Working in the Rain

I have decided to make the best of this curly hair after encouragement from Sheila and Mary Shapiro.

It was raining most of the day.  I found an old raincoat in the garage and put it on over my work clothes.  We can't let a little thing like rain stop us.  My job today was to weed one of the overgrown beds.  I have to admit the idea of snakes did cross my mind about a thousand times.  My white USA t-shirt is probably ruined and my jeans were covered in mud.  You can see in the pictures below the bed before and after my morning's work.

There were some berries growing on the fence that looked something like blueberries.  I almost ate one of them but decided I better check first.  Turns out the berries are not edible.  It is a plant called Ceylon spinach, and you eat the leaves.

For lunch I had black sapote, sapadilla, custard apple, avocado, papaya and coconut.

I am studying about Henry Lindlahr, MD who said that the proper use of surgery is in cases of injury, wounds, broken bones, obstetrical complications, and things of a mechanical nature.  Every minute part of the body is important.  He said the inflamed organ is just a symptom of a disease, and the cause of the inflammation is in every drop of blood.  Suppression of symptoms or cutting out the inflamed parts does not eliminate the cause.  Since nature seeks the easiest outlet, if you block the first outlet then the next condition will be worse.  Thousands of people have been operated on for something that could have been cured easily by natural methods.

Supper was tomato, avocado, lime juice, sauerkraut, pecans and dates.

Stay safe and be happy.

Janis

Accumulation

When I wake up during the night it is so dark, and I have absolutely no idea what time it is.  I will just lay still and try to guess whether it is time to get up or not.  The first time I did this Wednesday morning it was 12:30 a.m.  I read a while and then went back to sleep and slept until 7:00 a.m. so I only had one hour of computer time.  John showed up at 8:10 wanting to know why I was late to work.  I was trying to get Travis on Skype, but I couldn't get it to work.   John went to his house and signed on to Skype, and I could talk to him.

It was a rainy day.  This is not the rainy season, but it sure is raining a lot.  I did some domestics today.  I cleaned all three rooms in the office, and the shower/toilet building.  Then I put mulch around one of the little custard apple trees.  John had already fed it with blue stone and compost.

Then I pulled the Singapore Lilies from around the lemonade tree.  The Singapore Lilies have become a nuisance here.  The lemonade tree bears a citrus fruit that tastes like lemonade.

We prepared lunch and then cleaned up before eating.  Lunch was pomelo, sapadillo, custard apple, avocado, sour sop, papaya, and fresh coconut.  I ate all but the avocado.  Pomelo tastes like a grapefuit.  Sapadilla tastes like cinnamon.  Sour Sop tastes like sour candy.

I am studying the lymphatic system in my anatomy lesson now.  In my consultation with John we talked about the lymphatic system.  It is just as important as the blood system.  It keeps the system clean.  That's why it is important not to overload the system with toxins and morbid materials.  The lymph system has enough to do without being overloaded with all the things we subject it to.

The accumulation of waste matter is what kills us. The accumulation of waste is much more difficult to avoid once we stop growing at age 46.5 years.  All our processes slow down and we start dying.  So of all the things I want to accumulate, waste is not one of them..not on any level.  Why would I want to  accumulate things that have no meaning or don't serve me well?


I finally got to talk to Travis on Skype in the afternoon.  I think I woke him up since it was 11:00 p.m. his time.  He had fun fishing with his sister, Dorothy, today.  They had a late night fish fry.

For supper I chopped up a tomato and 1/2 an avocado and put lime juice on top.  And I had sauerkraut, pecans and 3 dates.

After supper I practiced my flute and sang to myself out of The Good Old Songs for a little while.

Then I read myself to sleep.

Grace, mercy and peace to all.

Love....

Unconnected

I have been having computer woes since last Sunday.   For some reason there was no power coming through the 240 v system that I had my computer hooked to.  Maybe I was draining it....not sure.  Also, we have not had a lot of sun.  On Monday, we went to Mareeba and I bought for $75.00  a 12 v adapter for my laptop hoping that would solve the problem.  But it didn't.   My computer was still pulling off the battery and shutting down.  John figured out that I was blowing fuses so yesterday we drove to a nearby little store and bought 10v fuses.  I'm hoping that will fix the problem.  The only other problem I have is that I can only charge my computer during hours when we have sunshine...10:00 a.m. until about 3:00 p.m.   If I use it other that those times, then I have to pull off my computer's battery.   At least, that's the way I understand it.  I still can't get Skype to work.  Maybe it will work during hours when I can pull off the 12v power.

On Sunday we weeded the vegetable bed, then made rows by pulling back the mulch with a rake.  John never tills the soil or inverts it in any way.  Next we put some chicken manure in each row and then compost in each row.  Since the ground was so hard we put the sprinkler on it and gave it a good soak.  Before planting, each plant is dipped in a pail of water that has 2 cap fulls of fish and kelp emulsion added to it.

One of my jobs was running the mower over the weeds we pulled from the bed.  After everything looked like it was chopped up good, we'd rake it up and turn it over and then run the mower over it again.  We turned it four or five times.   Then I took the mower over to the weeds I pulled out of the pineapple patch last week and did the same thing with them.  This mulch will be used to go down the middle of the beds.

The tree outside my door is a soursop.  It has fruit on it.

Sunday afternoon we planted the vegetables.  Each plant was dipped in the Fish and Kelp Organic Emulsifier mixed in water and then planted.  I pulled the mulch up around each plant like tucking the little babies into bed.  Then each plant was watered in by pouring some of the Fish and Kelp water around its roots.

I have had an abscessed tooth for a long time.  It doesn't hurt.  My dentist recommended a root canal.  I had learned enough about root canals to know to cancel the appointment.  The abscess popped up really good on  Sunday, though.  The abscess really has nothing to do with the tooth.  It is an outlet for a problem somewhere else in the body ... most likely the digestive tract.  It will continue to drain as long as the problem is there.

I could get a root canal and the abscess would to away, but that would not address the cause.  It would lay the groundwork for a more serious illness, such as cancer of the bowel.

Tooth decay and osteoporosis are both caused by poor health.  The body is desperately trying to supply the nutrients it needs to keep you alive by pulling them from the teeth and bones.

Another interesting thing we talked about is the use of ice in treating pain.  Ice is an analgesic, but it is detrimental in that it depresses the vital function of the body and suppresses the healing inflammatory process. Heating pads also cause great damage.  Cold water packs promote healing.  You use strips of sheeting wrung out of ordinary water and wrap them around the body and cover that with a double layer of woolen blanket.

I didn't feel very well on Monday.  My kidney was hurting, and I felt very tired.  I raked the grass clippings that I mowed yesterday and put them down the center row of the pineapples and vegetables.  I weeded the flower bed in front of the kitchen, then I ran the mower over the weeds several times and mulched the bed with them.

We went to Mareeba after lunch.  I got a 12 volt adapter for my laptop.  I went to the ATM while John went to the Post Office.  I found a short terry wrap robe, exactly what I had envisioned I needed, at Salvation Army for $5.00.  We got goats milk at the health food store.  At Overflow I spent $13.50 on hair rollers, headbands, ponytail holders, barrettes .... trying to find some way to deal with this curly hair.

At 2:00 I had my consultation with John.  I told him how badly I am feeling.  Solution - keep working, eating right, sunning, resting.  A sore in my nose is also related to my digestive tract.

In my course, I am studying the effects of suppression of symptoms.

Yesterday I planted seeds in the six packs our veggie plants came in.  I mixed blue stone, chicken manure, and compost to use as our potting soil in the six packs.  I learned to press the soil down tight so there would be no air in them.  John says air will interfere with the capillary action.  I planted some tomatoes, a mixture of different beans, and some mystery seeds.   John can't remember what they are.  I covered the seeds with more of the potting mixture.  Then each six pack was gently dipped into the Fish and Kelp water to moisten.  They will have to be dipped every day.

I put mulch around the pineapples.  I did most of them by myself, but near lunch time John came and helped me finish up.

Lunch yesterday was freshly grated coconut, sapadilla, papaya, black sapote, and a sugar banana.

During our consultation we talked about Alfred Braucle and hydrotherapy.  In Nature Cure we don't use the extreme water treatments that were used in Naturopathy.

For supper I had tomato, avocado, sauerkraut, and pecans.

It's raining like crazy here.  This is an unseasonable amount of rain.

Touring Cairns

I got up at 3:00 a.m. to spend the day in Cairns.  I even sneaked on a little eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss.  I didn't get a chance to straighten my hair, but I wore my Brighton jewelry...the charm necklace, the earrings that Molly and family gave me for Christmas, and the charm bracelet that Travis gave me for my retirement.

John, Jim and I left for Cairns at 4:00.  Our first stop was Rusty's market.  We were among the first customers.  John bought papaya, lettuce, tomatoes, avocados and mandarins.

Then we went to the radio station where John recorded his program.  It is a small community radio station manned by volunteers.  I met another DJ named Ron and the office manager, Chris  There were two computers at the station so I got to use one and Jim got to use the other.

We took Jim to the airport about 9:00 so he could fly home to Melbourne.  John took me back to Rusty's and bought me a sugar cane drink with lime.  It is WONDERFUL!  I hope I get to have one every week.  So good!  John says you can buy them in China Town in New York City.   I hope they are available in China Town in Philadelphia!  He said to look for Vietnamese vendors.

John had to go back to the station to do a live program.  I bought a map of Cairns, and I was on my own for four hours.  I walked down to the Esplanade which runs along the Coral Sea.  The yachts behind the Yacht Club were quite impressive.  I walked down the boardwalk and down some of the streets.  I bought  postcards in a little shop.   Then I went back to the Esplanade and sat  by the fabulous pool where people swim to have my lunch of papaya, avocado, pineapple, mandarin, and banana.  Two Asian girls who are studying English at the university interviewed me for a class assignment.

I walked over to Cairns Central to buy a notebook and a pen at Target.  In the chemist (drug store) I bought a box of Kleenex.  I can't afford to buy anything else here.  Everything is so expensive.  I found a fishnet looking shopping tote that I liked at a little shop.  I thought it was $4.50, but it was $45.00, so I left it there.  I like my Trader Joe's shopping bag just fine.  The fishnet bag was made entirely by hand in Papua New Guinea.  For some reason that made it expensive.

I got back to Rusty's in plenty of time for John to pick me up at 1:30.  I took my clothes to the laundry.  The lady there will wash, dry and fold them and have them ready for me to pick up next Friday for $12.00.

We went to a nursery in a nearby town called Freshwater and bought some herbs and vegetables to plant next week.  We got two kinds of parsley, some tomato plants, several types of lettuce and celery.

John drove me around a bit to do the tourist bit.  We went to a place call Crystal Cascades.  It was a 5k walk to the top and back to the car.  We had dinner back in Cairns at the Esplanade at a park bench...lettuce, tomato, avocado, sauerkraut, and pecans.  John had a board meeting at the radio station at 5:00, so I sat in the car to rest.  I slept on the way home and was in bed by 7:30.

I told John yesterday about how my bones and knees hurt so badly when I started the Couch to 5k program. I could hardly walk.  My bones felt like they were broken...split.  My knees felt arthritic, and I could not lift my legs.  So painful.  It hurt so badly that I thought I would not be able to do the program.   He said the pain was from working the grunge out of my joints and bones.  He said to never be afraid when you are doing the right thing.

Goodbye to Deborah and Priscilla

It was a good morning.  I got up at 4:30 to have computer time.  Skype is awesome.  I got to talk to Travis and my grandson, Zac.  They looked so good! 

Today was Deborah and Priscilla's last day.  They said I woke everyone up at 4:30 banging around in my room.  The walls in the cabins are paper thin.  They have woken me a couple of times at 3:00 a.m. with an alarm going off and then reading aloud to each other, too.

John, Jim, Deborah, Priscilla and I rode into Cairns to take the girls to the Hilton.  They are staying in Cairns for three nights before heading home.  The Hilton is right on the Coral Sea.   Very lovely.   I would love to stay there a few nights and just enjoy that breathtaking view.

John, Jim and I then went to a little shopping center...Raintrees Shopping Centre.  I bought some clothes pins (called pegs here) at Woolworth's.  Woolworths is a grocery store, not a five and dime.  And I bought some colored markers at another little shop in the center.  So far since I have been here I have spent $8.95.  Plus the $10 I spent to get an internet connection at the airport in Brisbane.

Other Australian terms I have learned - A ratbag is someone who is a law unto himself.
Ned Kelley is a Robin Hood type Australian folk hero.  You can see more about him here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly.  A doonah is a feather down cover, but is commonly used to describe any comforter.  Number plates are license plates.  A carroboree is a ceremonial meeting of Australian Aboriginees, but it is also used to describe any cultural meeting or rally.

We got back to the farm about 11:00, so we had an early lunch and a nice long afternoon.  For lunch we had papaya, banana, pineapple, avocado, mandarin and freshly grated coconut.  After lunch got a good sun bath and practiced the flute.  At 2:00 we had our consultation with Jim.

John is planning on going away for a week-end conference in October.  I'll have to decide whether I want to stay here or what.  Maybe I'll spend the week-end at the Hilton in Cairns!

He is also planning on going to the UK in September for two or three weeks.  This may be a good time for me to try to see some more of Australia while I am here.

Supper was the same...lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado, Green Lava, pecans, dates.
After supper, I got a shower and settled in to read.  We have to get up at 3:00 a.m. tomorrow.  Someone played some really loud music that sounded like a block party somewhere.  But I never saw a party.  Maybe it was a corroboree!

I'll try to do some pictures tomorrow.

Stay safe.  Be happy.

Love to all,

Top Dressing

Everyone here calls Dr. Fielder John....all the clients, his son, everyone....so I will start referring to him as John, also.

I laid awake from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. again.  Then ventured out in the dark to the office to get on the computer.

I cleaned the bathrooms first and then went to finish my pineapple weeding.  John was still top dressing the banana trees.  He first puts on a layer of blue stone which is ground up volcanic rock that has 36 trace elements.  It's quite expensive.  He paid $2000 for the pile he has here on the property.  After that comes a layer of compost, then a layer of mulch.  I put the blue stone around the pineapples and started on the layer of compost.  John started helping compost the pineapples, and I was glad because he is much faster at it than I am.

I met John's son, Ben, and his partner, Sarina.  They live here on the property not very far from us.  They are very nice.  I carried the scales and some bananas up to their house.   They gave me a tour of their home.  It is very different from our houses in the States.  The front wall doesn't go all the way up to the roof so the house is completely open to the outside air.

Ben and John harvested some bananas today.  These bunches are huge and very heavy and they cut down the banana limbs and leaves.  I was surprised at how heavy they are.  It took both of them to carry the bananas up to the house.  Priscilla and I carried one of the smaller bunches and my heart rate was going by the time we got it to the house.

For lunch we had papaya, avocado, banana, mandarin, passion fruit and freshly grated coconut.

Got to sunbathe after lunch and practiced the flute.  Then we had the consultations starting at 2:00.  In Priscilla's consultation, she commented to John about he does such a good job of setting boundaries for himself.  She said she would like to be able to do that, but that she can't always  Sometimes she does what other people are doing.  John says he does it because he realizes that if he doesn't do what he thinks is right it only hurts him.  It doesn't hurt the other people.

What I am learning here are the fundamentals of a healthy, natural life.  But just like in sports and writing, once you know the fundamentals you can experiment and break the rules a bit to add color, spontaneity, creativity, and originality.  But when something isn't working, you have to go back to the fundamentals.  So it's crucial to be well-grounded in the fundamentals.

I typed up Deborah's, Priscilla's, and Jim's stories yesterday and emailed them to John so he can put them on his blog.  I also got my Nature Cure History lesson about Dr. Kirstine Nolfi, MD sent to him.  I liked learning about her.  She lost her medical license after she stopped using drugs to treat her patients.

Supper was the same:   lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado, Green Lava, pecans, and dates.  And I'm gaining weight.  Go figure.

After supper, Priscilla and I watched You Tube videos and checked our Facebooks until 7:45.

Day Four at Clohesy and Skin Cancer

I am waking up really early.  I woke up at 3:00 a.m. but just laid in bed until 5:00 a.m. because it is too darn cold to want to get out from under the covers.  But finally, the desire to get to the computer overruled and I jumped out.

My jobs today were mostly domestic.  I cleaned the toilets and shower then I tackled the kitchen and dining room which needed a good cleaning.  I finished those jobs at about 10:30 and then decided I'd go work on the pineapples again.  Most of the weeds I can pull by hand but some are so entrenched I have to use a mattock.  We prepared lunch and then cleaned up before eating.

Our lunch was 1/2 papaya, a mandarin, 1/5 of an avocado, a banana, and a bowl of freshly grated coconut.  The clients ate with us today and got the same food we did.

After lunch I got a chance to put on my swimsuit and lay out in the sun a little while.  Then I found a spot outside where I could practice the flute.

Jim, one of the clients here, is a very sweet man from the south of Australia.  He had a head injury several years ago.  No one knows what happened to him.  He was just found lying unconscious.  When he woke up he had amnesia.  He thought his children were young, but they were grown.  He has lost twelve years of his life from his memory.  He tears up when he tells about losing the years with his wife and children.  He started raw foods and coming to Dr. Fielder to fast because he began to have fits after his accident.  All that has cleared up....just sometimes he still has flickers of light in his eye.  He is excited that occasionally he will remember something and his wife will tell him that was something that really happened.  I pray he can recover his memory.  He asked me for some good raw food recipes.  I told him about Amy's Mango-Avocado Salad.

During our consultations yesterday we had some conversation come up about skin cancer.  Sun block actually causes skin cancer.  Of course, you have to use common sense in the sun.  When we sunbathe at the farm, we are counseled to start off with 10 minutes per side and work up to 30 minutes.  But I was interested to learn that fluorescent lighting causes more skin cancer than the sun.  If we are under fluorescent lighting, we need to switch to full-spectrum lighting.  I then asked about tanning beds for those of us that don't live in the tropics.  Dr. Fielder says they are harmful because they are ultra-violet light...not full-spectrum light.  Ultra-violet light is one-sided and therefore not beneficial to us.  He says that even the ones that say they are full-spectrum are actually ultra-violet.  (?)

Dr. Fielder had a board meeting in town last night.  He seemed really excited to go somewhere without us tagging along.  He took his supper with him and Deborah, Priscilla, Jim and I had dinner together.  Deborah had orange juice because she is feeling nauseous (her body is still wanting to do more healing).  The rest of us had lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado salad with Green Lava dressing.  I only had a little of the Green Lava.  It's not my favorite.

After supper, Jim went to take a call from his wife while Deborah, Priscilla and I went into the office and watched You-Tube videos about raw foods.  We watched Dan McDonald and some You-Tube videos of some of Priscilla's friends...RawDownUnder and some others I can't think of right now.

Got to bed about 8:30 again.

Stay safe and be happy.

Love to all....

Weeding Pineapples

My schedule at the Clohesy River Health Farm is as follows:
4:30 - 8:00 am     Computer Time
8:00 - Noon         Outside work and domestic chores
Noon - 12:30       Lunch
12:30 - 2:00         Sunbathing, Practice Flute, or trips to store
2:00 - 3:00          Consult with clients
3:00 - 5:00           Study time for the course
5:00 - 6:00           Supper

I was still feeling like I had nothing to do after supper so I went to sleep at 6:00 p.m.   I woke up as 12:30 a.m and did not go back to sleep.  I talked to Dr.Fielder about using the evening to work on my French, and he says that will be okay.  Sheila suggested taking up needlework, like the pioneer women.  ha

It was so peaceful in the morning.  I heard some loud squawking that sounded like geese, but Dr. Fielder says that is is cockatoo.  It's quite cold at night, but it warms up during the day.

My job yesterday was to clean the bathrooms and shower.  Then I worked with Dr. Fielder on the farm.  While he top dressed the banana trees, I weeded the pineapples.  It was hard work.  It's got to be better than having a personal trainer.  All I can say is, I better look good come December.  I had little prickly things called cobbler's pins stuck all in my Earth-Tec jacket...thousands of them.  I really don't want to ruin that jacket.  Priscilla sat and picked a lot of them out one by one.  She said it was like meditation.  She kept thinking, chop wood, carry water.

For lunch the clients got more food today.  They got 1/2 papaya, two passion fruits, and grated coconut.   After preparing lunch, I got a shower and changed clothes before eating.  My lunch was banana, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 papaya, 1/4 pineapple, star apple and grated coconut.  I was so tired that I wasn't very hungry, but I ate everything except part of the avocado.

Dr. Fielder, Priscilla and I went to a town called Mareeba which is about 23 km from here.  It is known as a cowboy town.  We went to a health food store there for unpasteurized goat milk.  It cost $8.00 for two liters.  Then we went to the Salvation Army store where I paid $4.50 for a blue denim long sleeve shirt to work in.  I want to save my Earth-Tec jacket from ruin if it's not too late.

We had the consultations with the clients who are all doing well.  They are all so pleased with the results they have achieved.

Dr. Fielder asked me if food poisoning is an acute illness or a chronic illness.  I answered correctly that it is an acute illness.  He explained how digestion is a fermentation process.  Normal digestion is aerobic (with oxygen).  When food putrefies in the digestive tract the process is anaerobic (without oxygen).  Both are fermentation, and both are what the body needs for the conditions  The anaerobic action does its job by making you feel ill so that you will vomit or have diarrhea.  If the body doesn't have the vitality to perform these actions then it may develop a fever.  The bacteria are working in our favor in both conditions.

For supper the clients got 1/2 papaya, two passion fruits, and some pecans.  Dr. Fielder and I had the usual...lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, Green Lava, dates and pecans.

After supper I took my laptop into Deborah and Priscilla's room and we watched a movie my son, Crockett Harris, had downloaded for me....Temple Grandlin.  It was really good.  We watched it piled up on their beds...like kids at camp...until the battery gave out.   Then we took our flashlights and ventured down to the office to watch the rest of it.

I was in bed by 8:30.

Touring the Farm

Yesterday Dr. Fielder, Deborah, and I took a walk around the property here.  It was a good work-out with plenty of steep hills to climb.  I saw so many things that I can't begin to remember the names of the plants.  I remember the banana trees, passion fruit, and sapotes. There is also a molasses grass that smells like burnt molasses.  It was pretty chilly when we started out, but by the time we got through the temperature had warmed up so that I had to go change clothes.

For lunch we served each of the clients 1/2 of a papaya.  They are breaking their water fasts.  Dr. Fielder says that how you break a fast is just as important as the fast.  That why it is so hard to fast on your own.

Dr. Fielder and I had a wonderful fruit lunch....more than I could eat.  We each had 1/2 papaya, black sapote, pineapple wedge, a banana, 1/2 avocado and grated coconut with coconut juice.  I have to have a coconut scraper.  Dr. Fielder found his in Sri Lanka.  He went to Sri Lanka specifically to get the coconut scraper.  The lunch was so food.  I couldn't eat the avocado, because I was so full.

I learned that in the States we should only buy the old coconuts and not the young coconuts.  A young coconut only lasts about two days, so the ones we see in the States are treated with formaldehyde.

After lunch, I washed the dishes then had a nice sunbath.  Sun bathing is part of the routine at the health farm. Then I took my flute over to my little spot and practiced outside.

I got to sit in on the consultations with the clients.  It is good to hear their stories on how they have improved.

I am to use the afternoons to do my course work.  Today I checked Facebook first and then Priscilla came into the office and we looked at Facebook together.  I came back to the cabins to study and instead went into Deborah and Priscilla's room to visit.  Finally, at 4:35, I got around to studying!

For dinner last night, we served the fast-breakers another 1/2 of a papaya.  John and I had the same thing we had last night....layered lettuce leaves, tomatoes, cucumbers, and green lava.  Dessert was dates and pecans.

After supper, there is nothing to do.  Maybe I can start using that time to work on my French.

I'm really sad my iphone won't work here.  I miss it soooo bad.   I'll start doing pictures as soon as I can find a way to charge my camera battery.

Love to all....

The Witness

It was cold in my room last night.  I had terrible cramps in my feet during the night, and I had to get up with them several times.  I woke up at 12:30, 2:00, 3:00, 5:00 and laid awake for long periods of time.  I had to use my flashlight twice during the night to venture out to the restroom.  There is a dog somewhere on the property that began barking at 3:00 and barked almost non-stop until I got up at 7:00.  I haven't heard him since then.  He's probably sleeping somewhere.

My bed is comfortable.  The electricity in my room consists of two wall mounted little spot lights.  There is no receptacle.  Neither is there a receptacle in the shower room.  My temperature control consists of opening and shutting the windows.

I had dinner with Dr. Fielder last night.  The others here are coming off of fasts so they are just having juices.  I got to use a mandolin for the first time.  I have been wanting a mandolin so was glad for the opportunity to use one.  For dinner we arranged on two plates a layer of lettuce leaves, then a thinly sliced layer of tomatoes, a layer of cucumber sliced very thin on the mandolin, avocado in thin pieces scooped out with a spoon and all topped with Green Lava.  For dessert we had three dates each and a handful of pecans.

Recipe for Green Lava:

Green Lava is tomato, celery, sauerkraut, and green leaves (not spinach or silverbeet).  Use food processor or blender.  Quantities are up to you:-)

While visiting with Deborah and Priscilla yesterday, I told them about how I consulted with Dr. Fielder weekly for most of a year.  I would send him my full journal of all that I did, ate, read, and thought.  He would respond with one, two, sometimes three short paragraphs.  At times II thought, "He's not really giving me very much."  Then I realized he was giving me what I needed.

Deborah and Priscilla said they had been talking about that very thing,,,how he only counsels them for a short time and how Priscilla had then said, "That's only right, though.  It is OUR body.  He is the witness."

I like that explanation.  He bears witness to how God has provided all we need in the simplest of things that most people reject or disregard.  He also witnesses as we learn to take personal responsibility and be grateful for our gifts from the Creator that are hidden in plain sight.

I learned yesterday that organic produce should not be washed.  The bacteria found on such produce works in your favor.  Also, dishes only need to be rinsed in cold water.  The preparation of raw foods doesn't leave any baked on grime (on the dishes or in you) so just a quick rinse is all they need.

I took a cold shower before bed yesterday.  BRRRR!!!!  There is hot water here.  It is warmed in a tank by the sun. But either it had cooled off or I didn't turn the knobs right.  It was a fast shower, I promise you.

I have started a list of things I would like to buy for my room.....basic pleasures....a bedside table, kleenex, a notebook, a thermometer for outside my door, a digital scale for my room, postcards and cards to mail, some colored markers, a music stand....

We go to town on Fridays and sometimes on Saturday.  John is buying his produce at a market there now.  There is nothing much growing at the farm right now.  I haven't seen it yet, but all of us here are going to go on a tour later on today.

Love to all.  Stay safe and be happy.

Arrival at Clohesy River Health Farm

It's a long way to Australia.  It was close to 40 hrs door to door.  All the flights went well.  I have had a peaceful feeling all through the trip.  I followed the instructions to avoid jet lag....no airplane food; no alcohol, coffee, or soda; drink plenty of water; get up on the long flight and walk around.  I think it worked.  The longest flight was from LAX to Brisbane.  It was 14 hours.  I managed to sleep seven hours on that flight.

The drug dog at customs in Brisbane accused me of having undeclared contraband.  I explained I had mango, kiwi, almonds, walnuts, etc. in the bag earlier, but I had left them all on the plane so as not to have to declare them.  Turns out it was my neck pillow which may have been filled with buckwheat.  They said it was okay and let me keep it, but when I got to the ladies room I threw it in the trash.  I don't want to have to try to get back through US Customs with it later on.  I never used it anyway, and I was tired of hauling it around.

Dr. John picked me up at the airport at Cairns.  There are a couple of other ladies that are staying at the farm right now, Deborah and Priscilla.  He had dropped them off in Cairns to shop while he came to pick me up, so we went by and got them.  The drive up over the mountain was beautiful.  I say two kangaroo crossing signs.  I want a picture, but I wasn't fast enough.

At this time, I am in a room by myself.  My room has a tile floor and the bed has mosquito netting around it, but there shouldn't be any mosquito's at this time of year.  The windows swing open, and you can just walk out the window.  The shower and toilet facilities are a short walk from my room.  

Deborah and Priscilla were telling me how they found gecko's and a frog in their room and how beautiful they were.  That is NOT the way I react to lizard's and frogs.  I mean....I don't want to hurt them....but usually I scream when they touch me.  This could be interesting.

Dr. John helped get me set up with internet access.  I am so glad he recognized that is a priority with me.  I asked him what we were going to do tonight and what I would be doing in the morning.  He said my first job is to recuperate from the trip.  That sounds good to me.

I think there is someone else staying here right now, too, but I haven't met him yet.

Stay safe and healthy....

What is Travis Going to Do?

Just a few more hours until time to hop on the plane and fly to the Clohesy River Health Farm near Kuranda, Queensland, Australia.  The farm is about 13 miles from Kuranda, and near the Kuranda Rain Forest.  Cairns is about 35 miles away.   I am so excited about this trip.  I will be interning for six months with Dr. John Fielder as a part of the four year Lifestyle Consultant's Course in Natural Living that I am studying.

The question I am most asked about this trip is "What is Travis going to do?  According to Travis his main job will be to meditate and reflect.   Grandson Zac is coming up next week to spend a week or two with him.  That should help with the transition.   The garden will keep him busy.  He plans to go pick peaches and freeze them for fruit smoothies.  He is planning to take Ashlyn to the diamond mine at Murfreesboro to hunt for diamonds.  There is a Dallas trip planned with Ashlyn and Molly for back to school shopping.  Debbie East and Molly say they are coming to go to garage sales and estate sales with him.  Adam Green and the boys say they will come spend the week-end with him some.  Mary and Jay are going to be checking on him.  There is some golf in the plans.  He will be juicing on his own, too....green smoothies for lunch and veggie cocktails for supper.  He planted wheat grass today, so he will be able to have wheat grass shots.  Karl Hacradel wants Travis to teach him how to grow wheat grass.  After school starts he will have grandkids sporting events to attend.  He will be talking to me on Skype and Facebook.  And I hope he will be cleaning the house!

I am so glad for the opportunity to study with Dr. John Fielder.  As far as I know, he is the only doctor left that still teaches Nature Cure in it's pure form.  A true Nature Cure doctor sells no medicines, supplements, or alternative cures.  His only product is counsel.  I am honored to get to work with him.

I have some yummy raw foods to take with me for the trip....Goody balls, bananas, apple, mangoes, apricots, avocado, lemon, walnuts, and almonds.   That should get me through the 33 hour door to door trip.

I look forward to sharing the day to day life at the Clohesy River Health Farm soon.

Time to try and sleep....will that be possible?  Well, that's it for now.
Stay healthy and be happy!

Mango Avocado Salad

While we were visiting in Philadelphia, my daughter-in-law, Amy made a wonderful Mango/Avocado Salad.  It is totally raw and totally marvelous.  We had it twice while we were up there.  The recipe calls for 2 mangoes, 1 avocado, cilantro, a little olive oil, the juice of one lime and some poppy seeds.  Since there were so many of us, we used 4 mangoes and 3 avocados. 

I recently read a book called No Impact Man by Colin Beavan.  The surprising thing he and his family learned was that the reduction of wasteful use of resources actually increased the quality of life.   There is a tipping point, he learned, where the use of less resources causes misery.  Many people around the world live below that point.  While many of us need to decrease our use of resources, there are many more people that need to use more resources in order to have a better life.  Colin Beavan found the tipping point for his family was having a way to do laundry other than stomping the clothes in the bathtub.

I'm trying to be less wasteful while doing my laundry.  I had already cut back my detergent by just using one third of the recommended amount.  I still use the Purex sheets...they come in a box instead of a plastic container...but I don't think this is the ideal solution.  But I learned from my daughter, Molly, that you can cut these strips into thirds and your clothes are just as clean and the third of a strip works fine as the dryer sheet, too.  While we were touring Amish country, I was most impressed with the laundry hanging on the lines to dry.  Maybe soon I can get some kind of clothes rack/dryer that I can set up on my upper deck to dry some of our clothes outside in the sun.  I did cut back my time to use the dryer to just 20 minutes.  Then I took them out and hung them on hangers to finish drying.  The jeans and heavy shorts I hung on the railing on the deck to finish drying.

I thought about washing my dishes by hand, but ended up running the dishwasher in the evening with 1/3 of the recommended amount of detergent.  My dishes usually aren't very dirty anyway since I don't cook very much.  I switched back to powder detergent because it is not in a plastic container.  If I decide to start washing by hand...with bar soap...I need to buy or find at a sale a dish pan and a dish drainer.

Just fourteen more days until I leave for Australia.  I am going to the Clohesy River Health Farm near Cairns  to intern with Dr. John Fielder.  The farm is totally off the grid, and I have ordered a power inverter for my laptop so that it can run on 12 volt.  I'm getting really excited about the trip.

Here is a short video about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K-lGDRZOqc&feature=fvst

That's it for now.  Stay safe and be happy.