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Category: Home Environment

One step at a time, we can adopt Better Practices, and Natural Standards in our Homes and Gardens that will benefit our Families and our Health. Solar Energy. Caring for our Vision, our Skin. the Air we Breathe, Water we Drink and Bathe in, cutting down Blue Light and guarding against EMFs so few people know about and simple Strategies we can take to cut them down. AND MORE

Published on Leave a comment on Part 2: Small Footprints, Big Yields: Avoiding Risky Cheap Plastics in Small Space Gardening

By Janet Vargas - Owner of this Website
With Guided and Selected AI Assistance
I Research Healthy Gardening Often

Maximize Balconies, Patios, and Paved Courtyards Safely

"Short on Space to Grow Veggies? i will show you Ways Around That!"

You do not need a sprawling suburban quarter-acre block to feed your family fresh, premium produce. Whether you are managing a high-rise balcony, a rented concrete patio, or a tiny paved courtyard, you can transform empty vertical and horizontal spaces into highly productive food zones.

By utilizing targeted vertical frameworks, balcony troughs, and ground-level planters, you can secure massive yields while keeping your food supply completely free from toxic chemical contamination.

📐 Small Footprint Layout Options:
[Vertical Walls / A-Frames] ──[Balcony Troughs] ──[Fabric Grow Bags] ──[Food-Safe PP Planters]
(High-Altitude Herbs)   (Rail Leafy Greens)   (Air-Pruning Roots)  (Leach-Free Pods)

The Toxic Trap: Why Cheap, Single-Use Plastics Do Not Belong in Your Food Supply

When space and budgets are tight, it is incredibly tempting to follow advice from online videos encouraging the use of free household items like industrial plastic mayonnaise buckets, ice-cream containers, or discarded plastic soda bottles.

Various YouTube Gardeners encouraging the use of these is SO DODGY, as a health researcher, I CRINGE!…

Published on Leave a comment on Intro Series: The Modern Parent — Healing Your Stress Levels AND Your Kids by Returning To Nature

By Janet Vargas - Independent Natural Health Researcher 30+ Yrs
With Guided and Selected AI Assistance

TRUE CONNECTION WITH OUR KIDS – WHAT’S MISSING MOST TIMES
THE MISSING CONNECTION WITH OUR KIDS – WHAT IS IT?
NATURE and HAPPY MOMENTS and A HEALTHY Nervous System GO TOGETHER

Parents and Kids are Missing this Very Important Blessing in Their Lives.
These Articles will Help You Restore what’s Missing

Watch Out for TECH Scams and Sunshine Scams and Medical Scams
NATURE or a regular "Slice of Nature through the Week
will Benefit You AND Your Kids Far More!

Healing our Nervous System in the Wild
YES, Finding the Missing Element in this Modern Day

Kids need to Break Out of the TECHY and Couch-Potato Environment they are brought up in with TVs and Tech Devices as their Baby Sitters from Little Kids to Teen Years. Probably because you were Brought Up with the Same – Never Introduce to Love for Outdoors which is Normal and Healthy for Kids.

The Tragedy of the Suburban Shift: Reclaiming the Wild Child Years Our Kids Deserve

The modern childhood landscape is nothing short of a tragedy, and it is deeply unfair that an entire generation is being systematically denied their inborn instincts to explore nature.…

Published on Leave a comment on Part 1: The Sandhill Paradigm — What the Suburban Shift Is Costing Our Kids

By Janet Vargas - Independent Natural Health Researcher 30+ Yrs
With Guided and Selected AI Assistance

Look into a Modern Suburban Living Room, and you will likely see a tragedy in slow motion: a Child confined to a couch, staring passively at a Screen, shut away from the living world. It is highly unfair that modern life systematically denies children their inborn instincts to explore nature. We have traded the wild, expansive development of the human spirit for a sedentary, couch-potato existence.

In the Evenings at least. Think of all the Fun or Creative or Family Things we miss out on during those wasted hours (often) and all the times we have wished we had more time? We can more often have Precious Bonding Moments in the Evenings which can bring treasured memories.

I know exactly what our Children are Missing because I lived the alternative. For twelve beautiful, formative years, my world was a Country Beach Town. My child years were defined by a rich landscape of tall trees to climb, big slopy sandhills by a flowing river to venture, an endless shoreline to stroll along and splash in, and neighbouring paddocks that invited endless venture and exploration.…

Published on Leave a comment on Part 2: The Cradle of True Development — Why Children Need Nature to Discover Their True Gifts

By Janet Vargas - Independent Natural Health Researcher 30+ Yrs
With Guided and Selected AI Assistance

PLEASE DON'T OVERPROTECT and SMOTHER THEM or LEAVE THEM TO TECH DEVICES TO BABYSIT THEM. TRULY, THESE THINGS DO THEM DISFAVOURS and YOU IN THE LONGRUN.
THIS IS WORTH READING!

Every Single Child is born with an Individual Blueprint—a Unique set of giftings, talents, and inner wisdom waiting to be uncovered. However, these gifts cannot be discovered on a loungeroom couch watching TV, or can they be unlocked by an iPad app. A screen does all the thinking for a Child, programming their impressionable young minds and forcing a passive compliance. When children are shut up in Modern Housing (high-density housing and concrete suburbs we find ourselves in these days) it stunts their ability to think for themselves, trapping them in an intellectual and spiritual poverty - if they don't have access to Outdoors. They need Fresh-Air and Sunshine. They need to See Nature and have some around them.

Nature is the ultimate incubator for a child's true potential. When a Child is placed in an unstructured natural environment, their imagination instantly awakens. A simple stick becomes a tool; a pile of river rocks becomes a castle; a fallen tree branch becomes a challenge to overcome.…

Published on Leave a comment on Part 3: Bringing the Bush to the Backyard — How Suburban Parents Can Mimic Country Living

By Janet Vargas - Independent Natural Health Researcher 30+ Yrs
With Guided and Selected AI Assistance

For those of us who grew up with the horizon as our playground, looking at a modern suburban block can feel disheartening. It seems almost impossible to replicate the magic of a country upbringing when you are surrounded by high-density housing and concrete roads. But a child’s inborn instinct to explore does not require miles of wilderness to wake up; it simply requires us to stop over-sanitising and over-managing their environment. You do not need an acreage to rescue your child from a sedentary lifestyle. With a few deliberate choices, you can bring the raw, healing elements of country living right into your suburban backyard.

│   THE BACKYARD REWILD PLAN   │

│     THE LOOSE-PARTS PIT      │                │    THE BALCONY MUD STATION   │

│ Large stones, pinecones,     │                │ Real topsoil, old spoons,    │

│ bark, and smooth logs.       │                │ and water in a sturdy tub.   │

│ Sparks deep imagination and  │                │ Introduces "good germs" to   │

│ independent rule-making.     │                │ build robust raw Immunity.   │

The first step is to ditch the obsession with a manicured, pristine lawn and embrace what experts call "Loose-Parts Play".…

Published on Leave a comment on Part 4: The Pocket Wilderness — Finding True Freedom in the Concrete Jungle

By Janet Vargas - Independent Natural Health Researcher 30+ Yrs
With Guided and Selected AI Assistance

When families live miles away from the countryside, they often assume that nature is a destination they have to drive hours to reach. This misconception keeps children shut up indoors, falling victim to the artificial blue light of screens that steals their sleep and clouds their minds. The truth is that nature is incredibly resilient, and the suburbs are full of overlooked, unmanaged spaces that mimic the freedom of a country town. To save our innocent kids from a shallow, programmed thought life, we must teach them how to hunt for the "pocket wilderness" hidden right in their own neighbourhoods.

│   THE COMMUTE TO THE WILD    │

│     NEIGHBORHOOD EASEMENTS   │                │     THE "SLOW WALK" RULE     │

│ Drainage creeks, overgrown   │                │ Let the child lead; pause    │

│ pathways, and wild bush.     │                │ to watch ants and ripples.   │

│ Goldmines for mud, insects,  │                │ Drops the developing mind    │

│ and unscripted exploration.  │                │ into deep contemplation.     │

Look past the neat property lines and manicured public parks. The real magic for a child happens in the neglected spaces: local rainwater easements, overgrown council pathways, drainage creeks, or the unmanicured patches of bush tucked behind local sporting fields.…

Published on Leave a comment on Part 5: The Busy Busy OR Sedentary Parent — Healing Your Own Nervous System in Nature

By Janet Vargas - Independent Natural Health Researcher 30+ Yrs
With Guided and Selected AI Assistance

Hi Friends, When I first sat down to write this series, my heart was focused entirely on our children — on the unfairness of the couch-potato lifestyle and the critical need to return young, developing minds to the healthy dirt, the blessing of sunshine, and the wild earth. But as I peeled back the layers of this modern crisis, a deeper truth stared back at me.

We cannot give our Children a Gift we do not have Ourselves.
We can Explore it though, if we have the Courage to Try something New.

The reality is that an entire generation of Modern Parents were raised inside the exact same suburban, screen-centric bubble that is now confining their kids. If you find the outdoors exhausting, dirty, or frankly a bit boring, it is not your fault. You were programmed by concrete and glass just as your children are being programmed today.

Excessive Time Indoors with so much TV Viewing and Time spent on Tech Devices is a highly Synthetic Lifestyle. No wonder we're Stressed. Did you know that those things actually Set our System Up for Stress when we spend so much time with them, because they're actually Foreign to the way we were Created and what we were essentially Designed to Respond to (Best) NATURE........this…

Published on Leave a comment on Ways To Overcome Overwhelm When You Are Tidying Up Cluttered Rooms

By Janet Vargas - Independent Natural Health Researcher 30+ Yrs
With Guided and Selected AI Assistance

To overcome intense overwhelm when tidying a cluttered room, immediately reduce your physical scope and clear visual clutter first to lower cortisol and trick your brain out of its protective "freeze" response. Looking at a massive mess as one single project causes decision fatigue and anxiety. Breaking the work into micro-steps will build momentum without exhausting your mental energy.

To Make Things A Bit Easier When You Don’t Know Where To Start

Before you touch a single item of sentimental value or try to organize anything, walk through the room with a trash bag and a laundry basket to quickly strip away the top layer of mess. Reddit 

  • Bag the Obvious Rubbish: Toss out wrappers, broken items, and junk mail without overthinking.
  • Gather Dishes from Rooms: Collect cups and plates and move them straight to the kitchen sink.
  • Corral the Laundry: Scoop up stray clothes and put them directly into a clothes hamper.
  • Hide Large Visual Clutter: Quickly shift bulky items out of the central walking path to give yourself immediate breathing room. 
…

Published on Leave a comment on How the “Dopamine Monster” Tricks Your Brain: More Light on the Overuse of Tech Devices (Internet, Mobile & Social Media)

By Janet Vargas - Independent Natural Health Researcher 30+ Yrs
With Guided and Selected AI Assistance

In our last article, we talked about how excessive tech use unleashes a "Give Me, Give Me" Dopamine Monster that disrupts our homes, marriages, and peace of mind. But you might be wondering: How does a chemical inside my head actually twist my behavior, making me feel lazy, apathetic, or prone to putting things off?

To understand this, we need to look at a natural survival mechanism in the brain called Dopamine Down-regulation.

The Brain's "Volume Control"

Think of your brain like a room with a stereo system. Dopamine is the music. When you do something healthy and normal—like eating a good meal, finishing a chore, or hugging your spouse—your brain plays a beautiful, gentle melody. It feels good, and it motivates you to do those things again.

But when you pick up a smartphone, open a laptop, or start endlessly scrolling, it doesn't just play music. It blasts a heavy metal concert at maximum volume. Every notification, like, and video sends a massive, unnatural flood of dopamine into your brain.

Your brain loves balance (homeostasis).…

Published on Leave a comment on The Flower Colour That Could Be Keeping Bees Out Of Your Garden – Interesting This!

I Love Bees. And in Mid Autumn, I bought several Pots of Nemesias and Violas for them that are flowering through the Winter for them and they will continue to do so through Springtime. I chose mostly Blues and Pinks and Purples with some Yellow and some White. They have been Enjoying them in my Front and by my Veranda.
I will be having some More Articles about BEES on my Blog. There are a few now. Enjoy!

By Brandee Gruener from Southern Living

Brandee Gruener is a digital editor and writer with 20 years of experience. Her articles on gardening, homes, food, and health have appeared in American Gardener, and other national and regional publications.

Gorgeous Bees - Who Loves Bees?

Bees and other pollinators don't necessarily like the flowers that we do. Fussy double-flowered peonies, vivid petunias, and scentless pelargoniums aren't of much interest to bees. In fact, bees literally see the garden differently than humans since we don't have the same perception of color. There is one color in particular that bees don't register, no matter how beautiful it looks to us in the garden.

Find out the flower color to avoid if you want to attract bees, which colors bees prefer, and other tips for drawing pollinators to your garden.…