Country Life in the Smoky Mountains

by Stacy Helt

Those of you ready to landscape your yard shouldn't think of it as a blank slate to be "drawn" upon. Any plot of land has many factors which make up an active network. Several things must be taken into account as you make plans for your landscape, even if your space is not very large.

For a residential site, you may not have skyscrapers, fierce traffic, and heavy pollution to account for. Depending on where you live, though, desert conditions, existing plants, lots of shade, or even sea spray may need to be factored in to your site planning. Looking at the entire situation, or context, of your site helps not only to decide what kinds of elements to include (decks, walkways, vines, lawns, etc.), but where they should be placed and how they will interact with each other.

For instance, having your heart set on your favorite rose bush may cause you disappointment if your entire yard is densely shaded. Planting your whole backyard in ivy may save you some lawn maintenance, but if you have young children, where will they play?

Before you even think about taking a major step in landscaping your yard, you or a professional need to look at the following criteria:

site location
size of your space
shape of your yard
contours (change in elevation, dips and hills)
drainage patterns (where does water enter and leave your yard?)
zoning (what things won't you be able to do with the existing ordinances?)
setbacks
utilities (where is that gas line, anyway?)
significant existing features (stumps, sheds, trees)
traffic patterns
views from and into your yard
climate/microclimates within your space
neighborhood patterns (is your corner lot a cut-through?)

Brainstorm; sit in your yard, walk around, and come up with the variables that make your yard unique. Do you have kids who need a place to play? Is there a big utility pole right where you wanted to plant flowers? Does your drain spout empty in a really bad spot? See if there are any unfavorable conditions that can be fixed beforehand; if not, your landscape plan will have to work around, or even improve, these situations.

Good luck on this first step. Next you'll need to make a proportionately-drawn sketch on graph paper, in which you'll insert all of this preliminary information. From there, you can go on to designing your yard, but if you have trouble doing so, you'll at least have all the footwork done so that a designer can take the process from there. Happy landscaping!
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Stacy Helt is a home business owner who specializes in personalized plant lists and landscape design via the Internet for customers in every region of the United States. She has a five-year degree in Landscape Architecture, and can be reached at designer@yourperfectlandscape.com. Her business web site can be found at http://www.yourperfectlandscape.com. While there, you can sign up for Perfectscapes, the free e-newsletter about gardening and landscaping.

Posted by Freedom Lover at 2:37 AM | Permalink | Comments

Infant formula warning: The poisoning of infants with formula products, and why breastfeeding is best
Infant formula warning: The poisoning of infants with formula products, and why breastfeeding is best
Over the years, countless studies have shown that when it comes to infant nutrition, breast milk is best. This fact remains true, as there is simply no infant formula product on the market that can match the superior nutrition of mother's milk. In fact, some infant formulas actually contain ingredients that can be harmful to your baby.
Although some formula recipes have improved over time for mothers who must rely on formula to feed their new baby, many products are still loaded with unhealthy and even dangerous ingredients, making breastfeeding the best way to go for new mothers who have the option.

In Massachusetts, public health authorities have taken steps to encourage breastfeeding by restricting the marketing of baby formula in the state's hospital maternity wards.

In many hospitals across the country, new mothers are given complimentary gift baskets during their stay that often contain free samples of infant formula, supplied by formula companies. This is a practice Massachusetts health authorities see as a clever marketing trick, since it implies that the hospital's healthcare providers, in giving new mothers this gift, endorse the use of formula.

To combat the practice, the state has decided that while free formula may be made available to mothers who need it, it will no longer be added to gift baskets for all new mothers. The restrictions are part of a larger state initiative to educate women about the benefits of breastfeeding, reports The Boston Globe.

So, what are some of those benefits? For starters, there is the special infant-mother bond forged through breastfeeding that may not be achieved when a child is fed formula, but, beyond that, there are important health reasons why breast milk is best.

Infants are designed to drink their mother's milk. They are not meant to have cow's milk or anything other than their mother's milk in their early lives. Only breast milk contains the nutrients a healthy baby needs, including 160 fatty acids that are not found in baby formula.

The nutrition a child is given at infancy makes a lasting impression, too. Research shows babies who are breastfed have lower incidences, later in life, of chronic diseases like asthma, diabetes and even cancer, as well as a reduced risk for severe communicable diseases like pneumonia, diarrhea and ear infections.

A mother's own health can benefit from breastfeeding her child, as well. In addition to having a happy and healthy baby, moms who breastfeed often have less bleeding after the birth, lose their pregnancy weight faster and experience better bone strength, with fewer hip fractures later in life. They may also have reduced risk for breast and ovarian cancer.

Although there is some concern that breast milk itself has become contaminated in our modern world, it is still the superior choice, according to research. An analysis of breastfeeding conducted by the Environmental Working Group shows that chemicals like PCBs and PBDEs that accumulate in a woman's body fat are often found in trace amounts in breast milk, since breast milk is made up of fat from a mother's body. However, the levels of chemicals typically found in breast milk pose less of a threat than the risks associated with feeding a new baby formula.

That's because, as mentioned earlier, babies are not designed to drink formula or juice or any other liquids besides mom's milk when they are born, and if they do, poor health consequences can result.

Have you ever looked at the ingredients label on a container of baby formula? Oftentimes, there are things in there that we, as adults, shouldn't even be eating -- hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup and cow's milk, just to name a few. These are ingredients that promote chronic disease, and yet we are feeding them to our very youngest consumers, who have no say in the matter.

Of particular concern in formula is the ingredient manganese, a neurotoxic chemical found in much higher concentrations in baby formula, particularly soy-based formulas, than in breast milk. According to the EWG, soy-based formulas contain about 80 times as much manganese as mother's milk, while animal-based formulas contain about 30 times more. Elevated manganese levels have been linked to behavioral problems, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) later in life. Babies are not able to absorb and excrete excess manganese during the first year of life, according to the EWG.

Besides the harmful ingredients we know are in baby formula, there are other, less certain risk factors involved with formula feeding, as well.

For example, chemical and bacterial contaminants can come into play when bottle feeding infants. Mixing powdered infant formula with water from the tap, or even bottled drinking water, can open the door to numerous water contaminants, including chlorine byproducts, pesticides, lead, solvents, arsenic or nitrates from fertilizer runoff. Similar contaminants may also be found on bottles, nipples or even in the formula itself.

Some formulas may contain excessive levels of metals like aluminum, cadmium, lead or worse. The Natural Resources Defense Council reports the following: "In the past, (baby formula) recalls have been ordered because of contamination with substances such as broken glass, fragments of metal and salmonella and other bacteria. The fungal toxin aflatoxin has also been detected in some commercial formulas. Although detected levels were very low, this toxin is known to cause cancer and is not present in breast milk."

Infant formula is so unhealthy for babies, the Natural Resources Defense Council directly blames aggressive marketing of infant formula in underdeveloped countries for "an epidemic of infant death from malnutrition and diarrheal illness, a result of the contaminated water used to dilute or reconstitute formula."

The formula industry is an $8 billion a year business, but the price of using infant formula in place of breast milk may reach much higher than that, as it may mean harming young and innocent lives.

Many mothers are choosing not to breastfeed, simply because they see formula as a more convenient option. But are you really willing to sacrifice the health of your new baby for the sake of convenience?

If you are medically unable to breastfeed for any reason, do your homework and find a formula you can trust to be the next best thing for your baby. If you can breastfeed, do. Not only will it forge a special connection between you and your child, but the natural choice is also the best choice for you and your baby's health.

Posted by Freedom Lover at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments

Marijuana under attack for causing memory problems, say forgetful drug researchers (satire)Marijuana under attack for causing memory problems, say forgetful drug researchers (satire)

Medical researchers are once again warning about the long-term memory effects of smoking marijuana. Toking on the herb for decades apparently makes your memory, well, dopey. That is, if you believe the study which was based on 40 people found in a drug rehabilitation program who said they only smoked marijuana about 20 times in their entire life.
Right. I've never heard of anyone checking into a rehab center after smoking pot only 20 times. And besides, if pot destroys a person's memory as researchers claim it does, how do they know these people haven't smoked pot a thousand times and just can't remember?

Let's face it: Basing research on the personal memories of people who scientists claim have had their memories destroyed is not exactly good science. It sounds more like an agenda that uses science to support the War on Drugs and the continued incarceration of thousands of Americans whose only crime is getting high in the basement of their parents' house.

I'm no supporter of marijuana or any recreational drug, but if using marijuana to feel better is a crime, then why isn't the same standard applied to prescription drugs? If you think marijuana destroys your memory, you should try statin drugs sometime. They can destroy a person's normal brain function in mere months, leaving them in a drug-induced stupor that makes potheads look downright clever.

Or how about the sleeping drug, Ambien, that's causing people to engage in "sleep driving" (sleep walking while driving a car), where they cause major traffic accidents. Here's a paragraph of news about the effects of this drug:

Although medical experts, law enforcement agencies, and individual patients have known for some time that the blockbuster sleep medication Ambien has been responsible for the rather bizarre phenomenon referred to as "Ambien sleepwalking," it was just this week that a federal class action was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to try to do something about it. For some time now, a significant number of people taking Ambien (zolbidem) have found themselves in a virtual "Twilight Zone" allegedly caused by the drug. A small case study of the unusual effects of the drug on six drivers has caused quite a stir among healthcare professionals and people who use the drug to help them sleep. According to Liddicoat, drivers under the influence of unusually high doses of Ambien have crashed their cars and then had absolutely no memory of the accident. The sleeping pill apparently continued to impair drivers even after they have attempted to sleep off the effects. - From NewsInferno.com

Even though Ambien is clearly far more dangerous than marijuana, you don't see people being arrested for taking Ambien. You don't see our prisons packed top to bottom with people who possessed Ambien. And you don't see doctors -- who sold the drug to patients -- charged with dealing drugs.

That's because when it comes to dangerous drugs, there's a clear double standard: All prescription drugs, no matter how dangerous to individual health or public safety, shall remain legal. All drugs that are not controlled by Big Pharma, on the other hand, shall be made illegal.

And that's how the system works. Again, I'm not supporting marijuana. You probably already know that I use absolutely no drugs, not even the psychoactive drug used by 53% of Americans (caffeine). But when I see loony, pseudoscientific attacks on marijuana that demonstrate a clear double standard in our national drug policy, I simply have to point it out. In my view, we should be arresting and locking up the Big Pharma executives and corrupt FDA officials who continue to push dangerous drugs that KILL 100,000 Americans each year. If you really want to protect the public from dangerous drugs, start arresting and prosecuting the truly dangerous drug dealers -- the ones operating under the FDA protection racket.




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Posted by Freedom Lover at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments