New Food Pyramid 2011......and it still doesn't have chocolate in it!

It would be nice if the Food and Drug Administration stopped issuing warnings about toxic substances and just gave me the names of one or two things still safe to eat. 

Robert Fuoss

Hi ya'll.  It's another hot, humid Oklahoma day (it's not the 100+ degree temperature that will get you around here, it's the humidity).   Each day brings a new challenge when you live in the country.  Most folks around here grew up in the country so the things they just know and can do with ease can send me on a scavenger hunt for an answer (for example, when to plant vegetables, what is the best time of day to water plants, how to get rid of gophers, how to get honey out of a hive without being stung, how to syphon  gas out of a gas tank. oops wasn't suppose to ask that one, was I?). 

How did we  live before we had cell phones (we had landlines), Internet (we used real books), microwave ovens (we used wood burning stoves), fast food restaurants (the kitchen was the heart of the home) or the food pyramid (ahhh! the good ole days.  Everything was cooked in grease, bacon fat or tons of butter)?  It's a mystery to me that Mom and Dad had none of these things and they did just fine.  Go Figure!

My latest attempt at healthy cooking. 
The Dinner Doctor's Meatless Mushroom Galette & Fresh Green Salad.
Where's the beef?

 Speaking of  Food Pyramids, they changed it again (not that it really matters to me cause I've managed to ignore it since they first created it).  I don't think they've figured out if it don't have chocolate as a daily requirement, people won't use it even if they wrap it up in black lace and put a bow on it.



A sample plate of the new food icon My Plat -

Media (1 of 9) Food pyramid is out,

MyPlate is in

I told ya.  No Chocolate.  What a shame!

Becky does everything she can to keep me healthy but it's a hard fought battle for her (I'm sure she is getting jewels in her heavenly crown for this nightmarish attempt to reform me).  When I was growing up, Dad would take his glass gallon jars to the local dairy and buy milk.  The next day, I would scoop the cream off the top and have a bowl of cereal.  Mmmmm  mmmmmm good!  She even found tools at amazon.com to encourage me to eat better.  Take a look at this!  Math was never my thang.  So precise measurements bore me but this is so easy.  Just fill her up and eat till it's all gone and then go to bed hungry and raid the fridge in the middle of the night.  A gal's got to have a plan. 

Everything I eat has been proved by some doctor or other to be a deadly poison, and everything I don't eat has been proved to be indispensable for life.  But I go marching on. 
~George Bernard Shaw

Narcissistic, manicured, pedicured ladies need not apply!

"Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires."

-  Lao-Tzu, Tao Te Ching 

Living in the country and loving it, isn't for everyone.  It takes a special kind of single woman to even attempt this lifestyle.  If you are afraid of chipping a nail, smashing your toe or spending all you time caring for critters, do yourself a favor and just stay in the city (unless you are rich enough to hire lots of help, but then you are not really a country girl). Having a rural address and country living are not the same thing. Narcissistic, manicured, pedicured ladies need not apply! 

Directions to our house: 
Turn right at yellow 5 gallon bucket;
 drive to the end of the road and then drive some more
till you see the dead peach tree and lots of critters.

 I have had my hands in more yucky stuff than I ever imaged even existed!  Donkey pooh, doggie pooh, well used cat litter boxes, poison ivy, poison oak, ant granules, snake granules, flea dip.......the list goes on and on. (one time Brother Dave had me help him pull a calf, up to my elbow in a cow's you know what).  And after all the rain we have had, with almost no proper drainage in Keefeton, OK.(our county commissioner must not know where we are: perhaps I should write him a letter and send him a map); the mosquitoes are the size of a small battleship. 

But if you can survive it, the payoff is huge! A tremendous sense of accomplishment and pride. Simple Living will give you a sense of satisfaction that you cannot find working in the city. 

Yada, yada, yada! Yeah, I know, I talk too much.  Anyway, here are some updates on what's happening at Harmony Acres. 

For the first time ever, my tomato plants look as though I might actually have a tomato crop.

The cucumber plants need to be thinned out but they are doing great.

One of the peach trees (even after I sprayed it) is at deaths door from too much rain and other mysterious things attacking it.

The other peach tree is doing great! Go figure! 

Since the storm blew over the willow tree
 and took out the meditation garden,
the plants are residing in a bucket
waiting for me to find a new home for them.

That's all for today folks.  I got plants to repot, a meditation garden to relocate, furniture to move in the house, yard to mow, critters   to feed and water........you get the idea. (Oh, by the way, my ankle is healing slowly but healing. Thank you for asking.) Very little time to meditate today(smoke cigarette and drink coffee on front porch with two cats wrapped around my ankles).  Ya'll have a good day and I'll talk to you later.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Robert Frost