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DEARMARY:Ihave been making and using your concentrated laundry detergent for several years now, and I love saving money that the money with it. But sometimes I end up with lots of white, chunky solids at the bot- tom of the container. Am I doing something wrong when I mix the detergent with hot water? — Jean DEAR JEAN: This crys- tallization that forms after a while is perfectly normal and harmless. I usually go through a gallon of this concentrate so fast that the crystallization doesn't have a chance to happen. But when it does, I use it up just as if it were still in liquid form. No harm, no foul. I find that if I shake the detergent well each time I use it the crystalli- zation is less pronounced. If this is a huge problem for you, you could easily halve the recipe to make gallon of liquid deter- gent concentrate at a time. And although you did not ask, but because oth- ers will, our homemade laundry detergent is HE compliant, meaning it's suitable for use in high- efficiency washing ma- chines. It is completely sudsless — which is re- quired for use in low-water volume machines — pro- vided you use a very small amount (2 tablespoons to cup maximum). DEAR MARY: I was to- tally shocked to read in your recent column, "Cast Iron Skillets Making a Healthy Comeback," that the best oil to use to sea- son a cast iron skillet is flaxseed oil. Flaxseed oil has a smoke point of 225 F, after which point the oil begins to smoke, pro- ducing harmful free radi- cals. What is author Ellen Brown's reasoning for us- ing flax seed oil? — Debbie DEAR DEBBIE: El- len Brown, author of "The New Cast Iron Skil- let Cookbook," explains on pages 9-10 that while there are a dizzying ar- ray of methods for sea- soning a skillet, flaxseed oil is the most ideal. Flax- seed oil, which is high in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, is the only ed- ible cousin of linseed oil, which has a similar chem- ical structure. Linseed oil is what woodworkers and sculptors have used for centuries to give wood a lovely patina. Artists also mix it into pigments of oil paint. Linseed oil and flax- seed oil are termed dry- ing oils, which means they harden into a polished fin- ish. Again, flaxseed oil is the only drying oil that is edible. Free radicals are actually what enable the polymerization. Drying oils, which pro- duce the hardest poly- mers, are characterized by high levels of polyunsat- urated fatty acids, espe- cially alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid. Flaxseed oil is not shelved in most super- markets with the cooking oils. Rather, it's sold as a dietary supplement be- cause of its high content of omega-3 fatty acids. Chances are you'll have to go to a health food store to buy it, or you can find it on Amazon. It is fairly expensive, but you don't need very much of it. One bottle, devoted to main- tenance of your cast iron skillet, will last a very long time. I suggest you make the effort if you are serious about turning your cast iron skillet into your most beloved piece of cooking equipment. By the way, not every brand of flaxseed oil has the same smoke point. It depends on how it is ex- tracted and filtered. I sug- gest you take a look at Al- ligga Organic Flaxseed Cooking Oil, which has a high smoke point of 482 F. Alligga has no addi- tional chemicals, additives or preservatives, which al- lows for the high smoke point. You can safely use Alligga flaxseed cook- ing oil to season your cast iron, saute, bake and roast. CAUTION: I mentioned linseed oil above. Do not under any circumstances assume you can run to the garage and grab that old, dusty can of linseed that has been sitting there for decades and use it to sea- son your skillet to fry up some eggs. LINSEED OIL IS NOT EDIBLE. Take the time to find certified or- ganic, food-grade, cold- pressed, unrefined flax- seed oil. DEAR MARY: Thank you for telling us about DentalPlans. Is there any possibility that something like this exists for vision care? —Carl DEAR CARL: There is and a very good possibil- ity! Actually, many of the insurance companies now offering these Dental Sav- ings Plans (which I wrote about in "Dental Savings Plans Will Put a Big Smile on Your Face") include and/or offer companion savings plans for vision care, hearing and pharma- ceuticals. But remember, dental savings plans are not dental insurance, and nor would vision savings plans be vision insurance or prescription medication savings plans be medical insurance. Wouldyouliketosend a tip to Mary? You can email her at mary@ everydaycheapskate. com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, 12340 Seal Beach Blvd., Ste. B-416, Seal Beach, CA 90740. EVERYDAYCHEAPSKATE Readers'questionson HE detergent, flaxseed oil, vision savings plans Mary Hunt Although you did not ask, but because others will, our homemade laundry detergent is HE compliant, meaning it's suitable for use in high- efficiency washing machines. Chico Elks Lodge #423 will conduct its 2nd Sport- ing Clays Fundraiser on Sunday, May 15 at Clear Creek Sports club in Corn- ing. Teams will consist of five members and the fee is $75 per person. Individual registrants will be combined to form teams. Station sponsors ($100 each) are also being sought. Registration is set for 9 a.m. on the day of the event. Lunch and awards will be provided after the competition. In addition to Elks char- ities, proceeds from the event will benefit the Chico Posse Foundation. For more informa- tion, call Jen White at 570-3117 or send an email to jen720@me.com. CORNING Elks to conduct second Sporting Clays Fundraiser Writers Forum board member Alicia McCauley is scheduled to present an update 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, May 14 on two philanthropic proj- ects that her nonprofit or- ganization, Vigilante Kind- ness, is part of in Northern Uganda. Alicia will talk about how the progress of the Fable Project and the Pa- per Bead Project are help- ing to change the lives of young people in this part of Africa. She will tell heart- warming stories and pres- ent a fascinating slide show of photos from her travels in Uganda. Alicia will read some of her own writing as well. Formoreinformationabout this project, please visit vig- ilantekindness.com. Refreshments will be served and the meeting will be held at All Saints Episcopal Church, 2150 Benton Drive, Redding. First-time visits to Writ- ers Forum events are free. Annual membership dues are $25. For further details, write to writersforumprogram- chair@gmail.com or visit www.reddingwritersfo- rum.com. WRITERS FORUM Ugandan fables are topic of meeting on Saturday By Mary K. Hanson Acorn Woodpeckers are often referred to as "the clowns of the forest" for their raucous calls, bright faces and tree-top antics, but they're actually quite complex little birds that dictate how some aspects of the environment grows up around them. You've no doubt seen these guys. Their black, white and red coloring, and bright yellow-white eyes make them unmis- takable. The males and fe- males are patterned simi- larly, but you can tell the difference by looking at the head. On the males, the red cap starts right after the white forehead; on the fe- male, the red cap is pushed back a little bit and there's a black band between the white forehead and the red cap. These birds form social groups that are something akin to blended families consisting of a minimum of three males and two fe- males that all breed coop- eratively. Although females will sometimes pillage other female's eggs early on in the breeding season, once all of the females in a group start laying, the pil- laging stops, and they all share the same nest and take part in the incuba- tion duties. Acorn Woodpeckers nest in cavities in trees that they drill out for themselves and often reuse from season to season. Inside the cav- ity, the wood shavings left over from the drilling pro- cess act as the woodpeck- er's only form of nesting material; the birds don't gather grasses or twigs for their nests. If the nest is an old one, the woodpeckers will scrape the walls inside of the cavity to build up more, fresher wood chips for the babies. Young Acorn Wood- peckers are waited on by all of the adults in the group, both males and females, until they fledge. Fledg- lings will often stay with their family group for sev- eral years before heading off to form new groups or joining an existing group that is short of members. Groups of Acorn Wood- peckers are highly terri- torial, often commanding about 15 acres of the land- scape around their nest- ing and "granaries" — dead tree limbs perforated with thousands of holes. The woodpeckers drill holes of varying sizes into the wood and then fill them with acorns, other nuts, and sometimes even insects. I saw one Acorn Woodpecker cram the chrysalis of a Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly into one of the holes of his gra- nary tree. The birds usually only drill new holes in the trees in the winter, and they only drill in limbs that are al- ready dead or dying, so they do no harm to the living parts of the tree. If useful trees aren't avail- able, these woodpeckers will use whatever is locally available to them including wooden fence posts and derelict vehicles. There was a report from Arizona that documented a large fam- ily of Acorn Woodpeckers filling up a wooden water tank with acorns over a pe- riod of several years until the contents weighed al- most 500 pounds! The granary trees and their food caches — which are staunchly protected by the family group from interlopers like Starlings, Scrub Jays, and squirrels — sustain the woodpeck- ers during the winter when their favorite food, flying insects, is in short supply. Acorn Woodpeckers also like to eat sap, the catkins and pollen from oak trees, and even lizards on occa- sion. It's their granaries that makes Acorn Woodpeck- ers a "focal species" as de- scribed by the U.S. Forest Service. Focal species are those that are "chosen for spe- cial attention... to be used to guide components of conservation planning such as selection and de- sign of habitat reserves, habitat restoration and management, and popu- lation monitoring." These woodpeckers are also con- sidered a "keystone spe- cies" in the oak woodlands they inhabit because other crevice-nesting birds like Tree Swallows and House Wrens who can't excavate their own nesting holes de- pend on the woodpeckers to do that for them. So, you see: Acorn Woodpeckers aren't just the "clowns" of the forest, they're also the social and focal species of the forest that helps to define their environment. Tuleyome is a501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation organization based in Woodland. For more information, visit www. tuleyome.org. Mary K. Hanson is a certified California naturalist and author of the "Cool Stuff Along the American River" series of nature guides available at Lulu. com. WILDLIFE Acorn woodpeckers aren't just clowns of the forest CONTRIBUTEDPHOTO Female acorn woodpecker. NEVERGIVEUP UNTIL THEY BUCKLE UP. VISIT SAFERCAR.GOV/ KIDSBUCKLEUP Super Summer leagues and promotions starting now Offermayberevokedwithoutnotice. No discounts apply. Look for new items to be included for discount. Open9:00to6:00,Monday-Saturday 23340 Gyle Rd, Gerber, CA (530) 722-7844 and other flourishing plants Geraniums,NewGuineaimpatiens 525 Antelope Blvd, Red Bluff (530) 527-5272 Mon.–Fri.8am-5pm Saturday by appointment Locally owned & operated LIFESTYLES » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, May 11, 2016 » MORE ATFACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A5