This is an interesting Guest Article by Peter D Gardner (see Links at end of article). Flying Foxes are unique to Australia. They are fascinating creatures and have been of great interest (to me) ever since I became aware of them almost a decade ago. This species, due to climate and habitat change, are at...
Heart Disease, Cholesterol, Statins & More
Over the years, many hours have been spent looking into health issues and sharing articles and videos on both my website and social media on one of the world's #1 killers - "heart disease". This is simply a collection of articles and videos which have been highly beneficial to my family. If you are searching...
Pest Alert : Marmorated Stink Bug in BC
What is a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug? They arrived in the province of BC in approximately 2015 so are a newer invasive species and Fall is the time of year they are looking for somewhere to winter over. As I have no knowledge or experience with these bugs it is a huge learning curve. This...
Hamburger & Bacon Soup ... Hmmm So Tasty
Hamburger soup with a little added bacon makes it special and tasty. Here is a recipe which uses reasonably priced, quick and easy to cook mince whether it be chicken, turkey, elk or beef. There are many other recipes online and the trick is to find one that you and your family enjoy. It is easy...
How to Ripen Green Tomatoes
Don't give up on your still growing green tomatoes, as warm temperatures are forecast to continue in the Fraser Valley for at least three more weeks. Plus the forecast for the coming week is for record breaking high temperatures from Southern California to British Columbia : Background & Summer Weather Tomatoes have always been a...
Why I Love British Columbia #4
British Columbia Canada is a most unique world destination even in this unusual time of a global epidemic. We are so thankful to have this glorious province to live in and travel through at this time. Here are a few favourite photos of our home from over the years . . . British Columbia -...
Quick & Easy Turkey Chilli
Turkey chilli can be quick and easy as well as healthy. We all have our favourite recipes for chilli and this is one of ours. We make this often as its a great last minute meal, good for large gatherings and super as a leftover: Ingredients - Chilli for 4 1 - 2 Tablespoons Olive...
Desiderata
Desiderata ~ An excellent poem to read in this unique time with many fears and concerns for today. It is much easier to say than to do, but "Simple is better". Hoping this poem will encourage you and give you hope for now and the future. Desiderata ... Go placidly amid the noise and haste,and...
An Amazing First Year Veggie Garden
Are you dreaming of a new veggie garden ? If you are determined you too can have an amazing first year veggie garden. Here are a few ideas to help you plan a garden of your own. Its a lot of fun and the best idea of all is just to start right now. Here...
Nanaimo - A Ferry Ride Away
Nanaimo - a town we drove through two decades ago to catch a ferry home. This time we stayed and re-familiarized ourselves with this bustling little city. Situated on the ocean there are lovely water vistas, incredible forests and beaches around every corner. There must be more deer on Vancouver Island than anywhere else in...
Simple Lifestyle Changes to become Healthier
Lifestyle change ? It can be as simple as wanting to be healthier and happier. This topic has been a hot one for the past several years. This is especially true in recent months with all the Life changing happenings globally with the coronavirus. There is so much information available online it can be overwhelming. ...
Raccoons, Deer & Other Critters in Your Veggie Garden
It's been a few years since writing about raccoons, deer, bear, moles, rabbits and squirrels in our veggie garden but nonetheless they are still with us! Here is a little more information on how we co-exist with these critters without pulling out our hair. Deer - ever present : When we first moved into our...
Quick Tips for Planting Strawberries
Here are a few quick tips for planting strawberries to help you get them into the ground as soon as possible. If you are new to gardening much depends on the variety. Hopefully there was a card or information from the giver or seller as to the name and type of the variety. "Everbearing" the...
7 Simple Lessons to Learn About Life ...
Life Lessons: This seems such a simplistic topic to write about especially if you thought you were taking good care of your health and yourself. Here is a short summary (not in any order) of activities I didn't necessarily think about when I was much younger, but perhaps should have. How about you? 😊** The...
Sugar Quotes from John Yudkin - Pure White & Deadly
... This article is simply quotes (of my choice) from "Pure White & Deadly" by John Yudkin - How Sugar is Killing Us and What we Can Do to Stop It" (1972). John Yudkin (1910 - 1995) was a British physiologist and nutritionist and was one of the first scientists to claim that "sugar was...
Sweet & Easy Tomato Onion Casserole
A favourite of my Mum's was this truly enjoyable Tomato & Onion casserole. It is amazing how easy it is to put together and every time when served up it is a big hit. Did I mention it was healthy especially when using home grown organic tomatoes. Mum never owned a cook book as most...
Canning Fresh Organic Carrots
Too many fresh carrots? What to do? During self isolation when ordering groceries online for the first time, I accidentally ordered too many organic carrots & decided as it is one of our most often eaten veggies to preserve a few pounds. The obvious choice for me was to can them in the high pressure...
New Raised Bed Gardens for Spring
Its Spring time and we have 4 new small raised bed gardens for vegetables replacing a third of our urban back lawn. Over the past couple of years the shade from very tall 100 year old cedar trees keeps about one quarter of the vegetable garden in full shade and another quarter is partial shade....
Low Carb Lifestyle - Videos for Doctors from Dr David Unwin
The title to the following series from Dr David Unwin is "Low Carb Lifestyle Information for Doctors". These very informative short videos are great for those who are interested in learning more about the low carbohydrate diet and lifestyle. They were tweeted daily on Caramel & Parsley during November (Diabetes Awareness Month) and December 2019....
A Cure for Type 2 Diabetes Blindness
The current global diabetes epidemic is causing multiple health concerns including blindness, which in its early stages, according to ophthalmologist Dr James Muecke, is reversible. It was very interesting and exciting to watch Dr James Muecke receive the 'Australian of the Year' award on Australia Day in January, 2020 and listen to his acceptance speech outlining...
Top Tweets in 2019
2019 was barely underway and Caramel & Parsley's Twitter feed was overflowing with articles and information on the Low Carbohydrate Lifestyle, health and dieting, weather disasters, massive fish deaths in Australia and the USA was into its third week of government shutdown. What a "blockbuster" start to the year in the first few days ......
Caramel & Parsley Takes a Sabbatical
Caramel and Parsley is taking a sabbatical. Its been over a decade since starting the website and it has given me much joy and taught me more than I ever imagined! I have not set a time limit, simply a time to reorganize and review my options. Here is a very small part of Caramel...
Thankful for First Responders ...
First Responders: unless you are related to one, do not feature largely in most of our lives, most of the time. But their value and importance is magnified when a need arises. Recently our family had contact with Acute Care Ambulance and the local hospital Emergency Room staff. At the end of a long day...
Low Carbohydrate Diet for Type 2 Diabetes Reversal
The Low Carbohydrate diet Lifestyle is increasing in importance and is now accepted by U.S. forces and American Diabetic Association as a nutrition choice for reversing Type 2 Diabetes and pre-diabetes. Please take the time to watch this short recent video (2019) by Dr. Sarah Hallberg if you have T2 diabetes or pre-diabetes. I hope...
Visit to a Family Maple Syrup Farm in Quebec
Recently a friend went to work on a family Maple Syrup farm in southern Quebec, a Canadian eastern province with much history and tradition. It was interesting to learn more about where our delicious world famous Canadian Maple Syrup is grown and the traditions around the harvesting in the Springtime. Here is some information about...
Books Recommended to Read #2
Over the past four years I have read a mountain of books on a variety of topics. Following is a very short list of a few you may enjoy reading for learning and reference. They cover a range of topics but stay close to Caramel and Parsley's interests these days, namely: our health (food) and...
Many Reasons to Start a Vegetable Garden
There are lots of reasons to start a vegetable garden. On a very cold winter's Day as I was watching the strong winds blowing the debris around the yard, my thoughts turned to gardening. This is called "Gardner's" Logic. I thought of the coming Spring and started to ponder and plan the Vegetable Garden. There...
Low Carbohydrate Lifestyle - Sugar & Health
What is the Low Carbohydrate Lifestyle and Diet ? Recently when chatting with a friend with regard to her success and happiness with the Low Carbohydrate diet, we discussed how many people are not aware of the different choices to change their life. By changing what they eat and other lifestyle options they can improve...
7 Year Lung Cancer Scan Results
It's 7 years this April since I had surgery for NSCLC (Non Small Cell Lung Cancer). I have not written an article about my personal health for a while, but as I have been receiving concerned questions as to the status of my current health thought it was time to write an update ... here...
Australia & Climate - An Extraordinary Time
Climate & Australia : is having an extraordinary time at the moment and the last year has been overwhelming. It seems each day when reading the current news there is another climate associated disaster in this "sunburnt country". I have seen some of these occurrences, firsthand, such as the migration of the Bairnsdale flying...
Why Shoot Cow Moose #2
This is a continuation of a publication from the 1980's entitled "Why Shoot Cow Moose". Here are more options for the management of British Columbia's declining moose populations. This guest article was researched and written by Ken Child, Wildlife Biologist. Chemical spraying of wildlife habitat ... an appalling example of ecological destruction wrought by...
Why Shoot Cow Moose?
Recently a guest article was published on "Moose in Manitoba" with videos made in 2018 by Doc Moose, biologist, Dr. Vince Crichton. Today's guest article is the transcript of an article written in the 1980's by Ken Child, Wildlife Biologist entitled "Why Shoot Cow Moose" regarding the status of moose populations at that time in...
How to Grow Your Own Superfoods
Superfoods are a group of foods with extra qualities which help improve human health and prevent some diseases. Depending on which list you read there are differing fruits, vegetables and proteins which are attributed to this group of special foods. We grow, harvest, preserve and gather these nutritious and beneficial foods and have done so for many...
Top Tweets in 2018
The Caramel and Parsley article on top tweets in 2017 was a favourite blog article so here is a repeat exercise for 2018. After a great 2017 on social media it was amazing that January 2018 started out with such a "block buster" tweet from Dr John Yudkin's book "Pure White & Deadly", 1986. All in...
Moose in Manitoba by Doc Moose
This guest article is based on the lifelong work of biologist Dr. Vince Crichton. The short videos are an illuminating insight into the life and current status of our Canadian moose populations. The videos include sights of moose in the wild most of us will never see ourselves. As well we can learn more of...
6 New Year Resolutions for 2019
Happy New Year! Every New Year people collectively make thousands (millions?) of New year Resolutions and evidently only a small percentage keep them. Most of them are related to money, diet and exercise so I am keeping with the trend with all three. The following resolutions are of course all good for you, even fun...
The Meaning of Christmas...
What's the meaning of Christmas? ... Charlie Brown asked Linus this question in a Charles Schulz movie titled "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in 1965. Charlie was fed up with the commercialization around Christmas and asked anyone for an answer to his question and here is what Linus said ... What's Christmas all about ... https://youtu.be/h-_w9xkZE78Video...
Christmas Time is Here Again ...
Christmas is once again upon us as we prepare to celebrate this special season of the year. Here are a few of the most popular articles written over the years including many ideas for spending time with family and friends. Plus great ideas for making eco-friendly gifts and sharing with those far away. A short article...
Nutritious Healthy Organic Eggs & Recipes
Nutritious, wholesome organic eggs on the daily menu for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Here is a little background on organic BC SPCA fed chickens and their eggs as well as a few family recipes and health benefits of the "impressive" egg - and yes there is a difference between organic and non organic eggs ... Whats special about Organic Eggs : There...
3 Environment Articles & Our Changing Times
The environment is such a wide and varied topic today as there is so much happening. News headlines cover violent climate and weather occurrences; global wildfires; air and ocean pollution and species extinction. Here are 3 diverse articles ranging from our dwindling Fraser River salmon runs to the incredible record-breaking wildfires in British Columbia in 2017 and...