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

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?

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
Portions Copyright © by Mark Charette, Webmaster. All articles © the respective authors. Please contact Mark Charette and the authors for reprint information. No inlining of these pages allowed.
Copyright and Warranty specifics.

Bill S 510

Shared by the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center
www.treeoflife.nu

A most dire bill is up before the U.S. Senate currently.

We are calling you to respond to this with the force of your
intentions and actions. S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of
2010, may be the most dangerous bill in the history of the US.

According to Dr. Shiv Chopra, "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."

Please write your State Senators today by going to
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=MVwn_&m=1deMBPZkOvIgPf&b=E1gEvajKF7RLLPSSfydMNg

For more information on the bill, go to
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=MVwn_&m=1deMBPZkOvIgPf&b=Z3pDRsH_B.eZUuAScZvGVg

656 Channing Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30318, USA

Plant guilds - plant communities with a purpose


The horticultural techniques used by permaculturists rely heavily on plant combinations. A guild is a harmonious assembly of plants (but it could be plants and animals) the essential characteristic being a diverse mixture (polyculture) whose elements all have a purpose. The plants are chosen to be beneficial to each other, and so it is similar to companion planting.

As with the forest garden, the design of guilds makes use of the advantages that the natural world provides such as below ground the nitrogen fixation and mycorrhizal fungi, and the dynamic accumulators such as comfrey. Above ground are flowers and berries that attract insects and birds - our natural allies in pest control. The physical structure of the guild may also allow it to provide shelter from winds and frost. It may also throw shade that could serve a purpose.

Guilds can be constructed by use of annual plants, but self-seeding tends to allow creep. Thus it is best to have a permanent plant community using perennial plants. When planting guilds, experiments and experience (observation) will tell us if it works. Plant choices can be made on their range of function (see above) but they should also be made on the particular characteristic of growth of the plant i.e. does it crowd out its neighbours by spreading aggressively? Does it expand by forming clumps, or does it spread by underground shoots or by producing a carpet? Is it stable and long lasting?

We can think of a community of plants as being a matrix having successive layers of vegetation above ground and a similar complex pattern of roots below ground (i.e. some plants have spreading roots, some have deep tap roots and others have a mat of roots in a clump). Creating plant matrices requires the ability to match plants with the habitat (i.e. soil, climate, shade etc.) and to create plant alliances that make use of the ability of plants to form mutually dependant groups. These groups occupy the ground and the space above it so successfully that intruders cannot find a way in. The closeness of planting and the eventual growing together of the different plants means that there is rarely any bare soil and so weeds are kept out. This reduces much of the work, as there is no hoeing, little ground preparation, and little need for external inputs. Because the plants form a cover, they will reduce water loss from the soil and thus the need for watering. The plants and the communities they form become the controlling factor feeding back what if any work should be done.

Establishment of a guild takes time and the character and composition of any planting changes as it develops and matures. Annuals and short-lived perennials can sometimes be used as fillers in the early stages, dying out within a few years. Woodland could be thought of as being the most completely developed guild. A micro-forest can be made mixing shrubs with perennials in mixed guilds. The shrubs can emerge like islands from the perennials, which themselves give interest before the shrub has burst into life. In fact, while we may think of a matrix as being three-dimensional, there is another dimension to consider. Different plants contribute to the matrix at different times of the year.

Two types of guilds are planted at Springfield, a community garden near Bradford. They attempt to show the integration of different plant types: Why should herbs be grown just in an herb garden, or top fruit and soft fruit all on its own? Is there a way of making pest control part of the permanent infrastructure of a vegetable garden or even amongst fruit?

PERENNIALS IN A LINEAR GUILD

Golden pea


Themopsis montana

Chicory


Chicorium intybus

Chives


Allium schoenprasum

Comfries


Symphytum spp

Common toadflax


Linaria vulgaris

Feverfew


Tanacetum parthenium

Figwort


Scrophularia nodosa

Garlic chives


Allium tuberosum

Goats rue


Galega officinalis

Greater celandine


Chelidonium majus

Green alkanet


Pentaglottis sempervirens

Ladys mantle


Alchemilla mollis

Lemon balm


Melissa officinalis

Lovage


Levisticum officinale

Lucerne


Medicago sativa

Lungwort


Pulmonaria spp

Mallow


Malva sylvestris

Marjoram


Origanum vulgare

Mints


Mentha

Musk mallow


Malva moschata

Ox-eye daisy


Leucanthemum vulgare

Red clover


Trifolium pratense

Soapwort


Saponaria officinalis

Sorrel


Rumex acetosa

Tansy


Tanacetum vulgare

Tree onions


Allium cepa var. proliferum

Welsh onion


Allium fistulosum

Yellow loosestrife


Lysimachia punctata

LINEAR GUILDS: Raised rectangular beds (1.2m wide by 9m long), separated by paths (0.6m wide) are used for vegetable growing at Springfield. A narrower bed (0.6m wide, same length) compliments pairs of vegetable beds. These narrow beds are planted up with perennials, thus forming a linear guild which is spaced throughout the whole growing area (there are two perennial beds for every six vegetable beds). The planting of the narrow, perennial beds is carried out with a number of aims in mind. First, they should attract pest predator insects, so that the beds become bug banks. Next, it makes sense to grow green mulch material right next to the vegetable beds where it is to be used (i.e. perennial nitrogen-fixers such as clover and lucerne, and the comfries). Lastly, these narrow beds are a chance to grow herbs (both culinary and medicinal) and the few perennial vegetables available to us, giving us additional produce. In all cases, whatever the purpose of the plant, it is likely that most of them contribute to pest control through the predator attraction of their flowers.

-top

ISLAND GUILDS: The second type of guild incorporates woody plants and either stands alone - as an island - or is part of a larger area of woody planting such as an orchard or forest garden. The characteristic of these guilds is a triangular planting, with one point of the triangle being a top-fruiting tree (apple, pear, plum, cherry, crab apple) and the other two points being fruit bushes (blackcurrant, gooseberry, worcesterberry etc.). The space around and within the triangle is then planted with many of the same perennials that are used in the linear guild. There may also be other woody plantings incorporated (such as flowering currant and willow) but these will be placed to the northern side of the guild so that they do not block out sunlight. Their purpose would be as early flowering shrubs that attract insects. They are likely to be managed by coppicing or pollarding.

The woody guilds are oases of mixed plantings that have similarities to a forest edge. The top fruit give height and they form the canopy. The fruit bushes, coppiced willow and flowering currant are a middle storey, and the understorey or groundcover is made up from both culinary and medicinal herbs, perennial flowers for pest predator attraction, some perennial food - and fertility for free from nitrogen fixers, micorrhizal associations and dynamic accumulators!

Mark Fisher - Permaculture Design course handout notes

www.self-willed-land.org.uk mark.fisher@self-willed-land.org.uk

IN MEMORY OF AUDIE MURPHY AND Audie Murphy's Wife


The following, is about Audie and Pam Murphy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List of Decorations for Audie Murphy.

Medal of Honor

Distinguished Service Cross

Silver Star (with oak leaf cluster)

Legion of Merit

Bronze Star (with oak leaf cluster and Valor device)

Purple Heart (with two oak leaf clusters)
UArmy Outstanding Civilian Service Medal Ribbon.jpg

U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal

U.S. Army Good Conduct Medal

Presidential Unit Citation (with First Oak Leaf Cluster)

American Campaign Medal

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (with One Silver Star,
Four Bronze Service Stars (representing nine campaigns) and one Bronze
Arrowhead (representing assault landing at Sicily and Southern France)),

World War II Victory Medal

Army of Occupation Medal (with Germany Clasp)

Armed Forces Reserve Medal

French Fourragère in Colors of the Croix de guerre

French Legion of Honor - Grade of Chevalier

French Croix de guerre (with Silver Star),

French Croix de guerre (with Palm)

Medal of Liberated France

Belgian Croix de guerre (with 1940 Palm)

Additionally, Murphy was awarded:

* Combat Infantry Badge.svg the Combat Infantry Badge,
* Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar,
* Expert Badge with Bayonet Bar

Isn't it sad the media can tell us all about the crap that goes on, but ignores the GOOD people. If a movie star or politician stubs their toe we have to hear about it for days!!!

Subject: A Great Lady Has Passed

Pamela Murphy, widow of WWII hero and actor, Audie Murphy, died peacefully at her home on April 8, 2010. She was the widow of the most decorated WWII hero and actor, Audie Murphy, and established her own distinctive 35 year career working as a patient liaison at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration hospital, treating every veteran who visited the facility as if they were a VIP.

Any soldier or Marine who came into the hospital got the same special treatment from her. She would walk the hallways with her clipboard in hand making sure her boys got to see the specialist they needed.

If they didn't, watch out. Her boys weren't Medal of Honor recipients or movie stars like Audie, but that didn't matter to Pam. They had served their country. That was good enough for her.

She never called a veteran by his first name. It was always "Mister." Respect came with the job.

"Nobody could cut through VA red tape faster than Mrs. Murphy," said veteran Stephen Sherman, speaking for thousands of veterans she befriended over the years.

"Many times I watched her march a veteran who had been waiting more than an hour right into the doctor's office. She was even reprimanded a few times, but it didn't matter to Mrs. Murphy.

"Only her boys mattered. She was our angel."

Audie Murphy died broke in a plane crash in 1971, squandering millions of dollars on gambling, bad investments, and yes, other women.

"Even with the adultery and desertion at the end, he always remained my hero," Pam told me.

She went from a comfortable ranch-style home in Van Nuys where she raised two sons to a small apartment - taking a clerk's job at the nearby VA to support herself and start paying off her faded movie star husband's debts.

At first, no one knew who she was. Soon, though, word spread through the VA that the nice woman with the clipboard was Audie Murphy's widow.

It was like saying General Patton had just walked in the front door. Men with tears in their eyes walked up to her and gave her a hug. "Thank you," they said, over and over.

The first couple of years, I think the hugs were more for Audie's memory as a war hero. The last 30 years, they were for Pam.

She hated the spotlight. One year I asked her to be the focus of a Veteran's Day column for all the work she had done.
Pam just shook her head no.

"Honor them, not me," she said, pointing to a group of veterans down the hallway. "They're the ones who deserve it."

The vets disagreed. Mrs. Murphy deserved the accolades, they said.

Incredibly, in 2002, Pam's job was going to be eliminated in budget cuts. She was considered "excess staff."

"I don't think helping cut down on veterans' complaints and showing them the respect they deserve, should be considered excess staff," she told me.

Neither did the veterans. They went ballistic, holding a rally for her outside the VA gates.

Pretty soon, word came down from the top of the VA. Pam Murphy was no longer considered "excess staff." She remained working full time at the VA until 2007 when she was 87.

"The last time she was here was a couple of years ago for the conference we had for homeless veterans," said Becky James, coordinator of the VA's Veterans History Project.

Pam wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help some more of her boys.

Pam Murphy was 90 when she died last week [in early April]. What a lady.
Dennis McCarthy, Los Angeles Times on April 15, 2010 ~


Where are we going....