Peanut Butter

[rosyred45]

OK, Cat, the easiest thing that my HUSBAND the city slicker has grown? PEAS.

We got a couple of those patio tomato plants last year and they did great. Well, when I watered them, thank full it rained when they needed it. ;D
All you really need to do is remember to weed it and spray the bottom of the plant, NOT THE LEAVES!! to start off with, you'll fry the leaves and any of the blossoms that may be forming.
Squash, zuccini, Lima beans, spinach.

Just do a little window garden or something like that to begin with. If your soil needs acis, used old coffee grinds. and make sure to compost everything that you can that HASN"T come into contact with any kind of meat or dairy, that'll just make everything rancid.

Madison, I just want to let you know I'm thinking about you and your husband. I'll try to get a hold of a mom that I work for. One of her sons is allergic to some pretty basic stuff, but it gets complicated, soy beans-not the oil, wheat-in certain forms, peanuts-really bad suffocation reaction. And the list goes on.

I agree to go to an allergist. The one we had gone to told us that Mikey wouldn't react as severely as, say, your husband, because he doesn't show signs of seasonal allergies. I understand, but don't.

Back to cleaning
Kaiti

[catatonic]

Madison,
Even though it's a pain, your best bet is probably to keep a food diary of everything your husband eats and then note when he has a reaction to something. If he does react, go back and include ingredients, because it sounds like his problem is not with the food itself but with something ADDED to the food. Hopefully it won't take long for a pattern to emerge.

Some of the things you mentioned that I know contain MSG:
ham
canned soup - pretty much ALL of it
hamburger helper, etc. (most pkg noodle mixes)
frozen pizza
accent, seasoned salt, etc.

MSG has lots of tricky names like hydrolized vegetable protein, hydrolized anything, yeast extract, autolyzed yeast, soy protein, modified food starch, protein fortified anything, enzyme modified anything, and generally the generic term "flavoring" or "natural flavoring" is a tricky way of slipping in MSG.

Some of the things you mentioned that contain corn syrup:
ham
noodle mixes
pizza hut
some canned soup

Corn syrup has lots of tricky names too, to disguise the fact that it is EVERYWHERE. They include maltose, maltodextrin, dextrose, food starch, malt extract, fructose (not corn in and of itself, but often corn-derived), golden syrup, delta galactose lactone.

And some of the things you mentioned contain corn syrup AND msg...like canned soup, ham, store-bought pecan pie, hamburger helper.

If you're really lucky (ha ha ha ha) he's like my son and allergic to both of these things. Or he could be allergic to something completely different that's not either one of these things. Keep a food diary. It really will help you figure out the problem.

On allergy medication, my son with allergies also takes Allegra and that stuff is not cheap. Unfortunately, we haven't found anything else that works as well for him. Taking his supplements regularly helps reduce his symptoms so that there are times during the year when he can go for a couple of months without the Allegra. Then there are times when even with the Allegra he snuffling and snarfling all day long. (Like right this minute!) So I don't have any help at all on that one.

[catatonic]

Kaiti, how do you know if the soil needs acid? (We live on land that used to be a cotton farm, so I think the soil is pretty much worn out and toxic, and probably needs everything.) When you compost, can you just throw it on top of the dirt or do you have to mix it in? Do you make your compost in some kind of container? (I am not kidding when I say I have a brown thumb...actually maybe more of a black thumb! Kiss of death, that's me.)

[rosyred45]

Let's see:::::WWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY BACK when I remember my dad first starting the mountain of a compost pile, he let it sit to break down. Um, ok, a basic compost pile can be right in your back yard. An even combination of dry leaves and grass clippings left to decompose, turned every so often, will give a good quaility compost.

Then when you add things like banana peels, coffee grinds, disguards from veggies and such. they all decompose at different speeds, but the break down process speeds other processes up when wet because of the chemicals released during decomposition.

Think of the dairy farm you last drove past. The worse smelling the manure, the better the milk. At least that's what Nana used to say. ;D

It would be ok to mix the "ingredients" into the soil, but I would recommend starting with a good compost pile to begin with, that way, after about a year of it sitting (and being turned) you will have a quality that is natural and you KNOW what you put on it.

My dad has a pile that he pretty much rotates around every couple of years. He'll use one end and toss everything else one the other, then everyone brings their leaves and clippings to dump on there if they want to. Next year, he'll go to the middle, and so on and so forth.
I don't think it'll hurt anything if you turn your disguards directly into the soil, but I wouldn't recommend it. I sorta tried that this past summer actually. Yesterday when I went to start springing up my flower bed, I still had tomato skins and corn cobs right there where I left them, even though I had turned them a few times, it wasn't hot enough (DUH) to allow it to break down apprpriately.

They do sell composting bins, just don't use anything wooden unless you would like to replace it in a few years because it'll rot out. I'll try to explain more later if I can
Kaiti

[Madison]

Roseyred is RIGHT on track on making your own compost pile! Just try and block in a small area and LOAD it up with leaves, clipping, ANYTHING like that from around the yard and left over FOOD can be thrown in there and it makes WONDERFUL/SOFT compost for planting ANYTHING! My mother in laws is about 4ft accross and 4ft high.

We farm and YES soil can be striped of vitamins, etc. the BEST way to find out WHAT your soil needs is map out your area where your garden will be and take SAMPLES (small) and mix them together and your local fertilizer/ag service/FSA can tell you were you can send it in to be checked on WHAT it needs via vitamins. Adding GOOD compost to any garden area will GREATLY benifit your garden SOIL! Soil can be so stripped of the vitamins that it needs to make a good garden. We rotate our field crops due to that. Alot DON'T and via bean it to death or corn it to death or wheat it to death and that strips the ground! We use liquid vitamins for ALL our farm ground. It's EXPENSIVE but he see's a BIG difference in crop production do to this process. NATURAL vitamins like manure/animal waste...IS THE BEST but we don't have access to alot of that so it's BOUGHT through a liquid fertilizer company. Straw helps soften soil so it's not so brick HARD for a garden! My in laws do HUGE gardens and they are wonderful but ALOT of WORK!!!!!!!! I use to do a pretty nice garden but QUIT once that 3rd baby came. I just didn't have the energy to do one anymore and I'm not a garden person. That's one of my downfalls. I'm more....BUY...it at the store and thats why my husband is having alot of allergic reactions to MOST of this store bought stuff. mY downfall but maybe I'll start it back up again??

Cat...can't thank you enough on your response...that was going to be my NEXT question to you "What are the other names?" I appreciate your TIME AND EFFORT to my questions!

take care and thanks again!! Madison

[rosyred45]

Thank you Madison, to add to your bit about rotating crops: DON't bag up grass clippings or leaves. Run the mower right over them until they are a size you don't mind looking at. That saves you the hassle of raking and dumping bags of stuff. Also saves the landfills or dumps, whichever your stuff is taken to.

My husband runs the mower about 3-4 times over the grass to get it to start the decomposition. You'll need to do it more if the grass is wet.

Dad has done the crop rotation thing, although he only gardens about an eighth of an acre, well, more like a quarter, because he uses mom-mom's back yard too. But he does it all with his Troy-built. He's got a little bit of everything.

Just thinking about it. the minerals and stuff are comparable to a box of crayons. If you use all of the green up, you can't use green anymore until you put another in. If you use a few colors at a time, you won't use up one as quickly.

OK, stupid, but....
Kaiti

[catatonic]

Thank you for your help Kaiti and Madison. In the past, the only thing I've been able to grow successfully is chile peppers, and you can only eat so many chile peppers. I'm going to take a soil sample to a friend who is a USDA field something-or-other and see if there's any hope for it. In this section of New Mexico/Texas the soil is more known for its cactus and cow patties than for anything humans can consume, but I just can't believe I'm unable to grow ANYTHING. I think forgetting to water and not having time to weed contribute to the problem I'll try the peas and beans and squash and see what happens. Do you think a big outdoor trash can would work for making compost?

[Madison]

Cat...
Yes that would be a great start to a compost pile. You can rake ALL your grass clipping in there along with anything else you've trimmed around in your yard. That's GOOD idea about talking to your friend and ask him "What plants grow best around your area?" They could give you some ideas. I just watched a show about doing a garden ALL in containers! I do know about growing potatoes in a 5 gallon bucket. That's worth a try too for something different.

take care...madison

[rosyred45]

This weekend, my husband bought a ph reader from agway. He's more of a country boy at heart than I thought. He's planting some food plots at a club we go to and the soil in the areas he chose were right at the level that he needed for the seed.

Back to the peanut butter though, I still haven't figured anything out, Mikey has been "off" kilter for the past couple of days w/out peanut butter, does that make sense?

Kaiti

[catatonic]

Kaiti, it makes perfect sense to me. I see the same thing with my boy sometimes and it's making me crazy trying to figure out what the problem is. There seems to be a relationship between tree pollens (juniper and elm) and mystery reactions in my son, but I'm not certain. Maybe a regular allergist could help detect a possible seasonal allergy problem.

Is there anything else besides peanut butter your son is eating on a daily basis that could be causing the problem? Does he buy junk food at school, or soda? Have you switched brands on something he eats a lot of? Changed brands on vitamins? Stopped giving him something you normally give him?

Logic tells you there ought to be a reason if you see a change in behavior. That doesn't mean you can FIND the reason. It's hugely frustrating. Especially since you need a chemistry degree to figure out what you're eating half the time.

Just an example...do you check your food labels for ascorbic acid? I don't. Ascorbic acid is basically Vitamin C and I'd consider it a "good" food additive, certainly not one I'd be looking for. Without some rather extensive and time-consuming reading, I would never have known that virtually all ascorbic acid (and virtually all Vitamin C) is derived from corn. My boy can't do corn. He was having mystery reactions due to products containing ascorbic acid, because of its corn content, tiny as it is. I might never, ever, ever have figured it out if he hadn't had a very strong negative reaction to a Vitamin C supplement I started him on.

One thing that's helped me a lot is keeping a food diary. I write down everything my son eats. With vitamins, I include brand names every time I buy something new. I also add whether pollen level is high/med/low and what the major allergens are. (This information is easy to get, tailored to your zip code, from www.weather.com/activities/health/allergies/ )

I tend to be sloppy about this when things are going well. I've learned the hard way that the information is important for the good times, too.

[rosyred45]

I haven't had a food diary for quite some time, but I think I'll start it a again. We're actually on our way to the store right now so get some vitamins. I don't know a lot about them except what i have read here, so for now I'm just looking at the prices. Making sure what is what for about how much.

Wonder bread is what we have been using, if that makes a difference with the white flower or not I don't know. Other than that, he hasn't had anything that was different. He's not allowed to buy snacks at school, but that doesn't mean he doesn't get shared with ...

Off to the store, any advice would be greatly appreciated for the vitamins and stuff.
Kaiti

[catatonic]

I think it's really important to avoid vitamins that contain artificial flavors and artificial colors. That's always my first concern. I buy a lot of "Now" products because they are among the most affordable (a pretty important reason!), are a reputable brand with government certification of the quality of their contents, and always provide a list on the bottle of potential allergens that are or are not included. So, for example, I know that if the package says "Contains no soy, yeast, egg, dairy, wheat, artificial colors, flavors or preservatives" that it DOES contain corn, since corn is not listed. You also want to get a multi with trace minerals and if possible enough of the B-vitamins, Vitamin E and Vitamin C to avoid having to use separate supplements. It's nice if one-a-day doesn't end up as five-a-day! I avoid any Kirkland or Sam's or WalMart brands because they use a variety of suppliers, are unable to provide specific information on the products, and do not give any quality assurances. That makes me uncomfortable. Ordering on-line is very economical, if you're not in a huge hurry. The best prices I've found are at www.herbaladvisor.com although their shipping tends to be a bit unpredictable. www.iherb.com is more expensive but carries better Omega-3 brands and their shipping is fast.

[rosyred45]

Well, I figure I'm going to be a guinea pig before I try things with Mikey.

As I'm reading the rest of this bottle here, your probably going to scream. It's Spring Valley Natural Super B-Complex in a base of yeast and liver. I just love all the Other ingredients, so to keep your sanity, I won't list them, since I can barely pronounce them.

HMMMM Do you think Bryer's Ice Cream can start making a vitamin? ;D That would aste pretty good come to think of it.

Any how. It's manufactured by Weider Nutrition Group for Salt Lake City, Utah. Oh I see, as I remember, you said corn is a dirivative when in absorbic acid. Oppsy, there that is, but what about soy lecithin? OK, let me bang my head against a wall and not take hubby with me to buy things for the first time. He's always in such a rush, I totally missed the stupid label fine print.

Yeah, I'm doing good. Now I feel like a total idiot. Oh, pooh, I'm going to look at those sites you put up.

Thanks,
Kaiti