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“It is possible to rehabilitate large-scale damaged ecosystems.”  John D. Liu, Ecologist

In this video Liu demonstrates land healing on the Chinese Plateau.  Liu engineers restoration using earth’s resources the way they were meant to be used.  He takes a stripped and barren plateau and turns it back into a fertile ecosystem.  Liu believes that the cycle of poverty can be broken with ecosystem rehabilitation.  Next generations can have better lives with the cultural changes brought about with fertile land.  Productive land will increase wealth, provide better educational opportunities, and improve health.  The video is long, but worth your time.  For a shortened overview, watch from 26-35 minutes.  You will be encouraged and inspired.  We are beginning to implement more permaculture methods on our little piece of property.  By the way, the soil in our garden is slowly being transformed by using nitrogen rich compost.  We find red worms throughout our garden, instead of gooey black adobe clay.

Desert Food Forest and Organic Commercial Production in Three Years – Update on Wadi Rum Consultancy (Jordan)

Permaculture is a harmonious method of working with the environment using sustainable agricultural designs.  Geoff Lawton from Australia is a permaculture genius.  After watching one of his videos posted on You Tube, we became convinced that permaculture is the answer to many of the world’s food and environmental problems.  We have heard this term now for many years, but had many questions about why it is a brilliant method to grow food.  Geoff Lawton’s videos have answered many of our questions and have caused us to do further research into this method of growing food.  Mr. Lawton is a permaculture teacher who travels the world to educate people how to grow food–even in deserts.  If you would like to visit Australia, he offers classes there too.

From Ellen’s Kitchen-Gluten Free Flour Mix

Socialization is “ the process by which a human being beginning at infancy acquires the habits, beliefs, and accumulated knowledge of society through education and training for adult status.”  Merriam-Webster 

From birth onward, we are influenced by the behaviors of those around us.  Children “parrot” behaviors they observe.  They will imitate cartoon characters, movie action figures, their parents, siblings, and friends.  We learn from those around us.  What exactly do we want our children to learn?  Dr. Raymond Moore, author of 60+ books on human development, believes that parents are the best influence for socialization toward their children.  Kindergarten is filled with weeping children the first week of school while parents are sobbing at the thought of leaving their children in a classroom with a room filled with strangers.  Enjoying children through the developmental process is one of the greatest blessings of parenthood.  Home education makes this possible.  Children separated from home and put in a classroom with kids their own age limits the socialization process by decreasing the variety of interactions.  Instead of learning from different ages and types of people, they conform to their peers.  Some kids are at risk of not discovering their own identities and talents.  They get lost in the crowd.  Parents guide children toward appropriate behavior as situations arise.  Home educated children are usually more comfortable speaking with people of all ages.  They learn to not be afraid of people who are different from them.  This skill will carry them through life and open doors of opportunity.  Children educated at home learn to respect others and themselves.  They will become independent thinkers who are self-directed and not so easily influenced by their peers.   “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”  Mark Twain

Blue Diamond gluten-free crackers made with sea salt are our favorite cracker. They are similar in snap and texture to the crackers we used to enjoy in our wheat eating days.  The ingredients appear to be G.M.O. free too.  We have tried other Blue Diamond flavored crackers, but some contain soy lecithin.  Another cracker we have enjoyed is made by Orgran.  It is a toasted rice crispibread that is gluten-free.  These crispibread crackers are fluffy, flavorful, and fun to eat.  They are a bit larger than ordinary crackers.  Other good gluten-free crackers that we have liked eating were made by Schar and Back to Nature.  The Glutino crackers that we purchased had good seasoning and flavor, but were dry and a little like card board in our opinion.  However, the Glutino chocolate covered pretzels were the best we have ever tasted!

“Be careful little heart who you trust…” plays the song on a children’s C.D. in a group of young children in a learning center.  We teach our children to be careful about trusting strangers, but what about the average American?  Many of us believe what we hear without doing our homework.  We are easily distracted, gullible, and trusting of people we hardly know anything about because people told us to be.  The National Vaccine Information Center has published some alarming statistics about Americans:

• “Between 210,000 and 440,000 hospitalized patients each year suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death106

• The US has the worst infant mortality107 and maternal mortality108,109 rates of all developed nations, with 28,000 babies dying before their first birthday110

• Millions of children are becoming disabled or dying in the unexplained chronic illness epidemic111 that costs trillions of dollars to treat: one child in six in America is learning disabled;112 one in nine suffers from asthma;113 one in 10 has ADHD;114 1 in 50 develops autism115 and 1 in 450 becomes diabetic.116

• Millions more are suffering from mental health problems. One adolescent in five in the US experiences significant symptoms of emotional distress, and one in 10 is emotionally impaired.”1″17Barbara Loe Fisher

  While driving around running errands last weekend, I noticed an “Autism Awareness” magnet on the rear of a car and  at the cashier’s register at Sprouts.  America’s public health is alarmingly bad.  People must wake up and do their homework before we lose an entire generation.

“I wonder why it is we are not all kinder to each other … How much the world needs it! How easily it is done!”
― Henry Drummond

St. Valentine gave his life out of love for Jesus Christ.  He was martyred by the emperor of Rome in 269.    The world would be a much better place if we loved courageously with truthfulness.  Imagine politicians being truthful and courageous!  May we all take a step toward being brave and honest seeking to be loving to one another since God is the originator of love.  He has defined it for you here:

^“4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;^{[b] 6} it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.⁸ Love never ends.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”  1 Corinthians 13:4-8;13 E.S.V.

This kind of love involves perfection and only God is perfect.  Things on earth are crooked.  We all know it.

While teaching a basic lesson about genetics to one of my 7th grade students, I wondered why they didn’t introduce genetic engineering into the topic.  Genetic engineering affects most of life on the planet today.  Our oceans are polluted with glyphosate river runoff, our prairies/soil are being dangerously harmed, and  neighboring citizens exposed to the air where glyphosate spraying occurs, develop strange illnesses.  Cells are complex “cities” so to speak.  Each one runs itself with its many organelles each with a specific task.  Cell function is becoming disrupted by toxins permeating them.  A news article last week predicted that about one in 300 children from birth to 20 will get cancer.  Text books should teach about GMOs and the havoc they are bringing to our planet.  Sadly, I don’t believe this will happen.  If the text-book writers did introduce genetic engineering, it would be with a twisted lie about how they are helping to feed the world and produce more food.  In fact, studies have shown that intrinsic yields with genetically engineered seeds are not higher than regular seeds.  Back in about 1996, when GMOs were first being introduced to the world, I watched a documentary about using GMOs to feed the world and the struggle with ethics.  The problem was, “Is it ethical to alter the food in order to feed the world?”  The pervading problem was that they said they could supply more food, but it would be less nutritive.  By the end of the program, the solution was that it would be better to fill peoples’ stomachs with less nutritive food.  My solution is to teach everyone to become a sustainable farmer and grow their own food in some form or to support farmers that don’t use GMOs.

All along the way we have heard people say, ”We need to compromise so we can make progress with our political and social goals”.  Well, what would our founding fathers say about our republic?  I would guess most would advocate that we should follow their intentions set forth in our U.S. Constitution.  To deviate and fall back from those hard-won achievements would dishonor their intentions.  Look at the predicament political compromise has put us in today.  Ask yourself, “What U.S. foreign or domestic policy are you proud of?”  “What department of our government do you think does a good job?”  It is time to vote principles over compromise.  What conservative goals have we attained by using compromise when voting?  Do we enjoy less taxes, war, crime, more healthy food, better education, more freedom, more stable currency with less inflation?  Do other countries “like” us and do we meddle in their political affairs?  Our forefathers would advise us to stick to tried and true principles and vote into office statesmen who return to the private sector when their term is up.  They will say “no” to lobbyists and special interest groups who tempt them with fiat money.  The tea party principles are about genuine liberty and not fake political propaganda.

Education is complex and full of variables that affect the outcome.  The system is the problem.  The problem started when “The Father of Public Education”, Horace Mann, gained influence over the American educational system from the Congregational church.  The Congregational church had been governing education for about 200 years.  Horace Mann, a Unitarian lawyer, had a vision to educate children in a non-sectarian classroom.  Hence, the decline of American education.  This was the beginning of secular-humanism, the belief that people can be good citizens without God.  Mann desired to produce a new kind of humanity by using the Prussian (German) education model.  The goal of the Prussian model was to control thoughts through education.  Education has become a system producing workers like a “cog in a wheel”.  Graduates are unable to think creatively or to think about meaningful ideas. The meaningfulness of education has been lost.  The whole person has been neglected.  Individuality has disappeared.  Schools are full of families that are part of a “collective” mindset.  Disrespectful and rebellious children fill the classrooms.  God’s handbook for His creation has been cast outside of our state educational facilities.  No wonder education is a mess in America.  Unless this nation changes its ways and returns to the Congregational ideals to govern American schools, as in the early years of this country, public education will continue to fail.