Getting close to nature by feeding wild birds in winter helps both us
and them weather the cold months.
You don’t need a fancy feeder. Stale crumbs on a window sill will
attract birds, but if you want to attract a variety of birds or
specific ones, you will need to set out different seeds with a high
concentration of oil. Birds need the oil and calories, especially in
winter. Store the seeds in a tin can in a dry, cool place.
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Wheat seed will attract snow buntings. Set out sunflower seeds to
attract blue jays, cardinals, woodpeckers, crossbills and grosbeaks.
Suet, the hard, dry white beef fat, should be placed in a mesh bag and
hung against a large tree for woodpeckers or in mid-air for chickadees.
Chickadees and most other birds like cracked corn or suet. For more
information, contact www.
sdh.sk.ca/inmotion.
Bird watching is a relaxing and stress-reducing activity. Other
activities that make winter fun are a walk, winter sports and snow fort
building. When working and playing outdoors in winter, the
participaction website suggests you do the following:
- Drink water before and after a winter workout. Dehydration is common
because of the water you lose sweating and warming the air you breathe.
- Wear a hat, since heat is lost through the head.
- Mitts are warmer than gloves.
- Wear layers that can be removed once your body has heated up.
Physical activity also reduces stress in a number of ways. It promotes
relaxation, helps improve your mood, and builds self-esteem and
confidence. It also provides a time when you can think and be alone
with your feelings and thoughts and work through problems.
Sorting out thoughts
Creative outlets also achieve reflection. Painting, working with your
hands and journalling all contribute to well being. The book The
Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron gives an excellent guide to writing pages
each morning. These help to focus and bring out what is really on your
mind.
The author suggests writing three pages of whatever comes out without
judging, correcting or rereading. Just write what is on your mind and
you will be surprised at the insights you gain. I have done three
months of journalling and really miss it when I neglect to do it first
thing in the morning.
The writing doesn’t seem quite as helpful to me later in the day.
Cameron suggests that our conscious and unconscious activity in our
sleep affect what we write.
Another of her concepts is the artist’s date. This seems harder for me
to keep. This is a two hour period once a week where you go off by
yourself and do something such as visit an art gallery, paint or browse
in a library. As a student, library browsing is common for me, but I
don’t think that counts.
Ways of communicating
Another book that I have recently read is Water the Flowers, not the
Weeds, a book about solution-focused communication by Fletcher Peacock.
He is sometimes referred to as a professor of happiness. I listened to
him give a presentation on family, personal and professional
communication and relationships. He said that each of us has a unique
way of communicating. His method emphasizes the strengths and the
resources of each individual that permit him to make his way through
the normal ups and downs of life, thus watering the flowers, not the
weeds.
Peacock provides suggestions and techniques for us to improve our
important relationships. His strategies focus on team building,
conflict resolution, managing change, better working relationships and
stress management. A mistake is an opportunity to learn.
Peacock recommends finding mutually satisfying solutions for everyone,
encouraging better co-operation and transforming problems into
opportunities for success.
For more information contact 514-495-3699 or e-mail
solutionl@videotron.ca. Leave a message and he will call you back.
The website address is www.fletcherpeacock
communicationsolutions.com.
The humble vegetable
TEAM Resources received a new cookbook by Samuel Hofer, entitled A
Passion for Sauerkraut – The Humble Vegetable for Good Health.
Hofer is known for his books about Hutterite life and cookbooks
featuring borschts, perogies and dumplings. Since making his own
sauerkraut three years ago, Hofer has developed a passion for this
preserved vegetable.
Preserved cabbage has been a boon to countless people for many
centuries. During the building of the Great Wall of China, preserved
cabbage, which is abundant in vitamin C, was a common part of workers’
meals.
In the 18th century, captain James Cook carried almost 8,000 pounds of
sauerkraut on his ship, enabling him to sail around the world without
losing a single man to scurvy. When Eastern Europeans immigrated to
North America, they brought their traditional diets with them.
For many, sauerkraut was important for their survival, especially
during the months when fresh fruit and vegetables were not available.
Hofer says many people assume that sauerkraut is used only in common
ways such as a topping for hot dogs, filling for Rueben sandwiches,
sauerkraut borschts or sauerkraut with sausages.
“Sauerkraut can be used in endlessly creative ways,” Hofer said. “Since
I rediscovered sauerkraut, I’ve cooked with it almost every day, trying
recipes from traditional fare to Greek-style chicken with sauerkraut,
sauerkraut pizza, krauted chili and sauerkraut custard pie. Sauerkraut
is like onions and garlic – it brings pizzazz to your food. Truly,
there’s more to this unsung hero of whole foods than I ever realized.”
Hofer’s book describes how to make your own sauerkraut, and has more
than 230 recipes in which sauerkraut is used as an ingredient,
including breads, appetizers, desserts and drinks.
Kraut stuffed apples
6 apples
31/2 cups sauerkraut, 875 mL
rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped walnuts 50 mL
1/4 cup chopped raisins 50 mL
1/4 cup brown sugar 50 mL
sugar, cinnamon, or
graham cracker crumbs
sour cream
Wash apples and core to leave a good cavity. Peel skin 1/2 inch (one
cm) down from the top.Mix sauerkraut, walnut, raisins and brown sugar.
Fill apple cavities with mixture.
Place in a buttered casserole and sprinkle tops with sugar, cinnamon or
graham cracker crumbs. Top each apple with a dollop of sour cream.
Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 30 to 50 minutes, or until tender.
For more information on A Passion for Sauerkraut, e-mail
sjhofer@sprint.ca/, call 306-242-8162, visit the website located at
www.hoferpublishers.com or write to Hofer Publishers, Box 9784,
Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 7G5. The cookbook sells for $21.95.
Not just a beverage
For all you Coca-Cola lovers, here are some more uses for your drink:
- To clean a toilet, pour a can into the toilet. Let the “real thing”
sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes
stains from vitreous china.
- To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers, rub the bumper with a
crumpled-up piece of aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.
- To clean corrosion from car battery terminals, pour a can over the
terminals to bubble away the corrosion. It will also clean road haze
from your windshield.
- To bake a moist ham: Empty a can into the baking pan, wrap the ham in
aluminum foil and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished,
remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a
brown gravy.
A friend sent me these household hints about Bounce, the stuff you use
in your dryer:
- Repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a belt loop when
outdoors during mosquito season.
- Soap scum dissolves from shower doors when cleaned with a used sheet
of Bounce.
- Prevent thread from tangling by running a threaded needle through a
sheet of Bounce to eliminate the static cling on the thread before
sewing. It also eliminates static cling from pantyhose, venetian blinds
or a TV screen.
- Clean baked-on food from a cooking pan. Put a Bounce sheet in the
pan, fill with water, let sit overnight and sponge clean. The
anti-static agents weaken the bond between the food and the pan while
the fabric softening agents soften the baked-on food.
- Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of Bounce will
attract all the loose hairs.
- Deodorizer: Place a sheet of Bounce in shoes or sneakers overnight so
they’ll smell great in the morning.
