Hey! I got home from having more blood drawn, and there was my box from Joan on the porch! Paula helped me open it, and it was fun to watch the excitement on her face as she pulled out the shredded paper and saw the goodies Joan sent! Here's what we received... Plants... One Big Mystery Plant (Joan, what is this?) Mexican Heather Cypress Vine Rosemary Seeds... Sweet William Echinacea Spider Flower Blue Flax Goodies... Blue Terry Wipes Mountain Lodge Scented Candle Frog Statue (he looks like a tourist, how cool!) Garden Journal Gardening Gloves 3-Piece Gardening Tool Set Photo Refrigerator Magnet Catnip Toys for the boys Foot Cooler Black Iron -n- Raffia Planter (can't wait to try that out next spring!) All in all, a great box! Thank you Joan! ***now I'm off to investigate how to grow all the plants*** -Dan

Thank you, Dr. Henry, for that paper on toxic GM-effects on goats. Corn & soybean & canola & cottonseed are genetically modified, the Republic Magazine stated that other grains are safe: "Other than corn, no GM grains are sold on the market. Look for 100-percent wheat pasta, couscous, rice, quinoa, oats, barley, sorghum, and dried beans (except soybeans). Most GM ingredients are products made from the “Big Four:” corn, soybeans, canola, and cottonseed. Sugar beets and 50% of Hawaii papaya are genetically modified." **** from Straw: That's why I buy sugar-cane products, rather than sugar made from beets. I fed my kid those Pepperidge Farm cookies (made from cottonseed oil) and she broke out in rashes and scratched herself bloody. I ate those cookies and had the worst hayfever: runny nose & sneezing. Went shopping yesterday: They had strawberries for $2.50 versus organic strawberries for $3.45. I sniffed both: the organic strawberries was more fragrant, versus the regular with a slight chemical scent. After sniffing both for several times, my nose was in pain (I stuck my nose too close). I realized that it's the pesticides sprayed on that inflamed my nose. My nose burned for hours afterwards Two years ago I tasted grape at the store, and had a tummy ache. Strawberries is known for the most pesticides I'm very sadden by UK’s Daily Mail report that an estimated 125,000 farmers in India have committed suicide because of crop failure and massive debt since planting GM seeds. Recent Center for Human Rights and Global Justice report: "Indian farmers bought genetically modified Bollgard Bt cotton seeds from the Gates Foundation-backed Monsanto corporation ... 85 percent of cotton grown in India being Monsanto-controlled Bt cotton by 2009. However, the seeds were expensive, and spiralling prices (coupled with planting restrictions from the multinationals selling the seeds) led farmers to hefty loans. Almost 300,000 cotton workers have committed suicide to date, some of them by drinking the same insecticides they were sold by multinationals." From Straw: Years ago I watched a documentary film "Seeds of deception" where Mexican agriculture scientists voiced concern with GM seeds corrupting the bio-diversity of local seeds, which are well-adapted to drought and adverse local conditions. Dr. Frank Lipman, from http://www.drfranklipman.com/basic-questions-on-gmos/ stated, "The major benefit of all commercial GMO’s is that they are bred to either tolerate direct application of herbicides and/or have the ability to produce their own pesticides. They have not been bred to increase yield, become drought tolerant, improve nutrition or to have any other benefit to the consumer. So at present they have no health benefit, their benefits are purely economic." *** From Straw: It's about power, money, and control. Politics and economic factors are factors, besides ill health. The vindictive dirt-throwing, defamation attacks against international scientists, and bullying tactics of big corporations made me more sick than the ill-effects of GM-foods. We are saved from our wheat being genetically-modified, thanks to the farmers voicing concerns that our wheat can't be exported, if genetically modified. More from Dr. Lipman: "In Europe, over 175 regions and over 4500 municipalities have declared themselves GM-free zones. And in 2009, Germany along with France, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Austria, Poland and Romania banned Monsanto’s MON 810 GM corn because of its documented dangers to biodiversity and human health. Additionally, states in Australia, regions in New Zealand and Brazil and the countries like Venezuela, Zambia, Sudan, Angola and others, all want to be GM-free.The balanced reporting of the press in Europe of the dangers of GMO’s made a significant contribution to the decision to reject GMO’s. Below link is a detailed list from Republic Magazine on which foods are GM-tainted: Here is a link that might be useful: List of GM foods vs. non-GM This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Sat, Mar 1, 14 at 15:06

OK, so I had to toss and turn all night long just wondering if I was ever going to know what that plant was! LOL DH took one look at it and said it was a thistle! Anything that grows on a thistle must be JUNK FOOD!!! Thanks for the answer!

but I eat fish and seafood sometimes. The health of my OWN diet can vary wildly from day to day - today was mostly coffee, soymilk and french fries, but Friday was almost all fresh vegetables. Left to my own devices I sometimes devolve into the grad student diet of cold coffee and whatever I can steal from the department coffee room, but I really do prefer to eat properly. Whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, cheese and dairy, that sort of thing. I rarely cook anything out of a bag or can. Almost everything I make is from scratch from fresh vegetables. I eat quite a lot of cheese, but since I don't eat meat or drink cowmilk (I drink soymilk), that's not really a problem for fat and cholesterol. I drink pop sometimes, averaging about a can every other day. Popcorn or yogurt covered raisins are my favourite evening snacks. Dessert (if it happens) is usually fruit or yogurt, but can be cake or something too. When I have any of my N&Ns with me, or when we have A__, it's square meals at regular intervals - regardless of what I feel like eating or how tired I am. I try to "kid-friendly" my meals for A__ and the N&Ns by chopping my vegetables smaller for sauces or skipping chopped onions in the tuna salad. A__ HATES mushrooms, so I cook them on the side if we have something mushroomy when he's with us. My oldest niece HATES lettuce, but loves broccoli and cabbage, so I make coleslaw when she's around. My youngest niece says apples hurt her tongue, but she likes apple sauce, so she has that instead. A__ is limited to one can of pop in a day when he is with us. But he gets to choose when to drink it (it only has to be after breakfast). We don't keep much junk in the house, but he's allowed to have one junky snack in the day if he requests it (a small quantity of icecream or chips or chocolate or jujubes, etc) and only if it's not too close to an approaching proper meal. Junky snack privileges may be removed for bad behavior, but I've never given any of them junk food as straight bribery. I've been known to tell my N&Ns "If you guys are good all morning, we'll go to the park this afternoon to play" and then I'll "surprise" them with a stop for icecream on the way home - they know the "surprise" is coming, but they pretend to be surprised... Or when A__ is good at the grocery store, he might get to pick dessert for that night, but he chooses fruit as often as he chooses cake and he often gets a high five and hug instead!