Lehman's Country Life

Urban living is no reason to give up your dirt-under-the-fingernails farmgirl fantasies. And believe it or not, February is a fabulous time to start thinking about your future garden, no matter how petite the plot will be. After all, spring is just around the corner.

The first step to growing your own goodies is great soil, and there is no better soil than that which you create yourself. If making soil sounds like it’s way out of your league, think again. You don’t need farm experience, a tractor or even a backyard. In one tiny corner of your kitchen, you can convert food scraps into compost, the most critical component of fertile soil, and it will happily nurture an amazingly productive windowsill or outdoor garden. I can hardly explain how satisfying it is to lay the groundwork of your own garden — you have to try it for yourself!
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I’m crazy about coffee, I won’t deny it. But there is something special about a hot cup of tea — something a bit subtler, something unquestionably comforting. Since it doesn’t pack the caffeine punch of coffee, tea has the power to soothe rather than rev, and there are so many tea tastes to try! Each variety of tea has its own unique healing properties. So, whether you need a simple winter warm-up or a targeted health boost, there is a tea to attend your every whim.
Tried ‘n’ True Teas
Technically, “tea” means the dried leaves of the evergreen Camellia sinensis bush, which gives us black, oolong, green and white teas. Each is processed differently in terms of wilting and fermenting in order to achieve their unique “colored” characteristics. While herbal teas like chamomile and rose hip possess a variety of virtues, only true teas contain antioxidant compounds
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I recently discovered the root of some health issues I was concerned about. I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly was troubling me. I just knew something about my body chemistry was “off.” Turns out, my thyroid was not functioning at its finest, and a simple homework exercise revealed the culprit: iodine.

Like many other women my age, I was low on this essential mineral. Even for those of us who eat a nutritious diet, it’s surprisingly easy to skimp on the daily amount of iodine we need. Deficiency doesn’t necessarily lead to the telltale goiter that is often associated with thyroid problems. It can reveal itself in rather ambiguous ways, such as dry skin, hair loss, fatigue, cold extremities and slower reflexes (a few of which I experienced). But I wasn’t comfortable resorting to pharmaceuticals to fix the problem. So often, pills only mask symptoms and end up throwing our systems further out of whack. Nor was I comfortable with chemically iodized salt, which doesn’t react in the body the same way natural iodine does.
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MARYJANE’S EVERYDAY ORGANIC

If you’ve ever paused beside a window in wintertime, warm coffee cup in hand, and watched a sprightly flock of songbirds flitting among the branches of your backyard, you have been blessed. There is no trove of precious gemstones as spectacular — or as heart-lifting — as ruby-red cardinals, lapis jays and citrine goldfinches. It doesn’t matter how gray the day, even the most weary winter spirits are bound to take wing while watching those bright and busy little bodies.
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United Feature Syndicate

MARYJANE’S EVERYDAY ORGANIC

Along with all of the wonders of the upcoming winter season comes the inevitable flu. Despite our best attempts to stay busy baking and planning celebrations, pesky cold and flu viruses often creep into our lives and put a damper on our plans. It usually starts with the sniffles, which shouldn’t be enough to waylay any party plans, but headaches, coughs and fevers can knock us down for the count. With characteristic can-do spirit, an old-fashioned farmgirl will likely face the flu with homemade chicken soup, hot tea and plenty of rest. She’ll try fresh air. She may even improvise her own neti pot using a repurposed dish-soap bottle — anything to avoid a trip to the doctor and the requisite dose of prescription pills.
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Monday, Oct. 26, 2009

United Feature Syndicate
MARYJANE’S EVERYDAY ORGANIC

There is nothing more comforting on a cold winter’s day than the lush, radiant heat of a woodstove. Its warmth soaks into your skin, and its flame enlivens a room with a presence all its own. I’ve always loved the way fire dances and illuminates, warming hearth and soul. And I continue to invite the spirit of flame into my home, even after suffering the very real nightmare of a fire that consumed my house 13 years ago. In a mid-winter cold snap, 10 below zero, a faulty new chimney spread fire up through my rafters. To this day, when I think about how close I came to losing my children, I find myself short of breath.
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The wire skeletons of old lampshades can be transformed into olive oil chandeliers using common canning jars.

Monday, Sept. 7, 2009
United Feature Syndicate

MARYJANE’S EVERYDAY ORGANIC

There’s something about gazing up into a starry night sky that is deeply soul stirring. The sight of all that infinite diamond-studded darkness has the power to erase the trappings of modern life, bringing us back to a more primal part of ourselves, a part that is still exuberantly wild.

Not so long ago, you could simply drive a few miles out of town after dark and find nighttime as nature intended it — silent shadows draping the landscape, a black canopy of limitless stars arching overhead.
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