazy) but physically too.  Either that or it really is all in my head (which means I’m more than just a tad crazy!)  According to what I’ve been able to find out so far, hemp is pretty much a fantastic addition to almost anyone’s diet, including horses and other livestock, even dogs.  The only animal it is not recommended for is cats, because of their more carnivorous diet.

When I came home today from work, I was beyond tired.  I’d had a really bad night’s sleep, waking up at 3am with the sweats (yet again!! WTF – I am too young for menopause, but I’m starting to think this is the beginning of perimenopause) and tossing and turning for the rest of the night, till I finally fell into a coma just before my alarm went off.  Of course.  So I didn’t ride today, although North could have used an outing.  I was just too tired.  Brain dead tired.  Came home, had a bite to eat, turned on the puter to write some emails, and ate some hemp seeds as I was surfing a bit.  Twenty minutes later, I was resting on the couch, (I had planned on taking a nap as soon as I got home and ate), listening to ‘The Point’ on CBC and feeling a lot better.  I was still tired, but my brain didn’t hurt so much anymore.  And I was feeling relaxed, and comfy.  Yes, could have been the big comfy couch, the closing of my eyes, the full tummy, but been there done that.  This felt good beyond that.  So I’m going to give the credit to my new found miracle food for now.  And have I mentionned my swimmer’s knee?  It feels a helluva lot better lately too.  So I’m going to keep scarfing the seeds (recommended 3-4 tbsps a day) and even if it is my mind playing tricks (which I don’t believe for a minute), I’ll still feel better than I have been.  If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself. Give it a month and if it doesn’t work for you, what have you lost?  It is healthy, organic and even kosher (even if it doesn’t claim to be, it is – hemp is so easy to grow there is no need for pesticides or other chemicals), and not that expensive.  You can sprinkle it on your cereal or yogurt in the morning, eat it raw by the spoonful like I do, which is usually in the afternoon – I should eat breakfast, I know!!!!  (it tastes pretty good raw), add it to granola, pasta, pretty much anything.  I plan on making some pesto with it next.  And hummus.  You can even buy hemp butter, same as peanut butter, but actually good for you.

Alright, that’s my granola crunching, tree hugging, Berkenstock wearing, peace pipe smoking post for the new year.  Try hemp.  Support a new Canadian industry.  Keep it going and keep it legal.   Do something healthy for yourself.  Humor me.  Whatever your reason, just try it.

Lastly, on this subject, hemp is not pot, it is not cannabis, it does not make you high, it contains no thc, it is not illegal, it is easily grown with very little care making it an ideal crop environmentally speaking, it contains essential fatty oils for human development, has calming properties, helps with arthritis and joint pain, and oh, just about a dozen or more incredible things that you have to check out and try for yourself. And I don’t get any kick backs.  Although I would take them if anyone wants to send me any!

Now,for something completely different, I tried to sign my girls up for swimming lessons tonight.  There is always a mad rush, because there are limited spots.  So limited, in fact, that 24 lucky children in each level will learn how to not drown.  In this family oriented community of Aylmer (fuck you Gatineau you screwed us over) where we have massive housing developments, bringing in lots of new families whilst destroying any remaining semblence of the beautiful little town and the green spaces it once boasted, there are only 24 spaces per level in a swimming program with 8 levels.  Check my math for me but does that not equal 192 spaces?  Which equals less than two hundred children, over the age of six, who get to take swimming lessons???  That pretty much equals my kids’ kindergartens and grade twos thrown in together.  From one school. So again, I say, WTF!!!! Wake up Gatineau councillors, you shit eaters, do something for the people in your city.  That is ridiculous, and unacceptable.  I will be calling you.  Hoping others will to.

And finally, two of my favorite things lately.  As it is winter, I love a roaring fire.  But does anyone else see what I see in these flames?   Must be the hemp!

jan-003

Is my fire giving me the finger?  And are those two bunnies?  Or deer?

jan-014This little thing is the size of a matchbox, and it plays the radio!!!! I love it.  I’m a radio fanatic.  It also plays a bazillion songs, but it also plays the radio!!!! I’m love music, but I love radio, especially CBC, and talk radio, just find it more interesting sometimes.  Sure beats my walkman of olden days.  Although it does still play tapes and radio.  And I’ve still got one of those ancient portable cd players too.  I’m not ready for an Ipod.

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On the menu tonight…

October 3, 2008 at 12:12 PM (Food)

Magic mashed potatoes and mini meat muffins….my kids love this stuff.

Plain mashed potatoes are not very interesting to a child, so I add a little magic by making them orange.  I simply add a few sweet potatoes to the regular potatoes, and voila!!  Orange magic mashed potatoes.  I think they taste pretty much the same, but the kids are convinced they are much better than the stuff I used to make.  And to give Todd his due, it was his idea!

Meat muffins are your basic meat loaf recipe, baked in muffin tins, and topped with a little ketchup, brown sugar and mustard sauce – also a good sweet bbq sauce for ribs or chicken, when you add some garlic and onion.  And your standard meatloaf recipe also makes great meatballs so plan to make extras at the same time for Spaghetti and Meatballs a day or two later.  Or freeze them, once cooked.  It’s like making two suppers at once.

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Food for Thought

June 18, 2008 at 11:54 AM (Food)

Monsanto is in the news a lot.  Some of us gardeners and seed savers refer to the company as ‘Monsatan’, and for good reason.  With the looming food crisis, Monsanto has stepped up to the plate.  Literally.  They are pushing the gmo’s more than ever, claiming that they will be the salvation of every starving nation.  Rice and corn and wheat that’s has built in pesticides, built in drought resistance, built in poisons, will save us all.  There is just one little catch.  You may not save the seeds for use from year to year, as has been the farmers’ and gardeners’ custom for centuries.  You may not trade the seeds with other farmers or gardeners.  You must buy the seeds every year from Monsanto, who will sue your collective asses off if you so much as accidentely have a ‘patented’ gmo on your property, which may have blown over from a neighboring farm and pollinated your crop, or a bird crap had seeds in it that germinated.  Just ask Percy Schmeiser.  If you haven’t heard his story, you should.  There are many small farmers just like him, fighting the good fight.  Too many aren’t.

And in the meantime, the seeds that have sustained people for centuries, the ones that have adapted to their growing conditions, are falling by the wayside.  The variety of seeds that contain the genetic diversity that someday may be necessary for our very survival.  Sounds futuristic, ominous, almost grandiose in it’s pessimism, that statement of mine.  But I believe it.

Ask any French farmer (France) about their draconian seed laws.  It’s pretty hard to see the logic.  And it seems to be where we are headed.  But at least France, along with the rest of Europe, is not as easily swayed by Monsatan.

I grow tomatoes.  They are not genetically modified – yet.  I grow heirlooms/open pollinated, so that I can save the seeds for next year.  And trade with other gardeners or simply give them away, to people who are waking up to the reality of our food.  But you cannot survive on tomatoes alone.  (Besides, as many know, I don’t even really like them raw…but I’m learning.)  So this year, I’m also growing corn and potatoes, along with a lot of other vegetables, all of them open pollinated.  And I plan to try and save as much seed as I can.  I also support small seed companies, like BakerCreek, because I believe in what they are doing.   And grass roots organizations like Seeds of Diversity, here in Canada.  I talk to other gardeners on line, who have similiar views, and are taking similar actions.

So what else can be done?  Labels in the supermarkets are pretty frightening, and not one of them identifies gmo’s in the product.  But you can bet the farm if there is corn,  fructose-glucose (sugar from corn), high fructose corn syrop, canola, corn oil, or any of the hundreds of deceptive ingredient terms that are used, that it came from genetically modified corn or canola.  Same with wheat.  Or rice.  Avoid it like the plague!  Organics are becoming a grey area, thanks to the big companies wanting to cash in on the wave, but at least if it is labelled organic, it cannot be from a gmo.  Yet.   Even better, check out a local CSA!

Support  your local farmers, and growers and ask questions.

Write to our politicians!  Tell them we want better labels, identifying gmo products!  Monsatan fights tooth and nail to avoid it, but as consumers we should have the right to know!

Read about it.  Don’t just take my word for it.  Research.  Talk to friends and co-workers.  People need to know!  Too many just don’t have a clue!

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