Begonias Do Not Like Full Sun and Intense Heat

It took most of the summer, but the Begonias finally decided to bloom.  They do not like intense heat and full sun blazing down on them all day.  While they arrived full of buds in the late spring, they never bloomed well. I think I saw one or two at a time throughout part of the summer, even when I shaded them.  I eventually moved them under a tree where they receive partial sun in the morning and dappled sun in the afternoon.  After a few days, the buds burst into lovely blooms.  I haven't decided whether I will plant these again in the spring.  I may try for a hardier variety that is a little more drought-tolerant.  Since our average first frost occurs from late October through early November, these have plenty of time to grow.

I'm thinking about meadowscaping my yard. That process will need to begin in the fall.

What are your thoughts on growing Begonias?

What are your thoughts on meadowscaping?

Atrial Fibrillation and Intermittent Fasting: Is IF Doing More Harm Than Good?

I came across an article today about intermittent fasting and wanted to share my own experience with it. I've included the link to the article at the bottom of this post.

I have been doing IF 18:6 for some years now, but lately had started noticing a lot of muscle weakness, inability to focus, irritability, extreme fatigue, and joint pain, as well as a significant increase in AFib episodes. I had also gained ten pounds since my last doctor visit, three months ago, which completely floored me. He asked me if I knew what intermittent fasting was and if I had ever tried it. I told him I was fasting every day for 18 hours. I decided to scale back on intermittent fasting. The first thing I noticed was that the AFib episodes decreased. Within a couple of weeks, all the other symptoms disappeared.

When intermittent fasting became "the thing," it seemed to be the cure-all for every ailment. If you were eating the Standard American Diet, you were likely overweight, your body was inflamed, your hormones were out of whack, and you were insulin-resistant. You needed to scale back to eating one or two meals per day and fasting for 18 hours or more to shift your body into a state of autophagy. Autophagy is your body's way of taking sickly, or otherwise non-functioning cells and either getting rid of them or recycling and regenerating them. There is much literature available on autophagy and what it does that I'll discuss in another post.

I developed atrial fibrillation after contracting Covid in late 2020. After doing a deep dive into how to heal my body naturally, I changed my diet and began intermittent fasting in 2021. Everyone on the holistic medicine community was recommending it. Of course, it had not been thoroughly tested. Many hypothesized that we should eat like our ancestors did. They ate infrequently and went for long periods with no food. They didn't fast on purpose. They ate when food was plentiful and went without when it wasn't.

Lately, there have been grumblings throughout natural medicine that perhaps intermittent fasting isn't all that it's cracked up to be, especially for women. Women's bodies, after all, are different. They are designed to hold onto fat and to support life. That's why it's harder for women to lose weight than it is for men. Intermittent fasting creates too big of a deficit. Eventually, the gains that we thought we were making by fasting for long periods of time were being lost.

I am not a medical expert. However, I think the information is compelling enough to warrant a reconsideration of whether IF is more harmful than beneficial.  After reading this article, reviewing a number of studies, and listening to the experts, I doubt that I will go back to intermittent fasting.  Our bodies require food to produce energy.  Taking our fuel source away for an extended time is the same as expecting to drive the whole way across the continent on a 1/3 tank of gas.

The article below was written by Dr. Brad Stanfield. Dr. Stanfield is a general practitioner based in Auckland, New Zealand. I have been following him for quite some time and have a great deal of respect and admiration for him. I believe that he genuinely cares for people and wants to help them. I have learned a great deal from him about health and nutrition.

https://drstanfield.com/blogs/articles/longevity-experts-warning-fasting?_kx=YDuBjjadEJuOoKEVf8FOvvB0jJdVtoiaoavxACxueII.Ws2UjD

Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird Guarding the Feeder

 

A male hummingbird at the feeder. He has been sitting at this feeder for much of the day. He will periodically go to one of the others, but always comes back to this one. He will sometimes share it with a female. Other times, he will run her off. I love these little guys so much. I put out 4 feeders this year. I clean them out and replenish the nectar every other day. I have bought the Pennington brand of nectar, but will start making my own soon. Remember, the ratio is 1 part granulated white sugar to 4 parts water. Do not use any kind of dye. It is very harmful to them. By the way, it looks like the feeder is empty. It isn't. I checked it this afternoon, and the bottom still has nectar in it. I don't fill them all the way up, since I change the nectar every other day. I only add about a half a cup. If they start consuming more, I will add more. For now, though, a half cup at a time in each feeder is more than enough for the number of birds that I have, and I always make sure they can reach it.

I do want to share a bit of a sad story… or rather one that makes me angry, still to this day. A few years ago, an “acquaintance,” I will call her, "Judy," decided to start feeding hummingbirds on her back deck. After a brief time, she became incensed that one of them was dominating the feeder. Obviously, she never read up on them to know that this is normal behavior for them. Rather than educate herself, take the advice of the experts, and spend $4 on another feeder, or just take down the one feeder, and stop feeding them, she had her adult son shoot and kill the hummingbird with an Airsoft gun. He is the one who told me about it. This was after I told him not to do it. She later told me that she had him kill the hummingbird, “Because she hates a bully.” Her son had his teenage son bury the bird in the yard. Of course, it was a big joke, and none of them ever felt any remorse about it. They simply made excuses. I realize that we have to forgive people for their ignorance, but this still really bothers me. Perhaps, it's because I didn't unload my thoughts on her when I had the chance. At the time, I don't think I could have reacted to the situation with any degree of tact. If you can’t commit to feeding hummingbirds, or any other birds for that matter, and you aren’t willing, or able, to learn about their behaviors, and how to do things the right way, so as not to harm them, please don’t bother feeding them. They will find food elsewhere. With that being said, I am not trying to discourage anyone from taking up the hobby. It can be incredibly rewarding to feed birds, study their behaviors, and learn about them, and we should do what we can to help, since their natural habitats are disappearing due to urban spread. However, it requires a commitment of time and money, and sometimes, the ability to be creative and think outside of the box to make it all work (i.e. providing fresh food and water, cleaning the feeders and watering stations regularly, having multiple feeders and watering stations, etc). If you decide you want to feed hummingbirds, or other birds, there are tons of books, videos, and other resources that will teach you how to do things that will help and not harm these precious friends. And remember... anything you can do to help pollinators thrive, whether hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and other species, will be highly beneficial to our planet and every living thing.