Vertical Veggie Farms New Website

Dec. 17, 2010 Wax Bush Bean Flower
Seeds of Change

Vertical Veggie Farms now has a website and you can go there now.
verticalveggiefarms.com

You can find out why Vertical Veggie Farms are part of the leading edge of solutions for Urban Agriculture and find out why Vertical Gardening is gaining popularity.

It is snowing light fluffy snow today, Dec. 17, 2010, and to my delight, inside on my Vertical Veggie Farm, my bean plants started flowering. It won't be long before I have some nice bush beans to feed my family. My lettuce is growing really well and I am struggling with the urge to let the leaves grow bigger or to have some baby green salads. Maybe I will wait for Christmas dinner to serve the first salad, then have turkey sandwiches with fresh VVF lettuce.

Gifts for Winter: Frankincense and Myrrh

Today it is snowing a light dry powdery snow that skiers wish for and children love to brush their bulky knit mittens through; it is a beautiful winter wonderland outside. I am inside struggling with a chest cold an in an effort to make me feel better, I put some frankincense and myrrh in my vaporizer. The fragrance from these resins fills the air with an ancient spicy warmth.

Frankincense (left), Myrrh (right),
combined in vaporizer, just needs a bit of water;
can be reused until gone

The gum from these small trees or shrubs were widely used in Egypt, India, China, and North East Africa near the Red Sea Region and considered to be as valuable as gold. Frankincense and Myrrh is well known as two of the three gifts of the Magi, gifts from the Three Wise Men to the infant Jesus. The tree gums were made into an essential oil by mixing with oil or water. These plants from the Cradle of Civilization have come with us as treatments for ailments. I don't know if anyone knows how essential oils in aromatherapy works as a treatment but they have been used for millenniums.  

I didn't really think about possible uses of frankincense and myrrh until I started using essential oils. Myrrh has many uses as a therapeutic essential oil, commonly used for menstrual problems, haemorrhoids, as well as for amenorrhea, leucorrhea, pruritis and thrush. Frankincense is associated as a treatment for cystitis, dysmenorrhea, leucorrhea and metrorrhagia. When I first read that they were treated for women's genito-urinary systems, I thought, maybe the gifts weren't for baby Jesus but for postnatal Mary.

Of course these wonder gums have many other uses, one of my favourite is that they work on the respiratory system, helping to calm colds and the flu. Now every December, I bring out the frankincense and myrrh and put it in the vaporizer to not only ward off or to treat illness, but to also fill the air with the rich, ancient smells of the Middle East. I associate the smell with a connection to the rich history of mankind's ancient wisdom. It comforts me to have the same fragrance in the air that women like Cleopatra might have had. It quite simply makes me feel connected to women throughout history and I like that.

a clay vaporizer,
heated with a small votive candle

Well it wasn't until I started writing this out that I have such a strong link between scent and meaning, but there it is. I know a lot of women have strong pulls to scent; look in any product marketed to women and it will be heavily scented. Given that many artificial scents are not healthy and are sometimes even damaging, I hope that you might recognize your pull to scent and become a conscious and safe consumer of cosmetic and medical products.

Myrrh should not be used during pregnancy; avoid use around pregnant women. 


This information is not to be taken as medical advice; readers must take responsibility for their own healing, consulting a qualified practitioner when needing medical attention. 

Sources:
Lacroix, Nitya, The Scented Touch, Sebastian Kelly, Oxford UK, 1994.
Lawless, Julia, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils, Element Books, Inc. Rockport, MA, 1995.

Beeswax Candles

Beeswax Candles & leftover puck of wax
Wax courtesy of Jerremie Clyde
Photo Credit: Ursula de Vries

Making Beeswax candles is easy, pleasant and good for you and the planet.
Those of us who want to be more environmental can reduce electricity use by using candles. While participating in Earth Hour in March of 2010, I clumsily spilt hot paraffin wax all over my arm and realized that not only was I breathing in petroleum byproducts, but I was getting skin contact too. I decided then to get rid of all the paraffin and artificially scented candles and replace them with beeswax.
I was planning on getting bees so beeswax was a bonus yield along with nutritious honey and garden pollination. We plan on getting bees in the spring and won't get any beeswax until the following autumn, but I didn't want to wait to start using candles so ordered some moulds and wax from the BeeMaid Honey Online store. http://www.beemaidbeestore.com/

Beeswax straight from honey extracting with globs of honey on surface
Wax Courtesy of Jerremie Clyde
Photo Credit: Ursula de Vries

Melting Beeswax over water double boiler
Photo Credit: Ursula de Vries

Pouring beeswax into rubber mould
wick held in place with Prusik knot tied to stick
Photo Credit: Marilyn Way

I wanted to get some candles made prior to the Winter Solstice to have some natural light sources on the shortest day of the year. While checking out the exact date and time, I discovered that the burning of beeswax helps lift your mood by releasing negative ions into the air.

I knew that burning beeswax created a lovely light scent of honey in the air, but didn't even think about how fragrant the air would be while melting the beeswax. The entire house was perfumed with a sweet floral aroma that was comforting on a cold November afternoon.

When we started melting the raw wax from my beekeeper friend, (www.urbansunflower.ca) I was worried about bee legs and wings becoming part of the candle and smelling bad as it burned. As we melted the wax, most of the honey and bits of grass and bugs either floated or sunk to the bottom of the pot. We placed a bit of cheesecloth over the metal funnel as we poured the melted wax into the moulds.
I wanted to save the cheesecloth and show it to my kids after because there were bits of pupa, larva and bee parts but the wax clumped everything together and dried cloudy. I saved the ball of cloth, wax and bits for a fire starter. There was a little bit of wax leftover and we kept that for either next time or to use to make lip balm.

The wax in the candles shrunk as it cooled and was easy to pull from the moulds. When we took them out, the candles made from the raw, honey covered wax was just as beautiful as the candles made from the filtered store bought wax.

The process was pretty much an adult activity because of the temperature but the kids were buzzing around curious about this activity.

A friend of ours came over with a box of beeswax sheets and we made candles with the kids. We cut a piece of wick, laid it across one end of the sheet and pointed the hair dryer to soften the wax as the kids rolled up their own candles.

We could have added some essential oils or wax crayon peelings for scent and colour but decided to just do it natural the first time. I bet some frankincense and myrrh would have been lovely for use in the winter to ward off colds and the flu.

Beeswax candle making in silicone muffin mould
shown with metal funnel/cheesecloth strainer
Photo Credit: Ursula de Vries

Rolled Beeswax Candles
Courtesy Laurel Halladay
Photo Credit: Ursula de Vries

Completed Rolled Beeswax Candles
Photo Credit: Ursula de Vries

"Also, insufficient sunlight in the short winter days increases the secretion of melatonin in the body, throwing off the circadian rhythm with longer sleep. Exercise, light therapy, increased negative ion exposure (which can be attained from plants and well ventilated flames, burning wood or beeswax) can reinvigorate the body from its seasonal lull and relieve winter bluesby decreasing melatonin secretions, increasing serotonin and temporarily creating a more even sleeping pattern."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice