Tools to make dreams a reality

My Dad is an outdoorsman. He has always been, from the time he could walk. When he was about five, his mother asked him why he couldn’t just stay in the yard. He replied that it was “all wore out”. At about seven, he declared that he was going to find some snakes, went up into the mountains and brought back two rattlesnakes.

When he was young, he envisioned himself as a fish and game officer. Somehow as children, we know what we want. His dad however, discouraged him. So, when he went to school, he looked at the  catalog, said, well, I guess I can make a living doing this...and that is what he did. Day in, Day out for  forty years. He didn’t enjoy it. But he did it because he had a family to support. Now, I have to tell you, that I love my Dad for this sacrifice, but I wouldn’t wish it for him.

Today, at Sea World in Florida, as I was watching the dolphin show I thought, “That is something I would LOVE to do. In elementary school, living in Southwest Michigan we often visited animal refuges and I knew that was my calling in life! But I didn’t. As I pondered this, three things came to mind. Three things kept me from following childhood dreams.

• Lack of imagination. Sometimes we know what we love, we just can’t see how to make it profitable. 
• Fear- what if I fail? What will other people think? 
• Self Discipline- The work ethic it takes to do something hard.

I thought of one of my daughters. She is so much like me. She likes so many of the things I liked. She has tons of passion. She is way more athletic than I ever was and she has the desire to do something great. It is too late for me to do some of the things I once dreamed of, but not for her. However, I know that if I don’t help her to prepare for those dreams, there are three things that will stand in her way.

Lack of Imagination: We can help children with this by exposing them to many possibilities. Then we can talk about them. Traveling with children is a great opportunity to expose children to new ideas and cultures, but it is expensive. There are many opportunities close to home if we look for them. AND, there is the internet. We can help our children to find their passions and then look for how they can use them. Instead of discouraging them, help them to enlarge their imaginations. I couldn’t see as a child where my interests and talents could be used and made profitable.

Fear: What if I fail? What will other people think? There are so many fears that children, and people in general have. Fear is the biggest reason people don’t go after dreams. As parents, we don’t have to make it worse. Maybe their goal isn’t the most practical. Maybe we don’t know anyone who has ever accomplished such a thing. Maybe we know thousands of kids who want to do the same thing. Maybe we don’t even know that the goal IS a thing. Who are we to decide or even negatively influence what our children adventure to accomplish. I allowed fear to keep me from opening my eyes to possibilities.


Self Discipline: All the dreams in the world will go no where without a work ethic to go with it. Life is hard. To be able to make great things happen, we have to be able to do hard things. We don’t wake up one day and say, I’m going to do hard things today. It takes years of training.

So many of my cousins are going to look at this and think, "Hard?" But I'm going to use this example because at the time my children thought I was crazy for attempting such a thing.

I wanted to bury our trampoline. I wanted it set into the ground for both safety and aesthetic reasons. My husband was opposed to it, so it took me years to come to the point where I was willing to make it happen. It was between two fruit trees that were growing to the point that there just wasn’t room for it. So this spring, I told two of my boys we were going to did the holes with shovels. I had a few cousins, very athletically inclined, who had done it so I figured we could do it.

My sons Reuben and Tobler somewhat reluctantly opted in. At first it was a bit of an adventure. As the weeks wore on, it became harder. Having Reuben with his sense of humor was a life saver. He joked about digging to china and sometimes made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe, let alone dig! I adore that boy! He is the light in all of our heavy. It took us a month, but we did it! It became something we looked at to remember we could do hard things!

Improve Your Digestion!

Every year I grow lots of purple cabbage. I do this so that I can make sauerkraut! A few days ago I harvested all of my cabbage. Cabbage Harvest Means Sauerkraut Time! It doesn't take long, just a few minutes. I chop up my cabbage, it doesn't matter how finely. I like mine more coarse for two reasons. It's faster, and I like mine more crunchy. Finely chopped cabbage makes a more soft kraut. 

After I chop it, I put it in my crock and sprinkle salt. In my 2 gallon crock I put about 3 medium to large cabbage and about 4 tablespoons of pink salt. The salt helps to release the juices. Then I pound it to finish releasing the juices. This is a little exercise and takes about 5-10 minutes.

Then I place a plate fits rather tightly in the crock over the cabbage. Then for weight I place a Ziploc bag with a few cups of water sealed in it. Then you are done! Place the crock in a cool place and let it sit for 1-4 weeks, depending on how strong you like it. 

Sauerkraut has so many health benefits. 

• It will improve your digestion. Your body has a time digesting cellulose and fiber. We need bacteria to do it for us. 
• Sauerkraut is high in K2 and Vitamin C, Iron, Manganese, and so many other trace elements and nutrients.
• Sauerkraut builds a stronger gut lining to prevent leaky gut.
• Sauerkraut aids to strengthen your immune system. 
• Helps you maintaining healthy weight.

Countering Stress Response

Chronic stress is something we all deal with. It doesn't take a major event to over tax our adrenals. It is the everyday, constant variety that does the most damage. Most of us are suffering from adrenal burnout as our amygdala is constantly sending signals of alarm that activates the hypothalamus to send signals through the sympathetic nervous system to the adrenal glands. When this happens over and over our adrenals are taxed. The parasympathetic nervous system never gets to do it's job and we never feel at baseline. We never feel relaxed and ok. This has so many physical, social, and emotional consequences.

Studies are showing that b vitamin deficiency is linked to chronic stress. We are not able to deal with stress if our b vitamins are low. That certainly accounts for the huge increase in modern chronic stress. Studies also show that our food is lower in vitamins and minerals than it used to be due to our modern farming practices. Dirt that has been farmed for decades and supplemented with only three nutrients cannot possibly produce food that contains the array of vitamins and minerals that our bodies need. Supplementing is critical.

Also, adrenaline was made to give us energy to "do" something. When we don't use it, we become irritable, anxious, and easily angered . A few Sunday's ago I had given my daughters and niece instructions to straighten up a room they had destroyed. I left the room and soon heard one of them screaming bloody murder. I was sure I had an emergency room visit to make and I sprinted into the room, knowing someone had broken a body part. My adrenals sent all kinds of epinephrine (adrenaline) into my system to give me energy and focus to pick up the injured child and quickly get her to the emergency room. Only when I got there, there was no emergency. There was only two girls tickling the other. Well, I had adrenaline coursing through my veins and there was not nothing for it to do. So, it came out my mouth. I became super angry and sent the girls out of the house to contemplate their wrong doings. I spent days wondering why I exploded so easily. Then it occurred to me, that this is what someone does on adrenaline that has no place to go. Someone who lives in adrenal fatigue experiences this often.

So what do we do to combat this constant environment of stress we live in? We MOVE. That is what adrenaline was designed for. It doesn't take much. A 15 minute walk, a few flights of stairs, something that uses both arms and raises your heart rate. The benefits are enormous physically, emotionally, and mentally. You will be surprised what a few minutes of physical exercise can do to combat chronic stress. Sometimes we feel like it is too indulgent to take a few minutes for ourselves and take a walk. I often feel like I have too much to do. I have found however, that in the long run, I am more productive when I take time to reset through physical exercise. It doesn't have to be unpleasant if you aren't a die hard runner. It can look like taking a walk with a dog. Sometimes I love the excuse that my dogs need a walk, when it is really me! Today was one of those moments! It was a gorgeous afternoon and I loaded them in the car and went for a little hike. Free therapy!

If you are experiencing chronic adrenal fatigue, find a good supplement (let me know if you need suggestions), and move more!

Getting Ready for Cold and Flu Season

Power House Garden Remedy

I have three remedies that I depend on to keep us through the winter. One of them is my garden remedy. All ingredients but two came out of my garden. The odd ones out are turmeric and ginger. I have tried to grow them, but our growing season is just too short, even in my greenhouse. I love that most everything in this concoction was grown in my garden organically.

I waited until just before a hard freeze to harvest my horse radish. It is a key ingredient in this antibacterial, antiviral, antimicrobial remedy. I gathered a bucket of roots, but left a few in the ground to grow next years roots. 

I add onions, jalapenos, garlic, and raw homemade apple cider vinegar. The vinegar is last years because we haven't juiced apples yet this year. 

I strained a batch that has been incubating for a month or so. Here you can see the difference between the new and old batches.

While it doesn't look pretty, my mouth waters like crazy while I am making it! We finished the last bottle a week ago and my boys are ready to have a new one. They know that it keeps them healthy. With everything they are involved in, they can't afford to get sick. Swim season has started and they have serious plans. Since starting massage therapy school, I don't have time to get sick either. We will be making this part of our daily routine.

To Supplement, or not to Supplement: Sugar's Devastating Effects on our Vitamin's and Minerals

Our modern diet has left almost everyone with a serious deficiency in many nutrients. Part of this can be blamed on how our food is grown and harvested. Food just doesn't have the same nutrient value when it is grown in the same soil for decades with only three nutrients (Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus, all synthetic) being added back in.

However,  as I study nutrition, I think perhaps a bigger reason we are so nutrient deficient is a result of the sugar we eat. The chemistry of sugar in the body is quite alarming. If you eat much sugar (and it doesn't take much) your are probably deficient in Magnesium, Calcium, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, and Chromium. Research shows that for every one molecule of sugar, you need to intake a minimum of 7 and perhaps as much as 40 molecules of magnesium. That is a big deal considering that magnesium is responsible for promoting healthy sleep, relaxing muscles, healthy, regular bowel movements, and the big one...blood sugar regulation. No wonder diabetes in on the rise. Magnesium is hard to get in our regular diets. Then we compound that by eating more sugar than any other generation. My FAVORITE talk that illustrates this can be viewed here.

Sugar also causes vitamin D deficiencies. It produces an unhelpful enzyme that destroys vitamin D. In previous times that worked because people at sugar in fruit in the summer when people were outside getting lots of extra vitamin D. Now we just eat it all year long, without adding the extra vitamin D. Calcium absorption is linked to vitamin D supply. With low vitamin D levels, calcium will be low also.

It is clear that we need to lower our sugar consumption. The momentary pleasure is just not worth the long term effects on our body. However, we must be honest. That is really hard to do and even harder to get our kids to do. With our best efforts(which are still worth making), we will still need to supplement. When wondering whether to supplement, or not to supplement...read all the links above!

Fingernail Health a Window into Overall Health

My Aunt has been taking our #CaptianAmericaSerum for three months now. She is my mom's sister. Ilene has eaten the typical American diet most of her life. She has tried most of the diets out there, with fleeting success. Her health, and that of her husbands and reached an all time low when they started. Immediately she had more energy. I will get her to write all the amazing changes she has experienced, but I had to do a post about her fingernails!

There are a few areas of the body that act as windows into the health of our bodies. Two that I like to use the most are the tongue, and the fingernails.  When I saw my aunt's fingernails I was amazed. Look at these fingernails! You can see where she started to take her supplements. If that is a window into her health, that is a definite improvement of health. Fingernails don't lie!

Here is a picture after taking the supplements for about 6 weeks.

These were taken after about twelve weeks.

If I would only have known!

I was helping with child care for a Shakespeare play today and a baby, maybe 10 months old came in. I felt an immediate connection with him but the other child care workers were explaining his situation. He had been there the day before and been inconsolable. He had an ear infection and was on antibiotics. He had a rash on his cheeks and runny nose that is common with antibiotics. He looked like he didn't feel great. It brought me back to my young mother self and the health journey I embarked on during that time.

When Reuben was very young, he had a string of ear infections and sinus infections. He had antibiotics several times and then developed stomach problems. They got worse. The doctors thought maybe he had celiac. We saw a pediatric GI and we did many tests. He even had a colonoscopy/endoscopy, which found nothing. Soon after we took him to a functional medicine doctor. We started probiotics, digestive enzymes, essential oils, and some herbs. That was the beginning for me.

For all of my babies after that, I treated ear infections with essential oils, and have never needed an antibiotic. I found the tools I needed to keep digestive systems healthy through herbs, nutrition, and fermented foods. It has taken more than a decade to learn all of these things, but now when I see a baby suffering under the normal pediatric protocol I cringe. If I had only know when I started! My children could have avoided so much pain. I could have avoided so much stress! I also could have saved so much money!

I didn't dare stick my nose in that families business today. Oh, I wanted to because I adored that baby. Our world is pretty private and isolated. People generally don't want advise. If I could share what I have learned with parents to help keep the minds and bodies of their children healthy I would! I would start by saying feed them food! Not something out of a package! The most priceless possession we have is our children. Most parents feel this way, and think they are doing what is right for their kids. Sometimes that takes a lifetime to learn. It is too bad we can't share that info. Oh, if I had only know!