Holistic Feathers

We are very pleased to announce that our new e-store is now live:  Visit us now!

You will be able to purchase a whole range of products specially selected just for you …

* Raw Gaia living, vegan, organic skincare

* Ripple sterling silver jewellery

* Ripple Energy essences

* Meditation CDs and books on healing and angels

* Blink or you miss it : for those one-off bargains!

… and a whole lot more.  So what are you waiting for?!!

If you have any queries or would like to give feedback, we’d love to hear from you!

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This is a great riddle …

I am your constant companion,
I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am at your command.
Half of the tasks you do you might just as well turn over to me,
And I will do them quickly and correctly.

Who am I?

 

 

 

 

I am called habit.

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Sing, play and laugh, and you will be that little bit closer to the angels!

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Honey bees don’t just produce honey but play a vital role in pollinating plants for food and other crops, making a substantial contribution of £165 million per annum to agricultural output. They also have an important environmental role, being responsible for pollinating wild plants which produce seeds and fruits on which birds and wild animals depend. Honey bees can become sick and colonies die-out. In recent years, bees have come under ever greater threat from pests and diseases which we don’t fully understand or against which the treatments available are ineffective. Increased beekeeping research is thus essential if we are to find answers and be able to protect our bees and the benefits they bring to everyone.

The Government has refused to increase the paltry £200,000 it currently puts into bee health research despite acknowledging the fact that if we don’t act we may lose our honey bees and their massive contribution to agriculture and the environment. There are virtually no wild honey bees left due to the effects of the parasitic varroa mite and the viruses it carries, and for which to date, there is no cure.

Beekeepers are now the sole guardians of the honey bee population in the UK. The British Bee Keepers Association is campaigning to get the Government to change its mind and increase research funding, so that we can protect our honey bees, before it’s too late.

The Facts:
–  Honey bees contribute £165 million pa to the agricultural economy
–  The Government spends just £200,000 pa on bee health research
–  The varroa mite is destroying bee colonies and is resistant to most approved medications
–  Foul brood diseases are ever present and require constant monitoring and control
–  New exotic threats such as the small hive beetle are expected in the UK anytime.
–  Colony Collapse Disorder responsible for massive losses in the USA may emerge here
–  We don’t know enough about bee disease control and the medicines available are inadequate

What do we want:
–  The Government to invest just £1.6 million pa in research to help find solutions

What can you do: 
* PLEASE sign the online petition at:  http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BeeResearch/

* PLEASE forward this email to others.

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When things in your life seem almost to much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar … and the beer.
 

A Professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front
of him.  When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and
empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.  He then
asked the students if the jar was full.  They agreed that it was.So the Professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the
jar.  He shook the jar lightly.  The pebbles rolled into the open areas
between the golf balls.  He then asked the students again if the jar was
full.  They agreed it was.

The Professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.  Of
course, the sand filled up everything else.  He asked once more if the jar
was full.  The students responded with an unanimous “Yes.”

The Professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and
poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty
space between the sand.  The students laughed.

“Now,” said the Professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to
recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things – your family, your children, your
health, your friends, your favorite passions – things that if everything
else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house,
your car.  The sand is everything else – the small stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first”, he continued, “there is no room
for the pebbles or the golf balls.  The same goes for life. If you spend all
your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the
things that are important to you.  Pay attention to the things that are
critical to your happiness.  Play with your children.  Take time to get
medical checkups.  Take your partner out to dinner.  Play another 18.  There
will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal.  Take care of
the golf balls first, the things that really matter.  Set your priorities.
The rest is just sand.”

When he had finished, there was a profound silence.  Then one of the
students raised her hand and with a puzzled expression, inquired what the
beer represented.

The Professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked.  It just goes to show you that no
matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of
beers.”

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New Scientist last month amused itself with the tale of enterprising American “mommy” (her description) Jennifer Buettner.  Apparantly, though heaven knows why exactly, Buettner was appalled to find when taking her youngest to the local children’s clinic that there is no recognised, standardised placebo available in the world.  Now, while most busy parents really wouldn’t have thought to ask about the integrity of the sugar pills in thousands of drugs trials each year, Buettner decided to act!  What she came up with was a branded, patented, pharmaceutical grade placebo called Obecalp (yup, placebo spelt backwards), which she is now selling on the internet.  But why Jen, why?  “Because Obecalp fills the gap when medicine is not needed but my children need something more to make them feel better”.  Hmmmm.  For the whole amazing story check out Invented By a Mommy

(c) Natural Products, May 2008

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Honeybee Colony Collapse to Devastate Food Companies, Result in Food Scarcity

Monday, May 12, 2008 by: Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) The ongoing phenomenon of mysterious honeybee deaths is starting to raise alarm in the food industry, which depends heavily on bees to pollinate many critical crops. “Honeybee health and sustainable pollination is a major issue facing American agriculture that is threatening our food supply and endangering our natural environment,” said Diana Cox-Foster of Penn State.

I tend to think that honeybees are simply “on strike.” They’re tired of being slave workers for the very humans who continue to destroy their habitat, pollute their air and water, and steal the labors of their hard work (honey, bee pollen and free pollination services).

Honeybees pollinate 130 different crops, which supply $15 billion worth of food and ingredients each year. One out of every three bites of food on your dinner plate was made possible by honeybee pollination.

The Emergence of Colony Collapse Disorder

In late 2006, beekeepers in the United States began to notice that unusual numbers of honeybees were dying during the winter. Beekeepers reported losing between 30 and 90 percent of their bees, in contrast to the usual 20 to 25 percent.

The phenomenon, which continued through last winter, remains unexplained. Some of the potential reasons being investigated for the honeybee die-off are poor nutrition, invasive mites, diseases or toxins, air pollution, or a mysterious phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, in which bees abruptly desert their hives and die (i.e. they go on strike). In general, human beings have a very poor appreciation of all the services “provided” by Mother Nature, including the removal of CO2 from the air by plants, the turning of soil by worms, and of course the free pollination of crops and orchards by honeybees and other insects.

While the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and a number of institutions are currently researching the causes of the die-off, the food industry is now entering the fray. International ice-cream giant Haagen-Dazs has announced a new program to fund and encourage research into the problem, with the hopes of staving off a crisis for its own business.

“Haagen-Dazs ice cream is made from the finest all-natural ingredients, and the plight of the honeybee could mean many of the ingredients used in our top flavors, like Vanilla Swiss Almond and Strawberry, would be difficult to source,” said Haagen-Dazs brand manager Josh Gellert.

Nearly 40 percent of Haagen-Dazs’ ice cream flavors include bee-dependent ingredients. “These are among consumers’ favorite flavors,” brand director Katty Pien said. “We use 100 percent all-natural ingredients like strawberries, raspberries and almonds which we get from California. The bee problem could badly hurt supply.”

The “Haagen-Dazs Loves Honeybees” (HD loves HB) campaign includes the creation of a board of bee scientists to help guide research into the problem, a $150,000 grant to honeybee-related programs at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and a $100,000 grant to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honeybee Research Facility at the University of California-Davis

“Honeybees are in trouble,” said Walter Leal, professor chair of the UC-Davis Entomology Department. “One-third of our nation’s food supply depends on bee pollination, but bees are vanishing in massive numbers. This gift will help us to rebuild and revitalize our honeybee program.”

To continue reading:  Natural News

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I received this lovely picture in a “stress-free” email funny this morning … I can just imagine that is what our squirrels get up to when we aren’t in the garden!

Who’s to say that they don’t enjoy a good therapeutic treatment as well as us humans?!

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Too many times with an Invisible Illness people look through us, treat us like we don’t exist. This site is set up so people KNOW that we are NOT invisible, but we are “ABLE”.

Do go along and have a read of the Invisable Illness website, set up by a wonderful, truly inspirational lady:

Invisable Illness

Lots of very interesting articles on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia to name but two … so what are you waiting for? Go read!!!!!!

Still here?  Well, that’s great news actually … because I also wanted to use this post to advertise that next Monday, 12th May 2008, is International ME Awareness Day.  If you are based in the UK, please go along to visit our Invest In ME site where they are hosting lots of events in May, including their International Conference in London, England.

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