What's the point of this thirsty green lawn?

Way back in 1989, Michael Pollan wrote an essay in the NY Times entitled “Why Mow?” in which he outlined the case against lawns. Now more than ever, the time has come to re-think the value of our suburban lawns.

You might be surprised to learn that grass is the most common irrigated crop in the US. We grow 3 times more grass than we do corn! 30% of our drinking water is used to water this grass. 70 million pounds of pesticides per year is used on this giant lawn of ours.

Global weirding is shifting our weather patterns, last summer saw record droughts. This winter in the northeast isn’t even a winter while in Rome, the Colosseum got 8 inches of snow yesterday.  These shifting weather patterns can play havoc on our food supply. Here in suburbia, the average irrigated lawn can consume close to 90 gallons of water daily and doesn’t produce a single serving of food.

It’s time to grow food, not grass.

Even if you don’t have a green thumb to transform your lawn into a highly productive vegetable garden, there are people in your community with these skills. Many small farmers are looking for land, if you have an acre of sunny lawn, it wouldn’t be hard to set up a win-win situation with a local small farmer.

I’m not the only one with this brilliant idea and desire to turn the lawn into a food producing oasis. Here are two books I’d like to refer you to.

Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn was published in 2010 by Fritz Haeg  His book and website has beautiful photos of edible transformations, click here.

Food Not Lawns by H.C. Flores

Food Not Lawns is an organization that was founded in Eugene, Oregon in 1999 by a small group of activists who had been cooking Food Not Bombs (free meals in the park) for several years and decided to start gardening too. The book, Food Not Lawns came out in 2006, its an inspiring resource to turn your yard into a garden and your neighborhood into a community. There are chapters of Food Not Lawns all over the world, click here to find out more.

I hope this will be the year that more thirsty lawns are turned into veggie gardens. Everyone wins with this green strategy. With skyrocketing gas prices  and wacky weather that show no sign of slowing down, for now on the best food will be grown closest to home.

Celery Garden

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a blog post about growing celery by cutting off the end and placing it in water. We eat LOTS of celery here at the Rubin Rodeo so I thought I’d play around with it. Low and behold, it works!

It’s really simple, just cut the bottom 1-2 inches of the base of the celery into 1/2 inch of water. Within a few days, the center part will start to grow.  Once it gets bigger with some visible small roots, just transplant it into some soil.

Here are some photos of my celery garden. While I was at it, I tried some other veggies as well. Bok choy did exceptionally well, I now have more than 6 little plants which I transplanted into an egg carton with some soil and worm poop, which is an excellent nutrient rich medium for growing plants.

I’ll be transferring many of these celery plants to the  Mount Kisco Child Care Center where I am working as a consultant to their Feed Me Fresh food and garden program. The children there are also starting  to compost kitchen scraps and leftover fruit and veggie peels from snack time. Very soon, they’ll be getting their very own worm bins too.

Bok Choy plants transferred to egg carton, enjoying the sun

Bok choy, celery, carrots and cabbage

Yesterday was Groundhog Day. The day when Punxsutawney Phil comes out from his burrow to check in on the weather.  According to folklore, if it is cloudy when Phil emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early. If it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks

Today, Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter.  But winter hasn’t even really made an appearance this year. Yesterday was sunny and 60, today is 45. Down coats, winter hats and boots remain on store shelves. Rock salt and snow shovels are overly abundant at the hardware store. Friends of mine who have invested in Wovels haven’t had a chance to take them for a spin.

Many of my friends are happy about this lack of wintery weather. Even though I’m not a fan of cold and snow, I’m having a hard time doing the happy dance, the lack of winter has got me deeply concerned.  We need winter, more than many people realize.

There are reasons for the seasons. Winter is a time for slowing down, for turning inward. For re-charging our batteries so that we can be full of energy for the spring season ahead. My acupuncturist, Jason Elias has written an insightful piece on his blog about Winter, you can read it by clicking here.

Plants and animals need the cold weather and increased darkness too.  In our part of the northeast, extended periods of cold are necessary to prevent an onslaught of insect pests in the spring.  More deer make it through a mild winter, resulting in more Lyme disease carrying ticks and more frequent attacks on my Hosta plants!

Let’s hope we get a cold snap sometime soon. But not like the one gripping Eastern Europe right now, check out the images from the severe cold there.

Not long ago, keeping backyard chickens was a patriotic duty. Perhaps that time has arrived once again.

These days, I believe the best food grows closest to home. Raising chickens can be a great way for families to enjoy healthy fresh eggs and develop a deeper connection to their food.

Last year, I helped to make a film called Chicken Flick. The purpose of the movie was to shine a bright light on families raising backyard chickens and to help change zoning laws so that everyone can enjoy a small flock in their yard.

We’ll be screening the film at the Greenburgh Nature Center next Wednesday February 8th at 7:30. If you can’t make it to the Nature Center, I hope to post the film online here on this blog on Thursday of next week. Stay tuned!

Here’s the info:

CHICKEN FLICK – BACKYARD CHICKENS FOR ALL
WED, FEBRUARY 8, 7PM REFRESHMENTS / 7:30PM PROGRAM
Imagine your breakfast omelet made from your own fresh, organic, Omega-rich eggs! Come watch “Chicken Flick”, a short film made by local environmentalist filmmakers Nikki Coddington and Susan Rubin. You will meet four Westchester County families who are enjoying the fun and benefits of raising chickens in their own backyards. After the film, you can ask questions of the filmmakers and the panel of local chicken owners – You may even walk away ready to take up this easier-than-you-think, fun and profitable hobby yourself! Chicken Flick was made by Coddington and Rubin at the Jacob Burns Film Center and Media Arts Lab on behalf of Transition Westchester, a grassroots initiative that seeks to build community resilience. This program will be held at the Nature Center in partnership with the Sierra Club Lower Hudson Group. FREE

Snoopy doin' the happy dance

One of my friends called me this weekend to see how happy I must be now that the Obama Administration announced that they are denying the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. My friend knows how involved I’ve been with Tar Sands activism since I was arrested last summer in front of the White House in an act of civil disobedience.

Has President Obama proven to be a friend of the environment by saying “no” to the big oil bullies this time around? Have we really won this fight? I’m not yet sure whether a happy dance is called for at this time.

We’ve had some momentary victories in the past few months, but big oil has deep pockets and responds each time with a new twist and turn. These are interesting times indeed.

Its important to note that whether we keep the giant pipeline from being built is not the core issue!

With or without the Keystone XL pipeline, the Tar Sands are now being extracted from the earth and are already being refined all across the US in increasing amounts. BP is expanding their refineries in places like Toledo, Ohio, where they are spending billions of dollars so that they can refine the gunky crud. This process will spew extremely toxic byproducts loaded with heavy metals and sulfur into the air, land and water around facilities.  No doubt, this will be spun somehow to seem like “jobs”. Ugggh.

This giant machine strips the earth to get to the tar sands

  The Tar Sands is without a doubt the most environmentally destructive project ever unleashed by man. To get to the bitumen requires strip and open-pit mining, and the refining process is unusually energy-intensive. To produce just one barrel of oil, it takes three tons of tar sands and several barrels of water.The photos of  Alberta Canada, where once intact and beautiful ecosystems are being ravaged can bring tears to your eyes. Click here to see them.

So while I may be doing a short happy dance for the fact that President Obama said “no” (for now) to the pipeline, I’m well aware that the battle to save our mother earth from this distruction must continue.

The Tar Sands pipeline will continue to be an important battle. The longer we can delay the infrastructure that ties the world’s future to oil sands or fracking or mountain top removal, the better our chance to switch to clean, renewable energy.

But most importantly, whatever happens with the pipeline, it marks the turning point when the environmental movement woke up from  its “sign this petition” armchair activist mentality. We have now realized that showing up and putting your body at risk is powerful and effective.  My experience in front of the White House last summer transformed my perspective on fossil fuels and climate change, many of my fellow “jailbirds” would agree. Direct action works.

The core issue is we need more people to care enough to show up.

There will no doubt be more opportunities, so stay tuned!

Also if you haven’t already, visit www.TarSandsAction.org and join their mailing list.

This Ted X presentation gives a visual journey of Canada’s tar sands. I highly recommend you watch it and share with your family to get up to speed on this important story.

The Wovel gets its first workout of 2012

Here we are 21 days into 2012 and we’re finally getting some seasonally appropriate weather. While I’m not a huge fan of winter and snow, I do realize that the cold dark stillness of winter is necessary for a green and vibrant spring. One thing I dislike more than snow is snow blowers. I can’t stand the noise and I despise the toxic stinky fumes. Quite frankly, I harbor a deep concern whenever fossil fuels are burned. We’ve got to cut our addiction to gas, coal and oil on every level if we care about future generations surviving on our planet.

Last winter, when hubby threatened to buy a snow blower, I took swift and decisive action. I bought a wovel online before he could get his act together and purchase a snow blower!  He rolled his eyes skyward as he watched me assemble this crazy combination of wheel and shovel in our living room.

This contraption was Time magazine’s best invention of 2006. The Wovel is super green, it is recognized by Co-op America and National Green Pages™ for its positive, pollution-free environmental standards and zero carbon footprint in usage. This wacky snow removal device performs equal to or better than a snow blower, and doesn’t hurt your back at all.  Woveling  clears away snow much faster than shoveling but is no more stressful than walking.  Unlike most things, it is manufactured in the USA.

Last winter’s frequent snow storms gave our Wovel a run for the money. It worked so well that my hubby admitted to me that the Wovel was one of my better wacky ideas.

Today’s 6 inches of snow was cleared quietly and effortlessly with my Wovel. I strongly urge you to buy one. Share it with your neighbors, so they don’t mess up the air and the planet with stinky snow blowers either!  Click here to learn more.

Happy Woveling!

“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

Perhaps I got a wee bit to political with you on the last blog post talking about Mitt Romney’s lack of compassion for his dog. So I figured I’d follow up with the story of a woman and her pet grooming studio. This is a story that is filled with loads of compassion for canines, they are doing the right thing for a little Yorkie named Beckham.

Last winter, Tara and her shop,  Pawfection Pet Grooming in Bedford Hills, NY played a key player in our adoption of Edgar. Our Westie, Skippy, had been a Pawfection customer years back. Although Pawfection is not an official rescue organization, Tara and her team do everything they can to make sure that dogs and cats in the area who need a home are adopted to good homes.

Little Beckham needs surgery on his knees

Just a week or two ago, I was thinking of stopping by Pawfection to see if they could help find us  a dog to adopt. Later that afternoon, Tara called me with info on some Yorkies that might need new homes. Funny how things like that happen, huh? That weekend, I brought hubby and one of my girls to Pawfection to meet a potential new family member.

There were some super cute Yorkies at her shop that had been rescued. The biggest boy of the bunch was an 8 month old pup who had a little bit of a skip in his walk. Tara, who has extensive experience with small breeds as a groomer, pointed out that this little guy needed to get that limp checked out. Yorkies and other breeds with short legs can suffer from luxating patellas, which is basically a knee cap that slips out of its proper position.

Luxating Patella (loose kneecap!)

If left untreated, an extreme case of this tricky knee problem of a could result in painful arthritis and severe lameness. Tara’s staff provided a foster home and Tara herself offered to take the little guy to a vet to see if he’d need surgery and what that would entail.  As it turned out, both of the pup’s knees are in pretty bad shape. He’ll need surgery on both of them and it will entail some serious physical therapy to fully recover after the surgery.

Sadly, this pup with trick knees that need surgery and rehab was too much of a commitment for me and my family to take on. Tara and her staff are now providing a foster home for Beckham (his new nickname) and is working with a local vet to move forward with the knee surgeries. Pawfection is dedicated to doing the right thing for this dog, taking extraordinary steps to make sure this dog can lead a healthy life in a good home.

Pawfection will be holding a fund raiser on Monday, January 23rd

This  Beauty Event will Benefit Rescuzilla, which is a NYC animal rescue organization that is pals with Pawfection.  100% from the sales and raffles will benefit Rescuzilla Animal Rescue of NYC-a 501(c)3 non-profit.

Date: Monday, January 23rd 11 AM to 3 PM OR 6 PM to 8 PM

Location: PAWFECTION 51 Babbit Road Bedford Hills, NY 10507 914.242.8422

Special appearance by Sabria Brows. She will be on hand to shape your brows for an instant beauty lift. Contact susan@mybeautyberry.com to set up an appointment. (Sabria has cut her price for this event & will donate 50% of every brow shaping to Rescuzilla!) Many popular brands from lip balms to mascara to hair products, body creams and skin potions. Price range: $5 and up! We will be raffling off some great gifts including a 3-Day BluePrint Cleanse!

Remember: A little can SAVE a lot of dogs.

Checkout these links:

www.mybeautyberry.com

Pawfection Pet Grooming Boutique on Facebook

Rescuzilla on Facebook

Edgar in the car, waiting for the rest of the Rubin Rodeo to join him

Since Edgar’s sudden and unexpected death in October, I’ve been feeling quite dog deficient. Although our little doggie had only been with us for 10 months, I had developed a deep connection with this rescue pup, spending many hours in all sorts of weather teaching him to walk on a leash and encouraging him about peeing and pooping outside. Whenever we traveled, Edgar came along as a valued member of our family riding inside our car, usually on someone’s lap in the back seat. On a long trip, we’d take him for a walk at a rest stop so he could do his “business” while the rest of the gang hit the bathrooms. Seems fair enough right?

When I heard about the Mitt Romney dog fiasco, also known as  “Crate Gate”, at first I did not believe it. How could any dog owner tie their pup onto the top of their car for a 12 hour drive to Canada?  It sounds like a stunt out of National Lampoon’s Vacation, after all, he could pass for a Chevy Chase like character.

The story is indeed true, the Romney family tied  their dog crate to the roof of their station wagon in 1983 and Seamus spent 12 hours up there. He did not have a fun time, as a matter of fact, we was sick and had a bad case of the poops. One of the Romney kids saw the evidence all over the back windows of the station wagon. So what did Mr. Romney do? He stopped at a rest area, hosed down the car and the poop covered dog, put the dog back in his crate and continued with the trip.

Doesn’t sound very caring or presidential.  As Rachel Maddow said the other night, this story has legs. Welcome to the wild wild world of the 2012 presidential campaign!

Earlier this week, I started a little online Sustainable Book Sale. So far so good. It’s turning out to be a win win win as my readers are getting great books at great prices that will help their health. And no new trees are being destroyed to make more books.

As I shift my focus in 2012 onto growing more vegetables and learning about permaculture principles, I feel its important to make way for new books. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to share my beloved books with you, knowing they’ll have a good home and will be appreciated.  Today I took a look at my library and noticed that I have a huge amount of books that help with stress reduction. For more than a decade, I’ve been a student of meditation and guided imagery. I’ve got a ton of books on these topics.

I feel that stress reduction is as important as the quality of the food we eat. Stress plays havoc on all facets of digestion and is implicated in worsening most chronic disease states.  And besides, it just plain sucks to be stressed out!

I’ve bundled my books into small collections that can help to transform your life in a good way. Here’s the latest batches:

Meditation Classics

Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn. This timeless book on mindfulness meditation will help you to see opportunities for mindfulness in all facets of your everyday life.

Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodron. This little book contains 108 short essays on compassion and fearlessness. Pema is an American Buddhist nun, she offers strategies for seeing and thinking differently. Really useful in these tumultuous times.

Pass It On: Five Stories That Can Change the World by Joanna Macy I picked up this gem last fall when I was fortunate to attend weekend retreat with Joanna Macy, a spiritual activist and huge environmental inspiration. This sweet little book of inspiration and possibility will help you to be hopeful in difficult times.

Asking price $14  A savings of  $25 off the original prices

When it comes to meditation, there are many, many paths up the mountain. Way back in the summer of 2001, I spent some time in Pune, India at the Osho Meditation Resort. Osho was one wild dude, a truly spiritually incorrect mystic, who had a lasting impact on how I look at life. This collection of meditation and stress reduction books is a little more offbeat than the one above.

The Eclectic Meditation Collection

Meditation: The First and Last Freedom by Osho  This practical guide offers many many different meditations that are great for beginners or seasoned veterans. Open up any page at random and see if the meditation suits you!

The Tao of No Stress: Three Simple Paths by Stuart Alve Olson I found this little book to be very helpful in using Taoist principles to eliminate stress completely. In addition to philosophy, it gives step by step instructions on how to massage stress away and breathing techniques as well. This tiny book packs a wallop of good info.

Unclutter Your Mind: 500 Ways to Focus on What’s Important by Donna Smallin.  Books like this can keep you off of anti-depressant meds! This collection of one minute tips can help you to enjoy a simpler and more rewarding life. The world would be a better place if everyone read little gems like this one!

31 Words to Create a Guilt-Free Life If you’re like most people, myself included, guilt can find a way to cloud a sunny outlook. This tiny portable book offers up 31 strategies to help you release that guilt and put a little more light and freedom back into your life.

Asking price: $14   A $30 savings off original prices

Meditation isn’t just for grown ups! In my years as a parent and as a teacher of children of all ages, I’ve worked to include forms of mindfulness, creative visualization, relaxation and stress reduction into my work. I have a feeling that this collection of books for children will be snatched up quickly!

The Children's Meditation and Imagery Collection

Mindful Movements: Ten Exercises for Well Being by Thich Nhat Hanh This simple illustrated book is great for both kids and adults. It includes a DVD of Thich Nhat Hanh, a well known Vietnamese Buddhist monk, and members of his Plum Village Sangha demonstrating the Mindful Movements.

Teaching Meditation to Children by David Fontana and Ingrid Slack  This book is a practical approach to teaching meditation to children from 5 to 18 years old. Its loaded with practical exercises for kids, I’ve used some of these when I taught 8 WAH!-  8 Weeks to Amazing Health to middle schoolers in NYC. Also good info for using meditation for kids with asthma and insomnia too.

Guided Imagery for Healing Children and Teens by Ellen Curran Visualization is a powerful tool, guided imagery is a way to use imagination in a focused way to help the mind and body to self-heal. Good stuff!

Spinning Inward: Using Guided Imagery with Children for Learning, Creativity & Relaxation by Maureen Murdock This book is loaded with exercises designed for ages 3 to 18 to help build strong self-image, stimulate creativity and cultivate inner peace. Both parents and teachers will find this book very useful.

Asking price: $21   A savings of $61 off original prices

Contact me via email if you’re interested in any of these book collections! DrSuRu@me.com

If you’re local and want to suggest a barter instead of cash, I’m open to that too!

A note about shipping: if you live outside of driving distance, I can mail you the books. Shipping costs should run about $3

You already know I’m a stickler about clean food. I do my best to prepare most of my food at home from scratch and so far I’ve posted over 60 of my recipes on this blog.  I’m a stickler for clean water too. Even though your water may come from a town water supply, it may contain some questionable elements that are actually added by municipalities in the interest of your health. The two elements I’m talking about are Chlorine and Fluoride.

My new Berkey Filter

Chlorine is added to water supplies to disinfect the water in transport pipes, just like the chlorine you put into a swimming pool to kill unwanted germs. But it’s not as cut and dried simple as that! Chlorine introduced into the water supply reacts with other naturally-occurring elements to form toxins called trihalomethanes (THMs), which eventually make their way into our bodies. THMs have been linked to a wide range of human health maladies ranging from asthma and eczema to bladder cancer and heart disease. The good news is that chlorine dissipates rapidly when water is boiled or left standing and exposed to air, it can also be easily filtered. Just about every filter system takes out 99.9% of the chlorine in your water.

Fluoride is another matter. It is not as easily filtered as chlorine is, it also does not simply evaporate like chlorine does from water. Fluoride is added to municipal water system under the false assumption that it can help to decrease tooth decay. As a retired dentist, I’ve done extensive research about the problems with putting fluoride in municipal water supplies. Last January, I wrote Why Your Dentist Doesn’t Know the Scoop on Fluoride. If you need more convincing that fluoridated water is not good for your health, visit Fluoride Action Network and you can spend days reading all the research and info there.

Most basic water filters do not take the fluoride out. Up until now all I’ve been able to find are expensive reverse osmosis systems that often require a plumber to install. I just recently discovered the Berkey Filter which has an additional filter that takes out fluoride. I bought one. It was reasonably priced, easy to assemble and looks cool on my kitchen counter.

Being a non-stop idealist I’ve been trying for years to convince my town to take the fluoride out of our municipal water supply. It would save money and protect the health of the community.  Instead of continuing to bank my head against the wall, I’ll just tell my friends and neighbors to get a Berkey Filter instead.