Breastmass

I discovered a hard mass in my left breast early this September. My chiropractor was lightly massaging my chest - which helps to stimulate your lymph nodes and clean out your system - when she noticed some hardness. We found that this hardness ran from my chest almost down to my nipple creating a sort of shelf on my breast. I had been feeling a little soreness in my breast and often felt a tightening similar to my breasts filling with milk when I was nursing my daughter (14 years ago!) We agreed I would stop drinking my daily decaf right now (bye bye Starbucks, sniff) When I got home my first step was my all natural go-to book on health Prescription for Cooking & Dietary Wellness by Phyllis and James Balch. They recommend eliminating dairy and wheat which I immediately did. (no more coffee which was my only source of milk anyway - but the cheese is hard, I LOVE me some cheese). They also recommended a Poke Root poultice on the breast. Searching for Poke Root took me to the website searches. I found a lot about Poke Root and it's use to aid in clearing the lymphatic system, many sites claimed it would also relieve sore breasts. (Picture of poke root left).

The other natural remedy I discovered both in the book and on the website was Reishi mushrooms. Sites claim that reishi can possibly boost your immune system, fight cancer, ward off heart disease, calm your nerves and relieve both allergies and inflammation.

(reishi mushroom photo left) I then found Red Moon Herbs - a lovely online herb boutique - founded by Corinna Wood that shared my life philosophy and had the natural remedies I was searching for at good prices (I don't get anything from this company for recommending them, I just think they are great!) My remedies arrived quickly and in good shape. I took them to my chiropractor - she tested the remedies on me and said yes, they definitely would help, take 10 drops of the poke root for two weeks and 50 of the reishi daily. Poke root is very toxic and must be taken carefully! I have since seen my primary physician to get prescriptions for a mammogram. In the meantime I have started to eat microbiotic, continue to meditate and added self healing visualizations, see an energy healer twice monthly (she's also my therapist), take hot showers and rub rescue remedy and tiger balm into my breast daily. We'll see!

Fall

It's fall and I've already started to put the garden to rest! Tomato plants are down (not a great crop this year), cucumbers and beans are done (great crops from both). In fact, we had so many cucumbers this year I finally started to "put up" veggies. Bread and butter pickles, jalapeno carrots, dilly beans and mixtures of assorted veggies in both cider and white vinegar. Oh yes, some salsa and we froze TONS of jalapenos and pesto (basil as well as parsley using either walnuts or pecans - I'm not a big pine nut fan). We planted some carrots, brussel sprouts and lettuce in September but only the lettuce is looking good.

The chickens got broody a lot this August since it was so rainy and dark, but we still enjoyed eggs most of the time. Never get Silkies unless you're willing to put in the extra work. They each go broody about 4 times a year! Which means that they want to sit on eggs and don't lay any. They fluff themselves up to keep their undersides really warm (which would be great if they had eggs to hatch - but they don't). We have a wire cage with a tray underneath which we put them in and then lock the cage in the shed in the backyard for 3 nights - that usually cures them. Here is the coop with the "brooding shed" in the background

The chickens are adorable though and people in the neighborhood arrange their schedules so they can walk by and see them in the front yard during the day.