Sabbath blessings

I love Friday nights more than any other time of the week. It is the start of the Sabbath festivities that we have enjoyed in our family for almost 14 years. We clean the house all day; make a feast; put down my grandmother's china; and rush out to chores. Sometimes I get to stay in to finish scrubbing the floor or cleaning the bathroom or seeing to some last minute food details. Friday afternoon is usually a mad dash to finish all of the week's TO DO list and today was no different. Every spare pair of hands is set to work to clean or cook or, in this case, to finish writing and addressing Andrew's graduation thank you cards. They will be done within a few minutes--YEAH!!!!!!!!!! I finished dealing with my mom's clothes and things this week too so it's time to relax and celebrate the feast of Sabbath in the old-fashioned Jewish way.

Because of all that I need to do yet, I will extend my Sabbath wishes to all of you in the form of an ecard that I received from one of my BodyTalk clients this week. It is sooooo wonderful to know that, through BodyTalk, I have been able to help this lady recover her lost dignity. In the process, she's become a friend who helps lift me up when I am burdened by this world's ugliness. Thanks Gwen!

Love to all,

Dawn

PS. Andrew just said that I can't copy the card but here is the link to it. I guarantee that you will be blessed if you take the time to read this! http://nethugs.com/friendship/dont-ever-forget/

I love our menfolk--Robert, Andrew, and Jacob

Have you ever thought about how much work the men of the world do every day to make OUR world a nicer place to live? I know that I often just take our menfolk for granted so this post is my apology for not saying, "Thank you guys," more often. Our menfolk here on our farm, Seeds of Honor, work all year long to produce high quality, organic, food for the world. That's not all they do, though. They give us girls, Cora and I, a high-quality life as well. Although I've always been very prudent in the spending of our funds, Robert sees to it that I have many wonderful blessings each day. Perhaps you may not have ever thought of the things I'm going to show pictures of as blessings from a loving husband (and a loving God), but they are. My prayer then in posting today, is to encourage each of you who has a man of God blessing you each day with a wonderful life, to begin to show appreciation for all of the little things that he does for you each day. Of course when he does a really BIG thing, then he deserves a great BIG thank you as I am doing right now. :)

First of all, I want to thank you, Robert, for giving me my wish of a goat herd. I admit that at times it has become overwhelmingly large, but goats are just so prolific that this can happen without one even noticing it. I remember when it went from 40 to 120 in 1 year. That was DEFINITELY sell-back time. :) These are most of our current goats of all sizes and colors when Andrew threw them in a branch from a tree that was growing by the grain bins. YUM.


Thanks too, sweetie, for all of the dogs you've let me mother. We should sit down and count them once. This is our current pooch, Millie, who has been with us a whole year and is getting quit good at fetching the Frisbee when someone has time to toss it to her after evening chores.


Here's a "Pet" that Cora is quite fond of. My girl has always loved playing with frogs to the point that any time someone finds one, they bring it to her to love. Thanks for understanding even this, Robert. :) By the way, the one that you brought to her this morning jumped out of her hand and gave me quite a surprise as it was headed towards my face.



How many times do we really thank God, or our husbands, for all of the wonderful food that they provide for us every day. How wonderful the fruit of summer is when you live in North Dakota and have 6 months of winter. Here is my version of the golden arches. Thanks for providing us with wholesome food, sweetie, even if we do have to do the work for the veggies. You still provided the wonderful soil with fresh manure every Spring. Good job!

I think one of the biggest blessings you give to us Robert, Andrew, & Jacob is a day off from milking every so often. It's especially appreciated when friends have special occasions. Here our friends from our city days, married their daughter to a fine, young man. Congratulations Steve and Susan on raising such a lovely daughter named Kjersti!! Thanks for inviting us and thanks, guys, for the chores-free day! Steve is giving Kjersti away to Jason--talk about a gift!

Thank you, Robert, for all of the nice things in life that I just couldn't seem to do without. Things like a popcorn popper; and popcorn; and oil; and butter; and nacho cheese topping; and bowls to put it in after it's popped. I guess I would be remiss in not adding to the list, "Thanks for my new stove!" Then there's the electricity needed; the hot pads; the stool that I sit on... You give me so much in all of the "Little" things of life. OH, HOW I LOVE MAKING POPCORN--eating it too! Thanks for giving me all of these joys, Robert, especially when you don't even like popcorn. What a wonderful husband you are to me!!!!!!!!!

Now, here's for the really big thing that he and the boys did for all of us yesterday. The deck on this house was in sorry shape when we got here and that was almost 6 years ago. Being it rained and we couldn't hay yesterday, I finally worked up my courage to ask Robert and the boys to take the railing off completely. Robert went to work at once and started cutting it off.

Here it is all in pieces which made a grand campfire last night. :)

God bless Robert Bornemann for he took the extra lumber which was railings on the top of the deck; cut it in pieces to fill the holes; and repaired the floor which was in terrible shape. There were many places in it where we had just walked around because we didn't want to fall in the holes. We didn't really want to repair it because we want to build a new one when we get the house remodeling done some year. However, here was a problem that didn't take any money to fix and our men went straight to work to fix it. YEAH MEN!!!

Here is the finished product of their 2 hours work. Can you believe that they accomplished so much in only 2 hours? Now it's up to us girls to finish the job. I know that we have some deck stain downstairs in the dungeon somewhere but Fern had her deck painted and that looked nice too. I wonder which would stand up the best in case it is awhile until we can build a new deck. Anybody know?

Well, there are many more pictures that I could show of our menfolk working on the farm, and around the house, but these are the most interesting ones from the July folder. My goal in sharing this with you is for you to take a real look at all that your menfolk do for you every day, and find a special way to show them appreciation. Our guys really like pie so I suppose that I should get to work. :) Still, I don't know if you're like me, but a few words of appreciation go a loooooong way to keep me feeling special. How about we all take a few moments to say something NICE to our menfolk today and see them grinning from ear to ear. :)

That's why!

It's been one of those, "That's why people don't raise livestock anymore" days. Here's the list of animal-related trials we endured today.

1. The milk cows are grumpy because of the flies.
2. I still have 2 goats who are recovering from eating barn lime--not sure if one will make it.
3. The men broke down with both balers and couldn't get them fixed even after part's runs to Kintyre AND Linton. This has to do with livestock because you can't have livestock in ND in the winter without hay for them.
4. Robert and I had all sorts of troubles with the mowers this afternoon. Mowing is essential to hay production too.
5. Andrew had troubles swathing hay today with broken sickles and guards. He replaced one guard priced at $12 each. He drove to the other end of the field and broke the new one by hitting another rock. :)
6. Now my sweetie is over in the hay field eating his sandwich supper and resting a little. As soon as the hay is damp enough, somewhere between 10:00 and 11:00 PM, he will start baling until the hay is too wet, somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00 AM. Then he'll come home to sleep for the night.
ISN'T THAT CRAZY? I'm an avid animal lover but I can certainly understand on days like this why people do not have animals on their farms anymore.

HOPELESSLY OUT-DATED!!!!!!

"Hopelessly out-dated." I should have known better than to harbor a thought like that, but let me back up a bit.

Sabbath was wonderful. We rested; sang hymns; listened to Pastor Davis's sermon on loyalty; and then went to a garden birthday party. How I love birthday parties--ALL parties actually. Well, I shouldn't say THAT as I most certainly do not love parties where the main goal is to consume alcohol. I differentiate there and call them "Wild parties." I like the kind where people sit around and visit and eat and honor the Lord in all that they do and say. Many of the people present at this particular party were born-again Christian's, so the fellowship was sweet. The boys played their instruments, so the music was down-right wholesome too. The weather was just lovely, with no bugs, so it was down-right lovely. Cora posted pictures already so feel free to go there for the details.

Sunday morning, though, wasn't as lovely. I got a phone call from the lady who owns, "Nita's Attic" in Napoleon. She said, "I'm sorry to call you on Sunday morning but I want you to know that I will not be able to use any of those clothes that you brought in."

I was pretty surprised and asked, "NOT ANY?"

"No, not any." Then she added, "They are all HOPELESSLY OUT-DATED, and I need you to come and pick them up this week."

I told her that I would get them soon and hung up the phone. At first I had a laugh with Robert and told the children that our new phrase to chuckle at is, "Hopelessly outdated." Everyone laughed and I went to work weeding in my long flower bed out front. However, as I had lots of time to think and nobody to talk to at the moment, the words started to eat at me.

"We're supposed to be a peculiar people," I mumbled under my breath, "but is "Peculiar" HOPELESS? How can clothing be hopeless anyway? As far as my understanding of the word "Hopeless" goes, I have understood that people who reject Christ's free gift of salvation are hopelessly banned from Heaven. There is no other hopelessness that God cannot fix, is there? What is it about clothing that can be hopeless anyway? Yes, if there are no threads stuck together to cover the body, that would be hopeless. WHO SAYS WHEN CLOTHING BECOMES HOPELESS? HOW CAN ALL OF MY MOTHER'S BEST CLOTHING BE HOPELESS? I WANT TO KNOW!!!!!!!!!!

In the afternoon I finally had time to wrap up my mom's hair and send it to LOCKS OF LOVE. As I filled out the necessary paperwork to identify it, this hopeless concept kept gnawing at me. I hoped that it wouldn't be hopelessly outdated too although it met all of the qualifications that we had read about online.

By evening I started to suffer physically from dwelling on this negativity, so I did a BodyTalk session on myself. Nothing works like BT to bring balance, but I had waited too long. By bedtime, I was physically ill. My abdomen was so tight that I grabbed a bowl, just in case. All through family prayer time, I wondered what else I could do to settle myself down so I could sleep. I did cortices and switching again and felt quite certain that I would keep my supper down.

I felt led to put a few drops of lemon essential oil in a glass of water and drink that down. It's a little trick I've been using here lately when my nerves get to my abdomen. This helped enough so that I could sleep a few hours. All night I was up drinking lemon water which would settle my stomach down temporarily. Towards morning I remembered that Jerome, Robert's cousin, uses Green Drops for upset stomach. I added that to the lemonade and slept well for a few more hours until Cora woke me with, "Mother, it's time to get up."

Today my stomach feels like it's been in a vice all night. I did manage to help with chores this morning and we finished cleaning the flower bed out front. This HOPELESSLY OUTDATED concept is REALLY bugging me though. Being I know that God is always trying to teach me something through the events that He allows me to go through, I just out-and-out asked Him, "What is the point here?" A little while ago, something clicked inside of me and I FINALLY understood. I have viewed my family of origin as HOPELESS. God says, "Nothing is imposable with ME!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Being I'm working on packing up a box for my oldest brother, Russell, I felt led to stick a letter into it in light of this new revelation. Into the box I put the beautiful shawl that his wife, LV, had crocheted for my mom. We felt that she should get it back as she had already made one for Cora, Sharel, and I. I also put in a set of his & hers jackets that have the dates of the Eureka Centennial celebration which Russell attended 22 years ago when Cora was a baby. I put in Andrew's graduation DVD and thank you card. I added 2 funeral bulletins. We then put together a DVD of all the pictures and video clips that we have from mom's prayer service and funeral. They have absolutely nothing from these events as the rest of the family has written them off. I hope that these will be the blessing to them that I intend them to be.

Lastly I wrote this letter. I wonder if I'd have invited them to the farm had I not gotten this "Hopelessly outdated" concept drilled into my head in the past 24 hours? I'm including it so that you can see how I am feeling about my family of origin at this present moment. WOW--is a concept a powerful thing or what? Please be in prayer that this love-box will bring the healing to my brother that he so desperately needs and to me too!!! Is my family of origin truly hopeless?
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pondering,

Dawn




Dear Russell and LV,

I've thought a lot about our phone call on Independence Day, Russell. You may never know how much joy it brought me to be able to talk straight-out about feelings with SOMEBODY in this family. What a bunch!!!!!!!!!!! The good news is that we don't have to stay that way! :) We CAN have a family yet if we choose to do so, can't we? That's why I chose this border to write to you on. It's called, "Welcome to our ranch," and that's just what I'm doing. I would like to invite you both to come and stay with us here sometime when you can get away.

We have much to talk about. Did you say on the 4th, Russell, that you were in Vietnam? I'm pretty sure that's what you said, but I didn't want to interrupt you to make certain. If you were in Vietnam, then why didn't I ever know about it? I really need to try to understand our family of origin somehow.

This love-box is my attempt to show you that our family would like to keep in touch with you two. This is the shawl that you made for mom, LV. When Dad asked us to take all of mom's clothes 2 weeks ago, we found it. Robert and I agreed that you should have it back as a remembrance of mom. I hope that it is as much of a blessing to you as the ones that you made for Cora and I are to us.

I'm also sending his & her jackets from 1987 when Eureka celebrated it's 100th birthday. I don't know if you want them or not, but I recall that you were there at the time, Russell, so I thought that you may like having them too.

I've included a CD with all of the pictures that we have from the family service and the funeral for mom. We have a few short video clips too that we've included. I'm also sending a funeral bulletin for both of you too. You should have these things from our mother's funeral no matter what happened then!!!!!!!!!!! I'm also enclosing a DVD of Andrew's graduation. He sent them to everyone in the family who couldn't be with us on his special day. Thank you very much for remembering him so generously.

I want you to know that I am not willing to do "ANYTHING" like mom did to try to get this family together--my health would never take that. However, I am willing to do my part. If you would like to visit our farm sometime soon, we would love to have you come. We can't visit that far away because of the milking. I pray for peace to come to the Harvey Delzer family.

Dawn

Quick post

I had hoped to have a little time to post this evening but I need to exercise yet. A client sent me this and it was a blessing to me--hope it blesses you too.

Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'


This verse puzzled a group in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.


One of them offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.


That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.


As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.


The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.


The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.


The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?' He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'


If today you are feeling the heat of the fire , remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you. ! Pass this on right now. This very moment, someone needs to know that God is watching over them.


And, whatever they're going through, they'll be a better person in the end. 'Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it once.'

Higher Ground video

Here is the song that I was thinking of last night. Cora found it for me on U-Tube. What would I do without her? What would I do without the Lord lifting me up constantly? I hope that you enjoy the awesome pictures too.

Sabbath blessings,

Dawn

He Lifts Me Up

Does anyone know the name of that old hymn? I hardly know any of the words but one of the phrases goes something like this. "He lifts me up and lets me stand." That part of the song is running through my head tonight as I ponder this day. It's been another super busy one. Although my sorrow at losing Josephine is right under the surface, the Lord has gone out of His way to make this day a happy one for me. Thank you, God!!!!!!!!!!!!

First thing this morning, I was met by a huge smile on Cora's face when I entered the barn. Being I didn't see my Brown Swiss, Clara, in her spot I said, "I thought that we were going to one batch of 4 now?"

She said, "We can't because Louisa calved last night and now we're back to 5 cows."

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!! This is Cora's Holstein and everything went well. Cora drove mama and baby in from the pasture together. Then, when mama went in with the other milk cows, Cora quickly shut the gate behind her. By the time Louisa realized it, Cora had whisked her little baby off to the calf barn to be with her peers. That part still bothers me sometimes but it is the way with milk cows.

So Cora has a new little baby to love. It's a boy but the little bull doesn't have a name yet. I'm sure that she'll post a picture of the baby soon.

Then, friends stopped in to pick up their anniversary cake on their way to Bismarck to celebrate their 30th anniversary. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CHUCK AND DONNA!!!

Then, Jacob and I went to Napoleon and they were happy to consign mom's clothes in the thrift shop there EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE MORE THAN A YEAR OLD.

Then, one of our hens hatched out 5 baby chicks. Pictures to follow soon.

Now the best news of all! My dear friend and adopted sister, Ellen Schultz, called me very excitedly about 4:30. I knew before she even said anything. Late last night I did a super long session on her to help her to be the best that she could be on her big day. SHE TESTED TO BE A CERTIFIED BODYTALK PRACTITIONER TODAY AND SHE PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS!!!!!!!!!!

Ellen said, "Well, I passed! I got 99% on the written test and 95% on the practical."
You must have at least 90% on both tests to get certified. It's a 4-5 hour ordeal and one which can be crushing if things don't go as well as one had hoped.


I'D SAY THAT SHE PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS!!! Ellen, I am soooooooooooo proud of you!!!! You worked so hard these past 2 years to get to this point and you are such a great BodyTalk practitioner. You have inspired me to continue pressing on towards the mark of certification. You can see pictures of Ellen by going to the BodyTalk label on my sidebar if you want to see the smiling face of North Dakota's newest CERTIFIED BodyTalk practitioner!

At first I had thought about testing with Ellen at this time but my mom's death and everything that came as a result put too much stress on me. I guess the time just wasn't right for me. I am planning on testing this fall, though, when Melanie comes back from New York. I can hardly wait to see Ellen's certificate!

And now the most joyous day of the whole week is almost here. In a few hours, the Sabbath will come quietly upon us and we will rest from our labors. What's exciting about this Sabbath is that we thought that the rest of summer would be dull with no parties to look forward to. Well, we were wrong. Our farmground landlady is hosting a birthday party tomorrow night for her daughter who is turning 65. Cora made the cake and I'm sure that she'll post a picture of that soon too.


Well, I gotta go wash up the calf bottles--there's a new baby calf to feed tonight.

SABBATH BLESSINGS UPON YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!

A tribute to Josephine

Well, I found my dear, 2 years young friend Josephine dead in the barn this morning! ): She was pretty bad last night when we got home from Bismarck, but I didn't give up hope. I gave her a shot of penicillin and did cortices for her again. Every chores since she accidentally got into the barn lime (which we use to spread on the barn floors before a new batch of calves), I've been giving her the milk from the other goats--about 2 quarts. There's not much extra production, as the kids are taking most of it now, but she got every drop. Last night she didn't want it, though, so my heart sank. I also gave her mineral oil each chores with the hopes that the poison would pass in the stool.

I guess it was her time to go even if I didn't think it was. My friend, Kimberly, had a goat live to age 17 so I never gave it a thought that I'd have to give her up so soon. Here's a picture of her from March of this year when she gave birth to twins. I had named the buckling, George for George Eschobar who spoke at the home school convention. Later I had named the doeling, Mary, to go with the George in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE! We lost George when he was a few weeks old, so Mary is all that is left of this trio. She's the spotted one and is a bit wild so I can't imagine that she'll ever fill the empty spot in my heart that Joe has left.

I know there are probably lots of people who think that I'm a nut for grieving after Joe like this, but this friend greeted me twice a day when I went out to milk the goats. While I milked, Josephine would come up beside me and gently nuzzle her head up against my shoulder. She was always beside me when I was anywhere in the goat barn or pen. Joe never cared that I was wearing old, dirty barn clothes. She never cared that my hair was a wreck or I was hurting too much to lean over and hug her. She just looked up into my face and let me scratch her soft neck as she moved her head side to side. Honest to God, I miss her a million times more than I miss my mother!!!!!!!!! Who will eat oats out of my hand now or push her face up against mine while I milk the others? Oh Joe, why did you leave me when you had so much life ahead of you?

In 2002 when my favorite horse, Gabriel, died of West Nile disease I told Robert that I would never love another horse and I meant it. I haven't even wanted to touch a horse since that grueling week-long ordeal. Of course there haven't been any around to touch as the children sold their horse, Ben, shortly after to get the money to buy a trampoline. Now I feel the same way. All other goats are just animals--Joe was my friend who would listen to everything I told her and never judge me or gossip about what I said behind my back. She always loved being close to me even last night when she was in horrible pain. I could tell that my presence was a comfort to her even hours before her death. One other time I loved a goat like I loved Joe, so maybe I will again, but it's going to be a long time off.

Sometimes I actually think that loving isn't worth it. Sometimes I love a person and they turn their back on me just when I need them the most. Sometimes I love an animal and they die. Sometimes I say to Robert, "I give up on love." That's when he takes me in his arms and says, "Don't you dare. Your loving heart keeps my world going, girl." So I try again for I know that there are hurting people or animals in the world who need a little compassion now and then. How could I ever withhold that from them? Still, I will guard my heart now and cherish the memory of this wonderful friend whom I had named Josephine March Bornemann 2 years ago in the Spring when I bottle-fed her because her mama wouldn't take her.



PS. The death toll now is 3, with 2 almost recovered, and one still iffy. Please pray for Cora's doe, Lily. It's not certain yet if she'll pull through it or not.

PPS. I spent an hour this morning cleaning up the 2 bags of barn lime which they had strewn all over the bags of kelp and cattle mineral. I put it in pails but it was too heavy for me to move up to the storage room in the barn, so I covered the pails. I guess I should have done that about 3 days ago. ): Somebody stronger than me will have to lug them up the hill to the barn but at least it is out of their reach if they should happen to break out again.

Goat report

I'm sure in this world of woes, this may seem VERY insignificant to many people. However, if you have ever loved a goat, you will understand my sorrow over this sudden disaster. Here is the goat report from tonight's chores.

Well, the 2 cases of "Eating barn-lime disease" who were mild this morning are doing fair tonight. I'm pretty sure that they'll pull through but I still gave the triplet's mom another dose of mineral oil. Andrew's yearling doe is dead. She was VERY sick this morning. Elizabeth is still dead so there was no change there. Translation: 2 goats are dead so far from this.

Now for my Josephine. Joe is better than she was this morning. She came out of the barn and ate a little hay. I was concerned when she wouldn't drink the milk with charcoal in it as she guzzled this like mad this morning. I left it out there for her in case she changes her mind. She did take about half a cup of mineral oil. Jacob and I both prayed for her and then had an idea which I hope will tip the scales in her favor. We went over and wrestled down her kid, Mary. What a wild thing she is but, after Jacob got drug around the pen for about 2 minutes, I managed to catch up with them. He hung on tight so I was proud of him!

When we finally got her over to the barn with Joe, it was worth all the effort. Joe seemed to perk right up. Jacob had said before we began this adventure, "Mary doesn't need her mom any more--she's big enough to live without the milk." "No" I agreed, "but her mama needs her tonight to have a reason to hang on." PLEASE PRAY FOR MY JOSEPHINE TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I need to get things ready for tomorrow so I'll sign off. Jacob and I are heading to Bismarck. I'm seeing a special client at the center and Jacob and I are both seeing Dr. Faye for cranio-sacral sessions. I'm also going to try to consign mom's high quality clothes that nobody wants here and donate the lower end of things that were better than shop rag quality. I hope that it's worth the hassles but I have to do something with all of these clothes. I do have another treasure from mom to write about sometime but it'll have to wait as I want to take pictures and I'm too busy for that now.

Off to exercise,

Dawn

The lighter side of things

WOW--I just had a fantastic BodyTalk session with a lady who has coughed for 30 years. It had to do with a tetanus shot. After her first session with me, she said that she didn't cough for 3 whole days. Maybe it'll be 3 weeks this time as that is when it would be best for her to come back for another session. I hope she does!!!!!!!!! I used my new massage table and it was wonderful!!! I actually felt a little professional. :)

Jacob just showed me this hilarious video. I think it's just a hoot as I have soooooooooooooooooo many times been accused of having no science behind what I do in BodyTalk. Anybody who does their research would know that Dr. Veltheim has been doing research for decades on the ins and outs of the human body. The whole world is being blessed by this research!! I rejoice as I ponder that he is daily searching for new ways to help the earth's population find the internal peace which is our birthright. Anyway, THIS IS A SPOOF. I hope that it lightens your day after this morning's post! :)

Tragedy in the goat barn

I'm not kidding--I would call this a tragedy. I've been accused of being melodramatic (probably inherent in a melancholy), but anybody who has ever loved a goat would call this a tragedy.

This morning, when Jacob and I walked into the goat barn, the first thing I noticed was that Josephine was not feeling well. You know how you get this feeling when something is not right? Well, she had her head down and she didn't jump up and say, "Hi," and she didn't shove her way in around the troughs when we fed them their oats. I knew that she was really sick and she was just fine last night. I can't stand the thought of losing Josephine as she is a sister to Christina. I loved Christina more than all the other goats as I had raised her to give as my love gift to some motherless children in '06. Christina's mom died shortly after giving me Josephine, and if Joe dies, I will be upset!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I walked further into the barn, I saw that Elizabeth was dead. She had a terrible disposition, but was a great milker. ): In the other corner, Andrew's yearling goat Hannah, was laying almost dead. Jacob and I decided to get them out of the barn back on pasture even though their cell is almost grazed clean and we haven't had time to hot wire another one for them.

Cora was spraying Sonic Bloom on the garden, but she came to help us move the herd. That was when she noticed that Karen, mother of triplets this spring, has "IT" too. Karen was very wobbly and obviously in pain although she made the trip over to the goat cell.

Robert came over to help move the herd and then he recalled that he had caught the goats in the Quonset yesterday afternoon. They were going after the kelp like mad, which couldn't hurt them, but some of them were also eating the barn lime which was in bags next to the kelp. ): OH NO. This was when Cora mentioned that her goat, Harriet, died a few weeks ago right after they were in there too! ):

A quick conference to plan the day ended up with the guys heading over to the fields to bale; Jacob's driving the 9030 over there; and Cora is continuing with the Sonic Bloom. This left ME to treat the sick goats. Robert suggested mineral oil and left, so this is what I just did.

After a quick prayer for guidance, I started with Joe as she is most precious to me. I gave her 10 ccs of Vitamin C in the rump which must have hurt for some reason as she bawled terribly. I put charcoal in the milk from this morning and she drank it all. Then I gave her mineral oil by tipping the bottle into the side of her mouth. She drank as much as she wanted.

I was out of milk for Hannah but gave her the charcoal in some water which she guzzled gratefully. She also drank the mineral oil eagerly. Then I went over to the cell where Karen was laying moaning. She also guzzled the mineral oil but didn't like the charcoal water as much as Joe and Hannah did. She's not as ill, though, so I guess she can afford to be picky.

When I was working with Karen, Andrew's goat Annette, groaned beside me and I could see that she was starting to get sick too. I gave her the rest of the charcoal water which she guzzled gratefully. That makes 4 of my does who are sick for now and 1 is dead already-plus Cora's dead goat 2 weeks ago. I'd call that a tragedy.

So now I used biofeedback to determine that they'll all need mineral oil again in 2 hours from now. I'm not sure how that will work as I have a lady coming from Linton for a session at 2:00. Maybe Cora will do it but she just does not like working with sick animals. She said, "It's just not in my disposition." I can't say that I like working with the sick, but it nags at me if I know something that can help them and I don't do it. That leaves me with going to do a BodyTalk session for them now, although I really do need to pick up this place some before 2:00.

PLEASE PRAY FOR MY GOATS TODAY. Somebody once said that watching a horse die is the hardest thing they'd ever done. I do recall watching Gabe die of West Nile in 2002. That truly was terrible too, but seeing my beloved goats suffering is worse. They're such a part of my life and they're so expressive that it grieves me so. PLEASE HELP THEM LORD!

Well, Jacob just called and said that he's by the bridge on the Braddock road so somebody needs to go and pick him up. If Cora is still spraying on the Sonic Bloom, I imagine that it'll be me. One bright thought this morning was when Cora asked, "So are you going to set up your massage table for your client, Mom?"

Can it be that I had forgotten about it? We had taken it down, as the only room big enough for it is in the living room, and we have a small living room. People were getting tired of going around it but today I have a paying client so she's going to get the ritz. :) I wonder if I remember how to set it up

Gotta go,

Dawn

Dad & Deal

Well this has to be very short, as I need to exercise yet tonight, but I thought that I'd post a few news items. My sister-in-law called tonight to say that they just returned with dad from Sioux Falls. His checkup went well. They are 90% sure that what they did to him should take care of the problem. In 2 weeks he has to go in to the clinic in Eureka for a liver function test but, if that goes well, he should be out of the woods. Many thanks to all of you who prayed for him!

That's the past news and this picture depicts the future news. Only God knows the future but this is a handshake that may go down in history. You see, when I was up at the health center in '06, I felt the Lord urging me to keep fighting for my life. One thing that gave me hope that I'd pull through then was a thought He planted in my heart. This concept that others need a place to go, when they are ill, where they can get help naturally has grown in my mind ever since. It's taken shape so much that I've shared it with my family and Jacob is the one who seems most interested in the idea.

I kept thinking that he would be a fellow BodyTalker but he's only mildly interested in it. However, last Fall I took the boys to a radionics workshop on a farm near Zeeland. This so inspired us that we have talked of it many times since then. Now seems to be the time for us to take action and buy our farm a machine. I'll add the link to the website we've been studying soon so you can understand why we are so intrigued by the concept of using a radionics machine to kill the weeds on our organic farm.

Anyway, I talked to the lady at the company this afternoon and Jacob insisted on being on the phone too. As we talked later about the call, I felt strongly that Jacob will be pursuing this line of work, in addition to being an organic farmer. We started dreaming about how it can work at the health center across the road--how we can combine BodyTalk and radionics to make a corner of the world here where humans, plants, and animals can all thrive together!!! When Jacob said, "Mom, I'd like to do radionics at your health center some day," I stuck my hand out. We were just shaking on being partners when Cora came in and snapped this picture. God only knows where it will all lead but I am so excited that he is interested in energy work even though it isn't BodyTalk that makes his little, old heart beat faster. So here I am shaking hands with my new business partner. :) May God Himself lead us step by step into the future as we unite our hearts to make the world a better place to live!!!!

Friends

Oh how I love getting together with friends!!! Nothing brings out the sanguine in me like having tea with friends--unless maybe it's going to weddings with friends.

Friday was immensely busy. We rushed through chores as I needed to be in Dawson by 10:15 to pick up the Azure order. I got to visit with Terry, the trucker, a little bit about his truck troubles which caused the order to be 3 days late. I told him to check out Jacob's blog post about United Airlines as Terry is having trouble with the company who supposedly fixed his truck. He gave them $22,000 last year to do an overhaul. Then he gave them about $350 THREE times this year when things didn't seem right but each time they had said,"Nothing's wrong." Something was wrong, though, as he just blew the engine AGAIN. It's under warranty but they told him out and out that they were not going to pay the $3,000 he's paying for the rental truck he needed to rent to finish the route. They've even told him that they know that the man working on the overhaul wasn't in very good shape due to a death in his immediate family. THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG HERE!!!!!!!!!!! Where on earth did these companies get the idea that they do not have to stand behind their work??????????????? Please pray for Terry to be treated fairly as I happen to think if you give a company $22,000 for an overhaul, it should last longer than a year!!!!!!!!!!!!

After that I headed home; put gas in at Steele for our trip to the wedding; and made it in time for lunch. Cora wrote about how it worked best for her to take the tractor over to the field but I'd rather have done it myself than make her do it. She was very nervous. Still my friend, Sarah Keister, was coming to pick up her Azure order in the afternoon. It's been so long since we've had tea together so Cora very courageously offered to do the dastardly deed. I just do not like moving equipment down the road--I've never figured out how men can be so nonchalant about it. ):

I worked in my garden while I waited for Sarah to come and then we had a wonderful time of visiting. Sarah told me that what has helped her recover from her miscarriage the most is drinking kombucha tea. She had a present for me too. It was a fresh batch of kombucha. By early next week, it will have made a new baby and I'll probably make 2 batches at a time after that. Then by the next week I'll have some to give away for anybody who would like to have one. Just ask for one and if you want any information about it's health benefits, you can go to the Weston A. Price Foundation's website listed on my sidebar and type in, "Kombucha." I love Sarah so much as she is full of information about natural healing ways.

I was able to help her too as her little guy needed cortices. I did it for him and then taught Sarah how to do it on him daily. I am so eager to see how he improves but won't post any details until I have good news. It all depends on how faithful the parents will be to do the cortices throughout the day. It only takes 2 minutes but parents are busy and it's hard to form new habits.

After Sarah left, Jacob and I headed over to the field 13 miles from here which we call, "Fern's Up North." This is different than "Up North" which is 3 miles straight north of here. We helped Andrew fill fuel in the 9030 while he blew out the radiator. Then Cora drove Jacob and I home while I did a short BT session on myself.

When we got home, it was 5:30 and we hadn't started cleaning OR cooking the feast. ): There was a massive hustle to get mom's clothes off of the living room floor and the rest of the house picked up. Cora and Jacob did chores alone while I ran like mad to "Lightly clean" everything. We made a large pan of Shepherd's pie for feast so that the guys would have enough to eat on Sabbath when we girls would be gone at the wedding.

Finally we ate around 10:30 PM when Andrew and Robert got home. Robert was pleased as he'd finished cultivating the big field over at Fern's on '83 and Andrew was weary of cutting hay. THANK GOD IT WAS SABBATH!!!

Oh dear, now I need to go so I can't finish writing about the wedding as I'd like to. I'll just say that the highlight for me was seeing an old friend who had started BodyTalk sessions with me about a year ago and then quit for some reason. This woman is deathly ill now and was open to a session. We went out to the van and I put it in high gear. I didn't explain anything, which makes me nervous, but we only had half on hour. It was a fantastic session and she felt better already by the time we were walking back in to the hall.

Right before Cora and I took off for home, she said to me, "Wow--this is amazing but I feel now as if I have hope." One of the emotions that she needed to be balanced to was HOPELESSNESS. By getting that out of the way, and linking up what we had time for, the hopelessness was gone. I'd call that a miracle!!! I recall all too vividly the emotion called hopelessness which hung over my head 3 years ago. I said to my friend as we embraced, "I praise God that HE saved my life so that I could be here to give you hope." We both cried then, as she is so very ill. I could tell by looking in her eyes that the session had helped her. Before I worked on her, the look was pleading--desparate. Afterwards there was a glimmer of peace and hope. I pray that she will continue sessions this time and I ask you all to please pray for my friend, Joanne.

This experience gave me a better understanding of what those who love ME went through in 2006. What a dreadful thing it is to watch a loved one just gradually deteriorate. What a glorious thing it is now to have a tool called BodyTalk which can give anyone the hope they need to conquer the odds set against them. I love you Joanne--hang in there!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry so heavy right now. I'm still trying to figure out a way to warn people when my heart is what some have termed, "TOO EMOTIONAL." Is there really such a thing? I guess I really wasn't planning on "Going deep" today--it just kind of sneaks up on me and there I am. You really are dear friends to keep reading all of this!!!!!!! Thank you and here's a big hug for each one of you who reads this. HHHUUUGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll try to add pictures and wedding details later but I know that Cora will post sometime soon too, so you can check there.

Dresses and Tresses

Cora gave me the idea for this post's title. How many of you have watched the Anne of Green Gables series? At the point where Anne was forbidden from seeing her kindred spirit, Diana, she sobbed and then asked Dianna, "Could I have a snip of your jet-black tresses?" Dianna, not as well educated as Anne, sniffed and said, "But I don't have any black dresses."

Then Anne explained that tresses was a fancy word for hair. Diana consented and Anne took a small scissors out of her apron pocket (she had just been sewing) and snipped off about an inch of Diana's luxurious black hair. She put both scissors and hair in her apron pocket and said her sad farewell to her bosom friend. I can't ever watch it without crying as it was such an injustice to poor Anne. It does work out in the end, though, when Diana's mother changes her mind because Anne saved her babies' life. ANYWAY, I have a tresses story that I would like to share with you all. You've seen some of the dresses I inherited and now you shall see the tresses although, alas they aren't black. :)

When we were cleaning out mom's closets and dresser drawers last Sunday, Cora found a treasure that my mom had shown me once but I had forgotten that she had. When she was a farm girl, my mom had lovely long chestnut-colored hair. Someone decided, though, when she reached high school age and started going to school in town that she would be more "In" if she had short hair. My mother's mother had her make a long braid down the back. Somebody then cut off the braid and that was the end of all that fussing with hair--who needs it anyway? My mother grieved it, though, and I recall her crying when she showed me that she had carefully wrapped the braid in an old, brown bag. The words, "Erdie's hair" are written on the paper.

I was quite frantic on Sunday when Cora handed it to me. I knew that my mom treasured this relic from the past, but what should I DO with it???????? I showed dad and he wanted it out of there. As I stood holding the bag, feeling all sorts of butterflies inside, Robert saved the day. He said, "Why don't you donate it to LOCKS OF LOVE?" WHAT A WONDERFUL IDEA!!!

So that's what I'm going to do. Cora did the research and copied the form I need to send with the hair. She said that the hair can be any age as long as it was preserved in a dry state, which it was. It needs to be at least a foot long and hers was 16 inches long. It also needs to be in a pony tail or a braid, so we meet the qualifications there too. Isn't it grand to think that somebody who lost their hair will feel somewhat "Normal" again because of my mom? Is there truly anything too small to offer to the Lord's work? I feel so honored to play a role in giving this gift from the past!!! Here's the picture of my mother's hair from when she was 14 years old. In other words, this braid is 65 years old!!!!!!!!!!!!! May it give someone in this world the joy it gave my mother!

"New" dresses

Well ladies, have you ever had a brand new wardrobe handed to you overnight? It's a bit of a shock. If I wouldn't have Cora to help me, I would be overwhelmed. There are a LOT of clothes. Here are pictures of some of the pretty summer things--hats and gloves included. WOW--I never knew my mom had so many dresses and skirts. She hardly ever wore them. The last one is her favorite gown from their 40th anniversary.

Does anybody have any guesses as to why she had 2 or 3 Kleenexes in EACH pocket of EACH outfit and in every purse there were 5 or 6--all clean? I guess I inherited a box of Kleenex too!

I noticed something funny as I looked at these pictures just now. I do NOT like wearing shoes any more than is necessary. It's so funny that I have on these pretty dresses, but am barefoot. It reminded me of Ellie May Clampit in the Beverly Hill Billies. Did any of you ever see her flip that guy over her back when he tried to kiss her hand? When Mr. Drysdale asked her why she did it, she said, "That critter was going to bite me." :) She was gorgeous in her evening gown but Mr. Drysdale was a bit surprised when he saw that she was barefoot. No, I have no intention of ever hurting my neck and back by flipping anyone over--but then there aren't too many gentlemen walking around kissing ladies hands any more. :) ALAS..........

Here's the back view of Cora's "Creation."

It's going better today, but I still found myself crying a lot. It's easy to put it in the back of my mind that my mother is dead when I'm up here. However all of her clothes and things sitting around up here are pretty good convincers. Thank God that Cora was here to help me feel pretty and to help cut up the old things that are destined to be shop rags. Over the years I have ached so badly for a sister, but now Cora is almost like one to me. Thank you, Father, for such a precious daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After the Darkness

It looks as though my mom DID leave a gem in her purse for me after all. It's a little card with a picture of beautiful rolling hills with a stream running through. There's a rainbow above this which is perfect for today as the Lord is so generously watering the earth here now. There's a little 8 line poem, but sometimes "Little" really is "Big". This is what it says.

AFTER THE DARKNESS

After the darkness

the daylight shines through.

After the showers

the rainbow's in view.

After life's heartaches

there comes from above

The peace and the comfort

of God's healing love.

THANKS MOM!

I think that I'll stick the card back into my new purse which I just inherited yesterday--it seems like a good place to put it. :)

My Inheritance

I'm so glad that Cora does such a thorough job of posting about our family events! It's so nice to see her creativity in each post! Thanks, Cora Beth, for your wonderful blog!

How many of you have ever seen the movie, THE INHERITANCE? It's one of our favorite movies ever and we like to watch it a couple of times a year. It's about this sweet young lady, named Edith, who was befriended by a wealthy family. The love that the owner of the estate, Henry, has for her has assured her a home as a servant. However, by a sad turn of events she learns that she is really Henry's niece. Being Edith's father was Henry's elder brother, Edith really owns Evenswood--ALL OF IT AND IT'S GORGEOUS.

It's a wonderful tale of how the servant becomes the master. The most wonderful part of all is that she doesn't care a hoot for the money as all she really ever wanted was to be loved by her adopted family. Being she was loved, Edith had everything that really matters. The family's love for her kept her sweet, so that when she became financially wealthy too, it didn't change her one bit! I just love the story as there is not doubt that love, and not money, is what leads to long-term happiness.

That being said, I will write a little bit about the hard part of yesterday. My dad has been after me ever since mom died to get her clothes out of the house. I kept putting it off, using the graduation as an excuse. Truthfully, that was part of it but I just wasn't sure of how I could handle dealing with mom's clothes. Well, yesterday we were going to Eureka for Earl's (FIL) birthday party so I prayed about picking up mom's clothes and we all felt that the time was right.

Dad had come over to the party for a little while too but left to rest around 2:00. We visited with the Bornemann family until 5:30; had supper; and then headed over to my dad's house. It's hard to get used to calling it my dad's house as it was always my folk's house. Sometimes I think that a house isn't much of a house without a mother in it, but that's the way it is now for me.

Well, I sat Dad down and asked him if he was ready for us to take out mom's clothes. He said, "Yes," but I think now that perhaps he would never have been ready as he cried most of the time that we were working there.

The first thing we did was went to their/his bedroom and he handed me mom's purse. As he handed this he said, "Do you want mom's purse?" I almost fell over from shock. I can't explain why but a woman's purse is private--a private place in her life. I can't ever recall going in mom's purse. SHE went in there and gave me things but it was forbidden for me to enter the inner sanctuary of mom's private purse. Now that it was handed to me, I felt like a criminal to think of entering there.

I said to dad, "Well, don't you need these papers and things?"

He shook his head and started crying. He sobbed out the words, "No--it's all irrelevant." Then I started crying. My mother's driver's license is irrelevant--her credit cards are irrelevant--her social security card is irrelevant--how can this be? How can her importance on this earth cease to exist? Later, on the way home, I picked up my courage and perused the contents of her purse being it had been given to me. Most of it WAS irrelevant--just as dad had said. How quickly does our relevance change when God decides that our time here is over. Then all that matters is what we did for eternity. I write this with tears flowing down my face with the hopes that someone on this earth may stop to pause a moment and ask themselves, "Does what I am doing right now have eternal relevance?"

I did find a few poems that seemed relevant to me and perhaps you may think they are worth pondering too, so I share these with you. What seemed shocking to all of us as I shared them with the family yesterday is that, although my mother carried these poems around in her purse, she did not carry them around in her heart. The very words that these poems preached were what she needed to implement in her life to REALLY be a blessing to others. That was such a strange thing about my mother. She just couldn't seem to apply truth to her life. She spent her whole life giving lip service to lofty and noble concepts, but these were sadly not put into practice. OH GOD, PLEASE KEEP ME FROM THIS BLINDNESS!!!

GROWING OLD

Lord, thou knowest I am growing older.

Keep me from becoming talkative and possessed with the idea

that I must express myself on every subject.

Release me from the craving to straighten out every one's affairs.

Keep me from the recital of endless detail. Give me wings to get to the point.

Seal my lips when I am inclined to tell of my aches and pains.

They are increasing with the years and my love to speak of them

grows sweeter as time goes by.

Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be wrong.

Make me thoughtful but not nosey; helpful but not bossy.

With my vast store of wisdom and experience,

it does seem a pity not to use it all.

But Thou knowest, Lord,

that I want a few friends at the end.

THE BIBLE AND THE TV

On the table side by side;

the Holy Bible and the T.V. Guide.

One is well worn but cherished with pride

(Not the Bible, but the T.V. Guide).

One is used daily to help folks decide

No! It isn't the Bible,

It's the T.V. Guide.

As pages are turned, what shall they see?

Oh, what does it matter, turn on the T.V.

So they open the book in which they confide

(No, not the Bible, it's the T.V. Guide).

The Word of God is seldom read,

Maybe a verse 'e're they fall into bed

Exhausted and sleepy and tired as can be,

Not from reading the Bible, from watching T.V.

So, then back to the table side by side,

is the Holy Bible and the T.V. Guide.

No time for prayer, no time for the Word,

The plan of salvation is seldom heard.

Forgiveness of sins so full and free

is found in the Bible, not on the T.V.

There seem to be several blog posts forming in my mind right now. One will show pictures of some of my new wardrobe items and the other will protest the advances of feminism. I have been learning more about my mother than I ever imagined today. It makes me wonder how her life could have been different if she would have been able to apply the teachings of HENRY AND THE GREAT SOCIETY to her life. This too she read, when I loaned it to her, but it too made not a dent in her thinking or the practices of her life.

Today Cora and I have been going through mom's things. I had hoped to be able to find the time to try on the dresses that I like but the afternoon is passing so quickly so I will do it tomorrow. I want to post pictures of me wearing my "Mother's" dresses. This is a great victory for me to be able to rejoice in the inheritance of my mother's clothing. Robert said, "If you can separate that these clothes are NOT your mom, then you can appreciate the small fortune that you have just received." My parents are pretty wealthy so it would be just out and out pride that would keep me from enjoying a new wardrobe complements of my parents. :)

Well, Cora and I just finished sorting everything. About half of the clothes will go to the consignment shop as they just are not either Cora or I. About an eighth of the 3 closet's worth will get cut up for rags. Cora is claiming 3 dresses and a skirt. My mom had told Cora at Christmas time that she could have one of the dresses. It was sewn by my grandmother and worn by her and then my mom for 2 of Eureka's birthday celebrations. Cora looks so wonderfully cute in it. Don't you wish we dressed like this all the time? Sometimes I really do. Part of me thinks that feminism would never have ruined as many homes as it has if ladies were still happy to dress like ladies.

All the rest of the "Stuff" will become my property. I have so many things in my closet which really are in sorry shape or are getting too big for me. How's that for a problem? Although I'm getting more of mom's clothes and purses than Cora is, she's getting the windfall on the shoes. She has mom's shoe size so she's getting hundreds of dollars worth of shoes. Good for you Cora!

Here she caught me "Amazed" by this lovely specimen of a house coat. I've seen my mother wear this hundreds of times and I never knew that it had legs sewn in. Either way--it's what I'd call, "INTERESTING"!!

This was an unexpected treasure. When I got to the apron pile, something about this one tugged at me. I felt a rush of excitement and picked it up to see if my hunch was right. OH FOR JOY!!! This was my grandmother Elizabeth's apron. She was so very special to me as one week out of the year I got to stay with Grandma Kusler and she kept me safe. This was my mother's mother and everything that was good and right and proper was wrapped up in this little lady. I often wondered why she didn't pass on her character traits to my mother but I suppose she lost her gusto when her husband died so young. My mom was in 7th grade then and was the youngest. How I miss my grandmother--REALLY MISS HER!!! I can recall my mother showing me this apron when my grandmother died--it was special to her. Yesterday it became my possession. So all afternoon I've been wondering, "Why did I ever stop using aprons?" I get so angry with myself when I get stains on my clothes but I don't use the aprons that are in my drawer. It made me wonder, "Does anybody out there use aprons any more?"

It's raining cats and dogs and Cora is making peanut butter cookies. Sometimes I get so down on myself that I miss out on the current joys all around me. That's when I start to hurt. Oh dear Lord, help me to find the balance between learning the lessons from yesterday; discovering the joys of today; and preparing for success in the future ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I truly thank each one of you who prays for me and who continues reading my sometimes- depressing thoughts. I love you all!!!

Maybe there is just a little time yet before supper preparations to go try on that pretty floral dress that I hope to be able to wear to the wedding this weekend.

Mylo

Has anyone ever heard Mylo Hatzenbuhler sing? I heard him sing in Eureka, shortly after we were married 28 years ago, and I thought he was the weirdest nut in the tree. I JUST DIDN'T GET IT!!!!!!!!!!! As Robert would say, "You were just too uptight!"

Then about 12 years ago, Mylo came to our church camp at Crystal Springs and performed. By that time I had done enough recovery work to think, "He is really funny!!!!!!"

A few weeks ago the children and I heard him sing under the big tent at the Napoleon quasi celebration. WE ALL JUST LOVED HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So if you don't appreciate Mylo yet, just give it a decade or so, and you'll begin to see what he's up to. What a brilliant mind he has--I guess maybe I should say that about Clyde Bauman who plays Mylo. Clyde also sang our Lord's praises, like nobody else can, that day in Napoleon. WHAT A VOICE HE HAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so glad that the children got to see him perform as his real self too so that they could see what he's really all about.

Anyway, the main reason that I like Mylo is that he makes people appreciate their local farmer. As you know from my other posts, I am very concerned about the gap between farmers and consumers--in other words between "City" and "Country". The family farms MUST have consumer support or we simply cannot compete with BIG agriculture. I thank you, Clyde, for your help in saving the family farms or at least raising compassion towards their/our plight.

This is one of my favorite songs that he re-wrote. When I was young, I really enjoyed hearing the song, "Alone again naturally." It always made me a little sad, but I was really sad then, so it clicked with me. Well, Clyde rewrote this song (I imagine) to raise concerns for the financial plight that many small farmers face every day. Robert just kept nodding his head as he listened to it the first time. My dream is that someday every farmer will be supported by about 100 families who come to the farm with respect and admiration in their hearts for the people who work so hard to give them truly HEALTHY food. Thanks for your help as we strive towards this goal, Clyde.

Out to the hay field,

Dawn

Temper

It's another busy day on the farm. Robert is hauling wheat for the neighbors who are trying to get their bins empty so they'll have room for the new crop next month--provided that there isn't any hail. We praise the Lord that He passed us over with the hail last night, but we did get more than our share of wind. It didn't help our already dilapidated deck and it broke off a few plants in the garden, but it could have been a lot worse. We didn't get the hail that they had predicted for our area! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, the boys are trying to get the loader mounted back on the 1086 which has been sitting down for a year until our men just put in another engine. Cora and I are working on laundry; placing the Azure order; and making plans for my father-in-law's 80th birthday on Sunday in Eureka. It's too wet to work in the garden now as we got almost 2 inches of rain in the past few days--YEAH. We're keeping the Sonic Bloom music playing continually and we watch eagerly for signs of vigorous plant growth. Of course we haven't sprayed on the mineral mist yet, but Andrew got the sprayer working just now, so I'm sure we'll do that in the morning.

So I should get going but there are just times when I MUST write. It's so strange. People have all kinds of needs in this world but I don't know too many people who feel that they NEED to write at times or they'll split their gut from trying to hold it in.

Anyway, AGAIN, I like to put something thought-provoking here every day so I thought I'd share the thought from my HEART WARMERS flip calendar that I have on my piano. There's always a little prayer and then a one-liner which usually smacks me in the face. Here's the reading for today.

Father, I feel that I am acceptable to You. I pray to become more accepting of others. Having known Your love, may I love more fully. In Jesus name, Amen.

Here's today's one liner for you to ponder: A TEMPER IS A VALUABLE POSSESSION--DON'T LOSE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ercp

Well, now I FINALLY know what they did that saved my dad's life in Sioux Falls. My sister-in-law, Sharel, called this morning to say that she and Duard brought dad home last night. He is much better than he's been in a long time.

Dad had told me that they put him under and stuck a tube down his throat to see what was going on. I suppose that's what he could grasp of it when he was in so much pain. He actually DID have a surgical procedure called ERCP. I copied the information that I found on Goggle below for those who may be interested in such things.

The reason that they couldn't deal with the stones in Aberdeen is because they were blocking the bile duct. They're still saying that there were stones in the liver, but I've never heard of that. So what they did was put this tube down dad's throat and used a balloon to break up the stones. They sucked the one out that was in the bile duct and put 2 stents in between the liver and the gall bladder. This is so that the crushed stones can pass out in the bowel movements.

Sharel said that on the 20th of July, she and Duard will have to take dad down to Sioux Falls again for an examination and to have the stents removed. This works out ok for them as their youngest son will begin school in Sioux Falls soon and they have things to do with that down there now too. So as they say, "All's well that ends well."

I'm off to Bismarck today. I need to take Rick the camper; do some sessions at the office; and see my chiropractor for this aching back. I wonder what he'll say as I was supposed to come in last week, but finances wouldn't allow it. Now today, the trucks are coming to take our organic oats to an organic mill in Iowa. Finally we will have the money from that crop after waiting all winter. I'll tell you, I believe in growing organically with all of my heart, but it's a little bit frustrating sometimes waiting for a buyer to come along. Praise the Lord that part is behind us. Now the only thing left to wait for is the check!

One more thing before I go. Have you checked out Jacob's newest blog post? I challenged him one morning to write with the promise that I wouldn't complain if he posted that goofy picture of me. It was done by noon that day. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Is it that he really doesn't like to write or is it that he needs some ideas of what to write about?

Happy today and happy growing. I urge you to check out Sonic Bloom's website in your spare time--it'll open your eyes to the possibility of unprecedented garden yields. If you can't eat all that you produce, you can always give some of it away. Think of the blessing THAT would be to you now and throughout all eternity.

This seems like a good place to share one of my favorite verses from the Bible. Luke 16:38 says: Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over shall men give into your bosum. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.

I wonder why you don't hear that verse much anymore?

ERCP is a diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedure that examines the bile duct, pancreatic duct, and gallbladder using a lighted flexible tube and x-ray. A catheter (small plastic tube) is inserted into the opening of the ducts located in the duodenum. A dye is injected slowly and with the aid of x-ray, the biliary and pancreatic ducts can be visualized for any abnormalities.
Patients who have pain or abnormal laboratory tests may be advised to have an ERCP to diagnose possible biliary or pancreatic disease. ERCP can be useful to determine whether or not surgery is needed. Patients who are jaundice (yellow discoloration of skin ad eyes) may be advised to have an ERCP to diagnose the cause. Some patients may have stones in their bile duct, strictures (narrowing) of the ducts, or tumors.
Therapeutic techniques can be used during ERCP to treat some problems. Stones can be removed from the bile ducts using small balloons or through lithotripsy (crushing of stones). Strictures can be kept patent (open) by placing stents (metal or plastic drainage tubes) in the ducts.

Anna

One of the few people whom I've ever let get close enough to me to think of as a "Sister" is Anna. She and I lived together in Eureka as next-door neighbors. As a kid, I was at the Guthmiller house every chance I got. Partly it was so that I could escape the pain that was in my home and partly because they were just plain good people and I loved them. I still do!!!

Anna sent me this forward this morning and I took the time to read it because it was from Anna. WOW--few people would have the impact by sending this that Anna did for I know her life had deep thorns in it too. Thanks, Anna, and I rejoice that you seek comfort in the presence of the Lord NO MATTER WHAT!!!

THORNS

Sandra felt as low as the heels of her shoes when she pulled open the florist shop door, against a November gust of wind. Her life had been as sweet as a spring breeze and then, in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a "minor" automobile accident stole her joy.

This was Thanksgiving week and the time she should have delivered their infant son. She grieved over their loss.Troubles had multiplied.

Her husband's company "threatened" to transfer his job to a new location. Her sister had called to say that she could not come for her long awaited holiday visit. What's worse, Sandra's friend suggested that Sandra's grief was a God-given path to maturity that would
allow her to empathize with others who suffer. "She has no idea what I'm feeling," thought Sandra with a shudder "Thanksgiving? Thankful for what?" she wondered.. "For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended me? For an airbag that saved my life, but took my child's?"

"Good afternoon, can I help you?"

Sandra was startled by the approach of the shop clerk. "I . . . I need an arrangement," stammered Sandra.

"For Thanksgiving? I'm convinced that flowers tell stories, " she continued. "Are you looking for something that conveys'gratitude' this Thanksgiving?"

"Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong." Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the clerk said, "I have the perfect arrangement for you."

Then the bell on the door rang, and the clerk greeted the new customer.... "Hi, Barbara, let me get your order." She excused herself and walked back to a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and what appeared to be
long-stemmed thorny roses. Except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped: there were no flowers.

"Do you want these in a box?" asked the clerk. Sandra watched - was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed.

"Yes, please," Barbara replied with an appreciative smile. "You'd think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again," she said, as she gently tapped her chest.

Sandra stammered, "Ah, that lady just left with . . ... uh . . . she left with no flowers!"
"That's right," said the clerk... "I cut off the flowers. That's the 'Special'. I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet. Barbara came into the shop three years ago, feeling much as you do today," explained the clerk. "She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had just lost her father to cancer; the family business was failing; her son had gotten into drugs; and she was facing major surgery. That same year I had lost my husband," continued the clerk. "For the first time in my life, I had to spend the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too much debt to allow any travel."

"So what did you do?" asked Sandra.

"I learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly. "I've always thanked God for the good things in my life and I never questioned Him why those good things happened to me, but when the bad stuff hit, I cried out, 'Why? Why me?!' It took time for me to learn that the dark times are important to our faith! I have always enjoyed the 'flowers' of my life, but it took the thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort! You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we're afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort
others."

Sandra sucked in her breath, as she thought about what her friend had tried to tell her. "I guess the truth is I don't want comfort. I've lost a baby and I'm angry with God."

Just then someone else walked in the shop. "Hey, Phil!" the clerk greeted the balding, rotund man. "My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving arrangement . . twelve thorny, long-stemmed stems!" laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator.

"Those are for your wife?" asked Sandra incredulously. "Do you mind telling me why she wants a bouquet that looks like that?" "Four years ago, my wife and I nearly divorced," Phil replied. "After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord's grace and guidance, we trudged through problem after problem, the Lord rescued our marriage. Jenny here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she had learned from "thorny" times. That was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific "problem" and give thanks for
what that problem taught us."

As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, "I highly recommend the Special!"

"I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life" Sandra said to the clerk. "It's all too . . fresh."

"Well," the clerk replied carefully, "my experience has shown me that the thorns make the roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember that it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His
love....Don't resent the thorns."

Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on her resentment. "I'll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please," she managed to choke out.

"I hoped you would," said the clerk gently. "I'll have them ready in a minute."

"Thank you. What do I owe you?" "Nothing. Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal
your heart...The first year's arrangement is always on me." The clerk smiled and handed a card to Sandra. "I'll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first."

It read: "My God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to You along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of Your rainbow look much more brilliant."

Praise Him for the roses; thank Him for the thorns...God Bless all of you. Be thankful for all that the Lord does for you.

"Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, and leave the rest to God."
We often try to fix problems with WD-40 and Duct tape.

God did it with nails.

Dad

I just got off of the phone with dad and he is feeling soooooooooo much better. Praise the Lord!!! He said that the final verdict is that he had one stone in the pancreas and one in the bile duct. They were able to dissolve these, since he's been there, so today he was able to consume some jello, juice, and broth. No word on when he'll be able to head for home, but he is on the mend. Many thanks to all who prayed for him--prayer makes all the difference!!!

Sonic Bloom

Last night we had such a wonderful family time together! Robert started a campfire while we finished chores. I don't know if I've ever said it before but, right before Andrew's graduation, we decided to join Sam's Club. We had never been interested because we CAN'T STAND to think of how many small businesses had to go under in order for Sam's to get so big. Still, WE'RE trying not to go under and we needed supplies for the party so we took the plunge. Anyway, last time we were up there we found a 10 pound box of all-beef hot dogs. These we have treated like candy as we all know that this is about the lowest quality of meat that you can buy. WE DO SO LOVE HOT DOGS OVER AN OPEN FIRE, THOUGH, as these pictures show. First I got a photo of the guys roasting theirs on freshly whittled sticks and then they took one of us girls. Jacob thought that these of me were a hoot as somehow I managed to get the soot from Robert's stick on my face as I was loading my dogs on the stick. Robert had offered me the use of his stick as it was the longest and the fire was much hotter than it looked. There are a couple of REALLY cute ones of me looking a lot like Cinderella. I told Jacob that he could post them if he ever gets busy and posts to his blog. We'll see how badly he wants to humiliate me. :)

This was not a dress up event, as you can tell by my old barn dress. We had 3 bags of almost empty rocks formerly called marshmallows. By warming them in the fire, though, they became soft and almost tasty. I just do not like things that sweet any more but it's fun to make them. I usually end up getting them burning and then have to put out the fire but, if I'm going to indulge, I like them singed. :)

What an exciting morning we've had today!!! Jacob and Andrew helped me get the barn boom box working and out to the garden. Bob had said to put the boom box on the south side of the garden so that both sides hear the music/chirping. Jacob noticed, though, that you can take the speakers off the side of the boom box. This fit in with my plan much better so I was happy to be able to play the music on the east end of the garden. I wanted to put the boom box and speakers under the trees for some protection, plus they needed to be there so that I could get electricity from the house to the boom box. After a considerable amount of changing chords around; moving speakers around; and trying to make sure that everything would not be subject to the dew, we got it to play. Here Jacob is positioning one speaker by the potatoes. You can see the birdhouse which he stained and varnished for me earlier in the spring. It's fun to watch the millet disappear.

Cora sent me this article she'd read on a website this morning. This is a VERY old article, and I'll have to try to find some newer ones, but it does give you an idea why I am so excited to be able to try Sonic Bloom. Happy reading and, if anybody wants to join me on this adventure, let me know. I'll be happy to put you in touch with Bob who is the dealer for North Dakota; South Dakota; half of Minnesota; and all of Alaska. That tells you how new Sonic Bloom is to our part of the world. It's well-loved in many other parts of the world, though, so I'd be happy to be able to share this exciting growing approach with everyone.

Happy growing,

Dawn

SONIC BLOOM Published Articles

THE SOUND AND THE GLORY - Steven Jones

Take a specially developed organic foliar feed. Spray it on your plants. At the same time, play them some ‘music’ – and get trees that put on ten years of growth in four years. Sprouts that germinate and grow to an edible size in just 72 hours. Tomato plants that produce twice as much fruit in half the time. Oranges the size of grapefruits, dripping with juice . .
. . . And not a chemical in sight.

The ‘music’ is actually an oscillating frequency of sounds remarkably similar to that of chirping birds and crickets, but you get the idea. Just another ‘miracle,’ quick-fix magical idea to beat the odds and make a quick fortune for its promoter. Or is it?
While it sounds too good to be true, the claims made for American researcher and inventor Dan Carlson’s ‘Sonic Bloom’ are increasingly being taken seriously, and many have been rigorously tested in the field. Carlson even got in the record books, with a Purple Passion vine that, like Topsy, just grew to an astonishing 390 metres.
Once one gets past the natural Kiwi skepticism, Carlson’s claims for Sonic Bloom, some of which seem to border on the outrageous, do make some sense. The idea of playing music to encourage plant growth is not new. There were experiments in the seventies and I remember seeing a Kiwi grower playing music to plants on television. I remember cows enjoying the radio when I milked them. I had also read somewhere that ‘music’ of the heavy rock variety could actually kill plants. Hardly surprising, it has a similar effect on me.
The Sonic Bloom concept is more appealing than the idea of music alone helping plant growth, involving as it does the use of sound and nutrient together in a balanced combination.
The sound is not the music of Chopin or the Beatles (although the Sonic Bloom cassettes supplied to home gardeners do include classical music – Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons, Spring,’ of course). But that is just there for humans who may be irritated by the ‘music’ that the plants enjoy; a carefully modulated, high-frequency, electro-magnetic wave developed from natural sounds. It is similar to the frequency of many bird calls and has been likened to the sounds of birds or crickets.
Sonic Bloom’s inventor, Dan Carlson, defines the concept in one sentence. "Sonic bloom is sound aiding in the absorption of an organic foliar nutrient."
The theory is that the sound encourages the stomata, thousands of tiny openings on the surface of leaves, to open, allowing the plant to more readily absorb nutrients. The other half of the Sonic Bloom equation is a seaweed-based, organic foliar spray containing some 55 trace minerals and amino acids, and a naturally produced giberellic acid.
The commercial possibilities of a product like Sonic Bloom are enormous. Even greater are the implications for ending world hunger, and it is this that interests Carlson.
Coming face to face with the effects of starvation as a young soldier in the Demilitarized Zone of Korea in the early sixties, Carlson decided to devote the rest of his life to an attempt to find a solution to the problem of world hunger. He spent several years at the Minnesota University Experimental College working on plant nutrition. He concluded that if plants were able to obtain 72 percent of their nutritional requirements through their leaves via the stomata, they could flourish in very poor or unsuitable soils and climates – if a way could be found to increase the uptake of nutrient into the leaves. He knew that plans trans locate any excess nutrients from their leaves down to their root system, thus conditioning the soil and storing nutrients for future use.
His work led him to eventually find an electro-magnetic sound wave frequency range which stimulated the stomata into action and thus increased the update of ‘free’ nutrients available in the atmosphere, including nitrogen, and moisture in the form of dew.
"Stoma" is Greek for mouth and every plant leaf has thousands of these little mouths, or stomata. The sound frequency Carson utilized has turned out to be in the same range as some song birds, particularly during some of the spring mating and courtship rituals. This finding has led some people to suggest that the spring birdsong may be one of Nature’s signals; a trigger for trees and plants to break dormancy and begin to grow. If so, the implications of that alone are considerable for modern horticulture, which tends to discourage birds. Dan Carlson also began experimenting with various plant extracts and seaweeds and finally came up with an organize nutrient which gave the most rapid and balanced plant growth. He would find one ingredient known to increase plant growth and then increase or decrease the quantity until it produced the best possible result.
After several years he came up with a nutrient blend, which when applied with the sound frequency, produced rapid and balanced growth on over a hundred different crops, from avocados to zucchini. Dan Carlson achieved world-wide recognition for his Gynura aurantiaca or Purple Passion plant, which grew so big with Sonic Bloom that it is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest indoor plant. It eventually grew to 390 metres. But the purple passion plant experiment was of novelty value only. Scientists were not interested in this success because it involved a non-edible plant of no commercial value.
So Carlson approached farmers and commercial growers to try Sonic Bloom on as many crops as possible. He managed to encourage the U.S. Department of Agriculture to become involved in barley growing trials involving fifty varieties and different growers. They reported an average 68 percent increase in yields across the board, with several varieties treated with Sonic Bloom producing more than 100 percent yield increases.
In 1986 Acres U.S.A. magazine reported 30 percent increases on oranges and the reversal of the disease ‘Young Tree Decline.’ Papaya showed 300 percent increases. A macadamia tree considered past the age of production became virtually ever bearing. Yield increases of 400 percent for cucumbers, African Violets with up to 300 blooms per plant instead of 30, and 300 percent yield increases on sweet corn were among many other successes.
The senior editor of Professional Farmers of America magazine, a definite skeptic, tested Sonic Bloom and reported 100 percent yield increases in soybean yields.
The treated soybeans were visibly larger, with an increase in pods per plant and pods numbering from 60 to 100. In Wisconsin, soybean plants produced up to 300 pods per plant; 30 to 35 is considered the norm.
Harold Aungst won the Pennsylvania State alfalfa growing contest using Sonic Bloom wit no herbicides, pesticides or expensive fertilizer. He managed 7.6 tons per acre after achieving the state average of 3.4 tons in his first cutting.
Growing bigger with Sonic Bloom apparently doesn’t mean a loss in flavor or thicker skins in the case of fruit. Growers report exceptional quality and taste with fruit, vegetables, and nuts treated with Sonic Bloom.
Like the cows which preferred the Sonic Bloom-grown alfalfa and ate the entire plant, stalk and all, humans seem to associate good taste with nutritional value.
Oranges from Sonic Bloom-treated trees have been found to contain 120 percent more vitamin C content. Soybeans were found to have 27 percent protein as against a normal 15 percent. Apples from the Circle K Orchard had 1,750 percent more zinc, 400 percent more iron, 326 percent more chromium, and 126 percent more potassium.
In Dan’s words, "These are all key ingredients to human health, longevity, and mental activity." Carlson also tells of commercial growers and home gardeners using Sonic Bloom product reporting much less pest and disease pressure. He maintains that the high complex sugar levels produced in treated plants can actually kill or intoxicate pests, whose digestive systems can’t handle the high sugars, in the form of alcohol.
These alcohols are the building blocks of amino acids. Since alcohol is basically antifreeze, this may partly explain the ability of plants to withstand frosts. And could be the reason outdoor Californian varieties of strawberries treated with Sonic Bloom are surviving the harsh winters of Wisconsin, and baffling experts who said they would never grow there.
Carlson’s intention when developing Sonic Bloom was to find a way in which food plants could produce high yields in the exhausted soils of famine areas. But no matter how good the growing environment, Sonic Bloom appears to still produce dramatic improvements in plant health and yields.
While the jovial and extroverted Carlson is having lots of fun with the astounding results of Sonic Bloom-treated crops, he hasn’t forgotten that perhaps the greatest feature of his sound and nutrient method is its ability to grow better crops in poor soils and low rainfall.
Not only do crops treated with Sonic Bloom grow in areas where crops had not grown previously, they thrived. In New Mexico, they’re making world record claims for Amaranth. Not only were the heads the biggest ever encountered, but the treated Amaranth matured 56 days earlier, on poor, adobe, sandy soil with a pH ranging from 7.7 to 7.9. In the first year, the Amaranth grew 450 gram heads. The next year, the seeds taken from those heads produced heads weighing more than a kilo.
Sonic Bloom-treated plants also apparently produce seeds which grow as well as their parents without further treatment, seeming to carry over improved genetic qualities. However, those seeds when further treated with Sonic Bloom, grow to become even better than their parents.
Carlson calls this "Genetic elasticity; the latent ability of plants to exhibit characteristics hidden in their gene pools, pulling out advantageous genes that may have been hidden for hundreds of years."
In the desert soils of Israel, Dan became part of a project involving the growing of 450 rare and endangered plants. Some seeds which can take 100 years before they germinate, did so only in the presence of Sonic Bloom.
Alan Kapuler, of Peace Seeds Oregon, reported on the effects of Sonic Bloom on the germination of 89 kinds of flowering plants. Apart from dramatically stimulating the germination of several plant types including squash, sweet corn, peppers, paulownia, and three species of rare solanums, four of the plants germinated only in the presence of Sonic Bloom.
Although the Sonic Bloom sound/nutrient system is organic, it also possesses another feature which could have far-reaching implications for this planet. The concept has been nicknamed "Sonic Doom"; or sound aiding in the absorption of herbicide. Tests have shown that by employing the sound 45 minutes prior to spraying, even hard-to-kill mature weeds can be sprayed with 50 percent less herbicide, resulting in faster, total kills. The sound is so efficient at getting the herbicide into the plant that it doesn’t matter if it rains an hour after application. While Dan Carlson does not advocate the use of herbicides, using 50 percent less will obviously result in less damage to the environment. He likes the idea of farmers halving their herbicide bills and using the savings to buy Sonic Bloom nutrient to increase their yields!
The Sonic Doom concept may also make the less effective, but environmentally safe, weed killers more efficient. Dan Carlson has refused to sell his concept to any large corporation for fear that his now world-patented growing method goes the same way as cars that run on water.
In the U.S., many farmers are on a ‘set aside’ program, where the U.S. Government pays growers not to grow anything. As a result, Dan Carlson’s achievement is probably more recognized in countries other than his own.
In Japan last year, the Bio-Research Committee, which represents 8,000 organic farmers declared Sonic Bloom to be the best thing that they had experimented with in recent years. China and Afghanistan have employed Sonic Bloom in their forestry.
In New Zealand and Australia, Sonic Bloom is in the process of being registered as organic with the main organic authorities.
In New Zealand, perhaps the greatest potential for this revolutionary technology lies in forestry -–with the promise of shorter tree rotation times and exceptional wood density qualities.
Trials are already underway on Paulownia in Australia and Pinus radiata trials will begin in New Zealand this year. In the U.S., pines have halved their maturity time with Sonic Bloom. The mind boggles as to what may happen here, in a climate already near perfect for trees.
As an organic apple and pear grower who managed to get Sonic Bloom into the country and on to the orchard midway through the season, I am delighted with results so far. They told me my young trees would suffer this season because of my decision to convert to organic and not use any chemical fertilizers. Instead, the trees are a picture of health and the first crop of apples have size, color, and exceptional taste.
Knowing also that with trees much of what you do this year determines what happens next year, I look forward to our next harvest with relish.
Our own indoor plants are literally glowing with health and for the first time we are successfully growing maidenhair ferns. One wag phoned me and declared that his place resembled "The Day of the Triffids" after only a few weeks of using Sonic Bloom.
He had to be joking. Or did he? I recall seeing, on the Sonic Bloom video, a gigantic, towering sunflower plant with a 50 cm flower, and there were those 200 kilo pumpkins…

The Proof of the Pudding - PUTTING SONIC BLOOM TO THE TEST
The theory behind Sonic Bloom is that the harmonic frequencies that make up the sound element of the product have the effect on plant leaves of encouraging the stomata to open.
The plant is thus able to take up the specially formulated organic foliar spray at a rate ideally suited to optimum growth.
The ‘music’ is played before, during, and after applying the spray. Between 5 and 12 applications of the foliar feed annually are recommended.
The claims made for Sonic Bloom are spectacular. The video that accompanies the product tends to support the claims, at least with anecdotal evidence.
However, claims are not proof. If Sonic Bloom does perform in the manner claimed, without side effects, it represents an astonishing advance, with implications for everything from the ability to grow crops in poor soils, to increases in shelf life on commercial crops.
In an effort to establish if Sonic Bloom lives up to its promise, Growing Today has asked Bob Crowder of Lincoln University’s Biological Husbandry Unit, to subject the product to some controlled trials.
GT will underwrite the costs of these trials, which will look at the claims made for improved seed germination with Sonic Bloom. We hope to bring readers the results, good or bad, in our June issue.
MORE ABOUT SONIC BLOOM
Steven Jones is an organic apple grower and now the NZ and Australian distributor for Sonic Bloom. If you would like to learn more about Sonic Bloom, he recommends the two-hour video which covers a wide range of fruit, vegetable, grain, tree, and nut crops as well as flower-growing legumes.