Gettin' n tune

Morning temp: 60F
Afternoon high: 74F
Tonight's projected low: 47F
Humidity: 56%
Moon: Waxing, 14%
Sunny, with a North wind at 0 mph.

1. We'll be moving a great many plants out to the Garden this afternoon! More about this when we're done.

2. Tired of being overweight, easily tired out and "addicted" to asthma medication, I've decided to re-apply homesteading principles to my body. I've been about 40 - 50 pounds over weight for three years now. As a result, my blood pressure has risen a little bit, I feel like I'm carrying around a backpack filled with encyclopedias all day long, and I've needed to be on Advair and Proventil one to two times a day. I'm dissatisfied with this state of affairs because I know from my own experience that it's entirely optional. In Stage One of our homesteading experiment (while living on Lookout Mountain), I came across the work of Dr. Lorraine Day, a well established, mainstream surgeon who healed herself of a very aggressive cancer (that had her within weeks of death) by setting aside everything mainstream medicine and culture demanded that she do to treat her condition. Before long, she discovered that this same approach produced complete, miraculous cures 100% of the time with absolutely no side-effects when applied to a great many medical and psychiatric conditions, so she began to teach others how to heal their illnesses. I was struck by the simplicity of her approach, which starts with eating only organic fruits and vegetables, period! Of course, her entire approach is comprised of some 10 steps, such as making sure to drink at least one gallon of fresh, clean water each day, and juicing fresh, organic fruits and vegetables several times each day, and can be read about at her website, http://www.drday.com/. I began her method in earnest, and within one week I was able to stop taking all asthma meds whatsoever - it's important to note that I had severe asthma for 30 years, had been on daily asthma medication for about 20 years, and had nearly died twice due asthma-related complications, so it was no minor problem that was cured. Within two months, I had returned to a perfect weight for my height, 175 lbs., and people around me noticed how my clear my skin was, and how high and steady my energy level was.

However (there's always a "however" in any good story), as I was drawn away from our homesteading experiment, needing to return to University teaching and construction work, my dietary practices quickly spiraled back down to eating anything and everything I desired. This bottomed-out last Summer, when I herniated my small intestine in several places merely carrying a small TV set out to the trash, and needed fairly extensive surgery. When I asked my surgeon why this happened she answered, "You're obese! When men become too large it stretches their 'plumbing' out of shape, which allows part of the small intestine to rupture out when put under stress, such as lifting." Wow! 50 lbs overweight is clinically obese, and I was there and growing still! I had always been the tall skinny kid who could eat pizza and drink beer every day and still loose weight, even into my middle 30s.

Well, it's time for me to re-apply these homesteading principles - simplify, cut-down to what's necessary, do what you can for yourself - on the most intimate levels. I'm tired of being a sick, exhausted fatboy!

3. We'd like to mention two additional points about working with the cycles of the Moon. In an earlier post, we mentioned that seeds started at the New Moon tended to sprout and grow quickly. We forgot to ad that this applies to seeds started within the first seven days of a New Moon! So sorry. Secondly, several of you have pointed out that although we recommended transplanting on the Full Moon, we in fact did our last transplanting of seedlings to the Garden on the New Moon. You're quite correct. As M stated in our first post, we're studying, experimenting and learning as we go. Also, we wanted to get some plants in the Garden and couldn't wait another two weeks! Today's planting, however, is closer to the Full Moon, so we count that as a success.

Frankly, I find it remarkable how challenging such a simple task - starting seeds on the New Moon and transplanting on the Full Moon - has turned out to be. Of course, there are other factors to be worked in, such as the "last frost date" for our part of the country (which was supposed to 4/15), what's actually happening with the weather (4/15 saw Winter's brief return), and our work schedules. Still, in this we're working to recover something our larger culture has lost, and in so doing we're attempting to harmonize ourselves with something utterly foreign to the way M and I have lived all of our lives thus far. For 40 years, we paid no attention whatsoever to lunar cycles, save perhaps noticing a beautiful Full Moon now and again.