Yellow and Purple

Right now the fallow field is a sea of yellow dandelion and purple violet flowers! Oh what you miss when you mow. I picked a basket of dandelion and violet leaves for diner tonight and will saute them in oil with some onion and garlic. They are both highly nutritious and the only cost was the little bit of time it took to pick them. About 3 1/2 ounces of the fresh violet leaf has 264 mg of ascorbic acid and 20,000 I.U. of Vitamin A! The little flowers provide a little bit of Vitamin C and are very pretty in a salad. I filled a small jar with the flowers and covered them with oil. They'll sit for about 6 weeks and after straining it, I'll use as ear oil for tinnitus. When I came in with the harvest, I took a little of each out of the basket and set it in front of Little Mama Lucille. She's down with a hurt foot. She snatched those violet blossoms out of my hand before they hit her pillow! So I gave her more and she acted like I was giving her a piece of raw meat. She also loved the violet leaves.



I also picked enough violet leaves to 3/4 fill a mason jar, chopped and poured boiling water over them and capped. That will sit an hour and I'll strain. The result is a very beneficial infusion and the strained material can be used for a poultice. According to Susun Weed's book " Healing wise", violet leaf infusion is wonderful for all sorts of things such as fibrocystic breast disease, swollen glands, cancer, liver and gall bladder issues, skin issues, and helps the bladder and kidneys.

If the "health care" system we have today STARTED with plants like these and only used pharmaceuticals as a last resort, then I may feel completely different about this mandatory Health insurance coverage issue. We do not have a health care system managed by insurance companies, we have a disease management program run by companies that are invested in the fast food industry which cause much of the disease and support the pharmaceutical companies. I was an Employee Benefits Manager for many years and after that worked on the software that health insurance companies use. It's all about the money, not about your health. It's a system full of lobbyist and ridiculous regulations that employ highly trained professionals who spend most of their time dispensing pills.

I used to be a very, very sick person and if I added up all the time I've spent in Doctor's offices and hospitals, I'm sure it would reflect years of my life. In that time not one of those highly trained professionals showed me the simple things that ultimately healed me. They gave me pills that caused more problems, more illness, more symptoms. I spent thousands and thousand of dollars and have only in the last few years gotten out of debt. When I decided to stop all the pills, I met very good Doctors that were interested in what I was doing and supported me, some taking notes on what I did and were fascinated. One even commented that he wished he had learned about this in medical school. But they should have been the teachers, they could have saved me years of misery and a lot of money. It's just not the system they are part of. There are great Doctors and nurses out there, but why weren't most trained in the basics of human health care that has been on this planet for thousands of years and right below our feet?

So do I want to be mandated to pay into a system that starts with pharmaceuticals and the knife; a system that sticks people into hospitals- the least hospitable place for healing; a system where overwhelmed Doctors aren't taught how to teach people to properly care for them selves at home, leaving their offices for the most critical cases; a system set up on dependence - "If this pill doesn't work, come back and we'll try another."; or a system that is not at all out war with the fast food industry, the cause of much of the ill health in this country? No, not really. This isn't a political issue to me, it's the right of every human being to know some of the most basic health practices they can take care of at home and the teaching should be coming from health care providers.

If I buy property I understand I have to pay taxes, if I want to drive my car on the road I have to pay insurance; but just for being alive I'm now going to be obligated to pay into a corrupt system that most certainly does NOT promote health, makes money on people terrified to let their coverage lapse for even one month and makes the corrupt pharmaceutical companies rich. Watch "The Constant Gardener" for just a glimpse of what this industry is like.

People have asked me many "what if" questions. What if you are in an accident, what if you get cancer, on and on - the hospital would have to treat you and we, the taxpayers, would be stuck with your bill. "Our system may not be perfect, but it's better than nothing." IF I have some critical care issue that requires having to use this system, then I'd do what I could to work out a payment plan. I haven't been to a Dr.'s office in so many years I can't remember the name of my last primary care physician. I'd say I've saved enough in health insurance premiums to cover several accidents.

If someone was in a relationship where they were abused routinely, physically and financially and you advised the person to get out of the relationship - what if they said it was the best they'd ever do, their partner may not be much but it's all they have. What would you think? It's not an excuse and not acceptable. This system has a lot of house cleaning to do and needs to seriously rethink it's whole direction before we'll ever see a change in the health of the citizens of this country. Sorry for the soap box.

Well we've been working hard at Falcon creek and have the start of a barn going. We discovered that trying to use the used timbers we won at auction was a big mistake. We wasted several days because even the ones that look straight really weren't. Most were warped and bowed and for most, no amount of pulling on the twisty tool (Ok so I don't know the name) would straighten them out. It was great that we learned this lesson on the barn and not the house. We know now we can not use them for our roof as we had hoped.

Our next project is building a cistern for water and there is plenty there to use. We'll also use the roof of the barn to collect rain water for the herb garden on top of the hill. There are huge amazing dogwoods in bloom right now and all sorts of flowering trees and plants. Lovely.