8/19/2008
8:04 am
ECOKY.COM LIVING GREEN IN THE BLUEGRASS!
With everyone’s eyes on our human impact
on the environment, people must reconsider
their lifestyles down to every last drop of oil,
and every last drop of water we waste, in order
to help make global change a reality.
ECOKY.COM offers some ideas in recycling,
reusing, and reducing our carbon footprints.
and fertile, nutrient rich soil–more than
ideal for farming and growing organic food.
Some
‘old ways’ of farming, meaning they choose
to grow fruits and vegetables and raise
livestock without pesticides and hormones.
These qualities are the standards for which
food is labeled ‘organic.’
Many decades ago, corporations and the
powers that be introduced pesticides and
animal hormones to farmers in order to
increase their product yield. This practice,
studies have shown, has many detrimental
effects on the human system, including
cancer, obesity, and birth defects, to name a
few. Corporations and their teams of scientists
have also done well to develop and implement
preservatives and other hazardous ingredients,
which are put into foods and body products in
order to ensure increases in revenue by means
of addicting consumers to their products.
The media has inundated the general public
with inflated images of a lifestyle full of
unnecessary luxuries. We don’t need all of
these products as seen in countless
advertisements. We don’t need life to be ANY
easier than it already is. Seriously. If life gets
any easier, why even have a body? The bottom
line is this: Our bodies need nutritious,
wholesome foods and exercise in order to work properly.
Some might say that Kentuckians seem to
have few choices for a healthy lifestyle and
healthy foods with the majority of the
state’s population residing in rural
communities, where Wal-Mart, McDonald’s,
and a handful of other fast food restaurants,
are the only choices for supplies and outings.
But that’s what they want you to believe.
These corporations want to be your only choice,
Your everything. The truth is, Kentuckians do
have a choice. Granted, to unearth these alternatives,
it takes a little more effort than jumping in
your car and driving to Wal-Mart or the
nearest drive-thru, but the results are much
more rewarding and healthier for you and
your family.
these corporate powerhouses pumping us
full of hormones and chemicals–farmers
markets have sprung up across the state
offering fresh and organic produce and
natural products in the late spring,
summer, and fall months! Farmers’ markets
are a wonderful weekly and sometimes
bi-weekly event in which people can support
local business and their communities.
Farmers’ markets are also a great way to
become active in your community, bouncing
healthy ideas and practices off of others. At many
of these open markets, people offer other
services and products, including body care
homeopathic, natural remedies, tinctures,
and tonics, as well as alternative medicine
practitioners.
A Briefing on Holistic Medicine
Until modern medicine and the excessive
‘pill cure-all’ era became the solution, people
in the
is now called ‘alternative’ medicine. Often
times, people would do whatever they could
with their cultural knowledge of home
remedies before seeking the professional
help of a western medicines doctor. Some
Kentuckians still use a few of these natural
home remedies for ailments here and there,
but the number is dwindling as we watch
Kentucky’s cultural and oral heritage slowly
become replaced with T.V.
Elders in the area still have a memory full of
homeopathic remedies–the plants to use,
where to find these plants, and what to do with
the plants. The only way to prevent this
knowledge from being lost with their generation
is to take an active role in obtaining the knowledge.
Alternative medicine doctors, however,
make it their business to know everything
from these such homeopathic solutions, to
indigenous medicinal uses of plants, to
Chinese medicine. Many people around the
world are finding that alternative medicines
are much more effective than modern
medicine under many circumstances (except
of course, serious terminal illnesses
requiring surgery).
It may seem, at times, slightly elusive to
consumers, but organic products, homeopathic
vendors, holistic practitioners, and natural
remedies are right in their backyard. A great
way to find out more is to dig deeper and do
some research on the internet, talk to an elder
in your community, visit your local farmers’
market, and peruse some of the carefully
selected, earth friendly links we’ve
provided you here at ECOKY!
Things to Consider: The Benefits
of Buying and Eating Local:
1. You know where the food is coming from
and you are supporting your friends and
neighbors. In communities like
produce farmers live right down the way–’as
the crow flies.’
2. The vegetables and fruits are grown on
the same soil that your children play, and the
plants drink the same water you drink.
3. Less waste. For many big business food
distributors, shipping their products from their
farms, to their warehouses, to their stores
etc, means a considerable amount of gas
and natural resource consumption. I think what
many of us forget to visualize is that to ’ship’
items mean just that–distributors have to put
them on a boat or on a gas-guzzling truck to
get a bag of tomatoes or a package of berries
to us. There are a substantial amount of
resources saved by buying local!
4.
seasons in the nation. With rainy, mild
winters, and an ecosystem which supports a
variety of flora and fauna,
ideal place to grow just about anything–
bamboo grows here, and the soil is so full of
nutrients, the grass is blue! It doesn’t get much
better than that!
Natural Remedies and Homeopathic Ideas:
We would like to let those of you who don’t
know and remind those of you who may
have forgotten, about a few of our favorite
homeopathic cures and treatments.
Here they are!
1. Dermatitis and Neem Oil–Anti fungal, and
antibacterial, great for topical treatments,
balancing skin, and the treatment of contact
dermatitis, i.e., poison ivy and oak. We
Recommend
Soaps, Neem Oil Soap. Find them on the
web at www.backcountrysoaps.com
2. Dry Skin and Hemp Products–A perfectly
balanced oil, hemp is my personal favorite
skin moisturizer. It is extremely effective,
because it is rich in Omega-3, and the
plant’s natural oils soak into the skin and
are even water resistant, so the lotion wont
wash right off. And its not greasy like many
other lotions. We recommend ecoky.com
3. Allergies and Local Honey–A delicious
and effective way to cure and prevent
allergies. Local honey means to eat the
honey produced from bees in your region.
The secret is, bees use pollens to make
honey from the flowers and plants in your
area, which cause your allergies. Eating the
honey local bees provide helps your body
build up histamine, a natural chemical in the
body which causes allergic reactions. This
remedy works like a flu shot against the flu.
4. Problem Skin and Tea Tree Oil–This is
another natural antiseptic. Tea tree oil has
many uses, including blemishes, balancing
skin, athlete’s foot, and dermatitis. We
recommend Desert Essence Tea Tree Oil.
5. Ear Aches and Sweet Oil–Also known as
olive oil, sweet oil draws bacterial, water,
and other ear clogging materials away from
the eardrum and out of the ear. This was an
essential when I was a child. My mother
swears by it, because it works!
6. Poison Ivy and Baking Soda/White
Vinegar Paste–Mix together, apply to affected
area, and leave to dry. This paste cools the itch
and burn of contact dermatitis immediately.
Oatmeal baths also help soothe itchy dermatitis.
7. Sunburn and Apple Cider Vinegar–Soak a
brown paper bag in apple cider vinegar, and
then place over sunburned area. A friend
claims the vinegar draws out the burn by the
next morning! Aloe Vera, which you can
easily grow in your home, is also a nice
supplement to this treatment. We
recommend growing your own aloe!
We hope that these simple homeopathic remedies help.
However, to better serve you and our community by and large,
we need your help!
Please feel free to email us with your favorite
homeopathic treatments, so we may share
them with the community. Your input helps
our community and environment become
healthier and more holistic!
We look forward to expanding our database
of homeopathic remedies and creating an open forum
for Kentuckians to share their knowledge,
cultural heritage, and green living tips with
each other. Email us with your ideas!
Soon To Come: Natural Healing Properties
of Foods!
And Recipes!
If there are any upcoming alternative
energy events, music and/or holistic
festivals, etc, you feel the community would
benefit from, please pass it along so we can
spread the word, here at ECOKY.COM!
“You can’t change the world, but you can
make a dent.”-D.T.S.
