Life is too short to worry about it
Westshore Rugby .....love it9/8/2017 Rugby season is hear. I must say I loved playing football but watching my kid play Rugby has been exciting. The great thing about Rugby is that they all get to run with the ball. The Jamborees are two hours long and lots of running. I spent most of my youth running. Running in the forest, running in Track and field , football, soccer, and any were else I could. It keeps the heart healthy. Parents are concerned about injury and they have good reason. I have only seen one injury in 3 years. I think it is because there is no equipment, kids are taught to hit in a way to avoid injury.
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Fall football anyone9/6/2017 Kids sports is a must in this day and age of electronic devices, It is very easy to get addicted to electronic games not only for the adults but kids as well. The basic principle of competing is in everyone. whether it be one on one or as a team. People enjoy challenging them selves.
Organised sports helps kids challenge themselves, not only physically,emotionally and mentally but socially. Football is one of those games where fear needs to be overcome. Once done, the confidence levels goes through the roof. Spartans fall football is looking for some players between the ages of 9 and 11. Looking for kids that are physical or reactive in nature and maybe in need of a bit of discipline. If you know anyone please send them this poster. The cost of bottled water6/1/2017 Water filling station at Clover Point. The city has a bright Idea by installed a filling station at Clover Point. Not only does it fill your water bottle but you can a drink from the fountain along with your pooch. As more restaurants and food places stop selling bottled water but offer glasses and filling stations this will prove to be a great idea.
Take a moment to think about how much buying one bottle (times a few million other people doing the same thing) of water damages our environment. The 1st step is pumping it from a lake or aquifer. Vital sources of water that may be required by the local area encases of drought. Then bottling, labeling, transporting, refrigerating. Most bottled water is packaged in chemical leaching plastic. Try tasting it after it has been in the sun for a while. Then there is the energy usage, oils and chemicals needed to make the plastic bottles and labels. Once the bottles are filled the distribution takes place storing the bottles need a warehouse. Trucking to stores and vending machines. I could go on, but i think you get the point. Now! What if there were water filling stations on every other block. Almost as many as Starbucks. We could carry small light weight water bottles. The water companies would make less profit and some people would probably loose there jobs. The environment would benefit tones of less plastic in the ocean and land fills. Has Free Spirit been sold ?11/18/2016 Over the last 19 years Wendy and I created a company that integrated into every facet of our lives. Our house became a factory, our living room a warehouse. It has been an enjoyable ride. This ride is not over yet. Our goal was to create a product line that was so natural that you could eat it. It could be made in the kitchen without fear of chemical contamination. We succeeded. It started with 12 tins of Olive oil and the support of the local community and customers we met from Victoria, Canada and the USA. It grew to a point where we could raise our children and sustain a livelihood. Many of you watched us expand from the market at James Bay and Bastion Square to the Mayfair Mall and then to our current store located at 549 Johnson Street. We sincerely thank each one of you for your ongoing support throughout all these years. On May 10, 2015 We acquired a new partner. This process included selling the retail portion of the business.The retail portion was sold to QI LU, or as she is called in Canada Lucy. She has immigrated to Canada with her husband and lovely daughter. The Change will help Free Spirit grow and in time become an exporter to Asia. Lucy brings years of marketing expertise and a vast knowledge of essential oils and organic skin care products to the business. Wendy and myself will continue to make the soaps, creams and lotions and creating some new products. It has been a challenge to manage production, retail, social networking, merchandising and website updating. This new partnership will help. The staff in the store are still making the products that have always been made there, such as the soy wax candles, bath salts, body butter bars and the other delicious products that have always been created right in the store. And of course there will be some changes. The changes have already started with some new labels and some new packaging on some of the products. In the works is a new website and store renovation. It will look fabulous, keep your eyes on the store and watch it grow and transform. Of course all of Free Spirit Botanicals product can be found here on the website. Wendy and I have created a new company called Natural U Organics. This will be the manufacturing company for the products we make for Free Spirit Botanicals. Our website is www.naturaluorganics.com. You can visit it and sign up for it when it is open. The products on the site will be available at Free Spirit Botanicals. This will be my last newsletter under the Free Spirit name. Thank you for reading, clicking and sharing on social media. Special thanks for putting up with my typo's and grammar mistakes. Since the newsletter is a way for me to get the word out about environmental and heath issues I will continue to write and send them under the natural U banner but not as often as I have been. Of course feel free to unsubscribe if you don’t want them any more or share them with friends if you love them. Paddle boarding at Thetis Lake9/14/2016 Summer in Victoria is short but Amazing a city surrounded by a temperate rain forest. In no more than 15 minutes you can go from city life to lake living. Sadly, summer is over. I spent most of my free time on a paddle board at Thetis Lake. A great spot to enjoy the long hot days of summer.
Paddle boarding is great exercise and for some reason helped alleviate my lower back pain. It must be all that core muscle building that stand up paddling helps create. My favorite part is the peacefulness as I leave the crowded beach. I am not sure what I will do this winter maybe a wet-suit is in order to keep me paddling. New start same Blog9/7/2016 This Blog is going to evolve from a skin care blog to my personal blog. Wendy and I have been in the skin care business for 20 years creating and growing Free Spirit Botanicals. Over the Last 12 months we have brought on a new partner who will take over all the retail, website and merchandising. This will give us time to create and research new products over the next few years.
We have created a new company " Natural U Organics ". We will be making products for Free Spirit Botanicals just as we have over the last 20 years. We will keep the integrity and quality intact. Keep your eyes open to some new products as time passes. The new website www.naturaluorganics.com is under construction. We are using shopify. With my technical skills it could be a while before is is done. Hydrosols4/25/2016 Hydrosols, also known as floral waters or hydroflorates are products from steam distilling plant materials. Hydrosols are like essential oils but in far less of a concentration. When a distiller brews plant material with water in a large cooker the steam fills the pot and, as it rises, it causes the glands of the plants to burst and release the oils and essence of the plant into the steam. The oil rises through a condenser and collects in a separate vessel. This is what we know as essential oil, but what about all that fragrant water that was steamed with the original plant material? That is our hydrosol, or floral water. Hydrosols are usually the result of essential oil production as a by-product but the highest quality hydrosols come from the devoted distillers who, with artist like precision steam the floral and plant material strictly to produce a hydrosol. (the hydrosols offered by Free Spirit Botanicals are produced in this fashion) Hydrosols contain all of the essence of the plant in every drop, just like essential oils but in a milder form; making them suitable for all manner of applications where essential oils would be too strong. Noted author Jeanne Rose is quoted as saying. "The best comes from a distillation where it is the hydrosol that is being produced rather than the essential oil. Often the best comes from the earliest part of the distillation rather than the body of the distillation. This usually smells bright and pleasantly fragrant. Although, some of the therapeutic part of the hydrosol is also produced at the very end of the distillation, and usually has a rather grassy or vegetative note. As the plants are being distilled, micro-particles of essential oil are in suspension, they give the aromatic distillate its scent and will separate out as the hydrosol cools. There is approximately .02% essential oil in hydrosol". Clinically, the chemical components in the hydrosol are primarily acids, which are hydrophilic (water-loving). Why do they work? Because they acidify the water or the product, which is beneficial to the skin or in the body. Thus the hydrosol acts as a healing anti-inflammatory and mild, but therapeutic antiseptic. You can find some ot the best Hydrosols on our website The Gardener's pumice soap3/23/2016 For all of the people who work with their hands, we have a great combination. The Gardener's pumice soap is packed full of ingredients to help remove dirt, paint, grease and grim. The Gardener`s Hand cream can help with dry skin, cracks, rashes, and bug bites. We have added Neem oil, along with cocoa butter and shea butter. Neem oil is an excellent moisturizer, high in Vitamin E, rich in emollients and fatty acids, soothing dry, cracked or otherwise stressed and damaged skin. Unlike petroleum based moisturizers, Neem oil actually restores the skin's natural elasticity. Tea Tree Oil (also known as Melaleuca) is a natural antibacterial disinfectant that was commonly used as a general antiseptic by the aboriginal tribes of Australia for thousands of years. More recently, the scientific community has confirmed that Tea Tree Oil has tremendous medicinal benefits. It is a light yellow oil that has a scent similar to nutmeg, and it is produced by steaming tea tree leaves and then squeezing the oils out. Add these great ingredients to soap and then add pumice powder and you have a great soap. It will clean dirty hands and help soften the skin. 100 % olive makes a hard and long lasting bar. Smooth Skin for dry skinĀ3/14/2016 We have been making Smooth Skin herbal cream for over 15 years now for thousands of eczema sufferers. It doesn't work on everyone but we sell more and more every year. One of the problem with eczema is the diversity of the description of the ailment. I have seen more than one diagnosed case of eczema that looks different than the other. It dose come in stages and in different degrees of severity. This cream also works other dry skin issues like alligator skin on the legs or arms.
This makes treatment tough and determining the cause even tougher. We do recommend going to see your doctor for treatment. If this doesn't satisfy your needs then try some of our herbal products. Some of the causes can be : high stress level allergy to foods ( ie: dairy, gluten, or?) excessive hand washing with strong soaps There is growing evidence to support the longstanding theory that eczema is caused by a genetic defect in the epidermis (the outermost layer of skin), permitting environmental irritants, microbes and allergens to penetrate and eliciting inflammatory responses. One of the key solutions is to cut out the irritants and or allergens. One of the 1st steps is to remove detergents and sodium lauryl sulfates (S.L.S) from the list of products used on the skin try our goat milk and honey soap. Shea butter shampoo bars these two products will eliminate your exposure to strong detergents like S.L.S found in most commercial soaps and shampoos try our Smooth Skin or Lavender Face and Body Cream Baby lotion or liquid baby soap Unscented lotion Thankfully the residence of Shawnigain Lake have not lost hope. They have continued the legal fight in the courts. They have continued to get great press from all the news stations including the Globe and Mail. On Feburary 20th the Story will air on W5 at 7pm. I believe the residence are serving a greater purpose. One that will set a precedence for future governments. Dumping contaminated soil near any water shed should be illegal. As stated earlier on this blog This dump site is also close Victoria's water source. Why the provincial government would allow fill from Port Moody to be dumped on Vancouver Island in confusing to say the least. The Malahat First Nations have offered their support. The City of Victoria passed a motion to reverse the permit. The government has made a mistake and seems to be ignoring the people that elected them. If they continue down this path they are sure to follow in the footsteps of the Harper government. When a government becomes so bold and arrogant that it can push through hideous laws or permits that benefit the few at the cost of many, they are doomed to be on their last term. A great video below sums it up. Author Joseph Gonyeau Categories
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