Anti-Inflammatory Kale & Mindfulness

Red Russian kale has reseeded itself not only in the vegetable garden, but also in other nearby beds. I have hundreds of kale plants and wish i could send you some.

As it is, i'm patiently potting them into 6-packs to take to Perennial Swappers tomorrow evening. I know from experience that a couple dozen Swappers will only take so much kale, so i'll have to compost most of the seedlings.

I am rich in kale. Kale is so rich in vitamins and minerals that it's called a superfood:

• more iron than beef
• more calcium than milk
• 10 times more Vitamin C than spinach
• incredibly anti-inflammatory (Inflammation is a major cause of heart disease.)

Mindfulness is superfood for the heart-mind because it has the ability to cut down and then replace inflammatory thoughts. The days i don't meditate are the days i become irritated at something or someone or other.

Eat more kale; it's good for the heart. Practice more mindfulness; it's good for the heart and mind.

Photo from birdsandbloomsblog.com

The Honor System

A nearby farmer loaded 26 bales of mulch hay onto my Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck. Wow! She really know how to stack hay! She did this while she as milking her handful of sweet brown Jersey cows. Every Monday, i pick up a half gallon of raw milk from her. While i'm there, i may get a dozen eggs, a pound of butter, or some cream for whipping. It's all stored in a refrigerator along with a cash box in a tiny shed, so i can go there any time of the day or night. Everyone pays on the honor system.

If you look closely, you see that we all depend on the honor system. 99.9% of our interpersonal transactions with each other are indeed honorable. We don't take what isn't freely offered. We pay our share.

We feel right when we do the right thing, when we act honorably. Our conscience bothers us when we act dishonorably. We may dismiss our little cheat with a shrug of the shoulders, and think, "They'll never notice." But WE notice. We know of our own dishonesty. We are our own judges. We charge ourselves with dishonorable conduct. No one else may ever judge us for that little, tiny cheat. But if you were dying a few hours later, would you feel absolved? Or would you feel regret and remorse?

Acting honorably puts our mind at ease.