Sunday, April 9, 2017

Water for Health

A good friend recently brought me a bag of wonderful Meyer lemons from her daughter's tree in California.


I've been using them to make lemon water and guzzling it as a spring tonic.

Years ago when I was ill (physically, not mentally . . . truth to tell, mental health was probably involved, too), I worked with an amazing naturopath.  When I was undergoing a total body detoxification, she suggested I fill a half gallon jar of water every morning and try to drink it all in a day's time.  I did that with no problem and know it was beneficial.  (Hmmm, maybe I should try that again now to see how it affects me.  Although I think I drink an adequate supply each day, I suspect I don't drink that much on a regular basis.)

One of the reasons we decided to purchase this particular piece of land many years ago was that it had an established drilled well with a good flow of excellent tasting water that tested out clean and pure.  The well we had drilled on our previous homestead in this county had perfectly awful water, and not much of it.  It tested safe to drink but the taste of it flavored anything in which it was used.  Ugh.

We believe having a source of good, plentiful water is not just important but vital, and we feel very appreciative of ours.  When we remodeled the house and grounds here we had a hand pump put on our well so that we would always have the option of hand pumping our supply of water even if we had no electricity.

Do you have an ample supply of "good" water where you live?  And do you think you drink enough water each day?

29 comments:

DFW said...

A hand pump is defintely on our to "get" list. We have great wter at the country house & sulfur water at the city house. While sulfur water smells bad it apparently isn't toxic, but sometimes I wonder. We aearate(sp?) ours.

Mama Pea said...

Hooray for your great water at the country house! I know so many people who have to buy bottled water for all their drinking and cooking needs. Then you read the bad press about bottled water not being nearly as good as it touted to be. It's hard to win sometimes!

mtnchild said...

I've never had my well water tested - maybe I should? - but the water tastes great because it doesn't taste at all, just water. The well has a good flow too. Maybe I should also get a hand pump even though the well head is wayyyy down the hill from the house. Schtuff happens and it could get aromatic around here ... he, he. And that thing - No power, no water - scares me a bit with the world in the state it's in ... In the mean time, I always have bottles of 'my' water in the house for emergency times.

Sue said...

Our water here tastes excellent. No-we've never had it tested, but I suppose we should.
I've also always wanted a hand pump--for when we lose power, but still haven't gotten that one done.
I drink a LOT of water (naturopaths order!!) I struggle in the winter to force myself (who wants a cool beverage when it's cold out), but solved that by setting a pretty glass full by the sink. Everytime I pass by, I drink that glass and refill. I manage my 8 glasses a day now (though I STILL don't like it in the winter!)

Anonymous said...

We're in the process of buying 10 acres. It only has city water and a creek. We plan on drilling a well, in the future.
I have a list of things to build(chicken coop) and plant ( fruit trees and bushes)and gardening.
Sue

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, I've been drinking lemon water this week too, but not Meyer lemons. Sadly our stores don't sell them. I do buy organic though. We have well water too, but I do need to test it this year yet.

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

We are on a well. The water tastes fine but it does have a rather high iron content, so we have a softener for laundry and bathing water. -Jenn

Mama Pea said...

mtnchild - Yep, hauling water by the bucket full UP your hill would be exercise (and maybe pain!) for sure. Having bottles of good water in the house for emergencies goes a long way though.

Mama Pea said...

Sue - Good girl! Sometimes we have to play little tricks on ourselves to make sure we do what's best! So many ailments of our bodies are caused by dehydration. And we don't even know we're dehydrated! I've been told I have a low level of water in my body so it's very important I drink a lot of water. And nothing, NOTHING, quenches my thirst like water does so I'm so thankful to have good tasting water. Glug, glug, glug!

Mama Pea said...

Sue - Congratulations on getting close to having your own little piece of land! If the creek has a good flow it will be good for irrigations purposes. That's always good to have. You're heading for an exciting adventure!

Mama Pea said...

Kristina - I feel it's especially important to have your well tested especially if you're in an agricultural area where crops are sprayed with poisons. That's the main reason we left our lovely place in Illinois years ago. All the drilled wells were being contaminated by years and years of commercial agricultural sprays seeping into the ground. :o(

Mama Pea said...

Jenn - Glad your well water tastes good. It's hard to drink enough water if it tastes bad.

Susan said...

My water is not the greatest. Very hard and sulfur. I filter it through a Berky filter system and that keeps it tasting pretty good. However, I am NOT a water drinker and should be. Your post is a good kick in the keester - maybe by keeping a jar in the fridge with lemon slices, it will be more tempting.

Laurie said...

We have well water, too, and it's very tasty. Other than my morning coffee, water is the only thing I drink. I do sometimes add fresh lemon juice to my water. I don't measure how much I drink, though. Maybe I should.

Michelle said...

We have the BEST water from our well, but not much – about 5 gallons/minute. So we treasure it and pray over it.

Nancy In Boise said...

I think some people have solar powered pumps too?

Unknown said...

Nothing like good cold water to drink! :)

gld said...

We do have wonderful water from a deep well that is very high in calcium. Tastes delicious. We had to be tested annually when were were milking in order to sell Grade A milk so are very
blessed.

Would you believe I am on a rigid plan of eating (actually not eating!) and it stresses 8 glasses daily which is the half gallon. I do fill a jar each day to keep track of it. I do it most days.

Mama Pea said...

Susan - Just came in from wood working and grabbed a goblet of lemon water from the refridge before sitting down here. It tastes sooo good! Can you take some to work with you in a thermos? It's amazing how vital water is in our bodies for our systems to work efficiently. Other drinks, coffee, tea, soda pop (oh, no!), juices, milk, don't count as the body has to work hard to process them and can't benefit from them as it can from plain, good, pure water. (Did I just lecture? Didn't mean to, sorry.)

Mama Pea said...

Laurie - I think it would be interesting for anyone to see how much (or how little!) water they do consume every day.

Mama Pea said...

Michelle - My naturopath always said it was important to pray (give thanks) over my water. :o)

Mama Pea said...

LHinB - I wouldn't be surprised if that was an option these days.

Mama Pea said...

Sandy - I know there's nothing that quenches my thirst like good, cold water!

Mama Pea said...

Glenda - I knew you would have to have had good water since you had the dairy.

Your rigid plan of eating, and I'm sure you're doing it for a good reason, and it calling for 8 glasses daily just shows how important getting adequate water into our systems is. Makes everything work better!

Tami said...

I think Diet Mountain Dew has water in it? And my wine...

:)

Mama Pea said...

Oh, Tami, Tami, Tami. What are we going to do with you? ;o}

Rain said...

Hi Mama Pea :))
Hmmm...water. We can't drink it here. It's way too iron-heavy and the current set up doesn't have a good filtration system so we have no choice but to buy it. And honestly? Both Alex and I have trouble drinking bottled water. It gives him heartburn and he has to acidify it up a little with lemon all the time, and he gets sick of the taste. For me, I find the bottled water too sweet and I actually feel nausea if I don't load it with ice cubes. It's a pickle.

Our last rental wasn't any better. We couldn't drink the water for the same reason, but the landlords did have a water softener with that big salt tank doo-hicky. And omg...was that water salty. Our hair and skin dried out terribly from showers but if we didn't have the high salt content, all our whites turned pink in the wash!

I think you are so right about having a good, healthy water supply. That is something that is so important to us and we do miss being able to drink from the tap. A few towns over, we found that one of the grocery stores offers a cheaper source of water, but we like it better than the name-brand ones. You just bring your big jugs and fill them up, they have their own filtration system so it's safe to drink and it's not so hard on our stomachs!

As for half a gallon a day, we both are usually pretty good with that, Alex is better than I am. Every morning though, I drink 3 tall glasses of ice water before I have my coffee. The glasses equal about a third of a gallon, so with the liquids I drink the rest of the day, usually I'm doing okay. But I really have to force that water down. I keep trying to put flavouring in it...but that sweetness really turns my stomach!

I do drink coffee and wine though, so I try to make sure I'm even more hydrated because I know those dehydrate too.

Mama Pea said...

Rain - I'm fully aware that sometimes good drinking water is not easy to come by.

It's hard to get here in our area and that's one of the reasons we feel so appreciative of our own good water.

We have a "water station" in our organic co-op in town where many, many people bring their water jugs in to fill. I haven't personally sampled it but hear the taste is wonderful and, of course, it has to be tested regularly.

I know you're in a difficult situation but don't rely on coffee and wine to provide much of your hydration.

Rain said...

If only could rely on coffee and wine lol! Actually I do drink a lot of bottle mineral water, which I find a lot less sweet, so that helps with the hydration, but it's so darn expensive!

I wish we had a water station here. I find it a crime that we have to pay for water!!!