Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Of Wheat grass juice and pure water

About 1 month ago now my 20 year old daughter and her 24 year old boyfriend came from Oregon and planned at that time to spend about 4 days with us. However, the Universe, (God) had other plans for them I guess as his oil pressure on his 1970 VW Westfalia Camper van was too low to drive so he and I and various VW mechanics he spoke with tried to help him diagnose the problem since he is something of a car mechanic by both choice and for the pure joy of knowing he can do it and doing it. After a few weeks of dead ends whenever he had time to diagnose he finally realized it needed a whole new engine because of crankcase metal filings now in the oil which was why the oil pressure had reduced so much.

So, my wife and I decided to buy them a new engine and one month later he is building a new 1600 engine from a kit (the case from Brazil and most parts machined in the U.S). He had it custom machined to do well in a vw van rather than a Bug.

One of the Bi-products of all this extra time together has been growing wheat grass. They had wanted to start doing this so one day they watched how to do it on youtube and since my wife and I had organic potting soil that we bought, we all started to grow wheat grass from organic wheat berries( the kind farmers grow wheat with to make bread). So, first they put our organic soil in flats about 1foot or more wide and about 2 feet or more long that they brought in their van for this purpose. At first we soaked the berries that are laid out on top of the organic soil with water and then left them in a dark place like a garage or closet to sprout over the next 3 days with soaked paper towels (1 layer of paper) across the seeds to maintain moisture on the seeds. After 3 days in the garage or closet or closed or dark area (or you can just put pieces of cardboard and put them in any cool place out of the sun) we then placed the now sprouting seeds outside on the redwood deck and let them grow in the sun or cloudiness(whatever outside conditions were happening). So after about 5 days(since beginning to sprout) the grass was now green and about 3 to 5 inches tall. When it got to about 7 to 8 inches tall it was ready for cutting and juicing. However, as it was growing over about 3 inches tall I was already cutting some with a knife or scissors and chewing the grass like one chews gum and then after getting all I could of the wheat grass juice that way I would then spit out the grass itself. My daughter got on the internet and ordered a hand crank wheat grass juicer and so every day for the last 3 weeks we have had wheat grass juice.

It is really amazing stuff in that it makes you feel very alive if you do it every day. However, if you have never had it before and your body and system isn't used to it it is better to drink less than an ounce of it the first time. The next day try another ounce and the third day try 2 ounces until you get used to it. When I haven't had wheat grass juice for a long time sometimes it makes me feel a little nauseous until my system gets used to it again. It is known to draw out of your body impurities like heavy metals like mercury and other things like that. Also it tends to give on a very vital feeling and if you are over 30 or 40 that vital feeling that is sort of like when you were 5 to 30 is a very nice thing. So growing Wheat berries to make wheat grass grow to make wheat grass juice is a good thing for vitality and living a happier longer life. Also, you can cut the grass twice before you have to either throw it away or plant it in your backyard or organic garden. My kids think I should let it grow until I can gather new wheat berries to grow more. However, I think it is unlikely I would let it grow that tall. But, we'll see when the time comes.

The other thing that has happened is that one day my daughter's boyfriend said to me, "Why do you use bottled water in plastic bottles? I found myself making excuses like, "Well. When I tried to use glass bottles they broke and my feet got cut getting out of my car years ago." But then I said quite frankly, "There really is no excuse now for me to continue using water from plastic bottles. It takes too much energy to remake the plastic bottles each time they have to be remade to be a plastic bottle to make it practical energy wise."

So, finally today I went to a local health food and water store and bought a glass tank with a spigot and what I believe is a 2 1/2 gallon plastic container that can be refilled with water to upend on top of the Glass tank with the spigot and filled it up with great water. My wife and I decided once I set it up to buy two more of the plastic 2 1/2 gallon water containers so we can keep two refilled and one on the tank at all times. So now we use the glass tank with the spigot for all our drinking water needs, culligan reverse osmosis water for all cooking and some drinking needs and then regular water for washing dishes and clothes and for bathing in.

Then we bought 12 oz stainless steel reusable canteens to carry with us to school or car or shopping or traveling or wherever to refill and then we only wash out all these drinkable containers with white vinegar and water. So have have converted to a new more self sustaining system that requires less energy for processing while being economically reasonable for us to continue for years.

In this way we don't have to worry about breaking glass bottles or plastic bottles having to be remade every time before new spring water is put in them every time. The only glass involved now is a stationary glass container with a spigot that we put the 2 1/2 gallon water container into and on top of as we refill them at a local water station. They said they have several kinds of water according to some people's different tastes. They even have water that they ozonate (put ozone into) as some people like that kind of taste to their water.

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