Happy New Year everyone, This is the morning of the 31st, and last night I for the first time in a week went to bed, fell asleep easily, and dreamed effortlessly as usual after a nightmarish week that resulted from my taking the cough suppressant dextromethorphan. This was because I took Robitussin DM due to a well-meaning neighbor worried about my post-nasal drip induced dry cough when I'd speak suggested it. After the sleep and energy level problems started I looked on-line and saw warnings NOT on the box.....taken more than a few times it disrupts Circadian rhythms, raises brain levels of serotonin, completely destroys sleep patterns, wipes out REM sleep altogether.... one of THE worst things I've ever experienced! I stopped taking it six days ago, and used instructions I found in-line for sublingual doses of melatonin at sun down to re-establish Circadian rhythms for two nights. And the up to twelve HOURS of insomnia each night were sheer hell...my body paralyzed in that they called "hypnotic insomnia" where I could not move my body while my mind RACED...not even really sleeping yet could not open my eyes. And the next day I'd feel SO TIRED and listless. I can't believe this stuff is sold off the shelf! And I was stunned to see websites advocating using overdoses of it to get off recreationally! Effortless sleep has been a part of my entire life, so this experience was sheer hell. For the cough I'll just use lemon juice and honey and menthol drops as this has been a mind boggling experience. I've now heard reports like mine from folks I know here in Tampa,including huge mood swings day time. ( I got real grouchy after a few days). I want to share this as this is the time of year when people catch a lot of colds, and here in Florida people like me get lots of allergies (in my case certain outdoor allergies plus my cat Shadow). This chemical is in Robitussin and in several brands of Coricidin, and when I was scanning for it on-line I was saddened to see that each year it kills several young children by stopping their hearts. They say "never to say never" but I will NEVER take it again! John

My yard has tons of dropped aerial tubers of true yams (I'm guessing Dioscorea alata and D. esculenta) that I don't want to sprout, hundreds of ripe pods of Velvet Beans (Mucuna pruriens), plus my huge plant of edible glochid-free Opuntia cochenillifera is now shading my back door veggies. Covered in salted water, they simmered a half hour or so, lid on, before cooling, were drained, then dumped into a big Pyrex dish. I love the yams huge underground tubers fried or boiled, but the aerial tubers have an unpleasant texture and musty taste. The chickens ate the cactus pads first, then the Velvet Beans, then the aerial tubers. Next batch I will add a LOT more cactus pads chopped small with a big knife on a cutting board. John

Never would I have thought I'd still be picking muscadine grapes on December 20th in Tampa!

For years I and others have noticed that seeds taken from a named variety of papaya, like 'Caribbean Red', usually give seedlings with equally good fruit, but seeds taken from THOSE fruit can give small, bland tasting, often seedless fruits useful only as a green veggie. I've got two self sown plants out front, likely fourth or fifth generations from 'Caribbean Red', that are giving me small but very flavorful sweet fruits.

My turkey pot pie was a failure.....way too bland, crusts too thick. Luckily I had little money in it. I just fed it to the chickens.

About every ten days I fill my largest stainless steel soup pot with water, add approx. 1/2 cup each of dried hawthorn leaves and flowers, powdered hawthorn fruit (Crataegus laevigata) and Jamaican Cranberry (Hibiscus sabdariffa) and slowly bring it up to a gentle boil, then let it cool overnight. Next day I decant it into fruit juice bottle.....I don't strain as 99% of the herbs sink to the bottom of the pot. I add no sweetener as it tastes mild and tart, but I can imagine someone adding honey and lemon to serve over ice a few times a day...I just take a gulp out of the bottle a few times daily. Both herbs have been used for centuries to control high blood pressure (mine is not terrible, just a little high) and even to this day in Europe the hawthorn is used to control irregular heart beat. I've had irregular heartbeat since my thirties, but my blood pressure monitor has a built in indicator for irregular heartbeat and shows I've eliminated 2/3s of mine. I'm sharing this as I know quite a few people with these two issues, and often have bad side effects from artificial drugs, especially the statins that often attack leg muscles, which they did to my Dad and now is doing to my new neighbor Paul whose quads are now permanently cramped. I'm not a doctor but do like sharing health tips that work for me. I get the hawthorn on-line cheap, just $9 a pound, and Mary Mac got me the hibiscus cheap at SANWA Market in east Tampa...next time someone shops for me there I'll ask them to get me the BIG bag.

Today I started a double batch of this again, but since I forgot to buy carrots I used a few cups of organic carrot juice, and since the beets were small I used three. I added a few tablespoons of Greek Gods plain kefir for the bacteria. I also added for the first time Korean hot pepper flakes used for kimchi making. Past batches I fermented outdoors in a semi-shaded relaxing area for three weeks, a clean wash cloth held on with a rubber band.

http://www.aartibatavia.com/blog/carrot-beet-probiotic-beverage-aka-gajar-beet-ki-kanji/