Nature

Meet Spanky

Liz James · March 16, 2020 ·

Meet Spanky…. when he was younger, I’m pretty sure he thought his name might be “No, Spanky” 😉.

Spanky isn’t a teenager anymore, but his antics (and his genetics) still land him in trouble on occasion. He is a fence jumper, and a digger…. and he loves to utilize his herding genes to keep the cows and horses all in line when he thinks we aren’t watching even tho he knows we prefer he not unless asked. #cattledogsskills

His failure to heed our attempts to keep him from getting into trouble has given him a snaggle tooth and a few hard earned life lessons.

So I wasn’t entirely surprised when Spanky went from running like the wind, to favoring his back paw last week. I was pretty confident he had gotten stepped on when he was in the midst of shenanigans. Nothing appeared to be broken…. just a sensitive paw. A couple of days passed, and instead of getting better, it seemed like it was getting worse… swollen in fact. So, before making a vet appt, I did a thorough assessment again, and this time, found what appeared to be a scab on one of the pads of his paw…. but a suspicious scab🤔. I grabbed a pair of tweezers and gently worked at the scab…. only it wasn’t a scab….. It was the mother of all thorns 😱. Poor baby! I felt terrible that I hadn’t found it sooner😥….. the good news is that, his relief was almost instantaneous, and after washing his wound thoroughly with colloidal silver and a couple of other natural healing agents, and starting him on Inner Defense to boost his immune system…. swelling is now negligible and he is back to bossing cows around when he thinks I’m not looking.

Being prepared isn’t a season…. it’s a life skill and it’s on the daily around here… ie: business as usual on the farm. We know how to care for our own, but we also know when we are in over our heads. I’ve got to make a vet appt this afternoon for something that’s beyond my skillset, and that’s ok…. that’s why we love our vets!….. But it surely is nice (and economical) to be able manage many health concerns from home!

Have a beautiful day friends!

xoxo~ liz
#hesmylittlebuddyandmyrighthanddogranchhand
#knowbetterdobetter
#everydayprepper
#ThanksYL
#wellstockedyearroundforhealthandwellness
#everyoneshouldkeepInnerDefenseonhandd

#5 Corona Virus

Liz James · March 13, 2020 ·

Post #5 Corona Virus 101….. What we Know to be True about Viruses (aka… the care and feeding of a virus).

What?!? You don’t want to care and feed a virus of any sort?

Well, then….. let’s set the stage for what it might look like to create an inhospitable environment should a virus want to step foot into your personal space. 😉

Rest assured, we are NOT sitting ducks and there is much we can do…. beyond buying excess toilet paper! #dothethings

Plan of Action #1: Girl (or guy!), wash your hands. It is a well established fact that 20 seconds of a good full on hand washing (esp palms and fingers) does a stellar job of keeping you healthy. I (personally) follow that with a dab of the Thieves hand sanitizer. I was working at the pharmacy yesterday, and all the hand sanitizer is out of stock (we were discussing gluing the bottle we have at the pharmacy down so someone doesn’t steal it 😳). Young Living’s Thieves hand sanitizer is also currently out of stock …. but more should be available soon. In the meantime, here is a recipe you can make for yourself:

2/3 cup Everclear (the potent alcohol you’ll need to get at the liquor store)
1/3 cup Aloe vera gel
8-10 drops of Thieves Essential oil ( please refer to Post #1 in this series and refer to the part about paper plates and turkey dinners…. only Young Living essential oils for me)
Mix all together thoroughly… use a small funnel and pour into a small bottle (reuse one you have or find a travel sized one at the store)

It’s a well established fact that viruses don’t like healthy habits!

Plan of Action #2: Viruses (frankly pretty much all illnesses!) thrive in low frequency environments. For some of you…. this will mean a great deal, but for others…. the concept of frequency will make no sense. Let me explain in simple science…. it’s all about electricity/ physics and biology. We humans (actually everything!) operates on electricity…. we are electrically charged.

Frequency is a term used when referring to electrical energy. Even if you are not a science aficionado, follow me for the next 10 seconds here (’cause this ain’t ‘woo woo’ stuff)……
*Frequency is the measure of the rate of the oscillation (of electrical current) and is measured in the number of changes per second – it’s also called hertz (Hz).

Everything has a frequency…. even we humans. The health of the human body is determined by where we are electrically. Certain parts of our body are even measured medically….. (think EEG’s and EKG’s). Overall, it is generally established that our body needs to be at a variable frequency between 62-72 to be healthy.

Viruses and bacteria hate this by the way…. it makes it very difficult for them to set up camp……Viruses start pitching their tents when your body’s frequency drops to 57-60 MHz.

So…… what can you and I do to raise our body’s frequency and/or keep it functioning in a healthy manner?
Positive thoughts and positive emotions. There are thousands of studies showing how simply thinking and reacting can affect your immune system (ie: causing a dip in your frequency if these things are negative)
💪 Exercise…. not only does it raise your body’s frequency, it also helps repair your mitochondria and lengthen telomeres (an important part to health and aging with grace and ease).
🍎 LIVING foods…. ditch the processed foods and drinks and reach for foods that actually have an electrical charge to them. Processed foods are dead. They may have calories, but they are not sustaining long term.
🌳 A clean green lifestyle. If you’ve hung around me for any length of time, you know this is a cornerstone to my life. You don’t have to be a farmgirl to have this kind of life either…… Ditch the common chemicals in your life that drop your frequency faster than a 20lb kettleball hits the floor, and begin using clean green household cleaners, body care products, and makeup. I personally only use Young Living because it’s one stop shopping for all these things and I trust them and their ingredients 100%. This is one of the fastest ways to begin reversing low frequency bodies.
🌅 Unplug, disconnect, and get out into nature regularly. I spoke in a previous post about 5G (and will speak more about that later), but electromagnetic frequency does a big (negative) number on our own body’s electricity. If you want to bring your body’s health to a grinding halt, surround yourself with EMF 24/7. Again folks…. this ain’t woo woo stuff… this is physics and biology all wrapped up in one.

Nature provides us with a way to rebalance our frequency/electricity. Trees, plants, the magnetism of the earth… it’s one of the reasons you feel so good after a day outside or at the beach. Your body’s frequency has had a rebound towards health.

Another advantage to having Young Living in your life are the life giving essential oils. Not all oils are the same ya’ll…. if you are using ones from Wally World, I guarantee they are polluted… which nullifies their positive effects on body frequency.
My go to YLEO’s when I feel the need to raise my frequency?
🌟 Joy and Forgiveness (both essential oil blends with a high frequency rating)
🌟 Rose oil actually has the highest frequency of all essential oils. (it’s terribly expensive if you are using the real stuff…. but it should be…. it takes over 200lbs of rose petals to get a bottle of the pure stuff). Thankfully, it is found in many Young Living blends (including Joy and Forgiveness)
🌟 Helichrysum (it’s a must have oil for many health reasons). It can be found in Panaway and other blends too.
🌟 Ravensara (this oil is not often thought of)…. but interestingly, if you do a little research, you’ll find that viruses are particularly not fond of this oil 😉. This oil too is found in many YL blends.

Young Living has been very thoughtful in their blend formulations and as a pharmacist, that is strikingly important to me. #noflimsypaperplates

Here is but one pubmed article for your quick viewing if you’re interested in learning a bit more about the effects of frequency, EMF, and our bodies:

pubmed article on frequency

More Action Steps to unpack later…. I’m off to the pharmacy again today… maskless, but well oiled. 😉

Shoot me a message if you’d like a personal health coaching session with me.

xoxo ~ liz

#knowbetterdobetter
#ThanksYL.

#itsnevertoolatetobeginlivingahealthierlife
#Thievesonthebottomofmyfeeteveryday

Fact vs. Fiction – corona virus

Liz James · March 7, 2020 ·

Yesterday was a looooooong day of research and writing as I built a class for my peeps on the Coronavirus. I’m looking forward to separating fact from fiction in real time with them today…and then stepping in my “therapy session” 😉…. working in the garden and with my horses the rest of the day …. decompression time feeds my soul.

Time spent in nature is critical to every single one of us…. even if you weren’t raised in an “outdoorsy” lifestyle. Science has proven that it will:
🌳 Decrease your stress load
🌳 Make you happier
🌳 Relieve mental fatigue
🌳 Increase creativity
🌳 Increase generosity and kindness
🌳 Make you feel “more alive” instead of simply going thru the motions of day to day living.

And it’s free to every single one of us! 💕. I’ve long said that my therapy is our farm. There are times I think we should have named it “Prozac Pastures” 😂…. yes, farm life is alot of work, but daily immersion in nature keeps my husband and I balanced and sane.

I spend a great deal of time writing, researching, and studying as I help others live their best possible lives. Occasional breaks throughout the day to go pull weeds in the garden or brush a horse (if even for 20 minutes) is balm to my soul and my body.

Do you have a place in nature? If not, please….. find one. There are public parks and nature trails throughout the world and in every town in the United States. Chronic stress is no joke. It can literally kill you if left unchecked. Do yourself a favor….. go outside. Go for a walk. Put your phone on airplane mode or turn it off. Doing this regularly just might keep you out of the doctor’s office 😉.

hugs and love, liz

#plantsaregoodmedicine
#proudtohugatreeandadogcathorseandcow
#thanksYL

how nature can make you kinder, happier and more creative

Growing with Elsa

Liz James · October 8, 2018 ·

Elsa at 10 months. She is starting to get her mama’s darker face.

Welcome! You’ve found my first official blog post on the updated website! This has been a work in progress for the past several months, and…. not being exactly technically savvy (give me science or farming any other day!), I’ve had to call in some excellent tech help to assist in the upgrade. You can finally find ALL you need right here in one place!

The move to the new website put blogging on a little hiatus until we could get everything matched up properly. I think you’ll find this venue MUCH easier to navigate. Growing means learning, expanding, and exploring new options, right?

Speaking of growing…. She’s now 10 months old, and it’s well past time for an Elsa update! Sweet girl shows up on Facebook with some regularity, but I need to update here…. this is kind of her ‘baby book’ after all. For all my love of animals, I never thought I’d love a cow as much as I love this heifer. I guess that’s what might happen when one lives in your bathtub for a few weeks, and syringe feeding around the clock takes control of your life! The cards were certainly stacked against her. Birth during 20 degree weather (which cost her parts of both ears), failure to thrive (because she couldn’t suck properly), trips to the vet (because we didn’t know any better.. couldn’t see the internal cleft palate… and subsequently also missed by the vet)…. it did not look good for Elsa. If you scroll back thru my early 2018 posts, you’ll find her history scattered throughout.

Nonetheless, she prevailed.

Her story hasn’t been without a little work and some modifications in her/our life. Elsa is a permanent mascot on our farm. She is a greeter, social maven, photo bomber, and so much more. As she’s grown, we’ve adapted and risen to the challenge.

Her cleft palate is not easily repairable. According to a couple of vets I’ve consulted at Texas A&M Veterinary College, the surgery would not be easy on her. Cow mouths do not open very wide, and any repair of this nature would only be manageable by entering thru the side of her face…effectively eliminating the possibility of surgery unless absolutely necessary.

Elsa eats well (albeit messily!), and does not seem to be hindered much by her birth defect. Fairly early on, we discovered that she is also moderately tongue tied, and is only able to stick her tongue out of the right side of her mouth. This really doesn’t seem to affect her much, so I’m torn between getting it fixed surgically (rather, putting her thru that surgery), and just letting her carry on as she has been. She doesn’t know any differently, and so it seems more like the surgery would be for us moreso than for her.

Cleft palates in calves are not as rare as you’d think. Unfortunately, most calves are birthed fairly unattended, and if they go without nursing for long, they die. As in the case of Elsa, if the cleft palate is undetectable externally, the rancher usually assumes the calf simply died of natural causes. Cleft palate in calves is not a genetic anomaly…it’s caused by eating the wrong plant during the first trimester of pregnancy (a similar thing can happen in people if certain medications or products are consumed during the first trimester too). In Honey’s case (Elsa’s mama)….. she apparently got ahold of a select few plants in the lupine family….. the most common culprit for bovine cleft palates. Honestly, we’re blessed. Her deformity could have been much much worse, and her personality more than makes up for the bit of added work that is required for her health and safety.

Milestones
Just like all babies, Elsa has had her milestones.

She survived the first month! It took a team of dedicated friends and ‘nannies’, as well as Charlie and I to get her thru the first month.
Around the six weeks mark, she finally figured out how to eat properly from one teat…. the left front. Each teat is different on a cow, and Elsa had to figure out how. We never gave up, and every day, I would encourage her to try. After the mastered one teat, she gradually learned how to nurse (in her own way) on 2 other teats. Because of the angle and size (And probably because of her limited use of her tongue on the left side of her mouth) she never mastered the 4th teat on the back left quarter. As she grew, her nursing got pretty rough on Honey. She used her teeth more than most calves, and consequently, was really tearing her mama up. We made the difficult decision to wean her at 4 1/2 months (early!) because the damage she was doing prevented us from milking Honey too.
Eating creep feed and grass is not a problem for Elsa. Occasionally, she will have grass coming out her nose and she will stamp her feet and blow until it comes out. For awhile, we had to wet her creep feed so that it wouldn’t end up in her nose. She has outgrown that need now, and eats food just like the big girls!
Cud chewing…. all cows regurgitate their food and then thoughtfully re-chew it for better digest-ability. Elsa does this too, but the liquified food comes out her nose if her head is in a downward position. It doesn’t seem to bother her overly much, but it can get messy. Because of this, she gets a spongebath about once a week.
Schooling. She is going to make an amazing hand milked dairy cow. She is calm, cool, and collected, AND she’s about as social as you could possibly imagine. Because the facial deformities are not genetic, we are not worried that the cleft palate will carry forward to her offspring.

Lessons from raising a Cleft Palate Calf

Life is what you make of it.
When you are able, make the most of running, bucking, and living like there’s no tomorrow…. but above all else, never ever give up!
Resiliency is a good thing. Bounce forward not backwards!
Vitamin D is a necessary part of healing. Lay in the sunshine even when you think you don’t have time to.
Be friends with those who are different from you. (Elsa doesn’t know a stranger… 2 or 4 legged!)
Work with what you’ve got! Not everyone is born with the same tools.
Family doesn’t always mean blood relatives.
Being ‘schooled’ is not a bad thing. We all need to be haltered and given parameters on occasion.
Patience is still a virtue.
Love IS worth it.

Stay tuned…. Elsa will always be making an appearance here. She’s one of us….. part of the ‘farmily’.

Thanks for visiting and celebrating our imperfectly perfect life on the farm.

Hugs and Love – Liz

3 days old, and struggling for her life. We didn’t yet realize that she had an internal cleft palate.

Cutest calf ever! Two weeks old, and finally figuring out how to live!

Celebrating Elsa’s one month birthday with her Auntie (and my dear friend). Can you say spoiled calf! She’s turned into a photo ham!

Photo bombing and selfies are one of Elsa’s favorite hobbies!

Giving slobbery kisses is another favorite of Elsa’s!

9 months. Sept 2018. School’s in session, and basic training begins!

Feed room takeover. Elsa is one of the dogs (as far as she and the dogs are concerned!)….waiting for dinner. 9 months.

Failure to Launch

Liz James · October 1, 2018 ·

I probably should have titled this post “The Case of the Peculiar Egg Placement“, but then, that would sound like a Nancy Drew mystery, and that would have dated myself for sure! This has been a season of busy, and I’ve got so many topics I want to write about and little time to do the big topics justice. So, in the form of constructive procrastination, I’ve got to share a little farm hilarity.

A bit of backstory: After a summer of drought, Mother Nature has seen fit to gift us with the wettest October on record. At last count, our area has gone from drought to 8 inches over the yearly average in a short 31 days. This has created all sorts of excess water issues on the farm. (Wherever there’s water and animals, there will be copious amounts of mud). Case and point: Last week, our internet guy came to fix our unstable internet situation. Turns out, even a colony of fire ants had moved to higher ground (our roof), and had moved their entire nest (dirt and all) to the radio receiver box.

Because of all the rain, we have mucked our little hearts out daily. Last week, I noticed an interesting thing in all my mucking of stalls and turnouts. Eggs kept appearing in a very peculiar location….right out in the middle of the turnout… in front of God and everybody. Now, chickens tend to like a little privacy when they lay, so the location is odd indeed. When something out of the ordinary occurs, curiosity drives me to figure it out… and this little mystery was bugging the heck out of me! These eggs…. I gave them 3 options:

A dog moved them out there (maybe… but why didn’t they also eat them?)
A young hen, not knowing any better just laid them in a very weird spot (Possible, but not likely.).
They are super old and eroded out into view from under the dirt. (I’m not touching them if that’s the case! Old eggs can be like legit grenades. One wrong jiggle, and they explode. Been there. Done that. It’s not pretty. )

To add to the mystery, each day, there was an additional new egg…. so bizarre! Yesterday, while we were outside doing chores, I happened to be in just the right location at just the right angle to look up and solve the mystery. Drishti! (That’s this particular hen’s name). She has found, perhaps, one of the most dangerous places to nest. Even worse…. it appears she is broody, and intent on sitting on her eggs til they hatch… well, the eggs that haven’t yet rolled off the roof! We’re gonna have to figure out how to move her and the remaining eggs to a safer location. I have never had a chicken who wanted to lay eggs in such an elevated place. Typically, they are ground layers.

Ants on the roof….. eggs in the gutters. You know it’s been a rainy season when everyone, and everything is moving to higher ground!