Busy Busy Busy

So last week we had some fellows come over and help us with our back field. They helped to burn it and also disced and tilled it. We still have grass poking up but it will be easy to address with a mattock.

A few days ago Elizabeth and I planted 72 row feet of potatoes. I'm hoping our crop is productive enough that we can try "clamping" as a method of preserving. "Clamping" is where you harvest your crop and lay down straw, you place your crop ontop of it and then cover it up with more straw and earth. Supposedly it's what the Irish did/do I'm not sure how their variables are different.

I Finally finished clearing a 45x90' area of grass clods and rocks today. I'm still looking at doing that much, again. I've got a wheelbarrow now and things are going considerably faster. I had only been using a rake and fork.

Tomorrow's priority is to contact arborists in the area to see if they need to drop woodchips in our area.

This garden is making me feel younger, I'm so thankful for that. I couldn't find anything to shake me out of feeling double my age, even after having been home for nearly a year.

In other news, last night I took the opportunity to attempt adjusting the belt on the treadle sewing machine. I was quite discouraged at how loose it had "just" become, even though it had been left alone. So I clipped off a quarter of an inch from the end, pierced it with an icepick, attached the staple and checked the fit. It still wouldn't engage. After repeating the process three times I had perfection. I was so eager to see Elizabeth Ann try it out but something about waking her up at 2am just didn't seem wise. Needless to say, when she did try it out it took a little getting used to but now she can't wait to find time to use it. We have countless yards of material ready to be used : )

I've got machines!! A new Grizzly table saw and a Grizzly jointer. I'm ready to use them but the outlet are absent.

My neighbor has experience putting 220 electric outlets in his house. Pretty soon we'll be doing that for my machines. At the moment they are second in priority to the garden. I'm ready to build my planemaking bench but some dust needs to settle.

I'm very happy with where we are at, things feel correct. Occupationaly, spiritually, and just around the house.

We are getting ready to put some seeds in the garden : ) Beans, peas, onions, maybe leeks and shallots, and we are assessing when kale is ok to plant.

Monday and Tuesday we went to a local meeting where a Hebrew Roots speaker by the name of Brad Scott talked about a variety of topics but his emphasis was on unity in the movement. We were very happy to of gone, even if we were both exhausted from other activities.

I know I need a way to get more photos on here, they're important for context.

I think we will start posting content on the Sabbath since we find our hands empty only that day of the week.

Shalom,

Praying blessings for all of you in our Father's name.

Are You Amish?

This is a question that Elizabeth and I get asked frequently when we go out in public. We don't take offense from it. We know that many people around the country are not familiar with the other anabaptist groups and are also unaware of the various differences between the multitude of Amish communities.
















It's easy to see how someone unfamiliar with anabaptists would directly associate us with the Amish.
But here is something I perceive that many people don't know about the "plain folk", that is, we identify ourselves by the way we dress. It's a way of saying, "I belong to this or that community".


When a multitude of plain communities are living side-by-side it is a way to prevent awkward situations but also to preserve a communities distinct identity amongst the mass of plain folk. Just attend an auction and you'll quickly see how many different groups are present.



What kind of awkward situation could potentially arise?





Well consider this.


The Old German Baptist Brethren practice the "holy kiss", also known as "the salute". It stems from several verses in the New Testament that we understand to be a command.
The Biblical references are:

Romans 16:16, 1st Corinthians 16:20, 2nd Corinthians 13:12
"Greet one another with a holy kiss."

1st Thessalonians 5:26
"Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss."

1st Peter 5:14
"Greet one another with a kiss of love."



Now from what I understand and have seen there are some Amish communities that don't observe this. So if an OGBB man mistook an Amish man as a fellow of his community, you can imagine the awkward fall-out from trying to "greet him".



This is just one simple example.



The various ways in which subtle differences of standards are applied would include, but are certainly not limited to:

Colors of materials used, both jean material and shirt/dress material
Buttons vs Pins or hook & eyes
Cuts of a pattern, especially for dresses
Length of dresses
Tightness of jeans
Hat brim width
Hat color
Mustache or no mustache
Hair cut-for men
Beard length-some groups trim, others don't
Covering style-for women




Elizabeth and I are much less restricted in our freedom of dress. I strongly believe that an individual should be able to dress as they desire as long as they are modest and not following the fashions of
"the world".

The few things that Elizabeth and I are consistent with would include:

Her covering-we are happy with it and see no reason to change it. It fulfills its purpose and is attractive. It is not a typical anabaptist covering but we feel strongly that it is more Biblical than what is typically seen. We often have brethren bring this up in conversation. We try not to "beat them over the head with it". I don't need to tell them something that they can see for themselves. Many of them agree with us but don't want to be "the nail that sticks up that get's hammered back down". Being contrary is antithetical to the foundation of many anabaptist beliefs. We are starting fresh, without a heritage, so we have no family to worry about offending.



My hat-It's a simple straw hat, but I'm happy with it. I'd like to learn someday to make one for myself. Isn't that the homesteader tendency? When I leave the house I have it with me 99.99% of the time. I do remove it during prayer, meeting, and worship in accordance with 1st Corinthians 11.



My beard-It's simple to me. I just let it grow. I maintain it as proper hygiene determines and that's about the extent of it. I do have a mustache and always will, I do trim it. A man has to eat. I have wondered though, if I didn't, would it grow as long as my beard? Makes me chuckle.

The mustache is my red-flag to the Amish and Mennonites that I am not part of their community. The Amish strictly hold that no man is to ever have a mustache in their community. Interestingly I held myself to this standard before I learned that there were some "Brethren" communities that did the same thing as me. I'm not Amish and I don't pretend to be. That being said, people still mistake us. For me the entire beard issue comes down to a simple precept.

God created nature, "work with nature, not against it". What a waste of time and money shaving is. Not only that, but the early Christians taught that a man that shaved his face was effeminate, in other words, that he was trying to look like a woman! To me, shaving your beard is akin to telling God that he designed your body incorrectly, that you know better than him. He's our creator, I'll trust his judgment on the issue.






All of this to say, No, we are not Amish. But from the outside looking-in it can certainly appear this way. We describe ourselves as anabaptist and feel that this is an adequate way of identifying ourselves. There will be a time when we are horse-and-buggy, if the Lord tarries, and even then we will still have a separate identity from the Amish. For one, we would not believe that our buggies would need to be black or our farm wagons John Deere Green. Our freedom in Christ allows us to be free of such legalism.

An individual can be plain (or as I prefer, simple) and still "fulfill their identity" while simultaneously cultivating a culture of cohesion. The Amish disagree with this idea. That's why we could not join them with a clean conscience.


There are many different dynamics to this that Elizabeth and I are so accustomed to that we no longer are cognizant of all the vantages. Some of the small details we skip over unawares and other larger details we take for granted to be self-evident.


All that to say, if you have questions-just ask. Email us privately or message us on here and we'll be content to answer anything.


Shalom

Lord and James

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure who will find this information useful but here is something you may not be familiar with.

The word that is commonly translated from both Greek and Hebrew as “Lord” is actually the Hebrew word “Yah”, as in “Yahweh”. This is interesting to me, so out of curiosity I cross-referenced this with a Bible I have that is written in Pennsylvania Deitsch. I wanted to know what the German plain-folk translated it as, to see if they felt it had a modern equivalent.
I was actually surprised to see that they didn’t translate it as anything! It was written as Yah in the Hebrew and it remained Yah in the Pennsylvania German.

 

Yah is the Hebrew name for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I’m not sure what you can do with this knowledge but I still think that it is worth knowing.

 

 

Hallelujah, meaning "Praise Yah!" or "Praise God!", is not a comment towards God himself. It is a declarative exclamation telling the worshipers of Yah to praise him! This really changes the dynamic of worship. It takes things from being as simple as simply saying "Praise God", to actually having to be more proactive and to have to think of ways in which to praise Him.
 

 

 

Another factoid; there is no such book as the book of James.

It is actually the book of Jacob, or Jakobus in Pennsylvania German, I’ve also cross referenced this with a translation to Hebrew, I can’t remember the way it was spelled but it was clearly a version of Jacob.

Why was the name changed?

Because King James was a very vain man and he wanted a book named after him. Plain and simple.

I hope this helps you in some way.

Plain Things

For those of you that are unfamiliar with plain culture and are unsure of how plain folk look at the world, there is a new periodical that might help to open your eyes.

It's called "Plain Things".

It's published every so many months by a group of anabaptist living in Kentucky.

Here is a website with information about subscribing. There is no prerequisite to subscribe. Anyone is able to.

http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/plain-things.html

I pray that Yah blesses you in all that you do and that you always keep your eyes on Him through whom we have salvation, our savior Yeshuah our Messiah.

When All Else Fails, Plant Roses!

 



See this beautiful rose?

When we first moved into our house we were forced to mow it to the ground because the grass was too high, the second time we mowed it because we decided that we didn't want flowers obstructing Elizabeth's view while she did her weaving. Then a span went by where we weren't able to mow the yard.

When we got back to it, there were THREE rose plants!

They won't die.

Apparently you can't go wrong with roses.

It's beautiful, healthy, and can stand being mowed over multiple times.

I'm not sure how tall it will get, but at this point we are done trying to kill it.
If it has this much will-power it deserves to liv.

It only stands about 6-8"s but that was still enough for one of the plants to put forth a flower.
It was a nice dash of color against our house.

A word of caution about roses. Plant them away from deer and horses, both think that roses are a tasty treat!

Grandparents, Be Thankful For Them

Everybody knows that parents are a necessary part of life for anyone growing up. Whether they be your birth-parents or even just legal-guardians. We've all had parental figures around us as we grew up instructing us as to what they thought we should do as life brought us a multitude of life-changing intersections.

Whether it be the decision of what occupation we should take up, or even, what do people do during their courtship years.

I grew up with two parents, my father is the quiet type and prefers to stick to his athletics and stock market interests. My mother on the other hand was a little more involved in my life. She would let me know when music I had purchased was too offensive for her to tolerate and when I should stay away from certain guys I had chosen as friends. She did what a mother was supposed to do. She made a delicious dinner every evening and we would all eat together, the entire family. She would clean the house and clean our laundry. She'd let us know if we let our room go too far and that we needed to clean it. I got my first job because of some stern encouragement from my mother. When she got a car to replace her van, she let me have the old car. I had a very fun youth because of it.

I like to think that I know my parents well. I know I don't know everything about them, or even a lot about them, but I like to think I know the things I should.

When it comes to my grandparents, I never really got to know either pair. Both grandfathers passed before I was old enough to understand who they were. By the time my mothers mother lived near us her health was so feeble that she really wasn't cognizant of who I was, she passed when I was ten or eleven. My fathers mother I knew a little better but I tried to keep quiet and keep my distance. She was unaffectionate and irritable. I tried to work around her quirks. I remember one time she took me on a small car trip around her town and showed me a sheep farm, she showed me a spring where the townspeople would fill up jugs. I cherish the few but deep memories I have of being with her. She lived about 22 hours from where we liv nowadays, so I only saw her very few times. She's passed on as well. Her house went to my aunts family, a piece of land went to my father.

I've never really been around friends that lived with or around their grandparents. But as I get older I wish more and more deeply as I go on that I had a pair of grandparents to fill that elderly niche that only grandparents can fill. They give us a deeper understanding of our heritage. They help us to understand ourselves and why some of us are writers and others of us musicians. I never really knew my grandparents, but I can truly say that I miss them. I miss them.

If all I can do is encourage you to enjoy and appreciate your grandparents, then that's what I'm trying to do. Granted you have the opportunity.

Grandparents symbolize honesty, virtue, and stability-in my opinion.

Through the years I've tried to find replacements for the grandparents I didn't know. I never really did have success. There's just no substitute for your own original grandparents.

My prayer is that in the event the Lord tarries till after I pass, that I be able to liv in a home filled with my grandchildren. I know that could be twenty-plus years from now, but it would fill my heart with joy. Every member of a home has a niche, every child, every teen, every adult. And every lesson we learn as we go through life's lessons in each of these stages, prepares us to be the grandparents that the Lord intends for us to be.

The purpose of life is to raise a better generation.
The meaning of life is to become the person it takes to raise that better generation.

Let the Lord mould you into the grandparent he needs you to be, today's and tomorrow's generation need people aware of the importance of altruism. It takes a lifetime to become that person, that's not an accident. It's his design.

I pray this posting brought peace to you and left you feeling edified. I pray God's blessings on your house, friends, and family. In the name of Yeshua, bless you.

Upcoming Posts

We recently took a photo of our 5 quart jar of real cows milk and quart jar from that was almost all the way full of cream alone. I could talk about that for a while, but that will be it's own post.

The things we have learned to do with milk just completely change the way you look at milk products from your grocery store, it's all fake and it's a deep disappointment. If we ever run out of real milk I will not handle it very well. We currently use two gallons a week, we are seeing if we can increase it to three but that depends on the seller. Prayers to Yeshua about that.

Pretty soon Elizabeth will be trying to sew again. I'm eager to bring out her sewing machine and table.

I may try to get a video of my piano playing on here. Just for fun.

Our seed garlic came in the mail! Photos are in order. We still need to figure out where it is going!

Our craft room is getting organized! Our guest bathroom closet became an impromptu book case!
We've got a photo of that too, it actually looks nice!

Elizabeth also found a neat article about matching material for patterns involving plaids. I'm happy to hear this. I'm looking forward to seeing them on Abigail.

I Pray the Lord bless you and that you are found in the grace of our savior Yeshua.

Beef Heart, Liver And Raw Cow's Milk!



Last Saturday Elizabeth and I were able to take a trip to one of our local farmers markets. Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures of it. We'll have to make a point of doing that next weekend.

For as long as I can remember Elizabeth and I have sought raw cow's milk. Only recently in the state of Arkansas has the sale of raw milk been legalized, as long as the milk is sold on the farm to the customer. This excites us for many reasons. Some of those reasons include the health benefits, the ability to make our own cheese, we'd like to make cottage cheese, and the fact that we just simply need to know how to handle it in general. I can't imagine getting to make real butter for the first time. I get excited just thinking about it.

Well much to our surprise when we arrived at the farmers market, one of the first booths we saw was of a grass fed beef operation. Further to our surprise they sold organ meats! The prices were very reasonable. We purchased a heart and a liver for less than ten dollars! We figure between the two, that there are probably somewhere between 3-5 meals. We'll see and I'll give an update when the time is due.

Above all, they sell raw cow's milk. I couldn't believe it. All of our beef issues had been settled! We had a source of organs, milk, and grass fed beef. What a weight off our shoulders. Now we just need to get a deep-freeze and another fridge.

If you are wondering why grass-fed organ meats would get us excited it is because of the tooth diet that we are on. They have a high amount of amount of phosphorous and that along with calcium is what is necessary for teeth to regenerate.

 

I'll admit up until this diet, I spent a great deal of time pondering how I would dodge out of a situation where someone expected me to eat liver. Well frankly although I'm honestly not expecting that I will like it, I am expecting it to help my teeth.

Indigenous people on an indigenous diet do not have tooth rot. They do not have cavities. Typically their tooth decay is 0.5 cavities per 100 people. The trick is to mimic their diets. It's not easy but fortunately the Lord has taken care of us with many regards regarding diet.

I'll admit that I don't think I'm eating enough. But at this point I think that a lot of that has to do with the fact that we are having to figure out how to wiggle around this diet. For example, we can have sweet potatoes and they are supposed to be good for us. Well we need to find some sweet potatoes!
We've not had any yet. We are having to completely overhaul the way we look at our pantry and our fridge. I need to look at where Ramiel Nagel's book stands on tomatoes. I like them, I'm hoping they aren't an offender.

I just red that liver is high in copper, this really excites me. I'm so eager to watch this regrowth accelerate.

Well I've looked at my book again and only found one reference to tomatoes, I guess they are just in the middle. However here is a picture that may tell you what you don't want to know.

 

 

I'll let you know how the taste test goes. The liver I expect to be offensive, the heart I expect to be veiny but still tasty.

Pleasure aside, health gains will be made.

A last note for the night. Elizabeth and I both still don't understand how it's healthy to eat an organ that is commonly believed to be full of toxins. If you understand the science behind it all we'd be happy to listen.

Michael E. McCartan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Word of God Vs T.V.

I wanted to go back to people saying that they couldn't handle reading the word of God for an hour. Can you handle watching T.V. for an hour. Many television shows are a half-hour long, how many of them do you watch back to back? O.K., so you do have the time..... So then are you really afraid of what you'll find in The Word? It can be intimidating, knowing that you are holding a book that has in it the keys to salvation. It can be intimidating knowing that our Lord expects us to act on what we learn about him in his Word. It can also be intimidating to know what our family and friends will say about us when they have known us all our lives and then we begin to change, not only on the inside-but also on the outside. Pray, read, have faith and be of good cheer. The Lord is on your side and will protect you at all times. Call his name and he will answer.

Back to the T.V. , I would encourage you to throw it out. It sucks your time and money like a vacuum. First you have to earn the money to buy one, lets say it costs 500$ and from what I understand, that's a cheap one. So that is an entire weeks earnings gone to something that will not return on it's investment. Then you have to pay for either cable or satellite on a monthly basis, that's more of your time AND money! Then to add to that, you have all the time you sit in front of the T.V. doing nothing productive! The T.V. steals hours of your life in the forms of work, money, and inactivity. You only have one life, and only so many opportunities to spend it with the ones you love.
We here in the U.S. have been brought up in a generation that values material goods and entertainment more than we value our money in our bank account and our time we have to be productive.

 

This is a five dollar bill.

Multiply this by a hundred. Yes, you would have to multiply it by a hundred! To equal enough money to purchase that 500$ T.V. we discussed. Does it bring everything into greater perception? How many hours would you have to work at your job to earn enough money to buy that T.V. and still be able to afford housing, food, and transportation not to mention life's other necessities?

There is an expression I use, and that is: Be smarter than your body.

If we acted on all the things our flesh desired for us to do, we probably wouldn't have any friends for one and would probably be in jail for one reason or another for two. The Lord designed us to be creatures that work, both at home and at our occupations. It is not healthy to "relax" for three or more hours a night and to simultaneously be nonproductive. I relent.

If you need one, a tertiary reason to abstain from T.V. is the content. It is damnable! When I was a child there were channels dedicated to family values that made one believe that altruism wasn't dead. Today, bad is called good and good is called bad. There is no station that I would allow my daughter to watch if she were old enough to understand. I had a lot of respect for the T.V. show "The Waltons" till even they made a show about divorce. Our eyes need to be higher than a T.V. screen, we need to look on the Lord.

We only have one life to liv. Let's liv it for the Lord.

 

 

The word of God in Psalm 101:3 says "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:  I hate the work of them that turn aside;  it shall not cleave to me.

 

And if you need another verse, 1st Thessalonians 5:22 says, "Abstain from all appearance of evil."

 

God bless you, everyone. I pray for you and your families daily. It would be good for all of us saints to come together in fellowship.

My Teeth Are Growing!

My Teeth are growing!

Alright for as long as I can remember, I've had poor teeth. Every time I went to the dentist I knew I was going to get bad news about how I didn't take good enough care of my teeth, and the ever expected "did you floss?". 

Always thinking in my head," what do you mean, did I floss?!, you KNOW the answer to THAT!". 

Well for just as long, I've also always thought that teeth should be able to heal themselves. I never heard anyone espouse the same concept, but still always felt strongly that God would not give us teeth that he just expected to rot out of our mouth without any control about it and with no way to reverse it. 

When I began truck driving, my teeth were not terrible but they weren't excellent either.  

As time went by I could begin to tell that I was developing holes in my teeth. My gums never looked healthy no matter how much I brushed. 

I gave up on my teeth. I've not been to a dentist for a cleaning in probably 10 years. 

As I drove and went through the constant malnourishment and exhaustion of being on the road and also only having sugar drinks to keep me awake on my trips, the holes became worse and worse. Cream Soda was my favorite drink. I could drink three or four in a day easily.

Thankfully I never lost a tooth, although there was a tooth in the back of my mouth that was so bad I wouldn't even let Elizabeth see it for fear of her taking me to a dentist against my will. Thankfully we never could afford all the work I would have needed. 

I told Elizabeth about my ideology and how I always felt that teeth should be able to heal back like any other part of the body. I asked her if she could find anything on the Internet about my suspicions. 

It took her a little bit of hunting but she found what I was looking for. A diet solely intended to grow teeth back and to cure cavities. 

The author of the book we bought is Ramiel Nagel. The name of the book is "Cure Tooth Decay". 

I'm only writing this because after being on the diet and I mean that very loosely, my teeth are healing themselves. When your teeth first begin to show signs of healing, it's kind of creepy. It goes against everything we are told from dentist. If we have a cavity and they find it, the only solution is to get a filling. Well now we know better.

(We've not been as strict on the diet as we could have been.) but that will be changing. Now that we know it does in fact work, we now have so much motivation to go full steam ahead! 

I'll try to make this easy to understand, because it really is all new to me. 

OK, so if I were you, I'd be wanting to know what is different about this diet. 

The bottom line is this, no sugars or grains. This will not work for vegetarians and especially not vegans. Don't even waste your time with vain questions about "what-if's". 

I'll tell you about how things worked for me. I tried to be semi methodical about it. I've been doing this now for I'm guessing three serious weeks. It took us some time once I was home to really mentally adjust to this "new normal". It took a while to get used to no fruit juice. Although I have had pure cranberry juice (very very tart) and have seen no stalling or reversal of improvement. 

Ok, but first things first. I knew I had to start with my gums, and preferably the most natural way. Elizabeth had told me that I could use hydrogen peroxide as a mouth wash. I was excited about that because it's natural tendency to fizz when it finds infection is an easy aid to let me know when I need to use more or less, or wash with it more than once. When I first started with it, I think I rinsed at least five times with it, and always before bed.  

It took two or three days but very quickly my gums became as pink as my inner lips. I felt great about that. Hydrogen peroxide is very good about cleaning your teeth of any films and food particles, which is great if like me you have holes in your teeth. 

And something I didn't know about hydrogen peroxide till even recently, the bottle actually says that you can use it as a mouthwash! When I started using it, I thought I was doing something untested with it, all I knew was that it worked. Then one day I noticed it right on the bottle, made me feel much safer about all the fizz I felt in my mouth. 

 We'll be trying to take pictures soon, because at the rate they are healing now people may think that I'm exaggerating. 

The other thing I've been doing is taking vitamins and supplements at night and always when my stomach is full. I take six different types. The ones that I can remember the names of are silica, a type of butter oil capsule, a multi vitamin, fermented cod liver oil, vitamin D, and brewers yeast.  The last one isn't necessary, I just added it because we had it in the house and it's cheap. Can't hurt right?  

I've written so much that I'll let you digest all this. Bottom line, I didn't like dentists before but now mine is really out of a job.

When your teeth begin to heal you will notice the dentin. Due to its color it is easy to mistake it for rot, however because it is growing back in a place where there was once a hole, you know that in fact your tooth is healing itself. It's exciting when you see the layers of your teeth regenerating.

Something else I've noticed is that now that I am doing this, some of my teeth feel a sort of soft pressure in my gums. What I think is happening, is increased blood flow not only due to increased health in my gums but it's also increased attention from my body trying to heal the teeth. It's no different than your body healing a skinned knee.

How My Teeth Are Changing

How My Teeth Are Changing

When I first started this tooth diet I knew that I should take photos of my teeth just for proof, but I didn't; why? Because I was scared that I would actually see them getting worse. 

Well I regret that now. Here's why. After I began the hydrogen peroxide routine, my gums became healthy. Then I tried to refine what I was eating. 

I've been fortunate in that I've been able to source raw goats milk, I know for a fact that the milk is part of what is really pushing my teeth ahead. Elizabeth has also gone through the trouble of making chicken broth for us to use in as many foods as we can and also to drink simply by itself. We don't like beef broth to drink, it's just too gritty-it seems almost dirty in your mouth. Chicken broth is perfect, it's enjoyable when heated. 

Broth from a can is insufficient, you have to make it yourself. 

Most importantly NO SUGARS of ANYKIND!!

 Through this diet there have been times when I treated myself to small batches of sugar, and I mean very small, like four teaspoons of ice cream. In the day following I saw no progress. Yes, if you keep to it you will see progress on a daily basis, I have. 

OK, so what will you notice after your gums are healed and you have kept your mouth clean for a while. 

First you will see a white line develop around your large cavities. It's enamel regrowing. 

The next step may take a while, with me I noticed it so suddenly that it caught me off guard. 

Every day I used the peroxide I appreciated how it got the food out of the holes. Well I became confused this week when I looked in a hole that concerns me particularly because its very obvious when I smile. 

The peroxide always, without fail, got every bit of food out of the holes. But for three consecutive days it looked like I had bread stuck in the hole. I knew this wasn't possible because it never moved, so it had to be something else. 

I looked closer

It was the dentin! It's growing in the hole! Depending on how the light hits it, it can look different colors. 

Sometimes it looks yellow, sometimes brown, sometimes pink, sometimes gray. 

It's a weird substance. It looks soft like its very porous. I don't care to find out if it is or isn't, I'm just going to let it continue to grow!

So this tooth I'm telling you about had me distracted for the last three weeks, for the reason I told you. It's up front on my K9's, can't miss it. I smile alot. 

Well anyway I always look at every tooth that has a cavity just out of habit to make sure it doesn't have any soars and that no food is stuck in the hole of the tooth. 

Today I looked at one of my rear molars and once again I got confused. When your teeth have deterioration, you get used to them reflecting light back certain ways due to either enamel or saliva in the cavity. 

Well today I looked at that molar and it didn't reflect the light like it has for the last two years or more. The dentin had gotten so thick, in what must have been one night, that my eyes couldn't even focus on it. I kept tilting my head in the light to be able to see it right until I realized that the color of the tooth and the texture had changed. The tooth grew so much dentin that I seriously expect some very serious enamel growth in the coming weeks. Of course I could be wrong as this is my first time, perhaps it will take a month or more. But at this rate I can't believe it will take that long. 

I'd like to know what else is happening in my mouth that I can't see. I seriously must have dozens of cavities of varying sizes. I look forward to the day I feel confident that they are all healed and visit a dentist for an x-ray just to tell them how my teeth fixed themselves. This is seriously saving thousands of dollars and has to be healthy for my entire body. 

I'm really wondering what will happen two or three years down the road with my fillings. I'm really wondering if my teeth will pop them out. That would be great, I really don't feel safe knowing there is mercury in my head.

When my teeth are done healing, all the glory will truly go to God! I thank Yeshua genuinely for bringing this knowledge to our eyes. I knew he designed our bodies to heal themselves. I just needed to know how he designed it to work.

Thank you for reading and please if you have any questions just ask me!!

Michael E. McCartan

Back to Eden's Garden!

Ok, this will be a simple entry.

Recently I became aware of a new gardening technique that requires minimal weeding and no water except after seeding. No joke, and I'm sure I know what you are thinking. That's impossible unless your garden is covered in rocks and who can till that! Well here's the bonus, it doesn't involve covering your garden in rocks and you will also never have to till it either! Seriously!

 

I recently came across a documentary that shows this method. Simply put, you design your garden like nature. You don't till the soil for a multitude of reasons, but also you don't have to water. Leaving the soil alone keeps moisture in the ground and prevents weeds from germinating. The solution to all those problems and soil erosion? Woodchips!

 

Now these aren't "bark nuggets" but legitimate chippings from entire branches of trees bushes and shrubs.

 

 

 

We have a half acre in the back that we are considering gardening in this method, its the field that we used to have our goats in. We miss our goats, but this may be a good way of utilizing the field.

The field has been fallow as long as we know of. The house is about twelve years old. And we know that the field was certainly left alone for the two years before we moved in, and aside from the goats being in there, it has still been left alone. The field has a mix of meadow grasses, pesky weeds, and the typical wild herbs you would expect to see in any southern field.

 

I'm pretty certain we are going to do this. So watch our journey, it is going to be interesting.

 

I apologize for the odd fish-eye-lens effect, but this was the best panorama I could take with an IPhone.

 

So what you are looking at is the gate we have that separates our back yard from the back field.

The odd box object to the left of the gate is what used to be the housing for the goats. It was a dog house prior to that.

 

Here are some before pictures to give you an idea of what we are starting with. Now the theory is that you are not supposed to begin this program until fall, because that is when the leaves naturally fall from the trees. We'll see if we make it that long before we can't help ourselves. The underlying theme of this method is this. It's not supposed to be alot of work once the garden is established. That can take three years or more depending on where you liv and what materials you are relying on.

 

 

The most of this grass is about knee high, I think it's still growing from where the goats ate it. Other grass is up to my hip.

 

I'm not sure what this shrub is but it looks like it will be simple to deal with. It'll probably become a blogpost of it's own.........

 

This is a grain that grows in the field. I'm not familiar enough with the various grains to know what this is.

 

Here's our little dog Trixie next to a semi-common weed we have back there.

 

 

What is certain is this. If you follow this method aggressively and fulfill all of it's tenants, you will have the best garden you have ever had-growing the best produce you have ever tasted and you will not have to weed (as you currently know it) except with a rake, you will not have to water, and you will not have to till. Just plant your favorite seeds, and eat. Those are the steps, albeit, only after the garden is fully established.

 

Our soil in the back field seems to be very nice already since it's been left alone and has alot of diversity, so I am hoping that helps with the decomposition of the wood chips.

 

So our back field can be a test plot for you if you are on the fence about it. It will be alot of work upfront, but that's normal. It will all be worth it. I'm excited and eager. That is......if we move forward with it.

 

Here is the link to the documentary, watch it now! It will change the way you look at everything!

God Bless!

 

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/11883/Back-to-Eden

 

The Blessings of New Life

The Blessings of New Life

 

“A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.” John 16:21

 

I must start this posting by stating I had a very easy pregnancy. The morning sickness was mostly isolated to a few weeks in August as we traveled to Colonial Williamsburg and back. I did have lots of swelling despite being on the Brewer Diet. My only other complaint would be the emergence of the dreaded PUPPS rash all over my stomach during the last two months; the intense itching was terrible. My only forms of relief were using black tar pine soap and drinking dandelion root tea. The tea helped the most. 

 

As my estimated due date approached, many people started asking if I was afraid of giving birth naturally. Most of the people I worked with were very uneducated about homebirths and many made predictions that I would ultimately beg to go to the hospital. To be quite honest, I was not afraid. I had stayed away from the “What to Expect” books (don’t ever buy these as a gift) and had focused on reading positive homebirth stories and hypnobirthing methods. Ultimately, the hypnobirthing was thrown out the window as it promised that I would not be in pain. I was in ALOT of pain.

 

I went into labor on Sunday with irregular contractions which I misinterpreted as Braxton Hicks; they soon escalated into 10 minute apart contractions the next day. By 8 pm on Monday night, the contractions were under five minutes apart. Unfortunately, it was excruciating back labor as the baby was trying to turn. She had been in the correct position (head down, face down) for the last three months but had turned during the last week (head down, face up). I took multiple showers and had Michael rub my back during each contraction just trying to get a bit of relief. My midwife checked me around 11:00 pm and I was only dilated to 3. She left around 2:00 that morning to get some sleep but the baby had other plans. My water broke at 5:30 am in a big gush and I told Michael to fill up the birthing pool.

 

After my midwife arrived, I was only at a 5. At that point, I started to get pretty discouraged. I was still experiencing back labor and by the time 9:00 rolled around, I was spent. I dozed between the contractions. Sometimes, there was enough of a lull that I could fall asleep but then the contraction would be twice as long and twice as hard. I was exhausted and needed relief. The midwife checked me again around 9:30 and I was only at a 7. I wanted to cry at that point.

 

She did give me some hope, though. If I could keep from pushing for the next half an hour, she would help thin my cervix manually or use some evening primrose oil. I clutched to that hope and ran with it. After what seemed like hours of contractions, I asked “How much longer?” It had only been 10 minutes. That was disappointing but I knew the end was near. The apprentice and my husband offered some much needed encouragement.

 

At this point, I asked my husband to pray over us once more as we began the final legs of our journey. It was such a special moment for me to have my husband there to not only offer encouragement but spiritual guidance as well.

 

Around 10:00, she manually pushed the rolled lip of my cervix back during several contractions and immediately, there was relief. I could feel the baby start to go down the birthing canal! Each contraction was bringing me closer to seeing my child! I found new energy and was very excited. Another eternity went by but soon I felt a very bad burning sensation and my midwife told me to reach down to feel the baby’s head. I remember saying that I didn’t want to (mostly because I was so focused on getting it out!) but she convinced me to take a break and let my body stretch. I reached down in the water and felt an immense amount of hair waving back and forth in the pool. Like seaweed in the ocean….

 

I joked that if the baby had that much hair, think of the beard it must have!

 

We were certain we were having a son,

 

A few more big pushes and I felt a huge gush! The baby was out! The midwife caught the baby and handed it to me. Michael and my mother-in-law gathered behind me and we all just couldn’t believe there was this crying, slippery baby with tons of hair. It was such an amazing feeling of relief. I remember saying over and over “Hi baby, it’s okay!” After a few minutes, the midwives were asking me to check on the gender of the baby and to our surprise it was a girl! What a wonderful gift from God.

 

The next few hours were a blur. I remember taking some Hem Halt, being lifted out of the pool, and placed next to the fireplace while we waited for the umbilical cord to stop pulsing, the placenta to deliver and stitching up a small tear. Various members of Michael’s family stopped by to see the baby and soon the midwives and my mother-in-law packed up their bags. Our little family was alone for the first time.

 

 

 

 

Takeaways for first time moms:

• When shopping for a midwife, think about what you need from her on your birthing journey. Are you one of those who ask lots of questions and want scientific answers? Do you need a cheerleader when that day comes? Ask for a client list. Call some of those clients and ask questions about the midwife – not their birth story. Everyone I talked to said the midwife I used was great and amazing but she wasn’t what I needed when that day came. I needed a cheerleader offering encouragement during every contraction and I was left discouraged more than once when I saw my midwife ignoring my pleas. I am thankful that I had a husband who stepped into that role.
• Ask about her methods for turning babies, dietary recommendations, and exercise regimens. My midwife did not know of any ways to turn a baby – others can. It may not have worked but we could have at least tried them. Having a child is comparable to running a marathon – you need to train for the big day. I wish I would have done more exercise than walking.
• Childbirth does hurt but there is a quote that I clung to: “The power and intensity of your contractions cannot be stronger than you, because it is you. - Unknown” Each contraction is one closer to bringing you to your baby. Embrace them and celebrate the end of each one.
• Don’t starve yourself during the birth. I did because I wasn’t hungry and have had a hard recovery. Force yourself to eat. Make smoothie ice cubes with a bit of avocado to keep up your energy. Drink chlorophyll water.
• Educate yourself. Do you want the Vitamin K shot and the eye drops for your child? We chose not to do either. Even if you have a hospital birth, you can opt out of these things. Let the placenta completely quit pulsing before the cord is severed. Newborns need this extra blood in their system. If you test positive for Group B strep, there are natural ways of combating this. Look for natural alternatives in everything you do – your baby will thank you for it.

 

Tips for newborns:

• Be sure to wake them up to eat in the beginning. Abigail wanted to sleep a lot and I thought it was just because of having a hard labor. She actually had jaundice and that can cause them to sleep too much.
• Co-sleeping has been the best thing for us. No blankets on the bed for the first few months. After that, be sure to have separate blankets for you and your spouse. Abigail always snuggles up underneath my arm and I have a light blanket covering the two of us.
• Clean around the umbilical cord during each diaper change with a Q-tip and water. Dry it with the other end. Continue after the cord falls off. If it starts looking reddish after the cord falls off, clean and slather with antibacterial ointment.
• Do not clean your child during the first week. Let the vernix soak into the skin. After that, you can wash the baby twice a week with a mild soap like Dr. Bronners. Be sure to get into the rolls around their neck and open their hands…it is a hiding spot for lint. If you cannot get them to open their hands, try stroking the back of the hand.
• Use reusable diapers to save money and as a healthy alternative for your child. We have not had a single case of irritation or diaper rash. There are many reviews out there and find what works best for your family. I currently use Diaper Safaris with Organic Indian pre-folds (Diaper Safari’s inserts are too bulky for daytime use) and Lalabye Baby diapers. I bought them from http://www.ecobabybuys.com/. They send daily emails with featured products at huge discounts. You may not get to choose from many colors or styles, but you can save a lot of money this way on baby products.

 

I will be posting a list of baby essentials for new moms/baby shower gift ideas as well as useful home remedies later. At this point, Abigail wears store-bought onesies and hand-me-down clothes. Soon, I will be making plain dresses for the upcoming bigger sizes and plan to post sewing tutorials. Please let me know if you have any other topics you would like for me to post on!

A Reader's Email

From a reader of the blog:





Hi. I stumbled across one of your pages yesterday and it was very interesting. I am a little curious about some things. I was raised in a UPCI church in the Deep South. It is very conservative. Our men, aside from the pastor, very seldom wear suits. Some of them never unless it was on their wedding day perhaps. They are very country, masculine men. Definitely not the suit wearing, accountant type. We still have prayer rooms that we use every service. Some of our people don't go to the doctor and still have their babies at home. Just wanted to let you know that every UPCI church isn't the same. Although, we have quit fellowshipping the UPCI due to the fact that they have voted in television and other things that we don't agree with. A large number of churches in the state I live in, among others, pulled out because of it. I hope this doesn't come across as rude, because that isn't at all how I intended it to.

I have long been fascinated with the Plain lifestyle. I admire them for the separate lifestyle they live. Although there are things that I don't agree with. There is a whole lot more to this salvation thing than living a separated life. You have to obey God's plan of salvation. I think that if you believe you are saved and you know the plan of salvation you should reach out to those around you with it. God called us to be witnesses. They as a rule keep to themselves. Although I have Mennonite neighbors that do get out and witness their beliefs to others. They have even attended my church before and have come to my house for a singing.

I do agree that some Pentecostals need to rethink some things and straighten some things out. There is a lot of things that have crept in and are creeping in that is not right. Mainstream Pentecost today is a far cry from the Pentecost of yesterday. That's why a lot of people are pulling away and identify themselves as Apostolic in doctrine and Pentecost by experience. And never forget that David danced before The Lord with all his might. His wife even looked on him in ridicule. He was not ashamed however. There are times and places that it is perfectly alright to openly praise and worship God. I am not saying act like a Pharisee. Please don't get me wrong, but I never want to hide the glory and majesty of God.

But this is a personal thing. It is each for their own. I can't save you and you can't save me. We each have to save ourselves.

In Jesus Name (Still name above every name!)

Your reader  



I asked the reader if I could publish this email. It's well written and was very informative to me. I hope that it will inform and help some of the readership. Feel free to comment on this. I will publish your comments if they are appropriate. I just ask that you don't submit them as "anonymous".