I have started plans for a 1500 square foot garden this year. I keep thinking I must be half crazy but every time I meditate and pray for guidance as to where I am supposed to be and what I should be doing, I am right there in the middle of it, all growing up around me, lush and abundant. I keep worrying about the up front costs and what if no one wants to buy what I have grown and how I may be spending my retirement funds way too early. But I keep reminding myself about the lessons in trusting the Universe that I was taught last October when I went to Sedona, Arizona.
I had been guided to attend Myofascial release training in Sedona but by the time I got brave enough to purchase my plane ticket I did not have enough time to find a cheap hotel room to stay in for the week. As I was riding on the shuttle bus from the airport in Phoenix I apologized to my fellow passengers for talking on my cell phone and explained my need for a room for the next 10 days. After a few unsuccessful calls a woman a few seats over tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I am on my way home to Sedona and I have an empty guest room that you are welcome to stay in.” Just as I had been told, here was my “free” room and I could hardly believe it.
After reading the book, The China Study (See the Amazon reviews here) by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II, I am more convinced than ever about the need to eat organic whole foods. Colin describes his early life on a dairy farm and his diet rich in animal protein and milk. Yet after a 50 year career as a biomedical researcher of disease he and his family are no longer eating any animal products. He does not ask anyone to change to a vegan diet, he only lays out the facts of the many research studies which point to the American diet as the cause of most of our disease. We are talking about things like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, all of which are increasingly touching the lives of many more Americans than ever, even though we have spent countless hours and dollars searching for cures. This book even has a before and after picture of a coronary artery clogged with plaque that had been returned to full functioning after the patient changed to a whole-foods, plant based diet.
My food sensitivities have driven some of my friends quite crazy as I bring my own insulated lunch box filled with my own safe foods while they dine out. Muscle testing has taught me that my body prefers organic foods and sometimes there is even a difference between two organic brands, which says to me that where or how something is grown has its effects. I go through all of this trouble as I continue to get to the bottom of my flatulence and my eczema, since the naturopathic doctor I was working with said that there was nothing else that she could do for me. All I can say is that I feel better when I eat things that agree with me and I am much more pleasant to be around when a little green cloud of gas is not following behind me.
Now I am taking this whole health and eating adventure to the next level as I begin to grow food for myself and others. At first I was just thinking about organic growing methods on a small scale but now I have found out that there is a need to protect our biodiversity and so I also want to concentrate on growing with seeds that have not been changed for the last 50 years (heirloom). This first year may get off to a slow start with the odd weather (it is May and we are still getting rain and freezing temps) along with the 6 week process that we will be taking to get this clay soil to resemble something friable to grow with. The first step is to add humus to the clay. We will be rototilling three times this next week and incorporating into the soil: grass clippings, 2 bales of straw, 5 large bags of pine shavings, 12 cubic feet of shredded cedar bark, 6 cubic feet of steer manure, 50 pounds of bat guano and 60 pounds of earthworm casings. After letting it rest for 3 days we will then cover it with newspaper and black plastic and let it cook for 30 days at which point the seeds from the grass and wildflowers that we don’t wish to have growing will have been killed off. Then we will be adding over 300 pounds of stuff for fertilizing and conditioning before we can ever start planting.
We spent this weekend in SoCal with family where we got to witness the urban life and all of its trappings. But I am happy to be going home to our goats and wide open spaces. I wish I was better at verbally communicating what all of this means to me, wishing I could help my family understand why “getting a job” is not right for me. I found myself starting to feel guilty for not having a “real job” like everyone else and then yesterday it happened. Seeds I had planted years ago sprouted when my sister Carol said to me, “I hardly ever drink soda any more. After you told me about how it leaches the calcium out of our bones I can almost hear it escaping on the occasions when I do drink it.” And to think, I never thought anyone was listening to me.
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