I wish that I had taken pictures during this restoration process, but I can't turn back the clock. My pan started out looking something like the one to the left; rusty, baked-on goo, and old seasoning that had cracked on the bottom, which gave an interesting spiderweb effect. This is an image I found online. You can view the original here.

I started the restoration process by scrubbing off as much visible rust as possible with steel wool and a little bit of water. I dried it thoroughly with a clean dish towel, then plopped it on the stove and started heating it up slowly. I added some canola oil, and as soon as the pan and oil were too hot to touch, poured in some salt, put on my rubber gloves and started scrubbing with a big wad of paper towels. The pan looked a lot better, but there was still a 1/2" crust of old, uneven seasoning around the lip of the pan and some uneven spots on the actual cooking surface. I felt like that needed to come off to prevent food from sticking once I started cooking with it.

A week later and several more hours of internet research, I decided to take the risk of putting the pan through my oven's self-cleaning cycle. I'd read that old cast iron (such as some of the first Griswold and Wagner pans) may not do well with modern self-cleaning ovens, since the ovens can range in temperature from 900-1200* F. Other websites said it was fine. Since there was still too much crap on my pan to tell what it was, it was a bit of a risk. Modern cast iron skillets, like Lodge Logic, are cast in a slightly different manner and aren't as susceptible to 1200* temps, or so I've read.  In the end, I decided that if it did crack, it would be a learning experience for me and only $2 lost. So, Sunday afternoon, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

Seven hours later (allowing two hours to cool), I opened my oven to find the pan covered in a fine rust-dust, but otherwise intact. I carefully removed the skillet from the oven, holding a cookie sheet underneath to catch anything that might fall off, and brushed off the dust with a cleaning rag. There was a new layer of rust on the inside of the pan, so I repeated the steel wool/warm water and oil/salt process. There was a little bit I just couldn't get off, but decided I could probably seal it in by seasoning right away. 

Everything else had come off beautifully, and now I could read the imprint on the bottom of the pan. As far as I can tell, it's a modern Lodge Logic #8 (10.5" skillet). It would have been pretty exciting to find the "Griswold" stamp on the bottom, but since Griswold went out of business in the 1950's, it was unlikely. (As a side note, my mother's maiden name is "Griswold" so that would have been worth a smile and a giggle if I had been that lucky!) Modern pans seem to stand up a little better to higher heat (like in self-cleaning ovens), but the surface is much rougher, so it takes some extra seasoning to get your cooking surface really, really smooth.

I preheated my oven up to 425* F and rubbed a thin layer of canola oil all over the pan (the smoking point of canola oil is 400*, so I went a bit hotter to encourage the oil to harden). The trick is to rub the oil in until the pan looks dry. You shouldn't have a slick layer of oil on the pan or it may not harden properly. Think thin. I baked the pan for 30 minutes, then turned off the oven and went to bed. This morning, the pan was nice and black, which means that the oil hardened properly. I didn't feel any sticky or uneven spots, which was great! I re-oiled, re-heated, and put it back in for a second round. 

The finished pan is in the picture to the right. Please excuse the poor lighting and glare- updating the terrible lighting in my kitchen is my next project. I probably could do a 3rd or 4th round of seasoning, but I think that once I start cooking with it, that will take care of the seasoning for me.

I am looking forward to years of non-toxic, non-stick cooking with this pan. Now that I know how to restore cast iron cookware, I might try to find a few more pieces and slowly replace as much of my cookware as possible. As an added bonus, cast iron can help keep blood iron a tad higher- as you cook, microscopic bits of iron can rub off into your food (much like eating with silver flatware, this is where the phrase "blue blood" came from!). 

Lemon oil has become my new best friend when it comes to cleaning my home. This exquisite oil has antimicrobial properties, can be found at virtually ANY health food store (including some grocery stores, such as Whole Foods), and can even be used on finished wood surfaces when diluted. I keep my 2 oz bottle in the kitchen windowsill above my sink within easy reach for getting rid of odors in the garbage disposal and mixing up spray bottles for multi-purpose cleaning. I have a plastic spray bottle underneath the sink with water and lemon oil in it. (I start with about 15 drops of lemon oil per 6 oz of water, but I do add more oil for heavier jobs. Be sure to shake the bottle before using, since the oil and water won’t want to mix on their own.) I use this for cleaning countertops and other hard surfaces as well as removing odors from carpet and upholstered furniture.

To clean my shower, I just twist the nozzle to a “stream” setting and blast away mildew and mold from the corners of the shower and along grout lines.  It is incredibly effective, actually a little gross to watch.  Not only does the lemon oil kill the mildew and mold but it seems to help loosen it from surfaces. Lemon oil is safe on finished wood, so I can also spray down my coffee table, end tables, and dining room table and wipe away dirt and dust with a rag.

I’ve also found that it’s great at loosening tough grease build-up in the kitchen. Put 4-5 drops on a wet rag and scrub away that greasy buildup on your range’s hood and vents, top of your range and any other greasy, sticky surface. The best part about this is that there’s no need to rinse away chemical cleaners afterwards- just wipe down with a clean rag! It does take some elbow grease, but I feel much better about this method than chemical cleaners.

I’ve also been using baking soda and vinegar in my sink and toilets. Sprinkle baking soda over the area to be cleaned and spritz with vinegar in a spray bottle or pour straight from the container in small amounts. The fizzing action will help loosen tough stuck-on buildup, and when it’s done fizzing, the gentle abrasive of baking soda helps to scrub away whatever’s left! I finish my toilets with lemon oil for the disinfecting power to make sure that all those nasty germs are gone before I flush everything away. To get rid of the tough hard water build-up, I scrub away with a pumice stone. Yes, the same pumice stone you use on your feet (well, maybe not the SAME one- I do have a dedicated toilet-pumice-stone for hard water deposits). The pumice is harder than the hard water build-up but softer than the toilet bowl, so it doesn’t leave any marks on the toilet surface.

The one store-bought cleaner I haven’t yet replaced is Windex for glass surfaces. I haven’t had the same results with ammonia, and the ammonia is hard on my body. For now, the Windex stays in my cleaning arsenal. I have found that a damp microfiber cloth works pretty well on mirrors without any Windex, so I try to save it for bigger jobs, such as dried doggie drool and nose prints on the back door.

My last non-toxic cleaning product is Miracle II Soap. I use this for surfaces when the lemon oil and water mixture won’t cut it (such as scrubbing down my shower after I've used the lemon oil), and I also use this to spot clean carpet and upholstery. A small dish with warm water, a teaspoon of Miracle II Soap and a scrub brush gets rid of dog vomit, spills and helps prevent stains from setting if you can clean it right away. There is no odor from the soap and I’ve been told it’s safe enough to drink straight from the bottle without any ill effects. I haven’t felt any need to test this theory, but considering that my hands don’t turn red or blotchy after exposure to it (in fact, my hands actually feel softer after use), I’m sold. I use a clean, damp cloth to soak up any excess soap on fabric, and when everything is dry, there isn’t any sticky or crunchy feeling to the fabric. The Miracle Soap company makes a variety of products, but I've found this one to be sufficient for most cleaning needs.

My next switch will be our laundry and dish detergent. I had gone to a natural dish soap several weeks ago, then switched back to Palmolive for a comparison. There really isn't any comparison. The Seventh Generation dish soap cleans better (cuts through grease more quickly and doesn't require as much scrubbing for pots and pans) and is easier on hands. Ironic, isn't it? I have a few things pinned on Pinterest that I'm looking forward to trying as an alternative to synthetic laundry detergent. Given that  Proctor and Gamble has admitted that their synthetic laundry detergent, Tide, is known to have carcinogens included in it, I feel it's likely that other synthetic detergents are probably the same. I feel that if you have to say that, "the levels of 1,4 dioxane found in [its] products are well below currently accepted safety standards," there IS reason for concern. It seems that nobody really knows what a "safe" level of exposure to a known carcinogen really is. What is a "safe" level of exposure to the antibiotics and hormones that are pumped into our livestock and fowl before it hits our supermarkets? How many cigarettes can you smoke before you develop cancer? Where is that line? The bottom line is that we just don't know. There are too many variables in our lives anymore; we are constantly exposed to carcinogens and potential carcinogens. For my household, making some simple and cost-effective switches just makes sense.

Arizona's mild winters make it easy to forget that most of the country can't enjoy the luxury of grilling food outdoors year-round like we do. Fresh local produce, however, is a little more difficult to find in Southern Arizona. Most of our local farmland is used for growing cotton, alfalfa, or milo, a grass feed for cows.  As a result, it's much harder to eat locally here than in other parts of the country. Our farmer's markets are considerably smaller here than in other parts of the country - I've been to one of Tucson's three farmer's markets and have been pretty disappointed. I am hoping that the other two will have more than one produce vendor.

I have, however, been spoiled by the Farmer's Markets in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Harrisonburg's Farmer's Market never really disappoints. Their beautiful several-years-old outdoor facility is major credit to the market, and the indoor Dayton Farmer's Market is pretty cool, too. I don't know of anywhere in Southern Arizona where you can have a conversation with the farmer who made the cheese you are buying as you are buying it as I have in Dayton, VA. Of course, these markets are driven by the local Mennonite community- most of the vendors are Mennonite farmers, bakers, and butchers. The quality of their food is incredible. If you ever have the opportunity to buy food from a Mennonite farmer, do it; I doubt you'll be disappointed.

So, how do you eat fresh and local when you don't have access to a farm-to-market resource? Unfortunately, you'll have to compromise a bit. Check the little sticker on your produce before you buy; it should give a country of origin. If you can, buy food that's been grown in the US. If you can't, buy food that's been grown closer to home. In my house, this means Mexico in many cases. When you buy a product (of any kind), you're not only paying for the product, you're also paying for everything involved with the manufacture and delivery of the product. If your food is grown several miles form your home, the farmer doesn't have to charge as much to make enough money to stay in business. If your food is grown thousands of miles away, the manufacturer and distributors have to charge slightly more because of the cost of fuel, labor, etc., involved in getting the food to you! Granted, in that case, there's usually the element of volume that brings cost down a bit.

Why Go Organic?
My experience as a consumer has been that organic food tends to be more local than non-organic foods. I was hesitant to switch to organic produce last year, since I hadn't noticed a significant difference in taste or quality, but since I have switched as completely as possible, I've noticed across the board that my organic produce tastes better, and I feel better. I've also noticed differences in texture- root veggies, such as potatoes, garlic, and carrots have a smoother texture. They are creamier. Organic potatoes seem to have a lot more starch in them. Stone fruits, such as peaches and avocados, also have smoother flesh and are easier to cut and slice. The skins may not be as pretty, but that's a small price to pay for better fruits and vegetables! Organic greens, such as romaine and spinach, are darker in color, which is an indicator of a higher nutritional content. If you are unsure whether something is organic or not, check the PLU sticker. Organic produce has a 5-digit code (versus the normal 4-digits) that starts with a "9."

Many cities are starting or have already started community gardens. If you don't have any outdoor space to grow tomatoes, herbs, or smaller veggies like peppers, cucumbers, or berries, consider a community garden. I imagine that most folks who grow produce in a community garden probably share their crops, as space is limited for the amount of different plants you can grow.

If you live in an apartment or have very little outdoor space, consider growing your own herbs (it may take a few tries to get them going as herbs can be difficult to grow) or tomatoes. You can also check PickYourOwn.org to find a farm or orchard within driving distance where you can find the freshest produce available- the produce you pick yourself! The fresher your produce is, the more nutrients it will have available. Produce that is picked before it's ripe and then artificially ripened with plant hormones (sometimes produced artificially in a lab) do not give the same nutritional value. 

     

Ripe or Not Ripe?
So, how do you determine if your produce is ripe or not? Fresh produce should be bright in color. Fresh produce should smell good when you pick it up. The skin of your fruits and veggies (greens aside) should be firm but not squishy or hard. Squishy produce is going bad. Firm produce can probably be ripened within a day or two and should be fine. Melons should sound hollow, as should large squash. Produce should never be slimy anywhere.

My pet peeve when buying summer produce is corn. Apparently, most people don't know how to buy good, fresh corn without shucking it in the store. My grandmother taught me a few tricks when I was a little girl about buying fresh corn in the supermarket and I'm happy to share those; they've yet to disappoint me. Corn husks help keep fresh corn FRESH!! The first thing you want to looks for is tight, green husks around the ear of corn. The darker the green and the tighter the husk, the better. The silk hanging out of the top should as as close to white as possible. There should also be a minimal amount of white fuzz on the husk, but sometimes this is difficult to avoid. The ear of corn should feel firm, but not overly hard or squishy, the same as with other produce. That's it! 

Pulling the husks back exposes the corn and accelerates deterioration- not a good thing if you want fresh corn! When  you shuck the corn, wait until you are ready to cook it. It should take some effort to pull the husks off. You can husk corn more quickly by pulling from the top, half an ear at a time, not one individual husk at a time. This also pulls the majority of the silks off, too! Bonus! Don't worry if there is a lot of silk on your ear of corn- this only means it will be sweeter. The silk helps deliver sugars to the corn kernels while it is growing- not a bad thing at all.

Now go out and enjoy those cool summer nights! Light up that BBQ grill and throw some of those fresh veggies on!

Our Special Order Facility is back up and running after 9 days’ of closure! We pulled everything off every shelf, swept, mopped, steamed, and wiped away six months’ worth of desert dust in corners, nooks and crannies. We made a few changes to our outdoor irrigation to improve drainage during Monsoon season, which started in mid-June, to make sure our facility stays in great shape! We also had the entire building sprayed for bugs (the scorpions, beetles and other creepy crawlies like to come inside during Monsoon season) and a couple of spots on the roof patched to prevent leaks. (All of our Monsoon-related repairs and maintenance did great during our July 4th Monsoon!) Before we re-opened, we took a thorough inventory of everything to make sure our counts of materials, supplies, and completed arrays and systems was correct. We also took this opportunity to stagger vacation time for our S.O.F. employees so everyone had a nice break to take care of themselves and their families. Our employees work hard assembling all of our products by hand, and we enjoy rewarding that hard work! We were able to do this for our Ultra Pro Facility in April without any major disruptions to service and production. We have found a handful of orders that were not handled properly during this most recent closure, and we expect to have everything taken care of within the next 48 hours. If your order was affected, we will be contacting you shortly.

We released our July giveaway today, trying something a little different. This month we’re giving away an upgrade to our Practitioner Plus Package. For our current customers, this means an array with cables, 2 Turbo Plates, and 1-lb bag of sea salt. For all of our new customers, this can be applied to the purchase of a NEW system for free; purchase must be made within 30 days of the drawing. This is a $297 value at MSRP. To enter, just post to our Facebook wall (www.facebook.com/ionicbalancer) and tell us what you like about our products or company. All entries must be received by 7/14 at 11:59pm PST. Our drawings always take place on the 15th of the month; if the 15th falls on a weekend, we announce the winner on the following Monday.

  
4. Keep your skin hydrated! If you'll be in the direct sun, slather on good lotion the night before you'll be outdoors as well as the morning of. Dry skin does not tan as well as healthy, hydrated skin because it is already damaged. Ladies, shave your legs the night before if you will be in salt water. These two tricks are old secrets for a good tan. If you've grown up near a beach, this is probably something you're already doing out of habit. After sun exposure, be sure to apply that good lotion again all over your body.

5. Eat good quality foods, and don't skimp on the fruits and veggies! Most fruits and veggies are in season now, so they're readily available. Foods like tomatoes may help raise your body's natural SPF, possibly from nutrients like lycopene. Antioxidants, typically found in the greatest concentrations in fruits and veggies, help reverse damage done to the body from free-radicals, which can result from UV exposure. Enjoy those fresh salads, fruits, and vegetable sides! Read more about it here.

Although we do need some sun exposure to produce Vitamin-D (which helps our bodies absorb and process other vitamins and minerals, like calcium), we need to be mindful of risks associated with UV rays. Use common sense, see your doctor regularly, and keep an eye on discoloration, new moles, or anything on your body that looks strange to help lower your risk for cancer. 

We see the "information" presented on the web and by word-of-mouth from our customers and dealers regarding the claims that this technology is scam fairly regularly. What we find interesting is that none of the people propagating these claims ever seem to contact us directly with their concerns. From the information we've gathered over the last five years, we can pretty safely establish that these people fall into one (sometimes two but very rarely three) of three categories:

1. Have watched a video or read an article online claiming that these units do not work, or have spoken with someone (sometimes of some authority but usually not) who believes these do not work, usually because they do not understand how the technology works, falsely assuming that these machines detox the entire body simply through the feet. This is untrue. The energy produced by these machines is introduced into the body through the reflexology points in the soles of the feet and is then distributed throughout the body via Energy Meridians. The color change you see in the spa water is a small fraction of what is happening in the body.

2. Have purchased a unit (usually a low-power, cheap unit out of China- these sell on eBay for $150-$300, sell at trade shows for $900-$1500, and wholesale for $49 - no, NOT a typo!), ran it without actually using it OR have used it once without feeling significantly different or seeing any color change in their water.

3. Have purchased a unit, sometimes of low quality, sometimes of higher quality) or have paid for a session or two (usually have paid a lot of money for these sessions), from a practitioner or distributor, expecting miraculous results in a very short period of time. For example, "This is going to cure my cancer, insomnia, infertility, arthritis, etc., in five sessions or less- I just KNOW it!" When the product fails to meet these unrealistic expectations, they decide that the whole thing is a scam and nothing more. What I find a little frustrating about this is that despite the fact that someone might say, "I did sleep a little better after each treatment, but I still have ________ problem, so I don't think it's doing anything at all." The success rate of traditional chemotherapy is about 13%; by this logic, chemotherapy (and about 90% of other allopathic therapies) is a scam as well!

If this technology really doesn't work, then thousands of our customers (as well as thousands of our competitors' customers around the globe) must simply be delusional. If there's nothing to this, then why does Erchonia offer a model for the low, low price of $2,995.00?? (Erchonia produces lasers for use in therapies and medical procedures; they aren't exactly what you might call a "fly by night," outfit.) Since the Ionic Body Balancer entered the market in 2007 at $795, many of our competitors, including Erchonia, have dropped their prices significantly due to our competition. Six months ago, the Erchonia EB Pro sold for $3,995.

It's easy to get caught up in rhetoric and loud voices in just about any topic, but our health seems to be a particular hot spot for most folks. Have a chronic illness? Suddenly everyone's a doctor. Trying a new diet or fitness regime? Everyone's a critic.  Working on a big decision? Everyone has an opinion on what you should do, and that opinion isn't always right for you. While we certainly need to make prudent choices when it comes to our health, those decisions are ultimately our decisions to make, not someone else's.  So, what do you look for when seeking a quality product?

1. Visit the manufacturer's website. The website should be easy to navigate, information easy to find, and the manufacturer should clearly be proud of their product. If the manufacturer cannot give clear, glowing praise of their product, you may want to look elsewhere. The Ionic Body Balancer has always been a labor of love for us. We are very proud to have a high power system that is not only safe and effective, but also very unique in design, operating at twice the power of the Erchonia EP Pro.

2. Is there a customer service number listed? If so, give it a call. Any customer service representative who answers should be able to give you clear, concise information about the product. If they seem disinterested in your request for information about the product, look elsewhere. If your customer service representative is taking their time to answer your questions and talk to you before you've made a purchase, it's a good sign. Ask about how warranties and returns are handled. How does the company respond if you think you may have a defective product? Do they charge for customer service calls once you've made your purchase? Sadly, this last point is becoming very common. We NEVER charge for customer service calls and we never will! We've always offered unlimited customer service for the life of the product; the addition of a toll-free number this spring truly makes the call free. We held off on adding this feature because we didn't want an automated phone system. We hope that our system is simple enough for our customers that is is a positive instead of a negative experience.

3. Read as many reviews of the product as you can. Again, if the manufacturer is proud of their product, they will have a variety of customer reviews listed on their website and possibly even a social networking site where customers are free to post feedback about the product as well. If you know someone how has the product you're looking at, ask them about it- Is it easy to use? How does it work? How often do they use it and why? How often do parts need to be replaced? Would they be willing to let you try their machine? Our customers always seem to be more than happy to share their experiences with our machine with their friends, family, and co-workers. Our customers are not paid for their reviews and testimonials and they are frequently unsolicited- we simply receive praise for the Ionic Body Balancer in our inboxes! If we choose to use a testimonial on our website (especially if it is lengthy) we send a free array or Turbo Plates to the customer as a thank you.

I hope this information has been helpful; you can expect a new blog post each week. Remember, if you ever have any questions or comments for us, please send us an email (service@ionicbalancer.com), give us a call (855-MAX-DTOX /855-629-3869), talk to us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ionicbalancer), or leave a comment below.