A better mower for the money

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Read a MOTHER interview with Dr. Richard Firshein about "Nature's Mood Boosters" (May, 2000) for expert advice on St. John's wort, ginkgo, kava-kava, tyrosine and SAM-e.

Someone recently asked me how much chlorine (bleach) to add to stored drinking water to keep it safe. 1 am a registered pharmacist and was asked this question by a customer who was outfitting his home with a supply of water (in case the Y2K bug actually happens in 2001 instead). I am not sure that 1 agree with this storage idea. Do you have any suggestions?

LARRY YOUNG

Sorry to hear that the vastly overdone Y2K hype alarmed your good customers. We tried hard to tell everyone that the sky was actually not likely to fall, but there were clearly some holdouts. Nonetheless, storing an emergency water supply is a good idea for anyone who is dependent on a municipal water supply or public electric grid-powered well pump and has experienced some supply problems in the past. Our favorite food- or water-preservation authority, Dr. Shirley VanGarde from Oregon State University, advises us to use a name-brand bleach (we use Clorox) that contains at least 5.25% sodium hypochlorite. (Sometimes, makers of no-name brands have been known to skimp on this prime ingredient.) According to Dr. VanGarde, you should add two drops of bleach per quart of water, eight drops per gallon and 1/2 teaspoon per five-gallon container. Tell your customers to cap the bottles tightly and to store them on their sides, as free chlorine from the bleach can evaporate due to a loose cap. Before use, aerate the water to remove any chlorine taste. Chlorine from the bleach will dissipate quickly and naturally in the high heat of cooking, and the residual sodium is negligible.

I hear about the virtues of Juicing" all the time. Is it as wonderful as claimed? Can it cure disease and restore youth? I have my doubts. What is the difference between juicing" oranges and squeezing or eating an orange? Eating or juicing a carrot? Do you really need the juicing machines that are peddled on TV?

JAN
Cloverdale, Indiana

People have enjoyed and benefited from drinking fruit and vegetable juices for ages - fresh-squeezed orange juice and pressed raw-apple cider, cooked tomato juice and carrot nectar. Even vitamin C-rich sauerkraut juice was used to prevent scurvy onboard early sailing vessels on extended voyages. More recently, natural health stores have offered freshly extracted raw carrot juice and all manner of other produce, including the green, weed-flavored juice derived from wheat grass (truly an acquired taste). These are touted as a quickly consumed and digested natural vitamin-mineral tonics. No argument there.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print