Kindred Book Review - The Urban Homestead

The Urban Homestead -
Your guide to self-sufficient living in the heart of the city

by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen
Process Media

If you think that the only way people can have a sustainable lifestyle is to quit your job and move to the hills (and that’s not for you) then read The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen. This is a very practical handbook, broken down by category and then into projects so the reader can choose an area of interest and get started.

So whether it’s raising chooks, diverting grey water or maximising space for food growing that interests you, there are step-by-step instructions to be followed. From novice homesteader to sustainability expert-there is something for everyone. Go out and forage some food, make your own cleaning products and convert your home to solar. Sound exhausting? Sit down under your fruit trees and have a meal of food you grew and prepared yourself with a glass of your homemade libations.

This book is dream come true for all those who want to commit to a more sustainable life without leaving the city.

You can also check out Erik and Kelly’s website - www.homegrownevolution.com

by Michele Dennis -
Kindred Book Reviews
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Kindred Book Review - Handmade Home

Handmade Home -
Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures
by Amanda Blake Soule
Trumpeter Books

This book will make a beautiful and practical gift for people who love craft, love to limit their consumption or both. Amanda Blake Soule has combined her love of handwork and family along with the desire to consume less. There are 30 projects that will make beautiful gifts for others or add a comfortable relaxed feel to your own home.

Handmade Home follows Soule’s first book of craft, The Creative Family, and has the same beautiful photography that inspires the reader to make every project but maybe not right away. First you will be lost in the beauty of the book, secondly you will have to decide which project to make first, which is not easy.

The book is a mix of necessary items - cloth diapers, mouse pads, sweater hats, items that will quickly become family favourites-picnic blankets, water bottle covers and things that can create lasting family memories. The projects vary in difficulty so there is something for everyone from the very young (or inexperienced) to the seasoned sewer.

You can read Amanda’s blog here.

Also worth visiting is www.makegoodbooks.com where you can order five breathtaking craft books, including Handmade Home and there are free projects to download.

Michele Dennis
Kindred Book Reviews
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Kindred Book Review

Stories of Belonging: Finding Where Your True Self Lives

Edited by Kali Wendorf

Finch Publishing

In our times it is not uncommon to find ourselves thousands of kilometers from our families and homeland. A search for community and sense of belonging lives deep within many of us.

In Stories of Belonging, Kali Wendorf has assembled a group of authors that are willing to share what lies deep in their hearts. There is no template here as everyone’s journey back home is different. For some home is deeply connected to the land, to the exact earth they walk on, for others it may be their blood that ties them. Some even learn of their connectedness from people and places very far from where they were born. It is in the telling of their stories that healing can happen, not only for the author but also for the reader.

With each essay the reader is transported to a different location, everywhere from a remote village in Tibet, the rapids of the Grand Canyon to the heart of the Australian Outback. The locations may vary but there is a thread that weaves through the book, connecting each one to another. This same thread connects the reader to each one of the writers in this book.

When people are brave enough to share their search for home, for belonging, to find where they fit in this world, it inspires others to do the same.

Reviewed by Michele Dennis
Kindred Book Reviews
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Swine Flu vaccines contain mercury

The following is an email from Patricia Bohackyj, Co-ordinator Healthy Families of Illawarra.

A few months ago, Westmead Hospital (August 2009) conducted a Swine Flu Vaccine Trial on infants and young children. I contacted Westmead Hospital (by phone 12/8/09) and I was informed that the Swine Flu vaccine to be used for this trial had no Thiomersal(Mercury) and no antibiotics in the formulation because they were using single dose vaccines, not multi-dose. A multi-dose vaccine is a vial containing a large quantity of a vaccine, where you can take a specific quantity and/or take several doses from the same vial for administration. Because there is a possible risk of contamination they must add mercury to multi-dose vaccine products. I rang CSL (30/9/09) and they informed me that they have only manufactured multi-dose vaccines, and there is no intention at this stage to produce single dose Swine Flu vaccines without mercury and antibiotics. The trial at Westmead Hospital was not intended for safety but to measure antibody response only, where young children were randomly administered a double or quadruple dose of swine flu vaccine. The concern now, is that, when they do start vaccinating young children in the Australian population, they will use the multi-dose swine flu vaccine because that is all that has been manufactured and released.

I understand that they are still waiting for vaccine trial results for children under 10 years before they are going to allow this group to be vaccinated. So far, information from overseas trials suggests that two doses of the Swine Flu vaccine will be required for all children less than 10 years of age. Meanwhile the government is targeting pregnant women with a vaccine that contains mercury and antibiotics. There has never been any safety data or vaccine trials ever done on pregnant women. The CSL product information states that safety profile of the vaccine in pregnant women is unknown. The Swine Flu vaccine is highly recommended to pregnant women, this is alarming as the mercury containing vaccine can cross the placenta and cause neurological damage to the unborn baby. There are many medical published article stating that there is no causal link between vaccines contain mercury and the incidences of Autism, however many parents who have a child with autism will argue that there child neurological developed was affected soon after a vaccine.

The Swine Flu vaccine should have taken many years to research but similarly to the HPV Cervical vaccine, yet another vaccine as been pushed through quickly and only later will severe adverse side effects be revealed. If you are a parent wanting your child to receive the Swine Flu vaccine, then you should ensure that the child is receiving a single vial dose vaccine and not multi-dose containing mercury and antibiotics. Also, that your child is not allergic to eggs, as chick embryos are involved in growing the virus. It is imperative that your doctor or clinic nurse records the batch number of the vaccine, as there is always a possible side affect from any vaccine at any time. It is reported that there have been 36,000 confirmed cases in Australia, 172 deaths (18 September, 2009 AAP). That is, only 0.47% deaths from the confirmed cases. Looking at the whole Australian population, you can say that out of 22 Million people, the disease only affected 0.16 percent of the population, and only killed 0.00078 percent of the population. Correctly, 99.74% of the population was not affected by the Swine flu. However, the government is intent on vaccinating 100% of the population with an un-trialed vaccine. The Swine Flu vaccine will be available to all Australians but is not compulsory.


Patricia Bohackyj
(Co-ordinator Healthy Families of Illawarra)
http://sites.google.com/site/healthyfamiliesofillawarra/
Mobile 0422 933 993

Win a copy of Stories of Belonging

Would you like to win a copy of Kali Wendorf’s new book, Stories of Belonging?

All you have to do to be in the running to win this newly released book is sign up to follow Kindred on Facebook and / or Twitter.

That’s right. We will draw the name of a Facebook Fan or a Twitter Follower on the 30th of November and they will be the winner of Kali Wendorf's new anthology Stories of Belonging: Finding Where Your True Self Lives by Finch Publishing; featuring such writers as David Whyte, Stephen Levine, Wayne Muller, Linda Hogan, Kali Wendorf and more...so sign up now.

But wait…………we will make it Three Winners………IF Facebook has 2000 Fans and Twitter has 1000 followers by 30 November, we’ll give away an additional two books. So sign up today, tell your friends to sign up and help us to grow our Kindred community!

Warning about flu vaccines

Below is an email by Cliff Shoemaker, forwarded to the Kindred office.

'Since our public health officials do not seem concerned about protecting the pregnant women and children in this country, I am forced to ask that everyone who gets this message forward it to all your family and friends.

There are two kinds of influenza vaccines (both regular flu and swine flu) available this year - one contains Thimerosal (a mercury based preservative) and the other does not. As a general rule, the vaccines that come in single dose packages do not contain mercury, while the multi-dose vials do. However, some clinics pre-fill syringes from multi-dose vials. Thus, you need to verify that the syringe was filled by the vaccine’s manufacturer and not by anyone else, if you are offered a flu-shot dose in a syringe.

The amount of mercury in the Thimerosal preserved vaccines is about 25 micrograms. The EPA safe dose (confirmed by the National Academy of Science in 2001) for exposure to methyl mercury that should not be exceeded is .1 microgram per kilogram of body weight per day. This standard is set for "methyl" mercury. Neither FDA nor EPA has set a "safe" level for "ethyl" mercury, the active ingredient in Thimerosal, but the FDA considers them equivalent in its risk evaluation. Although they are similar organic molecules, studies show that an equivalent dose of "ethyl" mercury can actually deposit more mercury in the brain. So, if a child receives a shot with 25 micrograms of mercury, the child would have to weigh 550 pounds to remain within the recommended safe level of exposure. With regard to injecting these vaccines into pregnant women, we know that some of the mercury will cross the placental barrier to the fetus. We tell pregnant women not to eat fish, and yet our government is not warning them about having mercury injected into their bodies while they are pregnant. In my opinion, this is inexcusable.

If you receive the swine flu vaccine this year, be sure to keep the card they give you, and make sure the card lists the manufacturer and lot number of the vaccine. But if you are injured by the vaccine, you will not be able to go to the no fault vaccine court that is available for other vaccine injuries. You will have to apply for compensation to a special program, from which there is no appeal and no right to pursue any kind of civil litigation. The industry demand for complete immunity is yet another reason to doubt government claims that mercury-containing vaccines are "safe." CDC admitted at a meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee meeting on September 15 that none of the safety trials of the H1N1 vaccines would be completed on either pregnant women or infants prior to launch of these vaccines, yet they still "believe" them to be safe.

If you try to get a mercury free flu vaccine and are unable to do so or if this letter has reached you after you already received your flu shot and you discover the one you received had mercury in it, please contact the people at CoMeD (The Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs) by emailing them your story and detailed contact information using the "Contact Us" link provided on the CoMeD website: http://www.Mercury-freeDrugs.org'


Cliff Shoemaker is an attorney working on vaccine issues.

Gasp Denim Ad - an email from Maggie Hamilton

Kindred recently received a copy of the email below from Maggie Hamilton.

The letter to the Advertising Standards Authority is available to download from the Kindred Toolbox.

Hi everyone,

Well you may gasp at the latest billboards out there. Thanks to Julie Gale, Kids Free 2B Kids, we're about to spring into action. I urge you all please send this email to everyone you know who can help send a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority, who constantly tell us they get few complaints about sexualised advertising. Below is a complaints letter you can print off and send off. Please take the two minutes to do so.

Thank you,
Maggie


http://www.maggiehamilton.org/