Thursday, August 26, 2010


Spaghetti Squash Recipe

The Little Muddy Farm

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 30 Minutes

Ready In: 45 Minutes
Servings: 6

"Such a perfect name for this squash. When it's baked, its meat looks like glistening strands of pasta. For this recipe, the squash is baked and then combined with feta cheese, sauteed vegetables, olives, and basil. Lovely."
Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise
and seeded
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 tablespoons sliced black olives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Place spaghetti squash cut sides down on the prepared baking sheet, and bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a sharp knife can be inserted with only a little resistance. Remove squash from oven, and set aside to cool enough to be easily handled.
3. Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic, and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, and cook only until tomatoes are warm.
4. Use a large spoon to scoop the stringy pulp from the squash, and place in a medium bowl. Toss with the sauteed vegetables, feta cheese, olives, and basil. Serve warm.
Pinto Bean, Tomato and Butternut Squash Soup

Bon Appétit | September 2000

The Little Muddy Farm

Yield: 6 (first-course) servings
ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups canned vegetable broth
2 15-ounce cans pinto beans, drained
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled seeded butternut squash
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

6 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
preparation

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and celery; sauté until onions are golden, about 7 minutes. Add garlic; stir 1 minute. Add broth and next 5 ingredients; bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until squash is tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer 3 cups soup to blender; cool slightly, then puree until smooth. Return puree to pot with soup. Simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle soup into 6 bowls. Sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon basil and serve.

nutritional information Per serving: calories, 228; total fat, 4 g; saturated fat, 0.5 g; cholesterol, 0 mg
Nutritional analysis provided by Bon Appétit

Tuesday, August 10, 2010


S510 - Illegal To Grow, Share,
Trade, Sell Homegrown Food

SB S510 Will Allow Government
To Put You In Jail ....

By Steve Green
8-6-10


S510 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, may be the most dangerous bill in the history of the US. (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-510 )

"If accepted [S 510] would preclude the public's right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes. It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one's choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will of God." It is similar to what India faced with imposition of the salt tax during British rule, only S 510 extends control over all food in the US, violating the fundamental human right to food." ~ Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistleblower.

Monsanto says it has no interest in the bill and would not benefit from it, but Monsanto's Michael Taylor who gave us rBGH and unregulated genetically modified (GM) organisms, appears to have designed it and is waiting as an appointed Food Czar to the FDA (a position unapproved by Congress) to administer the agency it would create without judicial review if it passes.

S 510 would give Monsanto unlimited power over all US seed, food supplements, food AND FARMING.

History

In the 1990s, Bill Clinton introduced HACCP (Hazardous Analysis Critical Control Points) purportedly to deal with contamination in the meat industry. Clinton's HACCP delighted the offending corporate (World Trade Organization "WTO") meat packers since it allowed them to inspect themselves, eliminated thousands of local food processors (with no history of contamination), and centralized meat into their control. Monsanto promoted HACCP.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton, urged a powerful centralized food safety agency as part of her campaign for president. Her advisor was Mark Penn, CEO of Burson Marsteller*, a giant PR firm representing Monsanto. Clinton lost, but Clinton friends such as Rosa DeLauro, whose husband's firm lists Monsanto as a progressive client and globalization as an area of expertise, introduced early versions of S 510.

S 510 fails on moral, social, economic, political, constitutional, and human survival grounds.

1. It puts all US food and all US farms under Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, in the event of contamination or an ill-defined emergency. It resembles the Kissinger Plan.

2. It would end US sovereignty over its own food supply by insisting on compliance with the WTO, thus threatening national security. It would end the Uruguay Round Agreement Act of 1994, which put US sovereignty and US law under perfect protection. Instead, S 510 says:

COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.

Nothing in this Act (or an amendment made by this Act) shall be construed in a manner inconsistent with the agreement establishing the World Trade Organization or any other treaty or international agreement to which the United States is a party.

3. It would allow the government, under Maritime Law, to define the introduction of any food into commerce (even direct sales between individuals) as smuggling into "the United States." Since under that law, the US is a corporate entity and not a location, "entry of food into the US" covers food produced anywhere within the land mass of this country and "entering into" it by virtue of being produced.

4. It imposes Codex Alimentarius on the US, a global system of control over food. It allows the United Nations (UN), World Health Organization (WHO), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the WTO to take control of every food on earth and remove access to natural food supplements. Its bizarre history and its expected impact in limiting access to adequate nutrition (while mandating GM food, GM animals, pesticides, hormones, irradiation of food, etc.) threatens all safe and organic food and health itself, since the world knows now it needs vitamins to survive, not just to treat illnesses.

5. It would remove the right to clean, store and thus own seed in the US, putting control of seeds in the hands of Monsanto and other multinationals, threatening US security. See Seeds ­ How to criminalize them, for more details.

6. It includes NAIS, an animal traceability program that threatens all small farmers and ranchers raising animals. The UN is participating through the WHO, FAO, WTO, and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in allowing mass slaughter of even heritage breeds of animals and without proof of disease. Biodiversity in farm animals is being wiped out to substitute genetically engineered animals on which corporations hold patents. Animal diseases can be falsely declared. S 510 includes the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), despite its corrupt involvement in the H1N1 scandal, which is now said to have been concocted by the corporations.

7. It extends a failed and destructive HACCP to all food, thus threatening to do to all local food production and farming what HACCP did to meat production ­ put it in corporate hands and worsen food safety.

8. It deconstructs what is left of the American economy. It takes agriculture and food, which are the cornerstone of all economies, out of the hands of the citizenry, and puts them under the total control of multinational corporations influencing the UN, WHO, FAO and WTO, with HHS, and CDC, acting as agents, with Homeland Security as the enforcer. The chance to rebuild the economy based on farming, ranching, gardens, food production, natural health, and all the jobs, tools and connected occupations would be eliminated.

9. It would allow the government to mandate antibiotics, hormones, slaughterhouse waste, pesticides and GMOs. This would industrialize every farm in the US, eliminate local organic farming, greatly increase global warming from increased use of oil- based products and long-distance delivery of foods, and make food even more unsafe. The five items listed the Five Pillars of Food Safety are precisely the items in the food supply which are the primary source of its danger.

10. It uses food crimes as the entry into police state power and control. The bill postpones defining all the regulations to be imposed; postpones defining crimes to be punished, postpones defining penalties to be applied. It removes fundamental constitutional protections from all citizens in the country, making them subject to a corporate tribunal with unlimited power and penalties, and without judicial review.

For further information, watch these videos

Food Laws ­ Forcing people to globalize?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PwqUQ_HIlg&feature=related Corporate Rule? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXoJHG-er7A&feature=related Reclaiming Economies?

Sunday, August 8, 2010


Woodwind.Org

How Can I Learn Circular Breathing?

Circular Breathing a Method

by

Dr. Robert S. Spring, DMA
Professor of Music
Arizona State University
Robert.Spring@asu.edu


http://www.asu.edu/cfa/music/



Circular breathing is a technique that enables the wind instrumentalist to maintain a sound for long periods of time by inhaling through the nose while maintaining air flow through the instrument, using the cheeks as "bellows". The procedure involves four distinct stages:

1. As the performer begins to run low on air, the cheeks are puffed.
2. Air from the cheeks is pushed with the cheek muscles through the instrument and used to maintain the sound while inhalation occurs through the nose.
3. As the air decreases in the cheeks and sufficient air is brought into the lungs through the nose, the soft palate closes and air is again used from the lungs.
4. The cheeks are brought back to their normal embouchure position.

The process of "switching" from air in the lungs to air in the cheeks and back again is the single factor that keeps many individuals from succeeding at circular breathing. There are many methods to teach this "feeling". The following is one method used to learn this technique as well as several exercises that I feel particularly helpful. As in any new technique, circular breathing must be practiced on a daily basis for success. In addition is is very important to begin work with the instrument as soon as possible during study. Exercises are important, but are not helpful if the student cannot achieve the desired result with the instrument.

Preliminary study is done in 8 steps:

1. Puff the cheeks and breath normally with the cheeks out. This will aid in the "feel" of breathing with the cheeks extended.
2. Again puff the cheeks and create a small aperture in the lips, letting air escape through the lips while inhaling and exhaling normally through the nose. By controlling the muscles in the cheeks, try to maintain an air stream for three to five seconds.
3. Place a straw in a glass of water and repeat step two with the straw in the water. Sufficient air should be used to force air from the staw to create bubbles in the water. This step should be repeated many times until the process feels somewhat natural.
4. While the air is being forced from the cheeks, inhale quickly and deeply through the nose. While the cheeks are still slightly puffed, begin to exhale through the mouth and empty the lungs. Try to keep the air stream and bubbles as constant and even as possible. Repeat several times.
5. Repeat step four but do not empty the lungs. As the lungs begin to empty again puff the cheeks, inhale quickly and deeply through the nose. After a small amount of air has been inhaled, close the soft palate and "switch back" to air used from the lungs. Repeat several times. This is the process that is used while circular breathing.
6. Place only the mouthpiece and barrel into the mouth. Practice holding a pitch as steady as possible by alternating a normal embouchure with an embouchure with the cheeks puffed. The student will notice the firmness necessary in the corners of the mouth and support needed from the upper lip area.
7. Repeat steps four and five with the mouthpiece and barrel only inserted in the mouth. The student is likely to squeak quite a bit during these first few attempts. The student will probably notice a "bump" in the sound while changing from the sound produced by the air in the cheeks to the sound produced by the air in the lungs. This is natural. Exercises later will try to eliminate or smooth this bumb as much as possible for each individual.
8. The remainder of the instrument should now be added. It is important to begin using the entire clarinet as soon as possible. The student should not be as concerned with getting a great sound as long as one that is usable is attained.

The following exercise proves very useful in beginning circular breathing study. It is important to remember that this technique does take time to develop. Most performers takes several months of study prior to any public performance attempt.

The most workable register is the upper chalameaux. It is also easier to mask the bump in the sound if your breath during passages of moving notes. See examples 1- 3. The student is encouraged to compose other similar exercises.

The upper clarion register is the most difficult for circular breathing. Motion of the soft tissue in the mouth and throat that is involved during inhalation through the nose causes a scoop in the pitch that is very difficult to control. During the early stages of study, G on the top of the staff is the upper limit for successful circular breathing. Articulation is also difficult while circular breathing and should not be attempted until the student is very comfortable slurring.

Copyright © 1993, Dr. Robert S. Spring
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