5:24 p.m. Today's project was to pick up my friend Pamela and take her to Loma Linda for a consultation. The radiology department was beautifully designed, comfortable for patients and visitors alike, with lots of choices of hot drinks for a cozy-chilly day like today. It felt good to put on the fringy sweater Steve gave me for Christmas last year!
I have always appreciated the Christian emphasis of Loma Linda, their world-class standards of excellence, no more so than when my mother lay there paralyzed, gravely ill with Guillame-Barre disease. The nurses and hospital social worker prayed with me, shared scripture and encouraged me in what sadly became a losing battle to save my mom's life. No finer care could have been given, and no more kind and loving attitude can be found than our family experienced up on the 9th floor.
A reminder of the Seventh Day Adventist approach to health came to me unexpectedly as I sat waiting for Pam, and struck up a conversation with the receptionist about asparagus, of all things. She had been talking to another woman about its healing properties for gallstones and even bladder disorders. "Esther," as her badge read, made some copies for me of a research report describing how to puree cooked, even canned asparagus, and take a small amount per day. Results had been proven in a clinical trial, apparently, but this became a springboard for our discussion of how vegetables contain all of the healing elements for many diseases. She bemoaned how sickly her adult daughter had become, taking prescriptions for several separate symptoms without ever getting a diagnosis! Esther is a true believer in healing naturally, using good foods. I can't say I disagree.
Flashback to the 70's and my hippie days in Colorado! Adele Davis' massive tome Let's Cook it Right, and Jethro Kloss' Back to Eden, both of which were written in the 1930's and are still in my kitchen, were our life encyclopedias. I learned to pick and boil herbs for tea, use goldenseal to heal all manner of ailments and corn tassels to heal urinary tract infections. I drank fresh raw milk, and made butter from the quart of cream on the top of the gallon! I also remember selecting whole grains for bread baking, and picking wild fruits by the roadside for canning. My compost pile was huge, and my organic garden very productive and almost pest-free. I'd even diffentiate which crops grew best with cow, horse, or pig manure, and dug in each variety accordingly!
At 58, I'm finally back to organic gardening, although fresh manure isn't quite as readily available.We have been composting for three years in preparation for this spring's "return to basics." Our vegetables were delicious, and groundwork has been laid for a much more abundant harvest in 2010. We do have a few winter varieties and flowers in the plot, but will really gear up in January.
The next generation's interpretation of our old "back to the earth" movement has manifested itself in my daughter Heather and husband Nick. They and their housemates are very much into the environment. Jen and Damien garden beautifully in their backyard, using trellises to grow veggies upward to save space. When we debate the extent Americans need to "go green," I always retort, BUT I HAVE A COMPOST PILE!! SO THERE! Real mature...
"The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof," Psalm 24:1 says. God has provided so much for us, and we can enjoy both vigorous exercise in tending the soil and nutrition and good taste in eating its produce. We can make choices for our families that feed us well and give us an activity to enjoy together, generation after generation. We can give away the surplus to those who are unable to grow their own fresh food. We can learn to preserve summer's bounty for the next three seasons--God has truly gifted mankind!
As I drive up to Fresno in the morning to visit my son Steven, I'll be passing through fields planted by those who have earned their livng providing food for our nation and the world. May they be allowed to continue to prosper in that endeavor, using their hands in cooperation with the creative hands of the earth's Maker.
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