dannon rhudy on sat 14 may 05
First a calcium question. I live in the hills of southwest
Indiana, and those hills are essentially limestone, with a
bit of slate, sandstone etc layered in. The water here
is very hard water, with a high calcium content. It precipitates
out when it freezes (ice cubes) and when it is boiled (tea).
I'm curious about whether the calcium while still dissolved
in the water is in a useful/available form. Should folks
from areas like this have stronger bones, etc? I ought
to know about that, but don't. Information? Opinions? Just
curious.
The rest is strictly off-topic. This spring has been a bit late,
some late frosts in April. But now the early summer is upon
us, everyone including me frantically planting gardens and
flower beds and generally crowding up the nurseries. The
deer, many and ravenous, have to be circumvented. But that's not hard. =
There's options. I have not been back here
long, a year, about. So I'm still musing on how things change
and don't change. There are a pair of foxes who have a den
under the end of the barn, and in evening the four young ones
come out and play. They are already half adult size, I'd forgotten how =
early they are born. The adults sit on a knoll
between the barn and the pond, and are not particularly wary
of people coming and going. Not a hundred feet from the foxes den a =
pair of Canada geese have hatched out seven goslings on the pond =
(despite my best efforts to discourage
them). They ignore the foxes, and if the foxes have a taste
for goslings, they have not done anything about it. Of course,
the male goose is extremely aggressive, so there is no easy
meal there. The barn cats come and go from back porch to
barn, trotting past the foxes den as though it were not there.
The deer and turkey make their daily rounds across the long
meadow and back, sometimes I see a coyote watching them.
The coyotes are here because the deer are here, but I never
see any sign that they've got one. The fawns will be born in
a couple of weeks - most are born about Memorial Day, in these parts. =
Then there'll be even more deer to contend with,
but I wouldn't want to miss the fawns......
Mushrooming has been slow, morels not so plentiful this year. Too many =
hunters; same for ginseng. Hard to let any
grow, because people feel free to trespass, take whatever they find, =
after all "there's a lot of woods, here". Last summer
some strong storms came through -took down a number of
trees. Now, the Amish are here to take the downed timber
out, make good use of it. It is disturbing to me; these woods
have not been timbered in a long, long time. So, the
woodcutters were pretty excited. Even taking just the downed trees and =
the topped ones, they're thinking maybe
300,000 board feet. They arrived yesterday with some equipment, and =
three teams of Belgian horses. They started
across the long meadow to get to the first lot of downed
timber, and got stuck almost instantly. Lot of rain, past few
days. So: they calmly got out of the truck, unloaded the
horses from the trailer, hitched two of them to the front of
the truck, pulled truck and huge trailer up the hill, and then
walked the horses back into a side meadow. The empty
truck and trailer followed meekly behind....Like Mark Twain,
I watched.=20
Got to get to work. =20
regards
Dannon Rhudy
Kate Johnson on sun 15 may 05
First a calcium question. I live in the hills of southwest
Indiana, and those hills are essentially limestone, with a
bit of slate, sandstone etc layered in. The water here
is very hard water, with a high calcium content. It precipitates
out when it freezes (ice cubes) and when it is boiled (tea).
I'm curious about whether the calcium while still dissolved
in the water is in a useful/available form. Should folks
from areas like this have stronger bones, etc? I ought
to know about that, but don't. Information? Opinions? Just
curious.
Hi Dannon...I'm not entirely sure about the scientific proof of calcium
water and bone strength, but I do believe it's beneficial, as much as other
forms or sources of calcium. I live in an old spa town, Excelsior Springs,
with "more naturally occurring types of mineral water than anyplace on earth
except Baden-Baden.> We had a thriving industry with our waters until
the 1950s, when the AMA decided to "debunk" claims, and the poor town as
been hit economically ever since. At any rate, I'd have to check into
local folks' bone mass ratio, but the water does certainly seem to be the
best there is, around here. TASTES good, too...
>Mushrooming has been slow, morels not so plentiful this year. Too many
>hunters; same for ginseng. Hard to let any
grow, because people feel free to trespass, take whatever they find, after
all "there's a lot of woods, here".
Amen to that, and here too... And thanks for your lovely, peaceful
post...there IS more to life than pottery...
Best--
Kate Johnson
graphicart@epsi.net
http://www.cathyjohnson.info/
Art, History, Nature and More at Cathy Johnson's Cafepress--
http://www.cafepress.com/cathy_johnson/
Graphics/Fine Arts Press--
http://www.epsi.net/graphic/
Cindy in SD on mon 16 may 05
Dear Dannon,
I have read that calcium has to come from an organic source in order to
be bio-available. Don't know if that's true or not. Also, that it must
be accompanied by phosphorous in order for the body to make use of it. I
do believe that is considered true, from nursing school. Scientists are
continually changing their minds on these things, however, as you may
have noticed.
We, too, are finally getting a taste of spring here, after 8 inches of
heavy, wet snow last week. It melted down into about 2 1/2 inches of
water--a veritable flood by western SD standards. We still need much
more, from the state of our pond, but at least the forest won't burn
this week. The deer have gone back into the deep woods to birth their
fawns, but birds are raising a riot, frogs are singing, and wild turkeys
strutting around. Enjoy your spring.
Best wishes,
Cindy in SD
Kate Johnson on mon 16 may 05
> Dear Dannon,
>
> I have read that calcium has to come from an organic source in order to
> be bio-available. Don't know if that's true or not.
Heh. But originally, the calcium available from these limestone sources WAS
originally organic, so how far back does that need to go?
Best--
Kate Johnson
graphicart@epsi.net
http://www.cathyjohnson.info/
Art, History, Nature and More at Cathy Johnson's Cafepress--
http://www.cafepress.com/cathy_johnson/
Graphics/Fine Arts Press--
http://www.epsi.net/graphic/
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