August 30, 2015 / como / 0 Comments
There is no age for heading to a nature trail, like there is no age for playing video games. And, it is not only children or grown up men, who like to spend their holiday playing visual games over the television or play station. A lot of women also like to be a part of this because leaning back on a bean bag the whole day and competing over a game with your joystick is something very exciting. However, coming back to the more exciting activity to do during your family vacations is to explore the wild side of this world, especially India. India is house to a wide range of wildlife sanctuaries and parks that have been sustained till date. These lush areas are shelters to some amazing species of the nation that include animals, birds, reptiles, and other creatures. So, next time, when you want to have some fun with your family, then you can surely opt to discover the wild.
With numerous choices that have been made available in the country for an animal gazing safari, this time you might like to cover the south of India. In the southern state of Karnataka, near the city of Bengaluru lies the Bannerghatta National Park. A small portion within this park called as the Bannerghatta Biological Park has been well maintained for tourists to visit and have a trail of the jungle. This park widens horizons for an exciting family holiday in India for the nature lovers and adventure junkies. Having such a place not only adds to the tourism of India, but also is a great way to educate people and their kids about the rich natural habitat of the country. A day might arrive, when these creatures will become extinct due to the constant deforestation and pollution. Then, you will only be able to see them in pictures. However, in order to avoid such a time, you need to gain knowledge about saving the environment. Taking your child to a wildlife park is the best way to do this, which you can do at Bannerghatta.
Tourists can come across a large variety of species of animals like elephant, leopard, bison, chital, sambar, sloth bear, barking deer, wild boar, wild dog, jackal, mouse deer, bonnet macaque, striped hyena, porcupine, and more at Bannerghatta. Several types of birds and reptiles can also be found here, which comprise of peacocks, cuckoos, eagles, wood peckers, wagtails, flycatchers, strokes, partridges, lizards, crocodiles, tortoise, python, cobra, viper, etc. Frogs and toads can be seen in the water bodies, while you can also explore the butterfly park constructed within the biological park. Now isnt that exciting? In addition to this, Karnataka is one of the best holiday destinations in India, where you can holiday at, during your vacation to the south.
Post the wildlife gazing, you and your family can enjoy the boating trip, which is one of the many refreshment facilities offered at the park. This can bring to a beautiful end to your holiday trip in the country!
August 29, 2015 / como / 0 Comments
Numerous men and women will require the services of the family law court system at some place in their lives. Many could never foresee that they would discover themselves in the court room having employed the services of a family solicitor.
Here are a few examples of positive reasons why a person or family may require the services of a Family Law Solicitor. Adoption of a child or baby is an exciting life-choice however there are many legal aspects that have to be dealt with. A family solicitor could be helping a couple complete their family, or drawing up the papers that helps a single parent feed and cloth their children.
However, it is an unfortunate reality that many end up in the family law court for less pleasant reasons. The possibilities are endless however, they could be going through the process of divorce, fighting someone over child custody, they could be in the process of getting sued for child support, or being taken to court for alimony. There are sad cases of family members being accused of abuse or paternity cases where one is fighting to prove or disprove that they are the paternal father. In these types of cases there are no exclusions due to age, gender race or religion; all are expected to attend court. The impact of a courts decision in all these matters is likely to be significant in terms of the future of the family.
Those who have been married, divorced, living as domestic partners, or even those involved in a civil union may appear in family law and court if there is not a ‘happily ever after’ solution. The courts will decide who gets what in terms of property and persons. So who gets which visitation periods of the children, who keeps the family home, who owes for the debt the couple accrued while together will all be decided and more. It is often very difficult, upsetting and complicated to work out all the details of who gets what. However the process is there to settle disputes and allow people and families to rebuild their lives.
So with all of this to worry about you should seek the advice and services of a family law solicitor. Professional legal advice will make certain that you interests are suitably protected.
Relationship agreements (sometimes called nuptial agreements) can give you peace of mind. So if you plan to get married, start cohabiting or are about to enter into a civil partnership then some form of formal relationship agreement can protect you both.
August 27, 2015 / como / 0 Comments
It’s funny, but when asked about things learnt that have served to be the greatest contribution to their lives most people will not mention anything from schools days. Have you noticed this? I can say that the things I have learnt which have served as a platform for personal growth did not come from the classroom.
Basically, the education system with its tunnel-minded curriculum is designed to make young people fit into boxes for the corporations and suchlike when they come out. In a way, that means, you’re going to have to make up for an absence of really learning about life!
Here are 7 things they never told me at school (but could have).
1. The Importance of Communication
We were never told the importance of communication or trained in this area. Effective communication brings together so many different things and therefore serves as a great life handling tool: Great relationships, successful projects, achievements… are all routed in effective communication.
2. Everything is the expression of consciousness
Life shows up as a consequence of where you are consciously at: Your thoughts, feelings and emotions, attitude… all contribute to the life that ‘shows up’ for you. So, if you don’t like the life you’re living then change these things. For example, if you find yourself in victimhood circumstances (the symptoms of victim consciousness) then look at where you are consciously at and change these things (the root cause).
3. Natural health
Like other schools we had our share of economics teachers but no one ever said that the best investment in life you could ever make is in your health. Because of corporate interests the education curriculum generally focuses only on pharmaceutical approaches when it comes to health. Alternative practitioners and great pioneers with their potentially life-saving approaches based on natural health have been ignored. There are 4 things that support good health. They are: Nutrition, exercise, attitude in life and the environment, but sadly, this is not given enough attention.
4. Applying philosophy
In school we never talked that much about life. No curriculum was ever set up to have conversations and discussions with our teachers on how to handle life; dealing with problems, or how to make relationships work… etc, the things that matter most to us. Sadly most people grow up, possibly out of school habit, seldom talk about life and spend much of their time talking meaningless nah, nah, nah nothings… and look at the result: A world full of people going nowhere in their lives, just like the soap opera characters on TV. Philosophy doesn’t have to be just mere armchair discussion. It can be used to practically apply ideas in life, hence the empowering phrase ‘applying philosophy.’
5. Being yourself
You don’t have to just be some corporate cog-in-wheel care of the education system’s grooming. I have learned that being yourself is your biggest strength. More than ever, particularly on the humanitarian front, the world needs people to think for themselves. Realize that there are other ways, different to this education sausage machine that turns out well educated clones unable to really think for themselves. As Albert Einstein once said “Real thinking is to think the unthinkable…” History has shown outside-of-the-box individuals thinking for themselves and they have contributed greatly to humanity…
6. Having a deep and genuine love for yourself
How do you expect to have a deep and genuine love flowing out there with your family, friends, groups, communities, the environment or all things spiritual… and then have it return on you when you had not began that deep and genuine love right there with your own self? This is consistent with 2 above that life shows up as a consequence of where you are consciously at.
7. The past is your biggest enemy in life
I was never told at school how to learn to realise that my past can run me instead of me running it: Fear, anxiety or an unwillingness to be creative and adventurous… are the operatives here. Because this subject could go into great lengths I’ve decided to make it something for another day. Simpler to say to be in present time, the only place where life exists is something to be cherished and mastered.
Of course, there were others but I’ll leave there, at least for now.
If you liked reading this article then go to www.NewParadigm.ws for more related articles including a free download PDF. NewParadigm is a portal to transformation, consciousness, spirituality, mind, body, health, alternative media and much more… Hosted by Paul A Philips. Once again the link is: http://www.newparadigm.ws/
August 26, 2015 / como / 0 Comments
Proper skin care is important to keep your skin healthy. It also has a big effect on your overall health. It is not necessary to buy fancy skin care systems or expensive products to begin caring for your skin properly. The advice in this article is here to help you care for your skin on any budget.
To make sure that you don’t irritate your skin when cleansing it, try washing your face with water that’s warm. Cold water causes pores to close up and this means you can’t wash the bacteria away. Hot water can cause dehydration to your skin, making it look red and blotchy. Warm water will open up pores without inflammation.on.
Make sunscreen a regular part of your skin care regimen. UV rays damage skin and make you look older. Skin cancer is also a possible side effect of sun exposure, so always protect your skin. You should be using sunscreen, and it’s even better if your makeup contains sunscreen.
If you are looking for makeup and have oily skin, buy powder makeup. A lot of makeups will come in a cream form that is not good for oily skin. Using powder cosmetics will ensure that your makeup stays in place longer.
Apply aloe vera to any lingering scars you may have that you’d like to see gone. Aloe Vera is full of vitamin E and amino acids that actively repair the skin. Just rub some aloe vera on your scars once per day after you bathe. The sooner you start treating the scar, the greater your chances of removing it using aloe vera.
Albumin, an ingredient commonly found in cosmetics, works to clean, refine and tighten your skin. You get albumin from the egg yolk. You can concoct a lifting mask of your own, using a teaspoon of sugar mixed with two egg yolks. Use a whisk and mix the egg yolks until they are firm. Mix the teaspoon of sugar in until it dissolves. Spread the mixture on your face and let it sit for around 30 minutes. Use a warm cloth to wash it all away. Have fun with this do-it-yourself albumin facial!
Winter can be harsh on your skin, so make sure that you moisturize frequently. The lower humidity level during the winter means your skin is more prone to becoming dry. When you moisturize daily, you’ll find your skin stands up to the abuse.
Keep your age in mind when caring for your skin. It is important to focus on the skin type that you have and make sure your products reflect that. These products will help you to achieve the best possible results.
Pay close attention to your hands and feet. Many people focus all of their attention on their face. Relieve your dry feet by slathering them with lotion and putting on cotton socks. Gloves work the same way on hands. Just one treatment will make you a believer.
Place two spoons, made of metal, into the freezer or a glass of ice water. After this, place the spoons on your eyelids and leave them there for around eight minutes. Doing this can help significantly improve puffy eyes. Some common reasons for puffy eyes are allergies, not enough sleep, genetics and too many processed foods. Cold metal spoons can greatly help these issues.
Always use sunscreen. Too get good protection make sure you apply the sunscreen two times. This ensures that you won’t have missed any areas and your skin won’t get damaged. Be sure this is a process you follow each and every day.
As we said before, it is vital that you care for your skin. Healthy skin and beautiful skin go hand in hand, so take care of yours. The tips you have read in this article should guide you on the right path to proper skin care.
August 25, 2015 / como / 0 Comments
Lundberg represents a growing sector of family farmers adapting to the demands of a specialty (higher quality) marketplace. The globalization of the food market allows for customers in foreign, as well as domestic markets, to custom grow rice with Lundberg that suits the tastes of the market.
If you sent all the rice grown in California for one year to Japan and replaced their existing supply, an annual California crop would be consumed in about 12 short weeks. Why then does Japan look to specialty rice farms, like Lundberg Family Farms, to supply them with organic rice? While the answer isnt obvious at first, after spending a day in their rice fields, it became apparent.
On a beautiful, sunny day in Richvale, California (about 20 miles south of Chico) I accompanied Bryce Lundberg, a family farmer of the renown Lundberg family, on a tour of their 10,000 acre farm. I say this, because no day would be too beautiful if it was steaming hot, as it is often apt to be in the 100 degree plus days that are characteristic of this agricultural region. The weathers been cooler than expected this summer, delaying the harvest season by about two weeks. I fully expected to see the wild rice harvest in progress, along with the long grain, medium grain, short grain, aromatic grain, and their colorful exotic grains. Unfortunately, I arrived just a couple of weeks before the harvest was to begin.
The cool temperatures this summer pushed the harvest off for, oh, about a couple of weeks, explained Bryce. He added, Were ready to go, the minute its ready to harvest.
PURITY OF SEED LINES
Lundberg Family Farm grows about 13 different varieties of rice. Many varieties will remain whole grain brown rice while others are milled down to white rice. While all Lundberg Family Farms rice is grown using sustainable farming methods, each variety is also grown organically as well. New varieties are always under development in their nursery and in experimental plots. They develop, breed and harvest their own seed and varieties not only to ensure varietal survival (and supply) for generations to come, but also in order to ensure the purity of the varieties.
Bryce continued, Many of the varieties we grow are not grown anymore by the California rice industry so we keep the varieties growing ourselves. We propagate our own seed. The varieties Im showing you are currently in the seed development program at our farm. We sow large seed paddies and we develop the seed that we use for planting.
As we drove by seed plots of Wehani, Arborio, California Basmati, California Jasmine, Black Japonica and many others, we came across a variety I had never heard of before. What is Hong Kong Black? I asked.
Bryce stopped the truck so we could get out to take a look. Hong Kong Black, I found, is another variety currently under experimentation on the Lundberg Farm. This variety originates from Asia, he explained. We do a lot of crossing. We take a variety that is in our nursery and clip the seeds, collect the pollen, and do a manual cross. Then we take the pollen, swap the seeds, and grow them to see what kind of cross we get to accommodate for the climatic differences that otherwise would make growing the original variety unfeasible.
Farmer Bryce Lundberg
The desire to create outstanding varieties of rice is an art form treasured by the Lundberg family. Only natural methods involving cross-pollination are used. Here is a new variety of sweet rice, Bryce indicated as he pointed to a small sized patch to our left. Its not new, its from Japan, but its a variety that our customer from Japan wants, so we are doing some experiments to see if it can grow here. This goes to a seed field next year, and it will be ready to be planted for crop the year after that. After this year, we will have a pretty good idea if it will come to fruition or not.
Purity is the focus here, and purity is always the goal. Unless we produce a pure strain of seeds in advance, wed end up with rice that may have desirable characteristics, but wouldnt be pure. Seed operations often strive for purity, but what is truly unusual at Lundbergs is that a crop-producing farm would set aside acreage to grow their own seed. Its because we produce so many varieties that are not grown commercially in California or anywhere, that we need to maintain these varieties for the future. Our small plots maintain our purity.
WEED CONTROL STRATEGY FOR ORGANIC RICE
Organic farming represents about 60% of the acreage at Lundberg Family Farms. While we do eradicate the weeds by flooding the paddy during the first phase, it does stress the rice. In our second phase we dry up the fields so that the remaining water hardy weeds are destroyed and hope the remaining rice is strong enough to thrive, Bryce comments.
Weed control strategy is a buzz term on this farm. Organic farming results from a love for the environment and a desire to always use natural methods to maintain the delicate balance of nature. But with it comes an extra commitment to observation. The Lundbergs keep a keen lookout to assure their current strategy maintains effectiveness. Weeds are capable of adapting to extreme environmental variances, so even though a natural weed control method works now, there are no guarantees as to the duration of time a particular method will remain effective ,so the Lundbergs are always working on an innovative natural solution to replace those that arent doing the job. One method of stressing the weeds through flooding then subsequently drying up is quite effective. The word of their success practicing this method spread, and other organic farms are trying their hand at this technique as well. Its challenging most of the time.
CROP CYCLE OF ORGANIC RICE
Early in the growing season, Lundberg Farms uses deep water to drown the grasses. Weed control is the number one challenge in growing organic rice. For every rice seed planted, there, are potentially 50 weed plants that could grow around it, choking it off. If you have a seedling at the beginning of the year and you put water over the top of the soil, grass and weeds start to grow at the same time. But weeds need to get through the water and get a leaf on top in about 20 days. Rice has a window of about 48 hours longer to get its leaf up. If it doesnt, then the rice will drown as well. Different varieties have a tougher time surviving. Akitokamachi, for example is really challenging. Over time, total weed control is not possible. We could anticipate over time, that the weeds will become more adaptive to whatever technique we are using, so we will devise another natural control method, explained Bryce.
Early moring, white rice stalk
During the second phase, the fields are drained of all water for sedge control. This dry-up phase is another form of weed control to eradicate the weeds and the weaker rice. Water management is always a key issue involved in farming organic rice. During the third phase, water is let back into the fields, so the crop can reach final maturation.
Lundberg Family Farms base acreage is roughly 3,500 acres, and they manage another 7,500 acres through their loyal family of growers. As we drove through the farm, I commented often on the natural ruggedness and beauty of the terrain. On all the farmable land, they utilize crop rotation as part of their strategy to build and maintain healthy soil. Also, all acreage is routinely fallowed, that is, given a periodic rests from planting to restore soil to its optimum condition.
THE WILD RICE CROP
Nothing surpasses the beauty of a wild rice crop. If youre inclined to marvel at natures creations, then you must include a stop to a wild rice field next August, just before the harvest begins. Standing over 12 feet high, the beautiful stalks of lavender, tan and golden plumes sway in the breeze to create a rippling effect with natures colors. As we got out of the truck to get a closer look, I chose to stay on terra firma, rather than schlock through the muck, because Bryce had the only hip-high wading boots necessary to walk through the fields. So dense was the field, the ground was not even visible. Bryce inspected the stalks of the rice to see if they were ready to harvest. The unexpected cool weather had slowed the maturation process down so harvest was going to be delayed.
AKITAKOMACHI
As we drove by the Akitakomachi, a Japanese variety, I was amazed to notice it sported an almost auburn hue. This paddy had just come out of the dry up cycle and the crop had not finished greening up. Akitakomachi is treasured for its beautiful round, pearl-like grain and delicate flavor. Typically milled to a white rice, Akitakomachi is favored for used in Pacific Rim dishes, sushi in particular. The Lundbergs successfully grow and experiment with several varieties of rice originating from Asian countries, making them the primary choice for Pacific Riclients desiring their crops to be grown in California.
RICE CAKES
The popularity of Lundbergs delicious rice cakes in Europe began with an American who relocated to Holland. After several months of buying and importing his personal supply of Lundberg rice cakes, this enterprising fellow became a European Lundberg broker. He assumed if Europeans loved Lundbergs rice cakes as much as he did, a great market potential could be realized. As a result of this vision, Lundberg Family Farms is enjoying an eager and growing market throughout Europe.
Lundberg rice cakes are different than typical European rice cakes. Now that the European markets tasted the thicker, crunchier, denser, tastier cake, they really like them! Repeat business is steadily increasing. In the U.S. markets, most of the rice cakes are about the same size, but ours have twice as much rice in each cake, VP sales and marketing Tim ODonnell explains. While it hard to note the difference between Lundberg rice cakes and conventional rice cakes while they are in the package, Lundbergs are deliciously dense. In the Euro market, traditional rice cakes are even smaller, thinner, and even less crunchy. Basically there is nothing like our rice cake in any other country.
The Lundberg rice cake package weighs about twice as much per package as other American brands, with an even bigger difference in the European brands. Repeat business stems from a crunchier, tastier, more nutritious rice cake. Lundberg rice cakes can even be very lightly toasted, an advantage that they maintain over all available other brands. The ability to toast the cake is clearly an advantage, O Donnell explains with a smile. The fragrance is similar to baking bread.
The Lundberg rice cake recipe is proprietary, of course. In the rice cake popping facility, located at farm headquarters, they have custom-designed and continuously improved their innovative system of popping delicious rice cakes, and they add a delightfully diverse range of all natural toppings and flavors to their 18 different flavors. Representing a large percentage of the Lundbergs business, rice cakes have been a favorite with their loyal American consumers for many, many years.
Customers want to know that they are eating a pure and healthy product. If you start out with a great grain, you are going to end up with a great rice cake. We will continue to support this product into the European markets.