Skillet cornbread! Cooking with cast iron With nonstick cooking surfaces proving toxic, cast iron is back in fashion.  It lasts through generations with minimal maintenance - a real old-fashioned success story. 10 Reasons to try cast iron Vegetarian cast...

The last of the summer squash Changing seasons In New Zealand, we are leaving summer for winter.  Many of you will be enjoying the opposite transition.  But it all comes around again as we wear shorts while barbecuing Christmas...

I'm now well into my stage 2 study of Diseases of Affluence from Dr T Colin Campbell's Certificate in Plant Based Nutrition  and it's really ramping up.  But here's another installment of the thought-provoking discussion from the first stage,...

It couldn't happen again.  Could it? This week, the European Union is voting on whether to lift the ban on feeding animal by-products to pigs, chickens and farmed fish. Why, oh why? The discussion is not based on any...

  I'm thrilled to have passed the first stage of Dr T Colin Campbell's Certificate in Plant Based Nutrition! I've corresponded with students all over the world searching for nutrition enlightenment for a fascinating variety of reasons.  I've also viewed...

I'm well on my way to finishing the first of three segments to the Certificate of Plant Based Nutrition, content thanks to Dr T Colin Campbell.  It's been rewarding to learn what Dr Campbell has chosen as the essence...

                                     Protesting at the WTO  How do we remain positive and remain effective activists? The world has far more things that need fixing that we could ever address, and news sources revel in the awful.  Good news is hard...

That's forty years, not kilometres or miles.  I know a bicycle can easily do forty, but I've fallen in love with my grown up sized kick scooter. It's cool, fast, and super green to scoot!  Robbie Williams and Jude Law...

Now that I've covered outer space exploration, why not look at space on Earth? As an aspiring minimalist in a world of excess and extremes, I know that empty spaces represent both conscious choices and hard work.  Without attention,...

It's all too easy for the life of a SAHM to slip into a rut.  But it's time for some ch-ch-changes! Nutrition courseI've been messing about with being vegan for about 15 years now and learning a lot about it,...

Sir Elton John's new baby Zachary is being fed mother's milk - expressed and sent via plane! As a vegan parent, breastfeeding advocate, and environmentalist, I feel like Reb Tevye who wrestles with tradition against personal choices within his...

It's Easter!  Or if it isn't in your time zone yet, it soon will be.Just like Christmas, we again ponder the contrast between the religious origins of this holiday and the modern interpretations.  In countries all over the world, we...

I finally got to put my brilliant plan into action! Late last year, I stopped passively accepting unsolicited visitors wasting my time with their agendas.  I've agendas of my own to spare.  So I prepared myself with my own...

Our New Family Members After sadly farewelling our longtime family pets in 2008, we were finally ready to welcome some new furry babies into the house.  We wanted our cats to be friends with each other and with our children,...

Mothers giving milk? La Leche League International has grown since 1956 from a group of seven mothers to a highly reputable worldwide organisation with unparalleled achievements in promoting breastfeeding as the normal and healthy way to feed babies -...

How long should a child breastfeed? The World Health Organization recommends 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding and continued breastfeeding with the addition of appropriate complementary foods until at least 2 years of age. Most women in Western societies do not...

I challenged health advocates to join a push against food advertising.   How can we start? I want simple food labels.  I want to see just what is in the package.  I want my grandmother to be able to read it,...

Retire the USDA guidelines? This article states the truth - that the USDA guidelines are so corrupted by food business interests that they bear embarrassingly little resemblance to actual nutrition science.  Therefore, why spend taxes and effort on negotiating, writing,...

Barriers to becoming vegan: I know, I know... No meat? No fish? No eggs? No cheese? No milk? What do I eat now?  My family would kill me. And then eat me. So here's some help.  I'm not a recipe...

I am a grade B geek.  Maybe a B+.  I've watched Star Trek, Dr Who (Tom Baker is the best, and Jon Pertwee was very short with me at a convention), and NOVA for decades.  I'm very well acquainted...