Thank you for the callout and link to my autoimmune post. I'm really glad you see its value beyond specific conditions, as that was my hope. I also appreciate very much your continued, well-argued case for growing your own food.
I've found all your posts on health very informative. I feel like I always learn something relevant even though I don't have similar health issues. Keep up the great writing!
I have MCAS, from a yellow fever vaccine that also gave me full-blown yellow fever in 1999. It is a miserable condition to live with. When I came into some money in 1999, I was extremely motivated to travel while I felt it was possible, knowing that in the future it would be very difficult, nay, almost impossible to do so (since proven correct). Unfortunately, I believed a Lonely Planet guide book, that said if I did not have the YF vax, I would not be allowed to board a plane for Zanzibar, at the Nairobi airport (totally untrue- I have learned my lesson about trusting travel guides).
In 1999, I had not received a vaccine since childhood, except for one tetanus in 1982...and I had no plans to ever get another vaccine. However, my eagerness to make my dreams come true, caused me to make the worst decision of my life. I developed yellow fever. What I did not know at the time was: #1 All YF vaccines contain a live virus #2 Since it came into use, many victims have dropped dead on the spot while being injected #3 Vaccine-induced YF is indistinguishable in the lab, from the wild virus. #4 Once one developes vaccine-induced YF, one has only a 40% chance of surviving. I also did not know I had Lyme disease at the time I was injected .
Thus began a struggle for life, alone in the cabin in the woods (Washington) where I lived at the time. I had, decades before, sworn off all allopathic medical care. I relied on prayer, my natural remedies, and my strong constitution to pull me through. After it was all over, I came out on the other side with MCAS. As bad as YF was, if I could go back and delete one illness of the two, I would delete the MCAS. The only silver lining of this totally unnecessary episode, is that when I read historical accounts of YF epidemics...I can relate on a very personal level.
I'm so sorry you had to go through all that. I hope you've been able to relieve symptoms with diet and natural remedies. From what Lisa Brunette wrote it seems like mainstream medicine has been pretty worthless.
Well, to me its worthless, and I want nothing to do with it. By the way, I forgot to mention, if one eats the eggs from free-ranging hens on their own property, they will be safe from contracting tetanus from their own soil. Chickens pass on immunity to tetanus (in their local soil) through their eggs. God provides natural healing for us, if we bother to educate ourselves, and not outsource our health to an adversarial system.
It’s a tough one for the med establishment to tackle without pharmaceuticals, which don’t seem to help, at least not long term. It’s still too early to tell, but so far I’m feeling hopeful about my current eating habits and the neuroplasticity work I’m trying.
Enjoyed reading this and I think your tolerant view of "bad" weather and your awareness of the local history of flooding is really nice to hear. Lately we've had some heavy rains in the San Francisco Bay Area and yes some trees fell down and yes there was some flooding here and there but the talking heads of the media are screaming "hundred year weather event!" "cyclone bomb" "catastrophe..." It seems ridiculous. I've lived in the region for a long time and, I'm sorry, I saw bigger more destructive winter storms in the eighties and nineties, the one in 82 being the most memorable. It feels as if society has no long term memory, or maybe it's just the media's greedy interest in sensationalizing everything. I don't know. Like you I also get a little bit excited by extreme weather. I don't know if it has anything to do with fond memories of school holidays (you probably had more of those than we did) but when a storm comes I can't seem to stay inside. I love taking a long walk in inclement weather and all the streets and parks where I go to walk are suddenly deserted which I also like. There's something poetical and thrilling about walking in the rain. I'm a big fan of "bad" weather. I guess I should be ashamed but I'm not.
You're definitely right about the media screaming about the weather. Every storm is hyped and often named and going to be THE WORST EVER, then usually turns out to be just typical weather.
I forgot to note that I really like that opening image. the way the snow comes down crookedly is weird and interesting and a little bit ominous and this could be the cover for some sort of terrifying rural northern gothic novel.
Great piece- love the photos of floods. I too delight in extreme weather, with a healthy respect of course. For such an apparently different locality and climate from here in little Cymru, your pictures and descriptions look and sound remarkably similar to mine- rain, grey days and mud...Same with my garden tasks, yesterday, in the first dry day for a while, with even some sun- weeding, mulching and pruning soft fruit. hwyl! Chris
2 weeks without rain does indeed sound nice. Here in once wet Wales, back in the 1980s, we used to get just one two week window in the whole year when it didn't rain. Since the late 1990s that two weeks without rain has gradually stretched out at each end so now we can get a couple of months with very little rain. I'm still waiting for it to start this year- anytime soon but our weather has become so unpredictable its just impossible to say, and when it does go dry I start worrying about fire... I'll be writing about our weather soon on Substack, with figures- I'm a bit of a nerd for measuring stuff...
Thank you for the callout and link to my autoimmune post. I'm really glad you see its value beyond specific conditions, as that was my hope. I also appreciate very much your continued, well-argued case for growing your own food.
I've found all your posts on health very informative. I feel like I always learn something relevant even though I don't have similar health issues. Keep up the great writing!
Thank you so, so much.
I have MCAS, from a yellow fever vaccine that also gave me full-blown yellow fever in 1999. It is a miserable condition to live with. When I came into some money in 1999, I was extremely motivated to travel while I felt it was possible, knowing that in the future it would be very difficult, nay, almost impossible to do so (since proven correct). Unfortunately, I believed a Lonely Planet guide book, that said if I did not have the YF vax, I would not be allowed to board a plane for Zanzibar, at the Nairobi airport (totally untrue- I have learned my lesson about trusting travel guides).
In 1999, I had not received a vaccine since childhood, except for one tetanus in 1982...and I had no plans to ever get another vaccine. However, my eagerness to make my dreams come true, caused me to make the worst decision of my life. I developed yellow fever. What I did not know at the time was: #1 All YF vaccines contain a live virus #2 Since it came into use, many victims have dropped dead on the spot while being injected #3 Vaccine-induced YF is indistinguishable in the lab, from the wild virus. #4 Once one developes vaccine-induced YF, one has only a 40% chance of surviving. I also did not know I had Lyme disease at the time I was injected .
Thus began a struggle for life, alone in the cabin in the woods (Washington) where I lived at the time. I had, decades before, sworn off all allopathic medical care. I relied on prayer, my natural remedies, and my strong constitution to pull me through. After it was all over, I came out on the other side with MCAS. As bad as YF was, if I could go back and delete one illness of the two, I would delete the MCAS. The only silver lining of this totally unnecessary episode, is that when I read historical accounts of YF epidemics...I can relate on a very personal level.
I'm so sorry you had to go through all that. I hope you've been able to relieve symptoms with diet and natural remedies. From what Lisa Brunette wrote it seems like mainstream medicine has been pretty worthless.
Well, to me its worthless, and I want nothing to do with it. By the way, I forgot to mention, if one eats the eggs from free-ranging hens on their own property, they will be safe from contracting tetanus from their own soil. Chickens pass on immunity to tetanus (in their local soil) through their eggs. God provides natural healing for us, if we bother to educate ourselves, and not outsource our health to an adversarial system.
It’s a tough one for the med establishment to tackle without pharmaceuticals, which don’t seem to help, at least not long term. It’s still too early to tell, but so far I’m feeling hopeful about my current eating habits and the neuroplasticity work I’m trying.
Imagine my excitement to find a Substack writer AND gardener from my home state!! 👏🏻👏🏻 happy to have found you through Notes via Lisa Brunette
Welcome! I'm glad to have you here!
Enjoyed reading this and I think your tolerant view of "bad" weather and your awareness of the local history of flooding is really nice to hear. Lately we've had some heavy rains in the San Francisco Bay Area and yes some trees fell down and yes there was some flooding here and there but the talking heads of the media are screaming "hundred year weather event!" "cyclone bomb" "catastrophe..." It seems ridiculous. I've lived in the region for a long time and, I'm sorry, I saw bigger more destructive winter storms in the eighties and nineties, the one in 82 being the most memorable. It feels as if society has no long term memory, or maybe it's just the media's greedy interest in sensationalizing everything. I don't know. Like you I also get a little bit excited by extreme weather. I don't know if it has anything to do with fond memories of school holidays (you probably had more of those than we did) but when a storm comes I can't seem to stay inside. I love taking a long walk in inclement weather and all the streets and parks where I go to walk are suddenly deserted which I also like. There's something poetical and thrilling about walking in the rain. I'm a big fan of "bad" weather. I guess I should be ashamed but I'm not.
You're definitely right about the media screaming about the weather. Every storm is hyped and often named and going to be THE WORST EVER, then usually turns out to be just typical weather.
“Cyclone bomb” made me lol.
I forgot to note that I really like that opening image. the way the snow comes down crookedly is weird and interesting and a little bit ominous and this could be the cover for some sort of terrifying rural northern gothic novel.
I've been told it's very creepy here. Once I was showing a guest around and he refused to go in the barn because it was too "children of the corn."
Great piece- love the photos of floods. I too delight in extreme weather, with a healthy respect of course. For such an apparently different locality and climate from here in little Cymru, your pictures and descriptions look and sound remarkably similar to mine- rain, grey days and mud...Same with my garden tasks, yesterday, in the first dry day for a while, with even some sun- weeding, mulching and pruning soft fruit. hwyl! Chris
Now we've switched over to warm sunny weather and no rain for almost 2 weeks! It's nice but happening way too early.
2 weeks without rain does indeed sound nice. Here in once wet Wales, back in the 1980s, we used to get just one two week window in the whole year when it didn't rain. Since the late 1990s that two weeks without rain has gradually stretched out at each end so now we can get a couple of months with very little rain. I'm still waiting for it to start this year- anytime soon but our weather has become so unpredictable its just impossible to say, and when it does go dry I start worrying about fire... I'll be writing about our weather soon on Substack, with figures- I'm a bit of a nerd for measuring stuff...