Unbelievable, I know

For the record, two year olds can break bones. Yup. And yikes.

Truen and Diego were happily wrestling and playing around on Thursday night when a push from big brother caused a rotational fracture on his front-right shinbone - the tibia. Oy. It was terrible.

I could tell right away that it wasn't a "normal" injury. He wasn't recovering well and couldn't stop crying and holding his little leg or get comfortable. I wrapped him in a blanket, put ice on it, and consulted my copy of Naturally Healthy Babies and Children. It didn't take long to make the decision to bring him in - and for that, I am very thankful.

The doctor put a splint on in the ER that first night, which was extremely painful for Truen as you can well imagine. It was hard to see him in that much pain. We then reported to the Orthopedic Surgeon, for more x-rays and the cast, at 8:30 AM the next morning after approximately two hours of sleep. More pain, lots of hollering.

ER: After the splint

Sweet comfort

It felt so good to see his beautiful smile today --
It had been mostly grimaces, pensive staring, and/or
whimpering and crying since Thursday night,
the poor baby.

He is doing much better today, thankfully; which leaves me feeling optimistic for tomorrow. His pain has lessened and he is acting more like himself. (I've missed him!) The Orthopedic Surgeon we saw expected he would be scooting around within the week. "They heal so fast at this age," he said.

He will be in the cast for about a month. It is purple, his favorite color, though you can't see it in the picture. The doc cut the sides to leave room for swelling and wrapped it up with an ace bandage. We go back next Thursday for a check-up and the re-finishing of the cast.

This is definitely one thing I thought I'd never deal with. Or, at least, not this early in the game.

Un-un-un-un

Dreamt For Light Years In the Belly of a Mountain

My brother and SIL introduced this song to me just this week...and I think I might be obsessed. I have had it on repeat all morning; I am lulled, soothed, contemplative, and mournful all at the same time.

If you have 10 minutes to sit and stare, by all means...please do.

A remedy for pink eye

We just finished with a stint of conjunctivitis. I am so pleased to report that we eradicated it on our own! Home remedy. We blotted out sinus infections, ear infections, and now, eye infections - all without a visit to the doctor or the dreaded round of antibiotics.

Yessss. I am so proud.

Here's how we did it:

• Regular intervals of hot compresses to the eye(s)
• Eye wash of chamomile tea w/ goldenseal tincture
• Lots of warm baths to promote drainage

The bacteria that causes pink eye cannot live in heat, thus the hot compress. Because we do not have a microwave or a hot water bottle, I heated dried beans in a pot until they were hot and put them in an old sock. Be careful - it can get very hot, to the point of needing extra layers to protect your skin.

For the eye wash, I resorted wiping out Truen's eye with a cotton ball dipped in chamomile tea with 2-3 drops goldenseal tincture. (He couldn't handle anything else.) Squeeze used a glass eye-washing cup: it makes a seal and allows you to open and flush out your eye with the liquid (also great for irritated eyes).

Chamomile tea:

• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 TBSP chamomile blossoms
• Let steep until cool
• Strain twice before using

I repeated the eye wash/wipe and hot compress several times throughout the day, once or twice in conjunction with each other (which is a very good idea, if only my two year old could have handled it better). After the 3rd day following this routine, little Truen's eyes were tamed. Squeeze's eyes, which were never oozy like Truen's, cleared up after two days.

I referenced Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis Balch and Naturally Healthly Babies and Children by Aviva-Jill Romm - books that are invaluable components of both my home library and natural health philosophy.

Fighting for real milk - fighting for personal liberties and freedom

Hundreds pack raw milk hearing in Eau Claire

Hours of testimony
Wednesday's hearing at Chippewa Valley Technical College attracted about 450 people - most of them raw milk supporters who arrived by the busload. Testimony began about 10 a.m. and continued for more than 10 hours. Speakers included farmers, consumers, scientists and state and federal officials.

What happens here will send a message to the rest of the nation, said Kimberly Hartke, spokeswoman for the Weston A. Price Foundation, which touts the benefits of raw milk and says the risk of illness from it is minimal.

Currently, about 25 states allow some form of raw milk sales."Wisconsin is a bellwether state for us," Hartke said.

Ted Beals, a retired pathologist from the University of Michigan, said raw milk sales should be allowed."There is a very large and expanding group of well-informed families that very much want to have their milk fresh, unprocessed and whole, and they prefer to get it from a farmer they know," Beals said in an interview. "It's very personal," he said. "I can't think of another reason to get people more upset than to tell them that the food they believe is very nutritious and essential to their health is going to be denied them."

Advocates say raw milk contains nutrients, enzymes and bacteria that boost the immune system and can prevent allergies. Some even say it helps control asthma or autism.

"I am not making claims that our milk is going to cure cancer or anything else. You only know what it's going to do for you when you try it yourself," said Janet Brunner, whose dairy farm in Pepin County sold raw milk for nearly 10 years until running into opposition from state regulators.

For dozens of small farms in the state, raw milk sales have been an economic elixir, and they have built a loyal customer base while avoiding prosecution. The Brunners had more than 600 customers who paid about $5 a gallon for unpasteurized milk from their farm.

When they stopped selling it, Janet Brunner said, the farm store's income plummeted by 90%. "Now we are not earning enough to pay our bills, let alone support our farm," she said.

Independent lens

Diego has been taking a lot of pictures recently and I have really enjoyed seeing our home through his eyes. It's nice to have some fresh perspective from 42 inches off the floor.

Here are some of my favorites...

Little tootsies

A wasp's nest from the WI woods;
a mirror ball and color-strip lighting,
used for borealis family dance parties.
(Squeeze has black-lights up too,
but you can't see them in this picture.)

An extended window sill,

a little bit of green barracading us from the

sparkling outdoor winter whiteness.

One of my favorite bookshelves

Skyping with my dad.

I had the camera off the monitor

and was showing him something up close,

though I can't remember what.

Maybe the boys?

Skiing

I'm very good at skiing.
I have a kind of knack
For I can do it frontways
And also on my back.
And when I reach the bottom
I give a sudden flop
And dig myself in sideways,
And that's the way I stop.

Marchette Chute

***
Piper, Pipe that Song Again: Poems for Boys and Girls
Selected by Nancy Larrick
Published 1965
Thrifted ♥

Food, Inc.

You've seen it, right??? If you haven't, use whatever means you have available to you to see it - library, retail, rent, borrow, Netflix, etc.

Watching this film is a most revealing experience. It got me fired up all over again. It was a concise summery of all the research I've been doing the past 4-5 years, encompassing a good number of books. I highly, highly recommend it.

Books: My Journey to Real Food

These books have changed my life. They've given force and direction to my then-vague, now robust whole foods gut-instinct.

• Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World - Greg Critser
• Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life - Barbara Kingsolver
• The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals - Michael Pollan
• Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats - Sally Fallon
• Real Food: What to Eat and Why - Nina Planck
• Garden of Eating: A Produce-dominated Diet & Cookbook - Rachel Albert-Matesz
• Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods - Sandor Ellix Katz
• Kitchen Literacy: How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes from and Why We Need to Get It Back - Ann Vileisis
• The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements - Sandor Ellix Katz

The foresight! The vocabulary! The synapses!

Truen is two. Yesterday afternoon we were outside, stomping on the ice in the driveway, as Squeeze drove in. Truen saw him and announced, "We gonna get crushed!"

It made my mind spin. Amazing.